J and J's Adventure Day

Today, Julie and Jerry (our two community support people) took us on a hike to the beautiful Sabino Canyon.  We started bright and early just before 8am and hiked so many trails.  We ended the day swimming in a river we found that got substantially deep.  The cool water was indescribably refreshing after the hours of hiking in the heat.  I ALSO SAW MY FIRST RATTLESNAKE! Apparently we all stepped right over it until Abi noticed it.  We were ridiculously lucky none of us stepped on it...

I unfortunately did not take many pictures today, but I wanted to share some that my roommate Abi took:

Jerry lent me his sun hat. We matched for the day.

THE RATTLER

These were along the river we swam in.  Pretty impressive to whoever built them.

Getting ready to jump in!

Awesome views!

Desert hikes are quite different from what I'm used to in the Northeast

Barrel cactus flower

The Right Choice

As I sit here in my kitchen in my kitchen in Tucson AZ, I look back on the events that led me here

Let's go back to December 2013. If you knew me then, you knew that I was stressing about a million and one different things going on in life.  The reality of graduation was setting in.  I was struggling with different relationships with my friends.  Above all, I had NO idea what I wanted to do.  I decided to apply to JVC on a whim, less than a month before the application was due.

Fast forward to September 16th, 2014.

As I was walking into work this morning, it was the first time since starting this process that I was able to say I am 100% positive that I made the right decision so many months ago.  Here I am in my kitchen in a house I've shared with five of the most amazing women the past month and a half.  I've met the most amazing people.  I've seen the most beautiful sunsets.  I work with the cutest kids every day.  Being so far away from essentially everything and everyone I know has given me the best opportunity to strengthen the relationships that are important to me (I've Skyped my friend in Argentina at least three times since being here). I value every phone call home, and I look forward to it every day.  I've actually picked up the phone and called people who's voice I had almost forgotten because we rely so heavily on texts nowadays. I actually call my brother at UVM, because I know I cant rely on seeing him every month or so.

Looking back on where I've been, where I am now, and where I am going, I leave you now with a quote I found yesterday that I felt really connected to:

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer

 to carry rain or usher storm, but to add 

color to my sunset sky.”

-Rabindranath Tagore