go dog go

ushpizin.
this is the hebrew word for "guests" or "visitors."

this weekend, i discovered that i enjoy having usphizin. my parents came out to calvin on thursday night and leave early tomorrow (sunday) morning... they came out here for "parents' weekend," and although calvin has all these "super cool" events and what-not planned for parents and stuff, i decided to plan and host my own rendition of parents' weekend.
so they arrived thursday night after my night class, and we went out to dinner at buffalo wild wings... they loved it. Since i had a test the next day, they dropped me off back at the dorms after dinner.
so friday was pretty much the day at calvin. i had two classes, but i assure you that we packed in stuff to do in every little crevice... breakfast in the morning, class, lunch at johnny's, class, official parental wear from the campus store, a visit to my dorm room, dinner (which rebekah and shiloh joined in on... shiloh never gets full, for the record, so her and jenny might need to have an eating contest sometime), then back to the dorms, and sleep.
the next day (today, aka saturday) was "let stina show you some cool stuff" day. it started out with breakfast at stavros... which i can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was. i was greeted with hugs all around (how awesome?!), and paul (the father, the guy who owns the place, the guy who came here from greece... yes, we are on a first name basis...) came out from the kitchen and hung out and talked with us for about half an hour (it was a slow morning, so there was like, one couple there, and their food was already cooked). anyway, it was so fun sitting there and talking to him and hearing his story and stuff. his wife sat and talked with us too, and their daughter (athena... can you tell they are greek?!?!) came out and talked with us too. their son, nick, is currently at michigan state, and they were telling me that he would be coming and working there tomorrow... there something about greeks that like the idea of greeks with greeks :)
anyway, at the end, they asked for my number and they gave me theirs (home and resturaunt), and they're gonna give me a call if they ever need help on the weekends with waiting on tables... how awesome!!!
i love family.
so after breakfast, it was off to robinettes! we had cider and pumpkin pie (mmm, yummy). after that, we stopped by my dorm to grab my rackets and went to tennis connection to see if this was a place i could get my rackets re-strung... turns out, it looks so much like cerritos tennis, it's kind of scary. so yes, awesome place, dropped my rackets off. then we went back to calvin and i had my ultimate game!!!
i am not going to say much about my ultimate game in this post.. that'll come either tomorrow or the day after.... cause my dad brought his camera, and let me say that saying "sweet pics" would be an understatement. and i'll just say... two of my biggest bids (remember, dive for the disc) i've ever made... and incredible pics to go with it! more to come.
after the game, we picked up my rackets and then headed off to meijer (any visit to michigan is incomplete without a meijer run). then it was dinner (at this amazing italian place... AMAZING), barnes and noble, the center point mall, then back to my dorm room, and then good byes.

i love being a host. it's so much fun.
but at the same time, it is so exhausting!
and today, not much time was spent in my dorm room, and i kinda missed my room. i love my room... and my parents did too... they were impressed with my neatness and organization... all my years leading up to college, my bedroom floor was a rare sight :)

so i can't wait to post the ultimate pics, and tomorrow's going to be a nice day of relaxation and catch up. it's nice that since midterms and all my tests and papers were last week, so this week isn't going to be rough... plus, we have "reading recess" on tuesday and wednesday which means advising appointment and no class!
sweet stuff..
ok
i am tired
i am gonna knit a bit

ciao