So last night I was thinking

about all of my friends that are getting married/starting families. I was also thinking about how I don't feel like I am ready to get married yet, or have babies, or any of that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it isn't that I am not ready or not capable of doing these things and doing them well, it's just that I feel like I have so much more living to do before I reach that point.

I want to travel, see the world, and photograph it some more. I want to meet people that challenge me, shape me, break me, and help get me put back together. I want to read until my eyeballs shrivel up and fall out of my head, only for me to dust them off and put them back in again so I can read some more. I want to learn so much it makes my head spin. I want to get so completely lost I think I'll never find my way and then blaze a trail to where I need to be. I want to feel alive, vibrant and, more than anything else, happy.

I wish the best for my friends starting new lives with significant others, and I can't wait 'til I get there, but right now I'm in no hurry.

One year ago today

I was typing this and this about my trip to Germany. I can't believe that it was a year ago already! Now when I look back at that psychotic trip to Germany with Joanie, Suzanne, and Sarah I can't stop laughing, get nostalgic, and Europe-sick at the same time. Who knew that when I was miserable and sleeping on the floor of the Salzberg train station that a year from then I would look back and smile. I love hindsight.

In other news: I WILL FINISH MY FULBRIGHT APPLICATION TODAY! I WILL! I WILL!

...I am wearing my Universidad de Granada hoodie for inspiration. And if that's not enough inspiration, this might work:

Fotografia

These are mostly pictures from while I was abroad during the fall semester, but just the same, I like putting pictures on there better than Facebook, so I am sharing them with you here.

Without further ado.

La fotographia

Please go check out Hallie's photography skills. They're pretty wicked.

And All Good Things Must End...

I have officially finished both working at DTI and my internship (except for the essay and forms I need to do and send in to Rick Smith at the SCC...)! It's a bittersweet period of my life at the moment. While I absolutely loved working at both places this summer, and will definitely miss the wonderful people I worked with, I am really looking forward to the next chapter of my life that will begin once I leave to go to Granada. It is going to be amazing.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

I have a new blog for the time I will be in Granada, Spain. Check, check it out!

Baby alligators in the sewers grow up fast

I guess I owe Ruthie an apology. For as long as I can remember, she has told me of the magnificence of Radiohead, and while I have listened to my fair share of their songs, I never gave them the benefit of the doubt.

For whatever reason I picked I chose tonight to rectify this, and I have found many things to be new truths to add to my life:

1. Radiohead is amazing, even if I am still unsure of what I think about Thom Yorke's singing voice.
2. Their album Go to Sleep is short, but definitely sweet.
3. I like all of Amnesiac, except for the last song, Like Spinning Plates. However, the live version on I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings I do love very much.
4. I really like The Bends. Like, almost to the point where it is unsafe.
5. I find the music of both Radiohead and Muse to be excellent to listen to whilst writing. Which is what I have been doing. It really gets the brain juices flowing.

So I have come up with a list of bands who I enjoy listening to as I pour my brain onto the page. They are as follows:

1. Radiohead (as previously mentioned)
2. Muse (also, as previously mentioned)
3. Deathcab for Cutie
4. Regina Spektor
5. Sigur Ros
6. Jack Johnson
7. Coldplay
and 8. Anathallo

What a wonderful evening. And again, Radiohead, please accept my apologies.

Not What the Greeks Intended

This morning, when I woke up (with my awesome chest cold, strep throat, and fever) I did what I always go...open Firefox and skim Yahoo News before I head over to read my e-mail. I am usually a little over eager to get to my e-mail so I don't sit and read articles until later, but today one article in particular caught my attention.

After reading this, I was dumbfounded. I realize that China may not agree with the position that Cheek has taken on the Darfur issue, but even during the times of the Ancient Olympic Games, the basis was that "armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games".

Shouldn't this be the standard today?

I know the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, I know. Mr. Piro, my English teacher in High School, was set to participate. This boycott has become a dark part of his life, it seems, because he carries the bitterness with him every day of his life. He continues to run and coach girl's cross-country year after year, and I don't know how he does it.

I just feel as if these boycotts and instances of visa revocation are not quite what the Greeks had intended for their games when they began so many years ago. I think they wanted the games to be a time of peace where nations could come together and compete with sheer athleticism and skill, a time where nations come to flex their political muscles and boast their economic superiority. I realize the US is a far cry from the perfect nation, and many would claim that Americans are a bunch of warmongers, and our nation has a history of grudges against China (think Sen. John McCarthy's Red Scare) but the Olympics are supposed to be above all that.

But I guess that would be in an idyllic world, and not the one we live in. Maybe someday.

Seeee you later!

As my vacation auto-send e-mail message states:

Hey--

I hate to break it to you, but I am on a short hiatus with the study abroad program until June 7th. I will try to get back to you before then, but if I don't have computer access until then, I apologize.

And yes, I will tell the Irish hello for you.

And never fear, I will tell the Irish hello for all of you who actually tune in here for sure.

...it still hasn't really hit me, but I am tired and thus, it is time for sleep. And to enhance the excitement: