In a very happy Mood...

My parents are wonderful people.
Now, at this point half of you are staring at this page like I'm an idiot, going "Of course your parents are wonderful people- they're letting you spend a year in a foreign country instead of going to college, and they're paying for pretty much all of it, except what's coming out of your graduation presents!" This is true. I did know that they are wonderful people before now, but it has truly been brought home to me today. Allow me to explain:

This afternoon, I arrived home from school in something of dash mode; I was supposed to be meeting Bruna, a Brazilian Rotary student who's host club is one of Bratislava's two other clubs, at 15:15, and, well, it was already 15:00. I had fifteen minutes to dump my gym clothes in my room, tell Miša where I was going, run to Zochovo bus stop, catch the appropriate bus, and get to Aupark. Read: I was going to be late. At any rate, I got into the house greeted Mates with the traditional "Ahoj Mates, ano, ano, som tu!" (Hi Mates, yes, yes, I'm here!) and was preparing to run upstairs, when Miša came in and said "Ginny, I have a surprise for you!" She brought me into the front hall, and pointed to a chair in which sat a slightly battered cardboard box. My face lit up. I had been waiting for this box, which I knew contained, at the very least, my winter coat, some long sleeved shirts, a sweater that I liked, and a book my dad sent me at pleading. I took it with me when I heading up to my room, and left it there, along with my gymclothes, because, frankly, I was running late.
So, after spending about two hours talking with Bruna and getting up to date with her, I am back in my room, with the contents of my lovely box.
My Maman is a wonderful person. Not only did she send me the clothes I had asked for, she also managed to find more long sleeved shirts than I thought I had owned, included another sweater that I had forgotten to ask for, and this black jackety-vest thing that I hadn't even remembered I owned until I saw it in the box and recalled that my older sister had given it to me as a hand-me-down the year before. She even went to the trouble of digging out the hood of my winter coat, which I hadn't used last year, but will probably come in handy in the near future. It gets quite soggy in Bratislava, you see.
My Dad is a wonderful person, because he sent me two David Eddings compendiums. I have the entirety of The Belgariad to read now. My cravings for good fantasy novels are fufilled. They brought tears of joy to my eyes. Why am I so thrilled about some books? Because, English fantasy novels, while they can be had in Bratislava book stores, are highly expensive, and it's very hard to justify spending 20,75 euro on a paperback book, even if it is fantasy and by one of your favorite authors. Seriously. I saw a David Eddings book going for that much at Panta Rhei (my favorite bookstore). I was in the process of caving, too...

So, now that we have concluded that my parents are wonderful people, I'm going to go be happy about my newest acquisitions, and start getting ready to go to Banske Bystrice. We (Carlos, Beth, and I) leave Carlos' home at 6:00 Friday morning so we can get to our medical exams in Martin. That's going to be a fun trip....

And that's all there is. There isn't anymore.
(By the way, whoever can tell me where my closing line is from gets to see photographs from Banske Bystrice early!)