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Looking Up

UNGE sunset

I’ve never been so enamored of a daily sight as I was of this one. During the quarter that I spend studying abroad, I regularly watched fleeting, equatorial sunsets from the lawn of the Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial. My classmates and I had a daily break from late afternoon to early evening. In those hours, the sun and the heat retreated just enough to make the stifling, soupy air feel fresh again. It was the perfect time to sprawl on the grass and take in the play of burning light on the fluffy, dense clouds that perpetually threatened rain.

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A Foray Into Team Sports

Team Spirit

In 2007, I was a freshman in high school. Like every other awkward teenager, I was struggling to figure out all of the trivial aspects of life. I ran track and cross country throughout middle school, but, at this critical point in my adolescence, I decided I wanted more. It was time to reinvent myself. Time to try a completely new experience by becoming part of a(n athletic) team. Somehow, being a member of the Science Olympiad team wasn’t enough, even though my partner and I were the third best middle school food chemists in Pennsylvania. So, I joined the volleyball team.

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A Lovely Face

Windy Photo Op
Windy Photo Op

This photo of my mom immediately came to mind when I read about this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. I’ve already written about our trip to England from a few years back, and how much we enjoyed our time on the East Sussex coast. It was the adventure of a lifetime, and I couldn’t have asked for a better traveling companion. We had all of the same goals in mind, and each new part of our trip wildly surpassed and fell horribly short of our expectations in rapidly alternating succession. In this moment, our shared contentment is plainly written all over her lovely face.

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Exploring this Earth Together

Twisted Ficus Limb
Twisted Ficus Limb

Today, I wanted to share some more shots from my adventures on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. One of the many reasons I enjoyed my time in the field was the opportunity to explore the rainforest. With my friends and fellow students by my side, I immersed myself in its enormity and stately solitude. We were awestruck by the most glorious sensory overload imaginable. Fortunately, there was no need for conversation in those moments. We were all tuned in to our common surroundings, and we had plenty of time to chat about our experiences when we re-convened at camp in the evenings. Read more

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Observations from a Writing Workshop

The words haven’t been flowing, and I didn’t want to bore you with a post that clearly didn’t have my full attention. If my heart’s not in my writing, I know as well as you do that it’s just going to lay prostrate on the page, dead on arrival. I want to share words that shape my thoughts and experiences, capturing some small grain of truth, so that you can connect with what I’ve written. With that in mind, I simply waited until something inspired me to get involved in my writing before I published another post. Read more