HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY Bo! I'd be a lot more excited if it was my 21st... nonetheless, I hope all your bday wishes come true.

What a night. Some guys at the school decided to have a kegger at their house last night and it was a lot more fun than I had anticipated. I spilled a lot of beer on myself and would've felt really embarassed if I had been sober enough to have feelings. We left at roughly 3am and decided we needed to get some pizza, the place had just closed moments before we arrived and a couple guys who had also been turned away in their desparate hour of need told us about another pizza place not too far away. So off we went roaming the streets of boston with only one goal in mind (greasy pizza) following a couple guys whose names we never bothered to find out. We did however find out that they were exchange students at m.i.t. One was from france and the other from germany. And I think we all know how a guy with an accent ups his hotness quotient exponentially. I just love nights that yield interesting stories, even if they come at the cost of studying for an optics quiz.

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I blogged. As some of you know, I don't have internet so I am now writing a blog in the school's library while fellow students study a few feet away. It makes me feel like a slacker but that's ok.

The past couple weeks have for the most part been awesome, my earlier prediction that I would be miserable for all of september has been shattered. The weather here (except for a few rainy days) has been mostly really good, it's hard to be mad at the world when the sun is shining. I obviously miss everyone back home, and it's the little things... like knowing that family dinners are happening without you. Friends are changing, growing, becoming who they are while you are away. It's hard to think that so much will have happened before I get back for christmas.

At the same time, I'm growing to love (and hate) some of my classmates. To think that these 110 ppl will be the ones I see basically every day for 4 years is mind-boggling. What's really bizarre about it is having to adjust my mindframe just a bit because not only are these ppl my classmates, but they will be my colleagues in the future. It forces you to be a bit more mature about things. I try not to talk about anyone behind their back about the petty little things... we'll see how long that lasts.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living two lives, one back home and the one I'm currently living here in Boston. The city (or what little I've seen of it) is really growing on me. I love having my own place even if it is the tiniest, dinkiest place I've ever lived. Being allowed to have this freedom is great, it'll probably be even better once I turn 21...

I can still envision the streets of edmonton very clearly when I close my eyes. Miss you all, try not to do anything too awesome while I'm gone. I don't wanna miss a thing.

In this past week, I've been on an emotional rollercoaster. I think everyone knows what a baby I was being having to leave home. I was breaking down in the couple days I was alone, and I needed my dad to come help me settle in. It made me feel a lot better and in the past summer we had grown distant, this past week especially the first couple days during which I was feeling vulnerable allowed me to open up communication with my dad again and express some of the things I was trying to deal with to him. But now it's gotten to the point where I'm ready for him to leave (his flight is this afternoon), I'm ready to become independent.

Basically this blog is supposed to give off an I'm ok, havin some fun and meeting new ppl vibe. But don't worry, I still miss you all back home. See you at christmas.

Nothin like a drunken blog to kick off the new school yr. Gotta bring in the weekends in style so the girls of 399 (the 3 of us who go to neco and live in the same building 399) hung out tonight. We went to another girl's apt which is much bigger; it started out innocent enough... we were just eating ice cream and watching movies. Then we decided we should drink and watch movies.... turns out the girl whose apt we were at didn't have the greatest tolerance so the 3 of us kinda sobered ourselves up to take care of her. I thought it was a fun night all around, a relatively safe way to drink and not have to worry bout shady guys.

But before we had to take care of the girl, I noticed that these were the nerdiest drunks I had ever encountered in my life. They were talking about politics, abortion... everything you shouldn't talk abt with a group of ppl you've known just shy of a week. We delved into discussions of anatomy and applied our knowledge to think of ways not to get hungover. It was hilarious.

It's been a while, I know I'm in danger of beng accused of not updating my blog nearly enough but this time it wasn't even my fault. I don't have internet set up so I won't be online as often as back home. I did get a new phone out here and I'm on a North America plan that allows me to call home without paying long distance or roaming charges. It's really expensive though... $60/month and I have limits on my minutes. However, my limits are not too bad so if you ever wanna talk just call me. I won't answer, I'll call back so that you don't pay long distance (e-mail me to ask for my number).

I got into Boston friday night, the first thing I did was walk to the mall to place a collect call home to whine about how my room is smaller and dirtier than I remembered. I bought a few previously viewed dvd's from a rental place and watched them on my laptop to try to avoid boredom. Saturday, I had day 1 of orientation so I kept busy that way. It was hard to find something to do on sunday... it was raining. The weather here makes me miss home, the first couple days were really gloomy and it totally made me grumpy that there was no sunlight. Also the sun goes down really early here, it's pitch black by 8pm local time. It even rains different here, in Edmonton you get raindrops but here it's so humid that it ends up as mist. I maintain that the only good thing about the states is the 1 dollar bills, none of this loonies and toonies nonsense.

My dad got here sunday night and I totally needed it, I was cut off from what seemed like the whole world without a cell phone and without the internet and him coming really gave me the lift I needed. We went to the chili's to eat and they are in the middle of a fundraiser for a children's hospital. You colour a chili outline and donate money to have it put up on their wall. I drew the canadian flag into the chili outline. (Even typing "colour" made me miss home since it reminds me that here they spell it color). On labour day (more spelling reminders of home), we got my phone plan started up with verizon and I felt a lot better. I called Stephen and mom right away. Monday turned out to be an awesome day cause I also got some time on the internet to check my email and chat on msn a bit. People always say communication is the key but now I know how true it is.

Today I had day 2 of orientation, I'm still living day by day to keep from being too depressed. I keep thinking this is just temporary until I get to go home to the people I love. That being said, it's hard to think ahead about all the challenges school will bring this term. It's a bit daunting but I'm not worried about the academics at a time like this. I'm consumed by trying to deal with being so far away from home. When I close my eyes I can still envision the streets of edmonton so clearly.

I can't wait to see you all. I didn't think it was humanly possible for me to love christmas any more than I did last year but I have surpassed that level by far. I'm just living for the time when I can come home. Miss you all.