Problems with GW

I haven't posted in a while, as few notable things have occurred. I've read approximately 10 books since I've been home. I've watched a lot of TV. There were some shenanigans on New Years but nothing too exciting. Oh, and last week I went clubbing in Philly for the first time (not that it's that different than clubbing in DC).

Anyway, as much as I like GW (and obviously I do if I've stuck around for 2.5 years) there are some issues. These are my principle complaints:

1) Sometimes GW acts more like a corporation than a college. And thus it buys all sorts of random real estate around the city. The first problem with this is that GW could probably find something better to do with that money. The other problem is that then I have to trek over to these random places for class. Going from 1957 E St to 2020 K is no fun when you have 20 minutes.

2) Tuition. Now I'm not going to complain about GW being expensive (though no longer the most expensive school in the country!). While GW is super expensive, it also gives the most financial aid of any school in the country. So what I don't understand is why GW doesn't lower both tuition and financial aid. I feel like there should be some math genius who can figure out how to do this without changing how much we ultimately pay. Because the sticker price scares off a lot of people. I pay about a quarter what GW costs, which I explain on my tours but I think people would feel better if GW didn't cost more than some Jaguars.

3) There is a giant lack of communication about things. Last spring I was content having the room to myself because my roommate went abroad, until a girl showed up at my door saying she was my new roommate. It ended up working out well, but GW could have fired off an email letting me know (especially when they told her they would inform me). Also, I'm going abroad which is kind of stressful right now because there are a lot of little details to figure out. I emailed my study abroad adviser right when I got home for break asking a kind of important question. I have yet to hear back. I get that it's the holiday now, but I wrote him around the 18th. And this is an important time for a study abroad adviser to be answering questions. I leave in 2.5 weeks.

Those are my top three complaints with the bureaucracy right now. I'm sure I have more but this is getting kind of long. Perhaps I'll soon write about my favorite things so I don't sound so miserly.

Trials and tribulations

If you read my last post you know that I've been single this semester. And it has certainly been an interesting experience. This was my 1st semester where I really paid attention to the kind of boys here at GW. Freshman year I was busy drinking and making bad choices. I spent all of sophomore year with the bball star (as I've decided to call him). So now I get the fun of trying to find a good guy here amongst the frat boys and future presidents.

A few weeks after the bball star and I broke up I made out with a guy at a frat party (I know, I keep making cracks about frat boys but their parties are a good way to meet an endangered species at GW- the straight male). Anyway he wasn't in the frat. We made out for a while but then I had to rescue a friend from a serious creeper which I think sent the wrong signal to this guy and he peaced. I saw him on the street recently. He wasn't as good looking as drunk me thought he was. Shocking.

My next prospect was a guy I met an engineering party (I have engineering friends. The parties are actually super fun). We flirted over several weekends. There was some touching. I gave him my #. Nothing ensued. I started to get kind of down about it until my friend assured me that engineering boys have no game. I'll make myself feel better by thinking that.

The next in a line of catastrophes was my roommate's ex-boyfriend. He visited for a weekend and spent a fair amount of time touching my leg and trying to hold my hand. Even if I hadn't known about the plethora of terrible things he did to my roommate, I still wouldn't have hooked up with him. He was my roommate's ex-boyfriend! epic failure. He later inquired to my roommate about why he was unable to get with anyone while he was here.

And those have been the highlights of my semester when it comes to guys this semester. woo.

I think I'll save my diatribe about boys at GW for another day because I have a lot to say on that topic.

But I'm going abroad next semester, so I'll get a little reprieve from the lovely boys here.

My expert analysis on GW kids

GW likes to portray the student body as good little kids who split their time between interning at the White House and helping the elderly. I should know, I give tours so I’m complicit in upholding this image. But that is far from true. After spending 5 semesters here I feel like this is a more accurate picture of GW kids:

To start with we’ll go for the easy one-

JAPs: I was unaware of how Jewish GW was before I came here. I had some idea that there was a large Jewish contingent but I didn’t really know what that would mean. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but far enough away that we didn’t have Jews. Or diversity. We had about eight black kids and twelve Asians in my high school (and I went to a public school). It wasn’t until senior year that I learned saying “Happy Yom Kippur” was not okay. So I didn’t know what a JAP was when I left for school. But I learned quickly. And I am not saying that all the Jewish girls at GW are awful. Obviously that’s ridiculous. It’s not anywhere near a majority. But it’s enough that it’s noticeable. Anyway, these are the girls that think leggings are pants and their Blackberry is an extension of their hand. Frequent conversations include hitting up clubs on the weekends and daddy on the weekdays when money is running low. The amount of money they drop on things is ridiculous. They also smoke copious cigarettes. Often in front of my building. Gross. I really don’t need to expound upon this anymore. I think we all know what these girls are like.

Type-A Future Presidents: These kids closely resemble what GW wants its students to be, except they go above and beyond all that. They have internships freshman year and plan out their lives right up until they hit 25 and are eligible to run for Congress. They are on the e-boards of five different student orgs and have business cards. They too have Blackberries glued to their hands and are constantly checking their e-mail. They are very important people.

“I wish I were at Georgetown”: GW is not Georgetown and while most kids here are cool with that, there are a few who are not. And they are bitter. These are the kids who started selling “Fuck Georgetown” t-shirts around campus. However, some of them transfer and others would sell a kidney for a chance to. I met kids at orientation who in our first conversation told me they had wanted to go to Georgetown but didn’t get in. Awkward.

Frat Boys: The Jappy girls would not be complete without some tool-bag guys hanging around. Obviously frat boys are far from exclusive to GW, but GW has its own special brand of douche. 90% of their clothing is emblazoned with their letters.* They sit through class watching Entourage on their fancy MacBooks and texting on their iPhones. Much to cool to put their phone on silent, we all get to hear that lovely vibrating noise when they get texts. Monday mornings are spent regaling the weekend before. You found a girl drunk enough to hook up with you. congratulations.

Hipsters: It's funny seeing these kids juxtaposed with the JAPs and the frat boys. Because they are different. They wear cheap clothes because it's ironic and talk about the cool obscure bands you don't know about because you're just not quite that hip. They hide that they're from south Jersey and grew up with the girls who turned into GW's JAPs. They smoke lots too. But sometimes they smoke weed. gasp

There are lots of other types of people at GW, even shockingly enough, some down to earth normal ones. But I think this covers it as far as those stereotypes that epitomize GW go. Most kids are pretty cool. But some are completely ridiculous. Which is why I will have plenty of fodder for this blog.

* I have to admit, I liked the frat shirts that had something to effect of “We put a man on the moon. We put a man in the oval office. We put a man in Jessica Simpson.” Tacky but clever. I like it.