How I Became Involved in the USP Black Market

Nothing new today in terms of my internship mess - I met with the dean, who said he will speak with my professors, and we're going to meet tomorrow. Not too hopeful on that front. Was supposed to play soccer again today but our game got cancelled - I don't believe it!

I went out last night with some friends to try and lift my spirits, which was actually pretty successful. Just about everyone here is very positive and happy, so hanging out with them helps me out a lot with the whole me being bitter and negative thing. I was very tired this morning though, and it didn't help that our lab could have theoretically been completed in 20 minutes if everything had been assembled before the lab period...which I understand is too much to ask for. At least I got to play with lots of shrimps and crabs and various other crustaceans for a few hours this morning, which wasn't bad. Except at the end of class, we go to collect our last assignment: a fact sheet including sketches and identifying information for a order of insect (I had Odonata, the dragonflies and damselflies). Everyone else in the class goes up to get their graded fact sheet back, but mine isn't there, along with a couple other students' assignments. My professor reveals that it's a common problem here that when things are being handed back, papers with good grades are stolen by other students, who then sell them the next semester to students who are taking the same class. This may also explain why I don't get back a lot of my lab reports in my other classes. So, maybe next semester someone will have their hands on my stupid fact sheet, which I think is pretty funny. Plagiarism here is a major issue, and if this underground market for papers and lab reports is any indication, I can see why.

Today on the way to class a full bottle of water exploded in my bag. That was awesome. I also spent 2 hours downtown at the post office trying to send package back home to Williams. It was a real pain, but at least things are shipped off now and hopefully won't take too long to get there. I also got to witness what I'm 85% sure was an asian mafia deal, as the tiny asian girl in front of me was sending a money order of $8000 in perfectly stacked and divided piles of 50s and 100s, all the while chattering on the phone to a guy she was supposed to meet in the post office although neither of them knew who each other were. Shady!