One week has never felt this long. Ever.

It's also a bit taxing on my health. I've had a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and a severe headache all at different times in the past week. It all comes and goes, but the complimentary medicine we get helps. It also tends to make me think this happens alot here at GE bootcamp. I also hardly get time to exercise, which really sucks. I sit on my ass and eat shitty hotel food by day, and drink beer and get minimal sleep by night. I'm not at my healthiest right now, I'll tell you that much.

Regardless of all that, we are having a damn good time also. When you ask? Weekday nights usually. Even though we have to get up at 7 am the next morning and work all day, we do it. We have to. If we didn't, we might lose it. Or at least I would.

Last Monday we went to a local Irish Pub and they were having karaoke. Well, I had never done karaoke before, and this night people were to witness my debut. It may have been the alcohol, the atmosphere, or just the overall feeling of accomplishment and achievement, but I think it was a mix of all of them. Anyway, I performed a kick-ass rendition of Run DMC's 'It's Tricky to Rock a Rhyme', and everyone loved it. It was especially good because I knew all the lyrics already, so I could really get into it. Somebody took a video of it, I gotta see that. Afterwards, I was asked to participate in many other group karaoke songs. Ha, guess I was just a charismatic guy that night. And loud. Even when I wasn't on the mic and singing along, my voice was definitely louder than anyone else's, or at least it seemed. Also, I was told that when I sing, my accent fades. Which makes sense, I mean, just look at British bands. They don't sound British at all when they sing.

Yea, we have our fun. We also played beirut in a hotel room a few nights ago. Granted, this was the week I was sick, but I couldn't avoid the allure, especially since it was right down the hall. So I donned my aviators, spiked my hair, and marched in to signed up. Afterwards I came right back and crashed. I think I'm finally recovering, somewhat. Which is strange, because I went out to New York City last night, since today was our first day off. We came back on the last train, which left ast 5:30 am. Last call there is at 4 am, which is pretty awesome. So yea, we ended up back at the hotel at 7 am. I think that's the latest I have ever been out, and consequently slept in (4 pm!).

Which brings me to my next point. The ratio here is just like WPI's. The thing that sucks is, it sometimes isn't. It just happened that this time there was a demand for more technically - rather than business - inclined people. Naturally, there are less women. The handful that are social are just impossible to associate with. Early on I had met and talked to each of them on certain occasions, cause that's just my style, I'm personable. Some of my friends said it's probably because I'm used to the competition, and I thought that was funny, but it had nothing to do with that at all. Anyway, those friendships didn't last. No more than a week later, these girls are swamped at every moment of the day. And it also appears that they really weren't so sincere in their efforts to be friends anyway, seeing as how I often now get the cold shoulder for the next guy. It's almost as if they think every guy here just wants to get in their pants. Now, I'm not saying that I don't think some of these girls are attractive and that I haven't flirted a little bit, but even so, they are taking advantage of all this attention and are using everyone for it.

That's kinda why last night sucked a bit. I ended up with the group that was with the girls and it was basically a huge display of manhood. Everyone was trying to dance with them all at once. On the street, every other minute one of the girls was holding hands/leaning on/getting a piggy back from another person. After a while, I decided my efforts to relate with them at all were just going to frustrate me, so after last night I decided to just let that be. When I start my job in Charlottesville I'll have plenty of 'real' people to associate with.

Speaking of that, I finally got a place, and it's fucking sweet. This is the community I'll be living in. It's got a ton of amazing amenities and just looks phenomenal. That website doesn't have pictures of the great European style design of the apartments, but this place does. Not bad for $830 a month I suppose. At first I thought this to be a bit steep, but after asking around, it's quite normal. Even still, I wish I could be saving more money. After rent, and bills, and food, I'm not really going to have much left every month. Then again, I was told that paying off loans is kinda like saving money since I am reducing my debt. Hm. I suppose.

Anyway, there are a lot of great people here. Very much like me in regards to work ethic and the like. Working in groups has never been easier. It's like, every group is going to succeed with flying colors, the only difference is how you do it and how long it takes. A lot better than worrying about if you are going to have to shoulder most of the work, like back at school.

In that same vein of thought. After going through some classes and quizzes and such, it still seems like I am rising above my peers in regards to recognition and achievement, etc. I'm participating more, asking more questions, scoring higher, getting noticed. Most instructors know me by name. I was the first person done with the first quiz in my room, which had like 60 people in it. I mean, the mix of people here is not unlike school - quiet ones, loud ones, jocks, nerds, foreigners, etc - so I guess I'll still naturally rise to where I belong, like usual. I guess I just expected there to be more competition, more people like myself that would cast their shadow over me.

I guess this is enough for now. I've been told that I post too much at times, and it deters people from reading. Ah well, I just always have so much to say since I post so irregularly. This will probly be the last for a long time, since bootcamp is supposed to get super ridiculous starting tomorrow.

Time to go do my laundry for the first time since I got here! While I'm at it, I think I'll go for a nice, long run on the only treadmill that works here. Did I mention the gym facilities really blow? Or that there is only one washer and dryer?

Ah well. At least there's Karaoke again tomorrow night.