time for

a change in name.

and now it's 2007

so i exclaimed right after the ball dropped at midnight: it's finally 2007, the year i graduate from college! i remember years back-- i think when i was in elementary school-- when i had been asked to write down what year i'd be graduating from college, and i'd written 2007, and i remember how that seemed soooooooo far away-- like 100 years away-- and now, to think, it's actually 2007. now that's just weird. to think that soon, so soon, i'll be out of here. now i have an entire semester of "oh wow i graduate soon" to blog about. lucky you, reader.

what's next: a change in template. i've had the other since i first created my blog in 2004, and while i absolutely love the other, i think it's time for a change. ahhh yes, a change.

and now, the inevitable
"here's what this last year looked like":
--rang in the new year with mariachi in guadalajara
--a few incredible days in my favorite city shared with an incredible guy
-- first motorcycle ride
--service trip to cd. juarez, mexico, right on the border. felt like home again. knew that was exactly where i was called to be.
--protest at senator steve king's office: down with hr4437, up with dream act. people immigrate for a reason: let's start assessing that instead of being so quick to label everyone as "illegal."
--6 weeks in india: the rural, the urban, the everything in-between. boiled water, squat toilets, bucket baths, taj, bicycles, pablo y ainara de pais vasco, gandhi, chapatti, possibility through the impossible, 21-hr train ride that i somehow managed to stay on despite a #17 WL ticket (i never got to thank that kind, kind man), mangoes, fresh & juicy, victoria memorial, mother theresa, people from all over the world in service through the motherhouse, orphanage for children with developmental disabilities, 4-day hospital visit with mother theresa's doctor as my own, chai and biscuits, solitude, sarees and salwar kameez, mumbai, monsoon, the experience of a lifetime.
--a turn to vegetarianism (hey, still going strong!)
--a return to service partnership and a rekindling of a friendship
--back to bv for... senior year! *gasp*
--said adios to a certain someone-- only to regret it later (as in, now.)
--visited jodes at her fam's farm
--met tons of new, awesome residents
--back to classes: a semester of completely applicable, challenging classes
--an introduction to the facts: maybe bvu isn't such a perfect place. (not a bad time to be introduced to this idea, however.) disillusionment.
--(much-needed) fall break: back to guanajuato, land that i love: montse y ana, pedro, gil, beto... (casi) todos los amigos que me caen superbien... felt right at home for just over 2 days. not a bad way to use up a voucher. wish i could have stayed!!!
--a daily struggle to get through the rest of the semester
--alas, the end of the semester (can you tell? the semester literally ATE UP my life. i still can't believe i lived through it.)

and here we are.
new year, new start... maybe?
let's see how these next 5 months fly by (oh God, how i hope!)... and where life leads me next.
options are open.
let's do this!!!