long, tired weekend
09/23/01 ~ 9:58 p.m.
**warning: this is quite long as it's a summary of 3 days.**i'm typing this in the diaryland box. i just know the next time i hit backspace, i'm going to regret it.
as is customary when i've been gone a bit, i'm going to summarize. then i'm going to go to bed. all witty comments, deep thoughts, and clever remarks will be saved for tomorrow.
friday
i lounged around in the morning, and met up with the group at the school at noon. the campus still mystifies me and i HATE not knowing where i'm going. so i was slightly peeved. we got in our vans and drove to bodega bay. it should take about 2 hours, but the last two vanfuls of people got lost and we had to wait for them for about 30 minutes. after we arrived, we got a tour of the marine research facilities and saw lots of aquarium-type stuff. this was awesome to me. very random though, cuz we're engineering majors. not marine biology. but this happens to be one of my interests. so i was stoked. after dinner, we played some "getting to know you" games and then got the option of watching a movie or having other free time. i watched save the last dance with the group, then went to bed. the rock-hardest bed in the world, i might add. plus bodega bay is freeeeezing. i didn't sleep very well.
saturday (long, sorry)
we arose quite early, ate breakfast, and took off for the research center again. first we had a panel where we could ask questions of the staff, about how their first year was at davis and such. then we did one of those blindfolded exercises. then we played some games with legos and some survival games. (i took pictures of all these events i just breezed through, don't worry!) then we got given our assignment: the bridge challenge. groups of three got to design and build bridges with only glue, marshmallows, cardboard, toothpicks, and straws. and you had fake money for which to buy your supplies with. we worked a little bit, planned our strategy, and headed back for lunch. after lunch we did some more projects, so tower building with straws and tape where no one could talk, and groups of taking apart things to figure out how they work. my group had this radio from like the 60's. it was kickass-- we figured nothing out but got to pull out a lot of crazy shit. i love taking the screws out of appliances. yes, i'm a dork. =) our presentation was comprised of basically showing off the cool parts we found.
after that, we had 2 hours free time and i joined the group that wanted to go whale watching. we drove to the head of the peninsula and looked and looked -- at fog. so this girl tara and i went exploring, we basically rock climbed and hiked until we got to some tide pools and played with sea anemones and stuff. we almost got hit by a wave and ran back. i like tara -- if there's anyone i stay in touch with from this group, it'll be her. she seemed older than most of the other freshman (i was one of 2 junior transfer students... i felt so old!) and we really talked a lot. then our groups drove to "town" (aka 3 shops) and tara and i took off. we went to a cool souvenir shop and i got stuff for brooke, jenny and heather. they're little animals made out of shells. *so* cute. i got one for me, of course. and i got postcards!!! so bobbi jo and jessi should expect some soon....
then we came back and had dinner -- BBQ salmon with pesto cheesy tortellini and ceaser salad. it was SO good. afterwards we played a name game where we threw oranges around, and another where we built towers out of balloons. the leader accidentally got water balloons-- you should have seen us trying to blow these things up. it was crazy.
we were given time to work on our bridges so me, kim, and stephanie got together and started gluing. our bridge as a whole is not too impressive engineering-wise (hey, i'm NOT an engineer! what do you expect?) but a different part of the project. we had to dry the glue faster so we were using a hairdryer (we're smart like that!) but we couldn't melt the marshmallows so we had to hold the button down on the dryer so it would blow cold air. but that hurt our fingers and was slow and annoying. so we devised a contraption.
we taped the button down and stuck the end of the hairdryer into a roll of toilet paper. then we wedged the roll between the toilet tank and the seat and VOILA! our own personal drying machine. that was our best engineering.
then a bunch of us squeezed into one room and watched erin brockovich. when it was over at 11:30, kim and i continued our work. we worked until 1 am (due to some difficulties, such as the glue bottle crushing our bridge) and finally hit the sack.
sunday
we rose for breakfast FAR too early and also packed sack lunches. we presented our bridges and my group won "most likely to attract tourists" for it's pretty look, crookedness (we said we based it on lombard street in s.f., hee hee), and lack of... well, strength. it was cute though. our final activity was to evaluate the trip and write a letter to ourselves which will be mailed one year from now. coolio, i love those things. i will be getting one i wrote in high school about that time too.
the coolest surprise of all... when we turned in our room key, we each were presented with a brand new GRAPHING CALCULATOR from HP. absolutely unfuckingbelievable! this trip only cost $30 -- and we'd already eaten salmon. what more did we want???
even though this was pretty long, i totally breezed thorough it. our days were just packed.(ok, cheesy reference) we piled back into our vans and took off for home, making it in a much shorter amount of time. i liked the experience (i think it was better for the freshman) and now i know 30 more people in davis that i did before. they may not be in my classes because i'm further ahead, but i *may* just see them at the grocery store or the movies, ya know? but i do know i want to go again next year -- as staff.
so i finally got back to the apartment and was SOOOOOO tired. as i walked in the door, the phone was ringing. it was jenn and she was upset. she needed someone to help her move stuff and no one was volunteering. i did an about-face and drove out to help her. we spent a lot of time packing and stuff. unbelievably, this was the first time we've seen each other since the diary crisis, and it wasn't weird. it may have been because it was an emotional time and she knew i was there for her and that was all that needed to be known at this point. but anyways, i was happy to be with her again, even if it was hot, sweaty packing.
i got home at about 7, called jenny back cuz she left a message, and prepared myself leftover salmon dinner (i even made rice and peas. i am sooooo cool). then i got online, read 80 million emails and diaries, talked to ned for about an hour and now i need to go to bed. work tomorrow. sigh.
sorry so long. =) if you're still hanging on, hope you all have a wonderful night/day/etc....
~holly~
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