Final Week!

Today (Wednesday) was the One Week mark until I leave. So unreal. I know time's been extended and in some ways the purposelessness has gotten to me. But as prescribed for any amount of down-time, when the break is almost over, my reaction is naturally: "already?!" It'll certainly be hard to leave my Mainers for 5 months, but it's also nothing new. Going away always makes you appreciate the place and people you're leaving, but it allows you to make new homes in different places. Hope College, you taught me well. I remember as a summer-breaking highschool grad I hoped that Hope would someday be a place to miss and to get excited about. I didn't just want to be surrounded by buildings and the first/only sea of students-my-age I'd ever laid eyes on. I can pretty confidently state that the 17.5 hr drives, the plane trips, the hassle of storage, the nerve-wracking first cafeteria experiences, and not to mention the tuition/room&board costs have been vindicated with the sole sense of feeling at-home there. Yay for good choices as a senior!

Anyways, today was great! This morning I met my strawberry boss/good family friend at the Buzz for breakfast. It was a good send-off and such a treat to catch up, as I won't be able to exchange stories in-between-customers this summer. This will be my first year missing strawberry season since I started working at the pick-your-own 6 years ago. I won't get back till end of July, which means I'll have to resort to my mother's pick-and-freeze method for my fill of fresh berries, smoothies, strawberry pizza, sorbet, and strawberry-rhubarb pies throughout August.
Timing worked out perfectly to head over for my last piano lesson. I debated cancelling, as I only played a total of 2 times (5 mins each?) this week, but I'm really glad I didn't. It's been so nice reconnecting with Miss Gould. She had mini apple pies baking during the lesson, during which I played the 3 songs I learned in the past couple weeks. I learned Poem by Fibich, Prelude in C maj by Bach, and Melodie by Massanet. Not the most difficult I've done but I'm pretty satisfied! We talked for the rest of the hour and she gave me a ring of hers!

After sharing a mini-pie and packing up 2 to take home, I then went into Portland to do some errands. My camera still isn't repaired, but should be fixed in 2 days. I bought a gift for my host family today at Edgecomb Pottery that I'm excited about.. I literally had about 20 different pieces with different glazes sprawled out across their floor and stayed in there until my mom finished her hair appointment and could help me decide. Then I went into CIEE and met Claire (program leader of Buenos Aires) to talk about my difficulty joining the Live Meeting Online Pre-departure Orientation yesterday. I'm lucky I live so close to the main(e) [<-- pun] office! I then had a nice day of mending a haircut and making HEARTY HUEVOS. Then went to see Chronicle in theaters.. which I thought had a lot of potential, but like most movies, didn't reach it. Still fun though! Later I watched Take Shelter, which I liked but made me feel schizophrenic. etc. etc. I'm being too detailed and wasting time. It's almost the witching hour >_<

Yesterday for Valentine's I celebrated with packing (TOO MANY decisions) and errands. But I had good fam-time and I doled out the doily valentines I made with Stacie the night before :]

Yippyay! Tomorrow Emy arrives! My mom and I are going to pick her up in Boston in the evening and then head to Connecticut to visit with grandparents which will be really nice to see them again before leaving. I'll be back Friday night so I'll have then until Tuesday night to get everything else ready and spend as much time as possible with everyone! And Scott's coming this week too! So excited to have all the siblings around.

Guess I should go to bed since it is 2:59 AM.. yikes I need a life.

ps. I am already so grateful for the hospitality in Argentina.. my contacts have been so kind and eager to help with information.. it's pretty amazing!
ps#2 (the only important part of this post): please be praying for the friend of a friend, 20 yr old girl in Florida accidentally shot in the head a couple days ago. The highest concern right now is about brain-swelling.