...more
well, that's all the inspiration i received, so i have no more poetic waxing. i do, however, have more insights about lebanon in general. i had missed going there so much because michael and i would always just run around the farm, spar, play badminton, play cards with my aunt, and generally hang out. this time, though, he wasn't with me so i was a little anxious about going, considering all my activities require his participation. but being there at this age and with a decent knowledge of arabic gave me a whole new perspective (as i said before). i was more involved in the goings on of the household and the farm. for instance: we needed a new septic tank and were trying to figure out which proposal was going to be better, and which contractor we could trust the most (since business in lebanon is very dishonest). we also were having trouble because my grandfather has limited mobility and requires someone to take care of him at all times--when we arrived, his caretaker had gone home to syria to visit his family and was late coming home so everyone was kind of on edge. my grandmother and their cook/guy who runs their household/most of the farm affairs were shouldering a lot of the burden, which was very tough on my grandmother.
another great thing was that we stayed overnight in beirut, which we usually don't do (daytrips only usually). it was really fun to walk around the city, weaving in and out of the traffic (there are only very loose rules of the road) and just kind of breath in the atmosphere. one of my cousins took me around the campus of the american university of beirut (where almost my entire family went), and i started to really see myself doing a semester abroad there. i had developed that idea after i had met up with another cousin who's my age and who is at aub for business; not only was he really cool/a lot of fun, but he was telling me all about how awesome it is to live there at our age--so much to do, and it's really cheap...unfortunately, uva doesn't allow students to study abroad in lebanon because there's a state department warning about it. i'm thinking i might do a summer arabic program there, though-i'll get a chance to experience the culture and improve my arabic a shiiiitload, which i really want to do.
so we came home from lebanon and three days later i got my wisdom teeth out, which didn't actually suck as badly as i'd expected; i did swell a lot (my mom told me i looked like quagmire), and had some yellow/green bruises on my face, but the pain wasn't too bad...it was just not being able to eat real food that sucked. i had them out on monday, and on saturday i moved back in to uva. it was difficult to transition--i was still jetlagged and thinking about lebanon (i'd been home for just a week), and having to deal with my roommate (who is rather annoying) was just putting me in a pissy mood. the first day or two i was just getting really irritated with her, but since we've started classes it's been getting better. it was really nice to see some people again--i was a lot more excited than i had expected to be about a couple of them! it was bizarre. but the workload this semester is going to be really bad...i have a lot of reading for my english class on top of regular workloads in all my other classes (and physics problems for sure), 5 credits of singing and possibly 2 shows. i'll be busy as hell and therefore won't be bored/homesick, but i don't think i'll sleep very much...it's probably a good thing that piano lessons didn't work out
and that's all for now, folks
another great thing was that we stayed overnight in beirut, which we usually don't do (daytrips only usually). it was really fun to walk around the city, weaving in and out of the traffic (there are only very loose rules of the road) and just kind of breath in the atmosphere. one of my cousins took me around the campus of the american university of beirut (where almost my entire family went), and i started to really see myself doing a semester abroad there. i had developed that idea after i had met up with another cousin who's my age and who is at aub for business; not only was he really cool/a lot of fun, but he was telling me all about how awesome it is to live there at our age--so much to do, and it's really cheap...unfortunately, uva doesn't allow students to study abroad in lebanon because there's a state department warning about it. i'm thinking i might do a summer arabic program there, though-i'll get a chance to experience the culture and improve my arabic a shiiiitload, which i really want to do.
so we came home from lebanon and three days later i got my wisdom teeth out, which didn't actually suck as badly as i'd expected; i did swell a lot (my mom told me i looked like quagmire), and had some yellow/green bruises on my face, but the pain wasn't too bad...it was just not being able to eat real food that sucked. i had them out on monday, and on saturday i moved back in to uva. it was difficult to transition--i was still jetlagged and thinking about lebanon (i'd been home for just a week), and having to deal with my roommate (who is rather annoying) was just putting me in a pissy mood. the first day or two i was just getting really irritated with her, but since we've started classes it's been getting better. it was really nice to see some people again--i was a lot more excited than i had expected to be about a couple of them! it was bizarre. but the workload this semester is going to be really bad...i have a lot of reading for my english class on top of regular workloads in all my other classes (and physics problems for sure), 5 credits of singing and possibly 2 shows. i'll be busy as hell and therefore won't be bored/homesick, but i don't think i'll sleep very much...it's probably a good thing that piano lessons didn't work out
and that's all for now, folks