2014-07-31 - 5:50 p.m.

I refrained from writing my impression of Charleston, WV because I was trying really hard to just be KIND.

I will tell that the ONLY conversations I have overheard OTHERS having all revolved around alcohol, and there were a couple with the subject of METH thrown in as well.

Some college student on the train was actually , get this, actually PROUD and thought it was CLEVER that when he had a high school assignment of writing out the chemical formula to make something, he and his lab partner handed in the meth formula.

And yes he got a passing grade on the assignment as the chemistry teach did say it was accurate.

I was a bit blown away by hearing the conversation of the folks getting OFF the train at the same stop I was getting off at.

It was a bit more starting however that the other conversations I overheard were all of bar applicants either waiting to take the bar exam or having just finished.

SO I MAY HAVE PASSED THIS BAR EXAM AFTER ALL! WHoo hooo....

Not sure if that is something to be REALLY PROUD Of or not however after reading what seems, albeit amusing in a twisted way, what I think appears a very ACCURATE description of this "city" (Based on my conversation with the cab driver I had) , found in the comments on the following site with the heading about CRIME at the Hospital that can be found when you click on 'more' -

http://www.bestplaces.net/comments/city/west_virginia/charleston

WOW, JUST WOW

I was thinking perhaps I was being a bit unfair in my initial assessment and thought maybe I would see if there was anything really worthy of exploration here. I ended up not finding any recommendations whatsoever as it seems there are two nice things in this city and I already found them- The pizzeria that has been here for 38 years opened by a Sicilian immigrant, and Taylor's bookstore.

So I don't think I missed much by staying holed up in my room reading and writing all day. I wanted to catch up on world news after being holed up studying for so long and ignoring the rest of the world!

WOW

Telling you, Charleston IS A PRETTY PLACE but it seems weirdly EMPTY.

I think UNHCR should make this a refugee resettlement destination. That would HELP this city! It would bring some hard working folks , diversity, actually SOME CULTURE and perhaps even art to this city. I felt like Northern Virginia was a bit on the sterile side when it came to the arts, but BOY This place makes Loudoun look like it is rich with diversity and abounding with artistic expression everywhere as Loudoun DOES HAVE many visual artists and increasingly more venues that musicians are playing at publicly!

WOW

Just-- WOW!

On the bright side, I think I can re-assess the odds of me passing that BAR EXAM and safely say they are higher than I had thought. The pool of applicants were clearly not offering the competition that I faced in Virginia!

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