Skunks, racoons, and UCSB

I've been at UCSB with Catherine for a two-day Freshman Orientation -- two days of workshops to help scholars and parents transition into college life. I loved it.

I learned so much. Catherine and I were separated into separate groups. Scholars went with peers and parents with parents. They kept us so busy too. I was in "class" from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. the first night.

Thursday night they scheduled a "parent social" but I'm not into those things, so I decided to skip it and I went to the beach and sat there for a long time -- watching the moon dance on the water, listening to the waves, and dreaming.

As I walked down the little pathway back to the dorms (only a couple hundred feet from the ocean) I was startled when out of the bushes came two skunks! Yikes! Right in front of me. I had seen several on campus - (probably saw about 15 of them) - but these came right out and were about five feet from me. I froze. I did not want to get sprayed by them. They stopped and looked at me and I swear, they smiled. I said, "hi little ones" and they kept walking. They were so cute.

AND...I kid you not. Right behind them were a couple of large raccoons. Those scared me. I didn't know if raccoons attacked or not. They walked away and as I looked to the side, one more skunk appeared and the five of them frolicked in the nearby grass - you would think they were the best of friends. I tried taking a photo with my blackberry phone but it was too dark to capture the image. Oh, I bought a new blackberry! 

Anyway, I continued on my way back to my room. I was so lucky. I got a room all to myself. When I signed up, I was told I would get a female parent to room with but when I checked in, I was given a single room so I had it all to myself. Once I went back to my room, I showered, and was going to read, but my eyes were tired (I had been up since 2:30 a.m.) so I turned off the light, opened my window (Mine faced the ocean) and fell asleep to the sound of water lapping, birds chirping, crickets and frogs, and occasional other strange noises.

Catherine skipped her teen social too. She and her roommate, who was from Sherman Oaks (her dad graduated from Redwood High School! Wow. Small world) were both tired, so they went to their room to rest. We had left home at 3:30 a.m. so she was exhausted too.

The program ended Friday evening. She's quite excited. She got her new schedule too.
I'm so proud of my little girl. She's a scholar now at one of the most prestigious teaching schools in the world.