Day 1 (Washington State University) - Pullman, Washington United States

Today was a long one.Took off from home at 11:30am and drove to Detroit Metro Airport for my 4:20pm departure to Denver.After a two hour drive to Detroit, I sped through security and the ticket counter with the airport being deserted.I sat for about an hour or so before I boarded this teeny tiny plane.I was stuck by the window for 2hrs and 40mins with my legs crammed into this small space.I was hoping to be able to carry on my red backpack and use my laptop/camera bag as a "personal item," but my laptop/camera bag was too big so my red backpack had to be checked costing me more money, damit.With over $2,000 of camera equipment, a laptop, my travelers checks, and banking information I wasn't about to let my laptop/camera bag out of my sight, so I put it under the seat in front of me which took all of my leg room.I only had about a 45 minute layover in Denver before I went to Spokane, Washington.I learned that it's pronounced "spoke-ann" not "spook-ane" like I was pronouncing it.That hour and 45 minute flight was very comfortable.I got the aisle seat and the passenger in-between me and the window passenger seat never showed, so we could spread out.Besides being on a bigger plane it also had TVs, so I got to watch some television on the flight - it was pretty sweet.When we landed I got to talking to the girl sitting next to me who had graduated from the University of Wyoming.I learned that not only is there only one university in Wyoming - but it's the state with the fewest residents "in the union."As we were leaving I found out that this girl had studied in Melbourne, Australia for 6 months - if only I would've found this out sooner I would have been picking her brain!She told me to try to visit Tasmania - by plane not ferry. So maybe I'll try to make my way to Tasmania.

Joe Doane picked me up at the Spokane Airport and drove an hour south to Pullman to Washington State University - Stephenson East Residence Hall.The Res Life style is a little different at WSU.Here are the differences compared to Central for my Res Life friends:

• There are 13 floors in Stephenson East that are coed by floor due to the community bathrooms
• The RAs can't take their building keys out of the building - they have a little key box to lock them up in their room
• They use a cell phone instead of a walkie-talkie while on duty
• There are also two RAs on duty every night
• The front desk closes at seven, so if there's an emergency a resident would call the cell phone that one of the on duty RAs has
• Two residents live in a decent size room, and the walls have carpet on them to reduce noise
• If you want to be a RA, or are interested, you have to take a 1 credit class before being able to apply
• There are monthly RA training meetings for all of the staffs
• Mostly freshmen apply and are hired as RAs, very few upper classmen are or stay RAs
• RA staffs are not hired by the RED (Residential Education Director or RED pronounced R-E-D not RED like the color, I got yelled at for that one)
• A committee of REDs and students hire staff members and place them at whatever hall they want
• Every year the staff changes from building to building, with the idea of providing new experiences for the staff - REDs also experience a rotation every year or so.
• And they have A LOT OF $$ to spend on things for the hall - thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars!