Today was very much a New Me kind of day.

I say that for a few reasons... mainly, though, because it shows how much I've changed in the last year or so. I went for a long walk and loved it, a healthy choice I would have dreaded just a couple years ago. I went to a meeting for the comittee that runs Latino Week- I had to represent the M&Ms, the honorary latinas-maybe it doesn't look like chocolatey goodness on the outside, but it's what's inside that counts! Back at my dorm, I listened to a lot of reggaeton and talked to some friends from Ecuador. I am missing it a lot today. It's sometimes hard to believe I was really there.
And for that, I think it's important to say, for my benefit and for anyone reading, that this blog serves an evolving purpose; it was, for a long time, my Ecuador blog. But this is my blog, first and foremost, and it will be my college blog wholly and truly after just a few entries. And in light of that, there is no longer a difference between the life I led in Ecuador and the way I think today. It was the last year of my life. It is hat I do, it is what I know. This blog carries over just as much of the past as I do!

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College is going the same, more or less, as it was last week. I've been trying to call home and/or call around in general more often, especially when I have built-in 10 minute walks across campus with which to make these calls. We've been invited to twenty frat parties but haven't been to one. A song written specifically about New Paltz says it best: "You'll never see the smart girls rollin' with the frat guys"; that is to say, if you're smart about frat parties, you won't attend them. And so we don't; we join a whole other flock of people, listening to acoustic musicians at 60 Main, watching movies in one of our residence halls, washing laundry, singing on the lawn, staying up until bizarre hours talking about anything that comes across our minds, tiring ourselves of dining hall food, cleaning, napping, and studying, of course- all of which I have done in the last 3 or 4 days.

I was sick for Monday and Tuesday of last week, but I'm better now. I was lucky enough to see three different doctors, not one of which ever came to any conclusion. The two most likely theories are 1) a burst cyst on my ovary being reabsorbed into my system, or 2) a nasty reaction to the dining hall. Either way, I was in wincing, bent-over discomfort that came and went in waves for about 48 hours. I feel better now, but, come ON!- three doctors? no results? What is this world coming to?

An excellent addition to my college life in the last week would have to be the family portraits I finally framed and propped up on my desk! Smiling faces that I miss all the time- a real gift. Thanks, Dad and Kim!

My music choice of the week is a woman named Tender Forever- if you're into hippie-esque music by middle-age lesbian folk singers, TF will be right up your alley. Her music is sweet and sexless and romantic and above all, fun!

(Oh, and note to self; be wary, if you're ever trying to get a taxi again on a Saturday in the pouring rain. You'll probably be late for work!)