My parents are visiting!

In less than 24 hours I will be greeting my parents in Edinburgh!

I'm ecstatic that they are going to be visiting, and I can't wait to show them around the city I've been living in for the past three months.

We are planning on renting a car so we can explore some nearby areas (Stirling, York, wherever!), and then on Thursday we are headed to London. I'm glad I'll get to go back, and maybe since I'll be there with my parents I will actually be organised about where I visit.

After London is Spring holiday, since lectures end next Friday (crazy).
I'll be spending two weeks in France; updates to come later!

Currently, I'm in the process of finishing up an essay that is due Monday, but which I want to have completed by tonight.

Anyhow. I will be much better about taking videos and pictures when my parents get here, because then I can feel shameless about my touristic tendencies.

Peace and love!

Oh and by the way, ISU plays UConn tonight in the Sweet Sixteen round. I'm forcing my friends to watch it with me, and I'm sporting my I-State gear! Keep your fingers crossed..

UPDATE: we lost, and I'm sad but also proud of the boys. It's too bad we didn't have Niang in the mix; would have been a whole different tournament.

The Most Original Idea Ever

We decided to go to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day.
What a crazy idea.. I bet no one else would think to do that!

Except that everyone else thought to do that.

Dublin was a neat city, but it was very much a city (of which I can only handle so much of), and it was PACKED that weekend.

Nonetheless it was worth going to, and I had a great time.

Hands down my favorite part of the trip was going to the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness there was practically a meal.

I couldn't see much of the parade on St. Patty's Day due to being 4'11"..but my dear friend Zubin narrated it for me.

OH! There's one of those vacuums from the Telly Tubbies!

The blue people are fighting the red people!

The president is going around kissing babies!

Oh, the vacuum things were just the street cleaners.

Yeah. The parade was awesome.

Anyway, out of fear that my camera would get stolen, I didn't bring it on this trip and therefore have an unfortunate lack of pictures to show you. But I did run into Gina while I was there, which was pretty rad.

Twenty

I turned twenty today.

The dinner was supposed to be with five people; something small and nice before going to Dublin.
But twelve of my really great friends were there; I couldn't have been happier.

We spent the night dining on good Italian food, eating chocolate cake, drinking champagne, and playing random games.

It was simple, and I enjoyed it.

One: Home
Two: Happy
Three: Careless
Four: Rebel
Five: New
Six: Smart
Seven: Reconstructed
Eight: Creative
Nine: Critical
Ten: Vulnerable
Eleven: Challenge
Twelve: Naïve
Thirteen: Exhaustion
Fourteen: Fear
Fifteen: Insomnia
Sixteen: Patient
Seventeen: Vessel
Eighteen: Deception
Nineteen: Discover
Twenty: Explore

Beautiful Edinburgh

It's been extraordinarily sunny lately, the temperature has been consistently increasing, flowers are blooming, and the wind is less bitter each day.

Spring is coming.

This morning, I was particularly sleepy. Already, upon waking up, I planned to take a nap after finishing my tutorial. However, getting outside into the crisp air and sunny weather completely changed my mood.

One of my girl friends has been feeling down lately, so after tutorial I spent two hours walking along Princes Street buying her macarons and a flower.

I have also decided to replace my nap with actual productivity. I'm about to find a nice place outside to sit and read me some Descartes.

The weather is getting nicer; it's almost my birthday; I'm going to Dublin in a few days; I get to see my parents in two and a half weeks.

I am happy.