what's danish for "not as bad as expected"? i just finished sailing through my criminal justice midterm. it's gorgeous out, at least by local standards, which are all i remember. ben should be appearing momentarily. i left him home to explore on his own the dorm laundry room and, if he finds it, christiania.

yesterday, post-morning mournfulness: lunch at rizraz, bountiful veggie meditterranean buffet, with heather, heather's drag-along david, and andrea, followed by walking around town where we met serendipitously with katie and her perternaturally cheerful fiancee. ben bought a hat and i despaired over exorbitant sweater prices. the ones my mother would look best in are of course mind-bogglingly expensive, and while ben patiently allowed himself to be used as a model for fur hat after fur hat, i wasn't satisfied that any one would satisfy my father. i continue to look.
we went shopping and between that and making dinner Talked. i realized how anxious i get when i have to play hostess (becca who called later pinpointed it, "it's your mother in you"). i want everything to be perfect and wonderful; he's simply trying to adjust and absorb. some more tears on my part, too many of them recently, but everything's been better -- best, even -- since. i think i just needed to get my irrationality out.

four midterms to go. four more days with ben. sapna, on the way to the test this morning, said i was glowing. oh, that elusive glow. how i missed you.