- taking a break from the world amidst the late january cold and going running in bright floridian sunshine along the jungle trail with marit. dipping my feet in the indian river. coming home with a tan and the taste of tangelo ice cream still lingering in my memory.
- the first lunch in rome- with georgie, wandering off along side streets and settling down at an outdoor table ordering pasta and pizza. how lucky we are to be here, at this junction of longitude and latitude and checkered tablecloths. we are tipsy off of independence and sunshine and vino rosso della casa. we buy fake ray-ban wayfarers for 3 euros and it's the funniest thing in the world. the tinted lenses of my sunglasses make the world look rose-coloured, or is it already?
- sharing a sacrilegious but delicious pasta dinner with my family over passover in florence. getting to see teddy for the first time all semester. laughter and home-cooked food in a rented apartment.
- lying on my back on a rickety dock at deep creek lake at night with some of my best friends. heads together, bodies pointing outwards in a mandala of limbs. trying for meditation and silent coexistence and ending up in laughing fits. moonlight on tree branches hanging over the glassy water. talking about what we're grateful for, talking about favourite memories. pointing out constellations.
- that first weekend exploring córdoba, enjoying the cosiness, but also the sense of wonder and possibility, of finally feeling settled in a new place. we are on top of the world, doing everything and seeing everything and life feels like it's just beginning to unfold. overpriced agua con gas at a café next to the feria. unseasonably warm weather. late nights with new friends. biting into a chocolate-covered alfajor. so much newness and everything glitters.
- being reunited over thanksgiving with my ~ride or die~ crew of best best best amigas and getting to hear all about everyone's lives this year. we're far-flung but it makes me unbelievably happy to know that everybody is finding their niche and living the life that suits them.
2013 has been up and down but mostly wonderful. i've spent lovely times with old friends.
and new friends.
and family.
i've seen some incredible places.
and i've done work that i'm proud of, from long days of human rights fieldwork in a foreign country to 30-hour weeks of retail at home.
and now the work has paid off and it's time for the next big adventure. this time tomorrow, i'll be on my way to israel, where i'll be living for the next 8 weeks- spending the first 10 days on a birthright trip, spending a month volunteering on an organic farm, and then backpacking around.
to quote neil gaiman,
I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.
it's been real, 2013.
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