Birthday wishes which could be my last....

Today I’m scrambling to get as much homework done as possible (eeerrr...then what was that three hour nap all about Dani?) before heading off tomorrow to fly in some dangerous aircraft and board over a less-than-water-like substance. (clue: it reputedly has lots of GLASS in it. yeah.)

Which means I’ll be away for a few days and won’t have a chance to wish my very dear friend Melissa a happy birthday on the 13th.

And I'm also working with a card which might be just in time to bring Christmas greetings... Can this be remedied? Maybe if I tell you all:

I used to steer clear of the title “best friend” like the plague, cause I was always afraid to offend someone by putting someone else on a higher friend-level than them. (What...tell me you don’t want to be my best friend...) But while I have more fantastic, close friends than I deserve, I’m gonna go out on a limb and finally name Melissa to this long sought after title. (AWWWW...sniff)

To prove it, three random facts I know about her that you probably don’t (accompanied by pics of when we were cute little freshman, since that seems to be the time we took all pics?):

1)When she is working hard on something she types like the computer hit her first. (But I’ve seen her work harder and with more concentration than anyone else I know)

2) She once thought that salt couldn’t be in cookies and cranberry sauce only existed in can-shaped form. (But since then her cooking and baking skills have become creative, beautiful, and apparently delicious. I confess that I've been away through most of them and can't personally attest to that last one.)

3) If she bought something and it’s in her closet it must be worn though she despise it. She's an equal opportunity dresser, as it were. (But she’s my most stylish friend.)

Oooor maybe I just put myself even more in the doghouse with this whole bit. But what I really wants to say is it's a privilege to call myself your friend, my dear. Happy Birthday!

Follow this link for a fantastic singer and fantastic, laid back song dedicated to Mel’s birthday. (She’s the one who first turned me on to Ray LaMontagne, and I owe her big time for that…)

Oh, I'm thinking of just changing my title to Untraveled Worlds. Opinions? They say your title should relate directly to your subject and not be all tricky or clever.

A history of my thoughts on blogging

At one time I swore up and down that I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES keep a blog during my time in Lima. Obviously something's changed.

I used to think of a blog, and have seen some blogs done by students who are abroad, as sort of online journals. "Dear Readers, Oh boy did I have fun today! Let me start at the beginning so you don't miss a moment of my very exciting life...." But even if my life was exciting, picture a heap of poor one-page diaries abandoned in a box in an attic somewhere in PA, the short-lived aspirations of a little red-headed girl who wanted to be a writer....someday....

NO WAY. Not for me. (Disclaimer: I do actually enjoy FOLLOWING these types of blogs from friends...so we keep that straight.)

But just recently I've started to follow some really great blogs online (see here and here and here to get in on a little bit of that action...) And realized joyfully that a blog can be WHATEVER THE HECK I WANT. Cool, right? I thought so too.

And I now feel a little like that girl from the movie Julie and Julia. "I could write a blog you know. I have thoughts...." ( I think you need to picture me ticked off and eating something or the effect is just not the same) Which is what I was thinking at 1:30 in the morning last night when in sugar-induced insomnia I created this page.

So, this is not a blog about Lima Peru or Machu Picchu or studying abroad. This is about me, my thoughts, my life, or the way my midnight cookies just came out scrumdidilyumptious last night. (Yes, I'm fairly certain the hour had something to do with that.) Of course, it'll all probably go into the mixing bowl here.


So onward and upward.


Enjoy some pictures to catch you up (a little?) on my life in the last three months, since I don't plan on making a concerted effort to that end in print.

The mountains around Machu Picchu...because you've seen enough of the city.

Midnight cookies are not always better...but this time it worked out.


Goodbyes to new friends at the airport. I'm not a cryer, but they're still hard!

"The deer are a Pontificia Universidad de la Catolica marvel!
But are not pets and should not be touched."
But you may have to defend yourself.


My morning traffic from the front seat. ( SCORE!) Infinitely preferable to evening traffic.
(risking life and limb by exposing my camera in a micro, Lima public transport. Hope you appreciate it.)



And oh yeah, the title is from one of my favorite poems by Tennyson:

 I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!

There's a lot more.

Yup, that was pretty presumptuous of me, wasn't it?