Random thoughts on Kennesaw

Several of you have asked what I like about Kennesaw, how it's different, what's surprised me, etc. Here's my short list of things I've discovered/done/though in my first 40 or so days here:

1. I'm slowly making my way around the touristy-stuff in Atlanta. I already knew I loved big cities, but I really do like the Atlanta area. Last weekend, Kate (my roommate) had a friend in town, so I joined them in Atlanta at the World of Coke. It was fun to learn the history of Coke, see all the artworks and marketing campaigns, taste Coke products from around the world, etc. For dinner, we hit up Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles restaurant. Delicious.

Artwork from the World of Coke

2. Parking decks are one of the best inventions/necessities for a college campus. Kennesaw has four of them. Honestly, I have no idea why State and MTSU don't have them (besides the whole money thing, and no one wants to donate a million dollars to get their name on a parking garage). If I'm ever wealthy, I'm donating money to State for a parking garage. Sorry they're not pretty, but they're so useful!

3. Having said that about parking decks, I have absolutely no reason to complain about parking at any other school ever again. Parking at Kennesaw is INSANE. I've been very fortunate to be able to park in visitor parking (and while it's a hike, I'm guaranteed a spot). Students and faculty members = not so much. I've never seen such a crazy parking situation. Seriously, I am never complaining about university parking again.

4. I have officially tried Zumba class once (and going again this evening), and like I anticipated, I am no pro. I was honestly a little self-concious about going, but it was a good workout, and a lot of fun — a great chance to laugh and burn calories with lots of girls! My lack of dance skills is just sad, though ... if I have daughters, they are ALL doing dance classes for a VERY long time so they don't inherit their mother's abysmal dance moves. Clearly, three or four years of ballet wasn't enough for me.

5. Kennesaw is a big-time commuter school. Big time — 85% of students commute (this means they don't live on campus). While some "commute" from the apartment complex a mile away, others commute from over an hour away. Crazy. This makes community and getting our group together a challenge.

6. Campus is dead here on Fridays. Most students don't have Friday classes, but if they do have one, it's usually because they registered late or got stuck with a late orientation. I'm kind of jealous that most of the freshmen I know don't have Friday classes. I always had a Friday class — except for first semester of senior year.

7. Kennesaw offers Saturday classes. And yes, some of the students I know have to take Saturday classes because it's all that was open. Sad day.

8. There is a Waffle House that's practically on campus. If that isn't genius, I don't know what is. There's also a Wendy's across the street, and a Subway, Jimmy John's, and Mellow Mushroom within comfortable walking distance. There's a ton of places within a mile or so of campus — which makes getting off campus for a one-on-one very easy (who doesn't love escaping the cafeteria for lunch?).

Our Waffle House looks a lot like this one. Thanks, Google.

9. Kennesaw's "cafeteria" is like a food court. You swipe your card (they only take KSU IDs), and that gets you whatever food you want while you're inside. There's no take-out, and once you leave, you have to swipe to get back inside. I've been impressed with their gluten and dairy-free ice cream, as well as several other gluten-free products. You can even request gluten-free pizza at the Italian place. It's good to see a university working on special food needs and allergies — way to go, Kennesaw.

10. Student groups are allowed to chalk around campus. Chalking was considered "vandalism" at Mississippi State (seriously), and it wasn't allowed at MTSU. I still slow down to read almost everything chalked around the sidewalks at Kennesaw — I'm not used to seeing it.

11. Georgia has lots of divided highways — they're everywhere. This makes the "Georgia u-turn" (as my roommate calls it) an everyday occurrence.

12. Traffic here is .... interesting. Last year, I lived less than a mile from campus, so it took me maybe five minutes from my doorstep to parking on campus. In Kennesaw, I'm 5.2 miles from campus. On a good day, it takes me 15 minutes to get to campus and park. On a bad day, it takes 45 minutes — seriously. I learned this the hard way my first week ... thankfully, my campus minister was very gracious about me being late!

13. I'm slowly learning more about the the Braves. I went to my first Braves game last month, and really liked it. Hopefully they can pull it together in these last few games...

View from my first Braves game — that's Chipper on the board.

14. Kate and I live right by a Walmart. I've loved being able to walk to get my groceries. (Really, I do.) We'll see how long I can keep that up, especially once it gets cold. It's also weird to walk in to Walmart (or another grocery store) and see a whole wine aisle. After living in Tennessee my whole life and doing college in Mississippi, I'm not used to that (grocery stores can't stock wine in TN and MS).

15. We also live right by a Starbucks. Thankfully, I don't have a severe caffeine addiction (otherwise known as RUF intern syndrome, since half of job involves drinking coffee and the other half involves staying out late with students...kidding...but it is part of the job!). If I did have a caffeine addiction, living within 100 yards of Starbucks could be a major problem. None of the baristas know my name (yet), so that's a good sign, right?

16. There is a lot to do around here, and they have almost everything within 20 minutes of driving...however, I have found that there's no Pei Wei or Backyard Burger close. (I just started thinking about restaurants and fast food places that I hadn't seen yet, then Googled them. I found everything except those two.)

17. Recycling here is so easy, and I love that. Our apartment complex does recycling (and we live very close to the bins, so yay for convenience), and campus has bins in every major area. I grew up assuming that it was easy and convenient to recycle everywhere — then I moved to Mississippi State (and then Murfreesboro) and discovered otherwise.

It's easy being green!

18. Everyone here pretty much cheers for Georgia (Bulldogs) or Georgia Tech (Yellow Jackets). (Kennesaw doesn't have a football team, but they're getting one in 2014.) The rivalry is similar to Ole Miss/Mississippi State. Several weeks ago, I asked the students which team I needed to cheer for, and I listened to their arguments. Normally I cheer for the SEC, but I'm a little uncomfortable cheering for both sets of SEC Bulldogs...so come November 26 (when they play Georgia), I'm cheering for Tech!

19. I really, really like it here. And you should come visit!