♫ Make new friends, but keep the old... ♪

Finally today brought pure sunshine and tank-top weather! I looked up some geocaches this morning but ran out of time to do them with friends, as some were too busy attending to their blog to make it by the Sunday deadline, so I attempted to find a free piano room at UofO's Performing Arts building across the street but of all days there was a huge middle-school open house taking place where the people were trying to get the kids all interested in music. So rather than seem like a confused creeper, I left after taking a short look around and then at 2 o'clock most of my group met to go to the Tulip Festival. The shuttle we expected to get us there turned out not to be free, and the walk would've taken us about an hour so thanks to U of M we got normal bus tickets instead. The park was absolutely beautiful but the tulips bloomed a little early this year, regardless of the long winter. Still, my friends and I got many pictures taken in front of the ones that have maintained their glorious beauty.

At about 4:30, we were about all tuliped-out so I gave some old family-friends a call and got picked up shortly after, as it turns out the park was just a few minutes from their house. The day was perfect for a barbeque, which Gord and Wendy hosted once some other friends of theirs arrived. It was just lovely talking to the adults as well as their children, and I could've stayed there for hours. At about 9, however, we all agreed that everyone had to return home to get ready for work/school/interning the next morning so Gord and Catherine drove me right up to the door of my current residence. As all of my colleagues appeared to have the need to stay in tonight, I called up Schnaitlin. I miss my family dearly, so it sure is nice that I got lucky with the fellow friends I have here. I guess part of doing this internship requires students with a certain personality, which is why it has been so easy for us to become such a tight group so fast. And the fact that our conversations consist more often of philosophies and ideologies than the latest reality TV shows is absolutely refreshing.