Water Fire Festivities

This morning when the alarm clock went off, I turned it off with a feeling of relief for the first time in what was the longest week of my life (and the most exciting). When I did wake up I came to realize that I had the whole day to myself with no set time schedule.

I went to the mall again with some friends and made it back to eat at the V-Dub dining hall for dinner before making it to the Water-Fire Show with Ms. Williams. In Rhode Island it is a tradition to hold a show every Saturday. There are booths set up selling food, carts of glow-in-the-dark accessories and swords, stars hanging from the trees, and hope lanterns that really touched me. It was very festive and I couldn't believe that this (which obviously needs a lot of preparation) happens every Saturday.

The stars and hope lanterns were beautiful. I really didn't know what the lanterns were until I got closer and saw notes attached to the lanterns with a single wish. There was a very touching wish in which someone hoped their grandfather would regain his voice so the two of them could once again converse like old times. Now I'm wondering if there is a legend/myth attached to this practice that says the wish will come true .... I wish I bought a lantern too.

Something else that was totally awesome were the fake statues! There were humans that dressed up in grey and painted their skin and moved slowly to keep the aura of a magical environment. It reminded us of Harry Potter and their live statues.

The day ended like it has in the past several days. All of us girls in the program (including girls outside of the ILC) meet at the EstroDen (haha). It's where all of us girls pour out our feelings and talk about what bothered us, what we found interesting, etc. I love bonding in this way. This gathering went from several people having a study group, to a group with 20 students that use this as an end-of-the-day social hour.