Green Walls

            “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was relatable. While reading the story, all I could think was, “I understand where she’s coming from,” because the prior week I had cabin fever. Snow day after snow day, I was trapped in this white world called the TCU campus. A couple of the days consisted of sleep, eat, movie, Facebook, sleep, eat, at least when we had power and internet. The word productivity meant nothing to me. Having three roommates, one of which at any point wanted to do nothing as well, only worsened the unproductiveness. Trapped in a never-ending slope into oblivion for the snow week. The apartment never seemed so small, but it was such a hassle to go outside. Seventeen layers, becoming extremely hot if everyone isn’t ready to leave at the same time, and being unable to move. I am not quite so sure how people up north survive, at least without being absolutely miserable.

            While in my room, everything seemed so monotonous. If I did not open my curtains, everything took on a green shade— green carpet, green bed, green reflections, and green walls. I couldn’t ever stand it for that long. I had to get out, or simply, open the curtains. It puts me in this mood of I-don’t-want-to-do-anything, just sit there with my thoughts, jumping from here to there with no logical order. I make myself get out when I can’t take it anymore after piling on almost every article of clothing I own. Adventuring out into the arctic tundra that befell TCU, I found out that other people do exist, I cannot contain my laughter when people slip on the ice, and it really is not as cold as my head convinced me it would be. We built a snowman one day after raiding the BLUU for supplies. It wasn’t nearly as epic as last year’s igloo, but then again ice does not make for the best snow activities.

            While visiting people that live in the commons, I found myself creeping on the people outside. Trying to make snow art, snowball fights, sledding, and of course the occasional fall. There was always enough to entertain. Then the email crashed, not that my apartment had internet. It was like we had lost all communication, well besides phones and texting. Who knew living in a semi-Ice Age would be so difficult? Well at least professors could not have emailed me about the work I wouldn’t have done anyway. I still felt isolated. Communicating with large groups of people was seemingly impossible.

            I read the end of the story, and maybe it was not as relatable as it had been, but then again no ones knows what a few more snow days would have done to me. I don’t think that I reached complete insanity, but I guess even if I had, I wouldn’t really know that I had. As sad as returning to class was, I have been significantly more productive than I was during our off days. The weather is much nicer now. I am much more motivated to go outside and am able to do so at my convenience in a reasonable amount of clothing. Despite the weather, I still find myself with green walls but never for long.

Uno y Dos

It was one and time for our second meeting. It was a lot easier to find each other this time. Starbucks again-- it's just convenient. Plans to branch out are coming soon though. Angela doesn't like the cold, and neither does her cat Dexter. I learned how the neighborhood cat got kidnapped and is now living in the apartment below hers. She wants to see a picture of my cat on Facebook, which I'll do now. Well, that's one thing to cross off my to-do list. She complained about how difficult it is to learn English. I can relate, Spanish isn't coming so easy these days. Language- it isn't so simple. She said she'll be here another year. She won't go home until then, which is hard to imagine. Two years is a long time. Hopefully her parents will be able to visit this semester. Her dad is a doctor though so it may be difficult. I understand since my dad is a doctor as well. In between work, being on call. hospital visits, and conferences, sometimes it's hard to schedule anything. Things some up, but isn't that the story of everyone's life? So connected, so busy, one thing after the next.

She is from Colombia and drinking Starbucks coffee. I figured that it couldn't even compare, and I was right. There is a store that sells a brand of Colombian coffee- Juan Valdez. I'll have to make a trip down there soon. I heard about her boyfriend. "Sometimes he's ex and sometimes he's not." Currently he's not, but I guess I'll find out after Valentine's Day. He told her to block off a lot of time, so I'm thinking he had big plans. Celebrating just like Americans. We'll see what next week has in store for us.