gotta love freshmen

So, last Sunday I made out with this freshman kid named Zach at a party. Unfortunately, Haven had to witness this debauched debacle. Of course, I thought my brief association with this kid would be over for good. But last night Amanda came over for a bit and managed to find this kid on Facebook without even knowing his last name (her stalking skills are ridiculous). This morning I get a text from her saying that after leaving my room, she proceeded to go to a party, where she met this exact kid (and said that he was a very nice guy, haha).
Anyways, this morning Bo and I made chocolate crinkles from scratch. They were heavenly. And hanging out with him is a lot of fun, despite the fact that he is super ADD and changes topics of conversation every minute or so.
Facebook informed me that it is Louisa's birthday, so I hope you have fun celebrating, Devon! Oh, and do you like the rest of the kids on your program?
And Haven!! You do not have a widow!

hola de espana!

hola hola hola!

After a two hour delay on the runway in Atlanta, we finally got to take off towards Philadelphia. One problem, I was still in the air at 6:30 which was when my plane to Madrid was supposedly leaving, and I had not heard if it had been delayed due to weather yet. So we took off and I crossed my fingers that my plane would still be there waiting for me when I arrived over an hour late....

Good news! It was there and had been delayed until 8! So I basically walked off my plane and ran to my next flight to walk directly on. It was sooo exhausting. 

I got onto the plane and walked about half a mile down the aisle until I got to row 37 (the second to last row of the plane), and who was awaiting my arrival there?? Well, it was actually a 6'10" pro basketball player that was on his way to play for some island team in Spain. Needless to say we made a good pair because he took up 75% of our shared space and I only need 25%. I literally sat down and said, "Thank god I'm not a 300lb fat man. I'm Haven by the way," and we were instantly friends. 

There were 3 others on my program on the plane including ShAnnon. We were the first to Madrid and waited 3 hours for everyone else to arrive, and then we got on our bus for a 2.5 hour trip to Salamanca. 

And now I'm here! My family consists of my madre y dos hermanas. One is 19 and the other 9. My room is approximately the size of a closet and is complete with bunk beds-- my fave. 

I'm sitting in a park now stealing this internet and waiting for Shannon to arriveeeeeee. 

I miss yall so so so so so much. I'm honestly a little freaked out still, but I'm good.

birthday prep

As you all know, today is Bdubb's birthday. Everyone in the suite decided that we would make dinner for her tomorrow, and so we went on a 3-hour shopping excursion to Target, Wal-Mart, and Whole Foods. Becca plans to make pasta al pomodoro (probably incredibly incorrect Italian, but you will have to forgive me, Devon). Haven, Liz had moon pies in the back of her car (although I think they were not normal because they had peanut butter in them), and I ate one and it was delicious.
Last night was fun - Billy came over, drew on our mirror (a self-portrait, a Buddha, etc.) and then wrote stuff on our dry-erase calendar, such as designating certain days "special days" and reminding us that his birthday was something to look forward to in October. There were lounge parties happening at most frats, but by the time we (me, Marge, Liz) got to SAE, they had moved to their house. It was sort of sparsely populated, so I left. Luckily, too, because like 10 minutes later the cops came and surrounded the house for like an hour so no one could talk. Weirdly enough, while there I met a freshman girl from Lancaster who lives like a minute away from me and who is friends with my brother.
That is all the news here, sadly enough.
Miss you both!

Ciao!

Greetings from Firenze!

It's sooo beautiful here. Last night, Louisa and I joined a couple of girls in our building out to dinner. When we were walking there, a seater at a restaurant said, "Wait- you dropped something!" I turned back to look and he said, "My heart." Baahaaa. Yeah. It was epic. Louisa and I shared a pizza with a fresh spicy pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, proscuitto, and pesto. I died just a little bit and saw a glimpse of heaven.

The food isn't the only thing that's delicious here though- the language is scrumptious too. Every time I see a new word I want to say it out loud.

Today, Louisa and I slept through Day 2 of Orientation- but we made the most of it and visited the Mercado Centrale (the fresh market where the locals shop). We got supplies for dinner tonight- we're going to make Chicken Francese.

Wish us luck!

Love you so much.

packing, what a nightmare.

Here I sit in my room. Packing my life away. Clothes (summer, fall, and snowy winter), journals, spanish-english dictionary, comb, toothpaste, etc. It's really great trying to figure out how I'm going to choose what to bring. Oh, decisions. Wish I was good at making them. 

Started my second to last day at home exactly how I start every other summer day: hot tea and a magazine under the umbrella by the pool. The ultimate bliss (unless it's 106 degrees with 80% humidity). But, since then I've pretty much been a prisoner tomy room. My floor is slowly starting to disappear as I make and remake stacks of stuff to pack. 

Highlight of my day: "William Kennedy Oelsner is video calling you." Billy: Hey. Wow, is that your room?! Haven: Yes, it is! It's green! (Noticing lamp in background) Did you decorate your room?? (Computer camera flips around to show that Billy is in fact in the Green room skyping with me). Only Billy. 

Told Mads this already, but my mom literally follows me around like a cat, exactly two steps behind me. Speaking of kittys, mine has sneak-attacked me twice today. Needless to say, life is great.

Love the blog. 

first day of schooooool

Let me preface this by saying that my entries will not be exciting. With that in mind, I will now begin the recounting of day 1, fall semester 2009. (Oh, Devon, the next time we Skype I need to tell you a story about me and partial public nudity - it's actually semi-scandalous).
Today was quite pleasant. Had a very long lunch with Margaret and one of her friends, Andy, who went to McCallie and who is my friend Paul's roommate. Afterwards, we went to their room, which is in Luter. Hopefully Andy can make Paul a bit more social - he is so sweet, but incredibly shy.
Class-wise, today was so-so. Physics is physics, and this time my professor does not have an awesome accent. And my sociology professor is incredibly earnest, so I don't know if the class will be as interesting and provocative as I had hoped.
Amanda stopped by the suite today and said she thinks her classes will work out, so that's great.
Of course, I miss you guys so much and wish you were here with me. But I also look forward to hearing about your experiences in your fabulous locations.
P.S. Haven, Billy is now taking human physiology, too!