So as many Alliot-goers know, there were stacks and stacks (and stacks) of free cups the other day. And, although I have no use for cups, I took twelve.
Twelve. Do I need twelve cups? (No. I do not.) But now I have twelve (TWELVE) useless cups.
My mom actually used to collect ugly cups. Seriously. For years, every store we went to, she would browse for the ugliest cups. I think it might have been in part due to my family's inherent ability to break dishes. (She actually used to tell us that we could break all the dishes we wanted, but only if they were dirty.)
Maybe I have her Christmas gift figured out, because these old Alliot ones are pretty hideous.
Today is Saturday, and 99 percent of the freshman class is out apple-picking. I am the one percent. I decided that I was going to do laundry for the first time today. (Major props to Emily Clegg for her blogpost on how to do laundry at Saint Mike's!) I even brought my laptop so I could watch The Dark Knight before philosophy on Monday! (Anyone who has Jim as a professor knows what I am talking about.) But when I went into the basement, every washer was full.
I stood awkwardly by the door, holding my see-through cloth hamper, while a room full of sophomore boys switched over their clothing.
I think my last blog post described my awkwardness superpower pretty well, so I won't get into it. But I was definitely not going to stick around watching Batman on my laptop, waiting for a washer to open.
So I trudged back up to my room with my still-dirty laundry, a walk of shame that I wish upon no one, and tried to figure out what I was going to do with TWELVE ugly cola-colored cups.
Before I reveal what happened to the twelve cups, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past two days. I feel as though we have been here for months already. Assimilation into the Saint Mike's life was so swift and painless that it already feels like home. Public transportation is still tricky, but even then, everyone is so helpful! A friend and I went to the UMall yesterday (for five hours. FIVE HOURS.) and had to take the bus. We had no clue where we were going, but we sat across from a group of upperclassmen who talked easily with us the whole way, pointing us in the right direction and even walking us through a bus stop so we wouldn't get lost. I don't remember who they are, but that is a kindness that you will not find in many places. Saint Mike's is such a fantastic community!
While my friend JLo and I were at the mall, we stopped in at Claire's so he could get his ears pierced for his 18th birthday. When he was done, a family showed up with a little girl, maybe nine years old, who had apparently been asking for years to get her ears pierced but had never gone through with it. She sat in the chair while her mom signed the paperwork, but as soon as the woman working at Claire's came over, the little girl began crying and visibly shaking. Her mom and family tried to talk her through it, but she couldn't be calmed. She wanted her ears pierced so badly, but she was absolutely petrified that it was going to hurt. (Her mother also told us that the little girl had an anxiety disorder.)
JLo and I tried to comfort her as well, talking to her about how much fun it is to have pierced ears. She began to calm down when he let her touch his new earrings, but she began crying again when the woman came back to pierce her ears.
The girl's mother was getting very frustrated and quite visibly (and understandably) flustered, but JLo calmly took the little girl's hands and spoke quietly to her, promising her that it didn't hurt at all, just a little pinch. Finally, after a little over two hours of hysterical sobbing, the girl managed to sit still long enough to let the woman pierce her ears. Ten minutes later, she was skipping happily through the store with her sisters, swinging her arms with new earrings clenched in her hands. :)
It was such a fantastic experience, even as a partial bystander, to watch. The girl had been uncontrollable for two hours, and to watch her work through her fear with the help of complete strangers was so beautiful. The girl's mother was so happy she was almost crying. She gave JLo and I both huge hugs (even though JLo did the majority of the psychological work) and said thank you at least twenty times. She couldn't believe that two college students could care enough to stick around on a Friday night and comfort a stranger's child. It was truly an amazing experience, and I think you'll agree when I say that JLo, a psychology major, gets bragging rights for life. :)
So yeah, yesterday was a pretty exciting day. When we got home from the UMall, I met up with some other friends and headed over to McCarthy for the improv show, which was absolutely hilarious! Afterward, we went to the Joyce second floor lounge where we found a few other people to hang out with. Two of the girls had ukeleles and one had a banjo, so they went to grab them while I skipped (literally) across campus to Ryan to grab my guitar- which I then relinquished to the other girls when I realized they, unlike me, could actually play string instruments well. :) After the mini musical concert, JLo brought up snacks from his dorm and we put Mulan on the television, which, of course, attracted a crowd. There was one boy who had never seen Mulan before, but I think by the time we were all done singing along to "I'll Make a Man out of You," he was hooked. :) Was it the best first Friday night at college, you ask? Undoubtedly. :)
It was nice to sleep in after such a crazy and long day. Campus is almost silent now, with everyone out apple-picking (aside from the sophomore boys doing their laundry downstairs...) and it's nice to have some quiet time to just sit and listen to nothing. :)
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! This is what I did with the ugly cups:
(Green Lantern FTW)
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