It's been a long time since I really paid much thought to the month of August. For several years, it meant working at the rafting company and working on my tan as often as I could, which was every day. (And by the way, was awesome and you just can't get that from a bottle!) But for 4 years, August meant packing up and going back to college. I haven't thought about it too much until a couple days ago while I was in Target, picking up the latest Glamour magazine to read during lunch, and the store was filled to the brim with college kids stocking up on Target's goods to head back to class shortly. Working in a town with a major university, you'd think I'd think about it a lot but in truth, I hardly venture near the campus...way too many pedestrians! But as I was driving in to work this morning, I saw more college kids. Some looking around, trying to get their bearings. Others headed in a surefire path to their destination. Boulder could not have a more beautiful backdrop for a campus.

The center of the campus looks like it was plucked off some East coast Ivy League college; what with the Flatirons, big trees and flagstone buildings. Not too shabby.

Then it got me thinking about where I went to college. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas. UNLV. Sin City. Not exactly what you equate with "college town". Nothing about it screams academia. Most people come to Las Vegas and probably don't even think about a major college being there. The campus is 2 miles from The Strip and right across the street from the international airport. Um yeah, try sleeping in when the flight patterns have the planes taking off over the dorms instead of over The Strip. Time off from class was spent in a variety of ways that seemed to resemble those of someone that lived in LaLa Land: hanging out at the Mandalay Bay pool (of course we didn't sneak in), knowing The People and getting into The Places, doing your clothes shopping at Caesars Palace, watching one of a dozen reality shows on Vegas and knowing half the people on them, going to hot nightclubs and having breakfast at Lenny's afterward at 3AM (I so can't do that anymore). Oh yeah, and the roommate I had in the dorms for half a semester that was, you guessed it, a stripper. Awesome.

Don't get me wrong, I worked my butt off at school. I was an Interior Architect major for 2 years before I switched majors to Photography. Albeit they were 2 sleep deprived, zero social life years at times. I also worked full time. Architecture is commonly known as "Architorture" by those in the same major. It's not easy. I spent hours, and I mean hours, in the Architecture building. Designing buildings, making models, trying not to go insane from being up for 4 days in a row, having chair races up and down the long hallways due to lack of sleep. And while most kids are walking to classes in September, bundled up against the encroaching chill of fall; I was walking to class looking like I'd just run a 50K I was so drenched in sweat from the 100+ degree heat. Vegas is a little toasty.

While I got accepted to CU and UNLV at the same time, I decided to throw away the security of going to a school close to home and went for one that was in a sandbox on the sun. No, I didn't have your typical college experience but I certainly don't regret it. I have many fond memories of college. And really, how many people do you know spent their formative years in Sin City!