Summary of January 5th - February 14, 2010.

I departed from Bradley Airport in Connecticut with my dad on Tuesday, January 5 at approximately 5:50pm EST and we were scheduled to arrive in Boise at around 11:50pm MST. Aside from the layover in South Carolina the trip went by fast and before I knew it we were in Boise! It was after midnight once we got to Idaho (which is about two in the morning in Connecticut, yikes!) and I was feeling a tad bit drowsy. I knew that we were less than a half mile away from the hotel we had reservations for so all that was left to do was pick up my baggage, I figured we'd be at the hotel in a matter of ten to fifteen minutes. "A matter of ten to fifteen minutes" quickly turned into an hour after I realized one of my bags was lost. The airport employees scoured all of the holding areas to no avail and I was told rather hesitantly that my bag had been "misplaced...temporarily, hopefully." That did not make me happy but I reminded myself that it was not this particular fault and he did not deserve the brunt of my anger. I filled out the necessary paperwork as the employee repeatedly apologized and reassured me that it would probably come in within a day or two. I left doubting every word that he had said but still hoping, deep down, that he was right. At this point, I am so beyond exhausted that I can hardly remember the journey from the airport, to the cab, to the hotel room. The next things I can vaguely remember doing is brushing my teeth, setting my alarm clock and climbing into bed. Let's just say, I had no trouble falling asleep.

I woke up the next day (Wednesday, January 6) to my dad telling me the cab would be there in less that a half hour. I jumped out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and hopped in the cab. We headed to the College of Western Idaho (CWI) so that I could get my student ID, take the placement test and register for my last two classes. It turned out that they only administer the placement test at certain campus locations and this did not happen to be one of them. "Well, let's try to catch a bus.", my dad offered. I agreed enthusiastically but, in truth, I was not looking forward to it. The little trip to the next campus would require two bus transfers and a fair amount of walking and waiting. As we were waiting at the bus stop Austin called and to see what I was up to. I told him my little predicament and, being the wonderful boy that he is, he offered to pick us up and give us a ride to wherever we needed to go. I was extremely happy - not only did I not have to wait around for buses all day but I got to see Austin(It had been SIX MONTHS since I had seen him last.)! Austin called to let me know he was there and when I saw him I sprinted up to him and gave him the biggest hug and kiss the world has ever known. Gosh, I love that kid! Anyway, we went to another campus location and I took the test. Then, we went to Idaho Pizza (yum!) and then decided to head over and check out the room I had looked at online. I loved it! We signed the lease, I got my keys and we left with plans to move in later that week. Austin dropped my dad and I off at the hotel later that night and we went to sleep early.

The next day (Thursday, January 7) my lost bag came in... Woo-hoo! I was so happy. After breakfast, my dad and I went to downtown Boise, payed my tuition and then decided to walk around. It was so beautiful. Here's a little river we passed as we were walking:



Highlight of my day? THE MOUNTAINS! Connecticut has "mountains" but not like this. I could not believe my eyes, they are were so breathtaking (I hope I get to go hiking sometime soon!). As we walked through Boise we stopped and got food and then decided to go and check out the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. It was so interesting! Here are some pictures from our little daytrip:







The rest of the week was busy and went by extremely fast. My dad was scheduled to leave around 8:00 am on Saturday, January 9 which left us with a day to move my luggage and bed into my new room, buy food and make sure everything was set for school. We got everything done (thank goodness!) and my dad left arrived safely back in Connecticut sometime during Saturday evening.

School didn't start until January 19 so Austin and I were responsibility-free for a week and half and we took advantage of every minute of it. We did all sorts of things - let's see...

We went to Jump Creek!









We decided to paint something together!



We went to Bamboo Bampoo Gardens and had way to many sugars in our teas!



We checked out some ducks in a pond!





I let Austin do my hair!



And so much more! School eventually started up and Austin started his job but we still are able to see each other 4+ hours a day which I find to be wonderful.

OH! Another awesome place that I went is to the Flying M in Nampa - it's a little music venue/cafe and it is so nifty! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they have local bands playing and my roommates and I were able to go this past Wednesday. This is a band called Revolt, Revolt playing at the Flying M:



After the show we went geocaching. If you don't know what geocaching is you should definitely research it a little and see if it appeals to you. I enjoy it so much - it's the perfect combination between a scavenger hunt and hiking/exploring. The cache contained many things, one of them being this little thing with a travel bug attached. In short, a travel bug has a specific number assigned to it via a tag and is used so that it can be tracked where it goes. This is my travel bug and it's main goal is to eventually travel around the world and then back to where it started:



Wow, that was a long post! But hey, I had to make up for lost time. I'll update frequently to prevent such lengthy posts in the future. But thank you for reading, goodnight!

PS. If you haven't already heard, Idaho is THE place to be.
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