Goodbye, World.

This is my farewell to you all. You probably won't see me for the next few months. In the last five days, my life has gone from depressingly empty (school + nothing = boredom) to oh-my-god-what-am-I-going-to-do full (school + new job + Phi Sigma Pi + Sigma Tau Delta + College of Arts and Sciences Ambassador = AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH).

So yes. Let me explain.

Other than the receptionist position I mentioned in my previous post, I have made a few decisions that will henceforth make me a more involved human. The first is that I decided to join UNT's chapter of the co-ed honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. After visiting a few information meetings, a couple of friends and I decided that the people are awesome and the "fraternity" part is really more of a formality than a lifestyle, so I applied. And now for the next six weeks I'm going to be going to Rush class every Sunday and doing service projects/events with all these lovely new smart people.

Secondly, I am applying to Sigma Tau Delta, the fancy-schmancy English major honor society (another fake-Greek organization), which does cool things like have visiting authors speak and go to English conferences. Luckily, this is a relatively minor commitment with monthly or bi-monthly meetings, so this might not be the death of me.

Thirdly, my English major adviser (Dr. Penner's-mother Lyke lolololol) asked me to be an English major College of Arts and Sciences Ambassador, which sounds awesome to me -- talking to incoming freshmen interested in English and basically convincing them that the English program rocks. Right now it doesn't seem like too big of a commitment, just a few evenings here and there, but we will see if I actually have time for it. I really hope I do.

All of these things excite and interest me. I just hope I'm not taking on too much. But either way--wow. A week and a half ago I was spending three-quarters of my day staring at the Internet and halfheartedly flipping through my agenda to see when things were happening (or more likely, not happening). Now I'm employed and a prospective member of multiple organizations and potentially friends with ALL THE PEOPLE! :D

So farewell. I will see you in the summer. If I make it that far.

Thoughts On the Road to Amsterdam

Is it weird that I love being in a place where I can't read the signs? If I was driving, it would probably stress me out, but I'm not, so I love it. It's so...not boring. To struggle through language barriers can be difficult and awkward, but it's always interesting and enlightening (if not about the meaning of the words, then about the culture or the language itself). It makes the world seem both bigger and smaller - bigger than America (which can feel like the whole world sometimes) and smaller than all the mysteriously foreign places beyond. Because they're not foreign anymore; they are reality, and I am the foreign one.

Also, I just passed the PlayMobile headquarters. I cannot stress to you how much I freaking love PlayMobile. :D

On a completely unrelated note, I want to live in an old old row house in a European city, with houses squishing up against it on either side and a little tiny paved area in front with a little bench and a gate and steps up to the door. I want it to be three stories tall and very narrow and a little bit droopy with a stepped roof, but also somehow have a garden up there. I don't want a backyard and I don't care if the house is small and creaky and looks out onto the traffic instead of on a quiet suburban street. But there should be a park down the street and a metro station nearby, and fresh produce in small groceries on the corners. And I want a dog named Bijou and a cat named Little Wing and a library and a silly little car like a vintage Mini or a Fiat or a VW Thing. Yep. That would be great. :)

Something a little bit like this: