Living it up in my...dorm

Alright so I am here in Florida all settled in and ready for the 2 month long haul! I arrived here yesterday and I was the last intern to be picked up because I am from the farthest away. I can already tell I am going to have to train everyone the proper way to say Nevada. Mel picked me up at the airport and gave me the low down on living here in Jacksonville, which I must say is absolutely beautiful. Trees. TREES EVERYWHERE!! So much green. And so much water! So I arrived at my dorm and met all the other interns. Its pretty 50/50 sex ratio but funny thing is, I am the oldest one here. Yeah, the oldest and I am not even old, not even by a long shot! All these youngins, I aint dealin with no shenanagins I swear! But everyone was very friendly and we all get along great so far. So the first night here we had some pizza for dinner then we were left to our own devices. Thankfully some of the students that came here brought vehicles so we went shopping at a SuperTarget, I mean what else is there to do when you come to Florida for the first time?? We just got some essentials (for me that was tp and cookies of course) and then headed to the beach right at sunset. Oh yes, I said the beach, because now I am cool enough to live on the beach. Go ahead. Be jealous :)

We stayed there for a bit enjoying the soft breeze and smelled the ocean spray. Just so wonderful. Then back to my dorm room. I have never had the pleasure of living in a dorm room, I have always been fortunate enough to live in an apartment. However, my roommate Elyse is a really sweet girl who loves Harry Potter so we are going to get along just fine. I am back to a twin size bed that is about four feet off the ground but is at least comfy. The air conditioner works something fierce here in this hot place, and anyone who knows me even a little bit knows I am always cold. I think it will be ok now though because we got it figured out so it is only on a little bit of the day. I know, I know call me crazy, but even in hot Florida I like a warm living quarters.

So the start of the new day at my new University here at UNF was swell. Woke up this morning to the singing of lawn mowers (I am sure the grass here has to be mowed five times a day to account for all the growth from moisture just swirling in the air). We headed to the University for our orientation and this place is just amazing beautiful. The campus has so many flowers and trees and sculptures and waterfalls and color. I'm lovin it. We met our leaders and had a tour of the campus. There are lakes here on campus that you can just fish out of. They have bass and carp and turtles and even alligators. Just there on campus for students who have fishing license. When I asked our guide if he was kidding he looked at me like I was crazy. Because, you know, its all kinds of common for schools to have fishable ponds everywhere...

See the small lake in the background? Yeah you can fish it.

We also got our ID's that contain all our meal plans and about $500 in Ospray bucks, UNF's mascot, that I can spend anywhere on campus like at Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, whatever. The cafeteria here is pretty bomb too, I was very surprised. All you can eat with every food imaginable, carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore status. They even have vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options.

Little sample of my lunch

And of course my dessert

Really great facility with great food. During the tour we stopped at the college gym and let me just say, WOW. I am not even a huge gym person (except for my one and only gym 9Round) but this place was amazing. They had three stories and the first thing you see when you walk in is a giant rock wall. The first floor is all the rooms for classes, which is where I will be spending all my Zumba time. The second floor is more gym equipment than an entire professional football team could use in a lifetime. I couldn't even tell you what 90% of it was or how to use it, but it is available to me none the less if I ever get drunk or something and want to use it. Then the third floor was an indoor track, and there is a Jamba Juice right in the building!!!! After I dance my butt off, I can get free Jamba Juice from me paid for meal plan! Ah life is good :)
After the tour, we returned to the biology department to attend a two hour lecture on one of our leaders projects here. This guy had skill, he made only 33 slides last for a solid two hours. He is a great guy and his shark stuff was what I love, but even I was struggling after an hour. Then we had a nice housing meeting, getting all the do's and dont's, which of course have already been broken by some of us. Not me of course, but college drinking is a hard thing to quell!

Say hello to my little dorm!

After our meeting we headed to dinner for another round of yummtastic food, and I even ate a salad! Ok Ok close the mouths everyone, it was pretty small and only had spinach, but I still like to think I am turning a health corner here.

After dinner we decided to take a little hike on one of the nature trails they have here right on UNF. Amazing. So many dragonflies!! Of all colors and sizes! And of course, waaaaay too many mosquitoes.

The trail included an awesome little lake filled with all kinds of turtles, fish, and gators.

We also stumbled upon this awesome advanced ropes course, I wanted to try it so bad!

It was so cool to be able to just go across the street from campus and find some wilderness. All along the trail we were on there were little work out stations that had instructions and a piece of equipment for the crazy people who jog on the trail and want to make it a little more intense.

Then it was time to give life a rest and kick it back at the dorms. I am a little worried, my foot started hurting while we were walking and by the time we finally got back to the dorms, my foot was hurting so bad I felt sick every time I stepped down on it. I have never had problems with my feet nor have I ever had them hurt so bad. I am babying it now but I really hope it doesn't hurt like this manana. I am going to go with tennies and see if the extra support will do some good. Ok, I'm gonna sign off this long first timers post, but I bid thee all farewell until tomorrow (or whenever I feel like coming back, you're not the boss of me).