7/4 Shoreline

Yes, it's fall time. School started yesterday in Ann Arbor, and I'm feeling a little nostalgic...even though it's only been exactly 1 year since I was in the same position everyone else is in. It's kind of weird not being there when I know everyone else is there, but I am really glad that I'm not in class- couldn't handle any more of that.

Anyway, here are some things I miss:

• The time in between early Saturday football games and dinner time/going out again time. It was a good time to take a nap, borderline sober up or just keeping drinking right on through.
• I do miss that first day back to class feeling. You know what I'm talking about? The exictement, the prospect of learning something life changing, looking forward to boardening one's mind, hoping to change a little in the next semester...
• I miss brand new textbooks and how they smell. But I definitely don't miss buying them and therefore I am a couple dollas richer than those returning students.
• I miss the campus, and the leaves that will soon change and fall on the ground. I miss the smell of fall. Although I'm sure fall will be similar here, there is just something about Ann Arbor and the campus that makes it better.
• I miss the new fall shows that are starting on TV. And even though I don't watch much TV, I still miss that I could. I can't even watch the TV shows online in Europe! WTF! I have to download whatever from iTunes, which may get expensive and take a lot of time... grr.
• I miss all my friends and just sitting around bullshitting with some beers for hours. Most likely in 1225.
• I miss my old apartment and my cool bed on the floor.
• I really miss my pillows. My pillows here are subpar.
• I have always missed Mexican food but it's just getting worse as time goes on. I just want a damn Big Ten Burrito burrito or nachoes! OMG! Is that too much to ask?!
• I miss Charley's Fishbowls- Purple Rain specifically. mmm
• I miss Dance Marathon! Another year with those people would have been great...
• And I miss Hilary and Emily and Amy so so so much!

So that's that.

Around here, I really haven't done much for the past couple of days. I got internet (I posted some pictures!) and have just been keep a low-profile. I walked around the city a little bit and I have some errands to run (sending those DAMN postcards...) but mostly I've just been resting and sitting around my apartment trying to catch a good dubbed American TV show or movie on the Austrian channels. So far, along the lines of "good" I have seen: Bring it On (haha!), The Professional, Crash, random episodes of House and Law and Order: CI, Catch and Release...blah blah blah. It's helping my German understanding :). I finished my book, Wicked, which, by the end, I didn't like much anymore. The beginning was really good, but once I hit the halfway point it really dragged on and I didn't like it. But I finished it.

I started listening to music again. I didn't realize until my mom mentioned it that I didn't listen to music anymore. I guess I just kind of stopped for the last few months and didn't get back into it, which it is a little weird to think I just stopped listening to music. Like, it's not something you really need to DO.... Hmm. But I put on Broken Social Scene this morning and from just the opening two seconds of their self titled album, instantly I fell in love all over again. I literally stopped what I was doing, listened intently and swooned. So that was good.

So yeah. Today I'm going to try and figure out if there is a gym in the area (I want a treadmill!) and how to get to the nearby Grundlsee via bus. It's been quite sunny and hot around here, so I'd like to go swimming again sometime soon. I'm going to Bad Neustadt sometime coming up, but I'm not sure when because I want to be able to just leave, go to NES, Freiburg and Oktoberfest then straight to Graz for my orientation. So it'll take some good planning haha.

Anyway, that's all for now! Until next time...
Love,
Cheers,
Alaina