Last Day in Gangland
We awoke after four hours of sleep. I'm not kidding; I was miserable. We tidied up the church and received very nice and moving thank you notes from Pastor Karen and Linda. Then we all trouped out to the cars to pack up and head to Terhune's, an orchard with great donuts, for breakfast with all the other CA groups.
The return to Princeton was bittersweet, because our time bonding and getting to know each other was just then hitting a high point and it was over. Still, we were all excited about orientation and looking forward to meeting our roommates.
I feel like I learned a lot from the week. One thing that I found totally shocking: HOW IN THE WORLD can Princeton and Trenton be so close to one another? One is an idyllic college town where the Rolex store gracing the main drag doesn't pull down a shade at night. The other is a place where, even in our so-so neighborhood, we couldn't venture out in the daytime in groups fewer than three. One has excess poverty, and one is a university that has thrown five free t-shirts at me so far and countless BBQs.

Speaking of BBQs, last night was definitely a highlight. For many reasons.
1) It was the barbecue for our college, where we were given free sweatshirts. After sitting down with a few of my roommates and one of their Outdoor Action friends, the master of our college, an awesome English teacher, came and sat with us. We had a great conversation which canvassed various topics, up to and including an instance when he and his mother broke down in the Small World ride at Disney land, right next to the Samoan. I mentioned that this may very well be an instance of my dad's personal hell. He found that very amusing and cackled really loudly, in perfect homage to one of my CA leader's imitation of him. I made the instant decision to take a class with him at some point at all costs.
2) After the barbecue all of roommate CC's OA friends, me, and RussianRoommate went into the common space of one of their dorms and played werewolves (an amped up and much more awesome version of mafia, the college student staple game) until we were forced to retreat to her actual room by the strong smells of marijuana and partying coming from around the corner of the hall.
3)We finished our games and CC and I decided to head back to the dorm while the others went out to The Street for a (teetotaling, for many of them) college experience. This experience, however, was waiting in the hall as we were forced to dodge her hall mates, baked out of their minds, requesting surprisingly politely that we "join the party." Needless to say we declined and headed back towards our dorm. On the way back we ran into an arch sing. The Roaring Twenty, an a capella group was serenading passersby. The night was beautiful, and we were back in the region of SubFree, so it was quieter. I decided that I was really glad to be in the dorm I'm in, but also really glad to have all these experiences. The high people perversely complemented the beautiful voices of the singers. It was a great evening.

Today I did nothing much, bought some books, heard the founder of Teach for America speak, and hung out with CA friends. In an hour I'm headed to a comedy night with one of the stars of the Sarah Silverman show. Princeton rocks!