Thus spake Zarathustra...from a little village called Potsdam

It has been already 4 months since I arrived at the airport in Syracuse en route to the reclusive, sleepy, and often drunken village of Potsdam. Yet it feels like a year. Strange.

That picture was from a while ago, back when the trees were starting to die. I remember not noticing at all until my good friend Yu Ling told me how pretty the foliage was. For the few days, the sky was blue by the sky and a bright orange red by the trees. It was really nice to walk around.

I tried to recreate the same picture above, in the present. Everything is white by the snow and gray by the sky, and the trees are either coated with snow or completely bare. Its nice to have snow until it starts to melt. Then it becomes this brown, murky slush that reminds you of...well, crap. And it smells too when you go up the staircase cause the snow melts in there faster and mixes with the heat, dirt, and sweat of people's shoes. I actually got the same picture with my nifty camera phone but the phone died on me, so I can't upload anything quite yet. Oh yes, another matter of great importance.

The weather, ha.

After coming here, I have decided that heaven consists of an infinitely long strip of warm Californian beachfront backed by a never ending row of Korean restaurants. I have also decided that hell consists of an infinitely long strip of freezing Potsdam riverfront backed by a never ending row of Subway and Benne Pizzeria stands. That basically sums up what I think about the weather...and food.

But the classes are great. I really do love the fact that I can decide for myself what I need to get done, when I do it, and how I go about completing it. Really different from high school where the teachers literally spoonfeed the material to you and adjust their schedule to you. Here, the professors don't care about your schedule. They don't care for you grade. They just don't care about you. Yes, that might be a big exaggeration, but the concept is real. They have more important things to do most of the time, and some of them don't even have the lecture time as their priority. You go in, sit, listen and take notes, do problem sets, preview and review...etc etc. No busywork! Isn't that the life? Yeah, its really enjoyable...sometimes painfully difficult...but much better than high school!

Finals next week...marks the end of my first semester here. It will be nice to be back in California for winter break.

Finals...
College apps...
Nearly done...
화이팅!