Foreign Movies are Funny

Watching a movie in French with English subtitles when you don't know a word of French is funny. It's like watching soap operas on mute. Especially when words don't translate exactly right and it sounds like the person is saying something silly and completely wrong for the situation described in the movie. It's a riot. Except when you're not supposed to laugh because it's really serious, but something just strikes you as funny and you can't help it, then everyone looks at you funny because you shouldn't be laughing. That didn't happen to me. It almost did, but I held it in. :D

I'm so excited for this weekend, my parents are coming Saturday! :) Fun fun fun!

A Post About Nothing

Ok, now is the time for my post about how I can't believe how quickly time has passed, it feels like just yesterday I was at home, and how Friday is already my birthday and I will be 20. So weird and a little scary. It's sad that no one will be here on my birthday :( Everyone is either going home or spending the evening with their parents because it's Parent's Weekend. My parents aren't coming until Saturday, so I'll be by myself on Friday :( No birthday fun for me :( Sorry, I'm being whiny now. I have plenty of promises to go out to dinner or do something fun next weekend, plus I'll get to see my parents on Saturday, so I shouldn't complain about anything. It's my only child syndrome kicking in.

I haven't updated in awhile because I can't think of anything to say. Everything's pretty much fallen into a routine now where studying and homework are done during the spare minutes in between meetings and such. I like staying busy so I don't mind. We got third place in Anchor Splash on Saturday and everyone was pretty pleased with that. It was embarrassing, but fun. At least I shouldn't have to do it again. This week is a lot less crazy than last week, thankfully. My history professor is now my favorite (at least for awhile) because she moved our essay that was due next Friday until two weeks later, which makes me ecstatic because I had a test earlier in the week and a long essay due the same day in other classes. So basically, everything is great, I think I'm getting more sleep than last year, and nothing exciting is happening, at least not this week. Oh yeah, except my birthday, but it remains to be seen just how exciting that will be.

Star Sighting in My Hometown

Ok, so I know I was going to go to bed like over an hour ago, but I just thought of something that might be semi-postworthy. Or at least kind of interesting.

So everyone knows Jennifer Garner, but what a lot of people don't know is that she grew up in/near the same city that I did. So I was talking to my mom earlier, and she told me that it was in the news today that Jennifer was visiting home this past week and she had her boyfriend with her who is none other than...Ben Affleck!!!

Evidently, a woman was in the movie theater (my movie theater!) watching the movie Garden State, when she just happened to notice that the people sitting in front of her were none other than Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. (How weird would that be?) She calmly approached them and asked them for their autographs, a request they readily acquiesced as long as she promised to keep it quiet that they were in the theater. Sources say that Garner brought Affleck home to meet her parents, so it must be fairly serious! Although I'll admit, it always seemed to me that Ben Affleck would be a rather difficult person to be in a relationship with, but maybe that's because of all the hype around the whole Jennifer Lopez engagement thing. Either way, where I'm from, that's extremely exciting news!

And Jennifer Garner went to college at Denison where she was a Pi Beta Phi. Alas, the similarities end there, as I have the acting skills of a sleepy rabbit. Okay, that was a weird comparison. Let's just say that in the school musicals, I was always cast in the chorus, not because I couldn't sing, but because I couldn't act.

Okay, that's the last post of the day. I promise. I'm going to bed for real this time. Seriously.

Randomness

Ok, so Nina read my long post and said that I'm crazy if I think I'm socially awkward because that's completely untrue. She should know, she's a psychology major, so she knows everything! Ok, that's pretty much an inside joke so it's not really funny here, but oh well.

So my friends here say that I shouldn't post so much online. They think it's silly that if they want to find out about my life or what I've been up to, they have to read my online journal. They think I should just go visit them and talk. They're probably right. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't write as much anymore. Nah, it's become my favorite form of procrastination. And it's really addicting. Haha, I just made a post about comments from other people. What a loser! LOL! Wow I'm really random and really tired right now. Tiredness=random craziness

I had my first experience with pointy toed shoes today. It was fun. I took a picture.

Why do I trip upstairs more than downstairs?

I love granola, it makes my day a happy day when they have it in the cafeteria for breakfast.

People outside my window are really noisy.

My roommate is asleep. I should be too.

Our rug is really really dirty. It needs vacuumed very badly.

I hate the color orange.

Wow I need sleep. I'm so not being stupid on purpose, I really can't help it.

Three Cheers for Girls Who Wear the Blue and Blue!

Tonight was the best COR event ever! Getting all dressed up, eating some amazing food, drinking mocktail strawberry daquiris and pina colodas, taking tons of pictures, singing our songs, and talking to all the potential new members. So much fun! It reminded me of preference round when I was going through recruitment and brought back all the excitement and eagerness I felt when I first joined. I also really felt the sisterhood like I did in the beginning. I'm so happy with the house and know that all my sisters are really awesome. They're amazing and I don't know what I would do without them! I can't wait to see who the Fall CORs are and find out who our new sisters will be!

Frat parties, Football, and Many Reflections

This is going to be a long one.

I spent the past weekend in the Delta Chi fraternity house at Miami University. All I can say now is that it was an interesting experience that really gave me a lot to think about. I did have fun, but it's definitely not something I'd like to do every weekend.

Nina's ex-boyfriend/best best best friend Eric is a Delta Chi at Miami, and their fraternity was having a party this weekend, so we were invited to come along. I was nervous at first because I have so much trouble in social situations, but forced myself to go to try to break that cycle. The car ride down wasn't so bad. It's about 2 1/2 hours away, so Nina and I passed the time with some quality roommate bonding, discussing everything from stuff that we did in high school, to all of our ex-boyfriends, to the fact that I need to stop blaming myself for everything that happens because it's rarely my fault. Twenty minutes after leaving Granville, the rain stopped, and by the time we were within 30 minutes of Oxford, we rolled the windows down and started singing loudly (and badly) while driving down the road. Always fun.

After a nice drive, we arrived at Miami. I'd never been there, but have heard that lots of people compare it to Denison, only larger (Denison has about 2100 students, while Miami has about 17,000). The campus is very pretty, but much more spread out than my college. I didn't really get to see much of it though, because we stayed on the same side pretty much the whole time.

Eric lives in the fraternity house, so we stayed there all weekend. I'd never been in a frat house before, so I was looking forward to the experience, just as something new. Let me just say that it was pretty crazy, but more on that later. Friday, we got there, then walked over to the "downtown" area, or whatever they call it. It was so much different than Denison. The whole street was full of college-looking eating places, lots of shops, ice cream places, and a large field of grass with picnic tables, a gazebo, and a fountain in the middle. It was pretty neat, and immensely different from my college. We got something to eat then just hung around for a while. Later, at around 9:00, we walked to one of the sports facilities to watch a game of broomball. I had never heard of it before, but it was interesting. It's played on ice, only you don't wear ice skates, you wear shoes with sticky gel things on the bottom. It's sort of like hockey, only less aggressive and without the pads. Instead of a puck, you have this round black ball about the size of a large grapefruit, and instead of hockey sticks, you use this things that are shaped like a broom at the bottom, only smaller and made entirely of plastic-looking stuff. The scoring is the same as hockey though. It was Greek Week on their campus, so the sororites and fraternities were playing each other in tournaments. We stayed long enough to watch Eric's fraternity win the first round and lose in the second. After that, we headed back to the house, where they were preparing for the evening's festivities.

That night was what I called a party, but Eric called people just coming up to the house. It started on the deck, which was nice because it was outside so there was lots of room to walk around to different people. I was introduced to dozens of people that Nina knew, either from high school or from going to visit Eric a lot last year. The whole reason for me going (in my opinion) was so that I could work on my social skills and get used to talking more in groups of more than 3 people. I was very proud of myself that night, I met and talked to lots of different people and didn't even feel awkward very much. Anyway, after awhile, it got a little chilly outside, so people started moving inside. Inside the house, the whole place was wild. There were people wandering around on all 3 floors in and out of every room. I'd never seen so much liquor in one place before, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it was just an observation. Anyway, it wasn't bad, not at all like a Denison party where you have 50 people crammed into one tiny room. The whole house was pretty full, although not uncomfortably so, and I was told that this was very very small for a party, and that one time they had 4,000 people in and around the house. Wandering from room to room and watching drunk people jump on couches, sing, and do all sorts of crazy things made the night fun. I've never really enjoyed myself at parties like that before, but on a scale of the amount of fun it would be possible for me to have at a party like that, I'd rate this one the highest of all. I would even venture to say that I had fun.

The majority of Saturday was spent watching various games of college football, especially Michigan and Ohio State. (WVU won (yay!) and Marshall lost (boo!) In between, we walked around some shops and stuff again. Eric cooked pasta and chicken for us for lunch, which was very nice, then we just kind of chilled all day. That night was the date party at the barn. It took place at a barn/stable place with horses that I found out belonged to a Delta Chi alum who let them have the party at his place. They grilled dinner outside, had a DJ, and later a bonfire. The whole thing was pretty mellow, people just hanging out. The DJ played all country music, because it was a western/cowboy themed function, which got on my nerves a bit because I hate country music, but overall, it was tolerable. I didn't really know anyone besides Nina and Eric, and there were a lot fewer people there Saturday than there were Friday night, so at times I felt a bit awkward, but overall, it was a nice experience. Very calm, especially compared to Friday. After that, we just went back to the house, which was pretty quiet for once, walked around and got some ice cream, then went back and eventually went to sleep.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. I lot more than that happened, but it's not really worth writing down. Of course a weekend away like that gave me plenty of time for reflection. So, just for fun, here are a few things I thought of over the weekend.

*Nina and I decided that at a school like Miami, there is never a lack of cute guys and it would be nice because you would have the opportunity to meet someone new everyday. However, for each one of those guys, there are those girls with the perfect hair and make-up and attitudes that make you feel so inferior, ugly, and laden with imperfections that you just want to hate yourself. So I guess it all evens out in the end. Which led me to think, is the only way to get the attention of a guy to dress like a slut and act like you're really drunk all the time? Because that seems to be the trend at Miami, even more so than Denison. I could just never see myself doing that, so I guess I'm just screwed.

*Is being talkative in social situations an inborn trait, or is it something that can be learned with practice, like playing a musical instrument or a sport? If I start going to parties, making myself have fun, and practice making small talk with people I really don't care very much about, or if I do care, they probably don't care about me, will I eventually become used to it? Or will I always feel awkward and a little out of place in social situations like parties? I'm really trying to work on that. I would say that I'm a social person, just not a talkative one. I go lots of places, am always invited places, but when I'm in groups of more than 3 other people, or if I'm in a group with someone I don't know too well, I tend to just not say anything, other than chiming in now and then to let people know I'm listening. I just honestly can't think of anything to say and don't want to draw too much attention to myself. But I know that to survive in the world, I need to be more talkative, so I'm working on it. I just wonder if it will always take so much effort for me to even start a conversation. I keep hoping that one day I'll grow out of it, but I'm not so sure anymore.

*The Miami college campus and town is so much different than the one at Denison. So really, what is the typical college experience? Is it drunken parties in small rooms? In large houses or in small rented houses, with block long parties? Is it getting up at 10:00 a.m. for kegs 'n eggs before a football game? Or is it walking along a street full of shops and restaurants, on either the small scale of Granville or the larger scale of Oxford? Could it just be hanging out in a friend's room talking and watching movies, sharing stories and past experiences? In reality it's probably just a combination of all of those things that ultimately depends on the person and what he or she enjoys doing. I guess seeing how differently things occur at Miami made me wonder how different people view college. Obviously, my college experience will be different than someone from Miami, and theirs will be different from someone from Ohio State or WVU. I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as you're happy.

*After spending the weekend in a house full of guys, I've realized a few things. 1. I have a really hard time understanding anything about guys (so everything following is just my own thoughts and observations). 2. Guys are obsessed with football, beer, and ESPN. They can also be very selfish about some things, they lie, and it's completely impossible to figure out what they're thinking because one minute they'll do one thing, then the next they'll do another that is completely uncharacteristic. 3. After listening/talking with one of Eric's roommates, I've come to the conclusion that it is impossible for a guy to be interested in a girl unless she first: 1. leads him on then pretends she doesn't care about him 2. treats him like crap one minute, then the next expects him to be there for her or becomes disappointed when he doesn't call even though she just pretended to be angry with him, 3. leaves him in a state of confusion for a long period of time, acting like she's interested one minute then completely ignores him the next. This perplexes me. I've never been like that, so once again, I guess I'm just screwed. 4. I'm always going to be the best friend of the girl the guy has a crush on. I'm just the one who (if I like the guy, if not, he doesn't learn anything) dishes out all the information, like what time the girl goes to bed, why she acts this way, is she interested at all, what's her favorite movie, flower, color, what's she doing this weekend, etc. I've played that role countless times, and don't really mind, it's just that eventually I end up feeling like the 3rd wheel, which is never fun. It doesn't matter, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll just accept it.

*Friendship means different things to different people. If you place a different value on friendship, have different expectations, or differing viewpoints about what it entails, then you may get into arguments with your "friend", and it may be difficult to maintain the friendship. In extreme instances, you may not be able to have a friendship with someone whose opinion is far different from yours. It's sad, but true. In other words, it takes two people to have a friendship, and if the other person doesn't reciprocate and doesn't act or treat you like he or she wants to be friends, or if both people don't make the same effort toward being friends, then it's just not going to work. This is something I had always known, but saw an example of and put into words this weekend.

So now my weekend is over, so what do I have to do now? I have tons of laundry and a test tomorrow. In the long run, after my much needed vacation from my own life, I realize that I now have to start over. Go back on my diet, although that's nothing new, all my friends know that my life is nothing but one continuous diet where I'm never satisfied until I can lose 5 more pounds, followed by 5 more, on and on. I haven't yet reached the point where I find it necessary to stop. I've been so busy I don't have time for more than immersing myself completely in things that have to be done, leaving little time for being social and talkative (aside from this weekend, which I had planned earlier). Time to start another week and hope that something exciting happens. Although I must say that this weekend was definitely a learning experience, was fun, and is something that I will probably do again (only maybe Emily will come next time too!). I can't wait for the next road trip!

P.S. Andrea is too busy for me, so now nobody comments, but that's okay, at least I know of a few people that still bother to read it!

Walking around campus alone at 4 a.m. is really creepy. And the rain is making my hair frizzy. But I'm going away this weekend, so it's all ok. Maybe I'll have something interesting to post on Sunday or Monday. I sure hope so.

I've been in a really really bad mood all day, and I promise it has nothing to do with people. It's just one of those things you have to deal with that I don't look forward to. Better this weekend than next I suppose. That also explains why I've updated this thing like 3 times today. I don't feel like doing anything productive and I'm putting it off as much as possible. I've also decided that maybe I'll vent about things more frequently on this page. I don't really care if anyone reads it or not, so I'll just say whatever I feel like saying. Or maybe I'm just saying that because I'm in a bad mood. We'll find out later.

Yay!!!!!!!!! I have pictures!!!!!!!! :)

The Gamma Omega chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma 

Brooke, Julie, and I 

I don't know why I'm so exhausted. I kept trying to read last night and couldn't get further than 2 sentences without my head falling over. So I went to bed at 10:00 last night and slept for 11 1/2 hours, and probably would still be sleeping if I hadn't set my alarm clock. After all that sleeping, I still don't feel up to par. Maybe I slept too long. I just don't have time to sleep that long, and I really don't even have time to write in this thing, although I'm doing it anyway. It's only the 3rd week of classes and I think I've already overwhelmed myself with things to do. That's horrible, I never want to relive the nightmare that was my senior year of high school.

Even though it's going to take up a lot of time and require me to get up at 7 a.m. to go to the pool, I'm getting excited about Anchor Splash. I really didn't want to do it at first because wearing a bathing suit in front of half the student body is probably my worst nightmare, but really everyone feels that way, we just have to suck it up and do it anyway. *Side note*: Anchor Splash is this big competition between all the sororities and fraternities. There are several small events, but the biggest thing is a dance routine and synchronized swimming routine on the last day (we have to choreograph it ourselves). It's a pretty big deal and lasts all of next week. The whole purpose is to raise money for Service for Sight, Delta Gamma's philanthropy (they host the event). It's already caused some disagreements, but in the end, I think it will be a fun and memorable experience.

I've also decided that I need to stop asking other people for advice. If I have a question, even silly things like should I go here? or should I buy this? or does this jacket match this shirt and these pants? Then I have to ask everyone I know and consolidate all the answers, which is stupid because everyone has something different to say and that confuses me even more. I'm capable of making my own decisions, so from now on, I quit asking for advice and just do whatever I think I should do. I'm sure that won't last long.

Unfortunately, I still have outrageous amounts of reading to do and I still need to do laundry when all I really want to do is chill on the futon and watch a movie. I have plans for what will either be an amazingly fun weekend or a really horrible weekend, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I'm so so so so so so so so busy!!!!!!!! It's crazy. Meetings, jobs, clubs, in addition to the tremendous amounts of reading I have every day while trying to fit in time for everyday activities such as eating, socializing, and if I'm lucky exercising are sometimes overwhelming. The scary thing is, I am by far not the most overscheduled person I know. Many of my friends are just as bad or worse. I love being involved in things and having stuff to do, and I'll often forget about what I already have to do and volunteer to join some other group or take on some other sort of duty. But I suppose everyone is really busy like that, that's just the way things are. As much as I may worry or complain about not having time for stuff, I'll admit, I still like to be scheduled.

My weekend was pretty mellow. Lots of movies and sleeping. Nothing too exciting. Although I was at a party Friday night (for like 20 mintues) when everyone got freaked out and left because a policeman asked a girl for an ID when she left the room. I was actually glad everyone left because I was so bored. Saturday night a bunch of people came up to our room and we watched My Best Friend's Wedding. I was so tired that I kept almost falling asleep. Then on Sunday I slept a lot, went to the longest most boring training session ever so I can go to elementary schools and tutor kids in reading (and get paid for it), went to chapter, and hardly got any work finished all day. The bad thing was that I did not accomplish my goal for the weekend. This was not entirely my own fault, in fact I guess not much of it was my fault, but nonetheless, it was still disappointing. I really hope to get it taken care of before the end of the week because everyday that I have to go on without resolving it becomes harder and harder to face with the confidence I need.

On that note, I am going outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather and finish reading all the stuff I was supposed to have finished before class this morning.

Should I put this on my AIM profile? I don't think I would have to screen it much more than I already do...

Yay! My Internet works again! I've been without it since Monday evening and I thought I was going to go crazy. I got kicked off the network somehow and it took forever to get back on. Who knows, I may wake up in the morning and not have Internet again, so I'd best take advantage of it while I can.

Ok, so someone (hmmm...that's so hard to figure out) wants to know what I thought of Howard Dean. So here it is, just in case anyone else is interested. It was pretty funny because I was sitting in between two of my friends, one an avid Republican (Emily) , the other a Democrat (Julie) . I felt bad clapping everytime Dean made some sort of anti-Republican point because of her, so I just looked at Julie and we both laughed. Meanwhile, Emily furiously took notes on all the "ridiculous" points he made, probably so she could meet with the College Republicans and complain about his disrespect toward Bush.

Overall, I thought his speech was very nice. One of his main points was that people should get involved in their community by running for office or helping with a campaign, which was a nice change from all the lectures telling you to just vote because every vote counts, blah blah blah. I also liked the part of his speech where he elaborated on the things that every American wants regardless of political party, including health care for everyone, education, etc. (meaning I can't remember the rest). He did make a lot of jabs at Bush and the Republicans in general, which is not surprising considering he is a Democrat, however I know this angered and disappointed many of the Republicans on campus. They were hoping for a more general speech that would appeal to everyone regardless of position or interest in politics. The speech was presented well and managed to maintain my interest despite the fact that I couldn't see well due to the extremely long neck of the girl sitting diagonally in front of me. So I enjoyed the speech and was glad I went. We stayed for most of the Q&A session, although I'm not gonna lie, I zoned out and didn't really pay much attention to what was said.

It's done nothing but rain all day and the forecast suggests the same for tomorrow. My umbrella broke today, so that's no good. Oh well, I think it's supposed to be sunny on Friday. Although it is nice that the temperature is a bit cooler. Not everyone is lucky enough to have air-conditioning in their rooms.

So that's about it. Lots of work and everything's beginning to get crazy already. No big plans for the weekend yet, although I'm sure something will come up as the time draws nearer. I just hope my Internet still works when I wake up in the morning.

"Now when the soul, which is of a sociable nature, finds anything like to itself...She conceives a great delight in it, therefore she desires nearness and familiarity with it. She hath a great propensity to do it good and receives such content in it, as fearing the miscarriage of her beloved she bestows it in the inmost closet of her heart. She will not endure that it shall want any good which she can give it. If by occasion she be withdrawn from the company of it, she is still looking towards the place where she left her beloved. [...] If she find it sad and disconsolate, she sighs and moans with it. She hath no such joy as to see her beloved merry and thriving. If she see it wronged, she cannot hear it without passion. She sets no bounds to her affections, nor hath any thought of reward. She finds recompense enough in the exercise of her love towards it. [...] If any shall object that it is not possible that love should be bred or upheld without hope of requital, it is granted; but that is not our cause; for this love is always under reward. It never gives, but it always receives with advantage; first, in regard that among the members of the same body, love and affection are reciprocal in a most equal and sweet kind of commerce. [...] The party loving, reaps love again, as was showed before, which the soul covets more than all the wealth in the world. Thirdly; Nothing yields more pleasure and content to the soul than when it finds that which it may love fervently, for to love and live beloved is the soul's paradise, both here and in heaven."

-John Winthrop "A Model of Christian Charity" 1630

Yep, I finally finished my reading. Now onto the response paper.

My first weekend at Denison is nearly over, and I'm happy to say it was a very fun and eventful one. I started out Friday by watching the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was a good movie and I was really glad I went because I had wanted to see it for awhile, plus it was free. So yeah, that was fun. After that, I had to go to a party across campus because all day long I had been telling a bunch of my sorority sisters that I would. So I made the trek to the other side, to brave the drunken wasteland of east quad. Oh east quad, with your flashing lights, deafening mixture of hip-hop, dance, and rock music blasting from each different room, and your constant smell of beer that lingers in each and every dorm! I'm endlessly grateful that I do not live within your walls! Ok, seriously, I'm so glad I don't live there. Maybe I'm just too uptight, but I don't think I would like having crowds of people standing drunk in the middle of the courtyard with all the music and yelling and screaming that goes on there, even if it is the weekend. Although I'm pretty happy I don't live there, it's not a bad place to visit. So I spent a few hours in Shep, the nastiest dorm on campus in my opinion. I can't understand why so many people would want to live there, it's so old and dirty, and it smells like beer and cigarettes at any time of any day. Of course I may just be holding a grudge because I was there last year so many times when there was vomit in the hallways and it really grossed me out. Either way, that's where many parties are at.

I got there late, so by the time I arrived, pretty much everyone who drinks (which is most people) were already drunk, which is funny, because it means you are greeted with cheers and hugs from everyone. I don't really mind going to a party like that where I'm friends with most everyone there, even if they have been drinking. They're just funny because they get so excited about everything and you can say absolutely anything and it'll make them laugh. However, I am not entirely comfortable at parties where I don't really know anyone other than the person I followed to the party. I'm not so good at the whole small talk thing. Although I have to say that drunk guys are complete idiots. Sorry if it's mean, but it's so frequently true. They stand there and say the stupidest things and think that it's something intelligent, clever, or funny, then if you laugh, they act like they think they're so cool and proud because they made you laugh. They don't realize that you're laughing because they're stupid, not because they're funny. For the purpose of being diplomatic, I'll say that I know not everyone is like that, but that has been my experience in so many situations. Anyway, with the exception of the freshmen girls traveling in packs of 10 or more trying to pretend not to be freshmen when it was so completely obvious that they were, Friday night was fun. Nina and I literally herded the intoxicated people back to west quad making sure that they didn't chase after everyone they passed. Yay sober squad.

Today (actually I guess it was yesterday) was really fun too. After sleeping late and going to brunch, Nina, Emily, and I went to Easton for the afternoon. It's overwhelming being there because there are so many stores with so much neat stuff. Of course the highlight of the trip was going to the Gap where I couldn't resist the urge to spend some of my summer cash. However, I didn't feel too bad because everything I bought was on sale. Plus I got a black dress (yay!) because I don't have a black dress and I need one because 1. Everyone needs a fun black dress, 2. I need it for various sorority functions throughout the year, 3. It only cost half of it's original price! It was even better because it was a size smaller than what I usually wear, and that's always one of the best feelings in the world, when you try stuff on and discover you need a smaller size! Anyway, the rest of the time there was spent window shopping and sifting through all the stores where a simple t-shirt costs $58; stores where it is impossible for us poor college students to actually buy things, but where we spend hours wishing we could. Luckily, we left just in time to avoid the traffic from the OSU-Cincinnati game, because God knows all these crazy Ohio people are obsessed with Ohio State football.

The dining hall was closed yet again so they could have another outdoor picnic thing, this time with all sorts of carnival type things, like sumo wrestling suits, a laser tag place, some kind of simulated skydiving, and a few other things. We didn't really do anything other than eat, but it was kind of a neat thing to have and lots of people seemed to enjoy it. At least the activity planning people are trying to have interesting and original things. After that, I didn't really have anything much to do. I mean, there were several parties I could've gone to and several people I knew who were going to parties, but I did that last night and didn't really want to go again; low-key Saturday nights are the best. So, because we're such nerds, my roommate and I were actually reading homework assignments on Saturday night. It was completely silent when all of a sudden, she blurts out, "Do you want to go to a movie?" and I said sure, so with 15 minutes until the movie started, we ran down the stairs, sped down to the nearest movie theater, and made it just at the beginning of the previews. So spontaneous, but so fun. Yay, our first episode of roommate bonding! We saw the movie Wicker Park, which was pretty good I guess. Not horrible, but not spectacular. Probably one I would've preferred to rent though. It was one of those movies that starts near the end of the story and works it's way backwards, slowly unravelling events piece by piece until it all makes sense. Kind of weak subject matter/themes, but it was better than reading the speeches of a Puritan leader about the model Christian.

Tomorrow (really today) should prove to be eventful as well. First of all, my parents are coming to drop off my refrigerator, so it will be neat to see them again even though I've only been gone a week. I'm sure they'll want to do something with me, especially since they're driving 3 1/2 hours just to drop off the fridge. I didn't get any academic work accomplished, so now I have to read a bunch for 3 different classes tomorrow. Plus, it's the first chapter meeting of the year, then I'm going to hear Howard Dean speak. So it'll continue to be a busy weekend. Although it means lots of school work, I'm so glad to be back at college! I really missed having so many great people so close. Ok, I'm getting really tired now. I started writing this at about 12:30, but had to stop halfway through because Emily and Lauren stopped by for awhile, so now it's almost 3:30 and I'm really exhausted. Sorry I just made everyone read every minute detail about my weekend. Goodnight, I'm seriously falling asleep.

Fridays are going to be the longest days ever. It's the only day I have all four classes, and what makes it even worse is that it starts at 8:30 A.M. (it's torture getting up that early) and there is an hour between each one, so I don't finish until 3:30. Plus it's Friday, so I'm just naturally more tired and burnt out on school. But it's good that it's Friday because then the next day is Saturday with no classes. Tomorrow is even better because I am either going to Easton (giant shopping place) or my parents are coming back to bring my refrigerator and a few other things that either wouldn't fit, or that I just decided I want/need.

So far, I really like my classes. I think it's neat how they all intermingle. For example, in my American lit class, we read poems by Phyllis Wheatley, who was influenced by Alexander Pope, whose poem we read in my Brit lit class, who was a part of the Enlightment in Europe, which we read about in my European history class. Also, we are reading A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft in my European history class, who just happens to be the mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, which I will be reading later on in my Brit lit class. There are a lot more similarities and overlapped topics, but I'm sure they're not that interesting to anyone else. Let's just say it's a lot better than taking a bunch of random classes at once and trying to make economics relate to psychology or Spanish, or calculus to philosophy. Sure, it's a lot of reading, but it's a lot better than stupid math problems and lab reports.

The first week is over, so I'm sure the days will go by more quickly now. I feel like I've been here a month when it has really only been 6 days. For some reason, the first week seems to last forever, then it flies by. I'll probably be incredibly busy from now on, especially since we're starting fall recruitment stuff that takes up about 2 evenings a week. It seems like there are people hanging out in the room every evening, so I tend to talk to them instead of read. I've really only had a problem with that once, but I can see it happening a lot. I just don't focus enough during the day, and when I do sit down and start to read, my mind tends to wander off and I'll realize I've just read a page without really comprehending any of it, so I'll have to go back and reread it. I guess I'm just not completely back in school/study mode yet.