I just returned from a long weekend in Lyme, New Hampshire, visiting my sister. She is 22, currently living in a house with five other people, most of whom are med students at Dartmouth, which about 20 minutes away in Hanover. I had a wonderful weekend, but it is almost laughable how opposite our lives are at the moment. We’re like the city mouse and the country mouse (yeah, we’re both shrimps. I think she towers over me at about 5’3″).

I live alone in a studio apartment with a kitchen the size of a closet. She lives with five people in a bright, airy house with a huge kitchen, and has a closet the size of my kitchen. I shop for one, cook for one, or more often, eat out. She and her roommates shop at Price Club, buy enormous amounts of food, and cook and eat meals family style — we had lasagna, waffles, and tacos while I was there (no low-carb diets in Lyme, NH). Katie plans her days around her outdoor activities. I try to squeeze in the gym when I can (at least in the winter — it’s different in the summer, I swear). I am addicted to my high-speed internet, cherish my cable TV, and use my cell phone incessantly. At her house, they have dial-up internet service, a TV, but no reception (it’s only for movies), and no cell phone reception whatsoever. And then, there’s Jack, her boyfriend’s chocolate lab, who is being trained to be a hunting dog. Sadly, I have no dog, let alone one who I’d take hunting. As my dad likes to say, when he is asked if he’s going to take his German Shorthaired Pointer, Lucy, out hunting — “Jews don’t hunt.” (or at least he thinks that. I don’t think he’s ever said it out loud).

Anyway . . . on Saturday we went cross-country skiing, something I hadn’t done since I was about fourteen. Despite that small obstacle, I managed to ski a 15-kilometer loop and not fall asleep during the party they had back at the house that night. The party was nothing like parties I go to in New York. First of all, everyone was a decade younger, trying to relive their college days by playing beer pong, and flip-cup. Second of all, there was a bonfire outside. Don’t see that much in Manhattan.

All in all, I had a fantastic, relaxing weekend, and I fell in love with Jack. And the dishwasher. And having people cook for me all weekend. Sigh. Thanks to the gang back in Lyme — you can see pictures here.

JACK!