UPDATE!!!!

so, i was informed by a certain special someone that i may have one and/or lots of people still reading this looking for a life update from me. i argued that the title/purpose of this blog was to detail the crazy happenings of travel in africa. (see blog address: stacyINAFRICA.blogspot.com) regardless, i was fairly easily convinced that an update could be in order. so here we go. this could be long. a life update on stacy. with brevity, when possible.

END OF AFRICA:
-uganda. nile river rafting. mountain biking through the jungle. etc etc
-amboseli safari. saw mt kilimanjaro. saw 3 cheetahs take down a gazelle. real crazy. we were staying out in the middle of the serengeti. there was a really intense thunderstorm one night and mike and i stayed up and watched from under a shelter as it moved away from us. lots of lightning.
-dubai. lots of beach. crazy buildings. happy times.
-mombasa. weekend on the coast of kenya. india ocean. went snorkeling. i went jet skiing. lots of beach volleyball and pool tanning times. mike and i walked on the beach until it ended. lots of little crab guys scuttling about into small holes.
-mike & my birthdays. i somewhat secretly organized for the majority of our group to go to a nice thai restaurant for mike's birthday. a crew of us went to get my favorite, indian, on my birthday.
- finals
- panic/stress/frustration about coming home. freaking out about not living one floor up from mike. deciding a chicago-denver long distance had to work.
- mike came with me to drop me off at the airport and gave me a very sweet sendoff. i probably cried. no, i definitely did.

BACK HOME
-christmas was really great this year. i normally avoid all christmas things because my parents kind of stopped celebrating years ago, but i spent approx 85% of my time with mike and his step-mom's family. i fell in love with mike's little sister, brynna. so things were great. i also missed mike immensely in the week i wasnt with him.
-i got sick the last week of november, and, well, i was sick for 3 months. got checked for TB, but, didnt have that. not sure exactly what was wrong, but i lovingly referred to it as my african disease. mike got sick about a month after i did. poor guy. it was rough.

WINTER TERM
-school was kind of a weird transition since not only was school in africa a joke, but it was on semesters so things moved soooo much slower. quarters are intense, plus i actually have to do work here, unlike africa. i really only took one good class last term
-civil rights, liberties, and justice. this class was amazing. essentially it was a constitutional law class. i ended the class with a 98% and was pretty proud of that. i became an expert on the supreme court case DC v. Heller. check it out. hilary and obama just talked about it in the last debate. (GO OBAMA!!!!!!!) anyway, its about gun control and the 2nd amendment. debate me about it. ill tell you whats up. (the framers totally didnt intend for the general population outside of militias to own HANDGUNS. ban em.)
-precepting. i was chosen to be a preceptor (kind of like a teaching assistant) for the philosophy of law course. this was especially challenging for me because i dont naturally take leadership positions in class. but, i was forced to lead small group discussions on various topics. things turned out ok.

DENVER
-so, ive been going to denver at least every month. i miss mike too much otherwise. its starting to add up monetarily and my sister keeps telling me im making poor financial decisions, but right now i dont care. i can worry about that when im an adult.
-my first impression of denver was that it was a pretend city. chicago is so much bigger i just laughed when i saw it from a distance. its just a small cluster of buildings that grew out of nowhere. BUT, i reallllly love denver.
-highlights of denver things:
*eating pho for the first time
*going to fort collins; seeing mike's family again
*helping mike with onefive things; making lots of supplier calls and consulting mike on good negotiation strategies (finally! my work experience pays off!)
*helping mike make the intro to his newest mountainboarding movie. first time in the mountains! boulder times.
*going to colorado springs for a day of mountainboarding.

MIKE
-things with mike are great great great. the future is bright and happy. every day im thankful for everything i have and think about how incredibly lucky i am to have met him. i never knew someone like him existed and im so glad i found him out in africa.
-95% sure im moving to denver to live with mike for the summer
-mikes coming to visit me in costa rica in november
-plan is to move to denv after i graduate next spring

SPRING TERM
-this term is brutal. im pretty much always doing homework. not so much sleep. busy busy
-taking my final global studies senior capstone seminar on globalization. really enjoy the class. too much reading!
-econ is going well. im finally starting to appreciate economics and am so glad i decided to add it as my (third) major. (im a little ridiculous) my econ professor really likes me cause im the only one who does anything before class and am one of 3 people answering questions.
-my econ professor always criticizes the University of Chicago School of Economics (theyre a little radical) and my sister went there, so i always bring the debate home and we nerd out and debate if privatizing roads is ACTUALLY a good idea. im still not convinced. the liberal in me is still supportive of government programs that help the poor. or, just average people. and rich people. in the case of roads.
-im now the secretary of pi sigma alpha. yes, technically a fraternity. more like a political science honors society. its kind of a joke though as we dont do a lot.

WORK
-work has been going well, pretty much as usual. my best friend just started working with us too.
-a little background, ive interned at Coleman Group Consulting for the past 3 years. We're small (only 6 of us) and my sister is the senior consultant. we primarily do strategic sourcing and procurement. our only client is a $679M not-for-profit, so we're kept quite busy. i always leave work wishing i could stay for just a few more hours to get more things on my list done. i go in on the weekends frequently too. slightly a workaholic. mostly ive just gotten real committed to the company and the client and actually enjoy my work.
-on thursday i have a meeting with my boss (the owner) to talk about the summer. patrick scares the crap out of me cause hes really intense. and so smart. and he has kind of a way of talking that makes you feel like youre an idiot. but anyway, ive decided that im going to convince him to let me keep working for CG this summer...from .... denver. my sister is supportive so i think it could work. sounds crazy, but i can do it. im looking forward to doing all my work in my pajamas this summer.

CAREER
-pre-living in africa my plan was to go into african development. my 10 year plan looked something like: graduate, peace corps in africa, work for NGO in africa, grad school at georgetown (or johns hopkins), get my dream job at the united nations!
-after africa, i sort of started getting real about what i wanted to do with my life and things have changed. a lot. ive decided that eventually after i graduate (will probably travel for a while first), im going to keep with the management consulting. 1) living in africa made me a little cynical about the possibility of making it better there 2) mike isnt in africa 3) i need to pay off my $100k of school debt, and the consulting gig will certainly take care of this adequately.

COSTA RICA
-ill be studying abroad in costa rica in the fall. my best friend is also going and im quite excited. i should be pretty close to fluent in spanish by the time i come back. we'll be staying with host families. very interesting. my goal is to be a good surfer by the time i leave. planned trip with the group to nicaragua. my best friend and i are planning our own trip to...cuba. kind of illegal, but i think its possible. paradise here i come!!!

SCHOOL NEXT YEAR
-due to Advanced Placement credit from high school, and from the college courses i took when i graduated early, plus my excellent organization and management skills (ha!) ive figured out that i can graduate one term early and save a lot of money. ill be done in march. unfortunately i had to drop honors college (bye bye thesis) and my econ major will only be a minor. im ok with all this because i already have two majors (political science and global studies) and because it saves me tons of money. my adviser is pretty bummed that i wont finish my thesis since its already half done. but oh well. i was getting a little tired of 'the integration of human rights and islam.' way too nerdy.

MY BROTHERS
-my oldest brother (hes 12 yrs older than me) just called to let us know he and his wife are pregnant. the baby is due in october. they live in hawaii and so im not sure when ill see my new niece/nephew. (eric is a marine and is stationed there!)
-my other brother (10 yrs older than me) informed us that he'll be going for his second tour, this time to afghanistan, in october. hes in the army. he actually is pretty excited to go. i dont understand it.

SYDNEY
-sydney is my 2 year old niece. she is absolutely everything wonderful about this world and i love her dearly. i missed her more than anything else while i was out of the country. my only fear about moving away is being away from her. i see her every day and am so glad to be such a great part of her life. she is quite a character and tells me funny things every time i see her. im always amazed with what shes picked up and the stories she tells me.
-funny story that involves mike: about a month ago i showed her a picture of mike and i and i asked if she knew who the nice boy in the picture way. (they've met. once. briefly.) out of nowhere, she said "that's punkin!!" i've never heard her call anyone punkin, but she thought it was the funniest thing and kept saying "he's punkin!!" a few days later, i made movie of her about mike. i didnt tell her to say anything, so everything she responds was out of her little head.
here's the movie: its only 2 minutes long. its funny for me. maybe not to you.



i guess thats all for now. have mid terms this week. there was an earthquake in illinois last week! so bizarre. life is good. im happy. cant wait for this summer to see my punkin every day.