snap back to reality

Married! Yay!
(Check out a sneak peak of our photos by the incredible Black & Hue on facebook, and some hilarious shots from our "photobooth" on AndrewsPhotoGallery)

If you can't access either of those, our faves are probably the following:

Then we headed to Charleston/Sullivan's Island for an amazing honeymoon, full of food, laughter, and relaxation. We took about 3 photos total, so...apologies that you can't re-live it with us.

And now back to school for me (!). 1 year down, 3 to go. We're in an intensive clinical skills course for the next 3 weeks, then it's to the wards! I saw this quotation today, from Gawande's Complications, and thought it was an appropriate thought to leave you with:

Cheers to new years!
M

birthdays!

Today marks Zack's (and Micah's!) entrance into this world, oh-so-many years ago. Woot! 

But since I'm far away [and only put a bday card in the mail yesterday...woops...], I gathered up a few friends after Formal Dinner to send Zack a fun bday message. We had a good time with it.

Here's what resulted:

Mel is my favorite.

And this last one would have been fun, had our photographer not caught me putting away my cardigan. We can just admire(?) my calf:

So happy birthday, Zack! We love and miss you in Oxford!
-M

A modest proposal

It is upon my return to Oxford, after seeing Z off to the airport, that I finally have access to a computer and time to write this update. Unfortunately, his departure means we won't see each other again until July, but he's off to amazing adventures through Appalachia, and there remains much work for me to accomplish before my own exit from Ox, so it's probably for the best. Besides this, I can't complain too much because his visit was a pretty great one for several reasons, not least of which being....

WE'RE ENGAGED!

(to be married, more specifically.)

I'll spare you the satire and get on with the story:

After a few days together in Oxford, Z and I did some train-hopping that brought us to a few towns/villages in the Cotswolds, west of Oxford. [I'll post some pictures+stories of the actual trip later; we've got more important details to cover.] On our third day of trekking, we found ourselves in Bath (minds out of the gutter, folks) and with our thin wallets preventing us from paying for fancy tours or special exhibits, we needed to kill some time...

Thus we ended up in Henrietta Gardens—a lovely place, even in the cold—and proceeded to take silly pictures as we wandered through the park. The whole trip, we'd been using my camera's self-timer to snap pictures of the two of us together, and sneaky little Zachary used this fact to trick me good: In one corner of the park, he set up the camera to take a bunch of consecutive shots for what I thought was going to be a goofy little way to pass the time. He got me.

....without further ado, here's the frame-by-frame:

[And I promise, folks, it's authentic. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have acted this out if I tried.]

...you have four eyes.

Yep, I'm still alive. Sorry for the absence. It's been a fast-paced couple of weeks, with a few first-in-my-lifes sprinkled in.

Every once in a while, I have to utter David's sentiment, just to keep everything in perspective [the cute, "is this real life?" part, not the rage-filled-outburst part, don't worry]. Turns out this is real life, and turns out, life is pretty...interesting.

Last Friday marked the birth of Scotland's Robert Burns, a famous poet and honoured figure. Each year there is a Burns Night Dinner to celebrate his life and works, and I was able to attend my college's installment of this occasion. The meal has an interesting agenda, part of which includes the main dish being paraded around the room with a bagpipe escort. We happened to have a Fellow (basically, an esteemed professor...I think??) who delivered absolutely fabulous renditions of Burns' poems throughout the evening, including the all-important Address, as well as in incredibly entertaining delivery of Tam O'Shanter. What's neat about these poems is their phonetic verse--it adds a true Scottish flavor, as well as rendering them completely incomprehensible to someone like me, unfamiliar with the accent. No bother. 'Twas entertaining nonetheless. Hard not to be when there's a man, in a kilt, standing on a chair,  yammering off unintelligible balladry:

back to "reality" (MM #28)

First of all, remember Mindful Mondays? Wowza. Flash from the past. 

Just wanted to post a rather quick update, although it's probably not news to anyone reading this. I have made my way into Oxford life yet again-- classes started today, so I officially have to get back to work. Don't get me wrong, winter holiday was absolutely wonderful—filled with family, friends, and celebrations—but now it's back to my current reality (which often does not, in fact, feel very real at all).

Example: apparently this is a thing that happens in my life now--

uhhh-pdates

eghhh...I'm getting really bad at this. Here's a life update. Kind of. Forgive me.

1. This Halloween, there were no (or at least minimal numbers of) costumes, there was no trick-or-treating, no sugar overload. Instead, there was a Formal Dinner at my Oxford college, which I attended and ate a delicious meal with my brother at my side and 'new' friends all around me. No complaints here.

last week.

As you might expect (or at least, as you might have figured out from my lack of posts), this past week has been a busy one. I think a quick recap is in order, yeah?

In the past seven days, I have:

• met tons of cool/fun/smart/amazing people
• bought a bicycle
• visited a pub (or six...)
• bought all the necessary rain gear
• pole vaulted
• submitted my first of sixteen 9-page papers
• met my college advisor, my research supervisor, and all my professors
• went to my first college "bop"
• successfully toured around town with my first visitors
• and matriculated into the University (more on that in a later post)

It's been a whirlwind, and I'm already a bit behind on this week's paper due to all the wonderful time spent doing all the other things on that list above, but I'm not complaining.

So...Oxford?

I know it's been a while. 

Turns out that getting ready to leave my country for a year has filled my time with things besides blogging. I do apologize. (Kind of.)

In a few short days (THREE! AHH!), I'll get on a plane to London, where I'll hang with my brother for a few days before heading up to Oxford. I have no idea what my London plans are, so keep an eye out for updates from there next week. As for Oxford, here's the [very] general outline:

thoughts from a plane (MM#27)

about a week ago I flew from TLH to DC and jotted down some thoughts to pass the time.  

i type them here, on this mindful monday, to productively reflect and rebuild...

When I return to Tallahassee in a few short days, I will be one. month. away. from my departure to the UK. Ahhh!

In recent weeks/months, it's seemed that not a day passes that I don't have to relay to someone my future plans and aspirations. And while the prospects are exciting, I admit I've sensed an internal twinge of uncertainty/anxiety/fear for what I'm getting myself into...

Life lately (MM#25)

The natural way for me to start this post is with a big fat SORRY for being so distant lately...

...but maybe instead I'll offer a YOU'RE WELCOME for coming back :)

Either way, I'm glad to be able to share some of what my life's been like these past few weeks. [Maybe you're interested, maybe you're not.] Here's a wee taste of what's been going down:

a. Got a job! I've been working at a local health and fitness center for the past month, and it's been great to get to know the staff and so many members of the community [all while working off this extra Italy weight!]. I don't have a picture of me working, nor of me working out, so instead, here's a picture of me from a zillion years ago as motivation to get back into shape...

life has been a __?__

This is what my life has been like since returning from Italy:

I want to call it a whirlwind, but one of the teddybear-esque tumbleweed variety pictured above; nothing altogether damaging. The long flight back was shortly followed by:

• two weddings, 
• a few days of various graduation activities, 
• Mothers' Day, 
• several furniture relocation extravaganzas, 
• and bunches of job applications + interviews. 

Currently, I'm assisting with the recovery of Harper Surgery #2 of 2 (the first go-round was with my brother a few weeks ago), so the fun continues.

Whew.

Tomorrow is Monday, so hopefully I'll be able to get a real post in. Until then, here's more tumbleweeds (kind of)...

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday :)

-M

She'll be comin' round the mountain(s) when she comes...

Have you ever found yourself in a place, at the beginning of an adventure, where–as thrilling as the excursion ought to be–you just aren't excited about it, on account of not being sure if it will actually come to fruition? [Have you ever found yourself in a place, at the beginning of a blog post, where the first sentence made no sense? Hehe…]

Anyway, what I mean to say is, there was so much doubt in my actually arriving in Freiburg to visit some friends that it was difficult to make myself excited for the trip.
>>First, there were problems finalizing the dates of the trip.
>>Then, there were issues with the tickets-- first the prices were raised, then I found out that they might not arrive (by mail) in time for the actual trip [that would be convenient, huh?], then when something DID arrive in the mail, I was unsure of how to present it at the station.
>>To top it off, the super long line at the train station leading up to my finding ^that answer made me worry of missing the train altogether.

Nonetheless, after a late night in the Venice/Vicenza area, and I hopped on a train with one old friend and three new ones. Our temporary destination: Milano. From there, I did catch a train to Germany, and the four recent UF grads headed to Paris. Someway, somehow, I managed to catch not just any train to Germany, but the right one, and I made the right connection, and finally made my way to the right Freiburg (apparently there are two). And I could not be happier that I did…

Melegnano

It's amazing how the time has flown by.
Hard to believe I've been in Italy for about 3 weeks now, isn't it?

Last week, I finally got a chance to explore Melegnano, the little town in which I'm living my suitcase is located. Admittedly, I have gone up and down a few select streets several times (to catch the train to Milan), and did a good circuit around town during the Fiera del Perdono, but this was the first time that I really walked around without purpose.


Unfortunately, while we were walking, I kind of just felt like walking, so I don't have a whole lot of pictures to share. Just imagine a quaint little Italian town and you're probably on the right track.

local flair

One thing about this trip that I like–and didn't altogether foresee–is that I've been able to see these places through the eyes of locals, staying on the outskirts of town, experiencing day-to-day life.

Yes, I still whip out my camera and have the characteristic tourist stare whilst in the shadows of historic buildings, but let's just pretend for a second that I don't.

For the past 10 days, I've been passing the time with my 2nd-cousin, who has been kind enough to let her foreign, seemingly mute relative tag along with her and her friends. We frequent a little nearby town of Corsico, and...

Milano, and I don't mean the cookies:

A week or two into my stay in Milan, I finally made my way to the historic district. This is the Milan of the postcards, where every building around you is beautiful, old, and impressive (much like Madrid).

Silvia and I started our adventure at the only reasonable place: Il Duomo.

Duomo, Italian for cathedral, is the simple name given to some towns' main (read: biggest) church (Florence's also goes by this same epithet, whereas Venice's gets "Basilica San Marco" and Rome's gets "St. Peter's Basilica"). Milano's Duomo is indeed grand, it was incredible to actually see it's facade this time around (when I was here with family in 2004, the entire front was covered in scaffolding).

(Now there's just the bit of repair work being done up top)

Buon Compleanno!

Hehe, woops. I've been at my cousins' (as opposed to my aunt's) house [i.e. w/out camera cord] for so long that I forgot that I still haven't shared what I did for my birthday... Wait no longer.

I'm not one to throw a big fuss about anything, so I just wanted to pass the day in relaxation. My cousin and I went to a nearby town to watch an Inter match with some pals, then we came back for dinner with the fam.

My cousin made me a super creative fruit basket [the artistic ability present in most of my family members seems to have skipped over me], and if you know me, you know I love fruit.

She also made me her homemade pizza...

upcoming adventures

Hopefully my revealing this updated itinerary for the world to see isn't one of those things they warn you not to do...Oh well! I don't exactly have an address for anyone to rob while I'm gone, 

so here goes nothin:

The adventures continue for me as I pass my days in Europe. I sat down today and figured out the general plan for the next several weeks. I'm hoping that my listing it here will guarantee everything going as planned, rather than jixing it. Again, here goes nothin.

whadduppp, italia?!

AlpsInTheClouds on my way from Madrid to Milan

Okay, I think we can finally move on to my "new" country: Italy.  How's that sound?

It very possibly could have been my steady schedule of stay-up-late-wake-up-early that did me in, but nonetheless, when I arrived in Italy it didn't take me long to get overwhelmed. [read: I may or may not have had a mini meltdown (in private, of course)].

MM (#20?)

Woooooo Hooooo!

This week, I'm switching out "Mindful Monday" for "MILAN+MADRID"! I fly out in a little over 12 hours, so I think it's safe to say that this trip is pretttty much all that's on my mind. Oh, and the fact that I forgot to bu a pocket Spanish dictionary...arghh. [Remember when I was so determined to use this semester as a time to learn about simplicity and spontaneity?? Yeah...I don't recommend you take that path when it comes to taking a 6-week trip to Europe. Sometimes planning things out is smart. Woops!]

For those of you that don't already know, I'm heading to Europe tomorrow because...

sette settimane* (± some days)

{{*for the linguistically challenged, here ya go.}}

From the end of January until today, I've called Gainesville my home away form home. I leave today in order to prep for a big trip. Stay tuned and you'll be bombarded with details of that, I guarantee.

Because I should be packing my things up instead of playing on the Internet, I'll just leave some pictures here from a silly seven weeks. They are neither chronological nor comprehensive of my experience here in Gainesvegas. I hope you enjoy the little phone snapshots, nonetheless...