...and so it begins.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
-Lao Tzu

With only four weeks left until my departure, I decided it was time to start up this travel blog that I've been promising people. (For those of you who know me well enough to wonder what I'm procrastinating on...the answer is unpacking.) Anyway, I thought this would be a good way to keep track of my foreign adventures and keep everyone at home informed on my life. Plus, I've discovered that reading blogs is a great way to procrastinate on chemistry homework, so for you chem people...I'll try to make this more interesting than orgo.

So, I've started to think about what kinds of things I'm going to miss for a semester, and what things I definitely do not plan on missing. I thought I'd share; I'm sure you'll find them slightly entertaining, mainly because most of them involve you all.


Things I Will Miss:
-chicken bacon ranch chicken chicken bacon ranch!
-having a roommate who allows me to whine about everything
-having a roommate that deals with my lack of common sense
-sketching on Kelly when she's two feet away
-the eleven o'clock snack run
-Ben's ridiculous drunken sayings (neanderthal?)
-Ben's ridiculous sober sayings (uncircumsized? exactly!)
-walking through all of state quad in search of fake, delicious brownies
-walking outside to the tower in bare feet in 20 degree weather for food
-chicken bacon ranch!
-choreographing for dance council, and tap dance in general
-hearing all of Allison's poop stories
-spreading our love for tap by teaching beginners
-rejoicing on the phone with Alison when Grissom and Sara reunite on CSI (hopefully!)
-crying on the phone with Alison when Grissom leaves CSI
-drawing pictures on calculus quizzes when I can't write anything else down
-eating cookie dough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
-Caitlin's ability to imitate a certain voice perfectly
-singing "semi-charmed life" by third eye blind with Gabby on the way to the vending machines
-snuggling with Jill and eight thousand blankets
-Becca's ability to take the strangest pictures in the world
-hearing Nick call me Pants
-watching Sara try at least four times to fly a paper airplane into our room
-destroying at guitar hero
-hello?
-taking pictures of 208 with Becca in the middle
-did I mention chicken bacon ranch?
-Jon walking in and saying "hiiiiii guyssssss" twelve times a day
-Mat walking in and saying "I'm bored. entertain me." seven times a day
-having hour long conversations on the stairs with Kelly
-drinking huge frapps with Sara to stay up all night at the Relay for Life
-Ben and I completely screwing up in orgo lab and stealing each other's answers
-sketching out Sara in calculus by playing with her hair
-getting completely lost on the way to Circle K events
-Fountain Day!
-pictures with our floor two family
-tetris competitions
-puddle jumping with Kelly and getting sopping wet
-skipping class to drink hot chocolate and snuggle with suitemates
-skipping class to listen to music and relax on collin's circle
-Caitlin's ability to always make me laugh
-late night Starbucks runs for study breaks
-doing an Irish jig with Lauren at dance
-getting hugs from Varun
-creating plans with Sara and Alicia to drive our calc professor off the deep end
-D.P. Dough
-lunches with Amelia to get caught up on her crazy life
-suitemates who let me rant about everything to them
-bear hugs from Jill after psych
-the earth tones spring show
-William Joseph's first tour in the US (and he's coming to Albany...)
-fake napping every day of my life
-Margo jumping on top of me while I'm fake napping
-ballroom dancing at RPI
-having people around who understand and accept my marriage list
-going out with 1803 and floor 2
-making fun of Don every day of my life
-acting like a six year old with Don and running through the new fountain fully clothed
-creating nicknames for people in the dining hall
-watching ManBearPig shuffle by in the math department
-hearing "let's smash it up" a few times a week from the boys suite
-sleeping through organic chemistry every morning because the lectures were useless
-directing farm jokes at Gabby
-directing Mexican jokes at Brian
-directing garbage room jokes at Becca
-directing Jew jokes at Ben
-drawing the Snyder-mobile in my chemistry notebooks
-late night walks to the fountain in all sorts of weather
-our "childhood TV" discussion that we have at least once a month
-the two leveled wal-mart (with a cart escalator!)
-putting any guy with a European accent on my marriage list (that will obviously have to change)
-going to play the piano every time I'm stressed or procrastinating
-Dave and Varun's ability to make me laugh, even when walking into an orgo final
-looking absolutely ridiculous carrying a mop around campus
-oh yeah, and chicken bacon ranch!

Things I Will Not Miss:
-Melville's sorry excuse of a shower
-dousing everything in the dining hall with hot sauce to make it edible
-Chartwells new cupcakes with the terrible chocolate frosting
-Margo's ability to stink up our entire suite
-walking through all of state quad in search of brownies, and never finding any
-Steinmetz never accepting cards at the vending machines
-honors events (no matter how many "your mom" jokes I was texted during them)
-a certain honors calculus professor
-the awful heating in the dorms
-being told I'm not allowed to swear ghetto style
-having too many creepers to count
-Becca's attempt at singing
-being forced to drink wine spritzers
-living on the third floor of the library
-nobody at Albany understanding my broadway references
-WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
-the garbage can that was always overflowing, no matter how many times we emptied it
-creating ridiculous "that's what she said" jokes without meaning to
-being "who's gay?"-ed every time I want a high five
-people mixing up EllyOllyElmer with ManBearElephant
-seeing poor Elly hanging from the ceiling
-getting lost in downtown Albany or Troy
-quantitative analysis lab reports destroying my life
-the lack of tator tots in the dining hall
-the lack of funfetti with chocolate frosting in the dining hall
-having to walk across campus three nights a week for dance
-having to scrape the ice off of my car every day
-being forced to watch youtube videos
-driving downtown, where eight roads always converge at once
-Caitlin singing "dick in a box" or other justin songs
-having someone take out your laundry if you're two minutes late
-snow and ice storms on a weekly basis


The first list is quite a bit longer than the second, I guess this means I'll miss Albany? Well, I'm sure by the end of next summer I'll be ready to return to the land of chicken bacon ranch goodness. =) Keep it real, kids.