In D.C.

Since my last post I've finished a year of college at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. In the past year I've also visited two more of the friends I studied abroad with! First was Danny, last August. My family and I stopped to visit him at college on the way to Emory.



Now, this weekend, I've spent the weekend in D.C. with my friend Dan (yes, different from Danny).

I feel very blessed to have been able to be important to these people I was only able to meet for a short time. It is incredible that we get along as well as we do.

Now I am off to be a camp counselor in New Hampshire for two months. Wish me luck!

In Fresno and In Prom Atire

Well, hello! It's been quite a while since my last post. Yes, I'm still graduating.
I wanted to write a new post to add some updates relating to my France trip last summer. I could honestly ramble on forever, but I'll keep this concise:
I've visited 2 of my friends from my CIEE American exchange group this summer!

In April, I visited my roomie Karina in Fresno, California!! We had more fun than I can even put into words. 

On the way home, I had a 3 hours layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. Victoria drove an hour from her city in North Carolina to meet me at the airport and visit me during the layover. She brought me flowers (2 bouquets, not just one) and a ring.

Then, last weekend she flew into my city to be my date to senior prom!

I promposed in the airport (a few minutes after another couple proposed in the same spot). She said yes.

I think we were the cutest couple at prom.

Can you believe it? I've seen two of my friends!! 2 is so much more than the 0 I expected. Good stuff.

I Still Love Murica

Today I'm having one of those reflective days that I rarely have but enjoy immensely. 

I want to discuss the things that have happened since I last posted here, but there are just so many.

I got a dog. His name is Astro. I adore him.

I went to homecoming with my best friends.

I ran my last cross country meet. Ever.

I even got my senior photos taken.

Looking back on my summer?

When people ask me about my trip, I say "yeah, it happened." If they ask me about the people, I say "yeah, I like them." I rarely elaborate any more to anyone, but that suits me.

As far as I can tell, the most useful thing I've gained from my study abroad is the ability to detach myself from situations. This is something that comes with growing up, I'm assuming. But I feel like I'm playing a video game and I got the cheat code early.

Dear adolescents,

I highly recommend detaching yourself from parts of "teen life". You don't have to emotionally invest yourself in drama, or homework, or sports. You get to chose to detach yourself from whatever parts of your life you want, and that's magical. Hate a class? Watch it like a tv show. See your friends fighting? Absorb it like a book.

Not to say that this always works. But, when you're detached, it's almost impossible to make a wrong move; you're barely there. As condescending as this sounds, it works. So well.

Survival skills, my friends.

And right now?

I can't wait to escape this awful purgatory between high school and college. 

My inner elitist is rooting for me to attend a too tier university, while my inner hippie is rooting for a gap year followed by four years at a mellow university. We'll see what happens.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog, because I've enjoyed writing it.

I'll close with two motos I've adopted recently.

1)"The past without regret, the future without fear, the present with confidence."

2)"Life's a party, behave accordingly."

Thank you, everyone who's supported me. Thank you. Thank you so much. I love you.

In Virginia

Hey, I'm home!

I've been procrastinating the writing of this post because I'm not exactly sure how to do the situation justice.

The flight was 8 hours. 

I landed around 4 pm, at an airport about 4 hours north of my house.

My parents and godmother met me with a sign that read "EAD Welcome home Elizabeth!"

We met then up with my godfather for dinner at Ruby Tuesday, where I ate my body weight in food.

I'm so happy to be here that I can't even put it into words. Here, we have so much food, and a good emphasis on exercise for females (as opposed to just males), and people who you can talk to despite that they're just strangers, and thrift stores bigger than my house, and fast waiters/waitresses, and cute English idioms that I understand, and church, and hugs, and friends that know me, and hot tubs, and cute elderly people, and quality curtains, and teenagers that drive, and air conditioning, and beaches, and comfy blankets, and nice neighbors, and American power outlets, and attached shower heads. I plan to hang a large American flag on my wall. 

I might get a tatto that says "HEY I LOVE AMERICA", but that idea's still tentative.

Being back has been very fun because, not only am I home again, people seem to be excited about the fact that I'm home again. And this is a relatively exciting time of year anyway. 

The first day, I was home I had an enormous pool party. The next day, I went to church and unpacked. Today, my friend took me to get frozen yogurt and then another friend took me to his country club for dinner/tennis/swimming.

I. Love. My. Friends.

I'd almost forgotten that they're like this.

I missed having people around me that think I'm indispensable.

And I live for people who value happiness over self composure. I have a lot of those people here.

But I miss everyone being skinny, and healthy food, and walking everywhere, and beautiful accents, and gorgeous fashions, and impressively groomed men.

Perhaps most of all, I miss the ideal that which college one chooses to go to is not a big deal and that what one does with one's life is one's own business.