Living up the summer

So it has been 4 weeks since school has been out. What have I been doing with my time you ask? Well, I have been keeping busy for sure. Sometimes I feel like a bum because I'm not actually working at at a job this summer. You see, we only get ONE summer off during medical school, and that's this summer. Because of my trip to Indonesia and other things I'm doing, it turned out I wouldn't have much time for a job anyways, and I think I will be glad that I took the time to really have fun. It has also been nice to spend time with friends and play/listen to music! I have been playing a lot of guitar, and finally got out the trombone too. P-town has a yearly blues fest, and the AF has a concert every year which I went to also. Fourth of July, of course, had fireworks, and there has been lots of other random activities, errand-running, READING, and preparing for my trip too.

I also moved into a new house with my friends from med school (2 of the people are in my class plus 1 is an honorary-med student...i.e. med-student wife). It is a wonderful place and in a lovely neighborhood. I am really enjoying my new living arrangement--especially because we are all friends: we care about each other's needs, can go have fun together, and share the love of Christ. The house is near the river, which has a very nice trail next to it that doesn't allow motorized vehicles. It has easy access to downtown too, and isn't too far from school. We share a nice big living room, 2 decks, dining room, and kitchen, and before I moved in Brian and Julie even put in some carpet in the garage to make a bonus room.

Since I've only been in town for a year, most of which was spent doing school stuff, I've been taking the time to do a little more exploration around the city and be outside as much as possible. Brian and Julie and I a few weeks ago one pleasant Saturday evening decided to go on a spontaneous camping trip--that is, at 6pm we decided to go somewhere and by 7pm we were out the door. I have been camping so much this summer--it is awesome! We headed out I-84 hoping to find a campsite somewhere. Well, we ended up having to keep traveling from place to place looking for a spot. When we finally found one at a state park along the Columbia we discovered why: it is RIGHT next to the train tracks, and so several times that night we were wakened by a blaring train horn! It was probably my first camping trip out with friends (I had always gone with family), first time so spontaneous, first time sleeping out w/o a tent, first time(?) roasting marshmellows over a campstove (we searched for firewood but couldn't find much...the next morning we snagged some from an empty campsite). The following morning we headed to Eagle Creek and took a long hike up to some waterfalls. A splendid time!

I've also been doing lots of biking since there are lots of great trails and roads planned for biking. Sometimes it's just too hot for me to go running, although I've done a little of that too. I've also enjoyed swimming in the Columbia in this hot weather--there's no Lake WA to swim in and I've been hankering for a cool dip. I think I was spoiled growing up next to the lake. I learned after moving here (and after I took a swim in the river myself) that the Willamette is severely contaminated...

Another fun thing I tried was windsurfing!! My bf Dustin is a big windsurfer, and was willing to teach me, so we went out to Hood River in the Gorge and I rented some gear and tried it! It was actually very fun, though difficult and progress was slow, and I can't wait until I get to try again. Gear wasn't too expensive to rent. As Dustin says, once you have gear, all you need is $ for gas and wind...I never would have done it though if someone close to me hadn't been into it.

And now what? I'm off to Papua, Indonesia TODAY!!! The time has finally arrived and I am so excited! I will plan to write stuff up on the blog when I get back. However, my sister's wedding is the following week, so it may actually be a bit before the full-meal-deal gets up.