Swiss Miss by Sam M. '07
"The archangel Michael descends riding a triceratops."
DID YOU KNOW? The song “Hips Don’t Lie” went to #1 in nearly every country that has singles charts. There are four countries where it only went to #2, and it only went to #94 in Japan. And I am SO SICK OF HEARING IT.
This is a dumb story, but scroll down for some more pictures.
I left my umbrella on a train in Switzerland last weekend. It was really a great umbrella–it had a big button that you could press to open it, fit perfectly into my small girly hands, had a comfortable strap to fit around my wrist, was compact enough to fit horizontally in my backpack when folded up, and kept the rain off of me pretty well, although the ravages of time were becoming apparent after three years of use. But anyway, I left it on a train in Switzerland.
I was worried about finding a replacement, because I got the umbrella three years ago at MIT when Shannon ’05 lost my previous, much less awesome, umbrella. I was like, “Whatever, just give me 12 dollars or something,” but Shannon went out to the Cambridgeside Galleria the very next day and bought me this great, top-of-the-line umbrella that I’ve loved ever since. So I thought that there would be a pretty big disparity between the amount of money that I was willing to spend on an umbrella and the kind of service I had come to expect from an umbrella.
With that in mind, I looked up the word for “umbrella” in Google translator and went out shopping last night. I must have looked kind of strange in the first store I went to, because I tested each umbrella I encountered according to the above five characteristics–so I opened it, held it in my hand as if it were raining indoors, dangled it by its strap from my wrist, put it in my backpack, and estimated the permeability of the material. Do most people do this when they’re umbrella shopping? I mean, you would want to test-drive a car, right? There were a couple umbrellas with button-opening mechanisms, but only one even met two of my five criteria–a 10
That’s like when I went to Poland last year, and that Madonna song “Hung Up” was playing EVERYWHERE. It completely invaded my subconscious and became the soundtrack of my dreams. But now I hear it and think fondly of the Wieliczka Salt Mines, that nice Brazilian guy we met there, and all those crazy pigeons in Krakow. I still love “Hips Don’t Lie”!
1. Oh baby when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad.
2. Colors of the Wind was like my favorite song in kindgarten. Actually, who am I kidding? I still bop along to Pocahontas. Wait, do people still bop along? No?
3. Umbrella shopping.. it’s not for the weak.
Best part about this entry: “fit perfectly into my small girly hands”
Alternate best part of the entry: Southern translators
Just playing, samcow.jpg #1
Shana — I forgot Poland! In my travels of Europe, that is. Anyway, I did love Hips Don’t Lie the first time I heard it, but it’s seriously on like once an hour in Germany… I think that we heard it on three different stations at the same time in the car on Monday.
JKim — Oh, I bop to Colors of the Wind. All the time. You make me feel really old, now, because we sang Colors of the Wind when I was in chorus in 5TH GRADE. Wow.
Anonymous — Haha, thanks.
Ruth ’07 — Well, I can’t understand people who are in some small Pennsylvania towns 20 minutes from me, so I can only imagine Mississippi.
Kendall — I actually have 3 different pictures in my web directory, but I wasn’t sure you’d consent to me posting them. I’m sure they’ll be great! Can’t wait to see them tonight!
Wow. I’m kind of sad that I only get 2 lines in your blog when the thing took like . . . I dunno at least 4 or maybe 5 hours. But anyway, they look really bad, but that’s cuz they’ve got all this crap in them and I can’t wash them until tomorrow . . . yay. Thanks for all the help, btw. And Thank God for bandanas.
1. Umbrella rating at Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2116557/
2. Love the haircut
3. Karl ’07 was in my freshman advising seminar and spoke French incredibly well.
4. Looks awesome!