7 Quick Takes (Because it's Tuesday Night or Wednesday Morning)

1

I'm sorry for not keeping you all updated on this, but baby Caroline is now a healthy six week old! She had surgery almost immediately after she was born, but it all went well and she was able to go home much earlier than originally anticipated! I now shamelessly creep on her parents' facebooks because she is such a cutie! Thank you all so much for your prayers, and if you are at all able please donate to the Caroline Reedy Fund, which will help defray the cost of all her medical care!

2

Motivation is running awfully low here at Bag End after our Thanksgiving break. We're currently justifying our utter sloth by having a who-can-put-up-the-most-Christmas-decorations contest with the boys next door. They may have lights on their porch, but dadgum we have a pine tree scented candle and an advent calendar with milk chocolate behind every door! 

3

I have two research papers due in a week, and I've even started one of them! Words on a page is progress, and, they're even real words! I didn't just whack my head repeatedly on my keyboard. Hey, at this point in the semester this is a real accomplishment. 

4

Recently I've really been missing the Pope. Not Rome. Not Italy. Not even Gelato. Just the Pope. Everytime I get on twitter and see the papal tweets (in three languages, for some reason I can't figure out), I get super weepy and emotional, and if someone even mentions Pope Benedict, I'm gone. This is probably the most bizarre case of "homesickness" I've ever had.

5

The weather is Texas is more indecisive than a bipolar pregnant lady. It was freezing for two weeks: absolutely freezing, and I had no winter clothes. So I spent two weeks shivering and miserable, but when I finally go home and get all my winter clothes what happens? Texas decides to have a week of 70 degree weather. Thanks, Texas. 

6

 My favorite part of the fall semester, intramural softball, is over. Not that I play or anything. I've had far too many accidents with these so-called sports to get anywhere close to those bats, but I am a great groupie. I really love going to watch all my friends play, and no matter what the score is, they're still may favorite team. (Okay, let's be real, I go to the games to socialize with my other non-athletic friends, but the game is a good excuse to, oh, I don't know, not write papers...)

7

I started making a books-I would-really-really-like-for-Christmas list, and shall we say it's getting a little long. As in, it may or may not be longer than the afore mentioned research paper. I have this great plan for getting a ton of reading done over break, but if previous breaks are any indicator, we'll just have to see what happens. 

Day 17

Dear Diary,
I've been stranded in this wasteland for 17 days now with no sign of rescue. The monsoon season is coming, and I have developed a cold. My only hope for recovery lies in a potion that one of the locals gave me. It is a startling shade of blue, and apparently, if taken in excess can kill you. One of the natives has undertaken it to teach me their poetry. Today, he tried to teach me about the meter of their poems, but in my weakened state I could barely understand him. I am, however, eager to learn and am trying my best to scan one of their native laments. I hope someday to write an intelligent essay on the matter. Perhaps, if I make it through this ordeal alive, I can have it published.
I have also moved my living quarters and am now installed in a tiny wooden box measuring about three feet by three feet, with room only for a small wooden table on which I spread my books. It is neither large nor comfortable, but I must stay here until the period of final examination, by the natives' calendar, has past. Sleep is irrelevant and nourishment unnecessary. If you find my bones here, commend my soul to the Lord and give me a proper burial. 

Apparently, I wrote this the other day, while sitting in the library. It worries me somewhat that I have only vague memories of this event.

Back at School!

I am finally back at school, and, let me tell you, it is absolutely awesome to be back! Because of Rome, my class has been split in half for the last year, and there are a lot of people I haven't seen in ages, so it is wonderful to catch up with them. I had a lot of great friends from freshman year who I haven't seen in nine months, but we're able to meld back together right away. It's also been really fun meeting the people in my class who I didn't get to know freshman year.

Moving into my apartment has been a lot of fun.  Even with our lovely view of the dumpster, we really love it. It's nice that everyone can have at least a little bit of space to themselves, albeit a very tiny bit of space, but space none the less. Yesterday we went to the thrift store, and found some pretty rad decor. There will be pictures soon, I promise.

 Going to the grocery store, however, proved to be a lot less fun. Nothing says stressful like the knowledge that you have to keep yourself alive for the next four months. So we galloped around Wal-mart trying to figure out what we knew how to cook and what we needed to make it. So we now have the most random assortment of food items, but at least we won't starve to death within the first week.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes, and then the real fun begins. I've been looking forward to starting classes all summer, but looking at my schedule is making me rethink all my life decisions. Signing up for classes while in Rome is just a bad idea. I mean, there you are, in Rome, having the time of your life, feeling like anything is possible, and then you sign up for, oh, four upper level English classes. Then you get back to Texas, and all you can think is, "Anything is not possible- like surviving this semester." But we'll see how it goes, but right now, sheer panic.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Wow, it's hard to believe that Nerd Camp was already over a week ago. It seems like only yesterday (Sniff, sentimental tear). Yet somehow I think I'll survive, especially since I'm now gearing up for my favorite time of year: Back to school time! Nothing like the smell of new books, the sound of squeaky new erasers, and the beautiful, beautiful sight of all my friends back together after a very long summer apart!

I've already done some back to school shopping which means I am now the proud owner of probably too many sundresses (but I love them all), a new laptop charger because I managed to loose mine at Nerd Camp, and soon I will receive in the mail the satchel to end all satchels. That last one was a total splurge which I justify by telling myself a) "But, Pip, you didn't buy a leather bag in Florence like the rest of your classmates, and b)"You're just stimulating the economy in your 'hometown'," all of which are really dumb excuses, but goodness me I like this bag. In addition to these larger purchases I also have a planner and two rolls of scotch tape. Oh, and all the pens that my Nerd Campers left behind. Thanks, guys, now I'm ready for the school year.

This year I'm especially excited because I'm moving into an on-campus apartment with three friends! Oh, and I got two spatulas for the apartment. That too. Being in an apartment means being off the meal plan, which is super exciting after eating three meals a day in the cafeteria for the past two years. It's also going to be a lot cheaper and, hopefully, healthier, if I can just stay away from all the junk food I love. The downside is, I'm not going to be seeing people in the cafeteria, so I'm going to have to make sure to actually leave the library and my apartment sometime. The apartment is also one more step closer to being an actual adult. It means that I'll have more than just my cell phone bill to pay every month, and it also means that I'm going to have to budget and plan my meals, which I've never had to do before. Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but it's kind of a daunting prospect, especially as I roll into my Junior year of college.

Speaking of Junior year, isn't that just a little terrifying? Don't get me wrong, we're going to have a ton of fun this year, but reaching the half way point in college is a little weird. I'm taking four upper level English classes this year, including my lovely Junior Poetry Project. Basically what you do is pick one poet, read all their works, read a ton of criticism, and then be reviewed by a panel of professors. I've been told that it's not as scary as a lot of people make it sound, but its still a big deal, so I want it to go well. I've also been a little annoyed about my schedule this year because our German department is now only offering 5 days-a-week, intensive German classes which count for 6 credits, rather than the normal 3 credit, 3 hour classes. Obviously the 5 days-a-week thing is a little difficult for any schedule, but the class managed to conflict with Poetry Project on Tuesdays. Only on Tuesdays, but I still can't take German, and I'm really disappointed about this because I absolutely fell in love with the German language in my last class. I was also hoping to get a minor in German, but now that plan has been blown out of the water. Oh well, I guess I'll console myself by taking Old English instead.

If you can't tell I'm totally geared up to go back to school, which would be a great thing, if I didn't have three weeks until the start of the semester. Yes, three whole weeks! I'm not sure whose brilliant idea this late start was, but may I just say, it's killing some of us. I had planned to spend these last three weeks moping around the house, but instead I got my late summer must-cram-everything-in mood, so I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to make up for all the working out, reading, and violin playing I didn't do all summer. Maybe the time will go by faster this way.