content, yet terrified

An octopus I drew last year. This is the extent of my digital work, for now. I'll be doing more stuff like this with my new major.

I got accepted into the program I applied for...*nervous smile* I'm happy, but I'm also scared out of my mind. It's different from anything I've ever considered doing as a career and I don't know if it's stable in the job market and I don't think my parents are exactly happy with me leaving engineering and there are just a lot of concerns/reservations I'm having. Like how I slipped that one in there, the parents one? Yeah, me too.

On the kind of not-so-confused side of this, I was told by the department coordinator, an extremely nice guy that helped me work on my courses that I'll be taking next year, that I was 1 of 2 change of majors that was accepted... what? Come again? Well, I must have done something right on that application... that is just amazing to me. I just can't comprehend that I'm good at art. I never have been able to. A person can't be good at math and science and art; it's just not the way things work. It doesn't make sense. Well, I kinda take that back. Leonardo da Vinci. But he didn't know calculus because it hadn't been invented yet. And yet that's what this major is about: joining those two seemingly irreconcilable subjects into this major.

Anyway, philosophical rant over. Everyone have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I'll be chatting with my parents and extended family about this...  And charming and persuading them to let me live in an awesome town home with my 3 friends... for nearly $100 more than my brother gets for an apartment...

week one in short

So free internet is pretty hard to come by in parts of Europe, especially Switzerland, Germany, and Austria! I thought I was going to be able to post a little more frequently, but in between getting up early, staying out late, and the scarcity of interwebs, you see what can happen. Best laid plans, my friends...

Anyway,I have a few highlights for you!


Big Ben in London, England, on a typical cloudy day

Unique cornices on houses on the canals of Amsterdam

Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. The most massive cathedral I've ever seen.

Inside one of the spires in Cologne. Yes, we hiked up 533 steps to the top of the cathedral.

Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Ahhh I can see the Von Trapp family now...

Ok, waaaaaaay over on the left, the house with the brown roof, that was Audrey Hepburn's summer home! Yeah! This is also on Lake Lucerne.

Bluebells on Mount Pilatus in Switzerland. The first bluebells I've ever seen.

Another wildflower in the Swiss mountains. No edelweiss, however. Only in early spring.

COWS!!! From the Swiss mountains. If you look close enough, you can see their cowbells. They sound really lovely, actually. And don't worry, these are milk cows.

Venezia, Italia (Venice, Italy)!! By gondola! Favorite architecture in Europe so far.

And just look who I found when I turned around in Saint Mark's Square in Venice!!! I had no idea they were here!!!

Me and the fam. Picture taken by our awesome serenader!! Love him and his accordian buddy that made funny noises and knew he was "bravo." I love Italians...

I have some video, but I think I'm going to wait until I get home and have a proper computer to post that stuff.

Anyway, I hope I get to post again soon! Arrivederci!

london, england

EDIT: So I just noticed I uploaded the wrong video here. So I deleted it. Sorry. It was bad anyway.

'Ello, Gov'nah! This is Melissa, communicating with you from London! Wow!
I don't have the obligatory telephone booth shot yet, but it's ok, because I'll be here for one more day!

PS I totally hope to improve my terrible video communication skillz and make this way more exciting to watch, so please stay with me while I mightily attempt to surmount this obstacle!! And leave me some comments while you're at it! Love you guys!

Ski Trip!

And I thought I was already chilled to the bone here in Texas!

But I'm really looking forward to freezing my buns off for a little fun! YAY SKI VACATION!

Skiing is so much fun! I'm lucky that my parents took us on trips while we were still young and taught us early. I barely remember learning how to ski. We started off in New Mexico because the mountains are smaller, less chance of us little'uns getting lost or stolen, ya know?

But our vacations aren't just about the skiing. My mom cooks almost all the meals on the trip because food elsewhere is very expensive, so meal time because a family thing. We spend so much time together and sometimes even break out the board or card games. One time, my mom taught us how to play Hearts. Too bad I don't remember anymore. My brother isn't always playing his XBox, my dad isn't always on his Blackberry dealing with work, my mom is constantly trying to clean the house or do laundry, and I'm not always on the computer. We just get so much closer, even as close as getting under each others skins.

Here are some photos from previous years:

These were in Breckenridge, Colorado. One of my favorite trips. Colorado is one of the ultimate places to ski because of the huge open "bowls"at the tops of the mountains. You can criss-cross those things all day. The other thing about Colorado that's nice, I think, is that you can still drive there. Air travel is such a hassle now that sometimes I wish I could avoid it.

The city of Breckenridge is also, like most small ski towns, adorable. Lots of little shops and mom and pop restaurants.

And these are from Park City, Utah. This was the unfortunate trip that I nearly broke my wrist on the first day. I tried to ski the last day but I was just absolutely miserable because it was super cold and super snowy. I'm surprised I was actually smiling. The one thing I did accomplish on that trip: watched all of "The Godfather" movies. Awesome.

Apparently I hadn't discovered makeup yet. Sorry! 

Park City is also a very cool place, no pun intended. It's home to one of the major film festivals in the US, like Sundance. And again, being a seasonal place, small and cute stores everywhere. And it's also fun to fly into Salt Lake City and see that area. It's a really beautiful place. We drove by the Mormon temple last time and it is quite a site.