Suddenly, people. Hundreds of them. (Well, 22 of them.)

I slept until 10 this morning (sleep I desperately needed) and upon entering the shower I realized I had no soap or shampoo. I took a shower anyway. Made it to the CVS this morning a few blocks away and then decided to stroll all the way back down to 11th St again to see if I couldn’t do some more browsing at Giovanni’s Room Bookstore and to find some shopping places. On my way there, here’s what I saw:

This squirrel(?) hung out around me for a good two minutes before I thought it was safe to pull out my camera. It sniffed my foot.

I wonder who wrote this and why? And also why it necessary?

The Delaware!

My favorite health care ad ever!

The Capitol

A statue-esque… button?

Take a gander at this. It makes the squirrels at Truman look like cowards, and that’s saying something.

So cute! I’ll need to pick up some food for them tomorrow.

There is seriously too much city here to take in in only two weeks. The architecture is beautiful, the people are nice, and even the weather here just feels better. Ryan told me last night that we’re 40 minutes from the nearest ocean beach… I HAVE to find a way to get there. I miss the ocean so much it hurts. It is now four o’clock and I’m not really sure what to do. Back from a ~7 mile long walking trip, my feet kinda hurt. Will write more later.

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Went to the reception and met all the other people. They’re all really cool and probably smarter than me, but today it didn’t matter so much. Haha. I met a girl who’s friends with my partner (she goes to WashU) and knows a bunch of people that I know there, and also a girl with whom I have a mutual friend at Truman. It’s a crazy, crazy, small world. I didn’t take pictures tonight mainly because I thought it would be creepy upon meeting people for the first time but also because I forgot to bring my iPod.

We had some delicious food and then a huge storm hit. We actually watched it from the 24th floor window as it swept across Jersey and hit us, but the storm only lasted 10 minutes. If only Midwest storms were like that. Anyway, I mingled with everyone I could and ended up going to the CVS with a few people to get the essentials; plastic forks, a nail clipper, red solo cups, and a king size Payday. Enough about me!

The campus is gorgeous. Everything is green as can be and some kind of floral scent pervades the entire area. It’s strange, because I haven’t yet seen any flowers. But the floral smell is quite strong. There is a constant wind that comes in from the east, presumably because of the ocean. This morning the wind was really strong, and it was torrential when the rain hit but immediately subsided. As I mentioned above, the squirrels are even more used to people than the ones at Truman. It’s possible people feed them here; I saw several couples feeding the pigeons on benches placed around the campus.

I should get to reading my assigned papers before tomorrow. I promise there will be pictures!