Has it been a decade already?

Continuing the tradition I started here and continued here, this is my end-of-the-year blog post where I look back and count my blessings from the past year. It's been a good year...

• I traveled Europe by myself.
• I lived in Paris.
• I bought my second computer.
• I taught my first tutoring students.
• I completed my French capstone (a long bibliography)
• I wrote my second NaNoWriMo novel (and this one actually has some small potential)

So, how about you? What are your accomplishments this year?

And can anyone else believe that it's been ten years since y2k?

Heading Home

Finals are finally over, and it's time to head home for Christmas break. I got a ride to the airport with my household sister and her dad shortly after my last exam let out. I got to the Pittsburgh airport around 1:00 pm, and through security by 1:15. My flight was scheduled to leave at 3:25, with a layover in Philadelphia. I sat down at the gate and plugged in my laptop, ready to wait for about two hours. I watched the season premier of Better Off Ted.

Then I found out that the flight had been delayed an hour, and that my hour-long layover had turned into 10 minutes. It was a I stood at the departure boards figuring this out that a fellow Franciscan student whom I recognized my sight approached me and told me that her flight had been canceled and that now she wasn't leaving till 6:00. I went to the service desk, where a nice lady and the fact that it's Thursday allowed me to switch to a flight through Phoenix, which is safer weather-wise, and which doesn't board till 5:00.

I called Dad and informed him that I would be getting into San Diego twenty minutes late, then went off to find the girl. It turns out that she's on household council, and the representative for my dorm, so I'll be getting to know her next semester anyway. We sat in the Sam Adams bar down the concourse and sipped strawberry daiquiris, until I accidentally bumped the elbow of a man sitting next to me and fortunately failed to spill his merlot all over his white shirt sleeves. He turned out to be really friendly, and he shared his nachos with us and chatted for a good half hour about college, etc. And he ended up buying us piña coladas before boarding his plane. Plus, I've now got a new friend at school.

I think this beats any other possible outcome of today.

The best photos from Europe

I haven't posted photos from Europe since Spain I think.

These ones here I've specially set aside because they totally rock. i.e. they're funny...

Here's me and Sancho Panza hangin' in Alcalá de Henares

The cathedral in Salamanca. When they restored the portico, they included a special touch that identified when the repairs were done.

This tree outside the church of St. Cecilia in Rome was the saddest sight of Christmas. Apparently, someone gave up on decorating the tree halfway up! :(

A statue in the Vatican Museum with a phantom hand.

People in Luxembourg either don't speak English very well, or have some very disgusting habits.

If you can read the graffiti on the right, it says "Read the Bible" in French. Spotted in the church of St. Michael in Luxembourg City.

This is a fine example of art found at the Louvre. Yeah, its a guy ripping the entrails out of a hanging animal corpse. Yum!

This gem seen in Lisieux. I bet you can tell what those businesses are. I would sure trust them to take me to the hospital!

This. Is. The. Worst. Thing. Ever.

Manga, as you may know, are Japanese comic books. This is a manga about the Life of Anime-Jesus. Yeah. The title says "The Messiah" and the words above the title read, "Did He come to destroy the world or to save it?"

Yay, Italian McDonalds!

I'm a nerd.

I was in the caf when I overheard a girl tell a guy on their way out the door, "I'm library bound for three hours." I couldn't just let that be. I immediately started analyzing that statement.

First, pragmatics tells us that, according to the context of the last week of classes, the term "library" is a metaphor for "studying".

But, I had never noticed before that "bound" had so many meanings. We're clearly not tying anyone up, so that leaves us with two likely possibilities...

1. Bound as in "home bound" - not able to leave [the library]

2. Bound as in "homeward bound" - on one's way [to the library]

If she meant meaning #1, she was saying that she was going to be stuck in the library for three hours. She still had to get there first, though.

If she meant meaning #2, she would be be saying that she was on her way to the library from the caf, which makes perfect sense, especially because she used the present tense as she was walking out the door, indicating her destination.

My question though is if...

A. being "library bound for three hours" exclusively means that she plans to be walking for three hours before arriving,

or if

B. it is legitimate to use the adverbial clause "for three hours" to refer to the actual study in the library, without adding an additional clause to the sentence. [i.e. "I'm library bound, and I'll be there for three hours."]

If you're still reading, what do you think?

And if you just skipped to the end, don't worry. I'll be posting less linguistically complicated posts soon, including a post dedicated to photos.

-Ganchi