Fea's photography, if I remember right. :)

Yes ma'am. It took all of my will power not to post the Mac one. I thought we teased the poor man mercilessly enough without subjecting his prolonged glee to public scrutiny. :cool:

I truly only wish we had awkward penguin on video... The odds of getting him to do it again...

Next time, my camera will be prepared. :smokin:

I absolutely adore that picture of Annika staring down Glaurung, Rikae! Half of Mac's Genetic Material certainly has a future in dragon slaying. :p

A couple other notable points from this past week:

Nienna doesn't know how to pronounce Minas Tirith. Well, after spending some time playing LotR Trivial Pursuit, she just started mispronouncing it just to annoy the rest of us.

There was something else, but alas, it is time to close the library and Mean Nasty Boss Lady Tor has distracted my poor feeble brain by forcing Fea and me to shelve DVDs against our will.

Finally I have time to post, though I am very exhausted...

Fea pretty much summarized the events of last week, though I suppose I can add on in my own perspective.

After an easy couple plane rides, I arrived at the tiniest airport ever to be greeted by Fea and Mira. After our first initial contact, we headed to the car and took the "scenic route" to Elmira. And by scenic I mean we drove through scenery that resembled something of a horror film; we were waiting for the axe murderer to jump out of the trees any time. Though Mira was having a panic attack in the backseat, I was more amused than anything. Meanwhile, Fea insisted that we were not lost and that if we kept turning left we'd eventually find a bigger road, though I think for awhile they kept getting smaller. We did make it back to Elmira...an hour later. :D

Later on after meeting Lari and Nienna and dropping off Mira (who had somewhere else to be), we ate dinner at a school restaurant (yes, their school has restaurants). Throughout the evening it became more and more hectic with someone new always arriving, but the craziness was fun and during it all, we made cocktails.

Next day we went shopping and did the typical girl stuff. And in the evening we went to the bar and had plenty of fun with drinks and fries. Fea was kind enough to get me a mint chocolate martini, which basically tasted like mint ice cream...it was like heaven!

Sunday I got to learning how to make pottery. I started off completely clueless, but enjoyed it as I learned and covered my clothes in clay. It'd take much practise for me to actually make anything decent, but I was a bit proud of what I did manage to make...though I'm not sure what happened to it...

Once the other guests left, things did begin to quiet down and the girls went off to do homework and attend classes. With their busy schedules, I was left in the apartment most of the day, which I didn't mind since it gave me a chance to sleep in and relax. Plus, I got really good at Wii. In the evening, the girls would take turns cooking dinner, all of which tasted wonderful and of course we'd take some time to chat. Thursday I did my part to help out by doing a lot of dishes, then making a frozen peanut butter pie (something my family loves to eat though I've never made it by myself before).

On Friday, Fea took me to the Corning Glass Museum where we spent plenty of time talking about and admiring glass. Then I got to shape glass myself which was strange, but fun. Though I quickly realised I'd never do well with making glass since the glass cools too quickly for a perfectionist like me. But now I have a pretty purple flower sitting on my dresser, which makes me happy. We were originally planning to see Coraline for Friday night, but those plans were quickly dashed when we discovered that the film had left the theatre. So I suggested we play LotR Trivial Pursuit and drink daiquiris and tequila instead, which was a much better plan I must say. Trivial Pursuit was complete insanity, though we never actually finished the game since Nienna hit the wrong button on the dvd player. :p But it was an excuse to bring out the alcohol, which we did. Mmm...daiquiris...

We made our road trip to Rikae's on Saturday, where we spent an hour and a half in the car singing to songs. This time we did not get lost (since Fea wasn't driving) and we safely arrived in Geneva, where Rikae and the baby greeted us. After spending a couple hours chatting and gooing over Annika, we relocated to the computer to greet Mac. Those last few hours were rather nutty and I can only imagine what it was like for poor Mac on the other end. :p

Visiting Rikae pretty much marked the end of my visit since after we returned to the apartment, I packed and then left in the morning. It was so much fun and I was sad to have to return to my isolated hotel dorm in Boston...

So my impressions...

Fea was shorter than I expected. Somehow I imagined her to be tall, but she's more like my height. She really is just as crazy as she is on the Downs, though perhaps less scary. ; ) I can see why Fea loves having Nienna as a roommate, as she is a great girl that you want to be around and very helpful too. Lari is very much like what she is on the Downs...she's very sweet and also a bit quirky in a cute way. She is a romantic and loves Tudor England. Ask her about it, and I'm sure she'll have plenty to say. Mira surprised me a bit. I think I expected her to be a bit like Lari, but she's much louder and perhaps crazier. She's also a big Star Wars and sports fan. I'm sure that in the next game tp and Boro are in, she'll be the first to join in on their discussions of football. : D While I had imagined Fea as tall, I also imagined Rikae to be short...though I don't know why since I think she indicated in memes on LJ that she is tall. She was quiet at first, probably from the initial shock of having five BDers walk through her front door. Though it didn't take long for her to open up and I found her very easy to talk to. And little Annika is so adorable. We all teased that by five years old, she'll be playing werewolf and trying to get her parents lynched for not giving her dessert. : P Though we didn't meet Mac in person, we had a lot of fun chatting with him through Skype. He can be quite the silly one, especially when sleep deprived. Hopefully I will get to actually meet him in person someday soon.

Coming to Elmira for Spring Break was definitely the best choice I made, as it was a great experience. And interesting to stay at a different college for an extended period of time...though also a bit weird since my school has the same colours and initials; the memorabilia seemed strangely familiar. Though Elmira is much more obsessed with purple; doors are painted purple, even the tractors and construction equipment are purple! And I heard plenty of complaining from the girls about purple graduation robes (poor things).

I have more to say, but I shall put it in another post since this one's long enough...

Some pictures:

Fea holds up a miniature Galadriel on Trivial Pursuit night.

Mira and Glaurung.

Yet another photo of Annika and Glaurung.

Yes, we all can look at the camera.


Oh, surely you must take a video when you meet him in person. :D

For all those who are jealous, all Fea had to do was follow Lommy's guidebook:
Though instead of luring more Downers to Elmira, I say we lure them to Boston as that's where some of them will relocate to soon. Finally I will have BDers living in the same city. Yes, all BDers should visit Boston sometime before May 2010... :Merisu:

It's too bad you guys didn't get to see Coraline. Mac and I watched it a couple days before he left, it was excellent - best horror flick of the century. ;) (Seriously, I don't think my almost-nine-year-old could have handled it - it's good we went alone!)

It occurred to me - you all escaped the purple campus only to end up in a purple kitchen. My plan all along - mwahahaha!

All but the Sagittarians. :p

I, for one, would love to visit Boston before it's drownded (drownded?!!)- long road trips rule. There'll also be a downer wedding in this region... sometime... somehow... and I expect you all to attend and, with Mac, perhaps reach critical 'downer mass and drag the Finns to NY as well. :D

Now wouldn't I like to know just *what* you taught them! :eek:

Annika is absolutely adorable - but then how could she not be, with those genes! What's to be seen of her parents looks pretty good, doesn't it?!

As a matter of fact, the rest of the Downers look very good as well...

:Merisu:

I would also like to make mention of the fact that I am a bit like Gandalf and Galadriel in the height department- I seem much taller when the mood strikes. :)

Except Annika. But she's just so darn cute it would blind the picture taker. Sort of like the basilisk in Harry Potter. Except cute. Oh man I need sleep. :p

...I convinced someone to join, but as she hasn't posted yet I don't suppose she counts yet...


Montana u bagronk sha pushdug Mordor-glob bubosh skai...

The school only had two "restaurants". It did, the evening. We had a whole lot of people there, probably more than we've ever had.


We do have horrible schedules...I still need to write my big paper. Boo paper. Yay Wii and you were really good, like really really good. And thanks for the dishes and pie! The recipe is currently on the fridge.
Yes you won. And we all were having fun trying to remember movie things as opposed to book things. I did like some of the random stuff (who is never shown eating in the movies?).

Mmm...daiquiris...

Aw and...its so weird because I didn't think I said anything that would make me seem like a romantic even though I am. Yay Tudors! Maybe I should change my avatar...

I am looking at the camera! I just look really weird! It's Annika who's looking at Mac!

*giggles*

How dare she look at her daddy! Shame on her! :p

I was just contesting the plural. A Sagittarian is looking at the camera weirdly and the other is looking at her daddy.

Of course. How else would she have defeated Glaurung? :p

Heh, only because I had plenty of practice. And now Fea will have to work to get back her top scores. :D

And yes, it was no problem. I enjoyed keeping myself busy, even if it meant sticking my hands in yucky dishwater. And it was partly my mess too. It was quite messy when I left though; I felt a bit bad that I didn't get a chance to help clean since a lot of that was due to the aftermath of tequila and daiquiris night.. I almost forgot to write down that recipe, then remembered Glenys requested it. Now you guys can make frozen peanut butter pie on your own (yay).

I don't think I ever properly thanked you all for taking me in. I was there for a good nine days which is the longest I've ever hung out with a Downer. It can be difficult to have a guest for an extended period of time when you all are so busy with school...but I don't think was much of a burden (or at least that's what I hope!). But even with the busy schedules, it was fun and I wish I could've stayed even longer. So, thank you. Definitely the best Spring Break ever (I mean, who needs Cancun or Florida when you've got BDers). :)

I am afraid that I do not have any photos
 

I guess it is a bit early for me to write this post as I migh have another downer meeting soon. . .anyways I thought I better take advantage of having free internet acces.

Last thursday Esty came to Copenhagen for a concert with the Tolkien Ensemble, a concert i did not mannage to get tickets for. Anyways we met in the evening at a traditional danish bar called "Her Er Ro" (Here be calm/quiet) formerly known as "HERO", here I attempted to scare her off by talking non stop about danish history and ranting about how evil the Swedes, English and Germans are. . .

Actually we had a good talk about everything from the subject of: Squatter and Sight seeing, to drinking culture.

Now it is not the first time I have met Esty as we both attendet the Oxonmoot last year, but it was the first time I really had time to sit down and talk with her. It was actually just what I needed to take my mind of things. (I have been very stressed lately)

What did you end up seeing in Copenhagen and was the concert any good?

This monday I took the plane from Copenhagen to Manchester, where I took a train to Sheffield. Here I met up with Davem, Lal and little Alfred. Unfortunately for our meeting we where all really tired the days I was there and of course Lal and Davem had work as well. . .It ment that talk did not become as lively as I know it could have been and that there was moments of silence. (those who have met me knows that I seldom stop talking)

Obviously they are nice people and Alfie is just lovely, even though he is lazy! Basicly I had to carry him everywhere. Anyways I am sure that we will all be alot more talkative when we meet at the Oxonmoot ;)

Right now I am in Lancaster with some mates, I might meet up with Kath in Manchester later on, but nothing is certain yet.

No indeed Rune nothing is certain, for I need to know when you are actually free otherwise I can't organise anything with my parents! PM or text me fool. :p

I very much enjoyed the evening I spent with Rune in Copenhagen! He's a great conversationalist, intelligent and well-informed on many subjects. We chatted about everything from Downs gossip, to what sights to see in the city, to history. I was both entertained and informed.

Rune, I did manage to see quite a few sights on that Friday - the Museum of Arts and Design, Rosenborg and Amalienborg palaces, the Marble Church, and the Round Tower, to mention the most important. And yes, while I was waiting for places to open, I did walk up to see the little mermaid.

The concert was good; there were quite a few of us from various international Tolkien Societies, and those of us who were costumed (I was one of them) gave the very proper Danes something crazy to look at! Hearing Christopher Lee's voice live (he was the narrator) was a real pleasure.

Oh, and the new costumes worn by the female members of the Tolkien Ensemble were designed by one of our German Society members and sewn by her and her friends - we were very proud of them and heard lots of stories from backstage, where they spent 2 - 3 days fitting and altering the costumes.

As long as I don't end up being intermediary again ;).

Heh, Rune met us at at bad time there, seeing as nasty illness was about to strike round here!!! No wonder we were all tired, Alfie came down with Chicken Pox the day he left, and then my leg fell prey to these flesh eating aliens!! Such are the workings of fortune... :(

Mind you, he was lovely, it was nice having him here (though I don't think he liked being got up so early, sorry!!!) and I was really sad to see him leave - I thought he'd talked the hind leg off a donkey, so the saying goes, so I don't know how Rune can be more talkative, you must have to pin him down and gag him to get a word in if he's not tired :p

King Alfred misses his Uncle Rune's Human Taxi Service right now because his mum cannot carry him round the house. This has had the bonus that he has suddenly decided to stop being bone idle and learn to walk in the past couple of days, yay!

I actually thought I was being a bit quiet at times. . .

Getting up early was not something I enjoyed much, mostly because I was so tired when I arrived. In fact I ended up falling a sleep in a pub and even though I took a nap I also fel a sleep in a bar in the evening, but then somebody threw a lime at me and I went to bed.

I guess walking is a worthy alternative to being carried by me, anyways it was clear that he just about to start walking when I was there. . . I might have delayed the process a bit though.

Anyways I hope to see you guys at a better time and I promise to talk less if Davem talks a bit more ;)

Agreed! :p

I shouldn't really be posting on here though as Rune and I managed to miss each other entirely this week. :rolleyes: It just gives added incentive to get Finland happening though!

Agreed. How about August? :p

How is Finland in August? I don't know much about Finland. Actually, all I know about your country I learned from a Monty Python song:

Finland, Finland, Finland
The country where I want to be
Pony trekking or camping
Or just watching TV
Finland, Finland, Finland
It's the country for me

You're so near to Russia
So far from Japan
Quite a long way from Cairo
Lots of miles from Vietnam

Finland, Finland, Finland
The country where I want to be
Eating breakfast or dinner
Or snack lunch in the hall
Finland, Finland, Finland
Finland has it all

You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored
A poor second to Belgium
When going abroad

Finland, Finland, Finland
The country where I quite want to be
Your mountains so lofty
Your treetops so tall
Finland, Finland, Finland
Finland has it all

Finland, Finland, Finland
The country where I quite want to be
Your mountains so lofty
Your treetops so tall
Finland, Finland, Finland
Finland has it all

Finland has it all

Hehe, I love that song. :D

How about August 2010? ;)

Though actually thinking about it, perhaps it's not a bad idea to plan a meeting that far ahead. Not everyone can schedule or earn money for a trip in a matter of months, so if something got arranged that far ahead, possibly even more BDers would turn out. Specifics don't necessarily have to be made so early, but maybe a general idea on month and location. Just an idea...

On another note, are any BDers visiting New York City this summer? If not, I highly encourage you to as I will be there for a good three months. :Merisu:

You had better forget at least that Your mountains so lofty part. ;) In truth our fells are pretty small.
But yes, Finland is quite nice in August although the nights are getting a bit cold already.

At least I will probably be home more (and less busy) in the summer of 2010 so if there's any chance you could come here, it'd be great. :D

And you're right in that if we were to plan a big Downer meeting, it should be started well in advance.

This is what happens if you don't use a reliable message forwarding service ;) ...

It was my fault . . . I forgot to remove the "0" when adding the country code. At first I thought Kath was just ignoring me and when we finaly got in touch, it was too late to arange anything.

Would I do such a thing? (Insert angelic face here.) :D

I still think it is easier to herd cats than to round up Downers...:rolleyes: I did manage to get to PI's house on time on Saturday (embarassingly I needed to check the map though it is only a mile away...) and we managed to have tea at Braxton Gardens (third time lucky).

How about a Barrow-Downs get together in 2012 or 2013. Then I will be out of high school, and don't need to ask my parents if I can meet people on the internet. (Because everyone wants to meet TheGreatElvenWarrior:rolleyes:)

Since I'm in the same situation as you, I second this. I say you should all come to the UK. And while you're there you can see the Olympics and celebrate the Diamond Jubilee (hopefully).

And as for 2013, if the Mayans were wrong then yeah, that too.

Ooh yeah I'm with Eonwe! Good excuse to make a meet up cheaper for the Brits. :p

Beware of what you say Kath! We Finns might make a mass-exodus there... :rolleyes:

Although not in the time of the olympics - or near that - because everything would be triple-priced then...

Well there's not an enormous amount of room in my house but you're welcome to a patch of floor. :p

I just realized I'll be out of college then. If I'm not already living in a cardboard box, hiding from the government loan collectors, I may show up. I've been looking for an excuse to head out of the U.S...again.:p

After meeting Rikae and so distinctly enjoying her company - and that of the Were-duckling - it was only expected that Skype-Mac should manifest himself into Live-Mac for our amusement once circumstances allowed such a thing to occur.

I think I shall, however, leave the story of the epic adventure that followed parking our respective cars at the base of Rivendell to the others.

Yet, preceding their accounts, I must [like last time] suggest that if any of them say a word about my choice of route, they shall find themselves as permanent occupants of the cemetery we accidentally stumbled upon at the top of a very, very steep hill.

Ah, but my dear Fea, knowing full well the awesomeness of cemeteries, there can hardly have been any accident, save from the frailty of human perspective, if you ended up there. Clearly the kind hand of the Valar must have guided you thither.

Try telling that to one of my companions, who likes clusters of dead people not even a little. ;)

Then we'll just have to go before the Olympics, and leave after. And not buy anything in between.

Cemeteries are bad. I don't like then. Never have. I'm that person. I never played in them as a child nor do I intend to ever in my life. I have weird things about me and my not liking of cemeteries is one of them.

But yes: we hiked up Rivendell also known as Watkins Glen. It was fun, the Were-duckling was fussy at times, but still amazingly cute. Mac scared a bunch of us by going close to the edge of the gorge while carrying the Were-duckling, while I wanted to jump off the side and into the water. I was told no.

After getting to what was assumingly the top, considering most of the other trails were closed, we decided to hike back down and go to lunch at the upper parking lot place. After climbing in the car again and going up, which was fun because Nienna's car doesn't like hills at all. There was a slight fail when Mira and I were looking for the bathroom, and I missed it but it was fine.

Lunch was fun and there was good food and company. Fea and I walked away to throw away the trash and while I saw, from far away, Mac doing the awkward penguin, Fea did not and is forever angry at this fact. We then went back to hiking, which involved going down stairs that, when we came up, would be called Cirith Ungol, across a bridge, which we were sad that Mac was ok crossing because sometimes he's not ok with crossing bridges and we kind of wanted to see it.

Then we were back at the cross roads. Neither Mira, Nienna, Rikae, Mac, the Were-duckling, nor I could decide on a way to go. So Fea choose left, up the hill. To Mordor. Which we then remember was, in fact, left from Rivendell. While climbing we recited a bunch of fun lines, such as remembering strawberries and ribbons in Rosie Cotton's hair, and complained about how our calves were hurting and it was all Fea's fault because she picked the steeper one (she totally did, even though she won't admit it). As we are climbing we stop at a shack. It was named the shrieking shack by use. Further up the path we saw a hanging flower pot with fake flowers. Odd, but we kept going, with our legs hurting and sweating because it also was not as cool up there as the gorge had been. Next we stumbled upon what looked like a shrine to the Virgin Mary. To which we assumed that Fea brought us to some weird religious place. It sort of was as it was a cemetery. Not cool. I stopped. I'll admit it. I don't like them. Not at all. Fea did then kindly run ahead of us so to see if it was worth dragging me past it (thanks by the way). It was not.

Back down from Mordor we went, trying not to trip and die on the way. It was then decided to go right. While doing this we discussed where we would like to live in Middle-earth. A little ways down the path we stumble upon THE REST OF THE CEMETERY. Again I stopped and we just decided, as it was hot and we felt scummy, that this would not do and it was time for ice cream.

Back to the bridge, over the bridge, up the path that lead to Cirith Ungol. Those stairs were nice coming down but going up they were horrible. By this point the Were-duckling was asleep. Into the cars we marched and down the hill to ice cream. It was good.

Everything was fun about the day, it was good to meet Live-Mac as opposed to Skype-Mac. Also want to try a mint and peach drink. It sounds good. Hopefully one day we will come up with the recipe.