August Update

Hi all!!!
Time to update the blog for the coming school year. I just wanted to be the first to post after summer :) he he
Shannie

Happy Summer

Hi Nikole,
Just checking in. Did Birdy make it there safe? Elena is at camp now, and I am waiting for you to come back soon! Did the second and third pages of workouts make it to your inbox?
Right now I'm at the Cooks' Redwings game party and ready to go home. I have to sleep before work tomorrow. (don't laugh, Birdy). That's about it for now. Talk to you later.
~Shannon

:)

Good skyping with you today. I'll write something interesting soon.
xoxo Shannie

omg its almost june

thanks for the track update shan! i miss track sooo much. im serious! haha remember the 'girls get hips' speech? didnt stop us tho :)

cant wait to see you this summer!

one month left...exactly! wow. you know where to find me-IGA from 9 ta 5 haha

Update on Track Regionals

Hi all: Jackie updated me on the results of yesterday's Regional D-4 Track meet. The girls' team will be sending the 4x800m relay team to states, and the guys' 4x400m relay will be going to Gobles as well. The girls' team includes Jackie, Katie B., Amanda G. and Julia (R., I think). Last I heard the guys in the 4x400 were about 8 seconds away from the school record. Jackie said she placed third (almost second) in the open 400m and third in the 4x400m relay. So Close!!! She didn't want to talk about her high jump though (we love you anyway, Jackie!!). So, that's the news from Alcona Track and Field. Their last home meet will be the Alpena News Meet two tuesdays from now (the 26th?). Only a couple of weeks until the state meet!!!! Next practice is Tuesday, Elena, if you want to meet me there. Can't wait 'till you get home, Nikole!! I haven't gotten the soccer summer training book yet, but when I do I'll be sending you some work outs :)
Talk to you soon,
Shannon

yo

i just wanted to ask: elena, where have u been?

hope u guys are having fun back home...ill be there soon soon soon!

waldorf

hey shan! i love the pic!! u guys are soo cute and im gunna have to meet ur little sometime.
well today is the day before 'waldorf,' that is an old swedish tradition of watching bonfires burn apparently...the last day of april every year.
ill let u know how it goes :)

Another photo for our Blog

Hi El and Nikole,

This is a photo of Taniesha and I that I saved for our blog. Its from our bike trip a couple of weeks ago. We are sitting on a giant turtle :)

HeHe

Those are cute Nikole. Made my day sunny...haven't been up to much here. Our last soccer practice is tomorrow and we are scrimmaging the whole time. There is an Ithacapella concert tomorrow at 8pm. They're a men's a capella group at IC, and are REALLY GOOD. I guess they did a backup for some famous pop/rock group along the way and have travelled all over the nation to perform. I got to see them perform at Relay 4 Life. The concert tomorrow is on campus and is FREE so I'm definitely going to that. I'll see if I can't get a CD to share with you.
Talk to you soon,
xoxo shannon

i have two jokes:

1. an englishman calls in to the german navel center screaming 'we're sinking!!! we're sinking!'
the german replays 'okay...but what are you sinking about?'

2. Q. does chuck norris get wet when he steps into a puddle?
A. nope, the puddle gets chuck norrised

hahaha

love u both

Hi: This was a talk I went to today. Really interesting. Dr. Ismail talked about his own experience and emphasized how inhumane the current Israeli embargo on Palestinian territories is. He was a part of the only US relief group to go to the Gaza strip, and his US team was one of the only not supported by their nation.
He recommended the book by Jimmy Carter: "Palestine: Peace not Aparthied".
Here are some websites he also recommended visiting:
www.btselem.org B'tselem
www.phr.org.il physicians for human rights -- Israel
www.jatoonyc.org Jews against the occupation
www.wmea.co Washington report on Middle East Affairs
Before this talk I really didn't know a lot about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict -- it really opened my eyes to the injustices that are occurring that we aren't aware of (at least I wasn't).Thanks for reading, Shannon

somehow i managed to get sunburnt

yeah so on sunday i was sitting outside reading. in a tank top. for an hour. on a 53 degree day in sweden. and i got incredibly sunburnt!!! i mean...i think that has to take some skill. i have perfectly white tanlines and i had a big bandaid on so now i have a completely white square in the middle of my stomach. haha so yea i thought i would share....oh and it was cool talking to ya guys on saturday :) yippeee. oh and today i had a totally random day. me and dianna were cd shopping round stockholm and we met a painter dude and his amature (sp?) documentary movie making friend. so we talked to them for a while and took coffee or whatever (we had met them before)...and they are tottally crazy, in a good way tho i think. the movie dude has this big plan for saving iceland...hes serious too. he thinks he can do a statue or something (like the statue of liberty or whatever) and it will draw tourists there. and then the painter guy had apparently met orlando bloom a few weeks ago. cuz he plays chess at a certain bar place every sunday with his friends. and it was super crowded taht day but he managed to get a table and he put down his chess board and waited for his friends. he didnt get his drink either cuz the waitress was so busy with all the ppl in there. and then some dude (orlando bloom) scooted into the chair across from him and asked if he could play. his head was down too and plus the artist guy didnt kno who he was anyway. so they played a few games of chess and then orlando said he was gunna order a drink. and the artist guy said that--oh well linn is pretty busy today so itll take awhile, or u might have to just order from the bar....but orlando just like snapped his fingers and they came with champagen and stuff lol. and then all of artist guys friends were like all amazed and like mad cuz artist guy didnt even kno who orlando bloom was. hahaha. okay well anyway i just thought that was really funny. yeep. and then i did some rock climbing...and now im home and im starting school again tomorrow...............

i love you xoxoxoxoxoxo

koleson

April Showers are Snowflakes this time

Hi El and Nikole:
Well, spring was/is good -- warm rainy days alternating with warmer sunny days. Last night though, it snowed, and sprinkled snow today until about 5pm when it got warm and sunny again. I think Ithaca weather is more indecisive than northern Michigan's. Oh boy...sorry to blab about the weather. Next Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be sunny and warm so Taniesha and I are planning on going for a bike ride with her new bike (that she knows she is getting for Easter). Don't want to make this long. Looking forward to your next post(s).
Have a good Easter!
Shannon

april showers bring mayflowers

hey! how is your spring going? i am on spring break now...im thinking about going swimming (at a pool, not ouside yet) today...but i woke up kinda sick...ugh. hmm ill write more later.

Neat Fact for Today

Hi Nikole and El:
Did you know that there used to be a marsupial wolf species? It was last sighted in Tasmania in the 1950s (now extinct). Here's a link if you want to read about it (it's short) or see the picture: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/marsupial/marsupial.html
xo Shannon

Skype, skype, skype, skype

Hi koleson and el,
My dad told me he got to talk to you on skype, kolie. He thought it was pretty cool and said it was good to hear from you (he always asks me how you are doing, so now he got to tell me (how you're doing)). Sorry we didn't get a chance to skype this weekend. I don't have badminton anymore :( but that also means that I don't have class from 1-3pm on mondays and wednesdays :) so we can skype during that time (6-8 in Sweden?) if you are not out skiing in the Alps, or cruising on a European bus, or climbing a mountain...just give moi a call....
Well, I'd write more, but I really need to finish my paper that is due tomorrow. AAAH!
lots of love yous,
Shannie

hey

hey el and shan! just wondering how everythings been going...i miss you guys!!!

love, nikole

MAAARRCHHHH

hellooooooo

okay shan shan, that chocolate thing sounds preTty amazing!! something i would def. love haha. my sweet tooth is so bad and lent is just about killing me...okay not really but i have almost no willpower lol. how did the sleepover go? end up finding a sleeping bag or just rolled up newspaper? hmmm austria was super duper really fun, and i believe i sent u both a little sumthin sumthin so ull have to check the mail. but now, im back in school...and it is stressful ahhhhhhhhh. deep breath....oh, and my english is getting worse and worse. my spelling was already bad b4, now its hardly readible and my talking...well,....u shall see when we skype. so have fun on spring break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YA

kolieolioliolio

Hi all, Hope vacation and college and life is going well. It's almost March! Going home next weekend. Here's an interesting article I found. Entertainment for when you have some downtime.
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/russ/
xxoo shannie

Ooh! Greece!

Hi,
Have fun on break Nikole!!!!! Take lots of pictures :) we can skype when you get back.
How did the LGBT conference go Elenor? Did you meet lots of interesting people?
Tonight I had a liturgy committee meeting and afterward went to a talk on "The Early History of Chocolate" about the cacao bean's cultural place in early Mesoamerica. Growing on the cacao tree are lots of pods, and in the pods are the seeds and the pulp. The pulp was used to make chicha, or beer; the fermenting also gives beans their chocolaty flavor. The beans were also used for currency (one bean=one tomato/avacado in wealthier trade areas where cacao was cultivated). So, a basic message: in pre-Colombian mesoamerica they made beer out of chocolate and money grew on trees. There was also hand-made chocolate (milk to 85% dark!)from the anthropology class that sponsored the lecture and hot chocolate there too (yum!). Also some chips of the inside of beans (extra yum!) and some whole cacao beans that I may send with the baton next time. Overall, a very excellent event.
Tomorrow there is a sleepover at the Ithaca Youth Bureau for Littles and their Bigs, so I'll be going to that since I didn't get to see Taniesha on Tuesday. We're going to go see a Cornell Women's basketball game. I'm really excited! The only thing is that I don't have a sleeping bag :(
Hope to hear from you adventurers soon!
xxoo Shannon

STRAX SKA JAG ÅKA SKIDOR I ÖSTERIKA

hey guys!

i just wanted to let you know that if i dont write for a while, its because im on sport holiday!!! wahoooo. yup we are leaving at 5.30 tomorrow morning (so like 11.30 thurs night your time), and ill be back in like ten days....

I LOVE YOU

pray that i wont break a leg...or arm....

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxoixooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! (A day late). I'm glad we got to skype, even though it was only a couple minutes. IC doesn't have wireless, or I would have taken my computer somewhere else. How did the cookies turn out?
Ski trip sounds like a blast! Take lots of pictures. Pictures will be good from the Big Gay conference too Elenor. Maybe a rainbow flag? Ithaca is very into LGBT things, and they just had a front page story in the Ithacan about an IC professor who is worried about what could happen to her family (her partner and their son) with all of the changing laws regarding gay marriage. Plus the college has lots of gay music/theatre guys....
I'm going to Longview -- it's a senior care center (i.e. nursing home) about a half mile up the road from IC -- with Molly to give mass. I haven't done it before, but we basically just read the mass, sing a psalm, and give communion. It should be good, but afterward I have to catch the bus to the Sciencenter so I can work there noon-5pm. Yesterday I worked and got to help with the touch-tank, where there are chocolate-chip starfish and a pencil sea urchin and little and big hermit crabs that we can help kids pick up and learn about. A TON OF FUN. My hands got all pruny from being submerged in salt water for two hours.
That's it for now, love you love you love you.
Oh -- and I've only watched the first 1/3 of P.S. I Love You, so I definitely need to sit down and watch that sometime.
AAAAh! --- And I just remembered that I forgot to tell you who came to Ithaca a few days ago to give a guest lecture: Dr. John Carlos, 1968 bronze medalist in the 200m dash at the Olympics in Mexico. He held up a gloved fist along with Tommy Smith to represent all of the oppressed peoples of the world. There's a video online "Return to Mexico" that you can google if you're interested. It was a really awesome talk, he talked a lot about growing up in Harlem, and what he experienced growing up in the U.S. during all of the political tension. He's a really cool person, and I'd tell you more, but I have to go to Longview now.
Peace :)

Grattis På Hjärtens Dag!!!

Happy happy happy valentines day! hope your day is filled with hearts (shannon) and lots of gay pride (elena). and yes i want a t shirt. or pin. or both haha. anyways, my day is not so interesting...i climbed earlier though so now my fingers are no longer capable of gripping anything at all. yesterday i did art the entire day at school, i was in the zone, so i didnt even eat lunch lol. ill take pictures of my stuff sometime to show you. yesterday i made two sculptures and one painting. but i dunno how im gunna be able to take them all home with me on the plane. yup yup so i love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps. will u be my valentine?

If I were a flower growin' wild and free, all i'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee

Ahahahaha! Ahhhh..... yeah.  So I just saw this picture today, and the song was stuck in my head.  And then I read the blog.  And I needed to show you guys.  

Shannon, oh my goodness, Shabbath sounds awesome! There are a bunch of Jewish guys in the RCAH, and it's cool to hear their ideas about their own history.  I mean, most of the stuff I've read about the Holocaust and Jewish history in general (besides the Diary of Anne Frank) has been by everybody else.  

Nikoleson:  So. Jealous.  Ski holiday?! That is of the awesome!  And yes, I've seen him kind of a lot.  We study in the library together.  So romantic, right? :p  Speaking of romantic, I've seen p.s. I love you, and I cried.  lots.  with my sister.

I go to the Big Gay Conference tomorrow!  I'll get you guys something gay.  Like... a rainbow flag.  Or an ally t-shirt.  Or an "I love god, but I don't hate gay people" pin.  Because I saw one of those and it was awesome.  I've just realized that I use the word "awesome" much too much.  I should work on that.

Anyhoo, 

   love you guys.  

i shot the sheriff, but i didnt shoot the deputee

hola hej greetings:

shan. thats cool that you went to the shabbath (sp?), we are learning about judendom (cant think of the word in eng. at the moment) in my religion class. test on thurs. and i think it is really interesting!! also, i read a book that u have prolly heard of or read already yourself called 'when bad things happen to good people' and it was written by a rabbi.

elenor. gotta love gospel choirs!! its weird in sweden cuz everyones like athiest so u never see ppl worked up over what they believe in like that. and also cuz swedes are shy in general i think. i am glad or unglad that your non date-date went well and non datelike. have u hung out with him since?

i have nothing much to add, other than that i had a girls night and we watched 'p.s. i love you' which is soo sad and we all cried like the whole movie. so i dont recommend it. unless your shannon, because their is nothing about a fox or a hound :)

nothing new here really, just waiting for my ski holiday (yeah, they get a ski holiday, for a week every winter). yup. so. theirs no words that can describe my love of my shannon and elena.

ps. about the title: that song was stuck in my head today, and if u dont kno that song, u should look it up and listen and then get it stuck in your head too.

Shabbath Shalom!

Hi: just want to tell you about my Friday night. I went to a Jewish Shabbath (pronounced shabbat), or service. It was at six, and usually they go to the terrace dining hall afterwards and have a kosher meal. So I went to the service part at Muller Chapel, where they also have Catholic and Protestant masses. It was really cool, and I even met a girl there who was in my freshman seminar class last semester. It was a small group, and we all sat on one side of the chapel, facing Yishrael (if I am remembering the spelling of "Israel" right.) Shabbath consisted of constant praying, singing the prayers out of individual copies of the prayer book (Torah, I think), with some brief teachings by the rabbi to explain and give a brief history of some of the prayers. Some prayers we said in unison, some were only said by the rabbi; all were sung and most were in Hebrew (or was it Yiddish?). Sometimes we stood up, but mostly sat. I'm sure everyone could tell I had never been to a Shabbath before, because I started reading the Torah from left to right (it's supposed to be read right to left, turning the pages to the right). It was difficult at first too to try and follow along because it wasn't in English. But the copys of the scripture we had had Hebrew (Yiddish?) written in Arabic, hebrew written for pronunciation (with western letters), english translation, and english explainations of the scripture for each part of the prayers. It was very free-form (of course that might be because I didn't understand the reasons each prayer was said), and an interesting break from the Christian tradition. A very relaxing and meditative gathering. Sadly, I didn't attend the dinner.

Egg Fu Yung...

...is delicious!!  I got some for lunch today because I didn't think I'd be able to get into the caf because last night at about 9:30 the roof of our caf turned into a waterfall.  They think a water pipe burst or something, and the whole place got flooded.   There was a LOT of water!  And they put up an oh-so-helpful "caution wet floor" sign in the middle of the huge puddle, which was funny.  Unfortunately, they also decided to set off the fire alarms, so we had those going for about two hours.  Anyway, I didn't think the caf would be open for a while, but I guess it was today.  Oh, well.  I got egg fu yung!  And Jimmy Johns' 50 cent bread.  If I was homeless, that's what I'd eat.  

I went to the MSU Gospel Choir the other day, because I'm researching them for my ethnomusicology class.  They are crazy, crazy good!  And they let me sing with them, although I was actually more focused on swaying right and trying to clap on beat than singing.  The director is amazing!  There is absolutely no sheet music, ever.  He just has it all in his head, and everyone just remembers their part once he sings it for them.  And all the songs are improv, so he'll be like, "say be encouraged" and the choir will sing "be encouraged", and so on, and he seems to be just making up the order as he goes along.  And the band seems to know exactly what they need to do, no matter what the director's doing.  And they're amazing.  And I love it.  

The not-date was, in fact, a not-date.  :( ... or :)?  I don't know.  I went to his apartment and he made me chinese food, which was delicious, but I also had to play Snow White and clean the kitchen because it was disgusting!  But it was fun.  And then his friend showed up, and we all went to play ping-pong and talk and watch Jet Li movies at my dorm.  So it wasn't really a date.  But it was still really fun.  His friend is very funny.

Shan:  Our spring break is the same as yours!! We should do something... dunno what... Florida? :)

Nikole:  You jumped a little over 15 ft!  :) 

Love you guys.  Lots and lots and lots.

News from Lake Cayuga

Hi, Nothing too new since I talked to you guys last...just that I got the BATON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't looked through it all yet (there is a lot of stuff in here!) but it did get to see the theatre magnet and the vodka/wine and cheese brocures. And Jackie if you are reading this, I loved your letter :)
I just got back from bible study where we read the book of Ester (or summerized + read a few chapters). Very good book. We are also learning about a different kind of Ester in Chemistry, so you see, the world goes around and I'm beginning to see a lot of connections between words. Like "allosteric inhibition" (has to do with enzymes) and "alla breve" (a music notation), and "Allopolyploids" (dealing with genes)... they all start with "all" if you didn't catch that. Challenge for the day: see how many words you can connect! This shouldn't be too hard with Swedish and Chinese in the mix.
I'm very happy that the party went well Nikole. And long jump too, although I'll be honest and say I haven't done the conversion; it sounds far though :) How did the date, or not-date, go Elenor? Any new concerts/shows for visiting? Beauty and the Beast? And when is your spring break el? (mine is the week of March 9th). Do you have any breaks coming up, Nikole? Spring festivals?
Miss you all tons, xoxo Shannon

Söndag

so. the birthday party went pretty good, i left at 12.30 because i had to get up at 7.30 this morning to help with the hammarby tävling (track competition, my club is hammarby). so i helped with that until 1, and then i had my long jump. i did okay, i think my best jump was 4 meters and like 65 cm, but ill check that later. the ppl there are all crazy good. so anyways im finally home and i really need to sleep soon because ive had a pretty tiring weekend. i have wednesday off school too this week, so that makes my day haha. good luck with the chinese elenor, and i think ur doing the right thing by hanging out with chinese ppl all the time, its really gunna help make the language come quicker. shannon, what other kinds of things do u and your 'little' do? do u have snow in ithaca? I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU GUYS.

Home, Home on the Range....

Hm, well, just want to blog after talking to you. Hope you have a good date El! and you too, Nikole, have fun at your cousin's birthday party! And, remember, no trans-candy.

Explosions and Cookies

so, explosions, thats what happens when i try to bake cookies. in fact, the cookies i was making were pre made and all i had to to was add butter and eggs. i think i have a skill in making everything dangerous. my mom is so nice that she sent me cookie dough stuff, for christmas, because a year without cookies is a depressing thought. and cookies is about the only thing i can bake successfully (and i dont count the time i put a cup of baking soda instead of a teaspoon). so, back to the story....
on the package, it said to soften butter, you should put the unwrapped package of margarine in the microwave for 10 seconds. so i did that. and apparently, swedish margarine is wrapped in somthing different, and it made a loud POP. and when i opened the microwave, it was on fire. yup, so i blew it out and unplugged the microwave and nobody noticed.....man i feel dumb. anyways im talking to you right now, so i am glad....love and kisses, nikole

Hallo!

Hey, guys!  Does anyone have time on Sunday for to have of the Skype chat?  I'm free all day, far as I know.

So today I taught my English class again.  It was fun, but I have waaaay too many people.  I need an assistant or something.  Kelsey and I also stole Mexican condiments from the caf again, which is a very complex operation involving lookouts, hand signals, planned routes, decoy tortilla chips, large fur coats, and tupperware.  (No I am not kidding.)  But we got a large amount of guacamole out of it, so it was worth it! I love guacamole!  Also, Chinese new year was the bane of my existence, because I kept going to parties instead of doing my homework so I ended up writing my paper at two in the morning and keeping Kelsey up (although she never said anything and I thought she was asleep) and then the next day the prof didn't even collect it and I was sad.  Very sad.  There was much vulgarity of language.  

Even though I love that prof because she's my "Decide Whether the US is an Empire" Class prof which is also my honors class and she has very large glasses and a funny (in a teehee way) haircut and wears wool socks with burkenstocks and is rather sarcastic and sort of shuffles and gets chalk over absolutely everything and is extremely intelligent.  And I love her.  I already said that.  I love you guys also.  

I've been trying to get people here to play SET with me, but not much luck so far.  I guess we're weirder than we thought....  Do people play different games in Sweden?  And has anyone from New York heard of euchre?  I did introduce everyone here to the Game of REAL Life, and they naturally thought it was amazing, because it is.  My friend Chris became a disabled prostitute, except he was also a gay Shiite polygamist with twins.  And I became a disabled shaman and got to enlightenment!!!!!  Hooray!!

Also, I think I'm going on a date tomorrow, except it might not be because Hanzhong's from China and I'm not really sure what they consider "dates" to consist of.  But we're making lunch at his apartment and playing ping pong and probably watching Kung Fu Hustle (woot!), which has all the American requirements for "date".  Not sure how I feel about that.  

Love you both.

Skype!!! 

also, play freerice!!

hej tjejer!

hey girls!! just wondering how everythings going. its getting lighter and lighter here nowadays. i just got my grades back and im actually doing okay, despite the tough begining, not that they really matter...i dont have so much to say, i just miss you guys. i need my elenor and shan shan. booohoooooo. hm so i hope everthings good with you both. i have a busy week ahead, so i might not be online so much. love ya, nikole

Back to School (pour moi)

Hi nikole and el. I am finally back to school. a little sad to leave home, but only seven weeks until spring break :) I may end up working at the state park this coming summer, and that is when my interview would be.
Just finished this great book! : How the Irish Saved Civilization can't remember who it is written by. My grandma Helen recommended the book to me. There's a lot of history, but told like a story and very entertaining. I felt very reconnected to my Irish roots when reading it. (Anam Cara "soul friend" is also a very good book grandma recommended, and is full of Celtic wisdom.)
Inauguration is tomorrow. Will you be watching? Leezanne is going to drive to D.C. with a couple of her roommates...she said that she has no hope to see anything because of the masses, but just being there will be cool.
Classes for me start tuesday, and I will prospectively meet with Taniesha then too (I think we're going ice-skating). Keep in touch, talk to you soon! (p.s. skype next weekend?)

january oh january

haha el, nice pictures. i couldnt watch dr horrible!!!! it is because my computer is in sweden and it said that only ppl from the united states could watch movies on hulu. so dumb. yeah my birthday was good, but it was busy. fanny, lena, and jonas woke me up at 6.30, singing a bday song. but that was cool, cuz i got breakfast in bed AND hot chocolate!! btw i have a webcam now, so if u ever wanna watch me...i mean....nvm. but elena, you should get skype because u can call for free (ask shannon for more details, she and i got to talk on it once already). my skype name is nikole.hampton yep, so this week i started school, and i really like my classes! plus i can actually understant what we are learning about so thats a plus. or i can at least figure it out lol. but i do have a ton of hw, im so bad at motivating for that. tonight, im going out in the town with fanny...and right now i have to work on my projekt arbete (like senior project...i think?). oh, and i wanna write u guys letters this weekend...so i cant say anything more....puss och kram (kiss and hug) JAG SAKNAR DIG!!!!

one more thing: its getting brighter!! i could see the sun when i went to school today!! ive really learned to appreciate sunlight since ive been here.....

?!?!

collectible m&m baby

I think I need to watch Dr. Horrible, because just about everyone I know has seen it and likes it. :) 

I am a huge present slacker, Nikoleson (and Shannon), but yours is coming soon!   Hope you had a good Swedish birthday. :)  Do they do anything differently?  Did you get a cake?  

I am in my third day of the new semester, and so far it's pretty fun.  No ice-skating, tho.  I finally have a Chinese professor instead of TAs, and she's really funny!  Except she didn't send us the homework schedule, so no one has any of their work done.  I also have a research writing class that involves music and dancing and field research...?  Not entirely sure what's going on yet, but there are only 10 people in the class, which is 太好了！(great!)  And my other RCAH class only has 8 people.  Basically, residential college rocks!  The 8 person class is an honors class about empires, and the whole point is to decide whether or not the US is an empire.  The professor is really good, but assigns 很多 功课。 (a lot of homework)  We're going to have a two-page paper due every week, plus whatever else she assigns.  I also switched my astronomy class to a linguistics class, but I haven't gone yet.  

I also apologize for sucking at life and keeping in touch and presents.  Will try to do better.  Love you guys.

Hi Nikole and El.!

Just watching Dr. Horrible's sing along.  Its only free to watch until sunday, and then is $2.00 on ITunes. That's why I'm attempting to load it with dial-up.  http://www.drhorrible.com/mushortio.html Its pretty funny, but not the end of the world if you don't get around to watching it.

Ice Skating must be awesome! It sounds like you could skate around all of sweden; skate all day. I've been skiing often, but haven't got around to ice skating yet.  My "little," Taniesha, and I are planning to go when I get back to Ithaca, but that's at a park, and not along the connected rivers and lakes of Sweden :) I'm glad you liked the presents, and had a good break. You'll do great at the track meet, Nikole, no worries! I'll be cheering for you.  Elena goes back to school this weekend (classes the 12th), and I start again on the 20th, Inauguration Day.  Do you think you'll watch any of the inauguration?

My Grandma Helen invited me over for dinner last night so we could spend some time before I go back to Ithaca.  We sat by the fire and watched a new DVD she got: arial views of England, including cities, parks, the countryside and seaside.  It was interesting to watch, and I actually liked it a lot, but it still made me very sleepy.

Anyway, glad you're doing well.  Talk to you soon, and sending lots of love,

Shannon

hello 2009

hey...i just wanted to write in the new year! and also, shannon, i got your package today in the mail and
1) the finger puppets were adorable
2) i liked reading about soccer in the paper
3) the cookies brought back memories.....

love u