With me having a slight summer vacation in May before my summer semester hit, right after Mom and Amanda came down to visit me, I headed up to Calgary for a week to see friends and family up that way as I am not sure when I will be making my way back (although now it appears at the end of July if the school schedule remains the same). And, as per usual, I can never have a boring flight......this time I decided to fly out of Baltimore as tickets are way cheaper than flying out of Reagan and I got to ride a train for the first time ever and I loved it!!!! I would train it anywhere (I have a notion to just to go the train station, look at all the trains leaving and jump on one for an adventure). They are so roomy and nice and cool and just watching the scenery is very relaxing. This person is definitely a fan of trains. I am still on a hunt for a good flight path as I am trying to avoid La Guardia at all costs, so this time, I flew down to Dallas and up to Calgary (the scenic route but only 1 layover). I do not know if that will be my flight path again as I learnt that Dallas is pretty good for delayed flights. Once in Dallas, my flight was delayed about an hour and then the flight up to Calgary was pretty rough - we had turbulence the entire way, and I am not talking about your slight pitching or bumpiness, I am talking about jarring and pitching enough that a couple overhead bins came open and luggage started falling out. There were a couple of times when I looked out the window I couldn't see anything moving so I thought we had just stopped midair and was waiting for the turbulence to pass or something like that. 
And then there were a couple of times that the show would quiet down to let the captain speak overtop but all you heard was this voice saying 'hello, hello; is anyone there? Can anyone hear this?' and I thought to myself 'holy fuck, even a tower can't read us right now'. I thought for sure this was going to be one of those flights that the air masks were going to drop. And out of it all, while people were panicking and the stress level in that plane was super high, the lady sitting next to me (who was born in 1937 fyi) did not speak any English whatsoever had this smile on her face the entire time as she had no clue what was happening hahaha. I thought that if we were going to crash, she was going to crash with a smile on her face. When the pilot finally came on to tell us that we were going to start the descent into Calgary, normally this takes about 20-30 minutes to do from the time he announces to the time we pull up to our gate. Not this time...no siree......he announced, I watched clouds go whipping by us out of the window and then bam!!! bounce!!! a little skid!!! we were hitting the runway and hard. People actually screamed a little and clutched the seat in front of them for dear life. I normally am not a panicky flyer, but I was quite happy to be off of a plane and safely onto Canadian soil.
And then there were a couple of times that the show would quiet down to let the captain speak overtop but all you heard was this voice saying 'hello, hello; is anyone there? Can anyone hear this?' and I thought to myself 'holy fuck, even a tower can't read us right now'. I thought for sure this was going to be one of those flights that the air masks were going to drop. And out of it all, while people were panicking and the stress level in that plane was super high, the lady sitting next to me (who was born in 1937 fyi) did not speak any English whatsoever had this smile on her face the entire time as she had no clue what was happening hahaha. I thought that if we were going to crash, she was going to crash with a smile on her face. When the pilot finally came on to tell us that we were going to start the descent into Calgary, normally this takes about 20-30 minutes to do from the time he announces to the time we pull up to our gate. Not this time...no siree......he announced, I watched clouds go whipping by us out of the window and then bam!!! bounce!!! a little skid!!! we were hitting the runway and hard. People actually screamed a little and clutched the seat in front of them for dear life. I normally am not a panicky flyer, but I was quite happy to be off of a plane and safely onto Canadian soil. 
Amie was picking me up from the Airport (and a trooper she was because of the delays and the fact that I had no voice between the humidity I left in Washington and the allergies flaring up when I touched down in Calgary) and from there we went to Ranchmans. We are still trying to figure out whose harebrained idea that was as I didn't land until after 11pm so we didn't even get to Ranchmans until midnight, but it was a blast. We both realized that we are 1) too old and 2) too out of shape to be dancing like we used to do (the first polka we did completely did a number on us). We ended up closing the bar though (go hard or go home) and then crashed for the night. We ended up meeting these two guys that loved to dance so it worked out perfectly for us. And they were so nice and escorted us to McDonalds afterwards (I was so hungry from not eating and all the panicking from that last flight). It was a wonderful welcome back into Calgary and I told Amie that it would be hard for her to top that welcoming so it may now just be a tradition of ours. Later on in the week I met up with Amie and Hailey for a zoo trip and that was so much fun!!! I can't believe how much Hailey has grown (funny how time does that) and just listening to her talk and how smart she is...you have a wonderful girl there Amie!!! It was a wonderful time seeing her and I can't wait for when she comes out to Washington.
While in Calgary I got to visit with Aly and work peoples and go see Court and discuss all the wedding details with her since I was going to miss her wedding. I even commissioned Court already to be my wedding planner if I ever need one as that girl was on the ball for everything and did everything herself. Very crafty that cousin of mine is. One thing I had to do while in Calgary was get a TB test done for my practicum site - I have never had one of these done before so I didn't know what to expect and I pitied the nurse that got me. She was telling me that if my skin around the needle mark started to puff up/bubble, it meant that I was having a reaction, which isn't a good thing. So, me being panicked already, as soon as she inserted whatever was in the needle, my skin puffs up and I start panicking 'oh my god, I have TB!!!!!' She calmly told me that everybody has an initial reaction to it and it will go down in a couple of hours and then I need to watch my skin to see if there is a reaction. I was to go back in 2 days for them to check out the test and see if I had a reaction and for those 2 days, I checked out my arm a million times a day to make sure there was no reaction. Oys. I panicked for nothing as I am TB free!!!! Woohoo.
The flight back to Washington was, thankfully, not as turbulent but still had some delays in Dallas. Flew in no problem, and then got settled in at my gate for when my flight was going to leave. Start up the laptop to do some emailing and whatnot as I had over three hours to kill and suddenly an announcement comes on that our gate has been changed. Okey doke. So pack up my stuff and start heading to the new gate (which was, thankfully, in the same terminal but at the other end of it). Get down to the new gate, get settled in to wait, start up the laptop again. Do some stuff. Then an announcement comes on - our gate has been changed again. So, pack up everything, start walking to the new gate (which was a couple of gates down from the original gate). Get to the new gate and this time I am start enough to not bring out my laptop - I just pulled my book out, hunkered down and started reading. I got to a really good part and an announcement comes on. They are changing our gate once again. Grumble grumble, pack things up, head to new gate. Finally, after 3 gate changes and an hour delay, we are ready to board the plane. And, lucky me, there are military men on this flight. Hot military men. Maybe this flight just got a bit better. But, as I have no luck, I was not seated next to one or anywhere near one - they sat either in first class or right near the plane and I was near the back. I couldn't even look at them. No luck for this chick. Land in Baltimore and whoosh - got hit with a wave of humidity. Right. I forgot about that. I was so happy in Calgary with the coolness and the rain that I declimatized myself from DC weather. Not a good thing to do. 
Summer semester has started up again and the two classes I am taking are Group Processes and Forensic Diversity. Thankfully the prof seems to be pretty easy going and not too much into the whole teaching part of school so he is going to shake things up with having classes outside and being more hands on and stuff like that. One of the assignments is to write a paper on my culture/heritage so I have been plaguing my family with questions about where we came from, how did we get to where we are, stuff like that and it has been interesting and wonderful all the responses I have been getting back. I am learning so much about my family that I never knew and now am seeing how I came to be the person I am today through and from my family. It will be a fun paper once it is all said and done and my family has helped tremendously for it. I also got a job on campus - before, the jobs were only available for those students who had federal student loans but now they took away the student loans part as a requirement so it is open to us international folk - very happy news. Originally we thought that I could work while I was getting my Social Security Number and they would just back pay/retro pay me but sadly, they could not do it. 
So I "worked" one day and then had to go down to the Social Security office to submit my application for a number. While at work (just on campus as the receptionist) the freaking cops show up - how the hell did they know I was working illegally!!!?? Hahaha. Someone accidentally called 911 and then hung up so the cops had to come and just make sure everything was kosher. I laughed pretty hard when they left though. Great timing. My application is in for a SSN and it should take 7 - 10 days from last Thursday to get here and then I can start working, again. I kind of feel bad though because I will only be able to work for July as August I plan on coming home as I won't have as much of a break at Christmas time than I did last year. But I could also stick around here and make some money. Oh a conundrum.
For all of those reading this in Southern Alberta, know that my thoughts and prayers are with you guys. That flood did massive damage and I hope that everyone is safe and secure. I keep thinking that if I was still in Calgary, my place would be absolutely gone and I would have lost anything that I wasn't smart enough to pack with me, which makes me wonder what I would have been smart enough to pack with me. I don't know if I even would have had the time. I am one of those people that once I sit in my chair, have my cross stitch and movies playing, I am oblivious to what is happening outside and around me. I may not have even noticed what was happening until I saw water come through my windows and probably by that time it would have been too late for me to meander around my place, trying to figure out what was important enough to take then and what could be left behind. It makes me panic about the people that have lost everything in this flood and how sad I am for them to basically start everything all over again. It also puts things into perspective for me a little bit - here I am complaining about the hotness and humidity, but it isn't like that is taking me away from my home and me losing my valuables and possessions. I really have no right to complain about the heat (I still will complain by the way hahaha). I have been in contact with basically everyone that I know in Calgary and they are said that they were safe and secure, so that is a blessing.
So here was an update for you folks on what I have been doing (the pictures are from the Botannical Gardens and some hodgepodge ones). Basically with the heat, it has been a pretty lazy lifestyle. I finally went out and did some touristy things so I will write about that soon but just figured I should catch you up on my trip (for those checking track - don't go through LaGuardia ever because they lose luggage, security sucks and the airport is not user friendly and if you go through Dallas, be prepared to be delayed) and the start of the school semester. On a good note, I am actually tanning which is amazing so that is something new and different for me hahaha. I miss and love you all!!! Take care!!!!
