While not quite as exciting as True Life: I Have a Summer Share (the episode that inspired the Jersey Shore), I have already learned a fair number of lessons in my short time as a New Haven townie. To make a long story short, I’m putting my acceleration credits to use, living in my apartment, and interning/working at various establishments. Periodically, I will share all the nuggets of wisdom I learn from life in ” The Real World.” So, tune in to find out what happens when I stop being polite and start getting real.

5 lessons learned:

1. Working for daytime television is depressing. If they’re not paying you, quit.

2. Windshield wipers will invariably break as soon as it starts snowing during your 6:45 AM commute.

3. Being a sometime-student with non-paying internships (apparently babysitting isn’t a legitimate source of income?) will apparently invalidate your application for dog adoption from the New Haven Animal Shelter. Just in case you were wondering. There may not be crying in baseball, but there’s definitely crying when you tell a girl she can’t get a puppy.

4. You can still get fined from SML for overdue books when you’re not a current student.

5. The brand new scanning policy at the Payne Whitney Gym actually affects a small percentage of the New Haven population — me and probably most of the current Whiffenpoofs.