It's been so long, but it has felt so short. This semester has definitely trumped the last. I actually have some friends, and after you have a few, its easier to get more. I have some friends in ALL my classes. it's great.

My classes are as follows:

• biomedical ethics - really interesting philosophy stuff, we're starting to get into abortion!
  
• writing 1 - this is the one class that's required of all wash u students. i'm in it with phoebe which makes it soooo much more fun. also my class is full of tons of super friendly people so discussions are enjoyable. we're starting on a study of a "cultural text" which can pretty much be anything (favorite movie, book analysis, technology, anything!) anyways... phoebe's is on dr. horrible and mine is on the project for awesome on youtube. it's great to research something that we're actually interested in. also, we write our stuff together in the computer lab and usually just stay up to 3 in the morning laughing about and critiquing each others work :]
  
• cultural anthro - awesome cause the teacher is hilarious. he is mr. adams ish.
• 2d design - super demanding time wise, but the projects are stretching me!
  
• drawing - super not demanding, but enjoyable. i'm in it with taylor sarah hiding in my art supplies

I like all of my classes. so for the most part i don't mind doing any of the work! it's a great feeling to enjoy what you're doing. i feel like making more lists.  here's another bullet list of fun things i've been up to:

• finger painting with roommates
• our room got a netflix account ... so far we've watched ten things i hate about you, mary kate and ashley our lips are sealed, she's the man.
• my bible study group are some of my favorite people. it's on thursday nights. my leaders have started coming an hour before and letting me buy them dinner at ursas with my extra 250 meal points
• 
  
• learning guitar
• trips to noodles and co and ihop
• hiking
•  snow!!
• midnight trips to get brownie sundaes
• filling hundreds of water balloons for a big fight in april that everyone in the dorms gets involved in! i'm on the team of fillers that has won (filled the most) for the past 3 years. we've already done 2500 balloons!!!! if we win (like losing is even an option) we get to start the fight. 
• getting more than 7 hours of sleep every night!
• watching olympics with my church group
• enjoying all the videos on this site 

On a different note, I really don't feel like my old self in ways. i'm not involved in many things at all :( i want to be... but i think i'm scared? all the future roomies do tons of stuff. sarah is a chi omega, uncle joe (peer counseling), rphe (student staff), cycling club, lead of a play. phoebe is involved in directing skits, a chi omega, another lead in a play, bible study, applied to be an orientation leader, college council. munira is on the exec board of ashoka, is a delta gamma, works part time, applied to be an orientation leader. i am in a bible study, and i'm a student. :( a lot of my confidence in high school came from the things i got involved in. i kinda just feel like a smily immobile blob. :( also, i don't really think id be friends with munira if i wasn't her roommate. she always talks about herself. and i'm fine with being the "quietest" of the bunch of girls, but its hard to handle being viewed as "the boring one" of the group. i feel like i'm less interesting as a person.

overall, i actually enjoy the school weeks a lot more than weekends. i love going to dinner with my friends and hanging in the common room to draw or write papers. i love my classes (especially the art ones). 

GOOD NEWS: sarah found out she is an rphe this morning. this is a position as residential peer health educator... basically she's gonna talk to the frosh next year about sex and alcohol stuff. because she's student staff- we get to pick where we want to live next year! we might get this awesome suite in liggett (adjoins to koenig which i'm in now) that has all these huge windows and a massive common room! they're super popular, but student staff gets first pick!

also... we're getting a stir fry, a mongolian grill, a pizza place, taco bell, a new veggie place allllll new on campus next year. WE HAVE THE BEST FOOD at like ANY college! i had a gyro for lunch. 

I just talked soooo much about me. Sisters. i miss you all so much. Mary, I hear you are in Brentwood this weekend. Enjoy your week at the beach! Rachel, I'm so glad you had family come visit you in DC. I just stalked your recent photos. Becky, i'm excessively happy about seeing you in a week. i wish i could just hang out with you all for the rest of my life. you are my main source of happiness :]

lindsey kanodle 

Whitney Gras.

i

Hello dear sisters! I believe I am overdue for a post....life seems very busy this time of year. In keeping theme with all of your snow pictures, I thought it best to share my pictures of the measly snowfall that we got in Athens. It was actually a good amount, enough to blanket the ground for....one night. But we made it count: we had lots of people over to our house that night (Friday of last week) and a 7'11" snowman was built (we measured it), and everyone stayed warm inside our house by having a dance party of sorts. It was rad.

I enjoy this a lot. Disgusting (not all of them...errr)

Since then the weather has warmed up a lot, and I am longing for sunshine and spring break in Ft. "Laudie". BEAAACH. Mmm. But yes, the past few weeks in school have gone by quickly, I've had a lot of tests and a paper and group project.

As you know, Whitney came down to Athens on Thursday and stayed until this afternoon. Her epic weekend visit was titled "Whitney Gras" and I would like to believe that we lived up to our own expectations. Haha, it was a lot of fun. Our activities included (but were not limited to):

Thursday- good Mexican restaurant for dinner, painting/wine drinking at our house for girl's night.

Friday- Mama's Boy for breakfast, Gossip Girl watching after classes, driving to Atlanta for Becca's "wedding"...aka Heidi Elnora fashion show in which Becca beautifully modeled a gown at the Bill Lowe art gallery, back to Athens & then to Highwire (our favorite bar where a lot of our friends work).

Saturday- lunch date (Whit & I) at Trappeze (a restaurant & bar that we equate to "Cheers"...."where everybody knows your name"), window shopping in downtown Athens, India night- a show with Indian dancing and colorful saris, & Easter Island show (our friend's band)

Sunday- church, lunch at Transmet (bbq chicken pizzaaaaa)

I laughed so much this weekend. It's how we get when we are all together.

Also, I got my hair cut on Thursday! For the first time, I went to an actual salon (bob salon) in Athens. Rather than taking sheers to it myself, I felt like it was well-deserved. It's in a pony tail in the picture, but it is a "long bob". I like.

We did not take many pictures of having Whitney in town this weekend, but once I upload them to my computer I will post any fun-ish ones.

I love.

Zelda

I'm sorry that I didn't post these sooner! And now they look particularly pitiful compared to Rachel's, but still, I hope you enjoy. It really was a lot, though you can't necessarily tell here, because this was after it had started melting (because I was snowed in at the Contini's for the bulk of it, so I had to wait for it to melt some before my car could unfreeze from their yard!).

So, about a week and a half ago, I ordered a Nintendo 64 off ebay. And ever since it came on Monday, that pretty much sums up my life :). I've been playing Legend of Zelda, and it has been so much fun. Last night, for example, I set up my tv that I got from Stelmz at the beginning of the year on the end of my bed, plugged in the N64, and bundled up under my covers and played till 1:30. Basically, your kid sister is really cool.




Last Saturday, at the ice rink sports complex, they were having a fundraiser for Bruins athletics from 9-midnight where you could get in for $10 and use pretty much anything. So we went and ice skated for around an hour, and also played lots of rounds of Laser Chase. It was actually pretty fun.

Friday night I went to go see Valentine's Day. It was okay, but I expected it to be better for having such an all-star cast. Last night I babysat, and that's what I'll be doing again tonight. I guess single babysitters are in high demand on Valentine's weekend. Prom season is starting at BHS, I really don't understand why people start planning months in advance. So overrated. But seriously, all of my friends already have their dresses, which is so ridiculous to me. Ah well. Anyways, I love you sisters, I hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

snowpocalypse

the gorrell's house after the first snow


this was the pile of snow outside one of courtney's neighbor's house. they had plowed it all into a pile at the end of the cul-de-sac, so we decided to use that mound to build an igloo.


here's courtney, michael, and their friend sarah in the igloo


here's a picture from inside the igloo looking out


and here's me sitting in the snow :)


i'm not sure if you can tell quite how much snow there was from this, but when it was all said and done we got upwards of 20 inches in the first snowstorm (friday-saturday) and another 8 or so in the second snowstorm (tuesday-wednesday). i didn't have school this whole week. i am going out of my mind with boredom... not having school makes me realize how few friends i have up here, and it's really lonely. i've just been in my apartment by myself since monday, watching buffy the vampire slayer and getting fat. i'm sorry i didn't call you guys but when i'm in this mood it just makes me not want to talk to anyone which just makes things worse.

i love you all and i can't wait to see you soon. miss you miss you miss you.

24 Things that make me think of Rachel:

1.     1. Oversized sweatshirts
2.     Rocket Summer
3.     Ragu
4.     Lovely white-toothed smile
5.     Any intense opening piano solo, like Sonata Pathetique
6.     Harry Potter 3 and her silly khaki safari hats
7.     DFTBA
8.     Libraries
9.     People who sing unknowingly
10. The color green
11. Target
12. French horn melodies
13. The Avett Brothers
14. Hula hoops
15. Any mention of London
16. Journaling
17. Burning your hair and showing too much cleavage
18. Eminem
19. York peppermint patties
20. Mathletes
21. Joss Whedon shows
22. Puzzle piece necklace
23. Gibbons
24. The proper hugging technique

 

It's not a February jumping.

Hey all.  Things here are going along, going along.  It's been good.  This week is the first round of exams in a couple of my classes, I had one Monday and have another on Friday.  I'm definitely behind on reading, I've just been using my time poorly.  Catch up:

1. My friend Waud (Elizabeth Waud) is engaged.  
As of Saturday night, her and Geoff are engaged.  I'm so so so excited for her, but my honest first response was laughter.  Oi.  At least now there is a shift in our group, from the race to be engaged first (between the girls in serious relationships) now to the race to be engaged/married last (the rest of us).  Heehee just kidding...kind of.  She wants to get married in June (so does Anna Caroline).  I am so  glad I am not in this game.  We're taking bets on who is next.  Your votes?

2.  The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is excellent. 
Go see it.  Hannah came into town Sunday afternoon and stayed a couple of nights.  We saw it last night and I was entranced.  Becky I know you will like it.  It was interesting to think about how the film would have been different if Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell hadn't stepped in to finish after Heath Ledger's death.  All of the actors did really well, except for Verne Troyer...I can only equate him to Jackass.  Tom Waits plays the perfect villain.

3.  Of Montreal, tomorrow night.
They are playing both tomorrow night and Thursday night at the 40 Watt.  I cannot wait.

[Mmm the show was so good.  They played a good mix of new (Skeletal Lamping) and old, and ended with Jackson Five's "I Want You Back".]

Okay I'm tired of numbering things.  Athens is the same- we've had no snow at all, unlike each of your cities.  We are amidst plans of a Spring Break trip to Ft. Lauderdale.  Mmm warmer climates.  Rachel, Happy early Birthday!  I wish so badly that I could see you and celebrate with you.

-MK-