Alison, ‘12

__The cold, rainy days on campus are always my favorites.  They make me want to spend my afternoon in the library, snuggled up against a warm cup of chai tea (I hate coffee) and lost in a textbook. Such days are best complemented by a take-home chicken wrap, curly fries and diet coke from the Pier, eaten in the dorm during a re-run of House. The falling rain provides both a good excuse to wear my adorable rain boots and an effective means of churning up the often still, sometimes green and gross lake water. As you have probably guessed by now (if not then…wow), it’s one of those days here at UR right now and I’m not staring out my window at a sunny afternoon while daydreaming of wet weather. Most of my friends are grumbling about what a terrible first day back after fall break this makes for. Me? I’ve got too much to look forward to for that.

__One of my best friends is coming to visit me tonight (in 7.5 hours, to be precise) and I simply can’t wait. I spent my last day of fall break diving head first into Evolution and Chemistry reading so that my entire evening will be free to spend doing nothing worth writing about and everything worth remembering anyways.  This week marks the half-way point for the semester, and the freezing mist blowing about outside is a pleasant reminder that winter is on its way.  I’ve finished with all the orientation for my fall research, which means that within the next few weeks I’ll be able to start up on my own independent projects. Running club’s first road race of the year is this Saturday, followed by the team’s participation in the university’s 11am to 11pm Relay for Life. The Relay is held around Westhampton Lake. One member of each team must be walking in loop around the lake at all times while the others are free to enjoy concerts, performances, games and food on the sidelines. Although I’ve just been elected Treasurer of the club, I will be forsaking my officer duties and not making an appearance at either event because of my visiting friend. Oops.

__I’m sorry this post hasn’t been filled with pictures from my thrilling fall break. The only thing I did worth documenting included trying on hot pink, zebra-striped pants with a friend and falling over laughing in a JCPenney dressing room. I suppose that, in order to provide an accurate representation of my fall break activities, I could have used a self-timer to catch myself wearing sweatpants, sprawling myself across the couch with a large bag of candy corn for long expanses of time. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll have something fun to talk about next week . I’m itching to do some serious time wasting, so I feel that my friend’s arrival is perfectly timed.