So I finally made it to Hartford on Wednesday evening. My friend Laura was waiting at Union Station to drive me over to her place in West Hartford, where I was to bunk over that night. I must say I was definitely impressed by the size and style of her house: built in between rocks and freshly painted a mellow yellow by her eldest son Andrew, the multiple-story building rises high in front of a meandering rivulet in the blossoming backyard.

Laura`s family is just amazing: her husband Mark is a delightfully conversant restaurant owner who is finishing his MA in Irish History; the two young kids – Jane (7) and David (10) – shared with me the most entertaining summer stories from Alaska and some amusement park in Connecticut; Andrew, the 17-year-old, was late for dinner after his football training but then we caught up with life and school ambitions; and Uma and Sherman, the sweetest and most tender-looking German shepherds I`ve ever met, wrought some havoc as they managed to unlock their cages and chase the kitten almost to death.

Laura´s home is … well, homey indeed. As lofty as it can be, it houses at least 8 bedrooms only on the first two floors (not to mention there`s a huge basement downstairs that could shelter a whole army!). We had pot roast for dinner, home-made cookies and coffee afterwards, and then I retired into my room for some bedtime reading.

The next morning, Mark drove me to Storrs, where I had to check in, settle in and dash out to a meeting in like three hours or so. At 2:00 p.m., sweating and panting, I made it to the new International Studies offices on the second floor at Ryan Refectory. I met most of my buddies there – Dave from CT, Cristina from Ecuador, Jorge (who is now my roommate) from Mexico, Iris from Brazil, Laurie from the States, the girls from Egypt … I also met some of the incoming first-years – including my new friend Moeno from Japan.

After the meeting, Iris and Dave drove us all to Big Y for some initial grocery-shopping (I hate spending soooo much money on settling-in stuff!!!) and then we all came over to my place for a welcome-back dinner. I prepared some home-made tomate sauce for the pasta, and my other new roommates (Kenny – from California, of Philippine descent – and Joe from Korea) joined us too. At the prime of the dinner there were 10 of us, all from different nationalities:

1. Me from Argentina

2. Dave from the US

3. Joe from Korea

4. Kenny from the Philippines

5. Cris from Ecuador

6. Jorge from Mexico

7. Moeno from Japan

8. Molika from Cambodia (Molika is Moeno`s roommate – they live upstairs)

9. Iris from Brazil

10. Wais from Afghanistan

It was an international evening indeed for the International Affairs lot.

Yesterday I went to the GAINS Welcome Fair on campus with my new Fulbright friend Mariya (or Marsha), from Ukraine. There we met with Jorge and Cristina for the outdoor b-b-q, and then we started collecting friends on our way back to Cristina`s room. We even saw Bernie and her German boyfriend Daniel. We also met Cris` new building mate Undine from Germany, who later joined us at Tequila Cove with her American friend Melanie.

This promises to be quite an interesting semester … This evening Luz is coming over to visit us. I also met with Fany and Mayté at PRLACC, and even got a phone call from Bea from Spain … Not bad for just a couple of days in Storrs, eh?

Me copé con esto de bloggear y decidí armar un nuevo blog para celebrar mi segundo año en Estados Unidos. Sólo me quedan dos días en New York antes de volver a Connecticut para comenzar un nuevo Fall semester. Mi experiencia en la Gran Manzana superó todas mis expectativas – conocí lugares alucinantes; personas copadísimas de todas partes del mundo; comidas, géneros de música y tradiciones de otras culturas; expandí mi experiencia profesional con una pasantía en una organización con fines sociales; compartí casa con una “roommate” gringa … Sin dudas volveré a NYC en busca de nuevas aventuras. Mientras tanto … a emprender la última curva en mi camino hacia la Maestría. Así que, Storrs (como diría la señora Mirtha Legrand): “Allá vamos”.