last aucc trip: an epic adventure

i so i will start where i left off, waking up at 6:30 am after 4 hours of sleep. twas not fun. luckily i had packed most of my stuff the night before, so i made it to the quad around 7:15 as instructed. molly and i were both riding with oyvind (aka ivan-who is from norway) as well as isaac (who is a 1st year kiwi who looks like he's in hanson) and fiona (who is irish and was teaching me the first time i rolled). i spotted oyvind's brightly painted van (named theodor) parked by the quad, and found him and isaac organizing the 5 kayaks in the back of the van. as the third to arrive, i was offered the choice between sitting in the front of the van (where there are 3 real seats) or the back (where there is a bench seat which is not attached to anything and does not have seatbelts). i said the back was fine, and then had to decide whether i wanted to face backwards of forwards (ie, kayaks in the back of the head, or no view). i went with facing forwards since that was the current position and less work. molly arrived after a bit, slightly late because her alarm didn't go off, and she piled in the back with me.

then we had to go to toni's house, which is on the north shore, to get her boat for molly to borrow. unfortunately molly didn't remember exactly how to get there, but after a few missed turns and a bit of map navigating from me, we found it, and swapped the club boat molly was supposed to have with toni's really nice creeker. this left me as the only person with a club boat, which did not help my mounting fear for the grade 3. creekers are supposed to be easier (larger volume, faster, harder to flip over and relatively easy to roll back up) and the freestyler i got is a play boat, which are smaller and the pros use to do tricks. i was assured that it's the best boat the club owns though, and there wasn't much i could do about it anyway.

after leaving toni's we went back to town, picked up fiona at britomart, and were on the motorway by 8:30. oyvind told us we were going to listen to norwegian folk music all the way there, and we were all excited but it turns out he was kidding and didn't really have any. he also turned to isaac, who was in charge of all his electronics (ipod and phone) and was like 'how's your norwegian coming?' because apparently all the menus and stuff are in norwegian. isaac replied 'ok, music is musik' and oyvind said 'yeah it's a pretty easy language, i learned it when i was like 4' (ie, as his first language. it was funny at the time i don't think i reproduced that well ha ha).

the original plan from colm said everyone should be on the motorway by 8, but we were still far ahead of "aucc time" and when colm called at 8:40 to check on us they were still at james's flat tying boats on the car. (there were just the 2 cars full, with kenny, colm, james, ross, and katrina in the other one). we stopped at a bp to fill up petrol and rearrange boats, and oyvind pulled up with the gas cap on the wrong side, which was not realized until after we had unloaded half the gear and boats from the back, so then he had to pull away and do a big loop, leaving fiona, molly and me standing in the gas station parking lot surrounded by piles of kayaking gear.

eventually we were on our way, the other car having just passed us, and we leap frogged back and forth the rest of the way, stopping once just before matamata for a potty break. molly and i probably should not have been together for that ride, because we just continued to freak ourselves and each other out more and more. i was WAY more scared than i was for skydiving, i got butterflies in my stomach every time i thought about it. we tried to play calming songs, like bob marley, followed by pump our selves up music, like modest mouse and come on eileen.

we reached the top get in just after the other car, where molly and i raced for the outhouse, and everyone got ready for the river. i had my togs, polypro leggings, 2 long sleeved polypro tops, and james's drytop which i had procured from nick on friday at school. ross had a wetsuit he was offering so after some debate i decided i may as well load up on layers and took that too, which turned out to be a GREAT choice.

after everyone was fully dressed, everyone except isaac and molly and i set off down the top of the rangitaiki. we beginners had to shuttle the cars and would then meet everyone at the get in for the mid section (easier part). both cars were standard, but luckily isaac and molly could both handle that, so first we took both cars down to the take out, where we left kenny's car (which used to be his while he was here and he sold to squirrel when he left, but ironically squirrel is at stanford (where kenny is a grad student) while he is here, so they just traded cars). then we all went in theodor back to the mid section get in, down some VERY rough dirt roads. i continued the freaking out by wondering aloud how long it might take an ambulance to arrive out there. the view of the river at the get in was perfectly flat in both directions and isaac (who is a professional raft guide and knows the river) said "oooh you don't know what's around the corner do you?" which further scared me. however it took the instructors so long to make it down to us that my fear had more or less given way to sillyness and boredom by the time they finally arrived (around 2:30).

we put our boats in and with some assistance attached my snazzy new neoprene club deck to the boat. the freestyler i was paddling is the smallest kayak i've been in yet, and had no foot pegs, so my feet were just kinda touching the front end of the boat which was a bit strange, and the thigh braces seemed like they would be hard to get out of, but i was assured it's always easy to get out when you're underwater.

after i was all situated, i first did a practice t-rescue off colm's boat just to get used to the frigid water temp (although the drytop was REALLY nice, it has double layer seals around the wrists, neck, and waist, so for brief wet experiences you stay virtually dry). after that, and with several instructors watching and prepared to t-rescue me, i tried my first river roll-and it worked!! granted, it was in the perfectly still, flat water with no rocks or whitewater, but it still made me 1000x less scared for the day ahead. hypothetically, i would be able to save myself! molly declined any sort of underwater practice, saying that if she tried and couldn't roll it would freak her out even more so it was better not to. i tried a second roll a little ways down still in the flats, and it was fine again. the only problem is every time i roll up, my contacts kinda get lost in my eyes, so when i come up i usually can't see much, which becomes a bit of a problem when you're weaving around rocks and stuff in the rapids.

before we got to the first rapids, james had us eddy out and told us some basic instruction. ie, always listen to the instructors, go in the direction they point, tell someone if we get really cold, because most everyone has snacks in their vests. and he gave us our order, with katrina leading, then kenny, then colm as the first group, then oyvind, molly, me, and ross in the second, and isaac, fiona, and james bringing up the rear. this was kenny's first grade 3 and isaac's second, but they are both far better paddlers than molly and me, so we had oyvind and ross, the two most experienced instructors (besides james) sandwiching us. i told ross if i flipped i would try rolling once and then he should come t-rescue me immediately.

and then we headed into the first rapids! i felt quite alright, but molly flipped and swam, and then requested that ross go in front of her and oyvind behind me, because she likes the way ross instructs better (worded more diplomatically). this was unfortunate for me because, as i had discovered on the wairoa trip, oyvind's boat is extremely slippery and hard to grab onto for t-rescues. but i did not complain.

the rapids were real fun though, the whole nose of the boat would go under and just pop back up. and my steering was better than i had expected, which was good because there were lots of rocks to steer around. i got stuck on top of one but ross came and gave me a push and told me which way to lean and i somehow remained upright. a few rapids later (probably the third one) i capsized next to a rock, and the combination of rock and not being prepared in setup position convinced me i couldn't roll, so i swam. for some reason i felt like it would take the instructors longer to get to me than past trips, so i generally didn't wait very long for t-rescues. james came by, had me grab the back of his boat, and towed me over to where the others had caught my boat and paddle.

after that i was just a little chilly but not too upset. i cannot say the same about 4 swims later. i'm not sure about the order of all of these, but in general every time i flipped i'd be by a rock, meaning most of the time i wouldn't even try to roll and wouldn't wait very long for a t-rescue before swimming, which would then just make me more frustrated with myself. sometime around my third swim fiona was also swimming, and since james couldn't tow us both at once and it was quite shallow, he sent us wading/swimming through the rapids, which i think would have been really fun had it not been SO cold in the water. fiona was really mad at herself for swimming, which lead me to be even more frustrated because it was already my third swim.

i think the second swim oyvind got me and had me lay on my belly across the cockpit as he paddled me over to my boat, which he said actually stabilized him like a ballast, although someone said james wouldn't approve, but he didn't seem to care when he saw. when we arrived at my boat i said "thanks for the ride" and oyvind said "my pleasure" and molly said "that sounded kinda dirty" and we all laughed.

one of the times i had held on for a t-rescue oyvind got to me, and i got my hand on his boat but couldn't reach the loop and it slipped away, i tried again, and it happened again, so then i was out of air and swam. stupid big round creeker boats!

after 2 or 3 swims i tried rolling again in another flat spot to show myself i still could, and i was fine. katrina told me that if you hold on in set-up position underwater and wait a bit sometimes you move away from the rocks and can roll up better. the next time i capsized after that i made myself stay calm and got in set-up position, and then rolled up!! that was the hilight of the entire river, by far, using my roll IN the rapids to save myself after an unexpected flip. that is really the whole purpose of rolling. it was a bit scary because as usual my contacts were not focused, so i had to make my way to the end of the rapids slightly blindly, but luckily everyone was eddyed out just after the rapids (because molly swam again), so i could stop and get settled (and celebrate my roll!). in general molly stayed upright more than me (i think she had 3 or 4 swims total and i had 5) which may have been due in part to having toni's boat (or because she is a better paddler than me, she just freaks out underwater immediately).

during my worst swim, somehow my boat and i ended up in a little eddy right next to a lot of rushing rapids which would be pretty impossible for me to eddy into without flipping. james got to me and got out of his boat and after some pondering of the situation he told me to get in my boat and he would raft me past the rapids to my paddle. however after some more pondering and gesturing at all the people standing on the bank downstream, james told me to get back out, climb over some rocks and a fallen tree, and he'd meet me in the next eddy and tow me down. he then stood up and threw my boat as far out in the river as he could, got in his boat and paddled over to me, and warned me that it was very shallow so my knees might get beat up, but there was no other way. it actually wasn't that bad, i think the wetsuit helped a lot, and we reached the others safely, where they had caught my boat and paddle.

at one point while james was rescuing me and most of the others were further downstream, we saw kenny's boat wedged upside down pretty firmly on some rocks in the middle of the river, and when we reached everyone else we discovered in addition to kenny and me, molly and isaac were also swimming.

another time i was stuck without a paddle and oyvind was there so james had him raft me down, which is where we face our boats opposite directions and line them up next to each other and i hold onto either side of his cockpit ("for dear life" as james told me repeatedly) as he paddles one-sided on the side where i am not. it seemed risky, but oyvind told me as long as i was holding his boat so it was tipping towards me we would not flip, and sure enough, we made it safely. it was actually quite fun, and a nice break from paddling. after we had made it oyvind told me that was the first time he'd every done that!

it was probably a bad sign that my arms started feeling tired before we had even reached the first rapid, and that may have been related to the pump class i had stupidly gone to friday night. you are supposed to aggressively paddle through rapids and i think as i got more tired i was paddling less, which made me less stable, which made me flip more. after my 4th swim i flipped right next to oyvind, got into set-up position to roll, but was just so physically drained i couldn't, but luckily he was right there to t-rescue and somehow i actually grabbed his boat that time and made it up without swimming.

by that time it was getting dark quite quickly, and james said sunset was at 5, dusk at 5:30, and that it was currently 5:15, so we needed to really move so as to not be on the river in the dark. and we had to stay closer together now because it was harder to see. at this point i felt completely exhausted, so i asked oyvind if he would raft me again and he agreed, so i tried to tuck my paddle under my arm like james had said but it got caught and in the process of trying to hold on to it i lost my grip on oyvind, and flipped once again, this time with no paddle from the start. i swam, clinging to my upside down boat, to the side where everyone was congregating, but just as i reached the rock, the current took my boat and it swept past ross who was just downstream, and who proceeded to start yelling and swearing as molly's boat also floated past us upside down.

at that point i would have done anything to be able to stop paddling, and katrina, fiona, and oyvind wanted to get off the river because of the dark, so they, isaac, molly and i dragged the 4 remaining boats with us up the bank, and james, ross, kenny, and colm went on to catch the lost boats, saying to meet them at the getout.

isaac, who works with the commercial rafting companies and knows the area pretty well said there should be a walking path reasonably close running along the river, so we started "bush bashing" our way through the thick trees and bush, working together to move all the boats with us. most of us had some sort of water shoes or sandals, but katrina and molly were barefoot. i don't think i could have made it through that without shoes, they were very tough.

before we were very far into the woods isaac went down the river a bit and somehow found molly's (toni's) boat where the instructors had caught it, and he brought that back, somehow finding his way back to us (i'm not entirely sure how all of that worked out, now that i think about it). anyway, that left us with 5 boats and 6 people, so the last person (we took turns) carried all the paddles, which oyvind lashed together loosely with one of the bajillion carabiners he had with him.

in the forest it was almost completely dark, and none of us had any form of light (oyvind said after this he is going to keep some glow sticks in his boat). we also had no phones or anything, but isaac, oyvind and katrina all had whistles, which they would blow every now and then, hoping for a response from the others. we also counted off or took turns saying our names periodically to make sure no one had gotten lost, since visibility was virtually 0. i was following the person in front of me based on a combination of feeling for their dragging kayak, occasional glimpses of the boats' bright colors, and following voices.

isaac and katrina were leading, and we were sort of aiming for what looked like pine trees in a general uphill direction, because pine forest would have been much easier to walk through than the native bush. as we followed a little stream we saw a bunch of glow worms which was pretty cool, i told everyone all about what we learned at the waitomo caves. it was very slow going and scary because we didn't really know where we were going, but as long as we kept moving we were plenty warm, and i was still kind of having fun being extreme at that point. there was occasional talk about what we would do to keep warm if we had to sleep out, i suggested making a tepee out of all the boats which katrina thought was really funny. eventually we reached a very steep part which isaac thought might be next to a waterfall in the little stream, and we decided to hoist all the kayaks up and keep going that way. as soon as we emerged on the top, we discovered a lovely wide grassy walking path! we were ecstatic and very impressed with isaac's guidance.

however, after a few minutes of triumphantly following trail in the direction of the getout, we encountered a large tree fallen across the path. assuming the trail continued on the other side, we proceeded to work together to hoist all the boats up, over, and through the tree(s), and scrambled over ourselves. however, on the other side we were greeted by more fallen trees. there seemed to be a clearing up ahead, in front of a ridge with a line of pine trees along the top. from atop one of the piles of branches oyvind said it looked like if we could get to the clearing it wouldn't be too hard to get to the top of the ridge, where there was probably some sort of road or path. so we continued on, heaving boats and ourselves over tree after tree.

we were still blowing the whistles intermittently, and somewhere along there we heard voices from somewhere on the hill, yelling what sounded like "colm" and something about "car". we yelled all our names to tell them we were all ok, but then the voices went away. since they sounded like they were approximately in the direction we were going, we kept aiming for the gap in trees at the top of the ridge.

before we had really reached the steep incline part, we heard more voices coming from the vague direction of the river, and saw what we thought might be a light. it turned out to be ross and james, who had successfully paddled to the getout, changed quickly, and driven theodor as far as they could up the walking path, until they encountered the beginning of the tree felling from the other end. they had then been walking/bush bashing in a zigzag upriver direction looking and calling for us. james had his phone, which somehow had excellent service there, and ross had a flashlight. apparently ross and kenny had had my lost boat with them and had stopped somewhere between where we got out and the end of the run, so it must have been them we had heard calling earlier.

james and ross were adamant that we could not make it back the way they had come with the boats, although we tried to tell them we had been doing roughly the same thing for the majority of the time since we had last seen them. according to james's phone it was about 8pm by then. the cleared hillside route still looked pretty direct so ross went up ahead of us and said it was tough, but he reached the top, so we followed on, going struggling more and more the steeper it got. "cleared" is not a good description word. we were climbing over felled trees, rarely touching the ground. several times i fell down with my legs hanging between trees and still couldn't touch the ground. i was near the back, with isaac and james, and james helped carry the boat i was dragging for awhile, and i felt bad because katrina and molly were still making progress with boats and without shoes and i was ready to give up.

partway up james got a text from colm, saying he and kenny had left the 3 boats by the river, been found by a family hunting possums, and the cops were on their way. after awhile we saw heard sirens and saw lights at the top of the hill and we yelled to them all our names again and that we were ok. kenny came partway down with a flashlight and said the cops were anxious to see all of us safely up there in person, but james and oyvind were not about to leave the boats at that point so james told kenny to tell them "not in these words we're all fine and we're on our f-ing way". i think somewhere most of the way up fiona, molly and katrina gave up on their boats because they got to the top (although their boats were at the top when we got there so i'm not sure how they got there) and the cop gave them a ride down to the car at the get out while kenny and colm waited at the top for us and for the cop to come back.

when we were the majority of the way up and i was ready to sit down and give up again ross threw a throwbag to us, which james tied to the two remaining kayaks, and then while isaac held one end and ross had the other around a tree, james and i climbed up using the rope as a hand rail, which made it much easier. then james, ross, and oyvind hauled the rope with the 2 boats up with pure brute strength. i attempted to help but i don't think i was very useful ha ha. ross then directed me to an area where there was actual ground to walk on (instead of climbing from tree to tree) and he and oyvind went up higher and secured the rope again, and we repeated the hauling the boats up move a couple more times.

kenny then found his way down to us and we all grabbed some rope and just walked the rest of the way dragging the boats, and colm met us with a very large bottle of water which we polished off quite quickly. we finally emerged by a big "digger" (some sort of backhoe thing) and the cop came back shortly and somehow we all fit into his truck. oyvind, isaac and i (the only ones who were still in wet/dirty river gear) got put in the lockup cage in the back which was very squashed but at that point it was great to be sitting, and the others who had changed piled into the front (the other girls had gone back in the first trip to the car already). when we arrived at the get out we found them huddled in the car sharing colm's bottle of vodka and some chocolate. the cop and james went to go get theodor. the cop didn't believe that they had actually driven up the very rough muddy walking track at first, but somehow they got in and out without getting stuck. we also discovered that one of theodor's side windows was sitting on the front seat, apparently it was somehow ripped off during the trail driving, but oyvind said he couldn't figure out how to reattach it until the morning.

when they got back we changed out of the disgusting wet gear which we left in the back of the van (oyvind jumped in the river to wash off which we all thought was absolutely nuts, but he is from norway so i guess he's used to cold). colm and james talked to the cop for awhile, i really hope the club/james doesn't get in trouble (especially since he let me and molly come and we may not have been entirely ready). as i was peeing in the bushes along the road, i was alarmed to see the possum hunters coming (they are easy to see because as was explained to me, possum hunting involves driving around the woods shining bright lights around, and when you shine the light on a possum it freezes, and then it's just like target practice). i managed to pull my pants up before i made it into the spotlight though ha ha. apparently when they found colm and kenny they had asked if we were from auckland (remember everyone else in nz hates auckland) and they replied that kenny was from california (well, he goes to school there) and colm was from ireland (he visited there...). they also told them that if we had had to spend the night the best thing to do is dig a hole and everyone take off all wet clothes (including polypro) and get in and then cover ourselves with branches and leaves. good thing it did not come to that!

as things were winding down they tied the boats to the car and we returned to the van which we drove up to where we had left the boats and somehow managed to fit the 6 of them into the back of the van. then we had a very chilly drive (especially for molly and me in the back next to the missing window) to rotorua to get food and figure out what we were doing for the night. james had texted his parents while we were scaling the mountain telling them that we were all safe but might not be coming after all (we were supposed to have spent the night there after getting off the river before 5). poor toni, who had not been crazy about loaning out her beloved boat and had told molly she could use it if she promised not to swim (obviously that goal was lost ages ago), was getting alarming texts from ross about what had just happened, and molly was reassuring her that her boat was safe, if a bit dirty. oyvind had not slept the night before and was quite keen to have some beers, so isaac drove while oyvind and fiona polished off quite a few beers, and molly and i slept.

we pulled into rotorua a little after 11, and saw, to our dismay, that burger fuel had just closed so we ended up at burger king and i was forced to break what was left of my no-american-fast-food pledge. i washed my hands about 5 times (which was quite painful with soap in the cuts and scrapes), but could not remove the dirt from under my nails. i also discovered a minor scrape where i had taken a branch in the nose, but it wasn't nearly as bad as i had been fearing. i got a double cheeseburger, and somehow the lady messed up the order so i ended up with fries and a sprite too (although i would have preferred water). after eating it was decided that rather than driving 2 hours to james's parents' in tauranga, we would spend the night at isaac's cousin's house which was much closer to rotorua, since ross and james had to run the river again the next day to rescue the 3 boats colm and kenny had left. we had also been planning to go to the grocery store to get food for a breakfast feast and a lot of alcohol (i think i owed most of the instructors a case of rescue beers each), but as we discovered around 12:15, the grocery store closed at midnight.

so we piled back into the van for an even less enjoyable ride now that it was raining in the missing window, but the ride wasn't long (and i think i fell asleep). somehow my ipod fell out of my bag and got wet, and kenny rescued it for me. (it's currently drying out. hopefully it still works ok). when we got there we went in quietly and isaac took us up to this whole little apartment area where we discovered most of the lights didn't work and there was no hot water (which was actually probably best because we ALL wanted hot showers and that would have been very competitive), but there was plenty of floor space and extra blankets so we all made ourselves comfortable and went to sleep. there was this cool bay window-type bed overlooking the lake right outside which kenny claimed, and then i suggested colm could share with him and no one would know what was going on behind the curtains, and then colm was telling me about his drunken new years escapades in ireland until molly said "i love you both but shut up" so then we went to sleep.

in the morning it was absolutely pouring rain so we were lazy and just sat around in our sleeping bags for a long time. oyvind got up before the rest of us and went out to reattach the window on theodor (the night before we had had to convince him that sleeping out there in the back of the window-less van in the rain was not a good idea, and when we were going to sleep he said "i feel so bad for theodor right now" ha ha). kenny and colm went back to town to get supplies for breakfast, and when they got back we went into the main part of the house, where isaac's 18 year old cousin is currently living alone i guess? he was pretty quiet, but really nice and let us take over his whole house. i made french toast for everyone, katrina fried saussages, kenny made scrambled eggs, and there were hash browns and roasted tomatoes and baked beans and probably a lot of other things i don't remember, and we had a delicious brunch around noon.

after sitting around relaxing some more ross and james and oyvind had to get going to fetch the abandoned boats, and fiona went with them to drive the shuttle. the rest of us had a lovely day filled with very little movement and lots of good rainy day activities. we tried to collaborate on a crossword puzzle but even with 7 people our general knowledge seemed to be lacking. we played cards (colm suggested scum, isaac suggested 2's high, and i suggested asshole. turns out they are all different names for the same game ha ha). there was this jar with little white round things on the table land i asked what they were. isaac and colm both put one in their mouth and pretended they were mints for a while before isaac announced they were bb gun bullets ha ha. so then katrina came over and they were like 'want one?' and i started laughing uncontrollably and she was like 'what are they?' and they told her they were mints and she said 'oh yum sure!' and took one and then spit it out, despite my hysterical laughter.

i beat molly and katrina at guess who until they did not want to play anymore, and then later i was saying how i always win and no one will play with me, and then colm proceeded to beat me the first 2 games we played, so i said best out of 5, and won the next two, but then lost the last one ha ha. and we made s'mores finally with the supplies serita brought me and what was left of the chocolate from the breakfast grocery mission. katrina agreed that our marshmallows are superior, but no one else seemed as excited as i thought they should be. and we watched babel, which was seemed pretty intense but then the ending was kind of anticlimactic and depressing. by the time it was getting dusky again we grudgingly decided we should get ready to go meet the others at the secret spot.

unfortunately by the time we were loading stuff into and tying boats onto the car it was dark once again, and still pouring rain but eventually we got everything more or less secured, and crammed all 6 of us into the car. molly and i were not too keen on going in the secret spot, partially because my bathing suit was with my wet polypro which were all mia, and since it was cold and wet out, but i had reconciled myself to it since it was my last chance. as we were going past burger fuel and had just decided we need to stop on the way home, we got a text from the others saying the secret spot was cold because of all the rain, so molly and i were happy and they just came to meet us at burger fuel.

i got what were probably my last kumara fries (delicious as always) and a chocolate malt shake (not as exciting as i had heard but still yummy). when the others arrived james was wearing one shoe and ross (whose toenails have been painted pink or purple as long as i have known him) came in with no shoes and a towel around his waist, but their mission had been a success. i'm not sure if he had anything under or not haha. after eating we then had to unload and retie boats in the parking lot (still in the rain), which got us some weird looks, and we decided to just sort out everyone's gear at james's flat back in auckland. the drive back was uneventful, i slept a lot. at james's i used his bathroom and helped sort gear into piles in the grass (club gear, james's gear, other people's stuff). i found my wet gear shoved in one of the boats with all the other wet stuff (except i couldn't find one of my water shoes, which is fine because i'm planning on throwing them out anyway). i was saying how i did not want to say goodbye and katrina came and gave me a hug and it was cute, but molly said she's gonna have a final party next weekend so i decided it was not necessary to say permanent goodbyes to everyone.

colm then took me, fiona, molly, and ross home in his car, which was quite cozy with all our gear since his trunk was already full. there was a box of food leftover from breakfast (including these "bacon and cheese hamburger rolls" which kenny and i thought sounded weird but colm had insisted on buying, and then someone later thought the rolls were hamburger flavoured, not for hamburgers which was really funny), which we were going to donate to isaac because earlier in the semester i guess his parents were gone and he had no money and no food, but apparently his parents have since returned so colm was elected next most needy on the food chain. we were all being silly and giggly on the way home and it was so much fun and i'm really sad to be leaving all the canoe club people. ha ha ross told me i laugh too much and we were making fun of colm because apparently he never updated his license or something so is not technically not supposed to be driving after 10pm. i was also really confused when we stopped at a light next to a bus and i kept feeling like we were rolling backwards but they said it was the bus going forwards but i was not convinced.

when we got to ih it was just colm and ross left, and i was discussing when i would see them again (so as not to have to say goodbye forever), and i suggested one of them give me a ride to the airport when i leave which they did not sound thrilled about, but also did not actually say no. then i got out and went to get my stuff out of the trunk and colm started to pull away ha ha, i wasn't sure if he was just messing with me but apparently he forgot i had to get stuff out after that very long discussion ha ha.

so i came up to my room, took a shower and went to bed. and now it's 4 pm on monday and all i have done is my laundry and this enormous blog. so i guess it's time to start studying.