It’s my last semester and I’ve been really busy between finishing projects (and my thesis!), trying to enjoy Charlottesville before I leave, and trying to travel a bit and visit friends from other schools. I’ve taken a job in northern Virginia working with a small software consulting startup. The team seems like a really good group, and I’m excited about the opportunity.  I don’t start working until August, which leaves me some time to do some interesting stuff, notably an epic cross country road trip that I will discuss in future posts..

Foxfield. Those within the UVA community immediately have a preconceived notion of the word.  Foxfield Races are horse races that draw a huge portion of students together for a day of socializing. The event has become a signature of Greek organizations around grounds. The emphasis is on socializing more than horse racing, the running joke has become whether spectators even see horses (the course is large enough it’s possible and in fact often true). Presumably from the association with horse racing, Foxfield has also become well known for people wearing their southern Sunday bests; but this often just results in varying levels of seersucker and crazy pastel color combinations. I went for the first time this year, I figured I should partake in the UVA event once in my four years here.

Anticipation surrounding the races were significantly dampened with the prediction of thunderstorms all day. However, the rain held off for virtually the entire day, with the worst rain before most people even arrived.  Additionally, the weather provided a bit of an advantage over some other years where the temperatures often shoot quite high which combining with sun can be quite uncomfortable (I’m told). I had a good time, it was a unique experience and I happened to run into a surprising number of people I didn’t expect to see.

Keep your eyes peeled for new posts..

My traveling was pretty ridiculous to get there.. Flight: 7:15AM. Alarm set for 5:15AM. Dad wakes me because my clock was switched AM/PM: 6:00AM.  No way I’m making this flight. Leave the house: 6:10AM. Check Bags, make it through security and to my gate as regular boarding is finished. Phew! +5 Hours, land in long beach for a couple of hour layover.  3 hour flight to Seattle. First trip to Seattle, rainy, of course. +2 hours, bus finally leaves from Seattle, Vacouver-bound. Takes better than an hour to cross the border, uggh. I’m getting tired, and hungry. Make it to the Vancouver airport a shade before 9PM (West coast time), my friend has pressing issue and can’t bring me. Frantically find a bus that leaves at 9 to go to whistler.  ~1130PM roll into Whistler. Liza comes and gets me and takes me to her cabin, my ridiculous day of traveling is over, but we hang out for a few hours to add to it just for fun. Nearly 24 hours, and 3000 miles. Let’s ski.

We roll out of bed hoping to ski by a bit after 9am, closer to 10 we’re on a gondola to halfway up. It’s a beautiful sunny day, probably 25 degrees, no clouds, this is awesome.  Whistler is surrounded by some absolutely beautiful mountains, surrounded by peaks in every direction. It’s beautiful snow, and not crowded, we were having a great time.  We cross to the other major peak, Blackcomb via a new gondola (436m above ground at highest point!), for some new terrain.  We ski across sections of the mountain and spend a lot of time near the peak, cautiously venturing beyond the avalanche warning signs into some wild bowls. Drew, a friend of Liza, is a terrific skier, and challenges us a bit in a great way. At one point we drop off some pretty serious faces, occasionally so steep you can hardly see what you’re about to go over. We ski all day, and it’s amazing. Blackcomb peak is supposed to be just over 8k feet and the base camp just over 2k.

The next day is similar, we don’t venture quite as far distance, but take the skiing up another notch, venturing to create some paths down the peak, and challenge ourselves on many runs.  By the end of the day, we’re starting to drag — this skiing is real exercise. These aren’t the hills of the US east coast, these are world-class mountains.We finish on the Women’s Olympic downhill course.

The next two days other friends come up from California to join us, and the weather by now has worsened into a cloudy, often above freezing arena.  At some points it’s clear at the bottom of the mountain, raining halfway up, and snowing at the top, it’s pretty unreal. Sometimes the conditions were whiteout at the top. These days of skiing had stretches of easier skiing, which by now was a much-needed break. Cam and I conclude our skiing with a “peak-to-creak” run, stretching the whole elevation available.

I had a great time, reunited with old friends, and had loads of fun. My nearly day-long travel return is completely worth it.

*Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera for the days of nice weather, and only managed a few pictures.. And a video of the whiteout..

WhiteoutWhistlerPeak

My good friend, Miles, from high school was graduating from the U of Miami, so a bunch of us went down to visit him.

We showed up in the middle of December, but it was 70s most of the time we were there.  It was bucketing rain when we were first there, but it came around and was nice and sunny for us.  We took a trip to the beach and were playing football at the ocean, which was awesome, even sweeter because it was december. Miles led us through the U, and showed us across town and South Beach.

I made it to mass on Sunday night, and it had dropped into the 60s (when the Miami population starts fearing hypothermia). Wearing a polo shirt and pants put me about a jacket and scarf behind the rest of the churchgoers. On the way out, the priest semi-seriously warned me not to catch a cold — haha, welcome to Miami!

While there, the biggest snow storm in 13 years hit the DC area for a bit more than 2 feet. We were greeted to it when we came back, and it was quite a shocking transition.

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Ride to school. Get drenched. Sneak to the floor of Girl Talk concert. Go to Chinese. Drop Chinese. Break my finger. Go to student health, hospital, student health, orthopedics, physical therapy, still only a broken finger. Find a thesis topic. Go riding. Weekend in Shenandoah. TV and football seasons come back. National productivity plummets.

Play pick up soccer. Go to work. Get sick. Get better. Celebrate birthdays. Tailgate. Cavaliers lose. Again. And again. And, finally win! The skins lose to the Lions. I stop watching for the season. Look for job. Play racquetball. Note loss of racquetball skills. Make up for Australian-based loss of FIFA time.

Sorry, these pictures were generally mediocre at best.

First Eliana Sighting

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