Where to begin? Where have I been? What have I felt? What has changed? The easy answer – Everything.

Last September I began a horse packing expedition with two professors and seven students setting out to deliberately “front the essential facts in life,” focusing on sustainability, leadership, group dynamics, and education. This began in Utah and let go at the Mexican border in mid December.

After a quick break, I started a Certified Yoga Teacher Training for my block class. This was a month long intensive, five to seven days a week, nine to twelve hours a day. Even when the rest of school closed due to inclement weather and Martin Luther King Day, we still had class.

After another quick break, I went on a cruise through the Caribbean for my sister’s wedding. This was quite a shock to me since my favored method of travel is on foot living among the locals; not on a cruise ship filled with numerous buffets, swimming pools, variety shows, and a casino – it was a floating Las Vegas. Furthermore, I spent time with family which was both rejuvenating and at times overwhelming due to the emotions surrounding my younger sister getting married, missing the first week of the quarter while at sea, and being in a very foreign environment.

Currently, I am taking Foundations of Education, Improvisational Dance, and Rock Climbing and Geology. I would say this is not a very hard quarter in terms of school work, and because I have climbing back in my life after a four month break, it feels as if I am breathing again. This is a great time to enjoy a meal.

I feel like the expedition was chopping, stirring, and kneading me into something I have never tasted before; then the Yoga Teacher Training was cooking me in a cast iron skillet inside a wood fired oven; finally, the cruise was the cooling rack, setting me aside away from everything else in order to set. Slowly, I am eating this meal and exploring its ingredients to find out what the chef has concocted. I will let you know what happens after the first course.