The Hardest Part about Being Away...is Actually Being Away.

Hello,

This week has been a very rough week for me. On Monday morning, I received news that my Delta Gamma sister and friend, Emily Lloyd, passed away the night before. I'm still in shock about the whole situation and I have been living in an almost daze for the entire week. Unfortunately, Emily was not the first sister that we have lost in the past year and the reality of losing both Kim and Emily has been hard for everyone to bear. It seems as if something terrible always happens when I am out of the country: First, with Hari Mankani dying when I was in Japan, and now Emily. The hardest part of being here is that I am not there to be with my sisters. I want so badly to be there for all of you and that I love you all so much. I am thinking of you always. <3 and itb.

Aside from my daze, I have been doing things this week to get my mind off of the situation. On Monday night, after my friends here had heard, a small group took me for cheesecake and hot chocolate at a local cafe. Have I mentioned that I am here with the greatest group of people? If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm all for mentioning it again. My friend Andy's twin brother, Eric, was here this week so we decided to be tourists for the week after that. On Wednesday, we all went to a Georgian restaurant (the food is beyond delicious) and then we took a boat tour down the Neva River and along the canals of the city. Although it is getting a lot colder here, we were all snuggled in blankets as we learned more about this great city. Mind you, the tour was in Russian so I didn't understand much anyway :). Thursday night was spent at another CKA hockey game and luckily for us, they won this time. On Friday, we all decided to get dressed up and do the same thing we do every weekend, but this time, we would just look our best! It was certainly worth it...except I was freezing all night! And, every night, the two bridges going to Vasileovsky Island go up in order to let ships pass along the river. This is incredibly inconveient for those of us who live on this island. So, you either go home very early (like around midnight), you catch the short window of time between 2:45am and 3am, or you just stay put. We arrived at the bridge last night right as it was going up, meaning we watched our only way home pass before our eyes....great way to end the evening!

So, everything is becoming pretty normal here in Petersburg. It keeps getting colder and colder every day. Today I went to the Hermitage (no big deal) and walked around for a few hours. I absolutely love the days when I can just grab my camera and my Ipod and walk. There's always something different to see.

Well, until next time,

HD