ACC (now-ex) Student Kylie Bowen has successfully transferred to Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado as part of ACCs and ASCs articulation agreement. She will receive her BA in Creative Writing with just seven more upper division level courses and will have the option of either doing a second major or a minor to fulfill the rest of her BA degree credit hour requirement.  After a little minor Writers Studio elbow-twisting, Kylie has agreed to share her experiences monthly at Adams State through The Bowen Blog:

Greetings from one of the top three coldest effing places in Colorado!

I have been in Alamosa for four days now, and the best advice I can give is bring a space heater. It is cold. It doesn’t snow too much, but I do believe my nose (and ears) lost the ability to be any color other than Rudolph red. The good news is, the thieves here are really, really stupid. If you are staying at the Best Western (there’s only one so you’ll know which on I mean) be aware for people trying to break into your car at eleven p.m. Do not worry: they won’t know what the hell they are doing. They will set off your alarm, or not even get that far. In my case, they pried the door away from the window in a futile and from the looks of it, frustrated attempt to get my (broken P.O.S) mp3 player and $25 dollar thingy that plays music through the tape deck. Unable to jimmy the lock (as it is not located in the middle of the door) they gave up. I am assured that the likelihood of this is slim, as the culprits were likely part of the group of poorly chaperoned high school kids in town to view the college-- one of whom was soaking in the 108 degree hot tub while simultaneously showing off her two-day old, shakily drawn tattoo (read: idiot with screwed up art that was crappy to begin with). 

    The on campus apartments are small, but heated! Bring a pillow top for your bed and earplugs if you plan on sleeping at night (as everything is conveniently easily sterilized metal, you can hear EVERYTHING. Including the poor little fella on the wrong side of campus looking for his dorm room at three a.m.) If you are rooming with the R.A. (as I am) she will not be home much, so you don’t have to worry a whole lot about the no-alcohol in your room policy (kidding! Don’t break the rules. It’s wrong.) All joking aside, people will knock on your door and ask you to sign their check-out/in sheet. They are not looking for your signature, and you should under no circumstances think it would be really funny to sign it anyway.

    Classes themselves (in my case) are small and quite enjoyable thus far! Carol Guerro-Murphy is reminiscent of our dear Dr. Winograd with a (slightly scatterbrained) whimsical enjoyment of poetry and teaching in general. If you have the misfortune to have an 8a.m. class, hopefully you will have it with an enthusiastic, well-read hippie who will amuse your sleepiness away. Unfortunately, he is also under the (mis)conception that your brain is fully functioning and can do more than keep you upright and breathing at such an ungodly hour. 
      

       Back in my apartment (which has a playground in the back!) there are currently ten or so deer, two babies, lying in the grass munching contentedly on the grass and drinking from the melting ice on the ground. This is a very common occurrence. They don’t seem to run into traffic, but stay in your backyard or the yards of a house nearby. I tell you this so that you can come down here expecting to enjoy the wildlife of the San Luis Valley, of which there is much. If you are intending to hunt these creatures, please ask the Wizard for a heart before you make the journey.