back from Rivermede

Welcomed home from my weeklong vacation at Nick's family home in the Adirondacks of Keene Valley, NY by an 8am extraction of all 4 wisdom teeth. I'm actually feeling better than I ever could have expected, which is making me suspicious that my day-after swelling/pain could be something terrible. My chipmunk cheeks are awesome.

I'm slowly getting more information about my placement city, schools and coworkers, which is also exciting.

For the remainder of the week, however, I fully intend to use my oral surgery as a justification for laying in my bed for days on end, watching movies, playing board games, eating ice cream and trying to adjust to life as a mac-user. Hopefully I'll be recuperated enough (and won't look too ridiculous) to enjoy my Yankees-Cubs tickets for Friday.


the Rivermede House



another view of Rivermede Farm


the view from the top of Mt. Blueberry (which was a steep hike despite its adorable name) -you can see the Rivermede Farm in the valley-

enjoying summer already

I spent the day at the beach with my two Nicks.. its the first time I've been in a year and the last time I'll go for a few weeks.

Nick and I leave for our week in Keene Valley tomorrow and I'll have all four of my wisdom teeth pulled at 8am on Monday when we get back--should be FANTASTIC.


I'll miss it when I'm gone..

catching up

I realize that my promise to update as frequently as possible seems to have already fallen by the wayside, but not much was happening after my first post...then too much was going on to sit still for 10 minutes and write about it.

I spent the rest of April and the greater part of May waiting (im)patiently for my JET placement. In between notice of my acceptance and my eventual placement information I had my last days of class at Cornell, slope day, finals, then Nick's senior week and graduation at Wesleyan. While I was in Connecticut my mom called and managed to communicate my placement in Gunma prefecture, the city of Kiryu to me by cell phone. My anxiety continued through the rest of that day until I could get beck to Nick's house to find that Kiryu is barely 50 miles NW of Tokyo and highly accessible by train...what a relief! Basically, JET has given my everything that I asked for. I'm finally feeling able to relax and get excited.


my location in Japan for the upcoming year


Nick after his graduation from Wesleyan University

After all of that we came back to Ithaca for my senior week--champagne brunches, whitewater rafting, winetours and packing--and graduation. The Saturday Convocation Speaker was Gen. Wesley Clark, a step down from last year's Bill Clinton, but still an exciting guest. His speech was very genuine--half anecdote, half political rally--but seemed somewhat disjointed. Sunday morning we lined up in the Arts Quad for the procession and walked into a packed football stadium in perfect sunshine. Our President made a loopy, yet entertaining, speech about avoiding "the dark side" and all 5,000 of us were graduates in less than an hour. My College of Human Ecology ceremony was the favorite of the weekend (our Dean is amazing) and after endless pictures we all fell asleep in my parents' hotel room.


Gen. Wesley Clark's Convocation Speech


Cornell University Commencement


College of Human Ecology Commencement


My brother and me

I can't believe I'm home now, with no immediate plans to return to Ithaca. It hasn't really set in that these are my last few weeks with friends and family before shipping off to Japan. I hope I'm ready for it.