in which i sleep in the library at st. ben's
my second year of college, i lived in waite park with my college friend melissa and high school friend angie. since waite park is about six miles from CSB, i needed a way to get to and from college. fall semester, melissa said she would be able to drive me to and from, which worked about 80% of the time (there were a couple evenings where she said she didn’t want to come pick me up, so stay on the couch of a friend of ours).
after the semester was up, melissa decided enough was enough and college was not for her. she was moving back to fargo.
great.
i presented my problem to my parents, who had the “you got yourself into this mess now get yourself out we told you not to live in waite park” attitude. (well, my mom’s attitude.) (and these were the same parents who bought my brother two cars in high school.) (nice.)
i went so far as to test drive a little dodge i found in the classifieds. i figured i could get a cash advance from my credit card and slip on by the insurance requirement. i would’ve had to do it on the sly since my parents for some reason were very anti-me-having-a-car. (also, the summer AFTER my second year of college, when i got a job working overnights at kmart, my dad bought me a $400 car. WAT. i still can’t wrap my head around this scenario.)
well, i was able to get around the whole transportation issue by sending an email to all the off-campus bennies and johnnies begging for a daily ride to school. eureka! someone responded. the only problem was that she was a biology major, and her days started at 8 a.m. and lasted 8 hours.
i was just happy to have a ride. (sort of.)
i had two classes day that semester, and they were both of the easy hour variety – probably an 11:20 a.m. and 2:40 p.m., or 9:40 a.m. and 1 p.m. either way, i got there way early and stayed way late.
on the one hand, this was handy for studying – i did great in my econ and theology classes that semester and managed to squeak by in my theory of math class (which was HORRIBLE). on the other hand, i was a very tired person. i worked evenings at kmart, so there were days i didn’t get to sleep until midnight at least and had to be up a 6 a.m. since my carpool buddy wanted to get in early to go over notes. (she was very ambitious.)
so i took to sleeping in the library.
the st. ben’s library had a loft which was little used, and i would spend my mornings up there before classes. beanbags littered the floor among the desks, and i could turn off the light. one time someone came up the stairs while i was asleep, turned on the light, woke me up, then stared at me as i gathered my things and left.
it was also kind of nervewracking because i didn’t have an alarm, so i was always worried i’d sleep too long and miss my classes, but i never did. (i should have gotten a digital watch or something that could’ve woken me up. cell phones were not the norm yet at this time, unfortunately.)
but i made my classes, and i managed to get a B or BC or C in my math theory class, and i still haven’t learned my lesson about going to bed early. maybe someday.