Bootcamp begins...

I've now been in San Jose for 30+ hours. Posting last night probably would have been ideal, but after running on about three hours of sleep for close to 24 hours, I was ready for bed. My flights went fine. Getting up at 5 a.m. to drive to Columbus wasn't the best, but other than that I couldn't complain. I sat next to a nice man on the way to Salt Lake City, and on the flight to San Jose I sat by a really nice couple who even went so far as to give me their card so I could contact them if I needed anything while I was here. How sweet is that? I hope all Californians are that nice.

There are nine of us Dow Jones people here - Vanessa (my roommate) from Kansas; Mark and David from Oregon; Annie from Chapman; Katrina from Fresno State; Karl from Montana; and Julia and Felicia from San Jose State. Everyone is friendly, and we've been getting along pretty well for most of us having known each other for only a day and a half. We're staying in SJSU's International House, which is basically a dorm for international students. So just in case I missed sharing a room and using communal showers, I get to experience it one more time.

Bootcamp is pretty intense, as I expected it to be. The bunch of us troop over to the journalism building at 1 p.m., and there we work on a variety of tasks related to editing and journalism and newspapers. At 5 we get a dinner break, then head back for four more hours of work. Starting that late in the day is kind of nice, but going until that late at night can be draining. I hope sometime this week or next I'll be able to actually go out and do something before the session starts instead of just having time for lunch. The main reason I have so little time is that we have homework. Yes. Plenty of it, too. Stylebook worksheets, grammar sheets, and who knows what else they'll come up with for us. Plus I still have an essay test to finish for my OU English class (the last requirement of my college career).

One thing that I've discovered and found pretty interesting is that at all of the schools where my fellow campers come from, the campus newspaper is staffed at least partially by journalism classes, and many of them have faculty advisers. It seems like such a strange concept to me, coming from the independence of The Post. I know it has its ups and downs, but I guess I've never really appreciated the freedom that we had there. And the campus at SJSU is pretty, but I'd take the hills and bricks of Athens any day (well, maybe not when the roads are coated with ice). Yes, there are palm trees everywhere - and I do love me some palms - but the buildings are very 1970s, and there's nowhere near as much green space. In fact, there's a big section that's just dirty gravel instead of grass. It's definitely a world away from OU.

San Jose is an interesting place, and I'm curious to see if other cities in California are like it. The university is pretty much right downtown, so we can walk there to eat or do whatever. It's so very different from a Midwest downtown area. If I were living the same proximity to downtown Cleveland that I am right now, I'd be in a pretty rough neighborhood, potentially one that's not even residential. The streets are wide and lined with big, full trees, and there are a good number of real stores and restaurants right downtown. And we saw a Smart Car today! For those who don't know, here's a picture of one.


The city is still pretty big and bustling, and the airport is ridiculously close, but the overall feel is much more European and clean and open than the kind of downtown I'm used to.

I know this is sort of all over the place, but I had a lot to cover, and perhaps after a few entries I'll establish a good style - we'll see. I hope to take some pictures of the I House, the campus and the city sometime this week, so look forward to those : )