11 January 2010

er⋅i⋅na⋅ceous [er-uh-NEY-shuhs] (adjective) : of the hedgehog kind or family

Now that the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" is finally drifting from memory, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the last few weeks of 2009. 

After my finals week (which for architecture majors is the week before finals since our professors need time to grade all our projects), my life got better quickly.  For one thing, I had time to relax.  And let me tell you, after a week of getting about two hours of sleep a night, relaxing is like taking a vacation to Hawaii and spending the day in a beach spa with "Jorge" the cute masseur rubbing your shoulders.   It felt amazing.  I also had time to see some of my friends who I'd been neglecting because of my busy schedule.  I went a few places, did a few things, and saw the biggest Christmas tree in Muncie.  :)

Yeah, it was THAT good

My friend and I went to Minnetrista (which is this really neat cultural center near campus) for it's annual Christmas shindig.  They had the Ball brothers' mansions open to the public.  They were fully decorated for the season with places for crafts and such.

making an ornament for my mommy

playing with colorful blocks

my friend and I posing in front of a plastic cow. . . with a random child who jumped in our photo

All the paths and streets were lined with candles, which needed to be extinguished at the end of the night.  As it turns out, they use leaf-blowers for the task.  Way cool.

blowin' out the candles

Afterward, my friend took me back to his fraternity house to show me their awesome Christmas tree.  I don't know if you can tell, but they hung a bunch of plastic army men from it.  teehee.

and topped it with an owl. . .

To finish the holiday celebration before I traveled home, my roommate and I did this:

Lord Watson

(Don't worry, he loved it!)  :-)

 I also had time to attend a white elephant exchange at another friend's house, and while I don't have photos from that event, I DO have the glitter lip gloss from the gift I chose.  We had a great time together.

Home was equally refreshing.  Usually I like to keep my time at home to a minimum since I tend to have so many things to do here in Muncie, but this break was fabulous.  My classes in Brazil don't start until March, so I'm basically on summer break with few things to do.  I'll still be working in the scholarships office, but other than that my time is my own, which is quite rare and exciting.  It made for a realatively stress-free break.  I still had family to see and friends to catch up with, but that was it.  I got some reading done and did some more work on my travel plans. 

Now I'm back in Muncie, classes have started for my roommates, and I'm whiling away the hours preparing for my next adventure.  But more on that later.

 

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