October 27

The most exciting part about yesterday, the 26th, was the planning of our Halloween dinner. We went on a tour of the artwork around Valencia and some museums for English and Jacqueline, Brittany, and myself all started throwing out food ideas. Later in the night, Caitlin and Jacqueline were doing homework and I stopped in, which lead us to more planning. We now have a huge meal planned, for about 8 of us, and we're making steaks, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, buckeyes, and even more beyond that. Insane, I know. We've written everything out as to what stores we need to get what from and we're shopping on Thursday. That was pretty exciting.

Today I got my Spanish midterm back and I got an A! It' a big deal, I didn't even get an A on my last 2 high school French exams...my bad. Ooooooh! And I made chicken paprikash again! This time with gravy! They don't have sour cream, but they've got this creme fraiche, which is basically sour cream, but thicker and less sour...but it worked! That was exciting. And I bought tickets so I can go visit Aunt Betty and Uncle Mike in Florida while I'm stateside! Also very exciting. :)

Additionally, I was informed last night that we were dressing up for our Halloween dinner so I had to figure out a costume that wouldn't cost more than 5 Euros...I've decided on The Queen of Hearts. I've got a red shirt, white shorts, and black tights and boots. Shelby suggested a card crown so I bought cards specifically so I could chop 'em up, and I bought red lipstick and nail polish. So, that'll be fun too. I never watched Alice in Wonderland much as a child, probably because we didn't have it on VHS, but the few times I saw it I always loved the Queen's character. Maybe it's the card playing that run in the family...probably.

Thinking about my costume today also got me thinking of a conversation that I had with Ben before I decided on a school. I thought that it was strange that all 5 universities I applied to had black and some shade of red as apart of their schools colors. I wondered if that had anything at all to do with growing up around card players. He thought that my mind probably just associates red and black with happiness or good memories because of that, and I think that's pretty neat. Just a random story for y'all. :)

The picture of my aunts that hangs above my bed.
(It goes with the card theme tonight)