Athens Local Brew--Terrapin!

Within this liberal pocket in the deep south, there is a down-home, local brew that is worth introducing. Terrapin beer with a turtle playing a banjo in a field of rye. And, that logo is pretty much the feel of the brewery, there is not one ounce of pretentiousness about it. A local artist was strumming his guitar and playing blue-grass tunes as we tasted eight different brews for $8 in the non-air-conditioned brewery. This was the venue chosen for the Campus Life staff social...a good opportunity to get to know the folks I will be working with this year. We missed the tours, but the brewery is so small that you can pretty much look around while standing in one place and you have seen the entire brewery. My favorite brew: Sun-ray (the October brew which is not out yet). If you like bite to your beer, try Big Hoppy Monster...it is 8% alcohol. This was a welcomed field trip away from all of the books.

It is a Tornado of Marxism!

U G A - ATHENS

Message sent - 8/26/2008

Tornado Warning
This is an important emergency announcement from the University of Georgia emergency alert system. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for Athens-Clarke County until ______ o'clock. A tornado warning means that a tornado has been sighted or indicated on radar in Athens-Clarke County. Seek shelter indoors immediately. Proceed to the lowest level of the building. Stay off phones to enable you to recieve additional emergency instructions. This is not a drill. Tornado warning for Athens-Clarke County.

Oops, they forgot to add a time and yes, they spelled "receive" incorrectly!

This is the email I found in my inbox after all 16 of us PhD students hunkered together in the basement of our building as the loud sirens hailed and the storm clouds swirled above. Our professor, Dr. Sheila Slaughter, didn't let the tornado warning stop class...she gathered us together in a small, cramped hallway as we discussed Karl Marx theories. I felt like Marx was laughing in his grave as we were scrunched together without the material luxury of ergonomic chairs and a high-tech classroom, yet the Coca-Cola machine (I should get an endorsement for this) was the only reminder needed, yes...we do live in a capitalist country! Luckily, the wrath of Marx didn't revolt and the tornado spiral missed us by 5 miles...the only thing left spinning was my head.

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his
needs."

I GOT Class!

In the U.S. a PhD includes a few years of coursework, specifically in my program it is 2 years of coursework before we take comps (tests) and are invited to write our dissertation. Finally, I have made some tough decisions and I am signed up for my first semester PhD courses! We are encouraged to take a Statistics I class, if we need a refresher (or in my case a remedial class), as we need to be ready to take a Statistics II class in the spring semester. So, I took a tour of Statistics courses this first week and let me tell you...it was F-U-N! All kidding aside, I had to choose between one kick-my-ass and have-no-life-except-Statistics-class OR a basic, foundational class through the sociology department. I chose the latter. You would think it would be a no-brainer decision but somehow I like to make these decisions much more difficult than they should be. Here is my schedule:

Higher Education in the United States (3 credits)

Analysis & Interpretation of Sociological Data I (3 credits)

Social Theory & Higher Education (3 credits)

Assistantship (3 credits)

Registration Bureaucracy!

It does not matter where I go, bureaucracy follows! On Friday, the Institute for Higher Education held orientation for all us newbies in the PhD program. There are 11 of us and we come from various places in the mother land (USA). Unfortunately, there are no international students in our cohort but Jennifer (an American friend from Oslo who lived abroad for the past 6 years) and I, hopefully we will fill a small portion of that knowledge gap. When I went online to register for classes...I discovered I had 2 flags preventing me from registering. One, they never received my diploma from the University of Oslo (shocker!) and two, the health center did not have my immunization history (oops, one small detail that slipped through the cracks). So, I spent the remainder of the day filling out waiver forms to compensate for Oslo's slack and lack of sending proof of my European master's degree and running around trying to track down my immunization history...which goes as far back as 1974. I totally just aged myself! Anyway, in Europe, I did not turn in any medical records, or immunization records, or fingerprints, and I was never asked to sign my life away. RANT! The European public health system is not as hyper-sensitive about these sorts of liability issues. But, here in the mother land, there are liability forms for everything as our culture is a bit litigation-happy. Luckily, my mother was able to track down my records and I did not get poked with the poison of vaccinations. I will be able to register for classes on Monday. Woohoo!

All of this called for a beer (or two). So, I joined the weekly tradition...happy hour, 5 p.m. at Cutter's bar.

Photos: The Institute of Higher Education (the building where my professors reside and most of my classes are located.)

Welcome to Athens, Georgia...home of the BULLDAWGS!

My week started with 3 days of orientation at the University of Georgia Campus Life department where I am the Doctoral Intern for the Center for Student Organizations. This is all part of the "free tuition" PhD deal. I work in a University department, gain practical skills in the field, and in return I receive a monthly stipend and a tuition waiver. It is a sweet deal, albeit not as "delicious" as the Erasmus Mundus scholarship I received in Europe. However, I'm fairly psyched about my jobs and the whole set-up. For 13 hours/week I work in Campus Life (allowing me to get back to my student affairs roots) and 7 hours/week I am a research assistant for Dr. Sheila Slaughter (which I'm quite honored to have the opportunity to work with her). It should make for a nice balance of student contact and research.

The Campus Life orientation was incredible! The first day I arrived, I was given more schwag (promotional items) than I ever thought possible...4 shirts, an umbrella, a football chair, pins, name tags, towel, lunch bag, backpack, and more (see pic). Everyday, during orientation, I was well fed and I even got to try real southern grits. Ok, it wasn't only the schwag and food that made me feel at home...it was the friendly people, thorough training, student-centered approach, and the silly nature of Student Affairs folks. I missed all of this when I was in Europe! However, I do have a new lens from my experience on the "outside" (academia) and can understand how Student Affairs is viewed as "fluff". I officially start working in these capacities next week!

The Joys of Moving IN!

I have *officially* moved 7 times in 2 years, now I can self-profess as a packing and moving expert! After all, isn't that what we all truly to aspire to be someday (to pack up our materialistic crap and move it from one corner of the world to the next)? Despite the skills and knowledge gained in this area it never seems to get easier. However, I have learned that setting up house, specifically my bedroom, is the best thing I can do to make it feel like home.

So, after dropping my dad off at the Atlanta airport (which was a harrowing 1.5 hour drive through the Atlanta highway traffic), I made my way to Ikea. Ikea is a huge warehouse of household goods; everything from wok frying pans, to bamboo plants, to beds. And, all three of these items ended up in one of the two shopping carts I tried to maneuver gracefully through the crazy Ikea crowds. After 4 hours, I cashed out at the cash register and found myself a bit engrossed, yet nostalgic, in the Swedish food section as I bought Scandinavian waffle mix, laks (salmon), and Swedish cinnamon rolls.

The Ikea bed came in 3 boxes with about 50 million different pieces and a 20 page "easy-to assemble (for people that played with legos during their childhood)" booklet. I must admit I grow quite impatient when I have to become an engineer. I was never a lego kind of kid, I was a Ken & Barbie kid! So, after 4 hours...and a few mantras of, "screw this" and "you can do it, unscrew and try again"...the bed was assembled! Note to self: next time do not drop dad at the airport before assembling IKEA furniture. The brilliant news is that it didn't break in half as my tired, and otherwise flustered body timidly climbed on the bed. Thank goodness!

Roadtrip to Georgia!

A road trip across the U.S. is enough to get me back to my American roots! My father & I loaded the SUV and headed out on the road...for a 4 day trip to Georgia!

KANSAS- After driving nine hours from Colorado in the 103F/39c weather, we were ecstatic (and a bit stiff from the car ride) when we arrived in Overland Park, Kansas. We could not believe how friendly everyone was (even the grocery store cashier was genuinely happy as she scanned our cheese and bananas.) You see, the international stereotype about Americans is that we are superficially friendly. Yet, I have come to the conclusion that our avid culture around small talk, smiles, general friendliness and openess to complete strangers is actually filling a void; it makes us feel connected in an unconnected culture that values independence. And let me qualify this by saying...not every American is genuinely friendly.

MISSOURI- We found ourselves shopping at a HUGE Walmart (a hypermart)! Yes, if there is any store that represents down-home USA, it is the sprawling piece of concrete that is known for being the biggest gun-seller and the largest employer in the U.S. (according to Money magazine). We grabbed some strawberries, a wine opener, and browsed the gun aisle (ha, ha!)

ARKANSAS- After a seven hour drive through the sweltering heat and beautiful green, lush farm country of Arkansas, we arrived in Little Rock. Home of Bill Clinton and the beginning of the southern drawl. We found the best Indian restaurant in Arkansas and enjoyed some chicken tikka masala. Ok, we cheated! Normally, when we travel we are ardent about trying the local cuisine...but the south is known for the unhealthy, greasy food and therefore we declined the opportunity to clog our arteries.


MISSISSIPPI- This is officially the fattest state in the motherland. I think it might have something to do with the local cuisine: fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, biscuits and gravy, grits, fried chicken, Mississippi mud pie (this is chocolate heaven), sweet potato pie, and fried okra. Yummy! Mississippi is also in the "bible belt". This was evident as we passed more churches than mile markers. I fully enjoyed the big billboards, "Don't make me come down there. -God", "No God, no peace; Know God, know peace." It just brought (some) truth to the international stereotype that Americans are uber religious.

ALABAMA- We exited the main highway and headed towards Joe Wheeler State Park on a good ol' country road. Now, this is where we experienced the true deep south. We drove through many counties that were dry, meaning NO ALCOHOL sales. Crazy! Many of these dry counties have been dry since the prohibition days of the early 1900's. Since this is a democratic country, the people (within the county) have a say in this policy; as the dry county issue appears on the ballot every year. Yet, just across the county line, you will find "package stores" (the old-school name for liquor stores). We spent the night at the Joe Wheeler State Park resort lodge, which sits right on the lake and luckily we managed to buy a 6 pack of Corona, as the park is located in a dry county. Our room had a balcony overlooking the pool and marina with 2 beautiful wooden rocking chairs. It was a great spot to spend our last night on the road. The next day, as my father went to throw out the beer bottles in the hallway (so no one would know that they were from our room), he found that we were not the only heathens...the rubbish bin was full of beer cans.

GEORGIA- Ah, we made it...just in time for Atlanta rush-hour. EWWWW! More on Georgia later...

The Final Epilogue to Europe!

After an intense month and a half of re-entry into the motherland...I'm ready to begin the next chapter of my life. But before I ramble on in excitement about my PhD journey...time to reflect! I have to admit I was a little fearful of life after Europe and the culture shock of adjusting back into the reality of living in the U.S. of A. Truth be told...I have been shocked with the fast pace of life, how my perspective has changed, my yearning to be back in Oslo (or anywhere but the U.S.), my fear of forgetting or losing the memories, finding peace in the fact that I can't put my European experience into words, and just simply readjusting to friends, family, and my own identity. However, all in all it feels like it has been a smooth adjustment in true Leasa style...as I have been keepin' myself as busy as ever. The yoga retreat gave me peace, solitude and made me realize that I can't live in the past of my European travels, I must keep the past deep in my heart and open myself up for amazing experiences to occur in the present. The I-LEAD leadership institute re-lit my fervor for line-dancing (oh my!), working with college students and exploring U.S. higher education issues. So, now it's time to say goodbye. Tomorrow I leave for Georgia, where the next chapter of my life begins. Even though my European adventure is over(actually it's not over...just postponed), I live it everyday in the way I think, sleep, and breath. It is now a fabric woven into the many layers of who I am. Cheesy, but true! Peace out...