I must admit, I have been absolutely horrendous about posting consistently. I'm AWARE that I haven't finished posting the Europe Journal (and if you weren't aware of my lack of finishing the posting of the Europe Journal, then... well... I'm telling you now). HOWEVER, that will be fixed this weekend. And hopefully soon thereafter.
Of course, that depends on whether I actually finish the college applications I was planning to do this weekend. And whether I finish reading about the Federalist Papers and judicial review and other government stuff. And stuff of that nature. And all the other occupational hazards of being a senior in high school. I'm aware that I'm not good at posting regularly. I will have you know that it isn't my fault. It's the fault of having enough HOMEWORK to get on my nerves and prevent me from posting. Also, I am out of the habit of posting regularly. That's another thing I will have to fix. Anyway, I hope it'll be fixed.
Anyway, in other news, if I haven't said this before (and I am pretty sure I have), my school's drama department is AMAZING. I just got back from the first black box play of the year, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." It was AMAZINGLY well-performed, especially for a high school show. Maybe it was BECAUSE it was a high school show is the reason why it was so amazing. Anyway, it was really good and I recommend it to EVERYONE who is not doing anything tomorrow night.
It's a very dark show, that's true, but it's a very cool one. Even though the main character dies and the annoying character prevails and all is not essentially well, but it IS well because one of the most tormented characters finally goes free, but whatever. It's complex. And that's what's good about it.
Anyhow, the worst part of senior year has been confirmed: I have lots of homework. It sucks. Although I like doing homework (yes, I'm a dork), I don't like settling down to do it, and it's the sort of homework that I have to sit down and do for around half an hour a day (it's mostly long-term stuff) or else I'll procrastinate until the night before, and then flip out because I haven't done something that's worth twenty percent of my grade. So I DO have daily homework, but yet I don't. It's hard to explain, but it exists, and doing that homework every single day and not trying to BS it is the hardest part. Except for actually doing AP English, and understanding whether or not we actually have stuff to do for AP government. And, when I DO have AB Calculus homework, understanding what it was my teacher said in class that morning. Eventually it's figure-out-able, but not before I've felt very stupid for half an hour because I feel like I should remember the content of the assignment, but I don't.
Hopefully I won't have to do that for the rest of my life.
Hopefully I won't have to ever use Calculus in my future, especially since I'm planning on studying Shakespeare, theatre, literature, and/ or history in college.
Of course, going to college requires applying...
which I have to do tomorrow...
Along with not sleeping in...
And also homework...
And also room-cleaning...
Welcome to high school. I hope this doesn't go on for the rest of my life.
Because that would majorly suck.
I actually don't mind the reading part of the homework. It's the understanding part that I don't like. See, it's not that I don't get some of it. I DO get a lot of it. It's the fact that it's required reading and I HAVE to read it in order to pass and get into a good college and not have to actually use calculus in my future. Not that I would anyway. I don't think writers or actors use calculus. Do they?
I'm not sure.
In other news, I'm tired and I need to sleep.
Also, if I haven't posted this already (I may have, I don't remember and I don't feel like going back and checking), there is a link that you can follow here that is all of the professionally-taken photos of the Shakespeare Camp I was in. The Teen Ensemble (the one I was in) is about 2/3rds of the way down (the photographer intentionally took photos of random blank white things to separate the three groups, and ours is after the second grayish-white photo). There are some good photos of me dying and fighting and stuff. And yeah.
Okay, goodnight.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
SEEENIORRR!
I am now a senior in high school. AAAH!!! However, my recent summer adventures have aided me in comprehending stuff. For example, analyzing Shakespeare in Camp Shakespeare set the foundation for me figuring out what my teacher is saying in AP English 12 (a literature course).
Of course, the symbolism is there if you look for it (and if you know what you're looking for) either way, but now I know a bit of what to look for in wording just because of Shakespeare Camp. It's awesome! :)
However, I DO have homework. And it sucks. A lot. I'm not at the point where I have to stay up until midnight (... yet) but I've definitely had less work in the first week of school.
I'm still pumped for this year, though. I mean, I LIKE having a social life and all, but I also LIKE doing homework.
That made me sound like SUCH a dork.
But still. I LIKE being productive. I LIKE work. I LIKE doing this sort of thing. As long as it doesn't take up too much time and as long as I'm still learning stuff, and stuff. If I'm not learning stuff, it just kind of sucks.
Like the rain today. I'm pretty sure the rain stops and starts on a schedule similar to mine - it only starts when I leave for school in the morning, when I may potentially take an outdoor route from one class to another, and when it comes time for me to walk home. It's rather annoying, and it's happened for the last two days.
Today, I arrived in Earth Space five minutes late and looking like I had just taken a light shower.
And when I got home, I was dripping.
Yeah, this does not bode well for the rest of the school year, weather-wise. Oh, well.
In other news, I have reasonably figured out what my List of Favorite Classes This Year is:
1. AP Lit/ Concert Choir/ Women's Camerata
2. Earth Space
3. creative writing
4. AB Calculus
5. AP Government
I don't know where conservatory lies because I haven't had conservatory yet. Our first meeting is tomorrow after school. I'm excited.
Well, it's time for me to go and read and knit and do a lot of other things.
I guess.
Farewell!
Of course, the symbolism is there if you look for it (and if you know what you're looking for) either way, but now I know a bit of what to look for in wording just because of Shakespeare Camp. It's awesome! :)
However, I DO have homework. And it sucks. A lot. I'm not at the point where I have to stay up until midnight (... yet) but I've definitely had less work in the first week of school.
I'm still pumped for this year, though. I mean, I LIKE having a social life and all, but I also LIKE doing homework.
That made me sound like SUCH a dork.
But still. I LIKE being productive. I LIKE work. I LIKE doing this sort of thing. As long as it doesn't take up too much time and as long as I'm still learning stuff, and stuff. If I'm not learning stuff, it just kind of sucks.
Like the rain today. I'm pretty sure the rain stops and starts on a schedule similar to mine - it only starts when I leave for school in the morning, when I may potentially take an outdoor route from one class to another, and when it comes time for me to walk home. It's rather annoying, and it's happened for the last two days.
Today, I arrived in Earth Space five minutes late and looking like I had just taken a light shower.
And when I got home, I was dripping.
Yeah, this does not bode well for the rest of the school year, weather-wise. Oh, well.
In other news, I have reasonably figured out what my List of Favorite Classes This Year is:
1. AP Lit/ Concert Choir/ Women's Camerata
2. Earth Space
3. creative writing
4. AB Calculus
5. AP Government
I don't know where conservatory lies because I haven't had conservatory yet. Our first meeting is tomorrow after school. I'm excited.
Well, it's time for me to go and read and knit and do a lot of other things.
I guess.
Farewell!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Mayhem
Tonight was the Night of Mayhem for all the people at my school who will be seniors in fewer than twelve hours. It was quite a hilarious experience. There were a few things that I would NOT do (underwear on the Metro, for example... I refuse to go public in my underwear, period). There had to be photographic evidence of everything (which was part of my refusal to be wearing basically nothing), so there's photos of me getting a piggyback ride from a stranger in the mall, a photo of us re-creating the Iwo Jima memorial, and us doing 'gang signs' with my dad. Also, us 'playing quidditch' in the garage of one of our group members. And us with someone who's going into eigth grade. And a lot of other crazy shenanigans. That's why it's called the Night of Mayhem. Because there's a lot of mayhem.
I'm mostly ready to go back to school now, but not entirely. I'm not sure I am ready to leave my school, but I am also sort of pumped for college. I really have no idea what I want to do.
So... senior year.
Thinking back to freshman year, or even sixth grade, when I started at this school, I thought all the seniors were maniacs. Now I KNOW all the seniors are maniacs. But all the seniors aren't as maniacal as I originally thought (but they're only not-as-maniacal by a little bit). I guess the difference is that I'm now a senior, and I'm no longer eleven, and I've come to accept that tampons are a fact of life (seniors often throw tampons into the crowd when they storm the stage on the first day. Back then, it was traumatizing. Now... well, I'm a teenage girl who is reasonably interested in things that require movement. Tampons are a fact of life) and that lunacy is a good thing. Most of the time. Except when it isn't. So... yeah. I'm sort of tired, so I should be going to bed now. Goodnight.
I'm mostly ready to go back to school now, but not entirely. I'm not sure I am ready to leave my school, but I am also sort of pumped for college. I really have no idea what I want to do.
So... senior year.
Thinking back to freshman year, or even sixth grade, when I started at this school, I thought all the seniors were maniacs. Now I KNOW all the seniors are maniacs. But all the seniors aren't as maniacal as I originally thought (but they're only not-as-maniacal by a little bit). I guess the difference is that I'm now a senior, and I'm no longer eleven, and I've come to accept that tampons are a fact of life (seniors often throw tampons into the crowd when they storm the stage on the first day. Back then, it was traumatizing. Now... well, I'm a teenage girl who is reasonably interested in things that require movement. Tampons are a fact of life) and that lunacy is a good thing. Most of the time. Except when it isn't. So... yeah. I'm sort of tired, so I should be going to bed now. Goodnight.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A NON-EUROPEAN POST
As summer winds down, I have a few things to say to you:
1. I DON'T WANT TO BE A SENIOR!
2. I will be out of town starting on Friday evening, so I'm going to not be posting updates from the Europe Journal.
3. it's time for KnitterWriterBlogger's List of Why She Is Pumped For School.
KnitterWriterBlogger's List of Reasons Why She Is Pumped for School:
1. Friends! (I'll see them!)
2. Senior year! (this is both yay and boo - Senior-hood, but I'm LEAVING!)
3. seeing all the sixth graders and remembering when I was in their place. And laughing.
4. THEATRE!
5. College apps!!! (yeah... no)
6. I'm actually pumped for classes. I really hope AP Government doesn't turn out to be as monotonous as the summer book is (it's only slightly less dry than the average history textbook. This does not bode well.)
7. I'm also kind of pumped for senior projects. I know that's not until May or June, but still. I'm excited.
8. Decorating the school for the first day - I've seen it around for six years; now, in my seventh, I was the scribe for the Decoration Committee (we let out an hour ago. The senior class had an ice cream social/ First Day meeting this evening, and there was the Decoration Committee and the Senior Skit Committee... and, judging by what my informants/ friends have told me, there may be fewer Junior Girl jokes, if at all. FINALLY SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE HAS HAPPENED! RIDDING THE SCHOOL OF A SUPER-OLD JOKE!).
9. Meeting new people!
I also signed up to tour sixth graders and new students around the school tomorrow, which means... I should have started going to bed a while ago. I have to leave the house, fully awake, fed, prepped, and aware of what's going on at 8:30 AM tomorrow. Yeah, I need sleep.
Goodnight.
1. I DON'T WANT TO BE A SENIOR!
2. I will be out of town starting on Friday evening, so I'm going to not be posting updates from the Europe Journal.
3. it's time for KnitterWriterBlogger's List of Why She Is Pumped For School.
KnitterWriterBlogger's List of Reasons Why She Is Pumped for School:
1. Friends! (I'll see them!)
2. Senior year! (this is both yay and boo - Senior-hood, but I'm LEAVING!)
3. seeing all the sixth graders and remembering when I was in their place. And laughing.
4. THEATRE!
5. College apps!!! (yeah... no)
6. I'm actually pumped for classes. I really hope AP Government doesn't turn out to be as monotonous as the summer book is (it's only slightly less dry than the average history textbook. This does not bode well.)
7. I'm also kind of pumped for senior projects. I know that's not until May or June, but still. I'm excited.
8. Decorating the school for the first day - I've seen it around for six years; now, in my seventh, I was the scribe for the Decoration Committee (we let out an hour ago. The senior class had an ice cream social/ First Day meeting this evening, and there was the Decoration Committee and the Senior Skit Committee... and, judging by what my informants/ friends have told me, there may be fewer Junior Girl jokes, if at all. FINALLY SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE HAS HAPPENED! RIDDING THE SCHOOL OF A SUPER-OLD JOKE!).
9. Meeting new people!
I also signed up to tour sixth graders and new students around the school tomorrow, which means... I should have started going to bed a while ago. I have to leave the house, fully awake, fed, prepped, and aware of what's going on at 8:30 AM tomorrow. Yeah, I need sleep.
Goodnight.
Entry # 24, Europe Journal
Hotel, Florence 8:30 PM 5 August, 2011
Yes, I know, I didn't write yesterday. Honestly, the only things I remember are that I thought Florence was a lot like New York (old buildings, very moving energy, lots of graffiti, lots of museums, drivers who will run you over if you're still in the road when they get to the intersection), that there were so many paintings of Jesus and Madonna in the Uffizi that they all started to look the same (same with all the sculptures we say), that I liked our hotel, and that the hostess at the restaurant we went to liked my Bernese trousers (the multi-colored patchwork ones that are really, REALLY nice for Italy weather). And that a random guy in the Uffizi gave me his map to write on instead of taking notes on my hand of people to look up (Ariadne and someone else). *I had forgotten my notebook*. And I got a book of DaVinci's notebooks. I'm jumping around and reading bits and pieces of it, since most of it is... well, typed-up notes that DaVinci did.
Anyway, notes of today:
- woke up
- changed
- ate
- continued getting ready
- made us all late to L'Accademia
- I didn't have my watch with me for most of the changing time
- Also, NOBODY TOLD ME we had to be there at nine fifteen. HAD I KNOWN, I would have RUSHED MORE.
- L'Accademia = really cool (museum)
- saw Michelangelo's "David"
- three times my height AT LEAST
- since he is HUGE and I am a TEENAGER and he is a CLASSICAL STATUE, "David" caused me to inquire into the accuracy of the proportions of David's anatomy
- I'M SORRY I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE.
- Afterwards, I saw even MORE paintings of Madonna and Jesus
- if there are any such paintings in Rome, I shall begin to boycott Italian Museums.
- I LOVE Jesus and I LOVE Mary, but I really do NOT like seeing fair too many paintings of them in the space of half an hour
- after museum, we went to lunch at the hotel
- went to market
- saw cool stuff
- didn't buy anything
- didn't really want to
- went to gardens south of river
- very boring
- passed by Athena/ Minerva
- no plaque saying it was her
- giveaway - the owl on her shield (that's her symbol)
- went to dinner
- ate pizza
- had good food
- returned to the hotel
- began journaling
- wrote some letters
- did some reading
- took a shower
- went to bed
- not exactly in that order
- whatever
- space-killing now
- goodnight
- will (maybe) write tomorrow
Yes, I know, I didn't write yesterday. Honestly, the only things I remember are that I thought Florence was a lot like New York (old buildings, very moving energy, lots of graffiti, lots of museums, drivers who will run you over if you're still in the road when they get to the intersection), that there were so many paintings of Jesus and Madonna in the Uffizi that they all started to look the same (same with all the sculptures we say), that I liked our hotel, and that the hostess at the restaurant we went to liked my Bernese trousers (the multi-colored patchwork ones that are really, REALLY nice for Italy weather). And that a random guy in the Uffizi gave me his map to write on instead of taking notes on my hand of people to look up (Ariadne and someone else). *I had forgotten my notebook*. And I got a book of DaVinci's notebooks. I'm jumping around and reading bits and pieces of it, since most of it is... well, typed-up notes that DaVinci did.
Anyway, notes of today:
- woke up
- changed
- ate
- continued getting ready
- made us all late to L'Accademia
- I didn't have my watch with me for most of the changing time
- Also, NOBODY TOLD ME we had to be there at nine fifteen. HAD I KNOWN, I would have RUSHED MORE.
- L'Accademia = really cool (museum)
- saw Michelangelo's "David"
- three times my height AT LEAST
- since he is HUGE and I am a TEENAGER and he is a CLASSICAL STATUE, "David" caused me to inquire into the accuracy of the proportions of David's anatomy
- I'M SORRY I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE.
- Afterwards, I saw even MORE paintings of Madonna and Jesus
- if there are any such paintings in Rome, I shall begin to boycott Italian Museums.
- I LOVE Jesus and I LOVE Mary, but I really do NOT like seeing fair too many paintings of them in the space of half an hour
- after museum, we went to lunch at the hotel
- went to market
- saw cool stuff
- didn't buy anything
- didn't really want to
- went to gardens south of river
- very boring
- passed by Athena/ Minerva
- no plaque saying it was her
- giveaway - the owl on her shield (that's her symbol)
- went to dinner
- ate pizza
- had good food
- returned to the hotel
- began journaling
- wrote some letters
- did some reading
- took a shower
- went to bed
- not exactly in that order
- whatever
- space-killing now
- goodnight
- will (maybe) write tomorrow
Monday, August 29, 2011
Entry # 23, Europe Journal
11:37 PM Wed, 3 August, 2011 Venice hotel
I shall try to make this short because I want to read before bed.
- woke up 7:30 ish?
- breakfast by 8:00 ish
- cool bread
- Nutella!!
- bowl of fruit
- accidentally put a LOT of SALT in coffee/ milk
- ew
- went to cool former palace/ art museum (Doge's Palace)
- palace art = museum
- super cool
- after a while, people started looking the same
- saw Allison from the Chalet (Boston group) + her family
- super awesome
- lost a contact lens
- was really annoying and kind of gave me a headache
- saw the dungeons
- felt like I was on "Cities of the Underworld" (it was a show on the History Channel a while ago. I'm not sure if it's still on, but it was about underground cities and the stories behind them).
- several centuries of graffiti still on the walls
- I was the only one fully interested in seeing the dungeons fully through
- Allison was a bit PO'd - not enough art in dungeons?
- deemed the dungeons very inappropriate and worthy of being closed off to the public
- I felt like a death-obsessed lunatic for being more interested in the dungeons, armory, and combat paintings than in sculptures/ paintings of God/ gods and paintings of Jesus (no offense to the Gods/ Jesus)
- they were numerous, so they began to run together
- after palace, we went to the line for San Marco
- really old and really awesome
- for 2 Euros, we looped around the front altar area, with more cool paintings and art and THE TOMB OF SAN MARCO!!! a;dkfj;awl ekjf!!!!!!!!!!
- for those of you unfamiliar with Christianity, San Marco (Saint Mark) was one of the authors of the Bible. He was one of the four Gospels, meaning he was one of the people who documented the life of Jesus.
- Saw his TOMB!!!
- went back to hotel
- chilled for about an hour
- went shopping
- saw lots of stores
- my favorite = yarn store
- got 2 self-patterning acrylic skeins
- in dollars, they were around 2.25
- the same weight yarn/ size skein at Michael's = around 2.50 - 3.00
- 2 cool bamboo skeins
- pretty sure Michael's doesn't stock 100% bamboo (or anything 100% non-synthetic)
- SCORE!
- went to dinner at same place as yesterday
- went to opera - "Barber of Seville"
- four performers + line less maid
- rather than stage hands budging sets in between scenes, the audience + four-person pit budge their butts to another room in place
- really good
- funny
- well performed
- goodnight
I shall try to make this short because I want to read before bed.
- woke up 7:30 ish?
- breakfast by 8:00 ish
- cool bread
- Nutella!!
- bowl of fruit
- accidentally put a LOT of SALT in coffee/ milk
- ew
- went to cool former palace/ art museum (Doge's Palace)
- palace art = museum
- super cool
- after a while, people started looking the same
- saw Allison from the Chalet (Boston group) + her family
- super awesome
- lost a contact lens
- was really annoying and kind of gave me a headache
- saw the dungeons
- felt like I was on "Cities of the Underworld" (it was a show on the History Channel a while ago. I'm not sure if it's still on, but it was about underground cities and the stories behind them).
- several centuries of graffiti still on the walls
- I was the only one fully interested in seeing the dungeons fully through
- Allison was a bit PO'd - not enough art in dungeons?
- deemed the dungeons very inappropriate and worthy of being closed off to the public
- I felt like a death-obsessed lunatic for being more interested in the dungeons, armory, and combat paintings than in sculptures/ paintings of God/ gods and paintings of Jesus (no offense to the Gods/ Jesus)
- they were numerous, so they began to run together
- after palace, we went to the line for San Marco
- really old and really awesome
- for 2 Euros, we looped around the front altar area, with more cool paintings and art and THE TOMB OF SAN MARCO!!! a;dkfj;awl ekjf!!!!!!!!!!
- for those of you unfamiliar with Christianity, San Marco (Saint Mark) was one of the authors of the Bible. He was one of the four Gospels, meaning he was one of the people who documented the life of Jesus.
- Saw his TOMB!!!
- went back to hotel
- chilled for about an hour
- went shopping
- saw lots of stores
- my favorite = yarn store
- got 2 self-patterning acrylic skeins
- in dollars, they were around 2.25
- the same weight yarn/ size skein at Michael's = around 2.50 - 3.00
- 2 cool bamboo skeins
- pretty sure Michael's doesn't stock 100% bamboo (or anything 100% non-synthetic)
- SCORE!
- went to dinner at same place as yesterday
- went to opera - "Barber of Seville"
- four performers + line less maid
- rather than stage hands budging sets in between scenes, the audience + four-person pit budge their butts to another room in place
- really good
- funny
- well performed
- goodnight
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Entry # 22, Europe Journal
10:09 PM Hotel, Venice Tuesday, 2 August 2011
I shall do a brief summary of yesterday/ today. Hopefully it will meet page count.
yesterday:
(picking up where I left off)
- lunch
- woodcarver
- bought earrings + cow + pins + cross
- returned
- early dinner
- closing
- Swiss National day
- dancing
- bagpipes (surprise before dinner; they came up and played at the Chalet)
- we were in parade
- sang Chalet song
- returned
- finished packing
- had to sit on suitcase to zip it up properly
- then the month happened...
- all the stuff to deal with it = in the most inconvenient place possible
- dealt with it anyway
TODAY:
- woke up at six AM
- found last-minute stuff
- finished last-minute packing
- departure
- caught bus
- Allison = pessimistic about our likelihood of catching the train
- had three minutes between the bus stopping and the train leaving
- her fears proved false
- actually wound up with five minutes
- got train
- we had reserved seats
- turned out we boarded the wrong car
- had to move
- hard to navigate with suitcase and backpack on
- made it to car
- at first stop, got off, sprinted to end, got back on
- made it before train left again
- barely
- Allison declared it to be the worst train ride ever
- I pointed out that it wasn't because the car hadn't exploded yet
- read most of the way
- made it to Venice
- travelled by boat a lot
- discovered that the canals are similar to the streets at home
- there are SUV-type boats and sedan-type boats
- occasionally a limo/ gondola
- occasional vintage/ sports-vehicle/ convertible
- lots of traffic
- very hectic
- some trash that people are too lazy to put into cans, so they pitch it out during travel time
- lots of cool architecture
- mask stores EVERYWHERE
- hotel = awesome
- went to the top of the bell tower
- view = WHOA!
- you could see all of Venice
- ate dinner
- super good
- I had ravioli
- walked around
- looked at all the super-cool masks
- lots of masks with bits painted like sheet music
- lots of long-nosed ones
- some cool Phantom of the Opera masks/ sort-of-Phantom masks
- for example, half the face + the other eye would be covered
- returned
- wrote journal
- read more
- bed
I shall do a brief summary of yesterday/ today. Hopefully it will meet page count.
yesterday:
(picking up where I left off)
- lunch
- woodcarver
- bought earrings + cow + pins + cross
- returned
- early dinner
- closing
- Swiss National day
- dancing
- bagpipes (surprise before dinner; they came up and played at the Chalet)
- we were in parade
- sang Chalet song
- returned
- finished packing
- had to sit on suitcase to zip it up properly
- then the month happened...
- all the stuff to deal with it = in the most inconvenient place possible
- dealt with it anyway
TODAY:
- woke up at six AM
- found last-minute stuff
- finished last-minute packing
- departure
- caught bus
- Allison = pessimistic about our likelihood of catching the train
- had three minutes between the bus stopping and the train leaving
- her fears proved false
- actually wound up with five minutes
- got train
- we had reserved seats
- turned out we boarded the wrong car
- had to move
- hard to navigate with suitcase and backpack on
- made it to car
- at first stop, got off, sprinted to end, got back on
- made it before train left again
- barely
- Allison declared it to be the worst train ride ever
- I pointed out that it wasn't because the car hadn't exploded yet
- read most of the way
- made it to Venice
- travelled by boat a lot
- discovered that the canals are similar to the streets at home
- there are SUV-type boats and sedan-type boats
- occasionally a limo/ gondola
- occasional vintage/ sports-vehicle/ convertible
- lots of traffic
- very hectic
- some trash that people are too lazy to put into cans, so they pitch it out during travel time
- lots of cool architecture
- mask stores EVERYWHERE
- hotel = awesome
- went to the top of the bell tower
- view = WHOA!
- you could see all of Venice
- ate dinner
- super good
- I had ravioli
- walked around
- looked at all the super-cool masks
- lots of masks with bits painted like sheet music
- lots of long-nosed ones
- some cool Phantom of the Opera masks/ sort-of-Phantom masks
- for example, half the face + the other eye would be covered
- returned
- wrote journal
- read more
- bed
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Entry # 21, Europe Journal
1 August, 2011 Monday 11:43 AM above the gorge.
Well, we rappelled down into a gorge today. It was actually rather fun. Next time I rappel into a gorge, though, I'm bringing biking gloves. It's not that the rope gave me blisters or anything - it's that a lot of the ropes are really dirty and if the gorge is really deep, probably WILL give you blisters. I wasn't horrendously scared. It was kind of scary in the second go because you couldn't see over the edge so you basically had to go down blind. And the second bit was the longer of the two.
The most annoying part was when I got my foot stuck in a crevice at the beginning. It didn't hurt; I didn't pop, twist, or sprain anything; I just couldn't move anywhere for about a minute because I couldn't figure out where to push off from.
Anyway, I was distracted for a moment from writing f...
Mom is singing "The Sound of Music" in her 'opera' voice. It's crazy. And she can't remember all the words. It's apparently her dream to sing "Sound of Music" in the Alps, and then she got all fake-pissed when we told her that most of it's set in Austria, not Switzerland. It's kind of funny that she couldn't remember all the words and had to be spoon-fed them.
But she lived the dream.
In opera.
Well, we rappelled down into a gorge today. It was actually rather fun. Next time I rappel into a gorge, though, I'm bringing biking gloves. It's not that the rope gave me blisters or anything - it's that a lot of the ropes are really dirty and if the gorge is really deep, probably WILL give you blisters. I wasn't horrendously scared. It was kind of scary in the second go because you couldn't see over the edge so you basically had to go down blind. And the second bit was the longer of the two.
The most annoying part was when I got my foot stuck in a crevice at the beginning. It didn't hurt; I didn't pop, twist, or sprain anything; I just couldn't move anywhere for about a minute because I couldn't figure out where to push off from.
Anyway, I was distracted for a moment from writing f...
Mom is singing "The Sound of Music" in her 'opera' voice. It's crazy. And she can't remember all the words. It's apparently her dream to sing "Sound of Music" in the Alps, and then she got all fake-pissed when we told her that most of it's set in Austria, not Switzerland. It's kind of funny that she couldn't remember all the words and had to be spoon-fed them.
But she lived the dream.
In opera.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Entry # 20, Europe Journal
Sunday, July 31, 2011 Our room, Chalet 10:14 PM
Should stop kidding myself about doing consistent prose. Also, need to go QUICKLY. Side note: staffers LOVE tie-dye stuff.
Anyway, summary.
- wake up
- shower
- lunch
- breakfast
- stuff
- commence hike of Elsigen (ANOTHER mountain)
- I was map person
- it didn't work
- I was proud because I thought I found where we were
- time-wise, it worked
- the forks in the road = same as were on the map
- rivers = same
- I was wrong
- it sucked.
- continued hiking
- played Harry Potter 20 q's with Leila, Page, Emily, and Asia (staffer)
- wound up ditching the question cap as stuff got more obscure
- i.e. Nagini, Merlin's Beard, Ernie MacMillan's Patronus, diadem, Room of Requirement, Marauder's Map, Quaffle, etc.
- stopped for lunch at mad-made lake
- COLD water
- fully submerged myself for 5 seconds
- FROZEN
- hiked to other lake
- saw a baptism
- hiked back
- still playing HPQ's
- gondola back down
- bus back
- chore = sweeping
- dinner = awesome
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY POTTER!
- Also, Chalet
- birthday campfire
- Montreal stole our song
- "Princess Pat"
- going crazy
- after cool stuff, delivered tie-dye socks/ bandannas/ glow sticks/ cookies to staff
- awesomeness
- now, listening to "tangled"
- awesome music!
- Alan Menken = AMAZING
- Beauty and the Beast
- Aladdin
- Enchanted
- most Disney classics
- I have an awkward sunburn on my legs now
- it's weird
- Leila won't stop singing
- not a bad thing but it's kind of annoying because I'm trying to listen to the actual music
- whatever
- goodnight
Should stop kidding myself about doing consistent prose. Also, need to go QUICKLY. Side note: staffers LOVE tie-dye stuff.
Anyway, summary.
- wake up
- shower
- lunch
- breakfast
- stuff
- commence hike of Elsigen (ANOTHER mountain)
- I was map person
- it didn't work
- I was proud because I thought I found where we were
- time-wise, it worked
- the forks in the road = same as were on the map
- rivers = same
- I was wrong
- it sucked.
- continued hiking
- played Harry Potter 20 q's with Leila, Page, Emily, and Asia (staffer)
- wound up ditching the question cap as stuff got more obscure
- i.e. Nagini, Merlin's Beard, Ernie MacMillan's Patronus, diadem, Room of Requirement, Marauder's Map, Quaffle, etc.
- stopped for lunch at mad-made lake
- COLD water
- fully submerged myself for 5 seconds
- FROZEN
- hiked to other lake
- saw a baptism
- hiked back
- still playing HPQ's
- gondola back down
- bus back
- chore = sweeping
- dinner = awesome
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY POTTER!
- Also, Chalet
- birthday campfire
- Montreal stole our song
- "Princess Pat"
- going crazy
- after cool stuff, delivered tie-dye socks/ bandannas/ glow sticks/ cookies to staff
- awesomeness
- now, listening to "tangled"
- awesome music!
- Alan Menken = AMAZING
- Beauty and the Beast
- Aladdin
- Enchanted
- most Disney classics
- I have an awkward sunburn on my legs now
- it's weird
- Leila won't stop singing
- not a bad thing but it's kind of annoying because I'm trying to listen to the actual music
- whatever
- goodnight
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Entry # 19, Europe Journal
Sat, 30 July, 2011 T-bar 9:46 PM
Today is a notes day. I will do details and such at another time.
- wake up
- shower
- lunch pack
- b-fast
- Bethany (staff) was singing 'Newsies' this morning during cleanup. It made me very happy.
- bus ride
- met Molly from Ipswich (bus buddy mix up thing)
- she's going into high school
- she asked if everyone had pools in the back garden.
- I mentioned public pools
- went up Neisan (mountain) on a super-slow/ steep/ rickety train
- lots of clouds
- got licked by a cow and got a shot of video down its nose. Item off the bucket list.
- went back down in the train
- ate lunch
- boat to castle
- fairy tale castle + history = WIN!
- dining room was closed, and that's the most direct and legal route to the dungeon (which I wanted to see)
- no dungeon for me
- SAD FACE!
- went back to the Chalet on bus
- chore = bathrooms
- dinner = good
- dessert = AMAZING
- (also, pistachio ice cream is amazing)
- evening thing - live version of the board game 'clue'
- victim = Skippy the Cat
- committed by Reuben the Rafting Guide, using poisoned lemon cake, on the Kitchen Veranda
- now in T-bar working on Chalet Challenge
- should be writing letters
- going to do that now
- goodnight
Today is a notes day. I will do details and such at another time.
- wake up
- shower
- lunch pack
- b-fast
- Bethany (staff) was singing 'Newsies' this morning during cleanup. It made me very happy.
- bus ride
- met Molly from Ipswich (bus buddy mix up thing)
- she's going into high school
- she asked if everyone had pools in the back garden.
- I mentioned public pools
- went up Neisan (mountain) on a super-slow/ steep/ rickety train
- lots of clouds
- got licked by a cow and got a shot of video down its nose. Item off the bucket list.
- went back down in the train
- ate lunch
- boat to castle
- fairy tale castle + history = WIN!
- dining room was closed, and that's the most direct and legal route to the dungeon (which I wanted to see)
- no dungeon for me
- SAD FACE!
- went back to the Chalet on bus
- chore = bathrooms
- dinner = good
- dessert = AMAZING
- (also, pistachio ice cream is amazing)
- evening thing - live version of the board game 'clue'
- victim = Skippy the Cat
- committed by Reuben the Rafting Guide, using poisoned lemon cake, on the Kitchen Veranda
- now in T-bar working on Chalet Challenge
- should be writing letters
- going to do that now
- goodnight
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Entry # 18, Europe Journal
29 July, 2011 Centennial Room 7:46 PM
I KNOW I didn't write yesterday, and I'm too tired from Bunderspitz *the peak we climbed* to do a proper prose entry, so... MORE NOTES!
yesterday:
- after chocolate - waterfalls
- super cool
- super powerful
- still I wish I could have done the rafting. Really. The falls were cool and all, and we CAN do rafting at home, but rafting is just that much cooler than watching water fall.
- then lunch
- went to Interlaken again
- did a scavenger hunt in the non touristy part of town
- went back to the Chalet
- I freaked out packing for Bunderspitz
- chores = I missed them (too late - didn't learn what the chore was until it was nearly done)
- dinner
- I was wait staff
- lots of freak out about Bunderspitz
- left a little early from dinner to finish packing
- arrived late and hassled to Meeting Point
- YOU try packing for an overnight hike with a messy corner in less than two hours
- began hike with rain and such
- all of our troop went; a total of 16 counting the staffers
- arrived at cheese maker's around 9:45?
- muddy + tired
- had the BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER!
- fresh milk FTW
- slept above barn
- one of my warmest cold nights ever (in a good way. Two wool blankets over sleeping bag liner = best. Bed. Ever.)
- two-ish hours of sleep
- bed at ten, sleep at 12:30
- woke up at 2:30 AM
- layered clothing, met outside
- COLD
- hiked very steeply
- glad that it was dark - if I had been able to see more than a meter ahead (headlamp), I would have chickened out
- I was at back... like usual
- before breakfast = hard
- breakfast = 4:30-ish AM
- didn't finish
- COLD
- after breakfast = REALLY hard
- steep but not as muddy
- really rocky
- by the time it got light, I had begun mentally swearing on every step
- muscles + uphill + 3 hour hike + 2 hours sleep = painful
- for some reason I didn't think to get ear worms
- last 1.5 miles (especially last half mile) = TORTURE
- would have had needed to sanitize my mouth if I had the breath to utter what was in my head
- tears of exhaustion = I had them
- not proud of them
- DO NOT TELL ME I DID WELL. I DIDN'T. IF YOU SAY I DID WELL I'LL FEEL WORSE.
- Allison did SO much better.
- I was THE WORST.
- Don't say otherwise. It's a LIE.
- summit = awesome
- made less awesome because I was tired and wanted to punch everyone in the face for Tired Rage
- More Lies of My Awesomeness
- only on the summit for half an hour
- mad that I couldn't sit longer
- hike down = HARD
- entire lower half = still hurting
- now 8:22 PM; finished 11:00 AM *I don't entirely understand this note*
- LONG hike home
- Mom got all nagging through the rest of the day because she's like that when she's tired
- it doesn't make it any more fun
- lunch 11:30
- sleep 12:30 - 3:30
- Mom still nagging about EVERYTHING
- trouser-washing
- shower
- tooth-brushing
- sleeping
- finding Allison's rain trousers
- mom insisting that I not being on FB when aforementioned things had to be done
- also, nagging for the sake of nagging
- NOT FUN AT ALL
- dinner
- chill
- write
- sardines with Suffolk (this didn't actually happen)
- now = leaving
I KNOW I didn't write yesterday, and I'm too tired from Bunderspitz *the peak we climbed* to do a proper prose entry, so... MORE NOTES!
yesterday:
- after chocolate - waterfalls
- super cool
- super powerful
- still I wish I could have done the rafting. Really. The falls were cool and all, and we CAN do rafting at home, but rafting is just that much cooler than watching water fall.
- then lunch
- went to Interlaken again
- did a scavenger hunt in the non touristy part of town
- went back to the Chalet
- I freaked out packing for Bunderspitz
- chores = I missed them (too late - didn't learn what the chore was until it was nearly done)
- dinner
- I was wait staff
- lots of freak out about Bunderspitz
- left a little early from dinner to finish packing
- arrived late and hassled to Meeting Point
- YOU try packing for an overnight hike with a messy corner in less than two hours
- began hike with rain and such
- all of our troop went; a total of 16 counting the staffers
- arrived at cheese maker's around 9:45?
- muddy + tired
- had the BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER!
- fresh milk FTW
- slept above barn
- one of my warmest cold nights ever (in a good way. Two wool blankets over sleeping bag liner = best. Bed. Ever.)
- two-ish hours of sleep
- bed at ten, sleep at 12:30
- woke up at 2:30 AM
- layered clothing, met outside
- COLD
- hiked very steeply
- glad that it was dark - if I had been able to see more than a meter ahead (headlamp), I would have chickened out
- I was at back... like usual
- before breakfast = hard
- breakfast = 4:30-ish AM
- didn't finish
- COLD
- after breakfast = REALLY hard
- steep but not as muddy
- really rocky
- by the time it got light, I had begun mentally swearing on every step
- muscles + uphill + 3 hour hike + 2 hours sleep = painful
- for some reason I didn't think to get ear worms
- last 1.5 miles (especially last half mile) = TORTURE
- would have had needed to sanitize my mouth if I had the breath to utter what was in my head
- tears of exhaustion = I had them
- not proud of them
- DO NOT TELL ME I DID WELL. I DIDN'T. IF YOU SAY I DID WELL I'LL FEEL WORSE.
- Allison did SO much better.
- I was THE WORST.
- Don't say otherwise. It's a LIE.
- summit = awesome
- made less awesome because I was tired and wanted to punch everyone in the face for Tired Rage
- More Lies of My Awesomeness
- only on the summit for half an hour
- mad that I couldn't sit longer
- hike down = HARD
- entire lower half = still hurting
- now 8:22 PM; finished 11:00 AM *I don't entirely understand this note*
- LONG hike home
- Mom got all nagging through the rest of the day because she's like that when she's tired
- it doesn't make it any more fun
- lunch 11:30
- sleep 12:30 - 3:30
- Mom still nagging about EVERYTHING
- trouser-washing
- shower
- tooth-brushing
- sleeping
- finding Allison's rain trousers
- mom insisting that I not being on FB when aforementioned things had to be done
- also, nagging for the sake of nagging
- NOT FUN AT ALL
- dinner
- chill
- write
- sardines with Suffolk (this didn't actually happen)
- now = leaving
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Entry # 17, Europe Journal
11:48 AM The Bus, Interlaken 28 July 2011
We just got back on the bus on our first town day. We went to this chocolatier in Interlaken, and he showed us yow they make hollow chocolate cows and how the chocolate goes from the pod/ bean/ plant to the chocolate place:
yeah, that's basically it.
I think.
Anyway, the chocolate was DELICIOUS.
And white chocolate isn't actually chocolate because the cocoa powder isn't used.
No we're on the bus to go to a waterfall thing.
I still wish we were going to do the white water rafting thing. I'm sure the waterfalls are super awesome and all, and we can always go class-four rafting in West Virginia, but I was just looking out the window ad part of the river, and there is NOTHING like that in West Virginia.
We just got back on the bus on our first town day. We went to this chocolatier in Interlaken, and he showed us yow they make hollow chocolate cows and how the chocolate goes from the pod/ bean/ plant to the chocolate place:
- grown
- pods = harvested
- pods split open
- beans harvested
- put under banana leaves for fermentation - 7-10 days
- 7-10 days = drying
- shipped/ sold
- ground
- fat from bean = removed
- all = melted
- mixed so it's smooth
- sugar/ milk/ vanilla/ necessaries added
- mixed
- heated
- coolness
- stuff is done
- eaten
yeah, that's basically it.
I think.
Anyway, the chocolate was DELICIOUS.
And white chocolate isn't actually chocolate because the cocoa powder isn't used.
No we're on the bus to go to a waterfall thing.
I still wish we were going to do the white water rafting thing. I'm sure the waterfalls are super awesome and all, and we can always go class-four rafting in West Virginia, but I was just looking out the window ad part of the river, and there is NOTHING like that in West Virginia.
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