Research projects

Not surprisingly, because my head has been seriously focused on completing the research project and paper for the study abroad program I am currently in, I dreamt about it. In this dream, I was consulting with a friend of mine who was in this program last year and although this is not true in reality, we had done similar projects and so we were comparing our statistical analysis. Then another friend of ours, who in the dream was working as a waitress in the cafe we were seated at, brought us virgin strawberry daiquiris. It was very funny.

Harvard coins

It was my senior year and I applied for a few scholarships to get my masters in global health. I really wanted to do it at Duke, so I filled out an application for a scholarship there with more care than I have ever done anything else. In a last minute decision, I decided to apply to a Harvard scholarship too, for kicks. I ended up winning the Harvard one, and I received two gold coins in an envelope with a letter from them explaining how they had a tradition of granting scholarships with these coins - one was $10,000 and the other was $1,000. I don't remember why.

I then proceeded to share this wonderful news for my mom, and instead of congratulating me she didn't even look up from whatever she was doing and said "is that it? Only ten thousand? That's not going to be enough for you to study there."

Upset, I went to find my boyfriend's room. He congratulated me, but then I looked around his room and he has about 10 boxes of chocolate eclairs his parents had sent him as congratulations for getting an internship. I remember feeling very upset.

Nap that shows commitment

Just woke up from a 1.5 hour nap. Dreamt that the program group went to visit another indigenous group - we went there with the assistance of a man who worked with them, and also happened to have worked in Uganda at some point so he had a stock of Ugandan crafts. At some point I felt a deep desire to steal them.

We played a game that he taught us that only the indigenous women play - it involved a fancy contraption, stick-like with a small claw at each end, and we had to hit balloons with it, tossing them back and forth between us. I have no idea how we were supposed to win.

One girl in the group was very happy to explain how the game worked because I had completely blanked out while they explained it and did not know how to play.

Fire on high

I'm at Duke University, and unlike in reality, it is located in a valley between heavily wooded hills. In the distance, I see a small fire up on a hill while I am talking to a friend, and I point it out, saying - I wonder what's burning up there? That doesn't look good - but I don't make much of it. A few hours later, after having gone inside, I notice that the fire has gotten much bigger and is spreading at the top of the hill. I go to bed, worried, but hoping that it will be taken care of. I wake up early in the morning to find that there is a thick layer of fog outside - except its not fog, its smoke, and I quickly realize the fire has not been controlled and the smoke is a sign that the fire is dangerously out of control and getting close to the university. In panic, I go out into the common room of a dorm hall that does not exist in reality, and I see a few people trying to get out with a couple of bags trying to reach a bus. However, I realize the bus takes a route that goes closer to the fire than I am willing to go, and I am wondering what to do until a staff member grabs my attention and leads me to a fire retardant building in which some people are staying until the fire is put under control. This entire time I try to call my mother, but cell phone lines are jammed or I keep losing connection, and the internet keeps going on and off.