08-Jan-2006

Being well rested, I managed to be a bit friendlier than I was the previous evening with all of the other students. We got our roommate assignments and would soon be moving into our apartments for the next six months. I asked to live with Casey and Jeff so we naturally assumed there would be four students in our apt, on the contrary, there were six of us to be sharing a place. I knew one of the other guys was from Michigan Tech, Seth, but the last two I had not met. Turns out, one of them is a yearlong student, which will be a very good thing to have around. He doesn’t arrive until next week and his name is Brad. Jeff is the other student I did not know, he lives in Nevada and goes to school in Reno. He seems very nice and social; I think our house will get along fine. Seth and I hit it off faster than you could say “pasta.” Not just because he was from Michigan Tech and a snowboarder, but we think the same and just have personalities that are very similar.

Our apartment was not very far from the hotel we were staying in. Unfortunately, we had to carry our bags there. What a bum deal. Regardless, we made it and got all settled in. The bedrooms are good sized but the kitchen and bathroom is a wee bit on the small side. The big disappointment is that there isn’t a living room. Other than that, as soon as we can get our drain unclogged, we’ll be in good shape. Our landlord, Deborah, seems very nice and she’s even a travel agent. We are hoping she can get us some good deals to see some different sights and parts of Europe.

7-Jan-2006

Arrived in Paris at 9:30am to make a connecting flight to Torino. The Paris airport was not designed very well and pretty crowded. On top of that, our flight was delayed an hour which wasn’t much fun when we’d just gotten off an 8 hr flight. We just wanted to be done with flying. I am taking this trip with two of my friends, Casey and Jeff, and plan on meeting many more cool people.

While driving to our hotel from the Torino airport, we saw a lot of squatter settlements. That made me nervous, but there was also beautiful scenery. The mountains surround the Torino area and are just beautiful. I was disappointed that there was not any snow on the ground when I arrived. After all, with the winter Olympics on the way and being so close to the Alps, you would think that there would at least be some fluffy white stuff. We met the rest of the students studying in our program at the hotel and headed out for dinner. Carrying luggage was a rough time. I had just enough bags to have everything be really awkward. My snowboard bag through me off kilter and I managed to embarrass myself whenever I was carrying it.

Our first dining experience in Torino was interesting. The program covered the bill and we had a choice between pizza and pasta. I chose four-cheese (formaggi in Italian) pasta and it was good. I didn’t feel that the restaurant was overly generous with the sauce, but I managed.

After dinner our bodies were exhausted from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel and slept like logs. Sleep was a very good thing.


@ the airport

To Torino

Unwritten Lyrics

I Am Unwritten, Can't Read My Mind, I'm Undefined

I'm Just Beginning, The Pen's In My Hand, Ending Unplanned

Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your Inhibitions

Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins
The Rest Is Still Unwritten

Oh, Oh

I Break Tradition, Sometimes My Tries, Are Outside The Lines (yeh yeh)
We've Been Conditioned To Not Make Mistakes, But I Can't Live That Way (oh oh)

Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your inhibitions
Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins

The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten

since i'm past due...

since i'm way over my posting limit (haha, jk) i thought i woud post a few fun and exciting posts before I left for TURIN :) :) :)

Thank you to everyone who has contributed physically or mentally to making my birthday awesome! esp to mari -- for holdin my hair, SORT OF! :) Being 21 is fun, but it doesn't really feel any different. But that's ok, it feels funny to be further into my twenties, but such is life.

Currently I am FINISHED with my fall semester at MI Tech and now I'm working A TON to get some $$ saved for Italy. I'm probably going to be coming home Dec. 23rd for Christmas and leaving soon there after, so if you'll be visiting the BL area, be sure to let me know!! :)

As of now.. I'm in Iron Mtn visiting Adam. It's kind of boring being here during the day while he's at work, but that's ok, i've been watching a lot of CMT (country music television) hehe, just kidding -- well, not entirely. I have been semi productive on my trip down here.

I've discovered that Iron Mtn is pretty lame.. even compared to houghton. maybe it's just cuz i don't know the area very well, but so far, i'm not overly impressed... oh well, I'm headin back to houghton tomorrow and SNOWBOARDING :) but for now, I'm gonna go work on some Christmas cards!!

Ciao!

Happy Birthday to my Meegan!!!

this time my away msg was too small to carry all my words!


happy birthday to my bestest friend in the whole wide world!!
who saved me from pink glasses and my wardrobe of sweat pants.
who rocked that whole igloo building back in mr. merriman's class.
who had so many damn girl scout patches that you could have built a small town out of them.
to the girls who got two holiday dinners because we had to go to both together!
to the girl who watched the frog get eaten by that big fat stuipd duck.
to the girls that spent hours and hours with beefcakes on the floating dock.
to all the rollerblading, the running and going to sweet papa bears!
to making pajama pants-- and other trips to ben franklin's for spur of the moment craft ideas.
who was the best "b" in softball that i've ever seen.
(btw, u have a very hot butt in the shortstop's opinion)
to my favorite pumpkin carver and best car driver i know ;)
(don't fall asleep anymore while driving)
from blue showers and fun dip to missing the call from A.Starr and those tight cowboy pants.
from ARCADIA HILL to all those late night phone calls about stupid boys.. oh man.
bumpin' in the blazer and singing the bad boy song at the top of our lungs all the way to TC town and back.
to pickin my ass up from the airport!
and we can't forget the fun times had in blue mtn :)
(I'm gonna miss that place this yr!)
to the best policewoman in training there will ever be!
i love you for everything meegan!
and most of all because we're every other year friends ;)
<3 always, a.starr