It's nearly March!

Did you guys miss me?! I'm back and better than ever at AU. I know that I've been slacking on the whole keeping the family updated thing, so I figure I'll launch a monster blog post now in order to prevent mom and dad from badgering me for a post :)

The past three weeks have been loads of fun. As you can see in this image, my friends and I have gotten out a lot. This photo comes courtesy of Mckenzie during her short visit just one weekend ago. I had an amazing time with her for Valentine's Day. We kicked it off with a group trip to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum which is just as cool as it sounds. We gazed at the Wright Brother's early plane, a life-sized X-Wing, and plenty of rovers. We also got into the planetarium and enjoyed a quick 30-minute showing of "The Edge of Darkness" about meteors, dwarf planets, and other things that scientists consider abnormal along the edge of our solar system. Pretty cool stuff!

Wowzers

Hudson's website runs on Oracle servers so he likes the plane

See if you can spot my friends and me in the reflection

Hübsch! (German for pretty)

For Valentine's Day dinner Mckenzie and I ordered Pho into the dorms, and cuddled up to watch a movie. The next day we got out to a nearby Italian place where I got fettuccine alfredo, and she got her classic chicken parm. Alas, she had to leave me Monday night to get back to Stevens but don't worry because we have our spring break planned out. 

Right after my previous blog post, I was recruited to an Intramural Innertube Water Polo league thanks to my friend Maggie and her Women's Rugby team. She said that she needed two well-abled men and who better fits that description than Hudson and me? We tied our first game, then lost the next two. Early in the first match I discovered that I've got a knack for goalie. Our first loss came at the hands of Ian's frat brothers, who apparently have been the reigning champs for the past three years. Our second loss was incredibly close, and I took a beating in the goal. I counted roughly 27 blocks, but they still scored on me 7 times while we could only put up 4 on offense. I truly do love this stupid game, and I wish we were a bit more coordinated on our attack, because I feel like I have the defense locked down. Here are some images so you can see how wack this sport is played. 

 

Left to right goes: Chris, Hudson, Lincoln, Sam, Ava, Beth, Maggie, then Abby at the bottom

It's as hard to move as it looks

Here's the size of the pool, this isn't no Olympics :)

Enjoy this video taken by my roommate during our first game. Blink and you'll miss the save!

 

In other news, I've gotten involved in a few new things on campus. I've joined the German club thanks to the nagging of my classmates, and enjoyed a "Pizzaabend" with them. More importantly though, I joined the Rival American, which is a third party "unbiased" news source. Hudson and I joined because we thought that the campus-run satire account was pretty terrible, and of course we think we can do better. I've pitched a few ideas, and so has he, and the editor in chief loves us so far. 

Here are a few examples: 

Nancy Guthrie found via wellness check

AU college republicans announce average GPA of "Me Pet Kitty"

AU dems send strongly worded love letter

While not the best work by Hudson or I, they are a lot better than the previous posts made by the Rival. Hudson and I also accidentally got ourselves writing real articles for them, so I have to create one around the idea "Better games to play during class than Connections." Should be fairly easy, and it doesn't seem like the Rival is too pressing on deadlines for the satire or the articles that aren't important. However, it is nice to be part of something bigger. The Rival is the only news source that is actually reporting on the AU professor who was in the Epstein files, and a member also covered a recent AU College Republicans meeting where they brought in Paul Ingrassia, who has self claimed that he has a "Nazi Streak." Crazy stuff to be involved in, and incredibly disheartening to me that that guy was invited onto campus. 

This weekend was incredibly fun. Ian's brother from Boston came down so we took him to a frat party, the zoo, and plan on playing some Magic the Gathering with him tonight. He's a very chill guy, and it's been nice getting to know him. Enjoy some photos we got at the zoo. 

Hudson on the bike from the party

Ian's Frat (SAE or Sigma Alpha Epsilon)

Exploring Downtown D.C. with Ian's brother

Awww

Hudson loves the gorillas

My upcoming week doesn't look too hectic, I've got my homework done so far, and plan on getting food in a bit. As I'm typing this, the coffee shop that I'm in just gave away free bagels and donuts because they're shutting up shop in 10 minutes. What a nice surprise! 

Anyways, I hope all is well for you guys, personally I'm doing fine and dandy. I'm not looking forward to more snow hitting D.C., and I can see the flurries starting outside of the window. Have a great few weeks until I post next. 😀 XOXO