I made it!

I made it to Reims, France! Vincent, my host dad, picked me up at the airport. I've spent the day walking through the city and doing my very best to stay awake. It's almost 7:30 now so we'll have dinner soon and hopefully then get a full night's sleep. I'll post some pictures and more stuff tomorrow.

  SAN FRANCISCO --> CHICAGO

 CHICAGO --> PARIS

Home Sweet Home

After finals, I flew home to spend a week and a half in Marin County before heading to Europe. I did lots of relaxing, reading, and running. Spent some quality family time, saw friends, went to the beach, and other great summer things :)

Here are some highlights:



I got to see my running friends at our weekly run. We had the whole group reunited at last! We hadn't all run together since last August, and it was really wonderful to see everyone.

Being in Marin also means I get to do tons of trail running. My mom and I spent lots of time running Cypress, Sun Trail, Railroad Grade etc... it's great to have some choices in where I run.



Another cool thing that happened while I was home is we added solar panels to our house!

My friend Maren and I took a stroll around Mill Valley and saw all my favorite places. We checked out the funky "Too Neat", got a cookie at Champagne, window shopped, and checked out the Depot.  I was reminded how beautiful my town is and exactly why it was named one of the top 5 best small towns in the US!

 

My best friend Kristin also is finishing up school at the moment. She had a senior thesis art project due for all art majors. She decided to make an eight foot tall sculpture of a circus tent. I happily joined her to help with the construction. In the end it turned out really well, as did the senior exhibit it was part of! So proud of her :)

Kristin and I also went to a Giants game when they played the Rockies.  We originally found a great deal on 8th row tickets in the section right in front of the Giants bullpen.  Upon arrival (and after getting FREE PARKING), two other fans offered to trade us their 3rd row seats, so of course we said YES!! We were within a few years of Tim Lincecum as he warmed up, as well as the rest of the Giants bullpen. Although the Giants lost, they kept it really close and interesting, and we had an awesome time!

 We also had a great time stalking Tim Lincecum as he warmed up... and taking silly pictures :)

Nothing beats a beautiful night at AT&T park!


I get on a flight tomorrow morning, Europe bound! SF--> Chicago --> Paris!! I can't wait to send my first updates when I land in France. I plan to update once every day or two on what's going on in Reims and beyond! Please send me updates on your summers as well, I love hearing from you. And if you send me an address, I'll mail some postcards :)

xoxo, Abby

3 more days!

I'm half way done with my finals and thought I'd send a quick update.  I've taken my statistics and genetics finals, and now only have french and organic chemistry to go! I'll be flying back home on sunday, so excited!!

The exciting news of this week is that my roommate for next year and I found our apartment and will be signing the lease on Saturday.  I promise to post pictures soon!

Here are some other fun things I've been up to in the meantime...

Getting ready for my first medical school interview!

                                         Avoiding doing my homework by "packing"

 My wall of "epic running stuff" before I had to take it down. Can't wait to put it back up next year.

                                                    Seeing cute bunnies all over campus!

                                             Just hanging out with some Loyola wolves :)

                                      Trying new study methods... on the bathroom mirrors!

Finals Approaching

As finals approach, everything starts to get super hectic and crazy.  Classes wrapping up, packing looming, organizations holding elections etc...

Over the past 3 weeks I've submitted 3 separate applications for various things (I've grown quite tired of talking about myself and trying to describe how great I am without saying "I'm great", haha).  I applied to be a Junior-Senior Companion on campus, and was recently accepted, so YAY!  I will be working through campus ministry next year to build community within the upperclassmen here at Loyola, putting on lots of different events both on and off campus.  I also submitted my first medical school application.  The special program through Loyola's medical school allows sophomores to apply to the Early Assurance Program.  The whole process was daunting and overwhelming, but I am very happy to have that finished.  If nothing else, I've gotten a great start for this time next year.  And my third application is for an Jesuit Honorary Society on campus.

Other than all those crazy apps, I've been doing lots of school work and spending lots of time in the research lab.  I'm hoping to have a post coming up soon talking about all the cool stuff we're working on the lab.  Last night I went to the Cubs game with a few of my friends. We got to see a Cubs victory with a walk-off single to win 3-2 against the Cardinals.  Totally worth the $5 we paid for tickets!! Here are some pictures of Wrigley and my friend Jess and I.

I'm also extremely excited because this Thursday I will have the honor to attend a lecture given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  I will also dedicate a post to that, so more to come soon. Below is a picture of the Henna tattoo I got at the Interfaith Fair, and a picture of the sand mandala that a Tibetan Monk worked on for 5 days here on campus. All of those colors are separate colored sands that he VERY carefully placed with this fine instrument. It was incredible to watch, and admire the amount of patient required!

Hope everyone is doing well, and I can't wait to be home in 12 days!

Easter Break!

This year I was lucky to be able to go home for a long weekend during Easter Break.  I loved being home and got to enjoy lots of great Marin things, including plenty of studying for my Chem exam :) But being home was a great recharge for the remaining 3 weeks I have until I'm home for summer time.

When I landed, Kristin and my mom came to pick me up.  The next day I went for a trail run with my mom, then Kristin and I went to get our nails done.  Being pampered is the best! We then got some good Marin food at Cafe del Sol, and came home to do some studying before Giant's Opening Day! I loved being able to watch the game on TV with my family and friends! I also got to enjoy fresh salmon... I'm usually pretty skeptical of fish in the Midwest.

The next day I met up with my running friends for a wonderful run on Mt. Tam.  We went all over the mountain and even saw "Bunny in a bucket" in celebration of Easter.  It's basically this hidden bunny stuffed animal hanging from a tree in a bucket.  Pretty cool though! Here are some pictures (I'm in the red shirt):

After the run, I came back home, did some more studying, and then watched the Giants second game.  Mom, Dad, Lainey, Maren and I went on a hike of Cypress trail, and saw beautiful flowers and got caught up on everything! We had a nice family dinner (there may have been a confetti egg fight-some confetti even made it back to Chicago), and then went to bed to wait for the Easter bunny to come!

Sunday morning we woke up early to say goodbye to Mom and Carl as they were flying to CO to visit a few schools. Phil and I ate plenty of cinnamon rolls and candy, and then the two of us went on a run on the MV bike trail! We had fun and then went to water our garden, plenty of little sprouts popping up! Later that day we watched the Giants game again, and then Dad and I went to a French restaurant for a delicious dinner.  Kristin later came over and all four of us watched a movie.  Kristin helped me pack and get all my stuff together for my flight then next day.

Monday I went to work with my dad and met Kristin for pancakes.  We had yummy "Jack Johnson Banana Pancakes" which totally made my day (he's one of my favorite artists). We had the chance to walk around USF for a bit before I had to head off to the airport.  The traveling was fine and I was back in Chicago, ready to tackle the last month of school!

Easter Egg Dyeing!

My friend Ally and I decided it would be fun to do some Easter egg dyeing.  We had a great time getting all the ingredients, hard boiling the eggs (cracking some in the process, oops!), and then coming up with fun things to do with all the colors.  Here are some pictures of our creations!

No Luck this Time...

Wasn't lucky with this ticket for the $620 million dollars :( Maybe next time...