A New Life in Bozeman

Well it's been three weeks since I officially moved down to Bozeman to begin Graduate School this Fall, but I thought I would throw this up nonetheless, if nothing more than a bookmark on my life.

Lil' Champ loaded to the gills with all my stuff. Just enough space to keep from bringing too much  at one time probably.

It was fairly humbling fitting everything that I owned into the back of my pickup (and on top of it!) and heading off into the unknown of southwestern Montana. Now, it's an exaggeration to say that it is everything that I own. But at least it's everything that I would need for the first part of the semester until I could get home or hook up with my folks to get additional stuff. I mean, I'll need have to get my skis and ice tools before the snow starts falling and the those waterfalls start freezing. My house is close to campus and it takes me less than five minutes to get to class in the morning on my bike. The guys I'm living with in my dirt-bag-gotta-love-it-'cause-its-cheap basement apartment are really cool and easy to have conversations with and hang out with.

Like I said, "Good that I couldn't take too much stuff in my pickup".  My room is pretty small, but cosy and is all I need for late night studying and a good place to sleep. And when decorated...

...it looks great! It's filled out with furniture I pilfered from the garage and found for free on the curb. Back to thrifty college living, eh?

A view of the kitchen where a lot of delicious food is thrown down.  Look at that cute face, too! The dog is Mabel, sort of like my roommate Drew's second girlfriend: she doesn't live here, but she's here a lot and often spends the night...

I'm adjusting to life in Bozeman rather well. I spend most of my time on campus, in class or in the library studying with my compatriots but there's still the occasional bit of free time to get out and explore. Slowly but surely I'm learning my way around town, both on bike and in my truck. I've been out in the hills as well: hunting, climbing, and mountain biking. I've always said I went to Abilene for school instead of MSU because if I was in Bozeman I never would have gone to class. Well, it's not that bad but the "call of the wild" is certainly there everyday. Everything is just so close by! All in all this new life in the place of my birth ain't so bad, in fact it could be tempting to never finish school...

Self-portrait after biking to Mystic Lake on Labor Day evening. 

My roommate Matt and his girlfriend Sacha. We went rock climbing at Practice Rock in Hyalite Canyon a couple of weekends ago. It's bee a while since I've been on rock, and man it feels good!

Sacha is a machine: sending what I believe to be called Practice Crack.