Secret Santa Week

There is this week called Secret Santa week in my house, (Kirkland House!) where everyone spends the week trying to make someone else's dreams come true. I have been doing some pretty cool things, but since it's a secret, I can't post what I've been doing yet for fear of being infiltrated...

HOWEVER, MY SECRET SANTA IS AWESOME!! One of my wishes was to fly, and so yesterday I got a certificate to a place where the floor and walls are trampolines! Plus a giant bag of candy :)

Today I was abducted from my room, carried down three flights of stairs backwards in a blanket, and thrown into a giant pile of leaves in the courtyard that my santa made!!!!

Then, I just finished with a whipped cream and chocolate syrup fight in the courtyard!

And, it's only Tuesday.

Best. Week. Ever.

Thanksgiving

Spent Thanksgiving with Omi (Grandmother in German) and Opa (Grandfather in German), who live in New Jersey :)

We had delightful walks and bike rides and yummy food and lots of nutrition and exercise tips from Omi, who is a nutritionist and the healthiest grandma you will ever meet!

Matthew and I had epic adventures trying to capture and spray paint a raccoon. They have raccoon problems, and we wanted to see if the same raccoons returned after being trapped and released, but unfortunately, we didn't catch one in our trap :(

Here's the pic!

The end of a long weekend

Sitting in my room with my roommates

Christmas music is playing.

We are laughing.

We are uploading pictures.

At midnight we will find out who we will get for Secret Santa week (i.e. the best week of the whole year)

Looking back on our amazing weekend, not doing homework.

Look at all the fun!

And, for a bonus, the last picture is of the masquerade ball we went to weeks ago, and I finally got the pictures from my roommate Jenny!

Tomorrow it's back to work, but for now... FUN FUN FUN!!!

MY BIRTHDAY!!! (& Harvard-Yale)

So, here at Harvard, there is one biggest day of the year- my birthday of course! Well, kind of... At least my birthday falls on the biggest day of the year- the Harvard-Yale football game! Every other year the game is at Harvard, and all the Yale students come and stay in our dorms and it is basically one giant all-weekend party! It is also a time to make fun of Yale. For example, take a look at these making-fun-of-Yale videos.

http://www.onharvardtime.com/index.php?option=com_jomtube&view=video&id=47

http://www.onharvardtime.com/index.php?option=com_jomtube&view=video&id=109&Itemid=174

We also make t-shirts to make fun of Yale. Check out some of the pictures of shirts from this year :)

Front: No one ever says "I want to go to Yale when I grow up"

Back: Harvard: My Anti-Yale

Harvard has won 8 years in a row! And with this year's win (GO CRIMSON!!!!) that makes 9!

The excitement!!!

Then, my roommates even surprised me with a cake!

I'm 20!!!!!!!!!

Quidditch world cup

One of the best weekends of my life.

The Quidditch World Cup was in New York, so we took a 4 hour bus ride to get there.

We walk into hostile, up the stairs to our floor and... the plumming has burst and water is gushing from the bathroom, covering the hallway, and dripping from the celing on the floor below! And, on the door next to our room is cardboard sign taped to a door saying "Do not disturb. I will call the police!"

We sloshed through the water into our rooms, and fell asleep looking out

onto our barbed wire view of Manhattan.

The next morning we showed up at the field along with 47 other teams from around the USA and Canada. Everyone had flags and banners and we had a parade before the games began and gathered together in a circle getting pumped for the game (Picture #1)

We were told we had to win two games to move on to the next day, and having not won any games last year, we were all nervous.

The first game was against University of Richmond, and we won!!! Our seeker caught the snitch and we went crazy! We boosted him onto our shoulders and ran around screaming! (Picture #2) The press all got pictures, and in fact, it was the most publicized picture of the entire Quidditch World Cup 2010!

Second game was against Vassar, and within 1 minute, Vassar caught the snitch, and we thought we had lost, but they called the grab invalid and the game restarted. Within 1 minute, our seeker caught the snitch and we won!! But it was a rough victory as the game was so short and contested, and we ended up all getting into a circle and singing Kumbaya in the middle of the field.

We had made it to the semi-finals!

In between all our games, we had tons of press interviews, and I even got in CBS!
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7052587n

Finally, we played University of Vermont, and we were winning! We were so excited, because hardly any teams had won all three games! But then, out of nowhere, Vermont caught the Snitch, and we lost :(

We left, being told they would text us about when we were playing the next day, and we went out to Olive Garden to celebrate.

However, the next day, we got a text saying we didn't make it to the next day. We were pretty bummed! But, we went to Central Park and to a big breakfast, and showed up late to the second day just to watch, but as soon as we walked in everyone started shouting at us "Where were you guys?" and "You just got disqualified!"

Turns out, they sent us the wrong text, and we had qualified! Then, they told us we had 5 minutes to get ready and play.

We threw on cleats and uniforms, and played McGuill University. Unfortunately, we lost, but it was fun, and we were so surprised to have made it to the semi-finals. Out of the 48 teams, we were ranked 18th. Pretty good for a team that lost all their games just last year.

One of the best weekends of my life.

Also, if you need a refresher on Quidditch rules, check out my previous post http://lauras365days.blogspot.com/2010/10/quiddich.html

Pictures From Kenya

I studied abroad in Mombasa, Kenya over the summer and ended up meeting with all the directors of Wema orphanage from Bungoma, Kenya. The story of the orphanage is that it started as a school, but western Kenya has the highest AIDS death rates in all of Kenya, so the school began taking in orphans and children who could not afford to pay, but as the ratio of paying students to orphans increased, it left them in financial trouble. They have a tree farm, and do some gardening/farming to reduce food costs, but they have problems with safe drinking water and lack of dormitories for the students, as well as they need a new engine for their school bus. They will have to close down unless they can figure out how to become more sustainable.

Hence, I have been dong some fundraising and I am hoping to work with them over J-term to try some projects to help with sustainability. We have discussed getting chickens, increasing profits for their adult education programs on trades such as brick-laying and sewing, or doing such things as using their computer lab as a cyber-cafe. They also would like help making a website to help get international donations to help with some base costs such as the clean water and a new engine for their bus.

Anyway, as for the picture of the day, I sent Wema a few hundred childrens books, and my uncle Ron and aunt Elizabeth Moller donated the money to send them (Thank you so much to the whole Moller family!)

Just today they sent me pictures of children with the books and it completely made my day. I am so excited to go stay in the orphanage with the children with another Harvard friend.

Living with 300 kids. Me. One month. It is going to be crazy and AMAZING!