well then!

Here I am, sitting in my little apartment, drinking a cheap-but-decent beer, reading a very good book that just happens to be coursework, listening to the traffic on the wet road outside, glancing occasionally at my engagement ring, being distracted by thoughts of the immense amount of work that has to happen in the next 200 odd days before graduation, and fiddling with my bookmark - a tiny British flag from a restaurant toothpick.

If my summer adventures taught me anything, it is that the culture here at school is something to be treasured. The air of trust, respect, and genuine inquiry that pervades most of what we do here is so very special, and difficult to replicate "on the outside." I hope that I will be able to look back on this coming year as a fitting capstone to an absolutely wonderful college experience, and as preparation for the life I have yet to live. So, I will work, and work, and work, and remember to have a good time with the many excellent people that I am so grateful to be surrounded by.

Now, I am going to stop writing before I get too sappy. Suffice it to say that I am wonderfully happy and scared to be beginning my senior year, and that I am glad I don't have to do this by myself! (tho I wish the people across the hall were less *here*... or at least would shut their front door).