June 3, Day 12

I woke up with a start when my roommate kind of just yelled my name and scurried out of bed to answer whoever was knocking on the door. I had no idea what time we had to be up this morning and thought to myself surely it won't be early than 930 or so. I was wrong, and I guess we had to be downstaris at 830 to head to the Lourve. So, no starbucks with me. I'm not a fan of rushed mornings, I was a wee bit cranky. hah. We took a long subway ride directly to the Lourve and once we got in and such, lo and behold, there sat a little starbucks nestled all cozy like between the other various souvenir shops in the museum. Armon said he would have told me but just thought it'd be funny if I just saw for myself. They stopped especially for me to get my morning coffee fix. It was awesome.
The Lourve is HUGE. Honestly I often felt that the museum was overcrowded; not with people, but with art work. I wasn't sure what to look at and if you looked at one thing you missed seeing something else behind you. Pretty crazy. I saw the Mona Lisa, yes, kind of anticlimactic really. Easton was saying how he feels it's more of a touristy thing. Like it's more of a big deal for those who don't know much about the painting or the story behind it, and artists know there are better more greater things to see. I completely agree, but at least I can say that I've seen it. More exciting though, I saw my most favorite sculpture that I've ever studied- the Nike of Samothrice- a beautiful winged victory sculpture. I also saw a painting I like called The Raft of Medusa, where the story is that these men got stranded on a raft and eventually resorted to cannibalism for survival. We took a photo in front of it of me biting Easton's arm. Quite appropriate. Just a couple paintings down from that one was Liberty Leading the People, the painting on the cover of Coldplay's most recent album Viva La Vida. It was fabulous. Got a photo in front of that guy too. After spending all morning and early afternoon trying to see everything crammed in the museum, we chilled outside by the huge glass pyramids of the Lourve with our feet in fountain pools. I definitely got some sun, and have a nice defined flip flop tan line beginning to develop. From there we walked to the famous archway, Arc de Triomphe. That was cool to see. Then from there we walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower. Loooooong walk, but it was nice once we got there to sit underneath the tower and what not. Funny thing happened while we were there- tehre are street vendors everywhere trying to sell stupid little Eiffel tower keychains and mini models. It was funny to see them all waiting by the exit of those who went up the tower to try and get them to buy something after having been to the top. When Armon and I were walking looking for Natasha and Jen who took the subway instead of walking to the tower, all of the sudden all of these guys selling things were all sprinting in a big group. One even tripped and fell and his merchqndise went everywhere but he quickly recovered and continued running. We were kind of confused until we saw two bike cops pull up from the direction the men were sprinting from. Hilarious sight. Apparently what they're doing is illegal, and for the rest of the time there we joked about yelled 'POLICE!!' everytime one of them came up and tried to sell something to us. hahah. We took a long subway ride home, I showered which puts me at 4 showers now in 12 days, not bad. We had dinner then Jen, Armon and I met in a room to watch the last episode of Lost which we had all missed seeing as we left the country the day it showed. So that was fun, the finale was AWESOME and I can't stop thinking about it and am excited to discuss and debate on the 4 hour train ride tomorrow to London! It was a fun day full of walking and more seeing of famous things.

As for now, I'm headed off to Starbucks ^_^

June 2, Day 11

I got up early enough to hit up the Starbucks I had located the previous night. Though I ordered an iced vanilla latte, I was given an iced caramel macchiato, which thankfully I still like. I cannot tell you how delighted I was to have an iced latte in my hands. It took me back home, that's for sure. Too bad for Jen, who came with me, she didn't really get to enjoy her drink; she bumped into a pole or something and dropped her vente hot chocolate in the street... it was pretty funny... but not for her. haaaha. (I also bought a pain du chocolat, which has become my morning tradition in frqnce. SO delicious) We took the subway to some other part of Paris and began our search for the Photography Institute of Paris. After a lot of walking we finally arrived. Pierre, the owner and founder of the 25 year old school, gave us a tour right off the bat. The students at the school, which it's a fairly small school.. they only have up to 1,000 students or so I think he said, have 24 hour access to a huge shooting studio with lamps and backgrounds and everything. He took us into another room where students were actually in a class practacing studio lighting and shooting. This is an entirely english speaking school, so another point for that. He showed us a few various computer rooms that were littered with huge up-to-date iMacs. He also showed us their darkroom (my favourite part) and then went on to explain that they only teach darkroom and alternative processes for the first year of school for students. After that, they focus more on digital things and what not specifically to prepare the students for a job once they are out of school. (yes, as much as I have always hated to admit, digital is the booming side of photography right now; thought, analog is beginning to make a place for itself once again). He sat us down in a small lecture room and talked to us more in depth, and in english, about the Niepce house that we had visited a few days prior. We quickly found out that he was the discoverer of the Niepce house, and further was the one who was able to produce evidence from the house proving that Niepce was in fact the founder of Photography. So basically I hung out with a celebrity all day. After the lecture and speech and such about Niepce he served us snacks and wine (I had coke thank you very much) and even gave us a free book.

SIDE NOTE: Clocks by Coldplay is playing over the Holiday Inn speakers. I've decided that europeans love Coldplay.

It was a really huge deal for us as students to kind of get our foot in the door in a school such as that. It's definitely a HUGE opportunity for those who are interested in digital commercial and fashion photography.

We had lunch in a big open plaza outside full of people. There were a lot of street performer type things... those are common here on the streets of Paris, and there was even a girl playing the didgeridoo. I took photos to show my big brudder who has become quite fond of didgeridoos, and zach too who somehow even discovered a way to make his own out of pvc pipe. Ah, art. After lunch we hit up a local photography museum which left me entirely unimpressed. I saw one or two photos that intrigued me, but nothing more. There were a few collections that I actually hated for their sake of being overdone and cliche, but it's photography so whatevz. We mqde our way back to the hotel for our first little discussion and critique where we shared 10 photos and explained our vision for our own series' from the trip. Seeing as I'm doing film, I couldn't really show any photos of mine. After talking about my whole Street Photography aim, people mentioned how people react when I take photos- something I actually never noticed. People pose and interact and are generally excited and happy when they see I'm photographing them. I feel like it has a lot to do with me being a small innocent looking girl, and the fact that I'm clearly an american just visiting europe. After talking about all of this I decided to point my series focus more towards the risks I take in shooting, or so it feels as such to me, and the reactions I get from the people. Pretty fun.

We had dinner at some random cafe- I had carpaccio which is delicious here. They make sure that you know it will be raw... I guess not many americans have had carpaccio before and complain when the delicous plate of tender delicate beef is placed in front of them. We stopped by the market to get some candy, and it was here that I had my first kind of Street Photographer experience. Nothing huge, but it was a big deal to me. I thought it'd be fun to photograph people shopping in the grocery store, so I whipped out my camera and was adjusting my aperature and shutter speed according to a light reading from a random wall when all of the sudden some dude sticks his hand in my face and camera lens. I looked up and he just said, 'sorry please no photos!' I don't know if 1) he thought I was photographing him, 2) he didn't want me photographing the merchandise, or 3) didn't want me photographing the entire wall of liquor behind the counter that I didn't realize I was taking my light reading from (haha typical me). Nonetheless, it disturbed him and the atmosphere, which is what Street Photographers do. It didn't affect me in the slightest, which is what I'm the most excited about. I'm not afraid anymore.

I went to bed early, well I generally do compared to everyone else seeing as they all like to party and hit up the town and bars at night... and that's totally not my thing.

June 1, Day 10

In the morning before heading out to do some hardcore sight seeing we hit up a little pastry shop (Le Cafe de The I think? Or 'the tea cafe'... no I havent had tea there... im having no tea until London duuhhh). I got q 'pain du chocolat', translation unknown, but it's just a fabulous croissant with chocolate in the middle- a perfect way to start the day. We walked for awhile, then got tickets for a boatbus that takes you to eight stops like the eiffel tower, lourve, and notre dame, etc. Our destination: Notre Dame. I was so excited, especially since Ive had numerous art history classes where ive studied it and what not. It was gigantic- one could even become dizzy looking up towards the ceiling. It was astoundingly beautiful and beyond impressive. A mighty experience indeed. After lunch we then hit up the Sainte Chappel, which the building in itself is a reliquary, or a sacred decorative container that plays host to some holy relic. I forget what relic was there, but it sure was decorative. The second floor is entirely stained glass; fifteen total huge vertical stained glass windows, each with scenes from the bible. The entire story of the bible was in that stained glass, so that should go to show you how ,uch there really was. Incredible. We then went to some museum where I saw the original Poling the marsh Hay by Peter Henry Emerson, paintings by Manet, Gustave Corbet, and Van Gough. I saw Van Gough's self portrait and was entirely unimpressed. I can appreciate what he did for the impressionist painting movement... but his work did not excite me in the least bit. A little bit of a letdown... but the rest of the work I saw was pretty incredible. I never realized how huge those paintings actually are.
After eating a pretty American dinner (cheeseburger... and I should have just gotten french food because it was not good) I went on a little exploration adventure before heading back to the hotel: find the starbucks. I was told there was one near that restaraunt and was determined to know where so I could go there the next morning before we headed out. Ive been having iced latte withdrawl... it sucks. Nevertheless I found it in not even 2 minutes time (Im not sure if that's pathetic or awesome.... i'd like to say it's quite honorable).

There was a point throughout the day where I saw a great Street Photography photo moment, two homeless french men sharing a bottle of wine on a bench near the river, but was too afraid to get in their business and photograph them. Easton told me, "Some of the best advice a friend ever gave me was 'Dont be afraid.'" This hqs kind of stuck with me since then and my series of Street Photography, I feel, is going to be a lot about me trying to push myself out of my own comfort zone; after all, Street Photography is about upsetting the flow of things and people's personal way of things.

One last thing- everyone smokes in France. I dont know if that's solely a european thing or not, but I feel like just because i dont smoke makes it that much more obvious that Im american. Though, I was told that out of the entire group Im probqbly the one who could pass for being french or european or whatever. That's definitely a compliment in my book.

That's all I have for tonight... I bought some 'Chocolat noir intense et zestes d'orange', rather, chocolate with orange zest, and I really want to eat it :)

May 31, Day 9

I still hate this keyboard. what's messing me up the most is the 'a' being at the top left, the 'm' being in the middle row all the way on the right, and the 'w' being all the way on the bottom left row. Oh and holding shift for a period is getting really old.

I slept really well with ,y new roommate Dani. We headed out early to go to some town where the Niepce Museum is. Long story short: Niepce was the inventor of Photography, so I was pretty stoked to go to the museum. I got to see many of his original heliographs, and I got to see Alfred Steigliz's Steerage, which sparked the movement of Straight Photography, the process of finding abstractions in everyday objects, which is something i've explored myself. I had someone take a photo of me by it ^_^ We then went to the Niepce house where I stood in the room and looked out the window of where the first ever photograph, View From A Window At Gras, was taken. If you dont think that's neat you can just stop reading this blog or something. I also stood in Niepce's workroom, and the attic darkroom that he and Daguerre once shared and worked with one another in. What a fabulous day.

At a train stop on our way to Paris, I learned that 'cornichon', pronounced corn-i-sho, means pickle. The lady I ordered my sandwhich from taught me. How pleasant. We got to Paris and settled in our Holiday in Hotel nestled nicely in the cityscape next to a sex shop. It's kind of funny. I had a fabulous dinner at a little cafe a few blocks down: a salad with a horseradish-like dressing, french ham/bacon, tomatoes, and toast with warm goat cheese. Ive mearned that if you dont like goat cheese, you should come to france (Lowen Winkler) hahah. its everywhere and in everything.

Clearly, we have no free internet at this hotel, which is more normal for france. There are two computers downstairs, one of which im on, the only catch is someone switched up the keys on the keyboard so they can laugh at the stupid americans who try to catch up on their blogs.......

I did laundry in the hotel sink. that was fun. My grass stained jeans turned the water completely yellow. Hah.

May 30, Day 8

First of all, please forgive any random, typos- Im on a french computer and the keyboard is all sorts of different; the top to bottom row of keys:
azertyuiop
qsdfghjklm
wxcvbn,;:!
and the shift button is all weird and you have to shift and alt to get different things.. this is odd. I even have to shift for a period. thqts ridiculous.

So Hanna kept me up this night again from snoring.. which sucked, but im starting to get used to it (I actually even threw pillows at her throughout the night and that was even unsuccessful.. funny though seeing her snore with a pile of pillows on top of her). We had a very slow relaxing morning at the teeny little Avignon Hotel de Splendid. Eventually, after getting to the train station, we realized we were at the wrong train station and had to take taxis to the correct one.

SIDE NOTE: Coldplay's Lover in Japan is playing over the hotel speakers here. This marks the second time ive heard Coldplay in public places like this in france. pretty cool.


We got to Lyon after some time and checked into the Best Western hotel which was HUGE compared to what we had been staying in, so that was quite relaxing. We dropped our stuff off and immediately went to the Lumiere Museum, and the Lumiere family is basically known for the invention of cienema. It was fun to see. Also there, I found a flier for a zombie day happening in Lyon-- they were going to show a George A. Romero film, some other zombie film, and then 28 Days Later. Too bad we were going to be gone before that happened. Though, I was glad to find out that french zombie lovers do exist. After returning to the hotel we went to a market a few blocks down and i got a big ol baguette for 1€ which is soooo cheap compared to buying something like that in the states. The rest of the night was super chill. We just hung out and zent to bed whenevz.

Overall it seemed like a short day, which is never a bad thing in my opinion. Also that day I had my official meeting with Easton and Armon about what sorts of photos I wanted to take: those being 1) Street Photography and 2) self portraits in every cafe I go to.

We only stayed in Lyon one night; we headed to Paris the next morning.

May 29, Day 7

Breakfast was provided by the hotel, so that was nice. Right after eating we left to go find a place to rent bikes from. We ran into an English couple who told us about a place just outside of the walls of town. After renting 5 bikes, our gang was off to explore Avignon and the nearby islands. We rode through town, crossed a first bridge and had a delightful lunch, then crossed a second bridge and climbed an old tower and witnessed a magnificent view of Avignon, then we rode back into town and toured the Pope's Palace which was pretty awesome. We had a long day full of a 4+ mile bike ride and an infinite amount of stairs, so I definitely got a workout. We walked around looking for a place to have dinner and found a very nice cafe on a random street.

I have a newfound love: european coke. It's the most delicious thing in the world. It's more clean, crisp, and citrusy than the coke back in the states. I feel like the coke we have is really thick and syrupy compared to what they have here. Plus it's extra awesome that they generally serve coke to you in a coke glass with one ice cube and one thin lemon slice. It's actually really really good. I have a feeling that when I get back to America, the food is going to disgust me. Like I'll eat things that I normally ate when at home, and will ask myself, "Why did I ever think this was tasteful?" Honestly, just the thought of McDonald's is revolting, just thinking about how greasy and just thick and unhealthy it is. Don't get me wrong- I'm no health nutrition nut, it's just the the food here is SO elegant and authentic... I will definitely miss it. That and the coke. Oh, and to order a coke, you just say 'Coca', because that's what they call it here.

While on our bike ride we went through a park area where I guess it's a popular place to lay out and tan and what not. Europe is so funny, because people wear speedos, and not as a joke. I just think it's so funny. Also, PDA is like just another thing here. I can't believe how open the people here are about letting others know who they are in a relationship with and making sure you know how much they love whomever that person may be. It's kind of gross. And I think it's especially awkward for me seeing as people back in the states generally can't even tell that Zach and I are dating. Interesting.

One other fun thing is that French people like bread. That's something that people generally can pick up even if they have never been to france. What they don't realize though, is how much the french people actually do like bread. People literally walk around with huge baguettes just chomping away. I think it's really funny, and had no idea that something so simple as bread could ever be such a big deal. 

Welp I'm headed out with some fellow classmates to get some food. 

May 28, Day 6

Early early early morning. I was exhausted. Especially since I still wasn't really able to fall asleep in a decent amount of time yet again. We all loaded up into the cars so Johnny and his girlfriend, Ingrid, could drive us to the train station. We took a four hour train ride from Bordeaux to Montpellier. I couldn't sleep on the train. Why I don't know. It could have been that the most adorable little baby has my attention the entire ride. He kept lots of us entertained actually. He was about 1 or so I would guess. It was hilarious to see him walk up and down the aisle and communicate with random strangers. I love babies. I know I got a photo or two of him, so I look forward to printing those. We had a two hour layover in Montpellier, so we chilled and played a cards until we got on our hour and a half train ride to Avignon. By this point I think it should be clear that traveling is what everyone does here in Europe. Everyone travels everywhere by train. I look forward to riding the train to London, because I'll be going to Hogwarts, literally. We'll be visiting the home of Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor / discoverer of the photographic negative, and it's in his estate where scenes from Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies are filmed. hee hee.

One we were finally in Avignon we had internet access for the first time in six days. That was a pretty big deal. I feel like it's taken me forever to catch up on everything. It really feels like I'm living a completely separate life over here in Europe. I'm actually in the future, which is a pretty fun thing to think about. My mom said it's no wonder I was nauseous and sick from that plane ride. Time traveling can't be that easy. I skyped my momma and that was the bomb. Did make me a little teary and homesick though. But I'm over that now. It was 3pm or so in France, but 8am back in Kansas. Craziness. We walked around the small town of Avignon, (and actually the whole town is surrounded by a medieval wall which was neat), and tried to figure a way to visit Nice the next day; a popular tourist location in France. Unfortunately though, it was going to cost 130 euro for a total of 8 hours on the train, to Nice and back, and we would only be there for 5 or so hours. Too bad. So we decided to just chill in Avignon on the next day for our 'free day'. My idea: bike ride. We ended up going shopping at the local H&M, a store I've been to before in St. Louis. I describe it as a more modern and contemporary urban outfitters or american apparel. After shopping we went to a nice outdoor cafe (those are EVERYWHERE in France) and I had probably one of the most incredible salads of my life. I took a photo of it on my international phone it was so good. It was an italian salad: huge pieces of lettuce, huge slices of mozzarella and tomatoes, olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar... it was to die for. I can't reiterate enough how amazing the food here is. After dinner we had our first little History of Photog meeting, and then it was bedtime, well for me at least. I was so tired and really sick of not staying in one place. This whole stay in one city for a couple of days then drag all of your luggage to a new location has gotten really old very fast. I highly highly highly regret not having a rolling suitcase of some sort. I'm pretty sure by time I have to travel back to the states I won't have a shoulder anymore. Well I do have it better than some- Hanna's rolling suitcase's wheels actually melted only on our very first night abroad, and since then her other wheel has crapped out, so she has literally been dragging her suitcase everywhere. It's gotten to the point where a terrible scraping sound follows her everywhere, has worn a hole through to the inside of the suitcase, and definitely brings stares and giggles from the europeans. She's looking for a replacement hahah.

Honestly, at this point I was kind of discovering that this trip is not at all what I thought it would be in my head, and not necessarily in a bad way. I pictured a very organized, busy, scholarly trip, and what it really is has thus far been a pretty loose and relaxed, go with the flow, you do what you want and I'll do what I want sort of thing. I'm starting to get used to it though and figure out how to enjoy time on my own now though, so that's definitely a plus. And also those first few days were terribly relaxed and vacation-like compared to the rest of the trip... so I look forward to those days.

May 27, Day 5

At this point I seriously was under the impression that I must be an insomniac or something. I went to bed before anyone else hoping that I would just crash and be out all night. Too bad I was wrong and it took me over four hours to actually fall asleep. Though, it never helps when everyone else is still up and things are loud, but I'm beginning to learn that Europe is not a very quiet place at night. Not one bit. Today's destination was a small town about half an hour away to visit some cool church. Funny story, on our way there there were a bunch of construction workers adding more asphalt to the roads, so naturally we had to drive around. The first vehicle made it through just fine, but the van, the vehicle I and five others were in, definitely got stuck. So stuck to the point where one wheel wasn't even on the street anymore. Pretty hilarious. We all got out to try and push the car and the workers were so friendly and were helping too. Armon decided to help push too, but he was the driver. I, being the only one other than Armon and Easton who can drive stick, got to hop in the driver's seat and drive the car out of the ditch while the others helped weight it down and push. Natasha took video of it, so maybe I can get a link to that on here sometime. I probably never will though so that sucks for you. So that was a fun experience. We got there, and the church was pretty awesome. It was like dug out of the limestone rock on the side of the hill or mountain. There were also a bunch of old graves and things. Dead people. I like dead people and zombies and things. That was a short visit, and Natasha was lagging behind us while we were hustling to get to the church in time before it closed for lunch, and she ended up getting lost and we found her an hour and a half or so later. It's a small town, so she couldn't really go too far. Glad we eventually found her though. We headed back to Johnny's for a scrumptious lunch:

Salad with various sorts of lettuce, olive oil, feta cheese, and avacado

Grilled rare duck (one of the most delicious things I think I've ever tasted)

Ham & cheese on bread (bread and cheese are serious french essentials)

& more tea and coffee for me

So clearly, I could easily get used to dining in France every day of my life. The food is perfect for me. I love it all. (except for the really weird things like pate and eggplant and seafoods or whatever)

After lunch we headed out to a basically a down town area which was actually really fun. We kind of got lost on the way, but it's whatevz and actually happens a lot. We're fairly used to it by now. Haha I'm kidding mom. The town, once we got to it, can easily be compared to Chicago. Think of it this way, Paris : New York & [the town we were in today] : Chicago. Kapeesh? I had one goal and one goal only whilst in this town- real coffee. I stopped at the first coffee shop I saw, that being Le Petit Cafe, and ordered a cafe au lait, which here just means a shot or two of espresso with a wee bit of steamed milk, so it's what a traditional machiatto would be back in the states. It was absolutely delicious. Just the punch-in-the-face drink I had been dying to have since I had arrived in France. After that I really didn't care about anything.

After being in that down town area and being more comfortable around the french people, I had kind of discovered on my own that it's okay in the smaller towns in france to smile at strangers. After experimenting with it I realized that they'll acknowledge me and exclaim 'Bonjour!' with a friendly smile. I love that, and I think that's actually true for any small town area. I have a feeling though, that Paris will be nothing like that. Much like being in Kansas compared to the busy streets of NY.

Once we got back to Johnny's, I showered. yaay. It only took me 5 days. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't have. It's just that word kind of got out that I still hadn't, and people were a little grossed out even though I didn't smell or anything. My hair had started to get a little matted and stringy though. Oh well. On the menu this night was:

Appetizer: Those same goat cheese on toasted bread with maple syrup, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but with PINE NUTS this time. YUM
Dinner: Steak with a blue cheese sauce & salad with a balsamic vinegar breakdown
Dessert: bread pudding & vanilla creme brulee

At this point Johnny had even taught me how to make tea without his help. That should go to show how often I was drinking tea. He had a huge selection of fabulous english teas and of course I can never say no to that. Duh. Thankfully everyone went to bed pretty early that night, we also had to get up at 4am to head to the train station back in Bordeaux. It was the last night in the 13th century monk place, so sad. 

May 26, Day 4

I was miserable when I got up this morning. Though I switched roommates hoping to get some sleep, my new roommate ended up being a snoring-type too. What are the odds. After breakfast and such we headed out in the cars to a city about an hour or so away. Once we finally got to the town I was really looking forward to my first delicious french cafe drink. I ordered a cappuccino, and it ended up being like a power mix and they added a butt ton of whipped cream and garnish on the top. I don't like my coffee sweet, so I couldn't even finish that drink. It was quite a letdown. After chillin in the town, we went and visited a cave that was nearby. It was your typical cave dug by water tons of years ago.... blah blah. Nothing too exciting really. Especially since by that time my feet were killing me. And you couldn't take any photos in the cave anyway. There were cave paintings that were really old. The only thing about the caves I liked, or thought was funny, is that the calcium something formations in certain parts of it literally looked like a giant snotted into the cave or something. So I thought it was funny. After the caves we went home for yet another delicious dinner from Johnny:

Appetizer: Roasted red pepper puree cooked in homemade pastry with roasted peppers, olives, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar

Dinner: Chicken with herbs of sorts and cous-cous (I don't know how to spell it but it's like the rice that chopped up in to itty-bittier rice)

Dessert: Peach pudding, and I think the peaches had been poached in white wine.

I think it's funny that in my journal I was keeping track of my showers and tea count versus the group's alcohol count. In my journal I literally wrote 'group alcohol count: uncountable'. It's very odd being on the outside of everything. Even being around those who go out every night, I still can't understand how it can be fun. But anyways, this was day 4, and my shower count was still at 0. I win.

I was still sick, I had developed a sore throat and extreme congestion and such, but throughout the day I was finally able to kind of begin enjoying the trip instead of feeling miserable and sick and just trying to get through the day. For awhile it was really hard to stay strong and not think about home and family and the boyfriend and what not. (I'm better now, don't fret) I looked forward to sleep on this night having moved to a different room with yet another roommate. Mhm.