In February there was a small Fellowship reunion at Cornell. It was a very brief and action-packed two days back in good 'ol freezing Ithaca. The loyalty (and eagerness to party) of this group never ceases to amaze me! There was sake bombing at Plum Tree (Maya & Ramona), parties at Dino's (me & Ash) and Stella's, and dinner at Madeline's (me with Jeff and Ramona, respectively). It was a wonderful time - thanks all!

Aditya had recently bought a new camera before one of my many visits to NYC during spring '05, which produced quite a few random pictures. Such visits are always a culinary treat for me (as my creditors can attest to), but there was also time to watch movies, cook, scheme to take over the world, and dance. Frequent accomplices in these events were myself, Ahreum Kang, Tracy Wang, Aditya Rao, Dhruva Karle, and Dawoon Kang. All can be seen (in order) in this group picture, except for Dawoon who is the photographer. Here you see the "proud" U. Penn grads smiling for Aditya. On one occasion, I decided to cook traditional Norwegian porridge for them, which requires careful planning and meditation. While we we have yet to conquer the world, Aditya and I certainly conquered the porridge (try other Norwegian treats - the fastest way to my heart! :-)

The last weekend of April was lawn parties at Princeton. For this traditional weekend-long event there is a formal on Friday, a semi-formal on Saturday, and the actual lawn parties on Sunday. For the formal Ann took the eminently gallant Mr. Varun Phadke, the '05 Princeton valedictorian (talk about a major catch!). Sadly Varun must have been spoken for the remainder of the weekend, as Ann had to settle for a homely Norwegian. To compensate I bragged about how my knot was is a "Double Windsor." Varun was not impressed and decided to show me how TRN valedictorians respond to such feeble challenges. Subsequent to drinking a million girly drinks at Charter, we hung out at Colonial and danced. On Sunday we randomly walked around and listened to the various bands playing. Here you see Ann, Varun, Kathleen, and I standing in front of the Fristabuster (filibuster in front of the Frist campus center), and Craig making a face because he wasn't included in the chosen group picture.

The first annual Fellowship reunion was held on Slopeday May 6th. Like the smaller reunion discussed in the first paragraph, countless activities were crammed into a very short amount of time. It is impossible to take in the full beauty of Ithaca in a brief weekend (especially for those of us who are vertically challenged), but we did our best! (I'm lucky that Ramona remains my friend despite the abuse!) Friday morning and afternoon was spent on the slope, followed by dinner at Plum Tree, and drinking at Dino's (some took it to the next level). Countless hours on both Friday and Saturday night (morning) were spent playing the great game of mafia (Princeton, Wikipedia). On Saturday afternoon we played several hours of ultimate w/a football (Ithaca can be windy).
Added pictures: Maya, Ramona, Polly, and Nash (and some random dude?) on their way to get wasted, people standing on the slope, and some sort of kinky light-blue party - I'm sorry I missed it!

I visited Norway for the 17th of May, which is our national day. Unfortunately (but appropriately) I was welcomed home with a snowfall. While Norwegians are not fazed by the weather, it might have contributed to the fact that I got sick and was unable to participate in the festivities. In my stead, my father took some pictures of people singing our anthem (you see the women wearing traditional Norwegian outfits called 'bunads'). I might have personally exasperated my situation by watching a soccer game during the early moments of my sickness - as is tradition, you can see the graduating high-school class "storm" the field in that picture during half-time. The trip was wonderful despite the illness, however, as my family prepared many wonderful dishes both for others (here the Rebac family) and ourselves. And lastly, a picture of my brother and I.

Upon returning from Norway on the 20th of May, I spent a few NYC days in the company of good friends. (If only good friends did not coerce you into watching Star Wars movies at 1:30am while sick and jetlagged!) On Saturday we had a small Ivy League [funny how the Ivy League is really about sports...] picnic in the park with various Norwegian goodies (including homemade raspberry jam, which Dawoon ate with a spoon!). On a closer inspection, attendees included Aditya, myself, & Ahreum; Ahreum, Dawoon, & Tracy; myself & Ahreum; and various other less photogenic individuals. Later in the evening, the remnants of our crew had a wonderful dinner at L'Ecole. Aditya started the evening as a lucky man to have Dawoon on his side, but he ended up beside Dhruva as the girls migrated to the side whose guy had the crooked smile. Shame on Aditya for looking much more happy next to Dhruva! Subsequently to this we blissfully danced the night away. And on Sunday we went out for lunch on the upper east side, where the guys proved that Dawoon is not the only one who loves meat!
I enjoy my time in NYC so much that I took advantage of Hotel Rao's hospitality once more a week later in transit to the west coast. This visit was no exception, as Ahreum and Dawoon cooked a wonderful meal for us on Friday evening. We had numerous bottles of white whine and port, as can be seen by our cheery demeanor. Dawoon also decided I ought to have spiked hair for the group photos, which apparently made me look like a fratboy (my firm grip of Tracy's leg might support it). Our fraternity is small but growing rapidly! Finally, I'd like to buy a house on the upper east side - who's with me?

And here is a picture that my guardian Bruce Shriver took of my family while in Norway during February 05. My brother needs a haircut!