:: eye of the storm ::


About Me

A 27-year-old PA student who wants to visit all seven continents, write a book, work at a pediatric clinic in Africa, and basically meet as many of the world's challenges as possible.

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current mood:
current mood

Life List

(already accomplished)

Become a PA

Visit all 7 continents

Take a SwimTrek trip

Bike through Western Europe

Raft the Grand Canyon

Improve my Spanish proficiency

Go on safari in Africa

Trace my roots at Ellis Island

Vacation in Hawaii

Work on a hospital ship in a Third World country

Celebrate New Year's in Times Square

Visit all 50 states (29 to go: AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, RI, SD, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY)

See the ruins at Pompeii

Swim in Capri's Blue Grotto

Tour Mt. Vesuvius

Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain

Tour the Colosseum

Visit the D-Day beaches

See the Mona Lisa

Visit the palace at Versailles

See the Acropolis and Parthenon

See the Egyptian pyramids

Hike the Inca Trail

Walk El Camino Santiago

Take an Alaskan cruise

View the Taj Mahal at sunrise

Hike Table Mountain in South Africa

Climb through the Amazon canopy

Walk at least part of the Great Wall of China

Get laser hair removal

Learn to surf, ski, and snowboard

Learn to drive a stick-shift

Learn to play the piano

Go on a tropical cruise

Ride horseback on the beach

Ride in a hot air balloon

Get tickets to the Olympics

Go to adult Space Camp

Witness a shuttle launch from up close

Build a full-sized snowman

Sew a quilt out of my old race T-shirts

Update and continue my Life Scrapbook

Become the oldest person to ever do the River Run

Live to be a happy, healthy 100 years old - at least!

(unlikely dreams)

donderdag 18 september 2003

Current Music: Acda en de Munnik – “Slaap zacht, Elisabeth”

Excitement of the day: I have registered and I AM NOW AN OFFICIAL UTRECHT RESIDENT!!! WOOHOO!!!

We had to wait in line for literally over three hours, but at least we got it done. And I met a bunch of people in line, including two really nice girls from America who were standing next to me (one from Wyoming whom I like a lot, and then one from Virginia). We all exchanged numbers and we’re planning to go out sometime, to Tivoli (club) or something. And then there were these African guys behind us, and then the Belgians from my building and oh, just everyone. So the wait wasn’t as boring as it could have been. And once we got to the table, I finally met B, the coordinator I’d been corresponding with before I got here. We always wrote in Dutch because she was impressed that I could speak it, and I wanted to practice, so then today when I handed her my passport to take my name down, she did exactly what Hannie did - immediately looked up and said, “Oh, jij bent Jess!” and was really happy to see me.

Sigh. We’ve been given our first Engelse Taalkunde assignment – actually, we had it on the first day – and it’s a 3-4 page paper analyzing the pronunciation of a young child 2-3 years old… the son of this famous linguist. Well, I had already started to work on it, but then our professor (the Dutch one) asked us in class Tuesday, “About the Amahl assignment… everybody look at the way he says ‘parsley’. Where does the ‘r’ go?” Everyone started yelling out answers like “It’s assimilated into the ‘a’ sound,” and stuff, but then he held up his hand for quiet and said, “The answer is – it was never there.” Know why? Because this linguist guy is British! So now I have to rethink everything I’ve already written and make sure it works for British English as well as American. Sigh. It’s not that much of a problem, but it struck me as funny. I was so happy to have something in English to do, and now it turns out that even my English isn’t perfect for what we’re doing. LOL!

J, the Swedish girl from upstairs, told me yesterday about this really nice swimming pool that’s apparently just over the bridge – meaning, like, less than 5 minutes by bike. I just ate a broodje Mario and ice cream with E, the American from Wyoming, but after that’s ‘settled’ then I plan to head over there. Poor S, stuck in class… I have nothing nothing nothing on Thursdays. (Maar vrijdag wel… en dan is S vrij… dat wou ik liever, denk ik… a three-day weekend.)

E-mail and Net still broken, and Yvon has no idea when they’ll be fixed. I am absolutely disgusted. Do I really need to say anything else about that? It’s now been almost 2 weeks… I think it might be time to kick up a stink about lowered rent. Well, we’ll see.

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