And she's back!

Hello, you lovely people!!

This has been my (slightly frantic) impression of fall. One day a tree is the most gorgeous one on campus and the next it’s bare. It’s making my OCP (obsessive compulsive photographer) come out—I want to spend all my time wandering around taking pictures! Fall has also taught me a reason not to love rain, and it’s not the inconveniency one you’re all thinking right now! It’s that it makes the fallen leaves all wet and moldy and brown, which is sad. But on the plus side, they look amazing while it’s raining plastered to the ground and sometimes afterwards you get these amazing leaf silhouettes left on the sidewalk.

And the other wonderful thing about rain is getting to wear rain boots. I have these adorable blue boots with small white polka dots, and the other day I got to wear them on a super rainy day. It was so fun to be able to stride purposefully through the puddles (including lake number 10,001 that appeared on one of our pathways) that other people have to skirt around. And also to jump in them! Keo suggested that I go “puddle hunting” (a lovely phrase that makes me want to re-read “Going on a Lion Hunt,” that adorable children’s book with the puddle ocean) because I was enjoying it so much (and I think maybe I splashed her when I jumped in one of them…).

In other news, our rainbows haven’t deserted us! They’re still pretty wonderful, although the angle of the sun is starting to get less ideal for them.

Also, I got a new mug at the Mac free swap, where people just leave stuff and you can take it. They’d like if you left something in return, but you don’t have to. I haven’t yet, but I plan to later in the year. Isn’t it pretty (ignore the other clutter)?

Chemistry lab has been fun lately, with really pretty precipitates and solutions. I tried to take pictures, but they weren’t super successful.

Finally, I recently began our campaign to rock our floor’s nickname. Sorcha pointed out weeks and weeks ago that, since our floor is called the Virgin Isles, we should embrace the nickname and decorate it like the tropics. I finally got construction paper a while ago, so I started out small on her door.

I’m sorry it’s been such an incredibly long time since I last posted something on here. First I got lazy and then I got B-U-S-Y. Midterms are no laughing matter! Anyway, I have gobs saved up and gobs that I’ll probably never get around to talking about—sorry guys!—but there still should be enough for a quite substantial post.

Lately, I’ve been doing bunches of homework and spending bunches of time hanging out with friends. It turns out that a lovely thing about college is just spending hours and hours and hours in the lounge “studying” with friends. Sure, you get less work done than you should, and stay up much later, but it’s ultimately such a worthwhile experience. Several weeks ago, I went to Emily and Cassidy’s room to study, and we actually got quite a bit done. It was nice to just all sit in communal silence working on essays and listening to each other type. Lately, though, Charmaine and I have been going to the lounge to hang out with Rachel and various others who stop in (Sorcha, Lisa, Brenna, etc. (all of which end in the same sound…)). It’s been so amazing and fun. Rachel has been sharing her poetry and her hot chocolate and the three of us have been staying up insanely late chatting about poetry and music and homework and so many random things. The only unfortunately thing is the lack of sleep (I got five hours total in the last two nights put together (but took a three hour nap today, so…)). The funny thing is that time in the dorms is really weird. The hallway lights never go off, and someone is almost always up, so it’s hard to remember what time it is in the evenings. I think it’s not just me, too, because Rachel and Charmaine and Lisa and I were having trouble remembering to be quiet last night (at 2:00 in the morning) because it didn’t feel like it was that late.

The crazy thing about fall break being over is that I’m now 1/16 through my college career, which feels so far in. And my conclusion about Mac at this semester halfway point? It’s ADORABLE. The people are (for the most part) sweet and interesting and nerdy, the administration really cares about us, and the school tries so hard to make us happy with little silly things. Like the apple picking! And they plan to bring us doggies at finals time to pet (so that we’ll be less stressed)! Also, we have a jukebox in our cafeteria. It’s pretty cool. And the people are adorable too! Not only do we have a Quidditch team that seems to have a pretty solid following,

but someone put out paper flowers on the plants a couple of weeks ago!

I also really appreciate this school’s focus on discussion, and internationalism. We had a man from the UN come a couple of weeks back, and he mentioned that the UN visits Mac a lot, because “we all really want to save the world.” He said this with this sort of affectionately teasing tone because it’s kind of true—we’re all idealists. Not only does the school have a focus on global citizenship, but so does the student body. Half of us want secretly want to be the next UN Security General! It’s a really interesting focus, partly because so many of us are international, or have lived internationally (and then there’s me…).

I also love this school’s willingness to discuss religion. It’s interesting, because the majority of the student body is atheistic, but we all chose to come to a (technically) Presbyterian school. And the everyone has such diverse religions backgrounds (even some of the atheists): Jewish and Christian and Buddhist and Hindu and shamanistic and Unitarian. This seems to make us more willing to bring up and discuss religion, which is something that I really value. The other night, for example, Charmaine basically gave a lecture on her faith to several us while we prompted her with questions. It never seemed disrespectful and she never seemed upset, but it was a really interesting discussion. I originally thought that the religious affiliation of this school was a minor drawback, but since getting here I’ve decided that it’s an asset. Since we’re traditionally religious and believe so fiercely in accepting everybody, we have to find the time and the spaces to talk about religion.

Clara has been making fun of me for being so relentlessly cheerful in my blog posts (although I keep pointing out that winter is coming, and who knows how cranky I’ll be then??). She claims that they’re drugging the milk to make me happy. It’s a definite possibility, but, on the other hand, I definitely can recognize that this place has some flaws. My theater class has been a big disappointment to me, and some of the student body as well (my chemistry class got a lecture earlier this week about cheating, which is apparently rampant). But everywhere (and definitely every college) has it’s drawbacks, and this one’s seem less important than its benefits. I will say, though, that Café Mac is seriously getting on my nerves. It was so lovely when Grandma was here to go out to eat with her. We tried Vietnamese and North African and Chinese and even more traditional American, and all of it was so much better than what I eat here! 

The North African restaurant (called Barbary Fig), which was nicely decorated in Mac colors. 

Also…the pedestrian crossings! We have a street (Grand Ave.) that separates our campus in two, with the dorms on the north and everything else on the south (here’s a virtual tour of my tiny, postage-stamp campus: http://www.macalester.edu/about/virtualtour/, for all of you who haven’t seen the school). We all cross this street all the time, and usually at one of the sidewalk breaks in the middle (instead of at the corners). Technically, the cars have the right-of-way everywhere except the corners, but all the students act as if they have the right-of-way. This means that the cars have to stop for us all the time, which must get really old. I always feel bad for them, until I meet another one those evil cars, who, when I’m walking quickly across the street with plenty of time, the car speeds up so that I have to run. Grrrrrr! Anyway, when you all come to visit me, I’d recommend avoiding Grand Avenue if possible.

But, really this place is adorable. I have taken so many pictures, many of which I’ll probably never get around to posting. But I’ll try! Here are a few:

Speaking of pictures: it’s been so long since my last post that I have three new whiteboard pictures for you guys!

the old ones…

and this week’s!

I’m very much looking forward to Christmas this year—I miss being at home! And I miss things I didn’t realize I’d miss. Of course I miss my parents and my sister and my friends (love you guys!) but I also miss my garden, my cats, the orange blossom hand soap in my bathroom, Mexican food, delicious pasta that hasn’t gone soggy on the steam table, having a kitchen to bake (and cook) in, having milk always available (instead of just in the cafeteria), those jammy dodgers from Some Crust that Clara promised to send me (hint hint!), having a real clean bathroom, monsoons, the fireplace, and non-florescent lights. *sigh* Kind of especially the non-florescent lights. *shudder*

On the Mexican food front, though, I do have a solution! Several weeks ago, Keo and (her roommate) Emma and I went over to Midtown Global Market (in Minneapolis) for an adventure. The market is amazing, with little, tiny shops from all different nationalities. Some sell foods, some trinkets, some clothing, and all are fascinating. We didn’t explore much, but instead went straight for the food (we were incredibly hungry). We split up to find food, but Emma (who’s from Texas) and I both ended up back at the Mexican food stand ordering enchiladas (Keo found three different sandwiches from different places and ate those). It was so amazingly nice to get good Mexican food again. Emma and I had a little yay-comfort-food-deliciousness party.

I also went down to the river a couple of weeks ago. I took almost an hour to make a half-hour walk because it was so beautiful and I was taking pictures. I’m just so deeply enamored of fall (oh…you guessed that?) that I couldn’t resist all the amazing leaves along the way (even though I’d forgotten gloves and my hands were numb by the time I got to the river…). Then I took even more pictures at the river. It was just so gorgeous! I want to post all of the pictures I took, but I’m trying to limit myself. Here are just a few:

 

Besides that I haven’t done much exploring in the city, although I got to explore much more while Grandma was here. We went to the Cathedral of St. Paul,

 

to the Minnehaha Falls,

on a river-boat tour (after exploring the park on the shore),

(yes, this bridge IS opening for us to pass through!)

 

to the global Midtown Market twice (where we shopped and ate delicious food),

(the great pillar of cheese stickers)

and to REI to buy me an amazing new coat that will actually withstand true Minnesota winters (people keep
throwing -20° F (I have to specify these things now—my roommate uses Celsius and metric!) around like a terrible, terrible joke).

 (I'm completely unsure as to why I decided to tilt my head like a fool.)

I also have a lovely new permanent hug for my Christmas present from Grandma (thanks Grandma!) and Aunt Mimi (and so beautifully school spirited!):

I’m really proud, because on this trip it became clear that I am ACCLIMATING! On several occasions during Grandma’s visit, I was wearing short sleeves while she wore a turtleneck and sweater. And she’s no wimp! Although I also nearly froze to death on the river, so….

Show only the eyes!!

That’s all for now, although I know that I’ve neglected to talk about Halloween and my much-anticipated costume. My next post will be entirely about Halloween, so don’t worry!

P.S. Only 53 days till Christmas!

P.P.S. Disclaimer: The pictures of the cathedral and river looked way better on my camera and computer. *sigh* Still, I recommend clicking on them to make them bigger—it'll help. 

P.P.P.S. I have now officially passed the 10,000 mark on my camera: in the little over a year since I got it, I've taken 10,206 pictures with it. I'm not sure whether to be ashamed or proud...