Saturday 13 March 2010

The littlest birds

Round 25: Autumn 2022
Narrated by Patience Draper

So here's the place I'm calling home for the next year. It was really boring when I first moved in and it still kind of is but it's got a few personal touches now, at least.

The dorm is tiny and the bed is half the size of the one in my dorm at Suffolk but it's right on the beach so I can't complain too much, right? I can't get over the fact that I am living on the beach! I don't know how I'm going to give this up when I go back next year!

The shower situation...well, it's pretty dire.

More than once, I've been walked in on. I don't know if they can't hear the water running or if they just want to sneak a peek. But these are the only showers at this dorm, so unless I want to bathe myself at the sink with a sponge, I just have to make do.

Same old crappy food at the cafeteria at the dorm, unfortunately! I was hoping there'd be something a little more exotic but we have to go off campus for anything more interesting than mac and cheese.

Still, I've been having a lot of fun here!

CEU isn't really very close to the more touristy areas of Cape Elizabeth but there's still a few historic sites I've checked out, like this old shipwreck on one of the beaches.

I had way too much fun with the cutlass. It's a good thing it wasn't a real cutlass, because I probably would have taken someone's eye out. I was swinging that thing around all over the place!

Despite not being an area designed for tourists, they still like to hawk souvenirs! I didn't buy many but I bought a lot of jewelry!

When I signed up for this exchange, I knew there'd probably be a couple of other Suffolk students around but I definitely wasn't expecting Rob to stroll through the door one night! Yeah, that Rob!

We bumped into each other in my haste to get out of there. He seemed happy to see me but I felt kind of awkward. We had started talking a little last year about maybe making a go of it for real, but it sort of fizzled out and nothing ever came of it.

There was really no use avoiding him though. It's a big dorm but it's not that big and everyone tends to hang out together.

It was really weird for a while. Rob's a man of few words and it's hard to know what he's thinking sometimes.

Gradually, we got comfortable with each other again. I'd forgotten how easy he was to talk to. Because Rob is a little more reserved than I am (everyone is more reserved than me though!), he's quite happy to listen while I just talk.

So we've been hanging out a lot. I've barely even though about Jacob. I don't hate him or anything but I just haven't been feeling that desire to be with him. Maybe it's out of sight, out of mind. Or maybe I'm getting over him, finally.

Rob is helping with that a little, I think.

Of course, I didn't come all the way to Cape Elizabeth to spend 24 hours a day with someone from home. I've made a couple of other friends here who I hang out with a lot too, like Denise.

She's a student too and is in a few of my classes. It's fun to have someone to talk girl stuff with but it's not quite the same as talking to someone you've known your whole life. I'm missing that right now.

Rob is a little more (okay, a lot more) studious than I've been lately, so we've been studying together. We're not in any of the same classes. He's mainly there to pull me back down when I decide it's time to wander away and do something else.

I confess that I've been kind of a lazy student here at CEU. It's so easy to just abandon your work and go off and sunbathe instead. I even got someone else to write one of my term papers for me.

So not so much fun with the actual being a student part of the student exchange but a lot of fun with Rob, on the plus side.

I haven't actually dated in a long time but Rob and I have been dating while I'm here and I'm really enjoying it.

Rob and I never talked a whole lot at Suffolk, so it's almost like meeting a new person. I've found out so much about him that I never knew.

He told me he's planning on becoming a lawyer, so he's going to be in school pretty much forever.

I was almost embarrassed to tell him I wanted to be an actress. It seems so non-intellectual compared to that. A bit shallow, maybe. But I don't think I'd be happy doing anything else.

Rob didn't seem to care, anyway.

I'm almost afraid to say it but I think I might be falling in love with him! I always pictured myself ending up with Jacob and this is the first I've been able to see myself possibly with someone else.

I think the real test will be how we go when we get back to our real lives. Rob is due home at the same time as I am this summer, so we still have almost 6 months of bliss here before heading back to campus. I don't know what's going to happen but I've got my fingers crossed!

Extra pic:

It didn't really fit in but how cool is this student union? I love the brick walls with all the blue accents. Patience and Rob spent a lot of time down there.

Notes:
  • Title is from The Littlest Birds by the Be Good Tanyas.
  • I meant to do this as two separate semesters with two separate updates but seeing I play the other college kids a year at a time, it made more sense for me to just be consistent with it.
  • It took Patience a long time to roll up any wants for Rob, so she was a little apprehensive. Rob was raring to go the second he saw her. Neither of them have rolled engagement wants but they're young adults, and those wants seem rare for YAs. Patience really hasn't rolled up any wants for Jacob. At all. It's weird! She has the constant fear of his death but that's it. I think it's the first time I've played her since she was 12 where she hasn't seen Jacob or wanted to see Jacob.

18 comments:

  1. I'm glad she's having a great time. On one hand, I'm glad she's getting over Jacob with Rob, on the other hand...those two seem to be forcing it a bit. That is odd that she would start a relationship with someone she already knew in another country. I was expecting some hot local :P

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  2. Ah, Patience. She's quite the girl if nothing else!
    How do you manage to crank out an update almost every day? I can barely get three a week! Although... I am still in school so that might have something to do with it :P
    Thanks for adding me to your blog list, that was really nice! I daresay I do enjoy your blog and it's nice that you enjoy mine too.
    And Apple Valley, I agree. Hot locals would have been pretty nice :P

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  3. Apple Valley, I guess she's not so much starting a relationship as she is furthering one, although Patience and Rob didn't know each other all that well back home.

    And nah, no hot locals! I didn't know what Patience would get up to this round at CEU but Rob started flirting with her right away, and he was quite persistent about it. And even before she spun up wants for Rob, Patience would follow him around wanting to talk and play with him. I like when my Sims tell me what they want. :)

    Tessa, Patience has been a bit of a thorn in my side at times, ever since she was 12 but I do love the girl!

    As for updates, I have a tendency to stay up much too late and that is probably the biggest reason I'm able to update as often as I do. Sometimes I'm able to do a few updates at a time and schedule them to be released when I won't have time to Sim. I won't have time to play today or tomorrow but there'll be something up tomorrow and Monday because I had them prepared in advance.

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  4. I'm glad to see that she's moveing on. SOmetimes it really hard to get over your first love, but when you find someone new, who just isn't a rebound someone, it can be great. I just hope things continue to go good for them once the return home.

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  5. This whole exchange thing looks like a lot of fun!

    I think it's great that she's finally getting over Jason. Rob is really cute and I hope they'll stay together even after going back to Suffolk.

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  6. Sorry for multiple comments but I forgot to ask WCIF Patience's hair and earrings?

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  7. Riverdale, I hope so too. Patience carried a torch for Jacob for so long but I hope she's finally moving on now!

    Sari, it is fun! If I do it again, maybe I'll try sending more than one student. Just to mix it up a bit, you know!

    OK, Patience's hair - I have managed to figure out that it's a MtF conversion of Peggy #04095. I want to say that the recolours are these. I'm not positive because Patience's colour isn't pictured but it's definitely the right mesh, at least!

    The earrings, I'm not sure. I thought I got them from MTS but I can't see them now. :\ I'm still doing my custom content posts, so I'll do accessories next and see if the tool tip for the earrings gives me any clues!

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  8. I hope they hook up because they'll have some good looking babies! lol, I'm always trying to breed my sims!

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  9. This post has been eagerly awaited, to see your new Cape Elizabeth in action. And it is beautiful! I thought the student center fit great--when I saw them playing pool I thought to myself how the cinder block looked so beachy. And the huts for dorm rooms are incredible!

    Getting away to the beach does seem to help Sims put those old flames out a bit. I'm happy for Patience and Rob. However, the beach does not seem to inspire a great desire to study or work... someone once told me that's why there are no great universities located right at the beach (though I don't know if that's true or not).

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  10. LaToya, heh, I'm the same. Breeding is always in the back of my mind. With Rob, I'm thinking if she ends up with him, I'll get 1) cute babies and 2)redheads or blondes. Blondes aren't so rare in my game at this point but I need some redheads! LOL.

    Francesca, there are a few different dorms that come with this set and I think Patience's dorm is the least luxurious. Which isn't really realistic, given how wealthy her family is!

    It's funny that this exchange trip has worked for Patience to get over Jacob (so far, anyway), because the same thing worked for Abigail several years ago, when I was trying to get her to make up her damn mind about Caleb and Jesse! A little distance does a world of good, apparently even for Sims!

    And you may be right about the beach! There aren't any universities near the beaches in Sydney, at least. I imagine it would be quite distracting. ;)

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  11. Thanks for the hair link, Carla :)

    I know I would be too distracted by the beach to ever study!

    I think a change of scenery is good for anyone who want to think things over and clear their heads a bit.

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  12. Just Thursday I sent a sim to the beach with the hope it would help him/her (don't want to give it away) to finally get his/her wants figured out.

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  13. It's great to see Patience moving on from Jacob. It's so easy to see why she'd be fixated on Jacob-- he was her first love. But he's clearly moved on, and it's time for her to move on too.

    And Rob seems like a good guy for her too. He's grounded and has a good head.

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  14. Francesca, can't wait to read about that! It really can work sometimes.

    Lunar, Jacob and Patience were sort of a too much, too young kind of thing, so it's not surprising that she romanticised him for so long. Wanting to hold on to that, probably.

    I think because Patience is a little dreamy, a more stable guy like Rob would be good for her. Claudia might end up having the same kind of influence on Jacob - apart from her freshman year when she went a little crazy, she just wants to settle down, really.

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  15. Ha, I also thought she'd have some hot beach romance, and then here comes Rob, lol! My bet is that he followed her there ;) But awww, he seems to make her happy, so that's good!

    Really, I see you setting them up just to get redheaded babies, lol! ;)

    Oh wow, those showers! They look just like grungy beach showers though!

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  16. Laura, I was so surprised when I saw Rob claiming his dorm! He's always been quite keen on Patience, so I think it'd be in character for him to have followed her there! I don't think I mentioned this but they're 3 bolters - attraction score 100. If I did my top 20 couples again, they'd scrape in at #20.

    Ha, you know, I love those redheads! I'm already hoping Finn and Victoria's baby is a redhead and while I was walking home from work this afternoon, I was trying to figure out in my head if it would be possible for Steve and Olivia to eventually have a redheaded baby (answer: possibly).

    I almost moved Patience to one of the more luxurious dorms but then I decided she could rough it for once in her life. All these spoiled rich girls I have in Sullivan!

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  17. I thought I commented ages ago, but Ill comment again.

    I have been waiting for this update! (lol a month later)

    it was fun to read about Patience's island adventures, and she and Rob are a sweet couple!

    I love the campus and the student union is AWESOME!!!!!

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  18. bbop, thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I'll have to send someone else there one of these days - the whole campus is just too cool to leave alone.

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