Ratna writes

This morning, we picked up Tia and Puppy Bhua and headed into D.C. On the way there, we taught Tia to introduce herself to someone in Spanish, and spent the rest of the ride listening to how bored she was . . . before we even got there. We parked at the Jefferson Memorial, ran to the restrooms, got Tia a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and took some photos at the Tidal Basin. We soon cruised over to Rotī and enjoyed lunch at this Mediterranean equivalent of Chipotle before traipsing over to the White House for a photo shoot. From here, we wound our way to the National Gallery of Art by the most circuitous route possible, soaking in the Washington sights as we did. We soon found ourselves in the East Building, scoffing at most of the modern art. Some pieces, however, appealed to our (admittedly ignorant) fancy. A photo of a painting of a painting. So meta. Next, we paid a visit to the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden, loving the weather and Tia's sugge...

To say I woke up this morning would be inaccurate. My alarm rang at 6am and I stepped out of bed, after a night of no sleep. Why was I up this early? Because my sister needed someone to walk her to the door of the gym for her preseason practice for volleyball. It was an interesting first experience to stand in a line marked "athletes sign in here," even if it was just for my sis. Once Priya was in the gym, I found a nook to nap in until I got too cold and started working on an application for a freshman seminar called Complexity in Works of Art: Ulysses and Hamlet . With a bit of this done, I ambled down to the commons and met up with Nizar (sometimes two goodbyes aren't enough) for another valedictory coffee, this time with Zane and Iman. For the duration of our time together, Iman gushed to me about the amazing time she's just had dancing with the cast of Step Up in Los Angeles, as Zane and Nizar did their best not to zone out. Too soon, it was time to wish...

After a night of nearly no sleep, we continued the strain of college shopping by venturing to the mall in search of suitable collegiate apparel for me and high-school appropriate clothing for Miss Priya. Tysons was smotheringly crowded and most of the day was spent wandering listlessly through stores' last-ditch efforts at selling summer wardrobes to lost souls such as myself. One highlight of the day was finding crimson pants which will allow me to drip with school spirit this fall. The best part, however, was running into two awesome people: One goodbye is never enough, and I was pleased to hear that Nizar happened to be right outside H&M as Priya and I were shopping there. We got to see him, Bassima, and Bassam (three of my best friends) one last time before Varlet #1 leaves for school this week! Nizar's mom was absolutely fascinated by Priya's panda phone case, and we took the Zahed family's leave just soon enough to save Pendeo from her clutches. :) ...

We started this morning with chocolate pancakes and then finally embarked on something we've been meaning to do for a while . . . college shopping! Though the process is a bit stressful in itself, and emotionally taxing because of its home-leaving implications, I managed to purchase almost everything I will need with the help of two of the world's best shoppers -- Mama and Nani! The family returned home just as my chauffeur Kenneson pulled up to escort me to a day of merrymaking at Fairfax Corner. What was supposed to be a populous valedictory pow-wow for Nizar ended up being just us four enjoying hours of Kenneson antics, semi-professional massages, painful harmonization, and exotically flavored frozen yogurt. At dinner, Patrick, Nizar, Kenneson, and our waiter Tyler took especial pleasure in making an absolute fool of me, lobbing joke after joke as I, the "needy female," sat helplessly eating my "fried whatever." Kenneson banned cell phones duri...

I started the day with a grave mistake -- eating butter chicken for breakfast. Those ten minutes of scream-inducing euphoria were hardly worth the sluggish pace and sessile nature of the rest of my day. I attempted to counteract the unfailing lethargy which results from consumption of Punjabi food by swallowing down some coffee ice cream, thereby only adding to my foods-that-should-not-be-eaten-for-breakfast list and exacerbating the problem. We left home before noon for Shenandoah National Park, with hot air ballooning dreams for the day. We soon learned, however, that due to impending thunderstorms, this mission would not be successful. We instead spent the day exploring the side of the park we've never seen before. We had a lunch of fried chicken at one of the park's rest stops before piling back in the car and driving around some more. At a lookout point, we met a park ranger who showed us the coat of a lynx found in the park and suggested a trail for us to hike....

I could write down my year in conversations. It's amazing to look back at the rhetoric I used at the start of this journey to convince others and myself that gap time would be a "good" idea, and now to reflect on the ways I've actually achieved the somewhat broad goals I'd laid out for myself, some overtly and some obliquely, and some in ways I don't know about yet. I had a chance to look back (and forward) with James Perla over coffee this morning, as we shared our observations on returning home after any immersive experience (James just returned from 7 weeks spent speaking only Portuguese at the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy). Apart from our "language reflects life" discussions and the entire two years of our own lives we had to fill one another in on, we also enjoyed a very "productive" talk, with our complete futures now completely planned out: Ratna will move to Brasil, find some trees, and save them. James will move to ...

Today, we saw Annapolis from a new angle. We rented a speedboat at Oak Grove Marina and set off! I sat in the front, helping Papa avoid crab pots . . .  . . . as Priya enjoyed some Titanic moments. We navigated through the Chesapeake Bay and made our way up to our favorite town, taking our time to float up "Ego Alley," where sailors drift into an Annapolis inlet and show off their boats. We've always enjoyed being spectators at this point, but today was the first time we got to perform! We turned back, with a small detour to admire the Bay Bridge. Our friend the lighthouse led us back to the dock . . . . . . where we arrived tired and happy.