I finally have some time to finish the bit about my recent adventures.
I got TWO severe thunder storms right off the bat! I acted the part of a tourist and took tons of pictures of the beautiful billowy clouds and then hid under the blankets with my flashlight convinced I was going to swept away in a tornado once the storm hit.
For my birthday (I told you I was behind) I went apple picking with the grad student organization. It felt oh so wonderfully East Coast! One of the girls in my program went as well and it was fun getting to know her better.
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| Hayride out to the apple orchards |
I wasn't feeling too well that morning, but I perked up as they day went on. I was a bit silly dragging my wheelchair with me because it ended up being much more of a hindrance than a help as I pushed it up and down muddy hills wile I walked. Oh well, extra exercise! I was feeling so pumped in fact, that I climbed every tree I could until my limbs would not lift me anymore. I'm sickly and weak and out of shape, but I can somehow still climb like nobody's business! In flip-flops!
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| I was at least 15 fit up here! |
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| aaaaand zoomed in. |
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| It was a beautiful day! |
The place we went was a proper farm too! There were lots of critters there to feed and pet if they were feeling friendly.
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| I think they were actually going for the finger... |
Since I'm not particularly fond of apples, I took off on my own for a bit to see if I could find any pears. I think I found the last four or five left and they were...special. But delicious.
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| The cider was AMAZING! I got an extra bottle of it and mixed it with water for the next week. (Regular juice is too sweet for me) |
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| Purdy |
The rest of my birthday was not so exciting. I hung out in my dorm room because I didn't really know anyone that well yet and read. Oh wait, maybe that was exciting. For me at least.
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| That's me! |
That night there was some rowdiness and some not so good things happened. As a back story, I had been having difficulty with the handicap bathroom being open because people were using it constantly. My RA put up a sign asking people to only use one of the two handicap bathrooms and that of course made people use it more. I thought I would be clever and funny and put up some meme posters asking people to not use the bathroom in their native language: meme speak.
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| You can find more bathroom sign fun here. If these don't make any sense, it would probably mean you are one of those strange creatures who has a life outside of the internetz. |
I thought it worked until that fateful night. The next morning, I found my beautiful signs ripped to shreds and littered in the doorway of the bathroom. Then, inside the bathroom, someone peed all over the toilet seat and surrounding area. Yes, you read that right, on not in. Then there was some mysterious bodily fluid material smeared on the doorknob. So much fun to wake up to right?
I'll just fast forward past and say that luckily nothing like that has happened since. I was pretty upset about it at first, but then realized that the mild destruction was more likely fueled by a drunken whim than anything against me or my (awesome) signs. I wouldn't say I'll every be voted most loved person in the dorm, but it's not as cold of an atmosphere as it was right after I put up the signs. In fact, people are even taking on the herculean task of walking a few feet extra distance down the hall to use the other bathroom. They all should get metals. There are even some people who seem pretty cool. So, things are looking up.
Then there is this whole graduate school thing that I came here for. I am very pleasantly surprised that the classes are not as hard as I thought (dreaded). I've been through one round of tests and papers so far and things went extremely well. It's a lot of work. A LOT of work. But all that work pays off in good grades and much learning. Plus a lot of it is group work which is actually fun when you're in a program with a bunch of smart, dedicated people.
I suppose there is more to write, but night time meds are kicking in which means it took me a half and hour to write that last paragraph. Also, there's no telling what I would write next if I kept going so I better wrap this @($&(&#HSBVBSBcskjbiugifuofuwohc #(RY#pn....they found Amelia Earhart in a Jones green apple soda can????? With a pet tyrannosaurus rex and a pile of purple cheese????
Goodnight world. :0)
