Wayfarers.

I have been intending on posting this blog all week, so, finally, here it is:

The Seat-Gripping Story of Renee's Visit to Washington. by. hmb.

Last week, Renee came out to visit. She and I have been friends since August 1999, and we were very excited--to not only have four whole days together--but to also adventure around in my Blue Pontiac Sunfire together (something we have very fond memories of dating back to March 2002, when we spent 45 hours with Suz PT in the blessed Blue Car...)

The main purpose of her visit was to check out Graduate Programs in the area. Renee wanted to look into the Master of Christian Studies at Regent College (Vancouver, BC), and I wanted to check out the MA in Creative Writing at Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) and University of Washington (Seattle, WA). We hit two of three in her brief 4-day visit, and also managed to squeeze in visits to Lynden, Darrington, and at least 14 independent book stores (slight exaggeration.)

Here's my top 5 list of things I learned during her visit:

1. Truth #1: 8AM classes are still too early. Even though we were prospective Graduate Students, just by the nature of an 8AM class, I felt like a first-semester freshman. But--during our 8AM "Seminar in Non-Fiction" class at WWU, we discovered that we would be confident and comfortable in that learning environment. I am interested in the program, but I have no specific plans right now.

2. Truth #2: Engineering labs are intimidating places full of very complex and expensive machinery. During our visit to WWU Renee and I got a personal tour of the Engineering Labs, thanks to friend Kurtis, who is a student in the department. We got to see all sorts of interesting projects that the students work on, and I got to feel guilty that I never finished High School Chemistry and took a fake lab science during Undergrad. Overall, though, I enjoyed learning that when you're an engineer, you get to spend half your time breaking stuff you make.

3. Truth #3: Vancouver is beautiful, but not as pretty of a city as Seattle. The buildings looked like Europe, circa 1962. But--they are investing over $4 Billion into the city, because the Winter Olympics will be held there in 2010. People in Vancouver appear (based on our 90 minutes of observation at a park and 90 minutes at a restaurant) to be cultured and outdoorsy.

4. Truth #4: If you're spending many hours in a car with a friend and she says, "I need coffee," please do not deny her. Even though you think you're "helping her overcome an unnecessary addiction," you will live to regret it.

5. Truth #5: If you want to play "Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition 2," make sure you only invite OTHER people who want to play "Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition 2." Otherwise, you will live to rue the day that you didn't suggest Taboo or Cranium. Although, when someone sets up a Cranium board in the middle of your Trivial Pursuit game, I suggest you take the hint and switch games. It will be fun. Yay for Heidi, Mark, Renee, Zach, Pam, and Sarah, and a fun night of food and games!