The First

Well.

I had thought I would be long since asleep by now because it has been a thick week. Up until three every night studying, classes all day. The end of the semester is on its way and with it the usual nonsense. A thick week and a busy couple of weeks. 

Last Friday I had my first rescue mission for an uber skinny kitten I found over at Riverside during DREAM. We snuck her into the dorms for a night and she lived in Maya's bathroom for the night so I could take her to the shelter the next morning. 

Here she is!

She was quite the celebrity in L/L.

Last weekend was also my last UVM Outing Club trip. I led with Cynthia and Alison for my second Sunday in a row climbing at Dunmore. I deemed it too cold to sacrifice my socks for climbing shoes so I climbed in my hiking boots. They weren't super tough routes but it definitely made it more interesting. I'm really grateful for all of the opportunities and training the OC has given me, and it was nostalgic being back at Lake Dunmore where I had made so many of my personal firsts in climbing. 

Tonight I finished reading Annapurna: A Women's Place by Arlene Blum and it was fantastic. Inspiring, heart breaking, the whole nine yards (or 8,000 meters, but who's counting?) It's really got me thinking about doing some bigger and badder trips in the future. I keep looking at NOLS and IMCS trips and googling the Pacific Crest. It would be pretty cool to do some of the classic American trails. Most people think of the AT but the Crest and the Continental Divide are calling me more. I think in the next couple years I would like to squeeze in time for the Long Trail and the Adirondack 46. The west coast is developing appeal that it never had for me before, and I keep daydreaming about Nepal. 

BUT Nepal will have to wait because Tanzania is first in line! I've decided on the program I'm hoping to do this Fall and I'm going to apply this weekend. Today I told Ashley that I would sent her postcards and pictures from Africa and that seemed to distract her from the fact that I won't be her when DREAM starts up again next fall. She's so great. I'm so proud of and impressed with her, she's come such a long way and she's got such craziness at home. I'm meeting with my study abroad advisor on Tuesday to work on Switzerland for the Spring, and I guess I'll eventually have to file for leave of absence?

So much to do. Om Mani Padme Hum.