Journal 10/12 My name is Porter Andrew Garrison-Terry. I'm a freshman at the University of Oregon in the 2009-2010 academic year. For the first term I'm taking a World History course, a Writing course, a ping pong course and a Folklore course. I've been enrolled in these classes for a couple weeks now and for the most part I enjoy them. World History is super awesome. It's really interesting and fast paced. The professor's lectures make me think a lot and I'm pretty sure everyone else in the class likes it too. Ping Pong is good because it gets some stress off my back. The teacher really knows a lot and makes it fun for everyone regardless of their skill level. I like my writing class because it has a lot of pretty girls in it. The teacher is nice, but she doesn't really know how to teach very well, but I still like her. Mostly I just like the pretty girls, otherwise I wouldn't get up to go to class at nine in the morning. So far Folklore has been terrible. I hate the class because the professor has no idea what she's talking about. She just talks about nothing for hours and hours. It's so stupid. The class makes me want to punch a wall or some inanimate object because I'm just so angry at the pathetic waste of time that I'm paying a huge some of money for. Overall though, I do like my classes. They aren't too hard. High school prepared me pretty well for college I think. I went to high school in California, which is where I've lived my whole life. I hail from a small town called Benicia. It's in the Bay Area. So far I think I've adapted pretty well to Eugene. Not pumping my own gas has been different, but the biggest difference has been the weather. It's a lot colder here. And it doesn't rain quite as much in Benicia as it does here. It's weird telling people where I'm from and them not knowing where it is. There is only one person from my graduating class who is
attending U of O besides me so I've had to make a lot of new friends. People here are very nice, but it can be hard to meet attractive girls because they can be snobbish. I try to meet girls every once in awhile and I've found the best place is in the dining areas. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be the place to be. The dining areas are good for eating too. The food is pretty good as long as you know what to get. The food is like organic or something like that so it needs a lot more flavor. Plus, I'm vegetarian so I don't have any meaty flavors either. There are a lot of vegetarian food options though and like vegan stuff. So food in general is good here though. Me and a bunch of girls watch movies like every night. It's fun, but we usually stay up really late and then I'm tired in the morning. Then I take naps during the day because I'm tired in the morning. So it kinda turns into a cycle. I like it though because then i have energy at night which is good for like going to parties except for the part where the party scene is weak compared to other schools. I think we have a dry campus or something like that, but basically I don't want to go to a frat house full of stupid frat boys and those are the only parties. Lame! Sorority girls are pretty but I doubt they want to talk to freshman boys. Thats kinda the way I'm starting to see school; it's cool, but not perfect. I guess that's the way the world is though. And I guess that means college is getting me ready for the real world which is ultimately what college is for I think. Or college could be about football? Our team is awesome! I love going to games at Autzen Stadium. It's pretty much the highlight of my life! It's like being in heaven. The stadium is so loud and everyone is so supportive of the Ducks and it's just a great time and reminds why it's good to be alive.
Entry 10-19-09 Just took my first midterm. I think it went pretty well but I'm not sure. Its hard to study because there is always something fun to be doing instead. I feel like it's easy to understand the material you learn in class, but once you take a test it's hard to remember. I've been to the mall several times and i like it there, because it reminds me of home but i know I shouldn't spend so much money. i've bought a lot of shoes at the mall. I like shoes a lot. I have like a million pairs. Well I actually have have 19 pairs of Vans shoes. I like to dress well but it's expensive. It's starting to rain more and I'm not sure if i like it. I don't mind rain, but i don't like being wet. That sucks! In California it rains really hard but here it just kinda like drizzles. It makes me want to stay inside and sleep. Which is what I do a lot nowadays. School makes me want to fall asleep, even though I know I should be paying attention. Everything is becoming expensive. Every time I eat, I wonder if I have any money left. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing how hungry I am. Food makes me miss home because I am such a picky eater that I only eat certain places, and I eat there a lot. I miss the restaurants from home I used to eat at. I like my room, I like to sleep in it and there's a tv so it's pretty much like the coolest thing ever. Me and my roomy went to a couple parties this weekend. We went to the Jew
Frat on friday and it was crackin for a little while because there was dancing and pong and good tunes. It was pretty sweet. On saturday we went to this other frat and it sucked!! The music was terrible and they ran out of alcohol so everyone was all mad and stuff. I don't drink, but I know a party is better when there is a lot of alcohol flowing. There are a lot of pretty girls at our school, but they are hard to talk to. Parties are a good way to talk to them, but I have made an OFFICIAL decision that the coffee shop is the best place to talk to girls here. I think I'm in a funk right now though. I get a lot of girls numbers, but I can't really seem to get past that. All the guys in my hall are like rooting for each other to get girls. It's a really good atmosphere around our rooms. Only a couple guys have actually gotten any action though. We're all cool guys, but none of us are "pretty boys". Most of the girls in our hall are nice but not into us guys on the first floor. so we're mostly just friends. Some of them I am really good friends with. My mom always talked about how she's had some friends since college and I think some of the people I'm meeting I could be friends with for a long time too. I kinda miss my mom. Back home she always bothered me when I was at home, but now I miss her because she was always nice to me. People here are nice, but they aren't nice the same way my mom was. She loved me no matter what but people here kinda don't which is understandable, but still hard to deal with.
Sincerely, Porter Garrison-Terry
Porter Garrison-Terry Journal for 10-26 I had a very interesting week. I hope I learn a lot from the experiences I ve had. College is finally getting tough for me and everybody around me in my hall. At first, it was kind of like a party but that s fading into something different. Everything is starting to add up. School is getting more intense. I had my first midterm and I did really well on it. I got a 95. I was really afraid I wasn t gonna do well though so I was happy how it turned out. I have another midterm coming up for a different class and I m pretty sure I won t do well on it. It s been an adjustment so far to figure out how to spend my money and time on my own. I think I m spending my time well because I m doing my homework before my fun most of the time. I m starting to realize the value of money though, because I m running out of it kinda quickly. This weekend has essentially erased the sum of money I acquired over the summer. I bought a ticket to the Oregon versus Washington game and drove all the way up to Seattle. I slept in my car to save money but I had to pay to use the parking lot. The worst part is that I got a speeding ticket on the way back to Eugene. It turned out to be really expensive. I think it was worth it overall though. I had a great time at the game! Away games are so much fun. There were so many Duck fans and we were super loud!! When I was in Seattle, I got to see to the campus of University of Washington. The campus is so big. It s ridiculous!!!! I felt like I would totally get lost on the campus and not only that, I felt like I would just be a number. I mean there are like 40,000 students that go there. How could they possibly have enough attention for all of them? That was one of the reasons I chose Oregon, because it s big, but not too big. I mean we aren t talking about a little private school, but I do feel like if I needed it, I could get some individual attention. I do have some classes that have over a hundred students in them, but the university does do a good job of making sure students get the individual attention they need. If I were going to Washington or even a UC I don t know I would be getting the right kind of attention. I m starting to not enjoy the weather here in Eugene. It rains a lot and basically it s way colder than it is in California. I mean why in the world should it rain so much. It s dumb. I wanna wear stylish clothes and I pretty sure huge coats are not stylish. I have to wear like wool caps and stuff and like a few shirts at a time just to go out. Not to mention all the laundry it takes to wear all these clothes. I feel like my dirt clothes just pile up and pile up. I can t imagine what its gonna be like to do all this laundry. I really need to wash my shoes. They keep getting dirty. It s possibly the most annoying thing about being in Oregon. I just wanna wear my nice clothes and my clean shoes and hang out with people. Back home I never think about what s warm and what isn t. That s the way it should be!!!