I am sitting in a chair in a YMCA located in the midst of a little forest. I can mainly hear David Bowie reminding me that "time might change" him, but that I "can't trace time." The room--the lobby [word]--it is made mostly of cement--with the sounds of girls playing BS; from the gym, the game room, and the pool, some muffled sounds eminate.

I woke this morning at six and took a hasty shower while my mother made me eggs--no bacon, though, unfortunately, but today is Good Friday, so it's the last Friday I'll have to worry about it! She braided my hair in pigtails, and I said goodbye to Sara. This involved waking her up, hugging her, and letting her go back to bed. :) We let Ruby sleep and went off.

Everyone was milling out in the parking lot; it was very grey and dreary looking. We felt as though we might freeze solid and be nothing more than statues when the buses finally got there. They were quite late.

I bagged a window seat near Cory and Kaitlin quick, and I sat there, head on purple leopard-print pillow on window--and who should come along but Leah Surname, in all her pseudo-mullety glory?

"I'm gonna sit with you, Amy," she said, smiling that horrible bucktoothed smile, which seems to be her default facial expression.

Unfortunately, I, at seven in the morning, was unable to come up with a reply that was polite but suitably witty. I shook my head quickly and began to moan, "No...no...please..." Eventually, I closed my eyes and pressed my face into my pillow, and when I looked again, she was gone. A few minutes late, Abby Surname asked to sit with me, and I was nodding before she finished her sentence. I feel a bit bad, since Leah had nowhere to sit, but I had to listen to her saying "Yay-a" and clapping at the stupidest possible moments, so I suppose she's punished me.

It was a long ride. I listened to almost every song (save one) on Space Oddity. We watched 50 First Dates, which is a superb little movie--does everything it sets out to do and more. Then Kelsey Surname, who had already had more Redbull than could ever be considered healthy, (It causes 11x more tooth decay than the average cola, did you know?) made us listen to Down the Line. They're a fine band, but they simply do not interest me much at all. I long for some Gin Blossoms. Anyway, we listened to the entire CD, and then Kelsey had Casey put in her demo, which I have even less interest in. I don't care for her voice, to put it the wussy-board-member-way--or any of her; she seems like a Courtney Love in training and I can't say I'd care too terribly if someone lit her on fire. I put Emocapella and listened through "Aside" before we got to Kalamazoo.

Isn't that a beauty of a name? Anyway, we went to the E. Michigan School of Music and sang for their chorale. They sang back for us and sounded ver nice, particularly their Brahms pieces. It was in a big, tall--spacious--room that was mostly white and had high windows to let in shafts of light.

After that, we had some extra time to do as we wished, and I convinced Beckah, Steph, and Jenni to come see the fountain with me. It was empty and off, since Spring has only been lightly tapping at Michigan's windows. Rebecca and Steph would not go in it with me, but Jenni and I stood in the dry fountain (a large rectangle with the sprays in a line in the center) on the cement painted sky blue and looked at each other a moment before getting out. It was a quiet, magic little bit.

Then we went off to the Student Union, which was a pain to find. We teamed up with some of our chaperones and tried to work out the vague "under the clock and to the right" directions we were given. As we searched, we were loud, rude (particularly when commenting on a girl's white furry boots), and touristy--but we had fun. Rebecca bought a shirt and cap.

More bus riding to the church. I finished Emocapella and decided to try conversation. Didn't really work out. I switched to Blind Melon eventually and relized that I really like the first song. Going to have to learn the lyrics.

Presbyterians are like Catholic Light: they're similar, but they're slower and do less. Their church was empty and white, with five chandeliers and a big pipe organ. I felt lonely in it; the only thing they have that's neat is a balcony. Their Sunday school rooms were in the basement, twisting like snakes, the hallways were. They had a well in one room--assumably for the Samaritan woman--and Allison Surname reenacted The Ring in it very well. Someone even turned a television on static.

We sang; it was big and echoey. We also sang their hymns which were half-familiar but slightly off--"Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded" and "Were You There" were the ones I knew (but we sing "Oh Sacred Head Surrounded").

Our homestay family was the Hostfamily. I don't remember the parents' names, but the children were Kasey and Kyle--guessing at the spellings. Kasey was probably eight--her room was big and empty and green and blue. I really liked the curtains, which were lime green and blue. Her brother's room was Land of the Redwings--red walls, everything decorated in Detroit stuff. The floor was painted and varnished to lok like the center line of the Redwings' hockey rink!

The house was brand new, and they'd only been there since Christmas. They were very well off, though I wouldn't want to live in so big and empty a house; I'd rather have an old house with more character--though I did love the view of the thin grey-barked trees that surrounded their house.

We slept in a guest room after watching Kirsten Dunst get punk'd.

Day Two

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