Hi lovely people! I took a day off from work yesterday to visit Lancaster, so now I'm here at GSE on a FRIDAY...followed by a night of work at Francoluigi's! I'm hoping to squeeze a nap into the interim!

My trip to Lancaster was thoroughly enjoyable, and not entirely unproductive either! On Wednesday night, I attended vocal master class, which used to be one of the highlights of my week while an F&M student. I sang both with and for my classmates, and it was wonderful to hear how some of them had improved! After class, I met with some Bible study friends and we decided to go to the movies to see "He's Just Not That Into You"...surprisingly quite an entertaining watch, with some big name stars (Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, etc.).

On Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early and walked to Wish You Were Here, a hole-in-the-wall breakfast and lunch restaurant downtown, and one of my favorite places in the city! I met my much-missed friend Brittany for some Swedish oatmeal pancakes and wonderful conversation! The walk to the restaurant was sort of depressingly beautiful...only depressing because I'm not able to take that walk very often anymore. Despite being a normally rapid walker, I took my time and enjoyed the sunshine and the breeze. The beauty of the place truly inspired me to prayer as I moved along, and I was oh so glad that I had opted to walk rather than get a ride. After breakfast, I visited my two favorite department coordinators, Gina and Cookie, and then I visited with a friend from the admissions department. I also met with the Assistant Dean of International Programs at F&M because I wanted to hear about her job description and how she got to her current position. I think it would be great to one day work in the international study field.

An unexpected highlight of Thursday was a run-in with my independent study advisor from senior year, who told me that she was ironically teaching on Anne of Green Gables (my independent study inspiration) in her class that afternoon. Of course, I had to sit in for a bit...it was strange to be "in class" but not really "in class," and strange to feel old among the first year students who last year would have seemed much closer to me in age. After a brief tea date with my friend Kathleen, it was back to the train station for a relaxing and beautiful ride back to Philadelphia. For those who question the value of visiting Lancaster, PA, I first of all pity your lack of good judgment :-) and second of all have to say that the train ride itself makes the trip worthwhile. The sun was setting over beautiful, rolling farmland, and, as Anne would say, "all was right with the world."

Almost as soon as my train arrived in Philadelphia, it was time to meet my roommate and my friend Tricia for a dinner date downtown. We headed to La Viola, a very cute and very affordable BYOB where I had a delicious meal of orechiette with mushrooms, sausage, and chicken breast.

The day was clearly a good one, devoid of any classwork and full of fun people I'd been missing! I guess one Friday of work and more work is a small price to pay for such a lovely treat!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!