Twenty One

I remember turning twenty one so well. By the time I turned "bar age" most of my friends could go out with me because they had already become legal. It was fun. We started at the Nitty Gritty, of course. And then, since I was such a light weight in college, I can't remember.

That spring I was working hard on my school of education application- it had been a threat since I was a freshman at Madison- only 15 applicants from hundreds accepted into the social studies program each year. I submitted and that summer found out that I was admitted. I also remember that next fall my advisor telling me that I had been the top scoring applicant and had gotten into the program with flying colors. All that worry for nothing, but I guess the studying did pay off.

I was also looking summer camps to work at that year and I ended up working at Camp Birch Trail in northern Wisconsin. It was a great time, meeting other counselors from around the country. I was the sailing director and couldn't believe that I was getting paid to sail with kids all day long. I loved the kids and was a "middle Maple", so I was a mom, friend, entertainer, etc to two groups of 10 year olds that summer. Pictured is me dressed up as "Ms. Birch Trial" for the contest and me with my co-counselor and other counselor, Krista. That summer was a really big learning experience for me in terms of kids, affluence in this country, and in being away from my family and friends. It was a wonderful experience though, I kind of wished that I had done that the summer before, the only hard part is that I had very little time off to go on my own outdoor adventures that summer.

The next fall I returned as an Resident Assistant to a private dorm (pictured here with other RAs). That meant that I lived alone in an apartment, but was the organizer for my floor. It was a tight squeeze with starting the education program and with everything else I had already been doing. I did like the independence, though, and ended up meeting more good friends through the experience. There were several funny incidents that year- the lady in the elevator, the holes in the walls, the stove discussion, the ridiculous manager, and also sad- finding the dead boy on the 6th floor. I remember Ted the Turtle, the Bulletin boards, driving out to our school placement with Benny Boy and KSH in the mornings in the little blue car. That year I lived far away from DrMI who was kind of living between her own apartment and that of her bf, N's apartment. I really didn't like living so far away from the NE part of campus, I missed the lake, the farmer's market, the capital, and restaurants along state street.

That year, my bf Gabe moved to Milwaukee to specialize in engineering. I don't know why we kept dating, but we did. He would often come to visit on weekends, which was fine, but I should have probably been out socializing more than I was. That winter I was planning a trip to France and Italy and preparing to student teach in the fall.