Hello from Swarthmore

1) My name is Will, and I am from Swarthmore.

Yesterday, seven of us drove up from Swarthmore to visit Orion in Beantown. Sally referred to us as the Swarthmore Seven: Jen, Julia, Amber, Anne Charlotte, John, Kevin, and me! None of us have seen Orion since January, and suffice it to say that we have missed him.

After our arrival, Steve and Sally treated us all to Whole Foods, which was great fun to pick out of the buffet. Even more exciting was trying to figure out which box belonged to which hungry student when we returned to the apartment. The chaos of eight Swarthmore students filling up on tofu, samosas, and fried chicken is a sight to see.

Today we have given over the daylight hours to playing on the Wii (I trounced them all, no matter what you hear to the contrary) and Orion has been making truffles. We have also managed a walk around Boston to the state house (just up the street), the Common, and the Quincy Market, as well as a visit to Orion's floor on Ellison 18.

Our visit is almost over, but we'll all be sorry to go. It's nice to be together again towards the end of our time at Swarthmore, and our hosts have been most gracious. Boston is a beautiful city, but it's been even better to see Orion, Steve, and Sally.

2) Hello, everyone. This is Jen, Orion's favorite young lady. I haven't confirmed this with him, but it must be true nonetheless (or else someone needs a gentle beatdown). It's been lovely seeing him again, and hearing his snickers instead of seeing his "Heh" on our AIM chats (yes, we still use AIM, outdated as it is). I will miss him bunches. It looks like the next time that we will all get to see him is the final rite of passage: graduation. Scary thought. Many thanks to Steve and Sally for taking such good care of us :)

3) Hello, blog-readers! This is Amber, the one in the photo wearing the grey sweatshirt with a ridiculous rainbow on the front. As I was at home in California over winter break, I hadn't seen Orion since December. I'm so glad to have the chance to come up to Boston and see him. We've all missed his wit, near-encyclopedic knowledge of sci-fi and classic movies, and, of course, his baking. It's good to see him doing so well, and, as Will said, we will be sorry to leave tomorrow.

4) Hi, this is Anne Charlotte now! Everyone else has given a pretty exhaustive description of our weekend here, but I'm going to chime in anyway. I think we've all enjoyed tromping around Boston, visiting Orion's awesome apartment, and flailing at the Wii. But most of all, it's been great to see Orion again! All the other things have been fun, but the highlight of the visit was definitely hanging out with Orion, no matter what we were doing. Like Amber and Will have said, I think we'll all be sad to leave.

5) Kevin here. We hardly thought in December how long it would be before we had another chance to see Orion, and it's been great to spend some time with him today. We hope our odyssey to Boston has cheered him up and not just exhausted him.

6) Hi, this is John. I've been spending most of the day trying very hard not to cough on Orion, with a brief interlude of Wii victory (Will's comments notwithstanding). It's been great to spend some time with Orion. Thanks to him for putting up with all the chaos we brought along with us, and to Steve and Sally for their generous hospitality.

7) Hey, this is Julia! The above writers have recounted most of the events of this weekend, with the exception of my spectacular failure at the Wii (and my lack of tact). We've all had a great time seeing Orion after so many months and having the chance to enjoy his delicious baking. I hope he's enjoyed our visit as much as I know we have, and that we will get to see him again soon!