Sea change

Now that there's some distance between me and the last few months in Europe, it feels a little like a dream. And when I have a good dream that I don't want to forget, I think of and write down as much of it as possible. I've found myself doing things like looking up recipes for potica and translating familiar but formerly incomprehensible words (though I definitely guessed "sadje in zelenjava" correctly, it wasn't difficult in context). I'm retracing memories of sitting on church steps and riding bikes. Post-trip withdrawal, I guess? If this desire to read travel blogs persists, though, I might have to take it as a symptom of the travel bug...

But I'm happy to be home. 

Cement Ship at Seacliff Beach, Aptos

Home is beautiful and full of lovely people and memories. I've mentioned to several friends over the last few days that I hope to move back to the Bay Area after graduation if possible, ideally San Francisco. It's such a special corner of the world, and I'd easily be able to drop by Santa Cruz to see my parents on any given weekend, something that has become more important to me after being away for so long. Not to mention that most of my friends will probably be around as well, both from high school and college.

Steps, of which there are sometimes too many.

I'm so tired and finally taking the time to loaf around now, after three days of going around town and out of town seeing friends and family from almost the moment I got back. I'm sore from running and carrying huge bags, bruised from train steps and doorknobs, and jet lagged from a nine-hour time difference. I think some sitting in bed while drinking tea and watching movies is in order.

A week and a half, though, and I'll have to hit the ground running again for the fall semester, which promises to be even more adventurous than the last two months. In the meantime, I'll be repacking my bag, attempting to learn some rudimentary Vietnamese and Arabic, and finding every possible way of keeping mosquitos off of my body.

I'm so thankful for everything in my life right now, and that I'm in the position of being able to sit here and write these words about these parts of the past and future.

On that note, I'll end this with a link to the Humans of New York page, because Brandon has been out on a world tour sponsored by the UN and posting some of the most meaningful photos I've ever seen, so far of children playing and teenagers dreaming and people just being people in Iraq, not members of a war-torn country made nameless and faceless by the media. Whether closer or farther away on this earth, we're all just neighbors, aren't we? Thank you for bringing this fact to our attention.

Time soon to meet the neighbors...