OMG!!! Let me just tell you how annoying hotels can be!! So there are three/four of us in one hotel room, as is very normal for AMUN gettogethers. We were issued four keys, which we kept in our possession and never claimed lost or anything. So we got back from our meeting this afternoon only to find out that not only did our keys not work, none of the keys from our group worked. The hotel apparently randomly changes the security codes on the doors for customer protection. Okay, this makes it very very annoying to have to change keys around, especially if in our case, only two of the four of us were present to test our keys and replace them. But the most idiotic part of it was that the hotel didn’t even ask us for our names. They gave us new keys to our room without even verifying that we were residents in the room. Literally, i walked up to the desk and said (now four times today) “I need a key to room 222.” And all four times they gave me a key without question!!!! Dude, at one point I had to leave my laptop in here or risk one of the drivers in our group to potentially drive away to ohio or wisconsin with it. What is the point of changing security codes randomly for customer protection if they don’t care who they hand out the new keys to? Anyways, this kind of moronic behavior should be voiced. And what consierge doesn’t know the approximate price for a taxi to the airport or how long it takes for one to arrive? Isn’t that what they are there to know?… oh yeah all of this is going in my debrief you AMUN folks!! ggeeesssshhh!

On better notes, official MD meetings are over, but in AMUN togetherness, we had a blast with our kickball tournament and the barbeque at the L’s. We got a lot of work done, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, but it’s going to be really awesome in HG this year if I can really buckle down and get my portal up and functional again. For those of you who don’t know the acronyms AMUN, HG, and portal, its my non-profit I work for, my department (Home Government) and a webportal… but then thats probably getting a little past what you may or may not want to know about…

More later!

contemplating moronic behaviors

For those of you who may have met me during travels, or those with whom I volunteer with, ya’lls know that I get rather violently air sick on flights… on my weeklong trip to chicago in november, I actually take the train from baltimore to chicago, which is about an eighteen to twenty hour train ride. Usually for memorial day and labor day, i simply drive the eleven hours to chicago (or in this case i would have driven to champaign if I could have gotten off of work) to avoid an airplane. My motion sickness also extends to cars if I’m not physically driving them, so when i go on trips, i usually drive the entire way. Anyways, I survived not one, but two flights in very small planes yesterday evening. The first from Baltimore to Chicago went moderately well; the central part of the trip was at least smooth and I even opened up my eyes to look outside! The site was rather breathtaking… I could see the large cumulus clouds below, and wisps of transparent clouds just swept by under the plane… The wisps were moving at a good speed too, so it was interesting to watch them. They looked more like tiny bits of fog rather than actual clouds, but then again, that is what fog is. Off in the distance I saw this huge rocklike mountain of a cloud which looked more like a spaceship or flying machine from an anime rather than an actual cloud. And as we landed, we watched the glowing red sun set over Chicago. The second trip from chicago to champaign wasn’t that great. Fortunately I ran into another AMUN staffer in Chicago and we flew together… she got to see first hand that I actually do turn green on an airplane. But I didn’t regurgitate anything in two flights!! That is a definate good step. Alas, there will be more updates as I attempt to renew my interest for blogging…
Read on People!! Read On!

AMUN happehness

So, if you read my previous post, you know I’m working with AMUN here in DC for a special conference for international exchange students from the Commonwealth of Independent States (Former Soviet states like Kyrgistan, Kazahkstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, etc…). Our formal dinner was last night with the representatives and out of about thirty tables, I happened to be seated next to the only exchange student who goes to my alma mater!!!! Someone had actually heard of Winthrop, let alone goes there!! and to top it off, his mentor is the person who introduced me to Model UN (which is why i’m here this week!) Call me nuts, but this completely freakish coincidence cannot just be a coincidence… I was meant to meet this gentleman. It was such an awesome dinner because of that… I talked Winthrop and professors and a good part of my four years there… and to actually have someone who knows who i’m talking about is just sooo rare for me these days… it was wonderful!!! So, being still blown away by the whole situation last night, I called up my Model UN mentor and chatted with him a few minutes ago…. Model UN has had such a direct impact not only in my scholarly life, but also my social life, that to relate this kind of success is wonderful… but I had a bad connection on the phone though *sigh* but I’m literally estatic about meeting this guy!!!! and all through Model UN!!!! I’m currently compiling a list for him of things he has to during his time in Rock Hill, like have fried mushrooms and apples sticks from White Horse, and chatting Russian with Dr. P, my Russian history professor, and meeting Dr. Silverman (which I understand he hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting…) and so many other things… did I mention that I am completely blown away by all of this??? my head hurts from it all!

Do you dare IM Me?::


geeky happeh

What I am going deaf listening to::
speeches about UNESCO and education in disaster areas

So much for updating at least once a week with the “Learn Something New” post series… I will post something this week on it… maybe it’ll be allergies, because i’m suffering… SUFFERING I TELL YOU!!! I noticed it at Labor Day when I woke up every morning with a worse and worse sore throat, and i realized it was allergies when it went away as I drove further and further from Illinois… One good night in my own bed and it was gone… I think I’m definately allergic to something in that hotel room… this is the reason I bring my own pillows and towels, so I don’t break out everywhere in rash because of harsh hotel room detergents… now there’s something in the air, and it wasn’t tobacco residue (I don’t think… I couldn’t smell it, but it would account for the sore throat!) Well, the sore throat went away, but now my nose is running a marathon all by itself…. I’m cranky when I can’t breathe through my nose… *pout*

Anyway, staff training was great! It was lewd, crude, and downright “AMUN dirty” in only a way that a staff gettogether can be! And I have pictures! Now for those of you who are my shining stars, never fear, you will recieve my ransom demand sometime before conference *muahahahahaha* but I will not post compromising pictures publically (yeah, I want the blackmail money all to myself!) Also in the sense of privacy, I will not post them publically here.
However, I will soon be posting this weekend pictures to a private space. AMUN staffers: send me an email to samanthahowe@mac.com and I’ll shoot you a link when i put it up… I will not get to pictures till at least saturday, as I am planning an antihistimine coma between shifts at work until the weekend.
For my faithful readers, IM me, and maybe i’ll share some stories that cannot be posted publically because of my rated PG-13 content (and no, cursing and vulgarity doesn’t count in the ratings! I can curse as much as I want to darnnit!)

anyhoo, I will post this week… I promise…

Do you dare IM Me?::


braindead because of allergies and tired as all heck

What I am going deaf listening to::
Vox (Tom Middleton Mix) ~ Sara McLachlan