Commuting again
I’m staying in Noe Valley in SF and commuting to and from for the institute. This morning I got up at 5:45, showered, got my stuff together and then headed out the door at 6:45. I walked a mile to the the BART station, took that to Millbrae where I picked up CalTrain to Palo Alto. I arrived in Palo Alto at 8:22, went to get coffee and ended up on campus at the front door of my first LSA presession course at 8:57. If I eliminated the coffee break and took the shuttle from the CalTrain station to campus, I could probably save about 15-20 minutes, but that still leaves my commute time at around 2 hours.
It’s strange being a commuter again. In my last year at USC, I lived in Venice Beach and took the bus in (usually, sometimes I would catch a ride with a friend). The total commute time was about an hour and a half. And with my 40-hour per week work schedule on top of a full courseload of five classes, I grew pretty accustomed to just being on the move at all times and five-minute naps.
I forgot how much it sucks to be a long-distance commuter. Besides missing out on social opportunities (not as much a problem here because the trains run late and I’m less afraid of getting mugged, but my classes all run pretty late so so far it actually does prevent me from being social at all outside of chatting to people about how they should take a look at Categorial Grammar), being a commuter means being a nomad–you end up having to pack what you need for an entire day, which includes course-related stuff, food for the whole day, extra layers of clothing to accommodate changes in the weather, etc. etc. This probably would suck a whole lot less if I had an office on campus where I could dump all my stuff in between classes.
Which makes me miss Providence all the more. The institute has been really great so far, and I’m glad to be here, even though I must admit it really is odd being around so many linguists. I miss the vision and navigation folks, strangely, and I miss hearing that very precise and critical voice from variable-free land. Not that everyone is all sloppy jalopy here, but it’s just a bit strange to sit in minimalist syntax and not hear anyone question subject raising.
emma :: Jul.02.2007 :: misc :: 1 Comment »