Hi there friends!
It has been a while since I wrote a blog (After study abroad! Holy Crap almost a year and a half!)
I will explain the purpose of this blog later but I have to share
It's hard to explain to a West Coast person the beauties of the mid-West, but I will try.
As a disclaimer I was one of those people who made fun of the mid-West with how flat it is and of course the miles of corn fields that are in fact here. I am a fan of the mountains, desert, and to an extent the ocean (preferably the Oregon Coast but I digress). For many years I pushed back any thought of going to school in the center of the US for reasons legitimate and not so legitimate. Yet I have seemed to find myself in a bit of a strange situation, Nebraska has brought serious aspects of life to the fore front that I have only really described but never truly thought an actual possibility.
So yesterday was my first full day in Lincoln, Nebraska and in true Steven's fashion I got up early dressed up and left 2 and a half hours before I needed to leave for my meeting with the Graduate admissions people. (You have to understand, even though this campus is huge compared to Jessup or Mills it is pretty navigable if you know where you are going.)
I did not know where I was going so I of course left early. After about 45 minutes of wondering around I finally found the building where I needed to go and proceeded to baffle the lady at the desk when she saw I was over an hour early.
She suggested I go to the union and get some breakfast which I happily did. I returned back still an hour early because, well, why not. I am my father's daughter.
I met with the grad admissions people, which wasn't too dramatic but helpful. I was an hour ahead of schedule and didn't really know what to do. I couldn't go back into the apartment building that I was staying at because my dear friend Katie was on a completely different campus so I couldn't obtain her card to get into said building.
Instead I moseyed (did I spell that right? I am a history major. . .it's a moot point) into the Lutheran Center that Katie said to go to if I needed a place to hang out for a bit.
The connections that permeate life are pretty great and I have come to find out and the world is getting to be a smaller place every day.
Case in point:
1) I walk into the LC and people introduce themselves, realize who I am and proceed to get to know me.
2) I tell them the ridiculous story that got me to Nebraska in the first place
3) The pastor of the LC hears about my study abroad experience in the Middle East and calls their intern over because she has lived in the Middle East. Bethlehem to be exact.
4) Turns out she went to Oxford through BestSemester when she was going to school at Messiah College which was the college that my roomie in the Middle East went to.
5) She and I knew all of the same places of eating and shopping in the Bethlehem/Jerusalem area.
6) Life is a crazy random happenstance and it amazes me that by simply walking into a place and having a little faith in humanity this kind of connection can happen.
I left so I could walk to my next meeting. (I still had 3 hours before this meeting mind you.) It was a fairly nice day though so I didn't mind it all that much. I sat at a bench near a strictly musical bell tower (topped with what else but corn) and observed the hustle and bustle of the campus.
I then proceeded to be flabbergasted at how BIG Memorial Stadium is.
No Seriously.
HUGE.
I grew up with Mackey Stadium down the street. I have passed the Cal stadium. I have ran at the Sac State stadium. This football stadium was massive.
I knew the mid-West took their football seriously but it wasn't until this moment I actually could physically see it. I had heard about it from my family in Ohio. (O-H!) but knowing what I know now I appreciate it much more.
The one thing so far that has stuck out to me is how nice everything is. Not that people on the West Coast aren't nice, but just the things that they value is evident in their daily goings of life. Study tables are shared with apparent strangers, doors are held open and a greeting of have a nice day are said (not that in itself is odd, but life seems a little slower paced for UNL students even on a busy Wednesday.)
I say this with all sincerity. I am a mountains girl, with desert embedded in soul but the mid-West has seemed to find a part of me that wishes for a little of this flat seemingly unending land. I like it here. It's an odd feeling.
I'm going to try and write more about my adventures later. Maybe I will even get fancy with pictures.
Love and hugs,
Kylie
It has been a while since I wrote a blog (After study abroad! Holy Crap almost a year and a half!)
I will explain the purpose of this blog later but I have to share
It's hard to explain to a West Coast person the beauties of the mid-West, but I will try.
As a disclaimer I was one of those people who made fun of the mid-West with how flat it is and of course the miles of corn fields that are in fact here. I am a fan of the mountains, desert, and to an extent the ocean (preferably the Oregon Coast but I digress). For many years I pushed back any thought of going to school in the center of the US for reasons legitimate and not so legitimate. Yet I have seemed to find myself in a bit of a strange situation, Nebraska has brought serious aspects of life to the fore front that I have only really described but never truly thought an actual possibility.
So yesterday was my first full day in Lincoln, Nebraska and in true Steven's fashion I got up early dressed up and left 2 and a half hours before I needed to leave for my meeting with the Graduate admissions people. (You have to understand, even though this campus is huge compared to Jessup or Mills it is pretty navigable if you know where you are going.)
I did not know where I was going so I of course left early. After about 45 minutes of wondering around I finally found the building where I needed to go and proceeded to baffle the lady at the desk when she saw I was over an hour early.
She suggested I go to the union and get some breakfast which I happily did. I returned back still an hour early because, well, why not. I am my father's daughter.
I met with the grad admissions people, which wasn't too dramatic but helpful. I was an hour ahead of schedule and didn't really know what to do. I couldn't go back into the apartment building that I was staying at because my dear friend Katie was on a completely different campus so I couldn't obtain her card to get into said building.
Instead I moseyed (did I spell that right? I am a history major. . .it's a moot point) into the Lutheran Center that Katie said to go to if I needed a place to hang out for a bit.
The connections that permeate life are pretty great and I have come to find out and the world is getting to be a smaller place every day.
Case in point:
1) I walk into the LC and people introduce themselves, realize who I am and proceed to get to know me.
2) I tell them the ridiculous story that got me to Nebraska in the first place
3) The pastor of the LC hears about my study abroad experience in the Middle East and calls their intern over because she has lived in the Middle East. Bethlehem to be exact.
4) Turns out she went to Oxford through BestSemester when she was going to school at Messiah College which was the college that my roomie in the Middle East went to.
5) She and I knew all of the same places of eating and shopping in the Bethlehem/Jerusalem area.
6) Life is a crazy random happenstance and it amazes me that by simply walking into a place and having a little faith in humanity this kind of connection can happen.
I left so I could walk to my next meeting. (I still had 3 hours before this meeting mind you.) It was a fairly nice day though so I didn't mind it all that much. I sat at a bench near a strictly musical bell tower (topped with what else but corn) and observed the hustle and bustle of the campus.
I then proceeded to be flabbergasted at how BIG Memorial Stadium is.
No Seriously.
HUGE.
I grew up with Mackey Stadium down the street. I have passed the Cal stadium. I have ran at the Sac State stadium. This football stadium was massive.
I knew the mid-West took their football seriously but it wasn't until this moment I actually could physically see it. I had heard about it from my family in Ohio. (O-H!) but knowing what I know now I appreciate it much more.
The one thing so far that has stuck out to me is how nice everything is. Not that people on the West Coast aren't nice, but just the things that they value is evident in their daily goings of life. Study tables are shared with apparent strangers, doors are held open and a greeting of have a nice day are said (not that in itself is odd, but life seems a little slower paced for UNL students even on a busy Wednesday.)
I say this with all sincerity. I am a mountains girl, with desert embedded in soul but the mid-West has seemed to find a part of me that wishes for a little of this flat seemingly unending land. I like it here. It's an odd feeling.
I'm going to try and write more about my adventures later. Maybe I will even get fancy with pictures.
Love and hugs,
Kylie
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