San Francisco, do you understand?

You do! You totally understand!! (that reference is just for you, Jessie)

Point is, I just got home from a wonderful transition weekend in San Francisco. I have a bunch of distant family there, and a few friends, and I was already out west, so what better excuse for a trip up there?


I spent the last half a year in a town in the middle of nowhere Arizona and in rural West Virginia, so I really appreciated being in a big and bustling city. I'm sure I would absolutely love spending time in the parks around the bay area, but the city was what I needed right then. Mostly because one of my biggest hobbies is figuring out public transportation in new places I visit.

My experience with Muni was smooth and super fun!

I spent most of my time wandering around to different neighborhoods and being a huge tourist. I met up with a friend and went to Golden Gate Park for the day, and then at the end we caught the last light of a gorgeous sunset on the ocean. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the water until that moment.

A beautiful walk through the park

On my last night, Will (whose apartment I was staying at) took us up to Twin Peaks for the best view of San Francisco. We stood on this bluff and could see the fog rolling in (and feel it), and we could point to all of the neighborhoods we'd visited during my stay. 

The camera doesn't do it justice-- the view was spectacular.

I can see myself living in San Francisco someday... that city has it all.

So long, it's been good to know ya

I've got to be drifting along.

Those lyrics have been in my head in my last few days at Prescott, maybe so I could make leaving less of a big deal. But that didn't really work, because leaving still mattered. Even now, sitting at home in DC, I still have not completely realized that I'm not going back to Arizona after winter break. All my stuff is gone, shipped in many, many boxes. Seeing my room that empty was very strange, because I had managed to collect and paste my walls with excessive amounts of shit over my few months.

I did have a wonderful last few days though, thanks to my housemates and close friends. We went out to a late Chinese lunch on our last day together (sandwiched by breakfast and dinner out...), had a fancy sushi party, and dressed up as elves, and made this video:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/zm0Rlq7w2VfQJkGK2346

Hopefully I'll be back to visit, but until that time comes I'll be missing these people like crazy!

What an incredible semester.

took me long enough...

but I finally went ROCK CLIMBING! Given that everyone at Prescott only talks about rock climbing and uses terminology that causes my mind to wander and me to look vacantly at walls, I spent practically the whole semester without ever going. I'll just blame it on not having equipment. 

But then last week, the Women's Rock class had a free-for-all day and so I joined them on a jaunt to Boulderlands at Granite Mountain. I was absolutely terrified because I was the only one who had never gone before and I thought that I was going to make a huge fool out of myself. Luckily all the girls were super encouraging and taught me everything I needed to climb my first face! And I only climbed that one... my legs were too shaky after it. But I will climb more! I think I've caught the bug... what a rush!

Snow days

Funny thing about Arizona is that you get a 2 hour delay with a dusting of snow. I'm not complaining, but sheeesh that sure is different from Maine. Rumor has it that we sold all of our snow plows to Flagstaff, so that could explain Prescott's lack of preparedness when it comes to winter storms.

Butte Creek that runs behind my house and through campus

Anyway, we got dumped on a bunch this weekend (for Arizona), and so I spent a few quality hours in the snow. Cuz if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Referring to how I do not want it to be snowing while I am supposed to be spending a semester in the sunny desert!! 

On Saturday there was a huge snowball fight on campus. My friends and I heard about it and crept out and made bunches of snowballs and snuck around buildings trying to ambush people. Then we found out that it was actually an organized game of snowball capture the flag. Awkward. Eventually it did morph into a snowball fight... it was hard to avoid. 

I also went for a nice walk with dearest housemates Noah and Yonah, snow dog!

Good days in the snow, but my fingers are crossed that it will all melt and be perfectly sunny for my last week here.

two weeks of the semester left...

So I'm going to blog about things that I'll miss about life in Prescott.


1. Drying my laundry outside after Thanksgiving because it was 70 degrees and I could do that

2. Ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) 

At the Grand Canyon

3. Taking trips for class. I get to do this at COA too, but not this coming winter. 

Here is the dinner crew on our overnight to the Grand Canyon in September

4. My housemates and all the wonderful people I've met here. 

After finishing a hike at fossil creek.

5. The big sky and gorgeous desert landscapes. 

Agua Fria National Monument

That's enough for now-- I could go on for a while. I cannot believe that the semester is almost over. It feels like just a couple weeks ago when I was filled with apprehension about coming to this new place. Now it's home for me. It will be a tough next two weeks. I have to finish up my semester work, figure out packing up my ridiculous amount of stuff that I've accumulated, explore as much as possible, spend time with my friends, eat more Mexican food, and soak up LOTS of sunshine before I'm back in dark ol' Maine.