Wednesday, August 7, 2013

summer 2013 pt.1

i know i'm terrible at keeping up with this thing, but at least i came back, right?  For those of you who don't know, i was enrolled in an intensive chinese language program that allowed to me to learn 2nd year mandarin 8 weeks.  let me rephrase that for you: ONE YEARS OF MANDARIN IN 8 WEEKS.  While it definitely wasn't the most fun summer I've had, it was definitely worth it.  8 credits of language out of the way, and I'm way more prepared to go to China that I would have been had I not been in school.

My 2A Chinese class.  Wouldn't have done Summer 2013 any other way

Nashville, IN.  if you live in nearby Bloomington, consider a day trip to this amazing little art-colony town!  only a 15 minute drive away

hickory ridge fire tower with Kete watching the sunset.  after the sun went down, flying squirrels living in the roof of the tower began to jump off and "fly"down into the surrounding trees.  

cheesin' with my main girl Liaht at oliver winery.  A wonderful activity for those 21+ and over in Bloomington, $5 gets you an 8 wine tasting menu selected by YOU!  Wines are fairly reasonably priced ($8-$20), and the grounds are a beautiful place for a picnic. 



being a little rebellious at brown county park.  this park is right next to Nashville, IN, so it's a very close drive from campus.  A few steps after this picture, we came to a fork in the trail.  I asked my friend Jane, who has been here a few times before, which way we should go.  She replied "they both lead to the same place, it doesn't matter."  3 hours later we're still walking with no idea where we are, and the sun starts to set.  we come across a sign that says we're 3 miles away from this lake, where our car is parked...WHAT? we were forced to run the 3 miles back, half of it in the pitch dark.  When we finally looked at a map, it turns out one fork led to a nice little 45 minute stroll around the lake, while the other one, the one we took, led to an extension of a loop trail and totaled about 8.5 miles.  DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE WE DID AND READ YOUR MAP BEFORE STARTING!!