Hello all!
I'm back up in Alaska, relaxing at my friend Kendra's house with her wonderful family for one final day before work begins. It's day three and I've already seen a moose in mid-town Anchorage, belugas fishing alongside Turnagain Arm, and Elvis strutting his stuff downtown last night. I had a wonderful week visiting friends at Willamette and tying up loose ends there: all of my boxes (and skis) have been sorted through, I said my goodbyes and even got a wave and smile from President Pelton himself. I figure that's as good a sign as any to move on to the next chapter.
Although my goodbye to Willamette was awfully bittersweet when it came right down to it, my spirits rose immensely once I arrived at my gate for my flight. I noticed the crowd around me was quite different from the left-coasters I'd been seeing all week. Here I found many of my fellow travelers to be wearing Xtra-tuffs, Carhartts, cammo backpacks and the like. Aah, Alaska. I couldn't help but grin. I half-expected to see a moose rack in the overhead bin.
As I look forward to this upcoming season and start to consider once again my options for the fall, one thing that has really stuck with me from my recent travels is the value of close friends. I really enjoyed being around my family all fall, and getting to hang out with college friends after nearly a year's absence felt so nice after being in unfamiliar territory for two months. I find myself craving the familiar much more than I expected: the travel bug apparently has petered out for now, at least. I've been looking a bit at schools in Maine where I could do something a little more science-y, perhaps marine biology, as well as still considering the baking and pastry program in Vermont. But most of all I hope I end up not too far from my family and at least a couple of good friends. We'll see where that takes me.
