Finnish Idol and the Superhero

My neighbor across the hall, Elodie, is leaving Thursday to go back to her native land of France.

Court and I with Elodie.

Last night as Courtney and I were cooking dinner (shrimp scampi and grilled red peppers with loads of garlic and onion, I don't know how we managed that!) she stopped in the doorway and said "American girls! It's my farewell party... you must come down and say hello. And there are Americans outside who want to meet you."

She was attacked with kisses because we'll all miss her so much!

Exciting! So we threw on some clothes (our typical kitchen attire are pajamas and big t-shirts) and headed downstairs to make new friends.
Our night ended up being a ton of fun...! I met a guy named Heikki from Finland who wore a Polish flag around all evening as his cape and claimed he was a super hero. At one point he even tried to convince me that he was a finalist on "Finnish Idol" and we got a digital video of him and a friend singing "Turn Around." It was hilarious.

That's a super hero there on the left. I was doing the Superman pose too, but the people taking the picture cut my arm off. =(

Thus, last night we met someone from Finland, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Scotland, France, Serbia, Columbia, and America. It's amazing the diversity we run into here, and how much everyone gets along. It's kind of disheartening that they all have such a bad view of America, but we are slowly changing that view - one person at a time - with our aggressive friendliness and good wit and charm.

Oh yeah, and I got a pretty cool Spanish flag from a latino boy who put pistaccios on my head and made me take out my hair in the middle of Piotrkowska Street. And at one point someone spilled blood. It was quite the evening.

Boy on the right, Diego, lent me his Spanish flag for the evening. Boy on the left, Kevin, started bleeding in his attempt to get on the night bus. We should have been renamed the Motley Crew.

A real life super hero and finalist on Finnish Idol, Heikki.

Even though Courtney and I had met him thirty minutes earlier, it was Hiekki's last night and he wanted us to sign his Polish flag. Except that everyone kept saying goodbye to him while I was trying to write, and I had to pause because he received six million hugs during my four sentence farewell address.

"Ouch Charlie... that really hurt!!"

A small part of the group we hung out with last night in front of Dorm 9.

And the girl on my right, Esmerelda, was an American! It was very exciting...

In other news, Damian came back from Egypt today! It was exciting to see him walking down the hall, even if he is about seven shades more tan and severely distracted this afternoon. He's the only one around here who actually takes care of us... and it's lovely to have our friend back.

I am starting to miss home, though. I miss my Jozey and my Ashlie... and my Lump. Messaging online and talking occasionally on Skype just isn't cutting it anymore - I need to laugh with my girls and hug my dog to sleep at night! Thank goodness Courtney is here to keep me sane. Yesterday we were both in a sort of depressed mood, so we rallied each other to shower (it was quite the chore) and walked down Piotrkowska until we found a nice little outdoor cafe. We promptly sat down - Court ordered a chocolate milk shake and I ordered cafe au lait - and we people watched and talked about our future careers and dwindling love lives. I think we sat in the Polish afternoon sun until it set... observing people and discovering stuff about ourselves. 

And it's silly how skinny some of the girls are here. 

But I must stop rambling and pack up my stuff. I have clothes to iron and a backpack to set in order for our journey to Warsaw tomorrow morning. 

Until then -