It's Always Sunny...

Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia really gets me:

And now...

After a brief escape back to the homeland, I have returned to VT to begin life as a non-student.  After nearly 5 days as a certified grown up I have mad a couple of observations:

• The economy really does suck.
• There is little to do for fun (and for free) in BTV during the winter months.  I really need to move somewhere with a curling club.
• I'm bored. 

So I have been spending my days at the Creek or in coffee shops working on job applications -- not exactly the fabulous grown-up life I imagined, but I'll get there.  Hopefully.  But to entertain myself in the meantime, I do have some things to look forward to:

• BTV's WinterFest 
• A trip to Montreal!
• Mardi Gras -- Burlington apparently has a really cool parade and festival for it that I missed last year.

So armed with my library card and laptop, I head out into the "real world." Send along your prayers for a job offer as well as any recommendations for books or movies.  And if anyone is looking to visit Boston, NYC, or Philadelphia let me know and I'll come with!

If you've ever wondered what academic burnout looks like...

look no further.

And yes, we were watching Hey Arnold.

More things I see with the GSGs

More photos from grad school adventures around the Green Mountain State:

Scaling rooftops and dodging pigeons in Brattleboro

Fancy doorknobs in downtown BTV

Sugared "Morning Rolls" at Vergennes Laundry -- they actually have a really cool business model. They funded the rehabilitation of their historic building by selling shares of their business to locals.  The "partners" paid in, and got a free loaf of bread each week for a year!  A great way to give HP projects some quick cash and build local support.

Gobble...Gobble...Lonely Gobble

I decided to stay in VT over Thanksgiving break this year.  Although it is nice that the University gives us a whole week, a plane ticker to MN is not cheap and I can actually make some moolah working retail on Black Friday.  I am missing my 5 year high school reunion, though which I'm a little bummed about because my hair looks really good today.

To avoid sitting in my apartment by myself for 9 days, I decided to take the bus to Middlebury today to do some exploring.  Middlebury College has a GORGEOUS campus and the entire town looks like a postcard.  Here's a snap shot of what I did.

What I wouldn't give for a pair of custom made leather boots.  And how cool would it be to have your own foot form?!

Frost on the walking bridge rivets

House #1 that I want to own

House #2 

The front door I want to have

Middlebury college -- the dorms are made of VT marble

I also did quite a bit of sitting in coffee shops reading my $1 copy of The Sun Also Rises -- the binding broke when I turned the first page. 

The rest of the week will be filled with work, a haircut, baking my first ever pie, and even doing some homework.  

Halloween

This year Halloween had the unfortunate fate of landing on a Wednesday.  This left us college kids in a conundrum -- dress up the weekend before? the weekend after? the day of? Such tough lives we have.  My buddy and I decided to dress up as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World and I'd say our costumes came out pretty good.

Of course there were more than a fair number of girls wearing too little clothes, but after many a snowy Halloween, I don't think I'll ever be able to plan a costume without thinking about how many layers I can get or if a winter coat would work with it :) There were quite a few people with really impressive costumes too including the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters!

In related news, the sequels to Halloween the movie are hilarious, especially Halloween H2O which has a great collection of 90s stars including LL Cool J

FREEEDOMMM!

The test is over! Woo! Now I'm looking forward to hours of not studying and eating lots of Chinese food :)