Graduate School trip- Day Five- San Diego

Today is San Diego interview day! This is a big one. I really like this school. I woke up at 6:30 and put the wrinkly, sweat stained, nasty interview suit on, again. At this point who's gonna take me seriously, I mean really. But whatever, its all I got, no one has an iron, etc etc. So, I walked 6 blocks to bus 20 and transfered to the 964, after 30 minutes of waiting with a craaaazy guy. My first mistake was telling him that I was going to a psychology interview. Hey, he asked. He proceeded to tell me that psychologists always tell him that he has bipolar and schizophrenia but it's not true. He said he has a relationship with God. God lets him fly like a space ship, which he demonstrated. He said he sees girls like me there but they have wings. He said he sees aliens in bars sometimes and they take him to universities. For years, he didn't know why but recently he figured it out... they want him to go back to school. I'm not usually one to lie, but not wanting to upset the guy when he asked if I thought he was crazy- I said no. Ahhhh! There is something to be said for taxis.

So I arrived at the school at 9am, 2 hours early. I wasn't sure about the bus system so I allowed for a lot of time. I walked around the campus; it was beautiful. It was wooded and there were mountains in the distance. The school was about 20 minutes from downtown. I was interviewed by a nice student and then a professor, who was smoking a pipe when he picked me up from the student center. He was native american and wearing a canadian suit except it was black denim. He walked really slowly and looked wise. We got to his office, he finished his pipe and said, "So, why San Diego?" That was the only question he asked. It was semi refreshing not to be asked the same questions that I answered in the required essays and also semi disturbing. This guy was definitely not typical, but it was almost calming to be around him. I noticed myself slowing my speech and lowering my energy to match his. I didn't want to leave his head spinning. So, he showed me some of his books and gave me an understanding of the curriculum. He let me "borrow" a book so that seemed promising. After the interview he took all of the integrative psychology students, including me, to lunch!! It was a nice italian place. I had a delicious veggie sandwich since I haven't eaten veggies since I left Portland! I met a nice guy, named Dave and a cool girl named Blair at the lunch and hung out with them afterwards. Dave lives in the area and took us for free frozen yogurt and free beer at a brewery which together made me super sick. I've been practically stealing saltine crackers and noshing on granola bars and I wasn't used to all of this food! We drove along the coast on the way back and then he dropped me off. I laid down and felt better in a few hours. He picked me back up and he went to his friends house and played video games, more free beer. Then we went to a kick ass concert. The band was called, "The Union Line". The drummer was unbelievable! So the bar, called, "The Beauty Bar," was lined with those old school dryers and silhouettes of girls getting their hair done. It was a cool dive bar. Bars close at 2am here and since Dave's friend was spinning from 1-2 we stayed and listened to him. People can dance here. Crazy popping, waving, hippy, robotish nut-so moves. I still clap... I guess it's not "in" anymore." What do you do? Well, typically drinking helps, but I didn't want to get sick. My tummy is sensitive these days.

The best part of my day, was getting a California burrito at a taco shop at 230am (free of course.) It was sooo good. It was similar to other burritos, except better and with french fries in it. I got "home" and met a guy from Turkey. He liked my name... his was hemlock or something. He told me it meant helmet in his language, which doesn't fit his personality he said. He said he's a lover not a fighter... he came here avoiding the draft. Crazy.