2010 Wrap-Up

I survived semester two (out of seven) but, as it did last summer, school consumed my life to the point that the blog was pretty much silent for the last month so we are in need of a re-cap. I last left you after mom's visit for Thanksgiving (after which I remained full for approximately two weeks). The following week we had an end-of-the-year phone-a-thon to remind Columbia alumni that they used to be poor students and "Would you like to contribute to the School of Nursing scholarship fund this year?" It turns out that it is just as painful to make those calls as it is to receive them but look what showed up in the Columbia University School of Nursing E-Newsletter this month:So famous. The first weekend in December I took the train up to Hartford to visit Chuck. During my visit his mom and I went to the 'Holiday Stroll' in Blue Back Square. Blue Back is an outdoor shopping center within walking distance from Chuck's apartment (very similar to Hyde Park for you Tampa folk... and since pretty much everyone who reads this grew up with me in Tampa, that should be sufficient explanation). The Holiday Stroll included displays from local businesses (I won a pair of tickets to the local theatre!), performances by local middle and high school chorus/jazz/band/tap groups, horse-drawn carriage rides, etc. It was all very festive and there we were snacking on some hot chocolate and commenting on how we were happy to be all bundled up (as opposed to some of the performers who did not have temperature-appropriate costumes) when we got to witness a Flash Mob. I had no idea what this was, but all of the sudden a specific song came on and a bunch of people in the crowd started doing a choreographed routine! It was like being on TV! At first Chuck's mom and I thought they were just dancing because they liked the song (we didn't know it was an actual dance they were doing) and then it became obvious that they weren't just free-styling so we thought that they must play this song every year and do this same dance, but it turns out that it was a surprise that most of the people in the crowd (aside from the dancers) didn't know was coming. I'm still not sure how everyone learned the dance but it was AWESOME. After getting back to NYC I found myself in full-on finals mode so all outside communication basically stopped. I did take a small break Saturday the 18th to go to the Columbia SRNA Christmas Party and I convinced Katherine and Sheldon to go as well but alas, I have no photos from that evening because MY DIGITAL CAMERA BROKE. I know, WTF. So until I go about replacing that you will have to be happy with iPhone photos only. Finals did eventually come to an end. Here is a picture of me with some of the other students after one of our tests (not the last one, that is why we are not in a bar). We were trying to show off the nice lights up on the main campus...
My last final got out around noon on the 21st and then I caught a train up to Dad and Julie's to begin my winter break! They were both working on the 22nd and 23rd so I had a few days to catch up on sleep, finish up my course evaluations and play with the dogs. Here is a picture of some trees that Rob (their friend/gardener) put up in the driveway circle. Katherine and Sheldon took a train up late afternoon on Christmas eve after getting out of work. Katherine unfortunately arrived with a hacking cough and a nasty head cold so they went to bed early while Dad, Julie and I headed over to a neighbor's house for dinner. We woke up Christmas morning to some cinnamon rolls and a ridiculous amount of presents!











After opening all of our great stuff (thanks for the boots guys!) we sent Sheldon and the sickly back to the city (she really didn't look/sound too good) and began party prep for a Christmas/Hanukah party that afternoon. Dan (Julie's brother), Nancy (his wife), Ben, Nate and Claire (their kids) came up along with about 10 of Dad and Julie's neighbors. Chuck arrived just in time for dinner and we continued the party until everyone collapsed from sugar and excitement overload. Chuck and I left around noon the next day to try and beat a big snowstorm back to Connecticut. We woke up the next morning to about a foot of snow:We were nice and cozy in Chuck's apartment though because he got us some Snuggies for Christmas! For the uninitiated, Snuggies are basically blankets with sleeves and they are quite comfortable for loafing about during your winter break.I have been at Chuck's apartment in Connecticut for about a week now and I am finally catching up on sleep, emails and pleasure reading. We have also gone to a Phish concert and we met up with Kim (one of my CA roommates) and Tim (one of Chuck's CA roommates) who were in town for the holiday (they both grew up in CT). Chuck had to work on New Year's Eve, when he got home we cooked him a steak and me a lobster which we ate in front of the iYule and washed down with a bottle of champagne, things were very rowdy (as I'm sure you can imagine) Classes start again for me on January 17th so until then I will be enjoying this restful start to 2011!