F - FRIDAY, FRIENDS, FATE

Dear Reader,

I am SO UPSET BECAUSE I WROTE A SUPER LONG BLOG POST FOR THIS AND IT DELETED ON ME. No way to get it back. I wish I had saved it somewhere. AIYA. Regrets.\

edit: after rewriting, I'm pretty proud of this blog post. I think it says everything that should be said, so far. Just know there are still more coming. :) Don't forget us~

IS IT A SUNRISE OR SUNSET??? It's playing tricks on your mind.

Okay, let's see if I can remember this. God, I wish I could remember this. Let's start over then. New view point. Fresh start. I am so salty. The day started me getting to class EARLY (by a couple minutes) for once, which is absolutely CRAZY. Oh wait, no, it started before that. Here's a continuation of the Thursday night's sunrise ventures. It's our last morning together, and Kevin, Nicole, Kathy and I are spending it watching the sunrise, because why not, you know? It was absolutely gorgeous, and my camera caught a few shots that look more like a fiery sunset than a pale pink sunrise, but either way, it was breathtaking. Classy. 

Sunrise squad: Me, Nicole, Kathy, Kevin.

I wanted to go outside, but my peers judgments override my own, and perhaps it wasn't the most rational decision, either. Kathy and Nicole left around 6 AM to nap before their final presentation that day, and Kevin fell asleep on the clothed bench we were sitting on. I tried waking him up; it's pretty much impossible without the help of my handy dandy alarm ring tone. If poking one in the face will not wake them up, play the song His Name Is? from Bravely Default on high volume as an alarm. It will wake any living soul up, I guarantee.

check it out!

I snapped a couple blog worthy shots on my camera, and then took a nap from our lovely seventh floor view, waking up in time for a good breakfast with Jessica, and arriving to a class not-so-surprise of donuts. Our professor -- Patrick Reichard --, brought chocolate and glazed and toasted coconut donuts to class from Abundance Bakery, along with an abundance of Kevin jokes.

CREATIVE WRITING @ UCHICAGO SUMMER 2k16

Jim, Mauricio, Kevin, Siva, Nicole, Kathy, Me, Jessica

We had a guest speaker named Bayo Ojikutu, who had a poetic sort of voice, but wasn't as interesting as Cris Mazza in my opinion 1) probably because I was more tired and 2) he wanted to know more about us, rather than talking about his own writing experience. He took a group picture for our class though, and we are seriously the best class. After Bayo left, everyone exchanged t-shirts and signed each others (the summer session t-shirts, because we were all relatively fashion conscious and knew that we would never actually wear those shirts out).              

Conceitedness at its best.

Honestly, I think we had the most fun class, and had the greatest relationships. I'm going to miss everyone, and this summer, intensely. We had a group lunch, and Jim asked Jessica and I to go with him and Mauricio to shop downtown. We hopped on the 6 up to Michigan Avenue and walked by hoards of people dressed Lollapalooza ready. Mauricio really wanted to get in, but tickets for Lolla are 400~ some dollars (actually, I think Ms. Scott went, LOL) and we didn't have the time. You could hear the bass from Lolla all the way from the Bean, where we took some v cute pictures. We stopped by the Bean because Jim hadn't seen it yet (in all these three weeks, wow), and the Bean looked much nicer

because the rain cleaned off the dirt and peoples' fingerprints that accumulated over days of tourism. It had a sort of shiny, foggy aesthetic to it, which was nice for photographs.

J-JEM, because we're precious..

We walked down to a mall that had an Adidas outlet in it, which is what Jim was looking for. It was about 4:30 PM at this time, and we were going to meet up at 5:30 PM. Jessica and I walked around different stores, eating chocolate strawberries and other random chocolates from Godiva, and by 5:20 PM we were done, and went to check on Mauricio and Jim, who were nowhere near done...and they say females are the ones who like to shop. We ended up leaving around 6:40 PM because of international credit card problems, and I was getting worried because I promised Doris I'd eat dinner with her at 6:30 PM, as well as getting antsy about missing people who were leaving tonight.

College, what of it.

We finally got back around 7:30 PM, and Doris and I head over to Noodles etc., and on our way there we run into the people who just left from there (Kevin, Shravan, Shiv, Eddie, Kat, I'm not even sure if these are all the right people, etc.). I'm told to order the chicken pad thai and
spring rolls, so Doris and I eat family style and order a chicken pad thai, veggie pad see ew, two mango drinks, and shrimp spring rolls. We sit outside, and the weather is nice for awhile but it gets cold, so I ask for hot water. It's almost 8:30 PM by now and I actually start to get anxious and tell Doris that we should leave.

Artsy spring rolls.

I speed walk, under the guise of chilliness, and when we're almost to the dining commons/dorms, I get a call that scares me out of my wits. Did I mention my ringtone and alarm tone are the same song? It's from Jessica, she says that they've been waiting for me and where am I? I say I'm right outside and sprint the last 40 paces inside, slightly out of breath and so glad that I didn't miss it.

Jessica, Doris, Aaron, Jim, Me, Kevin, Mauricio, Shravan, Shiv, Eddie

The best of the best.

I see Kevin, Mauricio, and Jessica in the lobby, and then see the others from our main Sherlockin', baseball, breakfast squad. Kevin is leaving, and Shiv was supposed to leave but he forgot his laundry and came back, and we all came to say our goodbyes' and see you agains', and I'll miss yous'; I'll miss you, I'll miss you, I'll miss you. We get to meet his legendary parents too, and sister, who take photos of us and for us.

UChicago? Yeah, UChicago.

I'd like to say that was the happy yet sad end to our day, but it really wasn't. After Kevin and Shiv left,  we had our own packing to do for our flight in the morning. I take a walk with TALAN (Teague, Aileen, Leandra, Angie, and Nikolai), as well as Katerina, and we talk about what we'll miss and more importantly, who we'll miss. After we come back to some very intense Sinatra and Valli karaoke (Alice and I start swing dancing), Doris and I chill in Nikolai and Teague's room for a bit, and decide to help each other pack (or rather, sit there while the other packs). That didn't exactly work out because at around 2 AM we went to my room first, and we both fell asleep on my bed after attempting to pack. Doris woke up though, said she was going to take a shower and she'll wake me up at 4:30 AM (I don't recall any of this, though apparently I nodded my head). We eventually finished packing, and around 4:45 AM, I go to knock on Jessica's door because she said she wanted to see me off. We ran into Kevin Chi, Jim, and the TALAN crew at almost 5 AM, and they come to see us off as well.

I'm glad to have made friends that will wake up at 5 AM even though I didn't ask them too, that will carry my luggage even though I didn't ask them to, that will wait for me even though I didn't ask them to, that will make me a part of their life even though I didn't ask them to. Friends that matter. A massive part of my life, somehow, and I am overwhelmed with love. <3

The flight was largely uneventful, possibly because everyone on the plane was asleep, including myself. I didn't wake up until our landing in Oakland, and was thoroughly mystified how could the flight gone by so quickly. We return to standard Californian blue skies, but with a longing for the warmth of a Chicago summer. The bay is so deceptive, in photos it looks absolutely amazing, but it's positively cold. Well, I did wear my California shirt for this arrival.

Can't stop missing Chicago. Won't stop missing one of the most important summers of my life.

Obligatory wing pic.

It was nice seeing my parents for the first time in a month -- we had salmon and steak for dinner, two things that UChicago just can't do as well as my mother. I'll also miss Ms. Scott, a great chaperone and great teacher, though she's leaving us this upcoming year. D':

Yours,
for a last daily blog -- but don't worry, there are a few more. :)
eh.

Families reuniting at long last.