I get to the airport on time... but I don't have my driver's license (and I still can't think of where it might be... maybe in New York?!??).  They let me through, but insisted on digging through and thoroughly disorganizing all of my luggage.  When I asked why not having my driver's license with me made me inherently more dangerous, they did not respond positively.

The plane was itty bitty... the overhead bins were more of an afterthought than a functional part of the plane which means that I was forced to check my luggage at the gate.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don't check luggage.  Ever.  The person sitting next to me on this sardine extreme was not exactly petite.  At all.  And she was strange.  When the flight attendant cheerfully came through offering beverages and snacks, this individual looked away and shook her head fiercely - like a small child who doesn't want to eat something.  Um... ok...  And then she starts tearing pages out of the skyMall magazine, folding them nicely, and forcefully stuffing them in her bra.  ????  I just thought that was classy... because the thing has written across the top "Take this magazine!  The flight crew will replace it!"  I"m glad it was a short flight.

When I get off the elevator in my hotel, I am immediately greeted with the strangest of scents.  I can't even describe it, except to say that it involves what smells like large amounts of baby powder - used in an attempt to mask whatever the other strange stench is.  The combination is not exactly pleasing.  The lady at the front desk told me than an old man who basically lives here managed to completely BURN a potato in his room - setting fire alarms off, and making the whole hall smell funny.  Gee, great. 

My room is also not convincingly clean.  I opened the lid on the toilet to find yellowish water and a single pubic hair in there.  UGH.  The bathroom floor has this awkward film on it, and the bar of soap in the shower has obviously weathered a shower or two... still in the paper.  The lamp next to the chair doesn't work, and the ethernet cord is too short.  My bed is lacking any cover on the box spring, and the bottom sheet is a poorly-tucked flat sheet (as opposed to fitted) - basically it's hanging out.  I really fear for the cleanliness of said sheets.

Most of the restaurants nearby are closed (and reasonably so), but that made it hard for me to get dinner tonight. 

Add on top of all of the above that I am developing quite the nasty cold, and I'm having a grand ol' time.  Of course the quickie mart around the corner only sells sudafed PE... which is totally useless, but given the situation, I decided to try it anyway.  Yeah, no good.  I am miserable.  What began as a sore throat last night has progressed into all out congestion, cough, and snot-fest.  I'm primed to make a great impression tomorrow!

Plus, I realized that since I'm not renting a car, chances are pretty bad that I will make it to the airport on time.  If I do public transportation, I have to leave the school at 3:45 to get to the airport by 4:55 (an hour before my flight).  Too bad interviews aren't over until 4.  If I get a taxi, it would cost way more, and it could take just as long because of rush hour traffic.  Brilliant.  I'll ask the staff or students at the interviews tomorrow what I should do - since 5:55 is the last flight from PDX to SLC.  If I miss my plane, I'm stuck.

But, on the up side, I actually am really excited to be going to this interview tomorrow.  I accidentally toured the campus by boarding the wrong bus today, and it is fairly impressive.  No lack of facilities, and because it's the northwest, of course it's pretty.  I miss ferns.  After all, this is my number 2 choice school, so despite my cold-induced grump-fest, this is really a great thing.  I like Portland more than Philadelphia, Hamden, and StonyBrook combined.  Plus they have a fantastic program... and so on and so forth. 

And now I'm going to put my sick sad self to bed and hope I feel better in the morning. 

I'm still waffling on the Arcadia thing.  Maybe I'm being a bit harsh.  Maybe the interviews didn't go all that well, but the program is still just fine... and the truth is that it is.  While I didn't like downtown (sorry, Center-City) Philadelphia at all, I didn't mind the area right around Arcadia.  Germantown is gorgeous, but I don't think I could afford to live there.  Of course, I can't afford to live anywhere.

One of the most bothersome things to me was the amount of racial and social disparity in the area - Germantown is historic, cute, and gorgeous, but just outside, when you get to Glenside, you encounter poverty and squalor.  I felt that way about Hamden/New Haven, too.  I suppose you encounter that everywhere, but for whatever reason, it really bothers me.  When I mentioned this to the counselor yesterday, he felt strongly that this is something that we really need to talk about - that I have a chip on my shoulder.  I don't think I'm being unreasonable, but he's determined.

Ok, so I'm being ridiculous, but that is the state of my brain lately.  No seriously, I've been a mess.  Anxious, tired, agitated, irritable, depressed, and so forth.  It's hard to make a well-reasoned and rational decision when you're an emotional basket-case. 

I'm having trouble in my classes.  I just can't grasp what is going on, and I can't keep up at all.  Everything is gibberish to me again.  I guess the best way to describe how I feel at school is "confused."  I guess "lost" works pretty well, too.

Speaking of school, I have class in another seven minutes, so I ought to go.  Bye bye.