One more thing. I was journaling about the chaos that has encompassed my year thus far--all of it, the good and the bad-- and I think it's only right to write about how great it's been to have the apartment.

It's allowed me to get to know my new roommate Maria better. I'm really thankful for her and the way we've gotten so close so fast. I'm still not over the "Woo! I live with Maria" phase of moving in and it's been absolutely wonderful. Plus--and this is when you know you have a good roommate--we shop the same way at the grocery store. True roommie love? Yes.

I'm bad at blogging. I forget to do it. A lot.

Recently I've been really into music which itunes classifies as "easy listening". I find it incredibly soothing and open.

Here's a playlist I've made for myself.

Release- Helen Jane Long

(my favorite right now)

Your Hand In Mine- Explosions in the Sky

Requiem For A Tower- Escala

Sex On The Docks- David Byrne

3055- Olafur Arnalds

(minute 2 particularly but the whole thing is beautiful)

Glimpse- The Durutti Column

Hoppipolla- The Vitamin String Quartet

Leaving Paris- Craig Armstrong

Lux Aeterna- Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet

The Winner Is- Danna/Devotchka

Thursday- Takenobu

It finally rained today and broke the heat for a little while.

It felt so good that my friend and I went outside just to be in it and enjoy the way the wind felt for a while.

What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive

-Barbara Kingsolver

I've been thinking about this upcoming year a lot--what I want to get out of it and what I want to pour into it--and I keep coming up blank. I can't decide if it's because I don't feel very settled with myself right now or because I genuinely just have no clue what to expect. Barbara helped me out a little and I think for a while I'm going to just breathe and not try to figure things out. Instead I'm really trying to be satisfied with just the fact that I'm in such an interesting part of my life and with the opportunity to enjoy it.

I get to see my girlfriends tomorrow!

I've missed them since leaving for Africa but hopefully we'll all get to hang out and catch up. I love it! There's something really good about sitting down with people you've known forever and who really know you well and just being that really makes me happy.

Movie with Amy tonight!

Already a good start to the weekend.

Restless.

I keep waking up at 7:15. If I had something to do at 7:15 or even at 8, I would be okay with that. But I don't have anything most days until at least 9:30 (usually cycle class which I don't need to get ready for) and would rather sleep.

Maybe this will make all my 8 a.m. classes more bearable?

I think I'm overdo on a post and a lot has happened since I last updated.

To start, I made it home from Africa a few days ago. My time in Kenya was fantastic and I'm already trying to think of how and when I'm going to make it back there. I think if I could describe the people I met there in one word it would be colorful: they had an overwhelming sense of joy and contentment, they were beautiful, they were welcoming. I wish I could process my time there in a more coherent way but I think I'm still working through it myself. I learned a lot; it was surprising to me to see how much reflection the trip inspired and there are some definite ideas I need to apply to my life that I learned there. Should be challenging but rewarding too.

We became such good friends this trip. I'm really pumped to see Jenni again when school starts!

This is Habram (one of my favorite Pokot boys) with some of the other kids in him village.

Us again.

This is Grace. She was one of the women in the slums who was kind enough to let us into her home. See what I mean about the beautiful thing??

My camera died in Pokot so I'm relying on fb for a lot of pictures but these were some of the ones I took.

In other news, I'm giddy with the idea of getting to live with Selena and Maria. For one, I missed them while I was in Kenya and the whole not being able to talk to them thing was weird. Not to mention that I just love them both and am ready for us to all be there and have a house!

There's actually a dwindling amount of time before I do move back to school. I have so many people to catch up with.