Entering food coma...

Operation: Thanksgiving Potluck - SUCCESS!

Everyone had a great time, there was more than enough food, and it's so great to just have a night to relax with friends. :)

I'm so thankful for all of you!

And ze bird is out of ze oven!

Checking on the bird...

Aaaaand, it's DONE!!!!!

This is the first time I've ever cooked a turkey with someone who also has little experience. The ultimate test will be taste. I can tell you all that it smells and looks good!

Nom nom nom nom

So close...2nd round of basting! It's looking really good. The whole dorm smells like Thanksgiving. :)

Mmmm...TURKEY!!!!

1st round of basting! It looks and smells so good!

Also, check out our take-over of the kitchen. This will be a feast fit for QUEENS!!!

Slapsgiving 2010

The bird is in the oven! Countdown to an amazing potluck with uber-cool people: 3-4 hours. So excited!!!!

The Bubble

We joke that Swelles has a lovely little bubble where we often forget that there is an outside world, and we can comfortably discuss intense topics (my dinner conversations regularly include religion, war, politics, etc.).

It also means that you tend to forget to communicate with said outside world. Or leave campus, but that's another story.

I just remembered that I actually do have a blog, and should maybe post every once in a while.

I'm also trying to pretend that I don't have a crazy amount of work due before Saturday. Despite such denial, the work will get done on time. It always does.

I want to go back to my dinner conversations. I have to say, I am really going to miss those when I graduate. It's not just the level of conversation (I could have the same level at home), but I'm going to miss sitting in the dining hall having hour long conversations while different friends come and go (and sometimes, come back again). I'm going to miss marathon weekend brunches and marathon dinners. This is what scares me about graduating - this lack of a community. I know my friends will still be around, but we'll be physically scattered around the world. We won't have a communal dinner time in the same space where we can run into each other at any time when hot food is served (or even when it's not served). This is what I love most about college, this is what I will cherish most about college, and this is what I'll miss the most.

Well, the cruel reality of research papers and midterms beckons me...

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

After 9 months, I am back at lovely ol' Swelles. It feels good to be back, and not all that weird. As soon as I got onto the property (well, actually, it was once I was off the highway), it just felt right to be back. It was like I was seeing the campus for the first time again, and my love for the school was renewed. I'm glad I took a semester abroad, but I'm also glad to be back.

One of the best things about being back is that a lot of my friends are back early, too. It's so great seeing people that I haven't seen since either last December or last May! I find this to be, quite possibly, the best part of going abroad. You get to come back and share stories with your friends and hear theirs. Also, everyone is just so excited to see one another again, and that's just wonderful!

I can also feel and smell fall in the air! It's glorious. After a long, hot, and humid summer, I embrace this cool crispness. Some of the trees have even started turning! I'm so glad to have a tree outside my room...I hope it turns all kinds of pretty fall colors!