Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 2

OMG, so sorry for the lack of posts these days. It's just the third week of school and Thursdays, particularly, have been killing me. Imagine having 3 classes in a day, from 8 am to 10 pm, back to back. Anyway, I'm back to blogging, just to keep myself sane.

After Aymee, Ashley, and I went back from Frankenmuth, we woke up, again surprisingly, late. The day almost hit afternoon, but then we remember that we were meeting up with Elda that day. I suppose it was the day that Aymee and Elda had been waiting for, because they would finally meet up after years of not catching up with each other. The three of us had always planned to meet up during breaks, but the plan never worked out. This day proved that finally one of those plans worked out, and it was this trip that finally would bring Elda and Aymee together again.

However, Elda had something to do until 3 o'clock. So, to kill time, Aymee, Ashley, and I decided to walk for less than a mile under a much-friendlier, still-cold weather to Barnes and Noble until Elda gave us a heads up what time we should exactly meet and where. It was just down the street. We passed a frozen creek at the side of the street, which was pretty much an uncommon sight for these two Californian chicks. Though the weather was much friendlier, staying outside for so long was extremely uncomfortable. When we entered the hyper bookstore, we felt so much better. After spending approximately three hours, Elda texted me that she was done with whatever she was doing. I picked up the book that I had thought would be a good companion for the rest of the trip.

Before we took off to the spot Elda had told us to go, Aymee, Ashley, and I dropped by at Whole Foods just to get sips of free juice samples as refreshment. Free is the golden keyword guys.

So we finally got to the place Elda had told us to go. She would catch up with us there. The place was apparently located adjacent to what I believe the campus center, or something like that.

After Elda and Aymee had a sweet and brief reunion, we headed straight to have dunch in the restaurant Elda had been so eager to take us to. Oh, did I mention that it was approaching three and the four of us haven't eaten anything? Well, here's what we had to fulfill our hunger.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they have Tumis Kangkung, in Midwest.

When we all met, nothing would be fun without candid pictures and unwanted, funny expressions. Seriously, where's the fun in that?

After the dunch, we headed down the street to this cute store, where they possess tons of rag doll collections, decorations of all sorts of color palette (the good ones), artistic items, and what I love the most, they had this rack of folders where piles of letterpress invitations are kept. For copyright purposes, I decided not to publish the pictures here since the invitations actually contain real names and probably real invitees. But you get the idea.

The sheep photobombs. It just does.

Since it would be also the last day of Aymee to spend her time with me, Elda, and Ashley, we thought that we needed a picture of all of us in one frame. We were so lucky to bump into a Photobooth in Urban Outfitters not so far from the store we dropped by earlier. Yeah as you can tell, we had too much fun in the Photobooth. We actually ended up taking not just one set (one set consists of four pictures), but four sets. So each one of us got one set.

Then Elda decided that she would stay over at the hotel until the time the taxi that would pick Aymee up arrived. A few hours and counting. Aymee's stay in Michigan was so short. She had to go the next day because she would have Christmas plans with her relatives in the Bay Area. Ashley, however, would stay in Michigan for the rest of the break. She would surely miss her sister.

Elda, Aymee, Ashley, and I had a girls' talk (we couldn't have slumber party in a hotel, of course) that lasted for hours. Our topics were fun and serious at the same time. At one point though, Elda and Aymee happened to think about two different things at the same time. It was near hilarious. Elda was doing an extensive research about real estate and how it would affect her field, up to the point she collected heaps of real-estate-related articles, how the stock would affect the industry, and other stuff that made my head freeze even after my finals were done. At the same time, Aymee got reminded out of nowhere about the tip we gave to the taxi drivers yesterday for our Frankenmuth trip. She doubted whether we had undertipped the taxi drivers, or whether or not tip wasn't necessary when it comes to riding the taxi. I realized that we actually did give the taxi drivers a considerably low tip, but I thought as long as we tip with sincere, it shouldn't be a matter. The drivers should also understand that we were college students and not a trio of businesswomen. It would be a different story if we were.

Anyway, Aymee couldn't stop thinking about the tip and she even did a research online about how tipping works in US. Elda at the same time, couldn't get her mind off the real-estate topic. And guys, we talked about those two things at the same time. I was like dafuu

Aymee spent her time knitting these three Totoro for Ashley, Elda, and me!

Aymee and Ashley left at 3.30 am shortly after the taxi arrived, leaving Elda and me in the hotel. We slept for a couple of hours. When I was about to return my key to the front desk, just like what Aymee had reminded me to go the night before, I was panic. The key was gone and I've been looking for it in frantic everywhere. However, just before I checked out, Aymee told me that she accidentally brought my key and that she would mail the key to the hotel once she reached Davis.

From the day forward, I moved in to stay with Elda until after the New Year. Her roommates were all going back home to their parents. When I reached Elda's place from the hotel, I met one of the roommates' moms that just happened to be the friendliest lady I've ever bumped into.

Later in the day, Elda needed to attend a meeting in a library. I waited in the other part of the library, where they just happened to have a small collection of Graphic design books.

From the campus, Elda brought me to BD Mongolian Barbecue. I've never quite been into Mongolian Barbecue, but this place strangely had the charm that I was so hooked into this cuisine instantly.

I'll post some more next time. Enjoy your week guys!