A Travel Post

As I am writing this post, I am in an internet-free zone in Winchester, VA. The hotel CLAIMS to have Internet, but it lies. Anyway, it’s not a big deal. I played a few minutes of offline Minecraft, and have now popped in the fourth Harry Potter movie and a sleeping pill. I’m writing this post in my Microsoft Word program, and I only wanted to briefly note how I’m feeling right now.

I drove for 7 hours today, and have made it more than halfway back to NY. Leaving Knoxville was much harder this time, as I won’t be returning for at least a year. A large majority of my greatest friends will have relocated by that time, and I’m not sure when I’ll see them again. It was a rough departure, but quite necessary. It’s strange, but my return to school is actually more nerve wracking than the first time I arrived. I haven’t quite pinpointed why I’m feeling that way, but hopefully I can stew over it tomorrow.

For now, I’m going to go to sleep. I’m going to try to get up at 5 AM tomorrow to start driving. I want to get moved in as soon as possible, so I can start doing all of the homework that I didn’t do over the break. I’ll post again soon!

Break-down.

Well my summer break from school has been...interesting.

We'll start from the top. I already posted about the surprise party that was thrown for me on the eve of my arrival. I think I also mentioned my car troubles. The car situation ended up being difficult, but educational. My mechanic called and suggested that we trade in the car because the wheel bearings are so expensive to fix. My parents heeded his warning, and we decided to go look for a new car as soon as I arrived in Florida.

This is how the trip to Florida started: Jeremy had plans to go to Dollywood that Thursday, but instead of listening to my family's insistence that he leave earlier than 3 PM, he decided to leave as late as possile. He also left his phone in the park, so it took him and his girlfriend until 3:30 to get on the road. Then they hit a traffic jam. Basically, we didn't end up on the road until 6, when we promptly hit a traffic jam. I'll go ahead and say that we weren't really out of town until 7 PM. Mind you, the drive to Jacksonville, FL from Knoxville, TN is about 9 hours. As you can guess, I was thrilled. Anyway, we made it to Florida around 2:30 that morning, then I proceeded to get up at 10 the next day to start the search for my new vehicle.

I started out at Carmax test driving a Nissan Versa. This was when I realized something tragic about my "ideal" car: it had no automatic locks or windows. It's not like I'm extremely picky, and it's not like I have tons of money to spend on a car, so I knew I couldn't be too particular about the car I was going to get. The lack of automatic locks and windows, however, was inexcusable for a car that was made in 2008. It later became apparent that Nissan had decided that the Versa was so bottom-of-the-line that it didn't even believe that the 2011 models needed the automatic accessories. This was very disappointing. My mother and I ended up spending until about 6:30 that evening looking for a car, with no luck.

The next morning, my mother, father, and I decided to go check out one final dealership that had a 2011 Nissan Sentra with low mileage. As soon as we saw it and test drove it, we decided we would purchase it. It's adorable, and I couldn't be happier to have it (even though I now know almost everything ever about bottom of the line Nissans).

As soon as the car was purchased, I set out preparing the food for the party that my family was hosting later on that evening. We prepared pulled pork, BBQ chicken, zucchini and goat cheese mini-sandwiches, mini banana bread loaves, potato salad, a veggie tray, a meat/crackers tray, and boiled shrimp. It was a lot of work, but it ended up being really worth it! The party went over fantastically. 

On Sunday my mom, brother, CJ, and I went to see Brave (my second time seeing it), and it was great. My mom got a little emotional, but it was still a really great movie. I recommend everyone see it. After the movie we were all pretty exhausted and not looking forward to the 10 hour drive that we would be making the next day, so we all retired early.

The next day we set out to Greenwood, SC to stop by and see my Granny Mac for lunch. We made it around 1 PM, and had a delicious Granny Mac Spaghetti lunch. She surprised us by having most of the cousins, one of my aunts, and even my great uncle and aunt were around to eat with us. It was so good to see all of them, especially since I'm not sure about the next time I'll get to go down to the farm. 

So, now I'm back in Knoxville where my life (once again) has taken an interesting turn. While I was on the farm, I decided to show CJ the pasture. I didn't remember to wear tennis shoes, but I didn't think much of it. While we were walking, I got bitten by 6 fire ants. Two bites are on my left big toe, the other four on my right ankle. I made it back to Knoxville without incidence, but as soon as I woke up this morning I knew there was a problem. My ankle is swollen to at least twice it's normal size, and my big toe is just...well...gross. I went to the Minute Clinic and the nurse practitioner told me that the bites are already infected, and that I need to take antibiotics four times daily to prevent it from getting worse. It's awful. I can't really even walk around the townhouse to do normal-people things. I'm also afraid that I'm being terribly whiney about the whole situation. The pain, however, did not stop me from making s'mores cupcakes and delivering them to Naples this evening. I told Lawson I was going to bake something for the Naples crew, and I was not going to let them down!

To conclude this rather lengthy entry, I just want to say that even though this break has been a little rough, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of my friends and family. You all mean so much to me. So...here's to hoping that rest of this break from school only gets more fun! (and less interesting...)

Troubles at Home

So the trip to Knoxville was a success. Kindof. Kelsey and I wound up stuck in New Jersey for an inordinate amount of time, but we made it through. I did end up driving 9 hours in one day though. Anyway, enough complaining. I am now back in Knoxville.

The first night I was here, CJ had planned a surprise party for me during which all of my friends presented me with the various Miyazaki movies that I love! I couldn't be more stoked to have them in DVD form, as opposed to on my computer. I also got to eat a great meal for my first night back.

Yesterday, on the way to dinner I noticed that my car was making a roaring noise that I had never noticed before. This morning I took my car to my mechanic, and I just received a call from him this afternoon telling me that he suggests that I trade my car in. A wheel bearing has broken and it costs about half as much as my car is worth to fix it. He also mentioned that once one of them goes bad, they all start to. I'm waiting for my father to call me back with a verdict, but I fear that this may be the end of the Sub.

So, being stranded in Knoxville without a car is not necessarily a great experience, but upon reflection I realized that things could be much, much worse. As soon as I hear back from my Dad about my car I'll definitely be posting an entry about it. Until I hear anything I'll just be bumming rides and trying to pick up shifts in case I have to pay for a new car. I hope everyone else is doing well, and if you're near me, we should hang out!

A Woeful Return

In less than a week I have to go back to Knoxville. I have to leave this place that I have grown so fond of to return to a city that really only feeds my depression and apathy. The one saving grace that Knoxville has, however, is my friends. I know that it has been hard for me to keep in touch with you throughout this process, if I had my choice I would call you every day. Time, however, is not really on my side. I've got homework every night, class every day, and extensive amounts of out-of-class bonding to do with these new people up here so that I can assure I have friends when I come back. I know for sure that I will now.

This past weekend was one for the books. Instead of going to Boston as I originally planned, I went to stay with a friend's family in Long Island, NY. It was a glorious weekend (besides the 2nd degree burns on my thighs, ankles, and random other parts of my body). Her immediate family is only the 1st generation of people to not live in Italy. Her grandmothers barely speak English. Her parents speak half English, half Italian most of the time. Her family offered us their house, their homemade wine, their hand cut pasta, and her mother's best tomato sauce. We ate like kings, and we've been told to come back anytime we'd like.

The second degree burns on my body come from this beach. It's called Long Beach, and it's about 20 minutes away from my friend's house in Long Island. It costs $12 to get on the sand (even though Angela's dad said that they were ripping us off because it was a holiday weekend), but it was worth it. The sand was very clean, and even though there were other people around, everyone seemed to have a very similar intention of just laying around and relaxing for the day. Of course I was stupid and forgot to lather with the appropriate amount of sunscreen, so my poor ginger skin is ruined for a week. It's fine, I don't need to spend much time in the sun anyway.

So, to reflect, I am quite upset that I have to return to Knoxville in four days, but I also cannot wait to see the people that have made it a habitable city for the past several years. I love you all, but please try to make Knoxville suck less than usual so I don't die while I'm there.