foursugars|fivespice

day trip to solomon’s island and calvert cliffs state park with rachel. delicious food and peaceful scenery on the water. couldn’t ask for more!

Holiday baking! So happy to be back home, where hot water is dependable for the duration of my shower, I know the brand of crazy my family subscribes to, and playoff football is in full swing. Not to mention the usual late December traditions of pumpkin spice lattes, cookies and pies and breads galore, and Christmas music :)

San Pedro de Atacama.

San Pedro itself is tiny, with a town center that you could cover in about 15 minutes of sauntering, but it serves as the tourist hub for the gorgeous natural wonders of the surrounding desert. It was a perfect way to ease into traveling solo, since there were still loads of tourists at my hostel/the fifty hostels of San Pedro. By luck, I met some super sweet Chileans who were also looking to bike around that afternoon, so we got ice cream, rented bikes, and headed out to watch the sunset at Pukara el Quitor. 

Pukara el Quitor is a historic ruins site, originally built by the Atacamenos as a fortress against invading Incans and Spaniards. We had time to spare, so we climbed to the mirador and then chatted as the sun went down.

one of my favorite murals in Caldera, across the street from our house

lost in strawberry contemplation

healthy dinner, obviously: oatmeal (chocolate chip) pancakes with pb and banana

right after a beautiful, relaxing week at the beach, i repacked my bags for a quick trip up to new haven. never having visited the city before, i enjoyed exploring the campus and community by foot on a couple of nippy morning runs. 

the law school itself is a magical quadrangle, with wooden panelling in the hallways and professorial legends popping their heads in to deliver profound ways to decide on law schools (i.e. bruce ackerman strolling in to tell us to ask ourselves what law school will make us smaller or bigger people. bigger people, people who have broadened their minds and keep their curiosity alive.) the feeling of independence, flexibility, intellectual freedom. it reminded me of why i loved oxford and i… loved… oxford. so i may or may not be leaning towards a legal education in new haven.

rounded off the visit by getting fro-yo with a good high school friend and the best bagel sandwich i’ve ever had. toasted whole wheat with organic pb, honey, and banana. i died.