Good old days

Before I get started,  I'd like to thank my anonymous reader for the informative research on albatrosses, which you can find in the comments section of the previous post. It certainly advances the educational objectives we hold for our readers here at "Kia Ora, Y'all!" Although the post was not signed, I suspect it was Emily, and that she did not sign for fear of being called out again. Too bad for Emily.

Last weekend I went to Athens for a Russell Hall dorm reunion/joint 30th birthday party/bachelorette party with four devoted readers who also happen to be some of my oldest and closest friends.

First of all, is there any place where my heart feels more at home than Athens? No. I love that it is both beautiful and dingy and small town and worldly and home to some of the smartest, kindest and most interesting people I have ever known. I love the townies, who are so surly when they pour my coffee. I love that I can't walk a quarter block in any direction downtown without passing a fantastic restaurant. I love that you can pay less than $30 for two rounds of happy hour drinks for five people. (Including tip!) I even love the frat boys, and the fact that their shag haircuts, khaki shorts, and Oakleys don't seem to have changed since I was in undergrad ten years ago. As someone who moved around a lot growing up, I planted roots during my nine years there and will forever consider it my adopted hometown. I secretly hope that Chris and I retire there some day. (Possibly a bad sign for my career that I'm already planning retirement ...)

Second, is there anything more fun that hanging out with my best friends from freshman year? I highly doubt it. We drank like 18-year-olds (ahem, I mean 21-year-olds). We suffered hangovers like 30-year-olds. Thanks to a kindly RA who was willing to thwart Russell Hall policy, we made dorks of ourselves at our old dorm hall, which is even darker and more sparse than we remembered. (It is now a boys' hall. Hence, the sign above, which was not necessary when we were students.)

We laid in the sunshine on the North Campus quad and listened to this random guy play his guitar. As Chris will tell you, random guys with acoustic guitars tend make me very nervous. Nine out of 10 random guys who show up with acoustic guitars are extremely sensitive, and are very bad musicians, and are just trying to pick up girls. But this guy was actually legit and sounded fantastic. His name is Gabriel Kelly and you should check him out when he plays around Athens and Atlanta.

It was a perfect Athens weekend. I'm ready to get back soon.