Crepes, cards, snow - 3/52 :)

1. The aircraft for my flight on Saturday at noon from Austin to Atlanta (and then to Philly) had a mechanical problem. The part we needed for the aircraft was in Atlanta, so we needed to wait for the next aircraft to fly over and deliver it from Atlanta to Austin, which meant our flight was delayed from noon to 6:30PM. This was a problem for me, because I needed to catch a flight from Atlanta to Philly. As everyone was figuring out rebooking their flights, it was announced that another airline in Austin had the part we needed, but it needed to get cleared by Delta (our airline), so there'd still be a delay, but only until 3:30PM, but that was still too late for me to catch my connecting flight. I was put on standby for the 7:41PM flight from Atlanta to Philly, and meanwhile checked into the 10:10PM one, which meant I'd arrive in Philly just past midnight (as opposed to my original plan in which I'd arrive by 7:30PM), which meant I'd need to take a taxi as the last SEPTA would have already left. We took off from Austin at 4:30PM and landed at 7:42PM. I missed the 7:41PM but caught the 10:10PM and eventually made it back to Philly, into a taxi, and $60 later I made it back to campus. It wasn't the smoothest travel, inconvenient for sure, but better than the what would have happened if we flew with the mechanical deficiency. I hope everyone has had safe travels!
2. While waiting for my flight from Atlanta to Philly, I decide to treat myself, because at this point I'm feeling... well, let's just say that I could do with a lift in my emotional state, and the fresh tomato, cheese, and basil crepe (tomatoes, provolone cheese, fresh basil, baby spinach, parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar) and Maui Mango smoothie (mango sorbet blended with mango, strawberries, and bananas) from Freshëns does just the trick. I also bought a copy of Life Magazine: Downton Abbey Commemorative Edition.
3. At 1:00AM on Sunday morning, I gloriously enter my dorm and stumble through the hallway to my room sweet room, and what do I see? Hanging from my door is a cup of bubble tea from Kungfu Tea that Grace got for me while she was out in Chinatown today! I haven't had any bubble tea for the last two weeks while I've been in Austin, so this was a joyous moment. My friends are so wonderful and I'm so thankful to have them, and not just because we have a pact to buy each other bubble tea whenever one of us are in Chinatown.
4. Back on campus, I've finally gotten around to checking my mail, and in there were Christmas cards from my blog friends, Dagmar, Mei, and Dani, Juno, & Damaris! Not only was this the first time I've sent out and received Christmas cards, but it's also the first offline interaction I've had with my online friends, which is something very special indeed :) Sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that though virtual, the online world is something real and we can contribute very real things and create very real friendships and make a real difference.
5. My photo from 古北水镇 got reblogged by Luxlit on Tumblr!
6. I haven't needed to recharge my camera batteries for the entirety of winter break. Normally, because I'm traveling on holidays, I take this time to scrounge for blog content, brainstorming places to go, things to photograph, stuff to write about. But this break, I was able to put that on hold. Don't worry, I kept myself busy enough editing photos and drafting posts from Summer 2015, and hopefully they'll all appear on the blog before 2016 ends :P
7. The first snow of the season (Jan. 17), unusually late but here all the same! Last year, the first snow of the season was Nov. 3. I remember because it caught me by surprise and I was wearing flip-flops and posted about it on Facebook. This time around, I had just finished printing my photos at Rite Aids with Victoria, when we walked out and... there it was! Finally!

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