Getting ready for Orientation

Just came back from a week at Colonial Beach with Jesse. It was so relaxing and was exactly what I needed! We sunbathed at the beach a lot, took many golf cart trips around the neighborhood and town, got yelled at for going on private property, went hiking, went to a berry farm and picked blackberries off the vine ($2.10 a pound! fantastic!), did a wine tasting at Ingleside Winery, and met Lisa, Vicky, and Ryan in Fredericksburg for dinner and drinks; the thing we did most though was cook food and lounge around the beach house, reading. It was paradise. Except for finding a black widow spider chilling right outside the beach house... now I am paranoid that one might have gotten into my luggage and I've now released it into the house by unpacking... /sigh.

Next thing for me will be packing for orientation! I'm really excited because orientation is being held at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, which is one of the seminaries I'm considering attending for grad school! I fly out to Chicago on 18 August and fly home 25 August, and then fly to England 2 September. Most people are flying out to their appointed countries at the end of orientation, but I have to wait and fly out on my own. I was a little sad first hearing that; since then, however, I've run into some complications with my Visa for my passport, so the longer I'm in the States, the better chance I have of getting my passport back before I am scheduled to leave. A blessing in disguise? Quite possibly :) Please pray for me that I get my passport back in time!

Also, I got my netbook in the mail today, a HP DM1z. I'm pretty excited. It's very different from my laptop and I'm having a bit of trouble getting used to it, but I'm sure I will. Well, time to unpack from the beach and repack for orientation. Cheers!