I'm on my way home now, sitting, once again, in the wonderously wireless-equipped Charlotte airport. I found some great treats at the Indy airport, namely a black and blue "Indianapolis" t-shirt, that I think can serve as a cheap and not at all licensed city-support item for the Super Bowl. Because there was no way I was payiing $20 for a Colts shirt, a team that I've never cared about in my life. But, I love that people around the world are being forced to hear about my hometown for two weeks! I also found a copy of Andrew Stoner's biography of Governor O'Bannon. Andrew was Deputy Press Secretary during at least one of my internships and I'm looking forward to learning more about my favorite governor. Also, there's a list of everyone who worked for the O'Bannon administration and it's both heartwhelming and nostalgia-inducing and very cool. I spent two summers interning in the Governor's Office and worked with quite a number of the people on that list.

Anyway, I had a WONDERFUL time in Indiana and especially at Earlham. I love that place and I love my friends there. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Juliet & Juliana (and maybe even Diana) had been there, too. Then, it would have been just like old times. I wonder when I'll get over leaving? I never thought I'd get over missing high school, but I did, eventually and the time came when I just stopped thinking about it.

As always, I'll miss people here, but I'm also awfully excited to get back to London! It's so much easier to leave 'home' when you're also going 'home.'

Hah. Sitting in the ICJ listening to the Quins game. Might be easier if I knew the player's names. I know Jarvis is a Quin. This amuses me. Poor boy. His blood pressure is probably really high.

More on ECMUN

Yay for ECMUN. I'm sitting in the ICJ at the moment and they're discussing...fruit? Bless the above average American high school student. I'm a bit confused, but have already had to use my vast Wikipedia powers to determine that both the eggplant and the coconut are fruits. Riiiiight.

I'm very, very impressed by the organization this year. Jenni's incredible and so organized. I mean, my year was pretty good (of course!), but Jenni's got all the little details under control that I didn't notice until the very last minute. Anyone remember Jules making flags all night? Or the frantic work in the social sciences office to make placards where I was dumb and new name tags. These are the things that Jenni's totally gotten under control and I'm also really impressed by the new bus plan. They used a whole bunch of Roseview transit buses (Richmond's public buses), instead of the incredibly expensive bus that always caused us a lot of headaches.

Ok, update. The kiddies are doing a pretty good job. I'm impressed at their grasp of these really, really complicated issues. It isn't an LSE dissertation, but it's still pretty cool and they're doing a whole lot better than I ever thought they would. I'm not bragging, but this statelessness case study (Bihari, Bangladesh v. Pakistan...sort of) was a really great topic for them to be working on. There are enough different issues to think about and different ways to look at the case that they can spend a lot of time speaking in moderated caucus in a very normal, GA committee, Model UN way. They do need to find something other than the UDHR to rely on, but it's nice to see a bunch of midwestern students (a decent number of whom are probably hard core conservative, by statistics) treating the principles in the UDHR like it's the most important law in the world. Woot.

This is why I love ECMUN and Model UN in general. I love helping with LIMUN, but there's something much, much more rewarding about this conference. These students are from Indiana and Ohio. Quite a number have probably never been out of the midwest. They're often conservative and support the US' current attitudes toward international law, the UN, and international dimplomacy. Then, they come here and they have to treat the UN like it's real and rely on its institutions and instruments and recognize some of the organization's limitations (and understand why those limitations exist). I don't know how long that attitude lasts once they leave here, but I'd love to think that it rubs off, even a little, little bit. And that's more rewarding than seeing (relatively) wealthy, (largely) European, liberal university students being delegates. It doesn't feel like it has the same real impact on improving the world's opinions of the United Nations.

I feel like THIS is the most useful thing I could be doing to help the UN right now. Yay Model UN!

I'M AT EARLHAM! I'M AT EARLHAM!

*bounces*

Seriously, I've missed Earlham so much! It's amazing how many people I still know, just walking around campus, and I've hugged so many of the people who were SUCH an important part of my life during those four years. I loved many things about LSE, but it never, ever replaced Earlham as the school closest to my heart. I missed the community here. And the people. And I hope I don't miss it even more for being here again, but I suspect that I've learned to live away from Earlham well enough that it won't.

Sigh. This is sappy. :-) But, tomorrow's ECMUN and I love me a good Model UN conference. Especially this one.

'cause this is too big for the sidebar...

I really, really haven't been doing much of a job on updating. I spent most of last week catching up on sleep, seeing boy a lot, and working on my NGO project. It is coming along nicely, but I've still got loads to do if it's going to be done before I venture home for ECMUN next week(!).

Happily, I've got an assignment for ECMUN as one of the lawyer/presenters of cases for the wee ICJ. Hurrahs! It should be fun. One of the cases is on statelessness (well, I was asked to write a delegate guide and of course I'll pick the thing that's easiest for me to write), so I'd probably better remember to read the Conventions beforehand.

I also have my last Peace Corps medical appointment tomorrow!!! TB test, here I come. Cannot WAIT to have this packet in the mail to DC. Don't worry, I know that I need to copy everything before I send it.

I'd also like to make a list of places I want to go before I return to the US, just so I don't forget. A few of these involve visiting friends, which is awesome:
Cyprus (mostly Northern)
Norway
Belgium & the Netherlands
Spain
Berlin (see, I don't even need to do the rest of Germany, just Berlin!)
St. Petersburg (as always)

Although, it sounds like going back to Iceland may be in the cards! It's more popular than the whole Russian idea. Lindsay, I don't really know you, but let me know if you're going again!

Ah, the dollar

Ooops. Went a little nuts at the Charlotte airport when I remembered how much cheaper it is to my ANYTHING in this country. Because you know I needed sparkly eyeshadow. It was on sale! I'm also giving the airport a thumbs-up because of its awesome free wireless network. Yays! Otherwise...am I in London yet?

Still, it was a lovely vacation. But I'm looking forward to getting back to "normal life", if I actually have such a thing. My to-do list, for lack of a better place to put it:

1) Internship project
2) Peace Corps Medical Packet (three blood tests to re do and TB)
3) Issue guides for LIMUN
4) Outreach letters for LIMUN
5) Leaving drinks for several friends
6) Try to plan boy's vacation
7) GIVE BOY HUG!!! Yay!

Ok. Let's not get carried away. :-)

I am feeling motivated to write something because boy has started a blog and has been writing in it very religiously. Which I have not done for a very long time. But, then, my excuse is that at the moment I'm in Indiana-land and my life's a bit dull. Unless you count playing with the cutest baby EVAR as dull!

No, my "sister" and her husband and 10-week-old baby have been visiting and we've been on baby and two-year-old (other nephew) duty. Say it with me now: awwwww! However, I am also very clear on the fact that I do not want children for a good long while. Yikes, they're a ton of work. How do these 14-year-olds manage?

I also give thanks for the wonders of SkyPE, again. Transatlantic relations are so much easier with it, no matter which country I'm in at the time.

And, my list of foods to take back to England: fruit snacks, chunky soup (clam chowder), Kraft mac & cheese, a surprise for someone if he's been a good boy (which I assume...yes), graham crackers, and tons of those Crystal Light individual sized drink mixes. Yay! Who knew that the grocery store was so expensive, because...ouch. But, I guess it's a lot of convenience food. The variety still boggles my mind. Also the difference in the advertising on my shampoo from it's same product bottle in the UK. This one promises that I will have a good hair day EVERY SINGLE day. My other bottle suggested that my hair would be residue free. Woo.

Finally, am feeling sluggish because running in the rain just didn't seem like a good idea today.

Life in These United States

Still alive! Still alive!

My (few) notes on being in the States:

1) Bathtubs are much easier to get in and out of. And I am a bit disturbed by the shallowness of the toilets. You can see stuff. Ew.

2) Even the thin ones would be 10 pounds lighter if they lived in Europe.

3) Why the salads? We just eat vegetables in the UK. I don't think it's about healthier eating. I think it's about having more food that you can pretend is healthier (wheeee! salad dressing! um, ok.). Because more food is a good thing. Obviously.

4) They really are friendlier. Or at least more cheerful and forced about it, sometimes. I've never found anyone in the UK to be unfriendly. You just have to approach them first, rather than having it shoved in your face. I'm a bit surprised when people make random comments at me.

5) And yeah. The variety in the shops is overwhelming. OMG, CVS Coma. CHUNKY SOUP COMA!!!