"That was amazing. Thank you."

Yes, I'm home at last. If college is going to be like that with more boys, sign me up straight away! Teh fun.

But before I add the final piece to the narrative of Pennsylvania Teen Stays at MIT for a Month, I would like to make a few announcements.

Dear God,

I know we've never been the best of friends, but was it really necessary to take out your divine fiery anger of righteousness on my innocent little computer? I can't live without him! No, seriously. And that whole putting sand in my camera thing was totally not cool, either. I know you tried to play it off like it was my fault for bringing an expensive digital camera to the beach, but whatever, dude. I see right through you. However, I'm willing to forgive and forget if you could just do your thing and make my computer turn on when I press the power button and get the sand particles out of my camera lens. Thanks, dude.

Hugs and kisses, me.

So there were 985 messages on my hoe.org account, of which, I swear, 700+ were spam. What IS that? People suck, y0. But I've decided that since my computer is not functioning, I'd like to have people e-mail me at almedastar at gmail dot com instead of my hoe address, okay? When you're on a shared computer, webmail = teh best option.

And now, back to Cambridge.

We'll start with Thursday. After spending precious moments of my life pleading with the heartless one to come to the Garment District with me, I went down to the lobby to wait for Xin and Rachel, who wanted to come but had gone to get money from the bank.

So I am at the computer that one is only supposed to use briefly, verifying that I can find my way to the Garment District with the wonders of MapQuest. Lauren is unconscious on a bench, trying to catch up on sleep [a vain attempt!].

As I'm puttering around on the computer I notice a male college student in running attire approaching the dorm. I also notice [with my keen skills of observation] that there is no one manning [or womanning, rather] the front desk. Immediately I become intensely interested in the contents of the monitor, not wanting to make eye contact with the male, and thus feel obliged as a member of the human species to let him in and be held responsible if he turned out to be some sort of evildoer who would wreak havoc on the dorm.

Unfortunately, he was a persistent sort of bloke and when he started pounding loudly on the door, I felt if someone did not let him in soon, the obnoxious racket would kill me. Because the only someone in the vicinity capable of doing so was I, I left the computer, went and opened the door, then returned to reading livejournals. He, in his sweating, panting, just-went-for-a-run state, gasps for breath near the large fans in the lobby. I roll my eyes to myself and become engaged in reading other people quote me.

So I'm giggling absentmindedly to myself when the sweaty college boy grunts, "That must be pretty funny." I, uncomprehending at first, give him a questioning look. "What you're reading. You look amused."

"Oh, yes. My friend's livejournal."
"Hm?"
"My friend's livejournal."
"What?"
"My friend's livejournal."
"Oh, sorry. I'm a bit out of it today."
*patronizing nod* *returns to reading*
[pause] "What are you doing here for the summer?"
*embarrassed on his behalf* "Er, I'm in a summer program. I'm in high school." *apologetic look*
*eyes widen* "Oh. You look like you're much older."
*indulgent smile*

And, Jesus bless 'im, he pressed on, as if to prove he weren't just trying to get in my pants and was foiled now that he learned I was underage. So we discussed my summer program briefly and I learned that he had one more term at MIT, and eventually he left and I fled to the safety of standing near Lauren. I told her my story, and just to prove to her that I hadn't been lying, he came back and spoke to us about the Garment District before leaving for good.

Eventually we gave up on Xin and Rachel and started walking, but fortunately we met them on the way there, so all was happy. At GD, I was v. tempted to purchase a pink wig, but eventually decided I could dye my hair for cheaper and bought a really cute pink-striped shirt and two two-dollar scarves. Hurrah!

Friday was the last full day. During lunch I mailed a box of clothes [it arrived yesterday, yay!] and my electronic lab kit home. Packing is so bothersome. After our last day of classes finished, there was the dinner banquet at which we received our monthbooks and certificates, and then the talent show!

Funnily enough, I was extraordinarily nervous about this before I went to Cambridge [because I! have! no! talents!], but it was completely informal and fun. People did normal things like play piano, guitar, oboe, violin, and the noseflute [okay, so perhaps not so normal]. At one point everyone was refusing to go up and be talented, so Kali and I took the stage and barked out everyone's names in our beautifully deep man!voices. Except not so much because we were laughing, which made it difficult, and we weren't coordinating very well, and eventually someone else became quite convinced that she did have a talent to show off, after all.

My finest hour was the GEB [= Gödel, Escher, Bach] dialogue. My dear pal Charlie and I performed the parts of Tortoise and Achilles, with she doing the Tortoise voice deadpan and I doing Achilles in various accents, shouted out by Kali in the audience. These included Shakespeare, Gollum, Orlando Bloom, Sailor Moon, surfer, Captain Jack Sparrow, dying old man, German, whale, MIT student, Jamaican, Crocodile Hunter, robot, Ron Weasley, and others. And for some reason, people seemed to find these slightly entertaining, so that brought me great joy. My favourite was probably Orlando Bloom, which involved running about the stage and delivering lines in the style of "A red *shakes head from side to side* sun *dramatic pause* rises. *trot trot trot* Blood *deep breath* has been spilt *looks around* this night. *runs fingers through hair*"

Also during the talent show I sang "Elephant Love Medley" with Xin and others, and then we sang it again with our own words, specifically tailored to WTP. And as the talent show deteriorated, I also performed the modern dance piece Crossing the Street.

.2 Klan: "Why is it called jaywalking?"
2 Klan over 5: "*rolls eyes* Because it's spelt G-A-Y."
.4 Klan: ". . ."
.2 Klan: *saunter*

Eventually people ran out of talent and we spent a good deal of time signing each other's monthbooks. And somehow I never went to sleep, yay.

But then I had to say goodbye to everyone and wait a really long time for a plane. Travel just isn't that fun when you're struggling to stay conscious.

At last I arrived home and after debriefing with the parenting team, spent a long time sleeping. When I finally woke up, my home!friends kidnapped me to do all sorts of things.

Krista, Aaron, and I went to see A Cinderella Story [*chunder*]. KT&Marisa and I had a lovely dinner and watched Moulin Rouge *hand clutch*. A large gang of us picnicked in the rain, and then loafed about Ryan's house. Although let me say, it is a bit awkward when there's you, then your two friends who are going out and your other two friends who are going out. Hmm. Especially when it's all stormy and people are like, "if the lights go out, snog the person nearest you."

But it was okay, friends = good. Today I attended some sort of 'Reading for Rascals' event, which I'm still a little bit confused about. But I saw friends and got food. Food! Yay.

And on that note, I'll end. Muah to everyone who read this ghastly novella. <3

Almeda | 28.07.04 11:53 | TrackBack