Hi from Guelph!

Well, I successfully made it back to school and finished my first 2 days of classes. Go figure!

I was thinking about moving on Tuesday, but I desperately wanted to settle in, so by the grace of some higher power I got my act together and was ready for Monday night. Not without a break for some selfies of course:

Day 55

It was really hard to leave...all of a sudden my magical summer of tv, ice cream, and having nothing to do was ripped out from under me. All my roommates had moved in by the time I got here which was nice. When I arrived, the boys were here with 2 friends of theirs and they were getting ready to go out- I actually joined them! I lasted downtown far later than I care to admit, but it was a really fun night. Not too shabby for someone who hadn't been out later than 10:30 since early July (and that was across the street from my house).

That reminds me- I had another first-since-July: a drink! The day before I moved in, I finished my narcotics, and 3 of my roommates came and picked me up and we went to a Jays game. That's right...my first beverage in 2 months was a $10 tallcan of Budweiser. And it was glorious. Certainly more glorious than the Jays themselves, who were losing 9-0 until the 7th inning (it ended 9-4). It was a great, sunburn-filled end to my summer.

Anyway, back to Guelph. Tuesday and Wednesday night I had 5 hour training sessions with the tour guides. I'm holding off on actually giving any campus tours for a little while, but it was still nice to see everyone (and get some free food). :)

Wednesday I actually did get to see my mom again, because she came and picked me up for an appointment with my surgeon. It went really well! He seems so happy with how things are going, which is really reassuring. He also set up my lovely little therabite (see photo). Basically I put this contraption in my mouth and squeeze it to stretch my jaw open. Shockingly it doesn't hurt at all...it looks like a torture device so I was preparing for the worst. Much less horrific than it looks.

Thursday I had orientation at my new lab, one class, and choir rehearsal in Waterloo. I was more than pleasantly surprised by how well I could sing! I think I was more scared than anything, but all went well. Looks like I'll get to keep my job after all! So much relief.

Yesterday was also a good day. I had class at 9:30, then I managed to drop off 2 course waiver forms, a form to change calendar years, buy my textbooks, and get my bus pass ALL BY 10:45. Haven't felt that productive in quite awhile. My roommate Garnet and I had almost as productive of an afternoon- power nap, Staples, beer store and groceries, and home in time for supper! In the evening, all 5 of us went to a party at the house of some friends of theirs which was fun. Our night was capped off by walking home in the torrential downpour.

In what I can only assume to be a narcotic-induced decision, I volunteered a few weeks ago to make cupcakes for our choir rehearsal/welcome back dinner/party/whatever thing that's happening today. I planned to make them yesterday but ran out of time, so I had to whip them up this morning. And they look just awful. My original idea was to make them German themed, in honour of our competition in Germany in April (in which we came 3rd woooo). Do you know how hard it is to make German themed cupcakes? Have you ever thought about it? Whether I was colouring the icing or the actual cake, how on earth would you make it black without being black licorice? And how would the German flag look when the red part is actually pink, since that is always how red food colouring turns out. And if I made them plain with german-themed decor, what would I put on them? I ran out of ideas past lederhosen, schnitzel and pretzels, and really, those would just look stupid on a cupcake wouldn't they? These are all unanswered questions that ran through my head this morning as I tried to bake in a new house. All the extra time spent trying to find things didn't actually help me come to any more conclusions. So, long story short, I decided to just make fun colourful cupcakes. I've been meaning to do this forever- where you make different coloured batter and layer it. In theory, they are awesome. But looking at them, I find them particularly unappealing looking. Kind of like superkid ice cream, but not quite as bright. I'm going to ignore the fact that some of them look slightly undercooked and just ice them white. Before anyone eats them I'm definitely going to give a little warning that they might be disasters, and cross my fingers that they like me for more than just my baking abilities.

So that is where I'm at right now! I got kind of bummed out last night because I was meeting all these new people and I couldn't even smile at anyone. Do you know how awkward it is to make eye contact with someone when you can't even grin in acknowledgement? It's very awkward, and I probably came off as rude. My surgeon said on Wednesday that it can take up to a year or year and a half to be able to smile again (IF AT ALL), but he is very optimistic about me. One thing that keeps running through my head is grad photos. No one wants to be that girl that finally gets to don the black robes and earn her red and gold BScH grad hood, only to be giving a blank stare in every single shot. Come on little facial nerves/muscles, you can do it! On a positive note though, I think the swelling is coming down a bit. A bit. At least my new roommates are awesome, if not my new face yet.

Anyway, time to go ice some "cupcakes", if you can even call them that.  :)

A