stranger danger.

All the random strangers with whom I happened to live in very close proximity have become amazing friends:

freshman roommate Kat
co-CA in upper lewis Rob
resident/Crozier Biddy Molly
India housemate Sam
Minneapolis Crooked Housemate Caitlin

and all the nicknames that I have earned from these friends:
Ruby Ellen
-
Mama Bird, Biddy, Biddums, Blen
EllenDIDI
Lola

and the nicknames I have for them in turn
Ruby Katharine
BOBBO
Bitty Biddy, Biddums, Solly
Sam Bhiaya, Kamuel
-

and they all have summer birthdays...I must be auspiciously compatible with those born under the alignment of summer stars.

landed

dream dream dream dream dream

I love when I remember my dreams with enough detail to analyze them. The heat wave is finally over and I can actually sleep at night, and sleep WELL at that...I also find sleeping well is paired with vivid dreams and then waking up thinking "Where am I?"

So. My dream...I was driving my Minneapolis housemates to the beach, but the route consisted of completely vertical rock faces, but I drove up them anyway, and I ran out of gas in about 1 mile and my engine started overheating and threatened to start a fire. We were at the top of this cliff, trying to figure out what to do, and somehow the car threw us from our seats and I was falling off the cliff. FALLING DREAM. I can't remember having a more significant falling dream. Now, dream dictionary says falling is a sign that you are overwhelmed, anxious, out of control of a situation, either at school or work or in a relationship. but...here's the thing...I landed. I caught the edge of a rock and skidded to a stop (kinda like a belly flop on a rock) and I somehow made it back to the top of the cliff to reunite with everyone else. so, I think my landing contradicts the connotations of the falling.

whether the weather

It is to hot to function. My apartment has no air conditioning. It is so hot I cannot think. Was it this hot in India? I guess the adrenaline of culture shock and the determination to confront the culture full force allowed us to brave the heat, humidity and dust in long sleeves and leggings. Now I am in bitty shorts and a t-shirt at the Dunn Bros. Also drinking coffee. Whoops. Looks like I'm going to have to go frolicking through the severe thunderstorms this evening to burn off all the caffeine. Or right now. It's raining! HOORAY! Let the frolic commence!

This week felt like a month.

I was actually productive at my Minnetonka internship--I suppose my official title for that internship is "Marketing and Product Assistant" bahahahaaa. I am taking inventory of all their Guatemalan crafts, writing sales tags, and taking pictures for the website. And when I say taking pictures, I mean photoshoot. literally. I took all the jewelry, scarves, bags and coffee outside and arranged it all next to the landscaping...the rock paths, flowers and the waterfall outside the office. I got a little carried away. #typical

I spent 21 hours in the children's museum...not consecutively, but in total over the weekend. It was a bit much, and I have to psyche myself up for that much interaction with little kids...but of course it was amazing! I worked the the Curiosity Center on Saturday evening, and the project was a "Box City" and we had lots of appliance boxes turned upright and cut out doors and windows and all week the kids painted, constructed, embellished and played pretend in the boxes. That evening was slow, and there was just a mom and her two kids in the CC. The mom was speaking to her kids in Spanish, but talking to me in English, which was very fun because I could understand the Spanish because Spanish commentary for little kids doing art is just at my level. The little girl, Anna, was making a bird with popsicle sticks and TONS OF FEATHERS #bittybiddy and then she wanted to play in the boxes. One became a castle and she was the princess, and I joined her in parading around the castle...then another box became the dog and kitty house so we began having conversations with animal noises "woof"..."meow"..."chirp"...and then we went back to being princesses when her older brother came up and said, "I declare war on your castle!" and Anna looked up at me, back at him, and said, "Meow!" War avoided. Then her mom told me that she is usually really shy and won't talk to strangers, and she has never seen her this animated with a new person :) I also had my mid-internship evaluation. they think I lack enthusiasm and energy, and I really need more confidence when interacting with children ;)

SUNDAY. I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings. Ate wings. and watched the Women's World Cup Final. TFM. Yes, we lost, but I am still very proud of those biddies. THEN I saw HP Part 2 (after finally watching Part 1 on Friday) and wept. NF.

We had a kickball game yesterday and I was pitcher...yeah. Not even gonna tell you that outcome.

I MOVE INTO BUCKET HAUS IN ONE MONTH. uh-oh. things are gettin feelingsy. I was talking to Solly (you know, the brilliant, beautiful biddy) about how when I am at Kenyon I miss Petoskey, and when I was in India I missed Kenyon and Petoskey, and now in Minneapolis I miss Kenyon, Petoskey and India, and then when I get back to Kenyon I am going to miss Petoskey, India and Minneapolis (and her, and everyone else going abroad, but I am so proud of you all because a new and different experience filled with manic bouts of culture shock is exactly what you need in your life right now. and I'm not even kidding. enjoy the ride.)

so I got to talk to Molly, Megan, and Marguerite (further confirming my conundrum of missing too many people from too many places and those are just the the Ms [not including Monica, Matt, Manak Ramji]) and I am reminded how of the awesomeness of the people in my life and how much I admire you all. and when I say you all, I mean every single person A-Z. woa. stop now. I'm in a public place. #feelings

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee now I am too caffeinated. and I get to go to a really awesome conference tomorrow, I GET TO SEE MY PARENTS ON THURSDAY and in 10 days the Blanchard Sisters are going to take on Europe.

full circle

[August 28 2010] My last day in the US before I left for India I was in Chicago with my parents and we explored the Art Institute, and took many pictures at the "Bean," Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate

[December 11 2010] My last day in India before I returned to the US I was in Delhi with friends from my program and we explored the National Gallery of Modern Art and saw the sketches and sculptures in the Anish Kapoor exhibit. 


[December 12 2010] The Minneapolis Metrodome collapsed in the giant blizzard that hit the Midwest the day I came back from India.

[July 13 2011] The Metrodome was reinflated for the first time today, and I drove by this morning and saw people standing on the new roof.


#fullcircle #metaphor #symbol #perfecttiming

it's a rock.

I just found a Petoskey Stone delicately wrapped in tissue paper in the front pocket of my carry-on suitcase. Us Petosegans must have them falling out of our ears, so what's the big deal? This is one of the stones I bought as a gift for a host family in India. I searched for it right before I left for the village of Bhojesar because it was one of the only gifts I had left, but I couldn't find it and thought I had lost it! But now, here it is, sitting in my room in Minneapolis. Meaning, it sat in my suitcase all the way back to Amerika, sat in my closet until it was driven to Gambier, it flew to Alaska, flew back to Ohio, traveled the length of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, made a stop at Cedar Campus, went back to Petoskey, then back to Gambier and made it all the way to Minneapolis (with a weekend trip to Summer Conference in East Lansing) It has been around the world but somehow manages to sneak back to Michigan every so often... 

american studies

Things in my life that foretold my interest in American history and likelyhood of declaring an American Studies major:

-My love of Colonial Williamsburg and all historical reenactments
-Having seen many Presidential gravesites
-My interest in the "Mansipation Problagation"
-4th grade Biography on Jane Addams
-Singing the song "Fifty Nifty" over and over and over and over
-Still having all the songs memorized from the "13 Colonies" play in 5th grade
-Loving Musical Theater [a very american genre, with beauties such as Oklahoma, Ragtime, 42nd Street and Chicago]
-I was able to hum the "Ashokan Farewell" at age 6.

ON THE CONTRARY. Reasons why it is surprising that I became an American Studies major:

-2nd grade project on Medieval Times with Gina
-Hating the "Dear America" series
-Never reading Little House on the Prairie (I'm just as shocked as you are)
-My love of Canada
-Never having the Star Spangled Banner memorized on the clarinet for marching band pre-game #lackofpatriotism
-Amount of time I spent playing with the "Knights and Castles" PlayMobil (clearly, it is now a vintage set, that is not how much it cost in 1998) gahhhhh. I miss that set. Maybe it needs to come to Bucket Haus. It will really help with my comps.

But, it is obvious that I was made to be an AMST kid, my favorite song is Firework, and tomorrow is the the Fourth of July.