root canals?

so, yesterday I had a root canal done. the things they tell you about it are not entirely true. first, the procedure was not terribly painful just a little uncomfortable. it was a little difficult keeping my mouth open the entire time. but i succeeded. it was about ten minutes after i walked out of the dentist's office and was walking towards terrace that the terrible pain hit me. TERRIBLE. i have honestly never experienced such acute pain in my life. i did not know what to do with myself. i drugged myself up for a while and that helped until i got my prescriptions filled. (YES i got some hydrocodine aka Vicodin or however you spell it). i am so thankful that this experience was done before i went to china and that i did not have to have a toothache the entire time. It's kind of embarrassing though because root canals are something you associate with old people or with people with terrible teeth. I do not think that I have terrible teeth (I hope), but I think it was just because one filling I had when I was younger was too close to the nerve and so it was damaging the nerve and causing the tooth to decay. Needless to say I hope I never experience that again. But if I do I will be prepared. Now I have about four bottles of prescription medication to bring with me when I go to China. I really do look like a drug packer.

I can't believe I am leaving for china in two days! Now that I am past the pain I can get a lot more excited about it. I am excited for all of the souveniers that I can bring back (mostly for myself... :) Perhaps a samurai sword... that's my newest request. We learned about chinese music today from the conservatory professor that's going with us and I am pretty excited to go see the Peking Opera!

I have to say that Terrace is QUITE far away from the rest of campus. yesterday I walked all over creation. literally all over creation to get my prescriptions filled and let me tell walgreens and terrace are not exactly close. it was nice that i had to walk because then it got my mind off of the pain but in general these apartments are on the other end of the earth from everything. and they are loud. but they are apartments with a kitchen, which is nice, and a living room. all of these are things that i am quite excited about for next year when we are juniors!!!! first, though, comes a pretty chock-full summer. i am pretty sure that i will be back from china before i can imagine. i still have reading to finish....