Satisfying Endings

Haha, it seems this blog gets design makeovers more often than new posts, doesn't it? Making images works is easier for me than writing. Besides the graphic change you'll notice the title and tag line has changed. I felt the "Tazzi, Me, and (former) Guide Puppy makes Three" just doesn't fit my life anymore. I haven't been involved with guide dogs for almost three years now and really my life isn't all about my dogs anymore. The old tag line doesn't work either because among other things the Reflux Disease isn't bothering me anymore. So I say a fond and loving farewell to that tiny snapshot of my life. Don't worry though, all the posts are still there.

What else has been going on besides the blog title change? Well I just got back from four months spent in Europe. I spent 2.5 months in Croatia studying abroad, went to Venice twice, visited Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Rome, Paris, London, Barcelona, and Frankfurt. In total I was gone for just shy of 4 months. There are many stories, but it's too much to write in one big chunk, but I'm sure they will come out one at a time as life reminds me of them.

The other ending that can't come fast enough for me is the end of school. This is my very last semester of university for a while, thank goodness! It's been fun, but I am so ready to move on to something else. Don't remind me of any of this six months after I graduate though since I'm sure I'll be mourning the student life.

It's been a hard week

"It's been a hard week." I've found myself saying this over and over again this summer. And while it's always true, it's time to realize that I'm tired of letting it excuse my not getting to things that need to be done. And yes, bad things keep cropping up this summer, but at some point we all need to make a stand for ourselves and say "I'm not accepting any more of this crap." I've reached that point many times recently, but apparently it has taken a while to sink in.


Other life updates:

*I leave for Venice in 3 weeks to attend the architecture biennale before I go to Zagreb to start my study abroad in Croatia. 

* My brother's numbers were better at his last lab's appointment so no dialysis for the moment. They'll be checked again in September and be reevaluate.

* The dogs were in apple heaven, and are now in apple temptation hell. They were eating so many apples that it gave them the runs and they started going in the house. This was deemed unacceptable and there is now a prohibition on apples. To be kind I try to pick up apples at least once a day, but that isn't enough to keep the ground clear so they have to exercise some self control. Poor dears.

* My kitchen is over run by apples (we probably have 20 lbs by now, although how many of them are still good is anyone's guess). Apple will be on the menu for quite some time.

* I'll be blogging about my time abroad as a journalist for Cornell University (link here) and am thinking of starting a travel podcast as well. Since I have an official connection to the university for the blog those posts will likely be well thought out and directed, but I kind of want an outlet for all my raw joy, confusion, embarrassing moments, utter bewilderment, exciting (and hopefully not profane) plane/train/bus/ferry mishaps, and hopefully enchantment with everywhere I go and all the people I meet. 

I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures so far from this summer.

A dog and her pillow

This looks like a more fun day than it was. Both pups were a bit out of control so we left fairly soon.

Hurry up and throw it already!!!

"We're best friends, riiiight? Just say yes."
(no pups were harmed in the taking of these pictures)

Gowanus Adventures

Hi all, I know I've been MIA for a bit (school does that to you), but I just wrote a sample blog post for an application to be an official blogger for Cornell Abroad and I figured you might enjoy it too. The prompt was to write about a recent interesting experience.

Here you go:

I've just returned from a wonderfully refreshing trip which included sunny days and cooling breezes on the shores of a delightful waterway. Was it the Tuscan Riviera you ask, clapping your hands with glee. Well no, it was slightly closer to home. It was, in fact, the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, a EPA superfund site considered by many to be among the most polluted canals in the world. So, maybe I omitted the part about the cooling breezes carrying metal dust from the industrial recycling facility across the way and the delightful oder of raw sewage, and maybe the shores were more like concrete bulkheads crumbling into the canal, but the sunny part is true. And the canal does contain some fascinating wildlife including bacteria that's mutating too quickly for scientist to study since by the time they get the research funding to examine any particular type of bacterial it has already morphed into something else and, at least according to a poster I found, a lost squid that answers to the name Mr. Grabby, although I suspect that's a joke. Not certain though, weirder things have happened.

Why was I at this most desirable leisure spot do you ask? Data my friends. Data. More specifically collecting first hand data of what forest resources exist along the canal. My studio class project this semester is to create an urban forest along the Gowanus Canal and one of the best ways to go about it is to find out what is already there. 

I wasn't lying when I said the trip was refreshing. It was nice to get outside and work with my hands in the sunshine, between laying out grids and inventorying trees and soils I would glance into the canal and see the beautiful technicolor patterns of oil slicks waving as they undulated by. And… was that a tentacle?

Until next time my friends!

Update

Hi I've just dropped back in to say hello and give you an update on my life. Like usual a lot of things have happened and I'll just put them down as they pop in my head.

First I am back at school and all moved in to my new house (which is actually called a co-op, but as it is actually a very old house I shall call it that). I absolutely adore it and all the wonderful people I live with. They are so awesome they deserve their own post...eventually.

Before classes started I traveled to NYC and Philadelphia, PA with four other students from my school and fifteen to twenty chinese exchange students. The trip was fantastic and the people incredible. Alas though that is again a subject to be expanded on another day.

Anjou showing off his sleepy ninja skills

I ended up getting a rat, who I named Anjou after the pear cultivar, about three weeks ago and while he isn't a dog he is still very entertaining. He like food, belly rubs, and sleeping in his litter box. He too deserves is own post...again eventually.

I've just started looking into doing a double major with urban planning, but as I haven't even talked to the school about how that works there's really not much more to say about it at the moment.

I was taking Arabic in the first half of the semester, but the instructors teaching style didn't match my learning style so I decided that it would be better to drop it and take it with a different instructor at another time so I can actually learn it as well as I want to. Doing that has freed up 50 minutes of my day, everyday, so I'm planning on using that to go to yoga with a couple friends instead. Now I'm down to only 12 credits (the minimum at which you can still count as a full time student) so I think I'll be using my spare time and energy to make a start on my thesis. I'll let you know when I actually figure out what my thesis is.

I visited the gorgeous city of Toronto, Canada last weekend. More on that later too.

My health continues to decline unfortunately. I'd been holding out on going to a chiropractor, or acupuncturist, or nutritionist for some foolish and unknown reason, but almost fainting at work today was the last straw. On Monday I'm contacting ALL of them. God save my bank account.


And per usual I'm avoiding doing homework :)