Since the last post, I've been going home a lot. Home to my true home in Wisconsin, home to my friends in Minnesota, home to wherever my sister is, home to a new family experience in Michigan. It was nice to realize how many places in the world feel like home to me, but I must admit that the longer I spent away from Costa Rica, the harder it was to come back. As cliche as it sounds, it wasn't until I stepped off the plane in Liberia, Costa Rica and smelled the tropical air- that mix of humidity, trees, diesel, and flowers- that I was relieved to find I was making yet another homecoming.
I also found that I was more stressed by travel than ever before. It could have been the constant travelling (Minnesota, Aniwa, Wisconsin Dells, Minnesota, Aniwa, Cabin, Aniwa, Ferry, Michigan, Chicago, NYC in three weeks). It may have been the overwhelming excitement of reuniting with so many loved ones, or the stress of saying goodbye as many times. It also may have been the stress of attending 4 academic conferences in 4 months, plus having a pile of deadlines and works-in-progress being ignored. Either way, I was physically exhausted and mentally worn by week two. It was a little much for me to handle, and I think I have to start turning down the volume on my excursions from now on. Hopefully not. Travel will probably always be a part of my life, and I don't want to start burning out on it yet!
All and all, it was an incredible trip. Just a little summary:
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| Traditional weekend in the Dells with Carmyn and Lindsay |
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| Just being HOME! |
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| The return of the "why don't I live in MPLS?"question...BFFs since we were St. Olaf First Years! |
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| Three great men in a boat, on my favorite lake. |
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| I finally got to see the beautiful orchard! |
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| NYC |
SO. Now what? I have to get back into the "work" mindset. Field work starts again on Monday. Until then, it is prep and taking care of all of the loose ends at work. I'm going to try to make a list of goals and make the next couple of months productive enough to take more breaks to see the people I love. It's not easy to focus after such an emotional August: love, stress, fear, excitement, happiness, sadness. All of these experiences this year and last year were thanks to the job I signed up to do... guess I better get on it again!
Here we go... year 3 of the road to Ph.D!
