Yammering Muse: Oregon Day Two

Cuz my university's mascot is a beaver...

Student Union Building.

The quad area. So pretty!

Wednesday I had orientation and had to check in at 8am. And I went to bed at about 2am. And had a horrible nights sleep. Let's get real for a second. The week prior to my trip I had some dark times. Some ridiculous dark times. Times when I was in a panic over the stupidest things. Like the time I woke up at 3am freaking out about how I was going to have to ride my bike in the rain and what if my books got wet? While I really was excited to finally be getting out of California I was also pretty much scared pantsless. I kept trying to put up a brave face, but deep down inside I was scared. What if I hated the place, what if it hated me, what if this goes wrong, and that goes wrong, and what if the sun explodes?! I was ridiculous. So when we got into Corvallis at 10pm and had to walk the mile and a half to our hotel with our very heavy luggage while cursing the day we were born, I began to panic again. What if I slept through my alarm the next morning? What if somehow I hadn't actually registered for orientation? What if my even being accepted to the school was all a big joke and I wasn't even going to be able to go this fall? Clearly I am insane. I was so tired on Tuesday night that I started worrying about things that didn't even matter to my current situation (hence being worried about the sun's exploding), and I tossed and turned, completely sure I wouldn't wake up to my alarm. ~~Plus my sister was snoring.~~ (What was that?)

Willamette River behind our hotel

So when Wednesday finally rolled around I was awake about an hour before my alarm went off. Bri was so out she didn't hear the alarm on her phone going off multiple times. But I was awake and dreading getting out of bed. I did get out of bed and got ready. I'd made the genius decision to pin curl my hair the night before and it took forever to take them out (plus I was really pre-occupied with the obvious doom I was headed towards.). Then I couldn't decide what to wear and clearly this was an issue because this was The Most Important Outfit I Would Ever Choose. I had to show who I was, but be approachable. I had to have no trace of my Californian heritage, yet exude coolness. And I had to look like I hadn't tried at all right? Mid making this clearly Most Epic Decsion Of My Life, I realized I was running late now. so I grabbed the first dress I saw and threw it on, quickly brushed out my hair (which did in fact come out disastrously. That'll teach me to wash my hair at 1am and expect it to be dry at 7am.). Then I put on make-up. It is important to note at this point that Bri was still snoring and apparently dead to the world. Anyway, I put on makeup. I was done except for eyeliner and mascara. Because I am clearly insane I thought that taking the time to apply liquid eyeliner was a good idea. THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA. If you are running late, feeling ill, and near a nervous break down, DO NOT attempt wearing liquid eyeliner. Because you will somehow smear it all over your eye, into your eyebrow and hair line (wtheck?), and look like a hot mess before eight in the morning. At this point you will try to wash it off, which somehow only smears it more so that you have to was your whole face in order to remove the eyeliner. So now you are running even later, in a strange city, with a snoring sister who isn't alive enough to tell you that you are being ridiculous so just put on some mascara and go, not really sure where you're even supposed to be going, and have a naked face. Did I mention that the air quality at home was utter crap the week before and so you broke out really bad? Welcome to my Wednesday morning.

It's everywhere!!

The sushi place had very cool seating.

no, my feet did not touch the ground. Bri was incredibly amused.

This is why the Beaver shouldn't be your school mascot.

3 major drink groups

So I gave up. I was exhausted and the stupid eyeliner had finally beaten me. I sat down on Bri's bed and bawled my eyes out. Then I had a quick heart to heart where I told myself that it was time to stop pretending I was brave and totally not freaked out by the fact that I was moving 1000 miles away from my ridiculously close family, living on my own for the first time, and not entirely sure I am grownup enough to blow my own nose. And I cried, and cried. Remember how Bri was asleep? Well she slept through my rather loud crying. I mean, I was full on bawling, sobbing, tears streaming, gasping for air crying and she slept through it. So after I finally calmed down enough to see the clock, I realized I had missed my bus, and still had a naked face. So I got up, feeling a little better, washed my face, re-applied my makeup, put on pencil liner, changed my hair into something much nicer, grabbed my stuff, and left. I had to walk the mile and a half to the school since I missed my bus and hadn't had time for breakfast or even coffee. Set up for the most perfect disastrous day movie ever.

Freshest salmon I've ever had! (topped with ginger! yummy!)

A bounce house. No really!

Except it wasn't. The morning was wonderfully cool, and the town was incredibly charming to walk through. There was a glorious breeze, birds chirping merrily in the trees, and the walk to campus was alot shorter when you aren't carrying a ton load of luggage. I made it there in about fifteen minutes! Right on time. I asked someone if they knew where the building was and he was on his way there too. So we found the building. I checked in. My name was on the list. I walked away from the check-in desk and was greeted by copious quantities of locally roasted coffee. It was heavenly. The school had provided a breakfast of bagels, fruit, and danishes. With herb and garlic cream cheese. I walked around the information booths. Four people wanted to know where I got my dress, and two people thought my lipstick was the "most gorgeous shade of red ever." I found the music department's booth and chatted with the choral director and his TA. They were very nice people. I sat down at a table to eat and started talking with a girl who asked where I was from. She couldn't believe I was from CA, because I totally did not seem like a Californian. Basically it was great. I felt so welcomed, and at home with everyone I met. Turns out Corvallis Oregon is full of people who volunteer information to strangers, and who know how to have a conversation. I only had to apologize for talking too much once!

Bri is going to kill me for posting this.

Thrifted chucks!

And the rest of orientation was great! I am registered for classes, met with one of my professors who was helping us register, made a friend in my major, laughed at just how much older I am than all the other people who were there, got my ID, and not a single disastrous things happened the whole morning. I was done by 12:30! When I was walking back to our hotel I kept mulling over the day. It was a very typical of me kind of day. All too often I talk about doing big things, and how I am totally not afraid of the big things. And then the big things come my way and I turn into a bawling baby inside, but of course, I've been talking big so no one can see that I am actually so scared I could poop my pants. Then I have a panic attack, am convinced everything will turn out horribly, but because I've done all the talking and have now gotten myself into this situation, I go through with it. And every. single. time. it turns out perfectly. I'm not afraid of change, in fact I actually like change. Change is exciting and new and I don't like monotony and routine. But there's a part of me that listened too closely to all the people I knew who told me how awful I am, and how incapable I am, and those voices creep up and whisper in my ear reminding me that I am just a big fat failure. When in reality I am not, and I'm a whole lot more brave than I give myself credit. I'm sure that the same thing will happen again, but it was a good moment of reflection.

Green!

I bought a hoodie. But I bought the cutest one in the store. read as I bought the least orange one.

OSU rowing team dock where we totally trespassed

Corvallis at "night" (it had just gotten dark and it was like 10pm.)

When I got back to our hotel, Bri had apparently decided to rejoin the land of the living, and we headed downtown to go check it out. The town is wonderful, but I'll go into that tomorrow. I was absolutely exhausted by the time dinner rolled around, but we found a sushi place that was *amazing*! The salmon was huge! And SO! fresh! Every thing was delicious! We left with very full bellies, went back to our hotel and watched some silly ghost shows on Syfy. We decided to take a walk later on (because it wasn't dark at 9:30) and headed down to the Willamette which was right behind our hotel. It was lovely! Then we got some gelato from a place downtown that makes their own! So good!