so, when i registered for the retreat, they assigned me a car (since i didnt have a car and opted not to walk there). so i was placed in a car of all girls. goody yay, GIRLZ NITE!!!!111one
i climb in with julie, heather and christa. it was going to be awesome. i knew these girls but i didnt know them very well. by the end of the trip, we knew each other very well. christa actually liked me and then hated me, and then i gave her some chocolate and now shes my friend again. (but she still gives me the stink eye)
like i said 3 paragraphs prior, we had to wait in the border-crossing line for 2.5 hours. it was ridiculous so we HAD to make it fun. the way i made it fun was to go into the duty free shop and buy chocolates (which i used later as a swiss/american peace offering)
while i was in this huge duty free shop, i was really tempted to go up to the counter (they had a counter by the way....they were selling coffee and gelato) and say, "there isnt any duty in this chocolate gelato is there???"
but i "grew up" and didnt. so i opted to settle for going into the bathroom and having a conversation with myself in the mirror for 6-7 minutes. oh, and strangers dont like it when you say, "hey dad" to them.
as i walk out of the duty free shop, i see the rest of the girls out of the car and grinning. ohhh great, i must have missed something funny. so i get there and they told me that some of my possessions "may" be missing...
awesome. i have to look like a jackass while searching for my belonging in this huge line of cars. so i head one way...and not a minute passes before i hear an old couple yelling out of their oldsmobile to go the other. awesome, at least someone is on my side!
i find my hoodie and i think im done. but nay. my passport is missing. honestly, who hides someone's passport while we are about to cross the border. but it was close to the car bc they were scared someone might steal it...they wanted to keep an eye out. more like 6 girly eyes.
adventure 1 over?
i guess thats an adventure.
so we begin the second adventure. which was to play dutch blitz on the trunk of the car. now i didnt know what this card game was but it was awesome. a lot of fun. and when we had to move forward, someone would climb in the car and slowly move ahead while the rest of us would keep playing and walking at the same time. everyone else were pissed because they werent having as much fun as us. we rule.
oh, the reason christa hated me was because she was at first denied at the border bc she was swiss and she was walking. ok well, julie and her decided that since she would probably have to go inside to get her fingerprints and picture taken, then it would be faster if she went ahead and did all that jazz. well, this is what they encountered:
Pissed Off Officer: "where are you from"
Christa: "switzerland, you know, the harmless neutral country"
POO: "where are you walking to?"
C: "uhhh america"
POO: "where exactly!"
C: "well, im with a car but i thought it would be faster to walk because to see if i had to fill out anything since im neither canadian nor american"
POO: "you cant do that, you have to go away. you have to go back to your car and once you and your car come, all 4 of your have to come inside for questioning!"
sooo christa hated me because im american and refused her into my country. a couple minutes after posing for pictures of 'me kicking christa out of america' i gave her some chocolate and asked if she liked me again. she was unsure.
ARRIVAL!
we finally get to the camp and its dark. it took forever for us to get there. stupid border.
so my plan was to share a tent with my friend andy. but i had no idea where he was and he had no idea if i was even going to show up that night. but we finally found each other and i climbed in the tent. we had nice pillow talk for a bit and then went to sleep. he fell asleep really fast and almost immediately started snoring. i was in trouble.
lets just say, i didnt get much sleep.
i also wake up to a puddle of water beside me.
the retreat was SO AWESOME regardless if it sprinkled the whole time. all the chapel services and activities were so fun. it was really great that we all could come and hang out and get to know each other better.
saturday night was probably the most fun of the trip.
we did some ceilidh dancing which is traditional scottish dancing. IT WAS SO AWESOME and i was super sweaty...well everyone was super sweaty. yeah i definitely want to do that again, at some hip club. just walk in while everyone is trying to booty dance and just bust out some ceilidh dancing skillz with some friends. WE WOULD RULE THE NIGHT.
after the dancing was THE TALENT SHOW WHATEVER!!!
the talent show was totally premium. there were acts of actual talent but for the most part it was just meant to be funny. the host, joe, was awesome. the whole time he spoke, it was like stand up. his material was great but maybe a little much for kids.....and yes there were kids there. my favorite quote was from a professor who go up and said:
"joe, you are really funny, my favorite part of your monologue is the 10-12 questions that my little boys are asking me that i wont be able to answer for another 5 years!"
i was actually recruited to join in a group talent gig. it was really fun.
this is how it went:
the first video is of matt and his heartfelt poem that he wrote when he was in high school. high school was pretty rough on him. im in the second video...the second video is part 2 and is a response to matts poem. our part was kind of an artistic interpretation of matts poem... im the guy with the black pants, white jacket and hat.
yeah, we rule. im professional now. millions of dollars.
the best compliment was from my new costa rican friend eduardo. i asked him how we did and he grabbed my shoulder, looked intently in my eyes and said, "you are going to make it my friend"
after the retreat, we piled in the car and headed home. the wait to get into canada was like 20 minutes. it was awesome. canadians were way cooler and less paranoid.
all in all, it was an AWESOME trip. i got to know so many people well, it is so great to have such a tight community in an academic setting.
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