(imagine a sigh right here) i'm sitting at the gear room of the olc two hours early because on my to-do list today there is a little box, and next to it something to the extent of "appease the masses - vacation to bloglandia" ... so here i am. i will admit, again it has been a while. the really great part though, is that it's been an eventful month-or-so, so there is much to write about. :-)
i think last i wrote was before spring break. so to begin... our adventure to spain/france started off on an interesting note - with our flight out of boston being cancelled! (gosh narbit.) it was st patricks day and raaaaainy and cold in bean town. but despite our frustrations, i think the extra night served us well - we stayed at the hilton (a first and hopefully last for me. not really a fan. i kept thinking of paris, which was sort of ironic (we thought) since we were supposed to be in paris, as we stayed at the hilton... anywho, tangent.) several important memories from our boston adventure...1) lima flirting with the OLLLLDD OLD men in the hilton shuttle into boston. she quite enjoyed practicing her english accent by repeating the word "mummy" for them. that was a blast. 2)a cops-worthy goose (wild) chase for guinness. odd. apparently little kafrine was intent on celebrated st patties properly, and that involved having lima and kristina buy guinness. sadly boston decided not to allow such shenanigans, and instead lima/krispie and i marched through the rain in vain. ooh and i got to awkwardly duck around corners/ read tabloid magazines because i am (or was, since i'm no longer awkward and paranoid) always wary of being around people purchasing alcohol. aaannywho. 3) the final most wonderful event of the evening (other than sleeping like a baby amidst pillows made of clouds in that terrible environmentally nutty hilton hotel, that is) was visiting gravling in boston. the meeting just worked out, and it made me sooo happy! for these events combined, i've come to the understanding that airplane delays may truly be blessings in disguise. aah what fun.
the next day we flew off to paris (ps we reaaally got lucky with air france - they let the three of us sit together, they had way better food, etc. etc.) the flight itself was uneventful (i desperately tried to do work, but ended up watching a movie that made me feel like a wonderful environmental hypocrite (what's new, right?) anywho. it was fun though.) i found CDG to be a bit bleaker this time round, but we found our way into paris and to our hotel after only about 1.5 miles of walking around pseudo-lost. way to be, kids. way to be. the hotel deserves a whole entry to itself, and i'm afraid this description won't do it justice, but if you could imagine what living in a multi-story mouse hole might be like, that might be a close description. it was clean enough, but i just got a mousy feeling from the building. the windy nearly vertical staircase always smelled like stew, and the check in dude always asked us to "please, help us with the carpet." maybe it's because of him that i think of mice... anywho. paris was rainy, full of cheese (BLECH!!!), wine (yay, for the most part. never again out of baby bottles. but that's another story), and FIIINNNNEEEEE (do i sound like a teenage boy?) museums. sadly, i was disallowed to visit the national library. that was the only heartbreak of the trip (for me). spain was 98.5% AMAZING (the only deduction is for the plethora of smoke that inundated my poor lungs. blech again.) and i would go back again in a heartbeat. my favorite part was cordoba - visiting caroline's host house and all her friends. i know in my heart why i think lima is such a wonderful kid, but seeing their expression of love for her really made me understand that the reasons aren't ALL a figment of my imagination. they really love her. hehe. i would like to go back to spain and wander around more. it was a rushed trip, though i got to see a few really wonderful sites and elena/lima/i saw crazy flamenco singing which was awesome. it reminded me of rubina carmona. i wonder if my sister remembers the flameco days of the chen family... hmm. :-)
back at school things are going well. i'm older (wheeee), not necessarily wiser (that's ok), but still having fun. i'm not at all excited for the seniors to graduate. i quite enjoy my schedule of pre-seminar dinners and various adventures with gravling, euchre and sisterlyness with hday, laughter and such discussions with erica (who THANK GOLLYNESS i won't be losing next year, because she's awesome!) etc. etc. :-( i'll keep myself in denial a tiny bit longer yet...
i promise dear sister-bear and mr terrible that i WILL write again soon. it really makes me happy to spit all this stuff out, and your communal persistence makes me feel like it is even more worthwhile! advertisement for next edition: summer plans and recounting the events of the clap your hands concert in boston. (yaaaay for older sisters who love you!) now off to writing a paper on international relations and global climate change. wheeeeeeeeeeeee! :-)
