anywho: obviously I ended up voting in the Democratic Primary due to the fact that Mitt Romney dropped out of the Republican race (wooo!!!). Texas is so funny. Hilary won the primaries, Obama won the caucuses, and it was Obama that ended up with the most delegates from there. We'll see what happens. I've sort of lost interest since Spring Break... lots to say about that, too.
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I was getting text messages about how the TX and OH primaries were going because I was on a service trip in Appalachia (Kentucky, to be exact). Appalachia was one of the most amazing experiences. Definitely the best experience this school has given me. I didn't really know what to expect going on the trip; I knew that I really wanted to go home to warmth and my kitty cat, but instead I was in the back of a van full of strangers. Fun stuff though: the vans were really nice rental minivans as opposed to the monster ones schools usually stick you with. The morning we were leaving one girl totally forgot to wake up. Oh... signs of many snafus to come. It was cool because she packed and then we got going.
I was in the back of the van with a girl whom was in a group which I hang out with, but I'd never actually talked one-on-one with her, so we didn't really know each other. In fact, we were both quite worried that we wouldn't have anything to sat to one another. But, oh, how it worked out. Hahahaha. Pretty much we now call each other "bestie!" all the time and speak in abbrevs. It's emberassing because I do it in normal conversation now. So Katie and I were bonding in the backseat and started some super-cool dance crazes (aka no one else really did them, but we did them the whole trip). Other fun stuff: A billboard that said "GUNS" and then a model home in the middle of nothing (Office and Arrested Development references)- go figure that we both love those shows! Being able to quote those really helped. We also did a bit of Harry Potter 1... hahahaha wow. Besties!
We stop at this Kentucky Art place and one of the leaders calls the place that we're going to - to let them know that we're close- and of course we were a day early!!! Another snafu on day 1. It was nice actually, because we got a day to relax and to frolic in the fantastic weather. It was SO NICE. We hit up a couple of dollar stores and ended up purchasing a (Barbie) ball which was used for a number of different games (kickball, basketball, and a fantastic game that a couple of the guys made up where you catch it between your legs).
I almost forgot to mention the BARN DANCE we went to the first night. Fantastic fun!!!
I'm in a weird mood. Sorry if this post is really disjointed/awkwardly written.
The White Van, the van we rode up in (the other half of the group will henceforth be referred to as the Grey Van), really bonded over the course of the week. It helped that we only had one cd. ONE CD. The Grey Van had an i-trip or something and we had 15 songs. Believe it or not, it was the best cd ever (props to our site leader for creating it) and I still listen to it constantly. Higlights:
- Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
- Enrique Iglesias' "One Night Stand"
- Matchbox 20's "How Far We've Come"
- Journey's "Don't Stop Believin"
- Sugarcult's "Memory"
- Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer"
and a special shout-out to James Blunt's "1973" which went undiscovered until Wednesday... aka the guy in charge of the music was hiding it from us! Oh, Estefe... We had nicknames. It was interesting.
of course... Katie and I were sort of outcasted from the others. Not majorly or anything. A few others bonded with us more (Smalls, Kim, Estefe) at the beginning and then as the week went on we all sort of bonded more. Actually, after that fateful Wednesday we had bonded quite a bit. Monday and Tuesday we essentially went to the woods and a river and picked up trash. Lots and lots of trash- which was actually quite fun! Wednesday we went on a driving tour of the area. For TWELVE HOURS. We saw a WalMart, a prison (directly behind the WalMart), a Lowes, lots of coal mining, mountain-top removal, a disgusting sludge pool, a creek that was bright ORANGE (people drink this water... the coal industry makes me angry), and then we went for a drive in a national forest. The forest drive was a road winding up a mountain. Those of us in the backseats got especially nausiated (this is when James Blunt was discovered). Oh yes- earlier in the day Smalls was driving and bottomed-out majorly... pretty sure we lost a part of the White Van because after that it was vibrating in the back! :-) After getting out of the windy park, we're driving through a town and, of course, the White Van gets in a fender-bender. Good times! Hahahaha. After that snafu was sorted out, we were supposed to head back- but of course we ended up in Virginia! So we turn around and end up eating dinner at Gatti's (a pizza place which I thought only existed in Texas!). We finally got home way later than planned. Wait- while we were driving around lost in the mountains, good ol' Estefe left the radio on DELILA for a good 40 minutes. Funniest thing ever.
There was a group of students from Loyola o' Chicago there as well. Most of our group didn't like them for some reason. Katie and I definitely liked them- they were so nice! One of the best experiences with all of us was a crazy game of Taboo. Best. Game. Ever! So much better than Apples to Apples and Catchprase (similar, but not quite as good).
I was semi-obsessed with this crazy-looking dog... :-)... and the dog was semi-obsessed with all of the trash we were picking up.
Highlights of the week:
- picking up trash
- beautiful nature!
- White Van bonding
- cleaning then riding in the electric car
- limited hot water (solar powered) = very few showers for the thoughtful ones
- cleaning dishes
- GUNS
- Jared cut-outs at multiple Subways
- the people we worked with and met were the nicest people... the ASPI people were ALWAYS smiling; even when talking about terrible pollution and economic situations- maybe it's because when you're always working with stuff like that you have to have a positive attitude in order to continue with it
- walking on railroad tracks and then hearing a train horn... scary!!!
- caving: supposedly you're supposed to have 3 sources of light PER PERSON... we ended up with 1 flashlight per SIX PEOPLE... it's funny now, but it was terrifying while it was going on
- bats!
- attempting to make a nature trail/bridge in the pouring, freezing rain... good times
- rushing out of Kentucky a day early in attempt to "beat" a blizzard
- spending the night in Cinncinatti at Mike's house... crammed into the basement... really nice family, great food, fantastic bonding experience
- pillow talk!
- shoveling the snow out for the whole neighborhood
yeah... leaving the White Van was painful. We had been through so much - the people and the actual van!- I miss them!!! Katie came over a couple of hours after we got back and didn't leave till 4 in the morn. We're besties now! I can't believe how compatible we ended up being. We joke about how our other friends (esp. Em!) kept us apart from each other.
All of the Appilachia students had class last Tuesday. It was so great seeing everyone! Everytime I see one of them I get so excited. We really need to have a reunion soon.
All of the Appilachia students had class last Tuesday. It was so great seeing everyone! Everytime I see one of them I get so excited. We really need to have a reunion soon.
