An Autumn Walk

Autumn is definitely here at HC. I love the leaves, the smell, the wind and the sounds of autumn here.
I took a walk this afternoon, attempting to clear my muddled mind of facts about economics in Kenya, indigenous tribes of the Himelayas, and the meaning of Ezekiel in relation to the epistles of the New Testament. Do you know what those all turn into when you've just seen the doctor for more news about your stomach bug and he gives you a strong dose of meds to help?
Well, you get Nepalese arguing in a crowded market place about the prophets of old and the meaning of life.
Not really. But that's what I kinda felt like after trying to study for several hours. So I went out with my camera, my bag (with a notebook and texts and suchlike...) and my new coat. (That'll be another post.) And I'd talked to Cynthia about taking photos of the pretty colours and where I go on my walks. I also decided to do something I occasionally did with my little sisters. I went "house-shopping".
Basically, you look at all the houses around and decide which ones you like best and which one you would live in if you could. And I found the perfect house for me and the girls. (The one you can kind of see in the middle picture.) I'm going up there again tomorrow with my friend Nora to show her. I think when I'm allowed to live out of dorms, I'll try for that house if I can.
And the best part? Studying went so much better when I came back, and the medications are making me happy.
And I'm going to Gramma's tomorrow!!!

Fun, oh Fun...

I have a slight cold. (My tissue box will testify.) Maybe more than slight. My nose resembles something of a broken water hydrant. I'm coughing like a crazy mix of a chain smoker and a foghorn. (Also, kinda what my sneezes sound like...) My eyes are feeling like they're being hammered out of my head. And my stomach is staging a re-enactment of the seige of Normandy crossed with the Battle of Pellenor Fields. I haven't been able to keep any food down since lunch yesterday. (Not pleasant, let me assure you...)
The cold medications the doctor gave me the other day are messing with my other medications. Basically, my mind is blurry and confused. I can't get facts straight, and when I try to study, all I get is a worse headache. That I can't take painkillers for.
And I have my Biblical Literature mid-term today. I'm sure you can see how I feel like this won't be a good thing.
But God is amazing.
My professor for that course found me sneezing and coughing my lungs out on my trail yesterday. And asked what was wrong. After explaining, she looked at me for a moment.
"You know, if you feel up to it, you can take the test tomorrow. If you don't want to you, you don't have to. Or, if you feel you did badly and could do better, I'll give it to you again another day. Just let me know. I won't hold this against you."
I was so grateful for this, I burst into tears. (My headache was somewhere between all the dwarves of Moria pounding on my skull and the warhammer from the third LotR movie booming into my cerebrum.)
Then I saw my Global Issues professor, who'd been told by my doctor that I was feeling badly and really shouldn't be stressing or studying too hard. I have a paper due for her class on Monday, and had just found that four of my five sources were only temporarily open to public viewing, thus meaning that I had to find new ones and rewrite my paper to reflect those new sources.
She informed me that she'd give me till the following Wednesday or Thursday to finish my paper. This gives me this afternoon to visit the doctor again.
God is amazing, and I love my professors here.
Oh, and I love my tissue box, cough medication, hot tea, and my room-mate. (She's awesome...)

Procurement of Kitcheny Items

So, the last few weeks at school, I've been having a blast, but have had just one problem that refused to leave me alone.
I was losing weight a little too fast. I've never been fast at gaining weight; it's hard for me to maintain. So about two weeks ago, I started to force myself to eat more. The results of that are less than pleasant, and I shall leave most of those adventures unspoken.
It became more serious for me when even friends of mine started mentioning that I was looking a bit thinner than I had when I first arrived at school. Then I realized that my pants were more than roomy about my waist, not to mention almost all my clothes looked baggy to some extent.
I finally decided that I'd have to start making some food to compliment the three meals I eat at the cafeteria. The doctor here added that especially with my medications, I had a lot of limitations on the food here, and that I should eat more than three meals a day. Five or six would be ideal. Of course, since I hadn't planned on this at the beginning of the semester, I was not in the possession of any sort of pots or pans. Or really any ingredients had I owed those aforementioned pots and pans.
However, I have been going to a nearby town for church on Sundays with two girls from my floor. They told me that at a certain thrift store, I could easily buy what I needed, and then get some basic groceries to supplement my diet.
This morning, I headed in there, and thirty three dollars later, I was the proud owner of a saute-frying pan, two saucepans, one Dutch oven/stew pot, four wooden spoons, four stirring spatulas, one frying spatula, one baking sheet, and four Tupperware containers. Not to mention the milk, eggs, canned soups, salt, flour, sugar, egg noodles, baking power, bread, butter, and cough drops.
Next week: regular frying pan and a mixing bowl/measuring spoons and a tea kettle. Perhaps ginger, vanilla extract, cinnamon and cloves. (And maybe measuring cups if Mum can't find mine and send them to me?)
I've been happy and bubbling all day since. Amazing what the procurement of kitcheny items can do to brighten my day.

Photos from the Weekend

Last weekend was Homecoming at HC... which meant absolute craziness. For the most part, it was fun and I enjoyed myself. But I'm still rather glad it's over now.

Here are some of the girls I spend a bit of time with, including the second from the left, Esther, who not only lives on my floor, but is also going to London with me. :) And then, there's Chad, the Venezuelan/Thai physicist from Chicago.

Yes, that's me, and one of the Canadians, she also lives on my floor.

We even had bagpipers for the parade on Saturday! Okay, so that's not so unusual given that our mascot is the Highlanders... but really, three bagpipers playing at seven thirty in the morning was pretty impressive.

Okay, so Carter is one of my favourite people on campus, so naturally I had to show my favourite photo of her and I together! This one was also at the dance.
Mum, I want Carter to be my sister- any more room?