Autobiography Chapter 13ish: Freshman at College

Draft One Two.

My freshman year of college was the best year of my life. I lived on campus at the Yavapai dorm located in the middle of campus. Funded by my parents and a hefty scholarship, money was no matter to me. I started the year in tranquil seclusion, spending most of my time playing computer games by myself. I had opted for a random roommate, earning myself Donovan, arguably the strangest man alive and later named "The Man of Mystery." Donovan, a black sophomore from South Phoenix, is th only person anyone knew who didn't bring a computer to college. His possessions amounted to little more than his TV, several tapes of Dragon Ball Z, a quarter staff, forest-green t-shirts, jeans, combat boots, and a forest-green jacket. I never once saw him do his laundry. He went home twice during the year. He rubbed his feet over a trash can nightly, gently scraping off the dead skin. He took at least five minutes to brush his teeth, and then five more to brush his lips. He never missed Passions that aired daily at 2pm. Unfortunatly I never had class at 2 and was consequently subjected to the soap opera every day. He ate chips everyday and ate them loudly. He ate chili every day and ate it loudly. Sometimes he cooked hot dogs with jalepenos and yes, ate them loudly. On any given day, the most I would speack to him is a "bless you." Needless to say, Donovan did not play a large role in my life. I often forget his existence altogether.

For the first few months, my social life consisted of short-lived relationships and friendships with Colleen, Mike, Ashley, and Prof. Velez. Each of these is a not a particularly amazing or unique story. I am glad to be friends with each of these people today. Altogether, August through October were somewhat uneventful and without a theme; but I enjoyed my time and relaxed. I remember sleeping on the couch of the study room every night for two months. I kept my comforter, pillow, alarm clock, and deodorant in the study room until they were confiscated by the Hall Director. After that I made friends.

Since the beginning, I had been attending Math Club meetings, which were, contrary to popular belief, very cool. I met quite a few people there, including Nikki, the president. We remained in contact for some time. I attended the Arizona Mathematics Undergraduate Conference (freaking awesome) and afterwords, attended Jeff's sister's birthday (a party of twenty-six year olds). That night, Nikki, Taylor, Jeff, another guy, and I became great friends. And then we never hung out together again.

My social entrance continued with acceptance into Amanda, Connor, Kel, and Sunil's circle. They had been a clan since August as I understood, and they graciously welcomed me after Sunil and I started working on math homework together. This introduced me to such wild things as hookah, cloves, alcohol, late-night food, Mexico, clubbing, etc. At the same time as my minimal "experiment phase" (perhaps I am perverting the meaning of experiment), I was playing ping pong two hours a day with Kel and volleyball several nights a week with the Yavapites and friends. I get terribly nostalgic when I think about the ping pong and volleyball. On any night we didn't play volleyball, many of us sat in the study room playing "Ultimate Badass" or arguing about philosophy with James and Chris. So many people made up those nights: Kel, Amanda, Sunil, Connor, Peter, Travis, Mike, Zippy, Metz, Drobie, Jessica, Liz, Josh, Lexie, Jean-Marie, Ashley, John, Katie, Sheyda, Dave, Chris, James, Sarah, Colleen, and many that I'm forgetting I'm sure. Again, much of what I did this year was made possible by my scholarship: I bought ping pong paddles, volleyballs; I went out to lunch, dinner, late night food, sushi, bobas, coffee, etc. without any worry. I performed generally well in school and stayed financially stable.

Edit: Addition:

The summer following my freshman year was also incredible. Nick and I worked at Villa Montessori as swim instructors and classroom assistants for small children, aged 3 to 6. Working with 100 people every day who think you are the greatest person ever. They run screaming to you when you arrive; they ask to play soccer with you; they constantly squirm into your lap; they tell you about what they had for dinner; they show you what they have for lunch; they show off their new dresses, bathing suits, shoes, goggles, fake tattoos, and lunch boxes. They sum up the entire plot of a new movie, or what happened to Sponge Bob last night. The job is easy. The pay is good enough. The coworkers are mostly female between 18 and 25. Honestly though, it was the kids. That was the best summer of my life.