The Escapist's Guide to Life: It's been a while

It's been a long five months. A VERY short recap:

Visited Oregon (heart achingly beautiful)
Tried Thai food for the first time (and have been craving it ever since)
Devoured Vietnamese food for the first time
Ate my first gyro (lamb is YUMMY, by the way)
Watched my niece turn 1 year
Met the man of my dreams
Got my first job on campus
(In the midst of) Struggling through my last round of Lib. Eds
Tried Sushi (including eel...made a mess and LOVED it)
Tried raw squid at a Thai restaurant (and LOVED it)

I could go on. Suffice to say, it's been a busy five months. So much has changed! School is much more difficult, but I've got a great group of friends (who I've also met in the last five months) here now, and an amazing boyfriend I get to see on the weekends, and a loving family I catch up with when I can. My niece is starting to understand and convey more and more every day (she knows what 'put it back' means...and actually obeys. She is speaking more too; she points and says "there you go" when she has dropped something and can't reach it).

The biggest development: my need for real writing (you know, outside of class) has returned. I may actually be posting some writing soon enough (if I can find time between studying and homework)...turns out that the man I love also proves to be my missing muse.

Oregon was amazing. I got to spend time with my aunts and uncles, with my grandma. I miss them so much; about as much as I miss Oregon itself. I got to talk to my grandma about WW2. Her father was in publishing, and wanted by the gestapo...he was gone a lot, because they lived kitty corner to the gestapo station. How nerve wracking would that be? She talked about how they made their own candles, and about how school wasn't very constant for her because their schools kept getting bombed. They were always sent home with days worth of homework because they never knew when or where they would be able to meet next. What a different life. I don't think many people of my generation in the US can imagine a life like that. I know I can't.

What I loved most about being in Oregon, (aside from seeing family), was returning to such beautiful landscape. My aunt Bonnie drove my best friend and I around Portland, out to Multnomah Falls (we climbed to the top...jeez that was rough for my out of shape body) and the Gorge. Everything is just so green. The trees are wet with dew, carpets of moss and vines crawl up bark that you can only assume is brown. The hiking trails are spongy from consistently damp dirt and grass that sparkles under the rain. Even bridges, dare they to go unused, are almost immediately consumed by the surrounding environment. Northern Oregon is a testament to how eager mother nature is to reclaim what we've ground up and replaced with steel and stone. It's as close to a rain forest as I'm willing to get (they lack the murderous creatures found in other parts of the world). Just outside of Portland, like in West Linn where my aunt lives, I couldn't help but feel that this was one of the last bits of the (livable) world where we have carved out enough space in the wild to live in...but not enough to conquer. Trees looking old as time stoop over small cottages, vines entwine themselves with porches and climb over roofs. Little neighborhoods nestled inside a large, seemingly endless bit of forest. Call the people 'green,' 'environmentally friendly,' or 'tree huggers,' but I give them props for coexisting with mother nature, not overwhelming her. Don't get me wrong...I'm not granola at all. But it's a peaceful, freeing, magical feeling that overcomes me as soon as I return to this state. Besides, it ALWAYS smells of rain. What a purifying whiff of life. I love it. Not to mention the deserted, clean beach my uncle Wally took my BFF and I to once we hit the sand dunes. It was quite the hike; barefoot through prickly bushes, patches of evergreen trees, and very hot sand for at least a quarter of a mile. But was it ever worth it. I never thought I'd see a whole stretch of white sandy beach completely deserted but for hundreds of empty shells. The sand was soft and fun to sink aching (and splinter filled) feet into. The water (being Oregon in May) was cold, but still fun to sprint into and run (yelping) back out of.