Valhalla, I am Coming!

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Viking Kittens

My Trip to Russia

I got back from Russia on Monday, but haven't had a chance to recount it until now-- it's been a crazy week, with two tests and massive catching up. Here it is...

On Thursday October 13 Rick, Judy and I drove to Dulles Airport to embark upon our journey. We flew to London, where I discovered that I had inadvertently brought two bills that needed to be paid with me; I mailed them from London! Did you know that you can drink as much as you want for free when traveling internationally? A short flight later we were suddenly in Moscow. Ben was waiting at the arrivals gate for us. He looked very dashing and presented me with a flower. We took a cab to the hotel, about an hour away. This was my first introduction to the great Russian-made automobile, the Volga. The "Russian Mercedes," the Volga is very attractive and roomy. Yet, our luggage would not fit in the trunk due to the presence of a spare tire; this problem stigmied us over the course of several cab rides. Anyway, the drive into Moscow was quite interesting. It was still mostly rural and suburban, with lots of new construction (mostly brick) interspersed with small cottages and shacks. Then from these secluded areas we progressed to a long line of Soviet-era apartment blocks. Miles of repeating, identical buildings lined the highway, all still obviously inhabited. Almost all of these apartments had sunrooms on the outside, some of which had been modified to make it fancier or more useful. This characteristic, the sunroom, was present in most of the Soviet apartment buildings. I would have liked to see the inside of them.

The Hotel Baltshung-Kempinski was exceedingly pleasant-- I thought it was the best hotel we stayed at during the trip. Our rooms had amazing views of the rear side of St. Basil's Cathedral, which was lit up at night and almost surreal to behold. The location was awesome, as we were able to walk to Red Square and other areas easily. The first evening, we took repast at a hunter-themed restaurant, where we feasted upon a vast array of smoked and pickled meats and fish, as well as blinis with caviar. These were all foods with which we would become very familiar on the trip. Ben's friend Steve joined us for dinner, then we all walked to Red Square and took it all in. St. Basil's is far more impressive at night than during the day, so it made quite an impression on me that night. The weather was misty and slightly chilly; little did we know that this would be the nicest weather we would experience in Moscow.

The following day we went to visit Lenin in his tomb. We had to wait in line for 90 minutes with many other tourists, some from other countries but many from other parts of Russia and former Soviet republics who were coming to Moscow for the first time. We even met a thirtysomething Muscovite who had never bothered to come to see Lenin before (he tried to cut in line in front of us but we ended up chatting with him). Anyway, Lenin was pretty cool, lookin' good for his old age. There has recently been controversy in Russia over whether it is time to bury him once and for all, so I'm very glad to have gotten to see him before he is interred.

Red Square is beautiful and heavily trafficked; we spent most of our time in Moscow in its vicinity. One one side is a huge department store, the GUM. It is in a beautiful building and has high-end boutiques. Facing the GUM is Lenin's tomb and behind it, a Kremlin wall. At the highest point is St. Basil's, and at the bottom is a museum (I believe). There were wedding parties everywhere. It would seem that a lot of people are getting married in Russia these days, though an acquaintance of Ben's who is an economics and management professor told us that it increasingly uncommon and that people live together and raise kids without every marrying, because of the likelihood and negative consequences of divorce.

We had our first taste of Azerbijan on the second night. It was really an awesome meal, lots of fresh and pickled veggies and then meat skewers and herbs. It was very festive, with a band and dancing in another room. Finding the restaurant was a struggle, but it was worth the wait!

The hotel offered free tours led by an English-speaking guide on Sundays, so we braved heavy rain to get the full Kremlin experience. Lots of things were huge about the Kremlin, particularly the huge bell and Tsar Cannon. (Both gigantic and never functional, now monuments to "Russian craftsmanship") The cathedrals there were impressive; we went inside one of them, I forget which one, but it had like thirty-foot ceilings and every inch of wall and ceiling space was painted with icons dating to the 17th or 18th century. The cathedral itself is five hundred years old. REALLY awesome. And especially so because it offered us shelter from the nasty weather.

I was super jetlagged while in Moscow, so I'll gloss over the parts that I enjoyed inwardly but outwardly suffered through...Tretyakov Gallery (National Museum of Russian Fine Art)....I don't remember what else...hmm.

Impressions of Moscow: fast-paced, huge, dirty, not all that attractive (although the section of the city in which we stayed was very nice). Gorgeous metro stations. Expensive. "Happening."

(Note: a few days after we left moscow, two Russian financiers were arrested at our hotel for their involvment in demanding a $5.3 million bribe from a commercial bank. Very exciting...Link to TASS article)

On Monday we took the train to Yaroslavl, the city of 500,000 where Ben has been living. It is only 150 miles northeast of Moscow, yet the train trip was over four hours. Yaroslavl was a breath of fresh air-- literally-- after Moscow. It seemed smaller than it actually is. Our hotel was brand new and floated on the Volga River. The beds were like slabs of granite but other than that it was pretty nice.

My computer battery is about to run out so I've gotta cut this short, but i'll add more this weekend...

To Russia with Love

The day has finally arrived when I embark for Russia! All I have to do first is get through a Property class...

I'm pretty much all packed up, trying to keep books and other school materials to a minimum but it is difficult. I will need to strike a balance between vacation (which it is) and school (which it needs to be) while I'm there. Ben is taking an online class through Stanford on arms control, so hopefully it will be just like old times and we'll study together at a cafe or coffee shop.

So here is my itinerary: Depart from Dulles tonight at 6:45. Arrive in Moscow tomorrow afternoon at 3:45 local time (7:45am Eastern). Spend the weekend in Moscow at a five-star hotel with views of the Kremlin. Go to Yaroslavl, the very old provincial town 150 miles northeast of Moscow where Ben has been living with a widow named Rimma Andreevna, for the middle of the week. We're staying at a brand-new hotel on the Volga River (literally, floating on the river). On Thursday or Friday, I can't remember which, we take an overnight train from Yaroslavl to St. Petersburg. Then we spend the second weekend in St. Petersburg at the Grand Hotel Europe. Rick ad Judy leave St. Petersburg for Istanbul on Sunday and Ben and I take the overnight train to Moscow, where I depart on Monday. Should be quite the experience!

Gotta give a shout-out to my peeps who made this possible: Aunt Jacquelyn and Uncle Jim, for taking it upon themselves to make sure I had the opportunity to take this trip; all my relatives and friends who gave me financial and emotional support after leaving New Orleans; Hollister Lindley for being totally awesome in every way and bringing us goodie bags yesterday like a travel fairy; my professors for being very cool about this.

I can barely contain my excitement and certainly cannot concentrate on Property...I love you all! I will update from Russia if possible.

I'm Allergic!

I am officially allergic to mold. Hooray! The allergist and his staff found it quite humorous that I was hoping for a violent reaction. (Which didn't happen; I had a moderate reaction to a couple of molds.) They were all very nice and sympathetic upon learning of the reason for my visit. My doctor is going to write a strong recommendation to the University of Richmond that they allow me to stay here for the sake of my health.

Went shopping today with Judy and Ben's sister Elizabeth. It ended up being an all-afternoon affair, but was quite pleasant and successful as shopping trips go despite intermittent rain (hmm, maybe outdoor malls weren't the best idea after all). I found some jeans and a GREAT black shirt. Fabulous clothes for the upcoming trip!!

Speaking of which, I am getting more and more excited for Russia. I can't believe that in a few short days I'll be there with Ben. Just have to get through a few hellish days of school first...but it's worth it because then I'll be with my babykins. Yay!!


Russia's flag


Random guy in Russia whose picture I found on Google

Tear the Roof off the Mother

Ben already posted this on his blog but now that we know that the roof really did get blown off, it has regained significance. My apartment is on the corner lot in the middle of the picture-- this was taken about three weeks ago, when there was still 3 feet of standing water. Sehr intressant, nicht?

Pictures of My House

Dan has posted all of his pictures from his trip to New Orleans. These are a few of them.


This is the basement apartment of my building. The caretaker, Don, lived there. His beloved drumset is still inside...



The facade of 4237 Fontainebleau Drive, which I called home for about two weeks. My apartment is the whole middle floor (both sides).



This was the living room of my apartment. And no, I didn't leave it in this state! Obviously the wind's been up to something in there.



This is Dan Sarrell, he's a Tulane 1L at University of Richmond. He took lots of self-portraits on this trip. This is also one of the best shots of the roof problem.



Another picture of good ol 4237.



This purse was once a really nice black bag. It's hanging on the inside of my closet door...apparently all the clothes in the closet are in a similar condition.



This is the bedroom. That hole in the ceiling is new.





I spoke with my landlord this afternoon and he sounded very depressed and out of sorts. He informed me that the roof has been blown off the building. (That's why you can see a piece of it hanging down the front of the house in the pictures.) It's funny, a few weeks ago Ben posted a satellite image of our block on his blog and noted, first, that the water had reached 7.5 feet and second, that the roofline looked funny. I had admonished him like, "hey, our place just has a weird roof, remember?" But he was right.

So hopefully we'll be able to hire out an acquaintance (former employee) of Judy's living in Covington to go get the rest of the salvageable stuff from the apartment and hold onto it until we can get down there.

Roller Coaster Weekend

Okay...so a lot has happened in the past few days. Maybe not substantively but emotionally at least. I will try to recount some of these happenings.

My friend Dan went to New Orleans this weekend. He is a Tulane 1L at Richmond, like me. Also like me, he wants to stay here rather than return to Tulane. Anyway, he had to go down to pick up his Volvo station wagon, which he had left at the Baton Rouge airport when he evacuated. He drove into New Orleans with sets of house keys for several of us Tulane students. We didn't hear from him until late afternoon. He called Christine first (my study room-mate) and gave her the good news that all of her stuff was totally fine. Only one window blew out, and it was in a room that was empty. So almost all of her stuff is salvageable.

A short while later, the phone rang for me. Not too much good news: all of the windows were blown out and there was mold on everything. Moreover, the door was open when he got there. (Ben has suggested that this may have been the police/national guard when they were searching for survivors; I hope so.) All my clothes are ruined. My jewelry, which I was fairly positive I had left in my underwear drawer in containers, could not be located. Apparently my swimsuits were fine (must be the chlorine!), so Dan brought them back. He also got Ben's 300-CD changer and my crate full of photographs.

So ever since the extent of the destruction of my personal belongings was "brought home" to me, I've been a little depressed; it is better to know, but still hard to accept. But it puts me in a much better position to negotiate with my landlord in breaking my lease.

This morning, the UR Dean of Admissions, Michelle Rahman, was back in the office after a 1.5 week absence. I spoke with her for just under an hour and am feeling pretty confident that I will be able to stay at UR and withdraw from Tulane. She is very sympathetic and helpful. I can't wait for this to be settled so that I can rest easy and focus on my studies! So yeah, apparently the law school dean is going to email all of us visiting students today and tell us that we HAVE to go back. Dean Rahman basically told me not to worry about it and proceed with applying to UR. No promises were made to me, but I am glad to have more information than before. And I've definitely decided to withdraw from Tulane no matter what.

I'm not so much conflicted about what to do (going back to New Orleans to live is NOT a possibility anymore) as confused and sad about what has happened. But my meeting today has made me more hopeful for the future. Sometimes things just don't work out the way we think they will....

"Killer Mold"

If you read my post below, you are aware that the MOLD situation is probably THE major reason I refuse to live in New Orleans. A new CNN.com article confirms my beliefs: Post-Hurricane Mold Threatens Health

After finding out Tulane's academic plan for the spring, I was kind of considering that I would resign myself to going back to Tulane for a semester if University of Richmond refused to allow me to stay. But right now, I'm back to my old line of, "I'd rather drop out of school than live in that place."

Read it! It's soooo gross!

Thanks FEMA! (No thanks to Tulane)

So...Tulane has finally given us some indication of what we will be coming back to academically in the spring.

Still no word on where we can live, sources of potable water, or even whether there is yet electricity in Weinmann Hall. But at least I know that if I go back, I'll be taking Constitutional Law and Legal Research over a 15-week semester, Contracts and Criminal Law over a concurrent 10-week semester, and one other class which I guess I would pick from upperclass offerings.

I suppose the schedule is not as bad as I anticipated. I feel bad for the students who didn't visit, who will be subjected to the rigors of fitting an entire academic year in two 10-week semesters with one week break in between. I mean, my potential scedule is less than ideal, but maybe not that bad-- I kind of like the idea of getting two finals over with and then having over a month to focus on my other two classes.

But I still really despise the idea of going back there. Not knowing the condition of my apartment and stuff, it's hard to know if my fears are irrational or not. But I suspect that my reasons for not wanting to go back are legitimate.

1. Allergy to mold: According to everyone who's gone back, there is mold growing EVERYWHERE, on EVERYTHING. I am horribly allergic to mold. I could barely stay healthy and breathe in New Orleans before the cataclysm. How awful will it be now?
   
   
2. Disgust with the way Tulane has handled itself thus far: This is the first SUBSTANTIVE communication Tulane has had with us that offers any sort of insight to the future. It's a full month after the storm! Basically they just told us to wait, disregarding that idly waiting for Tulane to get a plan together wasn't an option for many people for different reasons. I have lost a lot of respect for the leadership of the school.
   
   
3. I wanted to transfer out of Tulane anyway. This has been my plan ever since I took my leave of absence last November. One of the reasons I chose Tulane was because I thought I might end up staying in New Orleans and living, working, raising my kids there. There's no way in hell I would ever consider that now...and that idea had been on the outs for a few months beforehand anyway. All this confusion and upheaval will probably make it harder for me to transfer, especially because of the importance of grades in transferring...I need to stay at one school for the year.
   
   
4. Mental health: Forget about the physical dangers of returning to a ruined city. Those are numerous and substantial. I'm also worried about my emotional well-being. Everything I've been through in the past year has been pretty tough, and I was looking forward to getting out of New Orleans. When I got to Richmond I was very hopeful that I would be able to move forward with my life, leaving behind all the bad memories of losing a close friend and evacuating a deadly storm. There's been so much traveling, planning, uncertainty in the past month-- I really just want some stability so that I can not go crazy.
   
   
5. Presence of toxins and their possible effect on my unborn children.
   

I'm sure there are more, but I need to wrap this up so I can study.



Not everything in my life is bad news, though. There have been some exciting developments lately. Since I listed the above numerically, I will do so with the happy things as well.

1. FEMA money! YEAh baby! Direct deposit is a wonderful thing. I was worried that I had fatally screwed up my application and cheated myself out of $2K, but it turns out that it's not the case. *New development* Dan in the study room next door says that he got the standard $2k two weeks ago, and then yesterday he got ANOTHER check for slightly MORE! Hopefully this is standard practice.
   
   
2. Tulane/Loyola students to go to Supreme Court: We got an email yesterday saying that we would be going on a "field trip" to the US Supreme Court sometime this semester and that there would be a "reception." I don't know who will be there, I don't know when it is, but it sounds exciting and like a good opportunity.
   
   
3. Successful shopping lately: I try not to overdo it, but I have made some very good purchases in the past two weeks. I've moved on from clothes (I basically have everything I need) to accessories. Two new purses, some shoes...Very nice. There's something to be said for "retail therapy."
   
   
4. I found the gym on campus: I've been exercising a lot lately because i've been so stressed about The Situation. Rather than getting depressed about something I had no control over, I decided to get active. It's way harder to get out of bed in the morning because I'm sore and tired, but overall I am quite pleased to be making time for physical activity.
   
   
5. Fall has arrived: Last friday it was almost 100 degrees here. Today the high is about 80...and it's definitely nippy in late night/early morning. AWESOME! In NOLA we didn't get fall until about December.
   

So that is really almost everything that's happening.

Finally, the weekend!

Well it is the weekend at last. It's so great to have a break from class and just be able to get work done at your leisure. Although I am inclined to be more leisurely than is appropriate at this time; I'm really tired today from dancing at the Umphrey's McGee show last night.

The show was pretty fun. Definitely not one of the best UM shows I've seen (I think this was #12 or 13) but very enjoyable. There were only 200 people there, a far cry from the packed shows I've seen in the past year and a half. The venue was really lame, though. No smoking, no drinking, no nothing. Which is totally wack because it was just a huge metal warehouse with adequate air circulation. It was way too big for the 200 people who showed up-- I'll bet this place could hold 1500 people or more-- but this was nice because there was room to groove. Pinksy, Evan, Chris Martin and I were in the front row the whole time. Bassist Ryan "Pony" Stasik sang for only the fourth time in UM history, on Biz Markie's "Just a Friend." We chilled with the band after the show and I tried to get Bayliss to sign a copy of Local Band Does OK, but the only pen I could find didn't work very well. Bummer.

So now this weekend is to be dedicated to: 1)TORTS (midterm is in a week and a half), 2)PROPERTY (I really need to "get" estates in land and future interests) and 3) everything else that might need to be read, etc. Blah. It's hard to focus on school because Tulane is seriously screwing with our heads and providing terrible leadership. A message was posted from the associate dean of the law school on Tuesday that any student who is visiting away this semester will be required to return to Tulane in the spring, or withdraw from school. No one will be allowed to visit in the spring. This makes NO SENSE and it makes me sick that my school is looking out for their OWN bottom line while disregarding the financial situations of its students, in addition to disregarding the WELL-BEING of its students. Where are we supposed to live? Most of us have lost everything and apartments are mold-infested and uninhabitable. Many people have signed leases in new cities and relocated their families. Furthermore, the 1L class will be a logistical nightmare. My guess is that about 25-25% of students visited other schools; the rest are waiting for Tulane to tell them what to do, deferred for a year, or withdrew. So the majority of the 1L class will have to do some sort of accelerated program to get them finished with two semesters' worth of class by the end of the summer (!), while those of us who visited will probably have to do this too because curricula at different schools are not standardized. We will all have to go to class 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week to do this, and the people who didn't visit this semester will resent those of us who did and think that we have an "edge" (which we probably would). I seriously doubt that Tulane will be in position to offer all the classes everyone individually needs to avoid this situation. Hell, I seriously doubt Tulane's contention that it will be operational (and New Orleans will be habitable) in the spring! This line of thinking is purely delusional and money-driven! It's really ironic that they dropped this bomb on us that we had to come back, with the rider that they are trying to get together a plan to inform us of HOW they're going to start classes in January, but they can't work on it because they are evacuating Houston because of ANOTHER HURRICANE! Basically they are really sticking it to the current law students: "Yeah, we know you're unhappy with the way we're dealing with this, but we don't care because the school needs to remain solvent." Why should students care about Tulane when Tulane doesn't care about them?

So this situation is really frustrating. University of Richmond has not yet informed the visiting students of what its policy regarding this development will be. I really hope that I am able to stay here indefinitely; if not, it might be time to re-evaluate law school, or at least postpone it again for a few years, because I would rather NOT be in school than BE in school in New Orleans. I'm never living there again. Will not. Can not. Go back. The health risks, the likelihood of many more evacuations and possible devastations in the next two years alone...not happening.

Sorry to end this post with all this negativity, I've been letting it simmer for a few days now and I am really upset about the whole thing. So I'll just get back to reading Civil Procedure and let it go for now...

Ben in Russia!

Here is a picture of my boyfriend Ben. Isn't he handsome?

His blog is very excellent and I highly recommend it. (Naturally. But serslah-- check it out!) Notes from the Volga Embankment

Just had a great visit...

I had a great evening tonight. Aunt Patty and Uncle John stopped in Richmond on their way to Williamsburg. They got to see the Grossbergs' house and meet Rick and Judy, then we all went out to dinner at Mekong (Rick's favorite). It felt so wonderful to visit with family here in my new surroundings! A very nice Tuesday night diversion. I just wish it could have lasted even longer. There seemed to be a lot of common ground shared by the two parties, with all the traveling both the Grossbergs and the Joneses have done; additionally, Judy is a pediatrician and Aunt Patty a pediatric nurse practitioner. (LOTS to talk about there.) So, awesome. A really happy time. :-)

I'm looking forward to attending my first Umphrey's McGee show since July (Big Summer Classic in Philly with Emilee!). The show is at Washington & Lee on Friday. The band is on a couple days' break right now so I'm hoping they'll come back to the stage ready to rage. I've got to get MAD studying done this weekend, though. Sadly, the time has come when I MUST create up-to-date outlines. But here's the good news: three classes ain't no thang. Yeah, I'm stressed. In reality, I should be thanking my lucky stars that I'm here at U of R taking three classes rather than Tulane taking four. (I'm sure my tune will change in the spring, when UR 1Ls take FIVE clasess...)

Tomorrow I am supposed to go to Chipotle for the first time. A fellow refugee told me that they give free meals to anyone who can prove they were displaced by Katrina. So I'm psyched for my inaugural Chipotle experience. Plus, food always tastes better knowing it's free.

I miss swimming. I left all my awesome swimsuits that I purchased this summer in New Orleans. I don't even know where the pool is here at UR. My goggles, etc...all left behind. So that is something I might try to do soon. I feel more like myself when I have a chance to swim...

Is anyone else pissed that New York Times is now charging $50/year for online access to Op-Ed? Now, it is honestly worth $50 to me, because I read the Op-Ed columns pretty much every day. But it's hard to accept shelling out that much cash when you used to get the milk for free. Yaknowwhatimsayin? Seriously. Although I do think it's cool that "Times Select" also entails access to archived articles. 100 per month I believe. A lot of times I'll do a search in NYT and find links to articles in the archive and I'm all like, "Blast!" because it used to cost a couple of bucks to look at an archived article. So I'm thinking about sucking it up and doing this thing, however loath I am to buy the cow.

I miss my baby but am otherwise very content, happy and relaxed...bubble baths'll do that to ya. Buenos noches.

Mark Warner, what a strange-looking guy.

I tried to post this in the section below but didn't realize that the "add a picture" function doesn't work within Opera. Live and learn.

Hangin' with the Gov.

Here is a picture of Rick, Judy and me with Mark Warner, the Governor of Virgina. This was a very political weekend for me. On Friday I joined some of the other Law Students for Choice in a "Burma Shave." For those who are unaware, a burma shave is a sign-waving rally on the side of a street to get people driving by to honk at you. This particular "Burma Shave" took place on Belvedere between Franklin and Main, right on the edge of VCU's Monroe Park campus. It was organized by Planned Parenthood and there were about twenty of us. We held signs spelling out the phrase, "Judge Roberts, where do you stand? Will you uphold the law of the land?" (I was holding "stand?" as well as a smaller "Stand up for choice" sign.) It was pretty obvious by Friday that Roberts was going to be confirmed, but i feel that we were sucessful in getting people to think about reproductive rights as they drove home from work. Many, many people honked their support, while only two or three people in the hour and a half we were there gave us thumbs down or yelled pro-choice sentiments at us. My favorite expression of support came from a young woman, probably a VCU student, who yelled at us while waiting in traffic: "Keep your Bible out of my vagina!" A little raw for our purposes, but hilarious nonetheless.

Saturday was the Pig Roast at the governor's country house. Rick and Judy had scored the invite, and I was thrilled to go. I plan to write him a thank-you note for all that the Commonwealth has done to welcome the refugees such as myself. There was fairly tasty barbeque and beverages aplenty; but not really too much moving and shaking. Fairly sedate, as we were all too hot to move in the 90+ degree weather. But the estate was really gorgeous, set right on the Rappahannock River and huge grounds with animals and such. So basically Rick, Judy and I waited in line for about an hour to shake hands and get this picture with the Gov (eating while in line-- smart!) and then we walked around the property to check it out and left. Overall worthwhile, but I was very tired by the time we returned from being outside all afternoon and was unfortunately not very productive that evening.

Procrastination is the enemy

Well, I said that I would get around to relating what transpired following my arrival in Pittsburgh. I shall now make good on that promise.

Carrie made arrangements to meet up with one of her best friends from Penn State, who was living outside Pittsburgh with her family. So we drove to a shopping mall in Mt. Lebanon where Carrie's friend Beth met us and took Carrie home with her. I had decided to stay with my brother Jeff, who is 21 and a senior at Pitt. After a short but harrowing drive from the 'burbs to his house in the ghetto (I was a little out of it driving through the "tubes") I arrived at a very happening keg party. Although I was disappointed at not rating a glass beer stein (plastic cup for the refugee? Whaaat?) Jeff's friends were all very welcoming and in high spirits, which was fairly contagious. Unfortuantely I did not possess the requisite energy level to fully become ensconced in the party atmosphere. However, I did drink a few Nattys and enjoyed for the first time a culinary delight locally known as a "wedgie." A wedgie is a sandwich made with tasty pizza crust folded in half; at Jeff's suggestion I ordered turkey and bacon with mayo. It was so wonderful!

The party was pretty fun; I talked a lot with this kid Matt (I think that's his name), who is into a lot of the same jamband music I like. Unlike me, he really digs Jack Johnson, so I did lose a little respect for him at that point. But we danced around to "Fluffhead" with ultimate party girl Jess, who I will always remember because she got my dad to play Ruby and calls him "Mr. Jeff's Dad." Jeff tried to get his friends to donate money to the hurricane victim but I think a lot of people there didn't realize that he was serious. Around 2:30 I finally decided it was time to go home and sleep (I'm surprised I made it that late considering the 13-hour drive!) and Jeff was nice enough to walk me back to his house. The new place is really great. I know Mom was concerned for me, but Jeff's room was immaculate and he even had clean linens and towels and stuff. And thank god, the bathroom was clean too! (Very nice since I wasn't quite up for showering at Martin's. No offense.) I had a restful night and woke up early the next morning to meet Carrie and continue the last leg of our journey together.

Not surprisingly, I slept for most of the drive from Pittsburgh to Lancaster. Thanks Carrie. The trip takes about four hours and is fairly boring. We got gas on the Turnpike near Pittsburgh for $3.29, and thank goodness we did because by the time we got to Harrisburg it was nearer four dollars! Damn! The prices did go down a lot once we were back in Amish Country, though. We first stopped at Carrie's mom's house off New Holland Pike, dropping her and her stuff off. A few minutes later I was finally home! Houston to Lancaster baby! My poor car was pretty beat, but I felt GREAT. I couldn't beleive I was finally home with my parents and brothers. It was a beautiful, perfect day...sunny, not humid at all, about 75 degrees with the windows open and the pool looking gorgeous. I caught myself up with local news, reading the Lititz Record Express and the Intelligencer Journal. Then Mom invited me to check out her closet to see if I could use anything. She pulled out this amazing black chiffon party dress from the '50s and told me, "I bought this for you years ago but forgot to give it to you. Would you like it?" I fell in love with it instantly and immediately changed into it.

So I was really decked out, heels and all, when the guests began to arrive. Per my request, my parents had invited lots of family members to come over for the evening and hang out with me. There was nothing else in the world I wanted at that time than to see my beloved family and friends! It really meant a lot to me that all these people drove out to see me. Grandpa and Ann, Grams and Pop Pop, Patty John and Brian, Aunt Debi, and Uncle Kurt all came out. And they all brought me stuff too! I really am one lucky girl.

The food, people, weather were all awesome. Uncle Kurt played some songs on his guitar and sang for us. The kids got into the pool but I was too busy chatting. We drank champagne and it was wonderful!

But all good things must come to an end, and that night was essentially the last chance I had to really relax without concern for schoolwork. Because the next morning my Mom, Dad and I drove to Richmond, and that is where this blog began.

Busy, busy

So I'm halfway through my second week at U of R...things are coming together but I am really concerned about Property! The professor is kind of "mehh" and always tries to trick us which is really demoralizing! Everything else is fine though.

Ben posted a very interesting picture of our apartment in New Orleans on his blog. It is located at http://volganotes.blogspot.com

I'm supposed to go shopping with Essie Grossberg this afternoon. We are going to try to find some shoes. Hopefully her chemistry is good today.

Tomorrow I go to DC to obtain a passport, since I left mine in my (presumably flooded) apartment when I fled. This is important so that I can get a visa to visit Russia in a timely manner.

Last night I installed AIM on my computer, then this morning in class I uninstalled it. I think its propensity to preclude productivity is dangerous. Plus, it was making my computer run rather slowly. BAH!

Speaking of the computer...it's having some problems. :-( I geep getting messages saying that there are corrupt files that cannot be read. So I hope the computer help desk people can take care of it before my Civil Procedure class today.

This weekend I will meet the Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner. I plan on telling him how welcoming his state has been to a displaced Katrina victim. Then I'm gonna eat some roasted pig! Please let me know if you have any other suggestions of what I can say to the Gov at the receiving line to make him remember me.

That's all for now. I plan on finishing the story of my evacuation and how I ended up in Richmond sometime in the near future. Spasiba. Ya tebya lyubliu!

So here's what happened...

Okay...I'm finally going to detail the circumstances which brought me to where I am now. Also known as "the story."

Ben and I drove to New Orleans and arrived on Friday, August 19. We spent the weeekend getting settled in the new apartment on Fontainebleau Drive, meeting up with friends and attending my first week of law school. Carrie, one of my oldest friends and our roommate last year, arrived on that Wednesday. She didn't have a place to live yet so she was staying with us while she found an apartment.

Ben was scheduled to leave New Orleans for Richmond on Saturday, August 27. We basically found out that Katrina was coming into the Gulf after hitting eastern Florida that Friday evening. So our trip out to the airport, which under normal circumstances would have surely been tearful and horribly sad, was instead driven by emergency concerns: making an evacuation plan for Carrie and myself. Ben was insistent that we should get out of town as soon as possible, and I agreed completely.

So we said goodbye, both focused on the imminent threat that Katrina was posing to New Orleans more than our impending separation. I got back to the apartment around 10am, and soon thereafter Tulane announced that classes were cancelled for the week. Carrie and I flew into motion. We packed hurriedly, cleaned up the apartment and tried to "hurricane-proof" as much as possible. I threw a few favorite articles of clothing and a bare minimum of toiletries into a small duffel; all I brought with me besides this was my computer, backpack full of law casebooks, and a basket of dirty laundry. This being my fourth evacuation in as many years, I was fairly certain at this time that I would return in a few days and it would save time and effort to not take too much. ARG!

Carrie and I were on a tight schedule, as she had plans to meet with her prospective landlord and sign a lease on an efficiency apartment at noon. So I threw all my paperwork, favorite books, boxes of photographs, and a full bottle of Bombay Sapphire (I figured I'd need it when I returned!) into the closet in the central hallway for safekeeping and wheeled all the electronics and media into said hallway. Didn't bother to tape the windows, because in the past the windows never blew out and the tape left ugly residue. We threw our stuff into the Explorer and were driving out of the city by 1pm.

Having done the evacuation thing before, I knew not to try to get on I-10 in the middle of the city...I took the Crescent City Connection over to the Westbank and stayed on 90 West to Donaldsonville, then took back roads up to I-10 past Baton Rouge. The rest of the trip went by really quickly, and we made it to Houston in about six hours. Much better than the 15 hours it took us when we evacuated for Ivan last year!

I am so fortunate to have Aunt Jacquelyn and Uncle Jim living in Houston. Aunt Jacquelyn is my mom's younger sister, and she and her husband have two kids: Caroline, 9 and Will, 4. They live in a gorgeous home in the outskirts of Houston with a pool and two guest rooms, so Carrie and I really had it made, regardless of our refugee status. Although we were pretty depressed for much of the time we spent there watching the news, playing with Will, who has Down Syndrome, was a real joy. It was great to spend time with my cousins-- time that I never would have had if not for the storm. Also, we did some fun things, such as shopping in Rice Village.

By Wednesday evening, we figured it was finally time to leave. It had become evident that staying around in Houston, waiting to be able to go back to New Orleans, was pointless. I had started calling law schools on Tuesday to see if they would accept a Tulane student for "immediate transfer." In time I realized the correct lingo is "visiting student." Basically all the law schools to whom I spoke gave me negative information, such as, "You'll never catch up; classes have been in session for a week already!" or "I'm sorry, but our 1L class is filled to the rafters." I had really gotten pretty bummed from all that rejection, but then on Wednesday, Ben's mom called me and asked what I thought about coming to Richmond and going to law school while living with them. After all that negative energy from law school admissions officers, the thought of a possible solution was thrilling to me. I talked over my options with Jacquelyn and Jim, my Aunt Debi, and finally my parents before finally deciding that to stay in school this semester would be the best option for me. Luckily Carrie was ready to go as well.

So on Thursday morning we left Houston. It was hard to say goodbye to our gracious hosts, but it was time to head north like so many other evacuees. We first stopped in Lufkin, Texas, a town about two hours north of Houston. It was the most disgusting place I've ever seen! There were huge bugs mating and flying around in tandem EVERYWHERE. They totally swarmed all around the gas station where we filled up. They were splattered all over the windshield and just SOOO gross. Our next stop was Texarkana, where my car refused to start after filling up with our last tank of gas that cost less than three dollars a gallon. Luckily a very nice cowboy came over and determined that my coolant levels were too low. He filled it up with water and my car came back to life!

Then came about four hours of Arkansas. Not bad, really-- nice and flat, not very crowded. We passed Hope, where the great President Bill Clinton was born. I don't have much else to say about Arkansas other than to note that it was while driving here that I spoke with the University of Richmond Dean of Admissions, who was nice as could be and told me that they would be glad to have me for the semester. YAY!

Finally we arrived in Memphis. I had called Martin, my old roommate from junior year of college, to see if we could stay with him. I actually evacuated to Martin's house in Memphis for my very first hurricane evacuation several years ago. Martin greeted us warmly and invited us in for a home-cooked meal of meatloaf and mashed sweet potatoes (his specialty). Then he declared that he was taking us out on the town! We went to a few bars in downtown Memphis, then had sushi at a very cool place. After that we went to the movie theater for a late showing of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," a movie I highly recommend. We ended the evening at a neighborhood bar in Midtown. The good times of this evening really took my mind off my troubles and the turmoil in New Orleans.

On Friday morning we left for Pittsburgh. Our first stop came early on, halfway between Memphis and Nashville. We saw a big family caravaning in cars with Louisiana plates at the gas station; they were headed up to Philadelpia. Inside, the propietor told us that we were crazy to try to make it to Pittsburgh that night. "Too far!" he said. "Phooey," said I.

Carrie and I made it to Pittsburgh without incident.

That's all for now...I will eventually resume the narrative. Ta!

Time for Torts!

Well, I made it through my first week of law school here in Richmond. I really like the school a lot- it's not a very competitive atmosphere, and the students and faculty are very welcoming. Also, the weather here is beautiful! I had forgotten how much I missed fall! (Although November in New Orleans may be my all-time favorite.) I've done a lot of shopping this week to replace some of the clothes I left in New Orleans. Hopefully now I have enough to get me through a few weeks of school. I think it will be easier to concentrate on school once I'm not worried about running out of clean underwear.

Classes are going well. I managed to get pretty much caught up this week, and I think by next week my refugee-status-immunity will have worn off and I'll be fair game for getting called on in class. The law school had a happy hour event on Friday evening and it was fun to explore a different part of Richmond. Not to mention, that Pyramid Hefeweissen is pretty awesome!

There's a lot of uncertainty about what is happening in New Orleans and with Tulane. All I know is, it's a mess...and I would prefer not to go back. I've had my fun there. It was getting time to go after having my music collection stolen out of my bedroom, my car stolen from in front of my house, and our house broken into while we were upstairs. Particularly now that the burglar whom Ben and I watched get sentenced to ten years in Angola may have been one of the OPP prisoners to take off when the warden was taken hostage. It's sad that a place that I loved so much is full of traumatic memories now. It will never be the same, and I don't want to live in the "new" New Orleans.

So, I'm tending to focus on the present. And the near future, for in a little over one month I will be traveling to Russia!!!! YAY!!! Between keeping up with schoolwork and getting ready for the trip, I'm too busy to be sad about the fate of my former home. Not that I'm a big "Rent" fan, but the line from that song comes to mind: "No day but today."

And today, or tonight rather, a few Torts cases need to be read and briefed. Did you know that Richmond, VA and Zacatecas, Mexico are sister cities? Hasta luego...

In Richmond

My dad, mom and I drove to Richmond today and got here around 3:00. Then we all went to the University of Richmond for an orientation session for displaced students who will be attending classes there this semester. I was shocked when I saw Wesley's roommate Nick! Nick is an Australian law student who was going to be at Tulane this year. There are six 1Ls from Tulane and hopefully we will stick together. The staff and students at UR could not have been more welcoming, and I am confident that everything will work out for me there.

Tomorrow I will try to post more detail about what has happened with me in the past week.