completely random.

today was just like any other day, i guess. first i went to a work abroad "cultural education" orientation session that georgia tech requires before you work abroad...apparently. i can see how some of the things they talked about would be useful, but i can't say that i learned any new and exciting things...oh well, i got free pizza at least and a chance to talk to kyle. after this i trekked over to the health center to pick up some malaria pills (yummy) then made it back to the building where my next class was...with 30 mins to spare. i guess i could've gone and sat in the library at a computer and facebook stalked or something for a while, which isn't really an uncommon thing. i do see people in the library doing it all the time at least :) what i actually did, though, was bust out a book (a novel, not a textbook, ha ha), sit on a bench in the gorgeous sunshine, and read. it was so relaxing to sit in the shade on a perfect spring day just chillin, and very refreshing to be spending some quality time outside besides just walking between classes or running.

maybe this seems silly, but think about it. how often do you just sit down and let things happen around you? i mean, they do all the time, but a lot of times you're part of the bustle that's going on around you. today, when i sat on that bench, i stopped for a second and dropped out of that movement...and guess what happened? it came to me. the world doesn't stop when you do. people don't stop when you do. and the person that walked up to me to talk was someone i met 3 years ago in a class that he eventually ended up dropping. we hadn't been bff's or anything like that, or had never even really hung out, but still he came up and we caught up a little. turns out his life has gone a completely different direction, and mine is "doin' what it do" as usual, but this is all news to him, of course. he stays for awhile, then leaves. i read some more. and guess what happened? it came again. a girl i met freshman year on crew and in physics but who i haven't really talked to in years comes up and sits down to chat. how unreal! twice in 10 mins! but imagine how many times this could happen everyday. sometimes it does when you pass someone on the sidewalk you haven't seen in awhile. but that's just it, you're moving on, in a hurry, thinking of other things, right? do you really ever stop to talk? ok, i know, sometimes, yeah...but just think of it. if you just stopped and let things follow their course every once in awhile instead of seeking seeking seeking, you might just be surprised :)

don't get me wrong, i'm not saying don't go out and see things or look for things or try to learn new things all the time, because i'll be the first to say go for it...all i'm saying is, don't do things just to do them and try to appreciate everything...and once in a while, let yourself be surprised.

old demons, new adventures?

*sigh*
sooooo busy! and a little unsure and nervous...that's about how i feel right now. the time until our senior design presentation is ticking away, and we haven't even really finished the project itself...we have less than a week, yet i'm the only one in the group of 5 that seems to be concerned. does this make me crazy? probably. i'm sure it will get finished, one way or the other, but i almost feel guilty about throwing something together and not producing something to the best of my ability...ah, here comes the perfectionism! i thought i had left this in the past, but it still comes back every once in a while. at this point, i'm realizing that it does no good to think like this, so i guess i'll have to deal with it...why is it that the hardest battles are always fought with yourself? maybe because you can't run away. i mean, not everyone, but some people, when they face a confrontation with someone else, just turn around and walk away. maybe it would've been harder - or easier - but you really never know like that. and really if you never challenged yourself or held yourself to any types of standards, you might just wither away into eternity, never having known what you were capable of or the impact you could've made. so i guess it's worth it. :)

a new beginning :)

So as of last week, it looks like I'm going to be taking a traineeship in Salvador, Brazil!!! I'm super excited :D

When I joined AIESEC about, um, 2 years ago, that was my primary objective: to get an international internship. After sticking around, though, I got so much more than I expected out of this organization. Actually, when I was trying to convince my parents to let me take the traineeship, my mom said, "But you've already gotten so much out of AIESEC without even going on one of these!" She was right. And even though she and my dad don't completely understand what AIESEC is, even though I've tried to explain it countless times, they can not only see this in me (which is very exciting), but also have been very impressed since the start of my adventure with visa paperwork, correspondence with my TN manager, and everything :) It makes me so proud to be a part of an organization whose influence can be felt by people that really don't even know what it is. And granted, they are my parents, but it's a good sign, right? Especially since parents can be skeptical sometimes about sending their babies to the other side of the world.

Brazil, here I come :D