Pre-Thanksgiving!

Well, it was very sad to miss the turkey dinner Baba always makes before Thanksgiving this year. But I was able to make up for it a little bit...my friends and I (mostly my friend Blakeley) cooked dinner tonight. We had turkey cutlets, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, green beans, and roasted vegetables. Also, I made pumpkin pie. It was really nice to have home-cooked food...but it made me miss home!

Also, I was sick last weekend but I'm pretty much over it now, except that I still have a cough. I guess that was unavoidable.

I look forward to seeing everyone in less than two weeks!

Homecoming!

Well, I had a great weekend. First off, my friend Adrienne visited me from Boston, which was a ton of fun. Second, it was Homecoming weekend, and Dartmouth won, breaking an 18-game losing streak. Third, I went to Molly's restaurant for dinner on Saturday, and they have the most delicious bread ever. So overall, it was a really good time : )

My play!

As I mentioned, I wrote a short play that was chosen to be in a play festival that took place last night. (Above is a [bad] picture of the program. Mine is the third one.) It was pretty cool to see people performing lines that I had written... plus, Chris and several of my friends came out to see it which I thought was nice.

Anyway, sorry I haven't put anything up in so long! I'm going to try and get more up in the coming weeks.

Sophomore Year, Entry 1

Hi everyone!

It's good to be back at Dartmouth. The weather's been nice, classes start tomorrow, my room is all set up...today we inaugurated our new president. It was kind of exciting.

I've put up some pictures of my new room. Enjoy!

Finally, some pictures!

Some pictures of the house and  our vacation Up North. First, in front of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island; Zan, Dad, and I in Petoskey; Mom in Steve and Kathy's lake house; and the view from the top of our stairs at home. : )

Mt. Washington

I took a field trip today to Mount Washington, the highest mountain east of the Rockies and famed home of "the world's worst weather." It's cloudy there 75% of the time...but somehow, we managed to snag the most beautiful day imaginable. Even at the top it was almost 40 degrees, and as you can see, it was totally cloudless. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was. We drove up the auto road, stopping along the way to learn things. It was pretty fun.

Pictures:

1. As you can see, the weather was beautiful.

2. The spot where we ate lunch.

3. Me on the summit.

4. One of the views from the summit -- they were all absolutely breathtaking.

5. A picture taken from the van, looking down. The strip at the bottom is the edge of the road. The rest is the terrifying drop.

Clarification

When I took a walk the other night, it was on well lit pathways with people around, not dark isolated alleyways.So no worries. : )

In other news, I'm getting very tired of the food here. I can't wait to be home and have scrambled eggs and homecooked food (not necessarily cooked in *our* home...) and restaurants and fruit. Dartmouth's food is good but after almost 9 straight months, I definitely need a break. Only 3 more weeks!

Nature Again

One of the best things about Dartmouth compared to the other schools I was considering -- namely U Chicago and Columbia -- is that because it's not in a city, I can take a walk around campus on a beautiful warm night and not feel at all worried. As I was coming back from a movie last night, I decided to take the long way because I was pondering and didn't want to be interrupted by artificial lights and the temptations of my laptop. I kept going further and further though and ended up circling most of campus. It was quite nice. (Note: it wasn't too late, only 10:30. Even at Dartmouth I would be more cautious at like 2:30 in the morning.)

Pictured above is an elm tree, for those of you who were intrigued by my last post. : ) This picture is from early April though -- it has leaves now. I'll have to take another picture...

Got a Question about Elm Trees?

Feel free to ask me. I'm an expert. I know that elm trees have probably been plaguing you all for weeks now. You've been sitting there thinking, "I have so many questions about elm trees! I wish I knew someone who had done 6 hours of research on elm trees and could therefore answer my questions!"

Well, your time has come. You can officially reclaim your peace of mind now. : )

First Sunburn of the Year

Signs of unusual April weather:

1. Sunburn on shoulder after being outside for less than 2 hours

2. Flushed, heated face

3. Straightened, windswept hair

Ah well, I love it anyway. I bought a variety of cold drinks and plan to hang out in the shade from now on.

Studying...And the Other 99% of My TIme

Midterms are this week...I had one this morning (I studied for an hour last night) and one tomorrow. I think I have to study a little more for tomorrow's... : ( I can't believe the term is half over though. I'll be home in less than 6 weeks! Part of me is excited for summer, but most of me really doesn't want freshman year to end.

I spent some free time the other night making this picture of myself, which I don't think is too bad to be honest. My artistic skills are really flourishing here : )

I'm so happy that things are finally blossoming, and there are flowers and leaves and even sunshine. I think that's why this term is going by so fast -- it's not dark and depressing all the time.

Oh, and Chris and I both got back into the cluster we've been living in for next year...so we both have good chances for decent rooms! Yay!

Finally, Spring!

(This is a picture I made when I went to volunteer with kids at the Haven homeless shelter.)

The weather has gotten much nicer...some of the trees are even starting to blossom! It's delightful.

Easter wasn't the same without you guys, but Chris and I did go to Molly's for dinner and we had a nice time. Yesterday I made a pot of Wegman's mac & cheese and Chris and I ate it while we studied. : )

Dido, don't you have the Ken Burns Civil War documentary? I think you do. Well, Ken Burns is coming to Dartmouth tomorrow to screen a new documentary on America's national parks, so I'm going to go see him and the movie. It should be interesting!

The Dartmouth Duo

Despite the happy smiles on our faces, Chris and I are sad that we're going to miss Easter. 

On the bright side, though, the weather has gotten much nicer and I for one haven't had that much homework yet (knock on wood). So far everything's going well.

(Note: I bribed Chris with Pringles to get this photo...so appreciate it!)

And the Birthday Rolls On...

One of my friends here, Blakeley, wanted to get my birthday present from this special store in her hometown in Virginia, so she bought it over spring break and sent it to me. I got it on April 2nd... and since I got my first birthday packages on March 2nd, that means that I officially stretched my birthday out for a full month. : ) She got me the earrings I'm wearing in the above picture and another pair.

I'll try and get a picture of Chris in my next blog... if I can...

I'm back!

Well, another term has begun... but some things haven't changed. The weather, for instance, is cold -- much colder than the predictions make it look like. On the bright side, it's always nice to have new classes. My geography class is going to take a field trip to Mount Washington in May, I found out, so that should be cool.

It's weird because I haven't seen Chris since the day we got here, although we are going to have lunch together on Friday. I thought I would run into him more often, but I guess not.

I saw the movie Singin' in the Rain on Monday and I thought it was great. It was really fun because after the best song and dance sequences, the whole auditorium would break out into applause, which I haven't seen happen in a long time.

I hope things are well at home! Love you guys!

Goodies!

Thanks again for everything, guys : )

It's my Birthday...

...And I'll cry if I want to! (Hopefully I won't want to.) Bring on 19!

Boy does time fly...

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long...I really can't believe it's been three weeks.

Yesterday was the Freshman Formal. It was all right, but it would have been much more fun if they had played good music. All they played was rap, and even rap fans admitted that the songs they played weren't good for dancing. I was really wishing for our New Year's mixes...

In other news, I had a dream that giant mice were trying to kill me; I finished a terrible book for my lit class but had a very interesting discussion with my professor about it; I'm finally doing my laundry -- it's amazing how quickly I run out of socks; my friends and I decided that some time in the spring we're going on an excursion to West Lebanon to try on prom dresses; and I realized that I'll be home in three weeks! Yay!

Fun on the Job

The good news is that one day I'll look back and laugh. New job tidbits:

...I took detailed inventory for over an hour, cataloguing everything we had and everything we needed -- only to have my boss read my list, leave, and then come back from the warehouse with a huge load of random articles, most of which we already had too many of.

...I took a display of silver earrings -- in which the earrings were "displayed" in a huge messy pile -- and polished each and every tiny little earring, before sorting them all out and making the display look more like a display and less like a junk pile.

...I was asked "Where's the thing?" four more times in two days.

...I emptied out an entire jewelry case -- necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, pins, stands, decorative rocks, everything -- so that we could move it to where it was before.

...I calmed down a fellow employee who was feeling hurt because our boss was rude to her numerous times. I explained that she doesn't like me either. : )

...I modeled the above Dartmoose hat for your viewing pleasure. It took me four tries to get a decent picture. The other picture is, of course, the whole store.

My job really isn't all that bad. I don't want to make it sound like I'm the most unfortunate worker since indentured servitude. What it basically comes down to is I just don't like my boss.

Otherwise things are pretty good. : )

Fun With Photos

(I love my Mac.) Anyway, photo captions, from the top: 1. Hi, all! 2 & 3.Even though I'm incredibly busy messing about with my cell phone, I've somehow managed to (4 & 5.) brainstorm fun ways to update my blog so that you don't feel like 6. my life is hidden away from you (much like 3/4 of my face). 7. Unfortunately, the only interesting news is that I read that whole entire chunk of The Mill on the Floss this weekend. It's actually a rather good book though, so it's not as much of a heroic feat as it might otherwise seem.

The End. : )

Work, Eat, Work, Movie

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I kept waiting for something to take a picture of, but finally I decided I would just post without a picture. 

My term has been going pretty well. I tend to have large amounts of work piled up on one or two days and then days where I have almost nothing to do... and of course, I can't use these empty days to get ahead on work, because that would be breaking the College Student's Code of Relaxation.

My job has been very useful because, without actually slacking off, I've managed to get tons and tons of homework done while working. When the store is neat and there aren't any customers, I read my books for English...and I can get a lot read in a 6 hour shift. Unfortunately my boss is coming back from Ecuador soon, and when she pops in and out, I have to pretend to be busy. : (

On a related note, back in December I stopped into work to pick up my paycheck and there was a reporter there doing a story on the store's recent expansion. She asked me for a quote and I declined because I couldn't think of anything to say other than "it's awesome". Well, lo and behold, on page 15 of the Valley Business Journal this month there's an article about Traditionally Trendy, and employee Katherine Kendig is quoted in it as saying the store is "awesome." I always knew I'd be famous...

I tried looking up the article online to show you guys but I couldn't find it. I'll try and scan a copy on Saturday when I work again. Love you all! I'll try to be better about updating!

10 Seconds in the Life of Rin

...And there you have it, me drinking cranberry juice. Please show this one to Chris as I think he'll particularly enjoy it. : )

Winter Term

(Can you believe this was less than two weeks ago? I sure can't!)

I had my first class of winter term today...I learned about the Victorian period for forty-five minutes, and then my professor let us out early with the assignment to read twelve chapters of Jane Eyre by Wednesday. After class I went to lunch and then I used all my smart-shopper skills to get my textbooks for cheap at the bookstores.

At dinner my friends and I did our Secret Santa exchange. My friend Stephen got me a snowflake necklace...and a book on stain removal. Obviously he knows me too well...

In other news, it looks like the warm weather we enjoyed today (and by "warm" I mean above freezing) is going to last us until Thursday...and then it's over. Ohbers.