Back from Chile!!!

Monday: 9/20/04

· First, an apology: My first update comes a little later than I would've hoped for two reasons---1. I was hoping to upgrade the site and unfortunately those plans didn't pan out so I'll be sticking around here for a while. 2. My computer was dead for three weeks. One day, out of no where it just started popping and everything crashed. I've had to replace the hardware and reprogram it and I just got it fixed this weekend. Yay!! I didn't write an email for over two weeks, and it's not as easy to get away with that here as it was in Chile.
· Now, the backstory: This semester's off to a great start generally. My classes are soooo much better than I thought they'd be. Despite the fact that I'm having to share my room (bunkbeds and all) for the first time in forever, I'm really liking it. My roommate, Ronnie, and I have become great friends. Luckily the both of us keep similar hours and are really easy-going, so that's working well. He is pretty messy though....not that that matters. And the other guy, Jeremy, we share our apartment with is cool too. I've also been offered a really cool opportunity to be a full-fledged researcher on this research project where we work with low-income students and teach them how to use technology to share their voice and develop literacy skills. I'm an active participant in all aspects of the project alongside a couple faculty members and grad students. Plus it's $15 per week!! I'm getting a bike soon to help mobilize myself. It was a little wierd my first week back at Vandy this year, but everything's settled now and I'm glad to be with friends and in classes where people know English. I'm taking a bunch of theater classes keeping me active in that area. My computer dying really sucked and I've lost everything that was on the old computer, but what can ya do?
· Okay, here's the update: This weekend I went to the Tennessee State Fair. First of all, it so doesn't compare to California's. It's pretty dinky, yet it has more of that old-fashioned carnival feel that you see in the movies. I did see a funky robot musical performance and kick some ass in the bumper cars. I also won this really nifty blue monkey. But, the highlight was when I was coerced to do Karaoke in front of all the fair crowd. It was pretty funny. I sang "Beat It" so picture some rather espilicious Michael Jackson imitations. Then my roommate did the worst thing ever. He gave me some video games to put on my new computer. Oh my god, after the first installation was complete I could literally see my grades, life, and sleeping hours decreasing rapidly. Of course, now that my computer's feeling better, I've gotten sick. It seems like everyone's sick here, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Still, I'll try to keep up with this thing from now on.