God seriously blessed me today.

Not only did I spend the afternoon with Leah picking up my maid-of-honor dress/shoes for her wedding, but I also got to talk to three of my leaders in Church from back home. It was just really encouraging to talk to them about everything God is doing in their lives and how he is using them. Plus, it was just nice to talk to people that I hold very dear in my heart.

I am so grateful that the Lord surrounds me with people who really love me. I am just overjoyed with the deep and meaningful relationships that I have with my mentors, my friends, and my family. It is a priceless gift.

When things get tough...

When things get tough and everything feels like its caving in, all I can do is endure and trust in the Lord. These past three weeks have challenged my strength and commitment to the Lord more than anything else in my life. It's easy to trust and remain steadfast in faith when things are good. But, it's a whole other matter to remain steadfast when your heart is breaking as you make the decision to endure.

Endurance in Christ is probably the most challenging thing every believer faces. Every voice that speaks into our ears, let alone our own selfish will, cries out and demands that we take the road of least resistance. "Remain comfortable" becomes the slogan of the highly traveled road. But, comfort leads to stagnation and ruin. Nothing worthwhile results from ease. Endurance, persistence  and perseverance result in victory. Distraction, comfort, and the need for immediate satisfaction merely lead you in a perverse and self-destructive circle.

This is know for sure: nothing is worth pursuing if the Lord is not behind it. If you will it to be, you will not get the result you expected--and, you will hurt the people closest to you in the process. Life is not all about me. My decisions don't solely effect me. My decisions create a ripple effect that merge out of my sphere and cause side-effects in the lives of those I most care about.

This is why I must endure. This is why I have to remain steadfast in following the voice of the Lord. He is crafting me, molding me, into the individual who can withstand hardship with a joyful heart full of thanksgiving and praise for the Lord's goodness.

I will praise the Lord God simply because of his glorious attributes, His loving-kindness, His mercy, His justice, His righteousness, and His ever-present guidance. My lips will never cease praising my Heavenly Father. Without Him, I would not prevail. Without Him, I would not have the patience to wait for anything higher than second-best. But with Him, my life will follow the most wonderful path that He has ordained for med. Although there will be trials, they build character. Although my dependence on the Lord may cause other's to judge and turn away from me, the Lord will bring joy to my soul. Thus, I will continue to follow His voice and wait upon His direction.

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation. Because He is my Lord, I have nothing to fear but displeasing Him through my own disobedience. Therefore, I long to please Him in all that I do. I long to be like Christ Jesus-- only doing and saying what The Father tells me to do and say. Only then, will I have true freedom and joy.


I love you, Lord, with all my heart, soul, and mind. I will forever praise You!

So today I talked to Jane. It was very nice. I have missed her considerably since leaving Argentina. One of these day I'm just going to have to fly to California to visit her.

 Ok, so I keep trying to upload these two videos that show my house on the inside and outside. And, an "error" message keeps popping up. So...sorry. I will continue to try in the future.

Now, I'm going to return to reading supreme court cases and briefing them. Thennnn, I'm going to study for my LSAT that I'm taking on October 6th. Please pray for me!

...I seemed to have retained a bad habit from Buenos Aires--eating late at night. Sigh.

Although I still eat dinner at about 5pm, just like before I left fro Argentina, my body gets hungry around 9:30 or 10pm. So, I avoid eating anything by drinking hot beverages. Tea, for instance, is my biggest ally. Nevertheless, I get to this point in the wee hours of the morning where I just have this intense desire to shove food in my face.

For example, at 12:30am today I ate two slices of banana toast with honey and cinnamon--which really wasn't that bad. But, then, five minutes ago, I shoved a bunch of Snyder's seasoned pretzel bites in my mouth.

And, now? I'm sitting here whining because I half feel sick because of the junk food that I just consumed. I need to get back on my healthy kick. Next week my cooking will resume and I am going to be suppppper health. Win.

Ok, well, I have a few more things to post from Argentina. I will get to that asap--especially the video tour of my house and school. They just take FOREVER to upload. And, right now, my time is being used to write a paper for my internship that helped meet the need for my Argentina trip. So yeah, that takes precedent at the moment.

Also, my RA training is finally over. Now the job begins, haha. But that's fine. I really like it so far. I enjoy being in a position that allows me to be creative, plan fun events, bond with my fellow RA's, and yet still have a measure of authority. I have learned that I tend to enjoy being in authority positions. To be sure, they are always more work and much less glamorous than everyone assumes. But, I enjoy them nonetheless. They are always rewarding in the end when you look back and examine all the things that you have done.

Well, enough chattering about responsibility. Now I have to live what I preach...I'm going to return back to work now. Huzzah.

Ok, so I missed like a week and a half of posts. I cannot tell you dates that I did things, BUT I will sum everything up as best as I can.

Last night, I bought the most amazing cake and something nice to drink with Victoria and Jane. The cake consisted of (from bottom to top) crust, dolce de leche, meringue, vanilla cream with walnuts dispersed throughout, meringue, dulce de leche, crust, and powdered super. So,  it was the most delicious thing in the world. Then, I just spent the evening packing and have a deep conversation with Jane about love and life and the future.

The night before that (which was Milton and Jussier's last night), we had a pre-pre party at my place with my roommates and the boys. Then, we went to my old roommate's new apartment, then we went to this hip hop club near my house. We all got into the VIP  section of the club simply because the bouncers let us in. Win. Then, in the morning, we met up at school and took pictures together with our graduation certificates. Then, I went to class and said goodbye to my favorite professor, Nadia. She was just the most wonderful thing ever. We got along really well and were interested in the same things, namely philosophy and international law. Plus, she helped me find sources for my senior thesis. Actually, she spent like 3 hours explaining different things and providing sources. She is just so great.

The night before that, the whole gang (Jane, myself, Anne (roommate from Holland), Victoria (roommate from Germany), Ali (really cool guy from the states who is down here interning with National Geographic), Milton and Jussier) went to this club in Puerto Madero and we all got in free...because Anne has the most amazing connections in the world. It was called Asia de Cuba and it was the coolest place we had gone out to. The music was a mix between of party music with jazz and current pop/rap hits (like stuff from Beyonce, for example). Then, there was this outside patio that we were all hanging out in because we could talk and tell stories and just generally laugh together. Then, Jussier was talking to this guy who was out of the club and wanted to get in so he could be with his girlfriend inside the club. So, Jussier told him to hop the fence. But, the security guard freaked out and grabbed the guy and shoved him outside of the club. Jane, trying to help, said that she was his girlfriend and asked the bouncer to let him back in. What did the bouncer do, you may ask??? Well, he grabbed Jane's arm in an iron fist and drug her outside of the club. So, we all joked that Jane was the real VIP. Laughing at the absurdity of the situation, we all just left and walked across the Puente de la Mujer (which is designed to symbolize the extended leg of a woman who is dancing the tango). And, let me tell you, it was just beautiful at night, simply stunning. The bridge was white and the lights made it seem rather enchanting. Then, the girls caught a taxi home and arrived. And, the boys walked to their house because they were crazy. It was probably over 30 or 40 blocks to their house. But, whatever, they had a great time and bonded and whatnot. Considering that I got home at 5:30am by taxi, I don't even want to know at what time the boys arrived home.

So, last night I went to bed super early, like at 12:30am. And, I slept until about 12:10pm. Despite this, I am still quite tired--but that is probably due to the fact that I went out two nights in a row. So, between the two previous nights, I got about 3 hours of sleep at maximum. And, I probably only got 3 hours of sleep the night before that, haha. So, I really don't sleep all that much.

And, then, Andrea came over to meet Jane, Leah, and myself. We went to Plaza Serano in Palermo to walk around. We stopped at this wonderfully hipster and ecclectic coffee house/restaurant. It was the best coffee that I have drank since coming to Buenos Aires because it was actual coffee, not expresso. And, it was DELICIOUS. Plus, while we were there, the daughter of the most famous futbol player in Argentina came in and sat near us. Then, we say this really famous model walk past us with little dogs dressed up like people.

But, now, I'm just sitting in my room with Jane and we are planning out future endeavors and excursions that we will go on together. Seriously, this girl is awesome (and she is probably going to be reading this as soon as I post it because she is looking at my blog while sitting on my bed)...But anyways, Jane this is a shout out to you. I think you are incredible and I am super blessed to have met you. I couldn't have asked for a better person to meet and become friends with if I tried. Thus, if I get my way, I would want to keep you in my life for a very long time. So, we are just going to have to stay in touch, go on trips together, and maybe, one day, go into legal practice together as well. There is just no other option, haha.

So, here are some pictures of amazing memories and people. These are the things that will remain in my heart forever...

Ok, so tomorrow I'm going home. And, honestly, I'm really sad. A part of my heart is going to be left down here. I had so many wonderful and incredibly special memories that were created here. I really don't want this period in my life to end. But, just as all things have a beginning, they also have an end. But, I guess the endings allow the memories to be held more dearly in my heart. The ending makes you appreciate all the life building experiences that occur in the middle. The ending makes you appreciate the substance that engenders your daily life: the way a person laughs, a particular expression, the scent of a particular smell that triggers a sentimental memory, a new perspective, the comfort of good company, the attainment of new and solid friendships, and etcetera.

I can't even begin to express just how life changing this experience was. My views and my approach to life radically altered, and yet, my beliefs and principles became so firmly established within my heart. Finally, I feel like the person that I am meant to be. Finally, I truly feel like me.

So, on Mayday, I was on Spanish overload. I had an hour long private class before school started. Then, I was the only one in my specialized law class. So, it was just me communicating my my favorite professor, Nadia, for 4 hours. Then, during lunch, we were speaking Spanish. And then, Jane and I went to the Buenos Aires branch office of Amnesty International--where we listened to and asked questions during a presentation about their campaign to end the use of the death penalty worldwide. So...I spoke in Spanish consistently for about 8 hours. It. Was. Intense.

L-R: The Director of Amnesty International, me, member of the Amnesty International Staff, Jane

In the evening, people came over and we all went to La Bomba Del Tiempo.... Presently, I feel the need to list and briefly describe all the people who went. Mark--the Hawaiian medical student who is just really down to earth, super nice, and lots of fun at a party. Glen--the soon to be medical student from Southern California who graduated from Princeton. He is super down to earth and a really nice guy. Jussier--my wonderful friend from Brazil who always has my back when I'm down here and who always makes me laugh. Milton--Jussier's best friend and quite a nice guy. We have this deal where I help him learn English and he works on helping me with my Spanish. Luisa--my other amazing Brazilian friend from Recife. She is well traveled, really smart, and just a boat load of fun. I'm really going to miss her when she leaves. Actually, I spend the majority of my time when I go out and about the city with Luisa and Jussier and Milton. Jane--my darling housemate from San Francisco who is just very similar to myself. We have the same birthday. We were both aiming for taking the LSAT in June before similar life circumstances got in the way. We were both the president of our pre-law societies at the same time. We have very similar tastes regarding various things.  We have lots of in-depth talks. And, she is my best girl friend down here. Plus, she is the BEST at imitating peoples voice. I swear, this girl is spot on every time. It's so funny. Anne--my lovely housemate from Holland. She is 18 and has traveled so much. She is incredibly kind and generous. She is always the life of the party. Plus, she has connections with different people all over the city. I just don't know how she does it. Victoria--my newest housemate from Dusseldorf, Germany. She is really laid back and incredibly sweet. Plus, she knows how to tell a story about mundane things in a manner that makes it seem like the funniest thing in the world. Rolf--my other housemate from Holland who just left to go backpacking through various parts of South America. He was super chill and quite nice....Needless to say, there are lots of awesome people here. In fact, I have not met a single person that I haven't liked. 


Below is a video of La Bomba del Tiempo. It is a bit hard to describe, so I thought a video would do a better job.

I'll upload two more videos about this later. 

Right now, I'm going to go to China Town! Heck Yeah :) 

Today, I talked to my Dad, my Mom, my Soul Sister (Megan), and one of my dearest friends (Gabrielle). Actually, I even talked to Megan twice. Because of this, I'm realizing that I will be happy to be home in two weeks. I love it down here, but it will soon be time to go home. I really miss home, and the people that make home home.

Also, this evening, the boys (Jussier and Milton) came over at like 9:30pm and we ordered in some absolutely terrible Mexican food. I swear, Los Portenos have NO idea how to cook with any spices. Spices just don't exist down here. It's rather frustrating. And, after dinner, Milton gave me another dance lesson in the art of Forro. But, I'm too stiff. Apparently, I need to learn how to relax my arms. It's just such a free form dance--which is the exact opposite of the structured and semi-structured Latin Ballroom dances that I love so much. Nevertheless, I will perservere and hopefully add Forro to my repertoire. Hopefully.

Then, once the boys left, Jane and I went to McDonald's to get McFlurries....at 11:30pm. Yep...we had ice cream two nights in a row super late at night. Actually, Jane and I consume such high quantities of sweets, especially ice cream. We eat SO MUCH ice cream--specifically the kind from McDonald's or the kind we get delivered to our house. It's becoming a problem, haha.

Protests in la Plaza del Mayo

Symbol of the Madres del la Plaza del Mayo

Jane and I posing with one of the fake guards at the Museum housed in the restored customs building behind the Casa Rosada.

Peron y Evita

Painting depicting a mother reaching for her missing child that was taken during the last dictatorship. 

Me in front of the Casa Rosada (which is where the President works, but doesn't live)

Me in front of the monument that symbolizes Argentine freedom. The soil surrounding this monument is even made up of soil from all the provinces in Argentina. Son muy linda. 

The tomb of San Martin, the liberator or Peru, Chile, and Argentina. It is housed in the church in the Plaza del Mayo--which is the first Catholic church in all of Argentina.

Protest about the rightful Argentine ownership of the Malvinas (the Falklands) hosted by the Madres de la Plaza del Mayo. They Marched counter-clockwise around the monument signifying Argentine freedom.

The Madres de la Plaza del Mayo

Me posing in front of two actual guards standing in front of the "Governor" of Buenos Aires' office

Oh, and as a side note, this is what Burger King looks like down here. Be Amazed.

Tigre Pictures

T is for Tigre...or rather, Tiger.

Tigre House

Beautiful house in Tigre...plus the backs of everyone's heads.

Jussier :)

Notice the way that Denise is looking at her sleeve in disgust? Well, it's because a pigeon just pooped on her. Haha.

The three amigos, a Brazilian sandwich, or simply Milton, Myself & Jussier.

Boats that belonged to the Tigre Rowing Club

The big thing in the center is used for bungee jumping. Right before this picture was taken, someone jumped off that narrow little platform between the two poles. Fortunately, they didn't jump to their doom. Praise God

Milton, Jussier, Denise, Mark, and Alisa

Pretty, right?

Ok...so It's been a couple days since I've updated this. Lo siento.

Well...the other night (either Thursday or Friday), Jane, Jussier, Milton, and I went to Palermo around 11pm to go to this going away party that one of Jane's friends was having. We went to this adorable little restaurant that was Italian themed. Had some pizza. Had a bunch of laughs. Enjoyed the music--which was interesting because it would switch from a song popular in South America, to a cover of the Beatles, to a jazzified version of When the Saints Go Marching In, to another popular US hit...So it was just all over the map. Also, we settled a misunderstanding between Jane and I and the boys that had been discussed over the course of the previous week. I will sum it up: We were all at one of our favorite restaurants and the waitress came to take our order. One of the boys made a comment about out waitress being very pretty, and Jane and I just thought she was average. So, in order to better understand their male perspective, Jane and I asked the boys to rate her on a scale of one to ten...and she was given a 7.5 and an 8...which just really blew my mind. Consequently, over the next week, Jane and I would pester the boys and try to figure out what they thought was attractive or not. But, it wasn't until this night at the going-away party that Jane and I finally figured out the whole issue. Basically, for them, the waitress looked more exotic; but, for Jane and I, the waitress looked more like a normal person from the United States. Therefore, after further comparing our tastes, we all agreed that we find people more attractive if they appear exotic to us and are not the norm. And, I guess that's kind of a common thing for people, to like someone because they are different from you. After all, the expression "opposites attract" had to come from somewhere, right?

Then, Friday night, a bunch of people came over to celebrate one of my housemate's last night in Argentina. People came over around 10:30pm and stayed until about 1:30am. Then, they all went out and celebrated some more--which is just soooo typical of the Porteno lifestyle. I ended up not going out because I needed to get up in the morning to spend the whole day in Tigre. Nevertheless, I had a good time while there were at my place, haha.

Then, Saturday morning I met everyone (Jussier, Milton, Kayla, Denise, Mark, and Alisa) at the Burger King by school. Then, we hoped on a bus and went to the Retiro train station. The tickets were suuuuuper inexpensive, ringing in at about 3 pesos for a round trip--for me (because I got a really really good exchange rate), this equates to 50 cents. But, I guess we ended up sacrificing quality for the service that we got. For instance, on the way to Tigre--which is a town an hour outside of the city--our train broke. We started out the ride going the speed that paint dries on a humid afternoon. Then it started to rock back and forth. At this point, we were by the race track for horses, and the boys--specifically Jussier and Mark--started fussing about the terrible ride and joking that our train was going to die and fall into the lake by the race track. THEN, the train completely stopped. After about 20 minutes, employees with grease all over their hands and faces walked by in a frustrated state. Actually, the one guy looked like a football player because of the placement of the grease on his face, haha. Then, the train started moving again at a snail’s pace...which, believe it or not, was quite an improvement. Then, the train stopped again at this random station in the middle of nowhere. All the people were forced off the train, directed across the tracks, and told to board the next approaching train. So, needless to say, the next train--which already was filled with people from the Retiro station--was filled with the same amount of people from the evacuated train. So, my friends and I decided to just stand and not bother looking for an allusive seat. Upon Mark's direction, we all formed a tight circle so we could hold a better conversation and prevent each other from falling. To pass the time, Mark (who is a medical student from Hawaii) told really bad jokes that were so lame they were funny. For instance, what do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta....What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear......I was trying to think of the plethora of lame jokes that I looked up with Noah during this past semester, but nothing concrete came to mind--which was sad. But anyways, the jokes were funny and helped pass the time. Actually, there was this one lady that understood English and was cracking up because she thought we were funny. So that was nice. Then, after an hour, we made it to Tigre--which is located at the mouth of the delta for the Rio de la Plata. The town was beautiful. The architecture was very European. For instance, there were even Tudor style houses. And, there was a rowing club. Boats were everywhere. There was even an amusement park. The houses were beautiful. There was a wonderful market that housed a wide variety of Argentine merchandise: mate gourds, leather products, purses, food, woodwork, furniture, etc. While there, besides taking lots of pizza, I bought myself another mate gourd that is easier to clean and I bought my Dad a present. Then, we went to this terrible pizza restaurant and ate outside. While we were waiting for the super average tasting pizza to arrive, the weather went from sunny to absolutely chilly. So, we were cold, consuming displeasing pizza, and ready to go home. So, we paid la cuenta (the bill) and started walking home. It was golden hour, so the sunset was just stunning. The sky was a crystal blue, scattered with clouds, and tinted a pastel orange and yellow. It was an incredible sight to look over the boats, the European style houses, and see that sky.

Once we made it back to the station, we boarded another incredibly crowed train. Because there were no seats and barely any standing room, we decided to wedge ourselves against the back wall. Apparently, we were in an area specifically designated for bicycles and their riders. So, I was pressed up against one of my friends on one side, and had the metal rim of a bicycle biting into my hip on the other side. So, every time the train lurched from side to side--and of course, this happened often--I would fall forward into my friend, narrowly miss slamming my head into a metal bar, and then fall backwards into the warm metallic embrace of the bicycle behind me. Now, this sounds traumatic and very uncomfortable, right? But, I was just so darn amused by the ridiculous situation that I actually enjoyed the train ride...Although, there was the one dramatic incident. This older man's bike got stuck in the door because this one woman would simply not move and let him in the train. She was a local who understood train etiquette, but decided to sit on a portable stool and do a sudoku puzzle. Now, this lady in no way resembled a string bean, so she took up a larger amount of space than was tolerated by this man. So, he started screaming at her to get up and to move. I swear, I thought he was going to punch her in the face. And, I am not exaggerating. He really tried to move through the sea of bikes to hit her. But, fortunately, this one lady intervened and calmed him down. He was still very angry, and tried to confront this woman who refused to respond to his request. But, it all calmed down. His bike got removed from the door. And, all turned out well.

After the hour long ride, and after being advised by one very kind lady bicyclist to avoid the Retiro station at night, because it is a very seedy area after dark, we got off at the Libertador stop and walked home. Jussier and Milton and I walked to my place--which was probably several miles. During our walk, I fussed the entire way about wanting to go to Freddo to get ice cream. Well, we didn't pass a Freddo. Consequently, once we got to my place, we ordered ice cream to be delivered to my house. Basically, we were too lazy to walk the 7 blocks to the ice cream place and, therefore, decided to be fatties together. Then, we just chilled with Jane and watched Wedding Crashers in Spanish. 

So, all in all, Saturday was a really great day. 

So, today I went to the Plaza del Mayo, which is the plaza in the seat of Argentine executive power. We (meaning, Jane, myself, and our lovely tourguide Natalie)toured the restored original customs building. Then we went in the first cathedral in Argentina. And, we stood in the center of the plaza, by this monument signifying freedom and liberty from oppression and watched a protest in motion. I was put on by los Madres del Plazal del Mayo--who were protesting the rightful Argentinian owernership of the Malvinas islands. It was actually really cool. A super passionate, 98 year old woman spoke about the strength of her commitment--both to finding the desaparecidos and to protesting the rightful ownership of the Malvinas (or rather, the Falkans).

So, it was my first protest. It was super cool. And, it was refreshing to see people banded together for a cause so deeply rooted in the hearts of an entire people. People could learn a lot from the passion of the Argentinian people. They're incredible.

So today way terribly overwhelming. My law program went to the Navy Mechanical School that was used as one of the detention centers for Los disaparecidos during the last dictatorship in the 70's and 80's. The officers' quarters functioned as the detention center for the political prisoners. The basement was used for many different things, mainly torture...the wall of that place saw so much darkness. You could still seethe residue of past evils clinging to the walls and hiding in corners. Honestly, I almost started crying multiple times during the tour. My emotions were just on a roller coaster because, as the turgid explained how the prisoners were taken in and paraded around this grand reception area with marble pillars and luxurious rooms, they were taken to a metal door laced with chains leading to the basement--although I didn't see the door in the lobby because the officers remodeled to hide the staircase and elevator leading to the basement in an attempt to avoid international scantions that were brought about by testimonies of some survivors...but I saw the corresponding door in the basement. It spoke of death and inability to escape.

The officers called themselves the "Lords of Life and Death." They forbid the prisoners from even taking their own lives, because that free act of will was removed from the individual and given to the oppressors.

To make matters worse, it was. Clandestine detention center housed in a functioning military school for young me. Both the students and the officers were involved with the torture falsification of documents. Even the prisoners themselves were tasked with forging papers that erased their own identities--which just added a whole new terrible level of hopelessness.

Also, this clandestine center was so terrifying because it was located on a prominent street in a building that housed sound trained members of the most powerful group in the country, the military. The general public had a hazy understanding of what happened behind closed doors, and they were terrified. And they had a right to be. Political "subverters" were kidnapped in broad daylight--whether at work, at home, or in public. There was no warning. You were just taken.


But I think the worst part is that the dictatorship resulted because the country was experiencing economic property and growth; thus, the reign of terror was established to stop the diminishing of the gap between rich and poor, the gap between the controlling power and the people. And one of the main civilian groups aiding And supporting the mility was the catholic church. They donated their places of "spiritual retreat" on El Tigre island to the military to use as detention and torture centers. Plus, during the torture, priests would come and bless the torture instruments. However, all priests weren't bad...but the ones fighting for justice got tortured for helping the poor because it was classified as organizing subversive action.

So, today was just...emotionally overwhelming because I was just so disgusted by the corrosive effects of power that leads to morally apprehensible destruction of the entire individual life...a life that is simply erased from existence.

Even the babies born in captivity were taken from the mothers and given to the officers to raise as their own. The children's true identity was shoved under the rug and forgotten. And, because of this, there is presently a campaign called Abueles del Plaza del Mayo to recover the identities of the lost children. So far, 105/500 have been uncovered. Nevertheless, it is incredibly controversial because the lost children are now 35 to 40 year old adults. And sometimes when they are "found", they have no desire to meet their true family.

It's just all such a mess.

We have it so good in the United States. You should all be so incredibly grateful to kbe granted the privilege to live in such a place. I know I am.

Oh. And I just wanted to mention that I saw The Amazing Spiderman in 3D last night. And, it was pretty darn fabulous. You all should see it. I was happy I did...although I was slightly miffed that I had to pay 50 pesos to do so. But it was a jolly good time. I got incredibly involved in the movie, just like I always do. So I jumped when things surprised me, slid down in my seat and put my hands in front of my face if something scared me, and I reached towards the screen in horror when spiderman was rescuing a child from the bad guy. 'Twas intense, haha.

But, I'm sure when you see the movie you will have a less dramatic experience. Haha.

Today was interesting. I thought it was going to go differently. I thought it would go better...especially because I had a really good conversation with a friend about something. But, it seems that my day went in the opposite way than I expected....so instead of having a wonderful and happy day, I was rather upset. And, I even did stuff that was enjoyable today--like going out to lunch with friends and running around in the evening with Jane in search of sweet things to devour. So yeah. Today was just weird and I wish it had gone differently. And I really hope that I'm wrong about what I'm kinda thinking happened.


But don't worry, all you lovely people who are reading my blog. I'm just being dramatic. Nothing is really wrong. I love life down here. I am safe. I am happy. I am loving life....today was just an off day for me.


But, as of two second ago, my day got brighter. I just got a phone call from my grandma and my cousin Jacklyn. And, I got a chance to talk with Jacklyn for the first time in a loooong time. And, I feel really blessed simply to have heard her voice. She is an incredible girl and I am privileged to have her as part of my family.

It's funny how simply hearing the voice of a loved one can change your feelings from negative to positive. But, I guess, love can do that. Love is just pretty darn great.

So, my grandma just called me. And it brightened my entire day when I heard her voice. But then it just made me sad.

For instance, when I heard her voice, I realized just how much I missed her. It was like I just got slapped in the face by a hand tattooed with "homesick" in gigantic, boldface letters. And, now I'm sad and sitting in my room and missing my grandma. And when I get home, I won't even be able to see her until Thanksgiving or possibly Christmas. And, it makes me so terribly sad.