Irene the bringer of boredom

So school for tomorrow is officially cancelled due to Hurricane Irene.  From my window, I've just seen some pretty high winds and rain, so in my estimation, this cancellation business is a bit overkill, but apparently there's been some serious flooding in town and some downed trees.  As a Minnesotan, I believe that only 37 inches of snow warrants cancelling anything, so right now Vermonters look like pansies, but I'll wait on setting that opinion in stone.

Tomorrow is my last day of freedom and even though I should be cherishing it and taking full advantage of being able to sleep in and wear the same clothes form going on 36 hours, I'm kind of dreading it.  So far during this hurricane experience I've watched 5 movies, baked 24 cupcakes, taken 2 naps, read 176 pages of Persuasion, eaten 207 Cheetos, and wandered aimlessly around my apartment for hours.  I've exhausted my options to the extent that I am reading ahead in the school books I have so that I can feel somewhat productive during this time.  I think that's what's really getting to me.  I know that I have a heaping pile of work ahead of me, but I can't start it so I'm left to sit and be bored when I know I'll wish in the not to distant future that I had an extra day to work on papers, study for tests or just be.

If anyone has any ideas for inside fun activities, please, I beg of you, let me know. 

The First 48

So I've been a semi-official Vermonter for about 36 hours now.  My apartment is quite nice - definitely a lot newer than good old Wirth and Zierden (emphasis on the Old ;), but the bedrooms are little.  And by little I mean tiny. I don't particularly mind - I quite like small spaces, but apparently it was too much (or too little??) for one of my roommates to handle as she took one step in the apartment and promptly decided to move out.  She sounds a little prissy, so I don't think we would have gotten along anyways.  Now the three of us, Robyn, Laura and I, are awaiting the arrival of the newbie.  She's supposedly coming today or tomorrow.

Below are some pictures of the new place!

The desk where I'll be doing all my work and thinking big thoughts.  That is after HIMYM is done :)

My new bed :) You can't tell here, but it's kind of lofted so there's a cool little fort underneath!

My new buddy :) I got him at UVM's version of Involvement today.  Name suggestions??

The living room with Laura's cool tapestry.  

I think I would have gone nuts looking at entirely beige walls for a year. 

The kitchen.

One lonely chair for four people.  

I like it here and I really like having my own room!  Especially when things get a little tough, which they inevitably will, it will be nice to be able to shut the door and have some peace to wallow.  I mentioned the roomies - Laura and Robyn.  Laura's a transfer student originally from Connecticut and she's studying Wildlife Biology and is in to naturey stuff and meeting new people.  We went up to campus today and figured out the bussing and found our classrooms.  Robyn is from upstate New York and is actually in my program!  I'm hoping that means we'll help each other out and be study buddies, but I'm fearful that we'll overdose on each other and be super competitive.  We'll see. 

Yesterday i finished unpacking and putting away all of my stuff.  I'm glad that I flew out because it limited the amount of stuff I could bring.  Apparently my two roommates had not seen the apartment before moving here and we shocked at the bedroom sizes and had way too much stuff to fit.  Good thing they both live within driving distance and their parents could bring some of it back home.  Then I walked all the way to the dollar store because I forgot 3M strips only to find that they didn't have any.  Then I went and sat down by the river and journaled for a bit :)  I was super tired by super time, but tried my best to stay awake till a reasonable hour.  So I did what I did nearly everyday last semester...I watched Harry Potter.  Kara and Ellen- you miss me yet??? ;) 

Classes are supposed to start on Monday, but because of Hurricane Irene, they're currently in limbo while the school watches the path of the storm.  Send good vibes my way as the rain hits tomorrow.  I planning on baking some cupcakes and watching more HP.

T-minus 7 days and counting....

Hi there!  I'm going to try my hand at this again. For one, it's a pragmatic approach to keeping all y'all up to date on my life and for two, it's kind of fun and rather cathartic.  While the stories from this journey may not be as exciting or exotic as those from study abroad, I hope they'll still be worth sharing.  That said, posts may be less regular and feature more pictures, which, let's face it, is more interesting anyway. 

I've enabled comments, so feel free to post your thoughts and make this more interactive. 

As for a first mini-post, I'm down to days here before the big flight on a little plane.  I've accumulated several people's fair shares of stuff over the past 22 years and a bunch of it just needs to go.  Like daily homework from 9th grade -- why did I think that was necessary to archive?? But I think that through this physical purge, I'll be better mentally prepared to step forth and "forge ahead" as my Gma says.  

Next time I'll be able to give you a glimpse into the new, grown-up apartment and adventures with the fam around the Green Mountain State before settling into real life.

Later Gators -- RJP