5

Despite a not-so-great first month, UMass begins to grow on me. A film course that seemed lame at first starts to get fun when we watch Shampoo. I make friends with two girls from there and we hang out a little.

I also find an AA meeting where I meet a woman named Gina, who’s an Environmental Studies grad student. She’s goofy and fun and we end up driving into Boston a couple times and going to see this bluegrass band she knows. She becomes my new best friend, I guess. We spend hours together, driving around, going to AA meetings, complaining about men and school and whatever else we can think of.

Then, when the semester ends, Gina invites me to come stay with her in Northampton for a week before I go home for vacation. I sleep on her couch and have a great time. We both work for a couple days at Village Books, unpacking Christmas stock. I love the bookstore and the people there, and at one point the manager asks if I would want to work there part-time next semester. This makes me feel much better about things.

Maybe I don’t have to be a glamorous Smithie. Maybe I can just be my own person, living a bookstore life back east. That might be okay, I think.