I'm going to bitch for a minute here.

Everyone smoked at Penn Valley, but I thought that was a Midwestern thing, or a low-economic-status thing, or a really-stressed-people thing, and would change once I left. But 24% of Clark students smoke, according to the orientation presentation, and after a month here, I would have guessed an even higher percentage. Smoke is everywhere. I can't have my window open at any time of day because smoke comes in my room, even when students do abide by the twenty-foot rule, which they usually don't.

Did I just get lucky in my childhood? Am I going to have to suck it up and learn to live with cigarette smoke for the rest of my life? Is there anywhere smoking isn't a socially acceptable activity? It might be a serious criterion when I start applying for grad school.