Thursday, June 25, 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain

Meet my flatmates.
Somehow FSU managed to put all of us "experienced" learners into the same flat, #15, in the Courtyard. We immediately bonded with each other, sharing our Metamucil, Geritol, and ice packs with each other. Just kidding! Three of us already knew each other -- Connie, Sheila and me are all part of the 2 1/2 year graduate program called Project LEAD. We have met face to face four other times and of course know each other from our online courses.
Two others have been in previous courses with us -- Laurie and Carolyn. Kat just joined us this past month for the two classes we had pre-session.
Like it or not, the young students are referring to us as "The Golden Girls," so now we're arguing which of us is which Golden Girl. We actually prefer to refer to ourselves as the brides of Henry VIII. Carolyn is Catherine of Aragon; Sheila is Anne Boleyn; Connie is Jane Seymour; Laurie is Jane of Cleves; I am Katherine Howard; and Kat is Catherine Parr (the only survivor). You know the nursery rhyme, don't you? "Divorced, beheaded, died ... divorced, beheaded, survived."
Just to put a little personality with the names -- Kat is an extrovert from Kentucky. She's already a librarian and loves to travel. She used to work as a videographer and is obsessive about looking up information about our trips IN BOOKS! (Imagine!) Laurie is from Coral Gables and is the mother hen. She is the calming influence, but look out! If she laughs, she laughs wholeheartedly so that you can't help but laugh, too. Connie is our free spirit. She is a self-proclaimed "caffeine addict" and goes nonstop from the time her feet hit the floor til she drops into bed at night. Carolyn is the quiet one with that wry sense of humor. She is obviously well-read -- and she's NOT a librarian. That's her goal, but right now she works as a police detective's secretary in Ft. Lauderdale. Finally, there's Sheila, my traveling buddy from St. Pete. She is obsessive about taking pictures, and notices all the little details. She loves her computer and is rarely seen anywhere in the flat without the glow of the monitor on her face. We tease her because she rarely comes back from a day out without a minimum of 500 photos on her camera.
They have a 9 p.m. "quiet time" instituted here. We have to shut our window because our laughter will keep everyone up.

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