has it really been a month?

indeed it has. i am now typing from the halls of syracuse university.

so much has happened since i left, im not sure where to begin.

for one thing, i went to costa rica, so that definetly needs to be covered. all my pictures can be viewed on my flickr account or my facebook account (if you have access to that info) but here are some of the ones i really love.

flowers at the gardens

coffee plantations near san jose

mariposa!

monkeys!!

pink orchids at la paz

apparently, these are typical costa rican carts. but i only saw this one.

orosi valley

coffee. i drank this too much. but i swear it was necessary

pictures from the wedding i went to in orosi. at this one point, the band found out i was american and played this medely of american songs. but it was like elvis and other stuff like that.

these were the boys from my mission site in Cahuita.
abner and arturo.

eeeeee! GINA!!! magical costa rican princess of the universe. these were the girls from my vacation bible school.

this is a girl from one of the houses we visited. her mother cooked food for 50 of us for about 6 days.

vacation bible school

we never really figured out this boys name because he was deaf and mute but we just called him mogly like that guy from the jungle book.

this girl was at the little corner shop we went to almost everyday in Talamanca. we wiped it completely of cocacola.

these boys were watching the soccer game between the US missionaries and the Costa Ricans. i dont remember who won.

MOMONES!!! distant fruit cousin of the lychee. they look like eggs/eyeballs but taste like plums.

MARVIN! this was the lead construction guy/maestro on our work site. he was ridiculously nice.

this was as far as we got on the work site. id like to think we built half a house and helped out the family. their original house burned down.

"those are they biggest cojones i have ever seen."

thank god for stuart macris for saying that during the like, 45 we spent looking at these monkey's balls.

the beach/resort playa blanca on the pacific coast.

back in houston, not much has been happening.

oh well, besides harry potter. which ended exactly how i wanted it to. FANTASTICALLY.

midnight book party! you know it. i sort of got really into it. i swear we totally found those stick wands and didnt break a tree to get them.....

kate and jessica who dressed up as the longbottoms because they are oh so clever.

me, teaching everyone about witchcraft.

OH! this was at patronella's. this leeeetttle italian restaurant in the heights that zoe took us to. it was fabulous. the bread was so good and our waiter was hilarious.

New York: Columbia Days 1 and 2

Wow. I mean WOW. no, what i really mean is WOW wee WOW.

im at Columbia, and i still can't believe that people actually study here. its some of the most beautiful architecture and landscape and everything else that ive ever seen.

anyway, kate and i are here for journalism camp for about 5ish days. im doing a writing/reporting class while kate has on the big briches in her editing class.

we are currently sitting in the college cafe (even though its closed), wondering what type of cake will we get at the market next door, and avoiding the articles we have due tommorow. or at least i am.

so, kate and i take a walk around harlem and the first big thing we really see is this latin church revival.

HAAa.AHHAHA. we also saw this bra. funny story: my mom saw these album pictures on facebook and she calls me and goes, "was that your bra?" srsly????MOM WHAT?

Right now, although its the end of june, all the nyc high schools are having their graduations and a lot of them are at columbia. here's a girl getting a hug from somebody.

Here's kate studying up or trying to get internet access....its IMPOSSIBLE to get in our dorms. which are actually quite nice. and come with.......................

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE TOILET LEVER!!!!!!!!!hahahahahaha, yes. our toilet has instructions so that we may better protect the enviroment.

coming next! i become best friends with alexa vega!!!

New York Day 5: a sad little leaving party

On the last day, i decided to meet gabt and my mom near the lower east side.

Otafuku! for okonomiyaki and tako yaki. its in the lower east side. i decided to venture here alone because i didnt want gaby to die of shock.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! fried octopus balls and shrimp pancake!

I walked around for a couple hours and shopped around the east side. i found all these great shops, including this Tibetan one that i really liked. Then i met Gaby and my mom at Atlas Cafe. it was great middle eastern food. here is my mom's lentil soup, which both gave us cravings for my mom's homemade stuff. im not going to lie, towards the end of this trip i got really sick of sweet and fried foods.

nutella banana crepe.

gaby trying on sunglasses. five seconds later, we got yelled at for taking pictures. jerks.

this is a statue in the MET. my mother and gaby went to chinatown, but i decided to head back to the east side to see the exhibits. there was a wonderful photography exhibit. the greek/roman statue room was giagantic and too big to take in.

someone on the steps of the MET.

my last bus

an open window, walking home.

hey mrs. winderman! in this picture, she's actually leaving. but she left kitters with me so that we could leave to for breakfast and COLUMBIA.

new york days 3 and 4: bus shmuss

wow, im ridiculously behind in blogging my new york expirience. but here's what i did on days

and four.

I managed to get a quick snapshot of our flat on E 67th before i left.

so, on day 3 i went down to the International Center for Photography, which had a great and extremely informative Amelia Erhard exhibit and another exhibit honoring the great magnum photographer, David Seymour. yes, i pretty much cried.

I was supposed to meet my mom over at MoMA, but things sort of got messed up and i ended up spending a lot of time walking around the theatre district.

BREAD AND OLIVE, best felafel sandwich...hands down, amazing. if i could write an entire blog on my felafel, i would. but im not.

AHHH! japanese treats! i forgot the name of the place i got these at, but it was precious! i got red bean cakes and some really good .

So this is the dolce and gabanna poster gaby and i saw on the way to see Grey Gardens. It was HUGE and madison avenue. we laughed at it for like, a good 15 minutes. clearly.

After the play, we all headed over to hot and crusty. our favorite little late night food shack.

Day Four:

morning, rocky.

you know, hanging in the garden after a nice rain fall.

YES! day four west village goods! after pretty much memorizing the bus map, the oyer women clan headed over to chelsea. [brgr] was the shit. hands down. everybody really enjoyed it and so did me and my veggie burger........and sweet potatoe fries.

BILLY's BAKERY! now i can officially declare my dedication to dessert blogs. its vanilla butter cream. to be honest, i remember the people more than the food at billy's. i loved every single person that worked there and walked through the door.

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