These Boots are Made for Walking

"The world isn't so bad if you can just get out in it"

Well I made it through the first half-week of school last week and I guess you could say I'm thoroughly on my way to becoming a full-time college student. I've got all my books and I've got my dorm room completely set up. I've completed my first five hour homework stint in the library (which I'm sure will seem paltry in the months to come), and met a whole slew of new people. I had my first test and first paper and I made my first trip to Wal-Mart to buy supplies I needed (and many that I didn't. Why did I buy that subwoofer again?)

But if I was asked to explain what defined my first week in college, outside of the mundane and homogenous experiences I've related, I'd find it hard to pinpoint a reason college feels so much different from anything I've felt before. I have, however, found out that despite my initial feeling of excitement and adventure, I am now experiencing something I never thought I would so soon: restlessness.

That may sound pretty harmless, but to me, it means I've got some major potential problems. All through high school I found myself gazing out the window during class wishing I was elsewhere, somewhere exciting, somewhere just not where I was. I was never really happy on a Saturday night anywhere in my hometown doing any number of things I'd done for the past four years of Saturday nights. And I thought being at college would change that, that'd I'd feel free and unleashed as if released from a straight-jacket.

I don't feel that, though. Like Calvin in the strip that headlines my blog today (incidentally my favorite Calvin and Hobbes strip), I wish I could just be out in the world. I don't know how this will play out, but for now my restlessness here at Luther, which has been causing its own share of discomfort and even sadness, will remain an inactive player in my decisions. I think, though, that I must do something to alleviate my own predicament, for it seems more and more that nothing in life simply happens for my benefit without my own action stimulating it.

What I shall do, I have no idea, but if you have any ideas, let me know! With the beautiful Autumn weather approaching, I fear a simple trip out into the wild will become more and more appealing without some comfort to be found here at Luther.

Take it easy,

Danny