Goodbye free time, it was nice knowing you.

Written on August 25, 2011. Posted in School. 2 Comments.

So, my college semester started on Monday. From now on, I will feel entitled to whine about how much studying I have to do, how much my books cost (Hey, I had to pay $100 for an access code to an online workbook! Doesn’t that just fill me with joy and happiness?) and how Organic Chemistry is going to kill me.

And about how I don’t even feel all that well-rested from summer break because all I did was work, and how I don’t even have anything to show for that because all my money went to paying for things like $100 access codes and, occasionally, tacos.

It hasn’t even been that long since summer started. Okay, it’s been a good three months, but three months just doesn’t feel as long when you’re almost 19 (hey, my birthday is next Saturday!) as it does when you’re 6.  I wanted to get so much more done this summer than I did- I wanted to read more, do more, spend more time with my friends, but fall just kind of crept up on me.

Oh, well, it’s not like I actually hate school. In fact, I’m actually kind of looking forward to this semester, despite my three lab classes- hey, it means I can spend more time on things like doing experiments and writing lab reports and being science-y and less time writing detailed analyses of modern literature (and I do like literature and books, you should see my bedroom- more on that later- but it’s not really relevant to my major).

But it’s only been four days and I already wish my friends were back and I would even go back to working 40 hours a week if only I didn’t have to come home and do homework and reading and pay for textbooks and tuition and go to lectures…

Viva el verano…. if only.

Hatteras Island V.2011

Written on August 10, 2011. Posted in Family, Vacations. 2 Comments.

I believe I’ve mentioned before how much I love my family? Yes? No? Well, I’m going to again. Mainly because last week was our biennial (That means once every two years, doesn’t it? I hope so.) family vacation to Hatteras Island. Well, it’s not always to Hatteras. That’s just kind of our particular favorite.

Unfortuantely, housing was a little more cramped this year- we only had a 9-bedroom house (Because apparently finding a 10 or more bedroom house on Hatteras Island is all but impossible. Who knew?), but really, who cares, because how many families are lucky enough to vacation with 30 of their closest relatives? And if you don’t have 30 close relatives to vacation with… I’m sorry. So very, very sorry.

Anyway, I think we were fortunate this year in that we (at least, I) never really discovered how the cable worked in the house, so we couldn’t spend hours in front of the TV watching NCIS like several of my cousins were rather inclined to do last year. Instead, we found a (in my opinion, much more worthy) substitute. Every night, we watched a different Harry Potter film. At this point, a few of you are probably saying, OK, anyone who hasn’t seen the movies by now is sad.  What you don’t know is that one of my aunts has completely banned her children from reading Harry Potter (There’s some kind of logic in there about it being evil? Yeah, I can’t wait for the day that she reads it herself.) One of my cousins decided to read it anyway, something he told me about LAST beach trip. By this point, he’d finished all the books, but hadn’t seen any of the movies. So I made it my personal mission to show them all to him. (Him, and another cousin, who had never even read the books, but exhibited a mild curiosity.)

Another amazing thing about this year is that the water was amazingly clear and warm- clearer than I’ve ever seen it, and I’ve been spending time at the beach almost every summer since I was a baby. It was actually practical to use goggles in the ocean for the first time I can remember. Because of the clear water, we noticed the fish swimming with us for the first time, too. I’m pretty sure that they were pompano fish, by the description and picture. We would often get groups of 30-40 fish swimming around our feet- it was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had in the ocean, and, given the amount of time I’ve spent in the ocean, that’s really saying something.

Unfortunately, by Thursday, a hurricane (Hurricane Emily, apparently. Oh, the irony.)  was starting to move up the  coast and the waves got much rougher. The water was much less clear, and we didn’t get to swim with the fish, but the water was also a lot better for body surfing and riding boogie boards.

Anyway, I suppose it’s back to the real world now… which is unfortunate, because the real world means me returning to college in a week and a half. Someone remind me why I signed up for three lab science courses this semester. I think I’m gonna die.