Walk, Walk, Walk!

"Bleugh," I think I just tried to swallow a bug! On my walk after lunch today, I was briskly trotting along under my blue and white Andrews University umbrella (which prompts people to ask me if I'm from there) when I realized that a foreign object had just entered my mouth. Having seen a rather large mosquito on my arm seconds earlier, attempting to suck my lifeblood out through my shirt-sleeve, I promptly concluded that the foreign object needed to be expelled—IMMEDIATELY!

For some reason, and I really cannot explain this strange phenomenon, I am not only craving fresh fruits and vegetables, I am also feeling strong impulses to go walking. Anytime, and all the time! I happen to be living on the third floor (and no, Mom, there is no fire escape outside my window, but at least the fire station is right across the street from us) and every day I walk up and down those 30 stairs to get from the first to the third floor. Because incidentally, "we have no elevator here," the associate dean told me on my first day as she kindly lugged my 46 pound suitcase up the stairs as I struggled with my laptop bag and book-bag. All I can say is, it's great exercise! I'm actually grateful for the opportunity to get snatches of exercise here and there, because it seems like most of the day I'm sitting. Sitting in class, sitting for lunch, sitting and doing homework, sitting and watching movies (oops, that wasn't supposed to be in there!).

Today my adventure took me the opposite direction, past the Conference headquarters, past a beautiful park-like area, and past all kinds of interesting looking buildings. I saw a Settlers' Cemetary that had a no trespassing sign and found a spot that talked about some massacre in 1692 or so. My 35 minute walk, in the midst of steady sprinkling rain that loves to blow up under my umbrella, was invigorating and prepared me to hit the grind of reading and writing reflection papers for the rest of the afternoon (though it's 3:47 pm and I haven't started yet!).

By the way, for those who are wondering, I am settling in bit by bit. In class we are working on group projects and I have some neat people I'm working with.

Here's something fun to end with. My Packing List for Next Summer:

1. Cute summer shoes that can withstand torrents of rain (and not galoshes!)
2. An umbrella that folds into the size of a slice of bread and unfolds into the size of Noah's Ark
3. An ultra-light laptop that weighs about 5 ounces
4. A portable elevator, or a rapel rope (whichever will get me from the first to the third floor the quickest)
5. A pillow that refuses to shrink to a cubic inch the instant your head touches it
6. Light-weight no-wrinkle clothes that will keep me warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot
7. A cucumber-tree, onion pot, mandarin bush, and a just-ripe banana tree
8. Anti-frizz that really works! (so you won't mistake me for a science experiment on static electricity)
9. Water purifier that can attach to the bathroom sink for easily accessible water at all times
10. A fitted sheet that is fitted and does not insist on slipping sideways in the middle of the night