Windsor & Ahoskie

So...Windsor has proved much more interesting than I had thought. My first week here, I was definitely adjusting to the flow of the clinic...finally this week has been a bit better and I've gotten lots of surveys this week. Driving back to Chapel Hill on Thursday, I got way lost. But it was my fault. I went the wrong way on I-40 (East instead of West at 440) and didn't realize it until I was about 30 miles down the road...but eventually I did make it back to the Thrill. I hung out with Alex from then until Saturday at 2...Friday (the Fourth of July), we went swimming, threw a football, and ate ribs. Fireworks were delayed because of a HUGE thunderstorm, but we watched them from his window (thanks, Odum!). It was quite a satisfactorily American Fourth. Saturday mom & I hosted a game party, which Alex came to as well as a bunch of mom's friends. It was a lot of fun, with some pretty delicious food (cream cheese dip with berries?? yes, please!). Sunday I went to breakfast with mom, which was nice since it's the last time I'll see her until after I get back from Europe. Then I headed back out here to Ahoskie....

It was seriously one of the most horrible drives I have ever had. I know I have a tendency to exaggerate things in stories, but seriously. There were a few things that made it awful:

a)I took the route that Google Maps recommended, which took me up and around to Ahoskie instead of over and up, through Windsor (I think that makes sense even if you don't know the area....). I didn't realize that the up and around route was mostly two lane "highways," while the over and up route is all four-way highways. That wouldn't have been a HUGE problem if it weren't for...
b)there was a HUGE rain/thunderstorm. It began just as I got onto 440 (my favorite!), and unfortunately,
c)my roof fix-it had broken on my way BACK from Windsor on Thursday, so rain built up in the inner workings of the car, and when I turned a corner, it pours out on me, and the passenger seat. FUN! I stopped under a bridge and tried to re-create my glorious duct-tape sealant, but it failed to work, since it was already wet. But it was sort of good enough for the drive.

On the two-way highway though, at one point I was driving along, the rain was coming down, and suddenly it started raining so hard that I could not see at all. Insane.

Anyway, today and yesterday have been fine--I'm tired, but that's pretty much become standard. I'm working on getting myself excited to go to Europe (not that I need to work on that very hard...), which I am doing Saturday, and I plan on keeping a much more often-added-to blog here. So watch out for that. I cannot WAIT to see my fabulous international friends :-).

That's all for now. Much love to all!
Shannon