The Days Are Just Packed

Some people complain that there is nothing to do in Cullowhee.

On the surface, they are right. We are in the mountains 50 miles west of Asheville, NC. This basically means that the campus is in the middle of nowhere.

But if you set your antennae right, you'll hear and see fascinating things. More than most places on earth, people's lives are being shaped and their character molded by the day- by the hour, even. Time moves so fast.

I enjoy being around students. Physically, we are as healthy and beautiful now as we ever will be. Our minds are optimistic, for the most part, unjaded by world experiences. The potential for what we can do with our lives is so great.

Today, I began a ballroom dancing class- just for fun. Wow! I had no idea how hard it is. My brain popped as I tried to learn dance steps, and it was an embarrassing reminder of just how stiff and uncomfortable I can be around girls.

"You have to relax," more than one girl said to me. "Listen to the beat of the music. Loosen up and lead me."

It is a Herculean task to learn to stand close, hold a girl and look deep into her eyes as I try to whirl with her body across the floor. I danced with four different women today. In the past, years have gone by when I did not dance with that many women.

Next was a Pre-Law Club Meeting where I talked, probably too much, about my LSAT score, GPA and progress toward law school. The meeting lasted for an hour until we had to give up the room to the next student organization, B-GLAD.

Then I had a rigorous intellectual debate in class tonight on the merits of historian Fernand Braudel. It was three hours of argument about his abstract ideas and implications for the field of history. I learned the definition of the word "heuristic."

After class, it was off to O'Malley's with some friends. I had a nice conversation with one who is in the history department with me. He is doing well and wants to go to Yale for a Ph.D. I think he has a real shot, depending on his GRE score. He certainly should be able to get into a good Ph.D. program somewhere. When I first met him in August 2007, I never would have guessed his talent. He just looked like an ordinary guy in shorts, sandals, glasses and a baseball hat. It makes me glad to see someone who has truly found their niche. A History Ph.D. program is where he fits in best, and I really hope he lands the one he wants.

Then I got back to my room and received a phone call from a girl who just wanted to talk. She is a good friend I made last semester, and we spoke for an hour or more about where our lives are headed. She is younger than me, so I know some things about the world that she does not. But she also sees the world in a different way than I do, and so we learn from each other.

After getting off the phone with her, I could not sleep. So it is approaching 3 am and here I sit typing my weekly blog.

Things like this just don't happen to me when I'm not at Western...

There is plenty to do in Cullowhee.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn