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Aug 2009: Graduating, moving out of Cosmo, getting a “real” job, and leaving Urbana-Champaign after nine years – it’s been quite a transition. Don’t worry, I’m not complaining about my job in Malibu, or the ocean view from my desk! I’ve been here one week so far, and decided to begin two top-ten lists, one of how Cosmo Club has prepared me well for the transition to California life, and one of how Champaign-Urbana most definitively has not. I’m starting these lists in August, and will continue to update as I get settled. How Cosmo prepared me for L.A. life: 1. Argentinean empanadas made from scratch just down the block. Inaki, if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t even know what they were, much less that they tasted so good. And no offense to your fabulous cooking skills, but this place makes a ton more variety than you ever did. 2. A Japanese supermarket down the street the other way – just like in Japan. I felt like I was back in Sapporo. (See my Cosmo Connections article from Fall 2004). 3. Hearing every language imaginable on the street. At the moment, my challenge is to learn the different alphabets on signs. I’d like to figure out Armenian and Persian. And I should probably learn some Oaxacan as well, if I want to be able to order at the taco trucks parked down the street. But it was kind of fun ordering a Clayuda and wondering what I would get. 4. At Pepperdine, where I teach, most of the students study abroad for a semester, year, or at least a summer. So I’m working with a much more internationally-aware group of students than your average undergrads at UI. It’s fun to talk about various places in class and see heads nod in understanding. 5. Everyone talks to each other while waiting in really long lines for fresh tacos, crepes, or smoothies at the farmer’s market. I didn’t expect everyone to be quite so friendly. I thought that random conversation with strangers waiting in food lines was a coffee hour thing. Maybe it has more to do with waiting for food. My colleagues say it might be just me, but that never happened to me in Champaign, outside of Cosmo Club. 6. Cosmo’s plethora of wildlife. During my period at Cosmo, I recall birds, raccoons, squirrels and mice IN the house, not to mention the opossums, rabbits, groundhog, and kittens living underneath. Here it’s deer. I just wish that they would learn to cross the street at crosswalks. I had to wait for SEVEN of them strolling across the street in front of me yesterday on campus, no fear of people whatsoever. On the other hand, I haven’t seen any squirrels. I wonder why they don’t like it here? (Update: Oct. 23. I saw a squirrel in a tree near my apartment!) 7. Lots of people living in a small spaces. Giving real estate prices here, it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting a place that’s very large! But I’m used to that. 8. Hanging out with students all the time. (OK, I am a college professor…) But I had expected, with a “real” job, my days of talking politics, or language, or culture, or cross-cultural relationships in the hallway or at the dinner table would be over. But here’s it’s simply a different table or hallway. The conversations continue... My students are used to my stories, “That reminds of someone I used to know…” 9. Hot summers. Everyone keeps warning me to avoid settling in the San Fernando Valley (part of L.A.) because it’s hot there. They’re almost as afraid of heat as they are of cold -- I might even have to keep the air conditioning on 24/7 some days! Frankly, if I can survive Champaign summers, I suspect I’ll be ok here, too. Especially since everyone has a pool! (Thanks, Andrea, for pointing this out. My Malibu colleagues can’t imagine that I could enjoy living somewhere hot—Malibu has moderate temperatures year round—but I keep assuring them that it is in fact possible.) 10. Since Pepperdine is hoping to develop themed student housing and is seeking faculty involvement, I’m hoping to make use of some of my Cosmo Club experience to support an international house or dorm on campus. Ask me in a few years how that goes. What I was not so well prepared for: 1. The ocean view out my office window. (That’s not a complaint, by the way!) 2. Climbing a mountain between the parking lot and my department office. I counted 157 stairs. But several people I’ve met who do not work with me are jealous. Stair-climbing is a big deal here, and people drive long distances to find good steps to climb. Pepperdine has some of the best, and I use them every day. 3. A 45-minute commute to work – and that’s when the traffic is good. How I miss that 10-minute walk in the rain to Greg Hall. Or 3-minute bus ride… 4. To put that in perspective, 25 of the 45 minutes is along the beach, the kind of drive that to me is normally associated with vacation. The normal attire of pedestrians I pass on the way to work is a wetsuit, and they’re carrying a surfboard! And it’s the end of October as I write this… 5. In Champaign, classes were cancelled once because of snow. Here, so I’m told, they will be cancelled in the case of rain. But it’s only rained once in the 9 weeks I’ve been here, or maybe drizzled is a better word. Students got out their Uggs and wool hats. But classes continued. It never rained hard enough to need an umbrella. 6. Celebrity awareness. I guess I just didn’t watch enough TV at Cosmo. My students and colleagues report regular celebrity sightings. Someone pointed out one TV personality to me at lunch a few weeks ago at a café, but given that I had never heard of him, nor did I recognize him, the name didn’t stick. 7. The palm trees and waterfalls in the atrium of my apartment building. (At Cosmo, hearing water running generally meant something was leaking, and trees in the house were also suspect.) 8. Getting sunburn at work. This was a surprise my very first week, when we had breakfast outdoors on a large patio before a faculty meeting. Why didn’t it occur to me to wear sunscreen to work? 9. Tsunami evacuation route signs along the drive to work. And adding earthquake insurance to my monthly budget. But for some reason, everyone here seems horrified when I tell them that Illinois has occasional tornadoes. The only person in Champaign that found them really scary was Daniela… 10. I miss my housemates! It somehow seems really solitary with only one roommate. The house is quiet, almost all the time. The kitchen is clean, and there’s almost always a washing machine available. But it takes away some of the excitement. I never have to wonder who ate my leftover cookies (or whose salt that is that I’m borrowing this time.) I never have to argue with Davide over TV programming, or relocate to the library when the house is invaded by new international students. I’ve had to buy tomatoes this year, since I don’t have a garden, and I haven’t had mint to put in my water. I don’t even think I’ve held a baby since I got here. And no barbecues… You all just don’t know how good you’ve got it! When’s the next Cosmo road trip out to California? |