In which the author reflects on Michigan, avoids reflecting on grad school, shares some pictures from the Toledo zoo, and says hi to her family.

And thus it starts.

It's interesting to look back on myself at this time last year. I volunteered to be a student ambassador to incoming School of Education graduate students, and helped out at orientation last Thursday. It brought back memories, and it also helped make particularly salient the difference between myself a year ago and myself now. Just like any year, a lot has happened and a lot has changed. I am still very unsettled in some ways, and after the first week back in class I am anticipating a lot of thought this semester about the direction I want my life to take.

But I'm also a lot more settled in other ways. In fact, the most surprising thing to me is how much I like it here. For most of my first year I had this idea that I was in Michigan for a degree and my goal was to get out of Michigan as fast as I could. Now, even knowing full well that winter is on its way, I am a bit schocked to realize that I want to be in Michigan. And I don't just mean I'm okay with being here. I want to be in Ann Arbor, more than any other place I can imagine myself being right now. Strange. And I can't quite figure it out. There are still long winters, no mountains, humid summers, hundreds to thousands of miles between myself and my family and closest friends, and yes, a shortage of boys to fall madly in love with (sigh). And yet I feel surprisingly attached. Much more attached than I ever felt to Virginia. I take this as a good sign.

I don't have anything particularly entertaining to write about today. Since last time I wrote (a week ago? two weeks ago? oh, a week and a half ago) the start of school is about the most interesting event. I have had some nice runs followed by some nice bowls of oatmeal. Oh, I took a trip to the Toledo zoo with some friends (see? There I am with the polar bear, and there I am with Noel and Cyndy at the dragon exhibit). I made Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad for ward Break-the-Fast, and even though I doubled the recipe it was all gone by the end (but I should add that there were only, like, five people who actually brought food). I did absolutely nothing productive on Monday other than my laundry, but I did sleep in (till seven) and work on formatting the cookbook I've been compiling, and visited a friend in her very first apartment, and watched a movie with the same friend and with my roommate, and went to ward volleyball, and just enjoyed my last guilt-free day of summer.

And now, because I can no longer write a mid-week blog guilt-free (yeah, like I was doing that over the summer anyway), I'll sign off and get back to work. Although he probably won't see this beforehand, I'll wish Eric and his support crew luck at Lotoja (with hopes that the scattered thunderstorms Yahoo! Weather predicts in Jackson don't strike). I wish I could be there, but I'll look forward to the recap when I talk to everyone on Sunday.