I’m also looking for an apartment in Palo Alto, California right now. I can’t believe summer will be here in just six weeks! I’ve started making tentative plans with the other UChicago Bay Area kids so hopefully I’ll have stuff to do, and I want to spend a decent chunk of time in San Francisco since I’ve never been there before. Also, at the end of my gig, I’ll be going to Lake Tahoe in late July for the Wheel reunion. We’re renting a huge lake house so that should be a blast.

Afterwards, it’s to Texas for a week or so, and on the way back I’ll drive up my car so that I can embark on the Ultimate Midwest Roadtrip that I’m planning with a friend from school. Two weeks, close to 4,000 miles of road to cover. The main points of interest are camping out in Yellowstone for a few nights and seeing Mt. Rushmore. But we also want to go horseback riding, do the whole B&B thing, see Amish country, visit ghost towns, go fishing or ziplining, hiking, etc. I’m excited. We’ll be traversing Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. I’ve never been to any of those states, so it should be an adventure.

That’ll bring me to late August, and school doesn’t start until late September. I’m definitely going to visit my sister and Dan in Houston at some point, and depending on the money situation I’m thinking a trip to New York or Boston (or both) is in order.

So, yeah. Lots of traveling ahead. Last quarter was fun with musical and Vis Moot activities, but I’m a little exhausted with it all, so I’m just going to focus on knocking out these last few weeks, and then it’ll be all travel, travel, travel.

EDIT: I wrote this post last week, remembered that I had thought I’d left something out, and I realized I didn’t even mention that I’m going to China in September! So, yeah. I’ve never been to China, so yay for new experiences.

Mostly, it was heartwarming to see everyone doing well and happy with their lives and choices in careers (or at least putting on a convincing show). It’s weird to think of us all back in high school playing Tetrinet in class, doing problem sets, coming up with skits, doing artsy projects, talking about prom dates and all sorts of silly things. Now, a significant portion of our little IB class is married and some have kids. And, of the thirteen that got together over break, three were in law school, three were in medical school (or soon to be), and three had masters degrees. Others had very serious-sounding jobs, haha.

It’s comforting to see that through the stress, moving, debating over jobs, majors, colleges, and a bunch of other dilemmas, everyone seems to have gotten through it all and come out on top and are able to be supportive of each other and happy for each others’ various accomplishments.

So, yeah, break was nice. Happy holidays!

Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick post before tomorrow since I don’t know how busy I’ll be from then on because I’m going to New York tomorrow! Basically, after leaving Los Angeles, I flew back to Texas with my family. A couple days later my sister swung by and I went with her and her friends, Sean and Ivan, to Houston. We all stayed with her and her roommate in their apartment. We all slept in her room, but Sean got the bed because no one wanted to sleep with him. Ha ha.

The day before they left we went downtown to a club at night and accidentally parked in some office building because their gate stayed open too long and we thought it was paid parking. It was a fiasco. The club was interesting — it was all Asians and they had a live band playing, like, 80′s and 90′s music, but then all the Asians looked confused and were just standing around with these “Where’s the techno?” looks on their faces.

Iris and I watched Borat, which has been long overdue, especially because my Communication Law professor this semester, Joe Beck, actually represents Borat. It was funny. We made smoothies from scratch and lemon muffins from a Williams Sonoma mix. Delish. If you like smoothies, here’s a tried and true smoothie recipe I’ve used tons of times that has never let me down:

Ingredients

• One and a half (1 1/2) cups, or eight ounces, of blueberries
• One (1) cup of orange juice
• Half (1/2) cup of plain, low-fat yogurt
• Half (1/2) cup of ice

Instructions

Put in blender. Mix. Drink. (It’s a little thick, so, add more water or OJ as needed.)

I’m somewhat apprehensive about New York just because I feel so all over the place and unsettled right now. Hopefully the three days before the internship starts will be enough time to get my mind focused (and perhaps to pick up a new pair of shoes? Maybe?) so I can concentrate. Wish me luck!

The timing isn’t the greatest – everyone’s finally back from college and getting together. We went to Olive Garden tonight and then bowling (I had to leave early). During this time, I discovered the following:

1. Hemal’s family moved to Virgina – What the hell? When did this happen?
2. Thomas has been in Argentina for a semester. How did I not know this?
3. Nate, our wonderful Chindian, has been in Beijing and is going back to finish off this academic year. Seriously!?

Clearly, I missed a lot by being AWOL in Atlanta over the summer. Boo. At any rate, it was good to see Bo and Khang (dude, where have you been the past three years?) again. Kasey and Cathy both look great. :D Bo claims that his university’s mascot is the color green. I am appalled to discover that this is at least partially true (Dartmouth’s unofficial mascot, says Google).

Oh, and I saved the best part of this post for last. When my sister and I went to Walmart, we ran into my friend’s mom. Apparently, Kassi’s having her second child. Rosie is adorable so I’m sure this one will be a blessing, too. Fun!