Christmas Break

This week my break finally felt like it started.

On Saturday night Rich and I went to the Esperanza Plantation Christmas showcase to see some local bands play and catch up with old friends that I hadn't seen since high school. Sunday we rode around and did a last minute Christmas shopping.

Monday I drove up to Starkville with a trailer behind my mom's car and moved everything out of my apartment before turning around and driving home. Who knew I could pack everything in my apartment in ~ 2 hours? Now with that done I don't have any big things to take care of before leaving, a big relief.

Tuesday I ran errands, finished Christmas shopping, and hung out with Richie and Eli. We did some geocaching, saw Avatar in 3-D, and then played Settlers of Catan until about 1 in the morning.

Wednesday we did a family gift exchange, I got a scarf and a travel journal. The biggest present though was getting my passport and visa back in the mail. Long stay (1 year) visa for the Schengen Area is in my possession, I'm now free to move about the globe! Richie came over to hang out and receive his Christmas present, Astronomica. That book was massive, hopefully he'll get some use out of it. We stayed up pretty late, watching Kung Fu Hustle and smoking hookah.

Time to go get ready for another round of Christmas with family,
Happy Holidays.

Visa

On Tuesday the 14th Richie and I left Jackson and pointed the car towards Atlanta. We arrived around 8 and went to eat mexican food with the people we were staying with, then went to sleep soon after getting back because we were getting up early the next day.

My visa appointment was for 11:00 wednesday, so we left the house around 9 to give ourselves plenty of time. After finding a parking garage and taking to the street on foot, we walked around a little trying to find the right building. At 10:55 we found the building where the consulate was located and I was right on time. The "interview" was no problem, about 5 minutes of paper shuffling and then it was over. I had successfully applied for my visa!

After the application was done Richie and I ate some sushi at a restaurant above the parking garage then headed deeper into downtown. We spent about 3 hours in IKEA, sitting in all the chairs and couches and deciding what we liked about every showcase, as well as doing some shopping for Rich. After IKEA we went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few more things for Rich. We considered going to Little 5 Points after TJ's, but we got caught in heavy traffic a little after 5 and so we decided to just get on the road. On the way home we ate chocolate covered espresso beans to stay awake, and stopped in a gas station in Alabama to get some Sweetwater beer that they don't sell in Mississippi. The cashier thought we were having a party since we bought all of the Sweetwater brand beers they had.

The rest of the week was a blur, Richie got food poisoning and I got some kind of food grossness as well but not as bad as him.

The Weekend!

This is for the weekend of December 11-13

I left Starkville Friday afternoon for Muscle Shoals, AL to celebrate Zoie's birthday with her. We had lots of fun geocaching, going out to eat, finding Waldo at Books a Million, drinking beers with more than 5% alcohol (Double Bock and Imperial Stout I'm looking at you), and watching movies!


Sunday I drove south to Calera, AL to meet mom and friends and ride the Polar Express. Santa visited all the kids on the train while it was stopped at the North Pole. Everyone got cookies and milk and a silver bell from the elves on the ride back to the depot. After the train ride I drove back to Muscle Shoals and stayed up too late watching True Blood.

Cooper, The Conductor, and I




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Separation-Anxiety

I spent today organizing clothes and packing up bags. I managed to separate all my clothes into the following categories: donations, consignment maybe, take to France, and leave in Jackson. I also got a lot of random stuff like magazines and sailing tackle stuffed into boxes that I won't remember the contents of.

I also got an answer to my question about the visa application so I can knock that out in the morning. All I'm waiting for is CampusFrance's approval then I can go to Atlanta, submit everything and wait.

Scholarship!

I got an e-mail just now informing me that I'd been selected to receive a Study Abroad scholarship for spring 2010. What a great way to start another day of paperwork! Now I just need to send a Thank You note, and figure out how to write a Thank You note.

Trip to Macon

Jim's Gym on the Mainstreet of Macon, MS

Masonic Temple also on the Mainstreet

What is now the library in Macon was a jail and residence when it was built.  While one sheriff and her family lived there she had the bars taken off of the downstairs windows so that her family would not feel like they were in jail.  The staircase to the second and third floors is accessible by a side door into the house so that it was not necessary to bring the prisoners through the living area of the house.  

This is the entrance to the children's books section and reading room on the second floor.

Here you can see the shelves of children's books in a large cell with the staircase leading to the mezzanine level.

On the third floor mezzanine/catwalk you can see hook and trapdoor that were used when the jail performed hangings.

This room is immediately behind you when you're looking at the hook/trapdoor from the location of the picture above and it is filled with local family histories.

Drill Field

Lee Hall - English and Foreign Language department headquarters




McCain - Bagley College of Engineering headquarters




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Productive Day

I woke up around noon today after a thoroughly enjoyable night of sleep, free from worry about exams and with the knowledge that another semester is behind me.  I spent most of today filling out paperwork and organizing, and even got my travel insurance taken care of and another form turned in.  All that's left to do now is get my payment confirmation from CampusFrance and make the trip to Atlanta and my visa will be all taken care of.  

Here's a list of projects I want to finish before leaving Starkville to move back to Jackson:

• Finish filling out visa forms when I get the information
• Separate clothes into keep, donate, and consignment piles/bags
• Start storing stuff from the apartment like posters and mirrors
• Get an idea of what I plan to take when I leave in January

That's it for now, I'm going to try and post some pictures of the University before I leave as well.