I have never particularly enjoyed drinking coffee. It smells wonderful, but it doesn't quite taste as good as it smells. The aroma is thick and rich, but the taste is thin and acidic. I also didn't really like the idea of spending $2-$3 on a single cup of java. For the price of two tall vanilla lattes i could go out to lunch at New Peking.

College changes people. And so does France. For it was in France that i really decided to give coffee a serious try; I figured it was a cultural experience. (French cafe is like a kick in the face. It gets you moving quick.) I came home with a renewed respect for that age old Renaissanc-inducing beverage. But  I still thought it tasted kind of like acid.

And now I am in college: the time in every person's life when one neglects sleep for the simple reason of "I have nothing better to do." I have nothing better to do besides homework. I have nothing better to do than play video games (for those of you who have a new Xbox with all the classic games already loaded onto the hard drive). I have nothing better to do besides go to a midnight ultimate frisbee practice every wednesday. (True story.)

Well, in that same vein, I have nothing better to do than drink coffee. At least occaissionally. Perhaps it's because this entire campus smells like coffee. Even the elevators in the VU and Library smell like coffee. It's everywhere.

Now that I have joined the DARKer side of brewed caffiene, I have discovered a glorious side effect: it makes you happy! Coffee is a plain and simple mood altering drug that is sold on almost every street corner in Washington. And I finally understand why so many people drink it.

My search for cures of the winter blues has now added another antidote: the first being snow, the second being coffee.

Ike--the coffee drinker