After spending a whole semester in DC, coming back to Ithaca is a CHANGE. It’s not the city-middle-of-nowhere change, it’s the I haven’t been here for a whole nine months change. As a result, I’ve been walking around campus acting like it’s the first day back from summer break, taking in the completed construction projects and observing the new ones (construction never ends, it’s like the Twilight Zone), walking into new classrooms, being excited to eat at the different cafe’s and dining halls that I haven’t frequented in a very long time, etc.
The problem is everyone else walks around like it’s the first day back from winter break, annoyance on their faces that the 5 weeks vacation wasn’t long enough, exasperation of the cold weather, disbelief that construction never ends, exhaustion from a busy rush week etc.
These different attitudes result in me looking like a freshman, well not even, more like a pre-frosh since even the freshmen have found their way around Cornell. I still press 5 in the elevator though I now live on the fourth floor. I’ve forgotten the quickest way to get to Collegetown, and worst of all, my RA thinks I’m a transfer student.
Eventually…hopefully…things will change. Except for the construction, that will never change.