Views From a Crow's Nest: Merry Christmas!

Whew! It's been quite a while since my last post. Turns out that pharmacy school really doesn't lend itself to much free time, as everyone had implied. As much work as it's been, I have truly enjoyed school so far and have been learning so much. It is nice, though, to get a break for Christmas and I have been enjoying it by shamelessly browsing my new favorite website, Pinterest, and reading a lot of girly magazines and Nicholas Sparks books, anything that strictly contrasts the biochemistry, physiology, and pharmaceutical science books in which I've been buried since mid-August.

Now, it hasn't been ALL schoolwork since the beginning of the semester. Tyler and I have enjoyed finally being able to see each other every day and went to the Duck Jazz Festival in September, dressed up as Legends of the Hidden Temple contestants for Halloween, went to a Western-themed bowling party, carved pumpkins, and went to a lighted boat parade a few weeks ago to kick off the Christmas season.

My sister and I took our first road trip to the Miss North Carolina USA beauty pageant in High Point, NC and had an interesting encounter with a severely overbooked hotel. (We learned that some hotels rent "parlors" for nightly stays. In fact, they give said "parlors" to guests when they have overbooked. We were the lucky ones to be moved to a "parlor," which was a sugar-coated euphemism for a living room with a pull out couch.) We had a great time at the pageant though, and loved being able to spend "girl-time" together.

This past weekend, to celebrate the end of a very long semester, Tyler and I went to Williamsburg to see Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. Tyler, being a little less enthusiastic about the Christmas holiday than I am (insert sarcastic face here), patiently endured the exorbitant display of Christmas lights strung through hundreds of trees, various Christmas songs resounding from speakers throughout the park, and even the cascade of "snow" that billowed from building tops. Busch Gardens has only done Christmas Town for a few years now, usually the park is closed from November to March, so it was a great experience and the perfect way to get in the Christmas spirit. We saw a few shows, saw some penguins, experienced the thrill of a terrifying new ride that plunges riders from 280 feet in the air (it took us getting about 10 feet off the ground to immediately regret our decision to ride), toured the park from a sky ride, and rode the new "Europe in the Air" virtual simulation ride that "flew" us to Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the fields of Ireland, the mountains of Switzerland, and the beaches of Italy. Most impressive of all were the thousands and thousands of strands of lights covering almost every square inch of the park.