It has its moments...

I've been back in the US for nearly three weeks and it's been...something.
I'm in Spanish class 20 hours a week, doing assignments for at least another 8, and then add to that the supplemental things to try to make the language stick. (Seriously, another romance language? What was I thinking? Bienvenido, benvenudo, and bienvenue to the swirl of Latin-languages living in my brain.) I've been reading news in Spanish  talking to myself in Spanish  and I've even taken up watching game shows in Spanish ..It's almost like immersion...Only not... Sidebar: Telemundo dating shows? I don't get it. And I don't  think it's entirely a language barrier issue. Have you ever seen 12 Corazones? It's friggin' bizarre. It pretends to have something to do with the zodiac? Maybe?

WHY ARE ALL THE MEN DRESSED LIKE TARZAN?!?

Maybe I shouldn't have admitted to watching this show... No matter, soon I'll be watching telenovelas like a pro. Or at least knowing for sure that it's a terrible terrible idea and giving up the dream to pursue something completely different and probably equally disappointing... German comedy perhaps?

Moving right along. The point of all of this is that between everything Spanish-related and all that basic sleeping/eating/bathing stuff that I'm still catching up on from my time on the road (don't judge, hooligans) "Summer" has been on hiatus.
Not the actual season. That, my intercontinental friends, is in full swing in this neck of the woods (Read: GAH! It's been hot and humid and I can't quite handle it, my skin, it burrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnssssssss and I thank my lucky, though rarely present in the sky this close to NYC, stars for air conditioning) But more like the devil-may-care, got no worries, throw caution to the wind notion of summer that my school years have taught me to appreciate while I have it because it doesn't last forever. Hell, if I'm being completely honest, this may be the last one I get (I have no plans for grad school, or becoming a teacher, or moving to France...Which I think are the only methods of attaining "summer vacation" to the degree to which I have become accustomed) and while I'm actually enjoying this whole language learning thing, I sometimes like to be reminded of what summer is all about.

Tonight was one of those nights.
In case you are somehow just now tuning in to...well...my existence... Food is a huge part of my life and therefore it shouldn't surprise anyone to find out that it's a focal point of many of my friendships as well.
Picture the scene: The gang's all here (in this case "the gang" refers to a group of girls with whom I've been friends since elementary school...That's a long-ass time) it's 10 PM, we've finally all got an evening free from other responsibilities, and the nighttime temperature has dropped below 85 (Fahrenheit) for the first time in weeks after a much needed rain storm. What's a group of vivacious 20-somethings to do?

If your answer was an emphatic: "OMG ROADTRIP!!!!!!!!" then I'm happy to say that your pop-culture knowledge of 20-something year old girls has started you down the path to a correct answer...Award yourself 3 points...

If your answer included the magic word "Milkshake" then BRAVO, BRAVA! You know us too well. Award yourself 10 points AND partial custody of all the boys in the yard. Yes, I just turned this into a Kelis reference. No, I'm not ashamed.

Couldn't resist...

There's just something to be said for the hours spent in a car, highway speeds, windows down, music blaring, muggy post-storm night, on a quest for elusive and far away milkshakes for no other reason than "Because there's a full tank of gas and hours 'til sunrise"

The milkshakes were alright, but the night? It was summer.