STOP WHINING!

You know what bugs me? At the Subway in LaFortune, the person working is required to begin adding vegetables to your sandwich by offering an ambiguous "not a question but not a statement" of "Lettuce, tomato, cucumbers?" This leaves me in an awkward position, since I don't like cucumbers on my sandwich and spinach is in the same section of the counter. I end up saying something like, "No cucumbers but I do want spinach," which causes them to ask, "Do you want lettuce and tomato?" The whole process is very inefficient. Today I simply responded to the initial question with, "Lettuce, tomato, spinach." The second part of the process is just as cumbersome (this is where Sarah would say, "CUcumbersome?"). "Olive, pickles, and banana peppers?" "No, but I would like onions, green peppers, and jalapenos." It's irksome.

Which brings me to the next section of this post. Last night's post was pretty whiny, so let's balance it out with Things I'll Miss About This Summer:

• Flowers at Notre Dame.
• The widespread pride at ND.
• Having immediate access to 80% of the books and movies I desire.
• Seeing statues and pictures of Christian symbols without being nervous that someone is going to take it down or be offended by it.
• The refreshing lack of Turlington preachers.
• The refreshing lack of repeating the same conversations during the ravings of Turlington preachers.
• The shocking and ironic fact that I went to more parties at ND in seven weeks than I have in two years at UF.
• Hanging out with my roommate JB and his friends.
• Prof. Louis MacKenzie's crazy stories about his life as a cultured, former-hippy Francophile who has been married for over 20 years and has lived in France multiple times. [Editorial: I wonder what would happen if he had a conversation with Mario Poceski from UF?]
• The Grotto and the Basilica.
• Trips to Chicago whenever I darn well feel like it.
• Knowing that I am two hours away from virtually any band I could ever want to see live.
• Yeah, pretty much anything and everything about Chicago.
• Local businesses in South Bend and Chicago.
• The private school way of life.

Of course, I won't miss:

• The private school way of life.
• Eating microwaveable food out of plastic dishes at least once a day.
• Supplementing said food with Subway at least three times per week.
• Having food stolen from me out of the fridge on a regular basis. Who steals apple sauce?
• Knowing a combined total of ten undergraduates and graduate students.
• Not having a church.
• Not having a car and not being within walking distance of anything.
• The fact that everything closes by 8 pm on campus.
• Being charged for anything and everything.
• The assumption that I'm an idiot because I am from the South AND I go to a state university.
• The look of disdain when I tell people I go to UF (mostly Urban Meyer-related).
• Feeling continually guilty for not being as productive as I ought to be.
• Feeling continually stressed out about the timing of financial matters.


And, finally, what I look forward to in Florida in no particular order after the first item:

• Family and friends.
• Lunch at Tijuana Flats with Chris on Sundays.
• Christ Community in Gainesville and River of Life in Orlando.
• Talking to Chuck.
• Staying up until 3 am with Steven and Alan.
• The permanent air mattress that Alan and I will reserve for Steven.
• Hearing about Steven's time in Kenya while fearing for my life at his new-found warrior status.
• Praying in cars.
• RUF music.
• Meeting freshmen and showing them around.
• Starting revolutions on campus and in Gainesville.
• Leonardo's, Caribbean Spice, Pita Pit, Satchel's.
• The CSC and coffee from Pascal's.
• Gator Football and Basketball.

I could go on for hours. This is the part where Chris would tilt his head back and to the right, shrug his shoulders, put his hands up, and say, "Go Gators."

Well said, hypothetical Chris, well said.

And, as a sort of "summary statement" about this summer: I feel like it was a great success overall both academically and personally. It's just been successful for different reasons than expected, which is how life always is.

Peace,
Sam