mind the gap

I have tried to find something to say about the last week and a half, but my heart has been exploding with all sorts of emotions that cannot be easily contained to a single post.

For example, just a few days after finishing exams, we joined family in backpacking the Tahoe Rim Trail.



This is when I remembered that forests are my second home. For three days straight I reminisced about roughing it as a child in the woods, making friends with trees, biking with the neighborhood kids to the lake and jumping off docks because no one else was around. Sometimes it just feels so good to get out of the city and sleep on the ground, next to the earth, while listening to the sounds of nature. Amazing!



Next, we were off to Boston for a few brief moments, and I never thought I'd say this, but that city pulled at my heartstrings like whoa. I would've never thought I'd miss those damn brownstones and the New England hills... and when our friend drove us down the Pike, all I wanted to do is keep going and end up in Connecticut. I wanted a piece of New Haven! I guess I mostly missed the life I had there, adult but carefree, and my friends, with whom I had many an awesome night. I wonder if I'll feel this way about San Francisco, too, when/if I leave. Probably. Needless to say, we promptly had ourselves a bowl of New England Clam Chowder and some Sam Adams Summer Ale. Yum!

Which brings me to the days we've spent in London (which, by the way, IS gray and gloomy and has romantic potential). This city is some odd combination of other cities I love: St. Petersburg, Boston, New York... Neighborhoods change their aesthetics from white Parisian monstrosities to dark germanic brick houses, from modern glass business buildings to Gothic abbeys. I think I still have a mixed impression from this new experience, but all in all, it's still a good time and more to come. Phew!