Spring Break

Until I started college in Alabama, I never realized my home was a tourist destination. People told me how lucky I was to be from Colorado, but since it’s a nineteen hour drive and a multi-hundred dollar plane ticket, my friends from school can’t really make it out to visit.

Since this year marks our last spring break (ever), and since Matt and Casey are getting married in two months, we wanted to do something adventurous but also unique…so not ten days at the beach.

Thus: forty hours of driving. Split between four people, not a bad deal. We swung by a bbq place in Little Rock and the St. Louis Arch. Hype hype.

My grandparents graciously loaned us their Breckenridge condo. Guys, it’s the weirdest feeling to return to a childhood destination as an adult with friends (and independent). When I was in middle school, my family got season ski passes, so we came up every weekend. This time, though, we came broke, so we decided to ski one day at Loveland (way more affordable), and find other activities for the rest of the week.

Y’ALL. I forgot how GREAT skiing is! Loveland isn’t even a particularly gorgeous ski resort, but I still reveled in the mountains, the random snow flurries, the evergreens. Generally, I’m a cautious skier. I don’t know the correct way to do stuff, so I gradually make my way to harder slopes as I gain confidence. This time, though, I tried to go for it. Gotta learn to be daring somehow. I probably fell more than entire ski seasons combined, but ya know.

I’m gonna get a season pass if I ever move back to Colorado, hold me to it.

We spent two nights at my home in Denver on either side of our time in Breckenridge. Enough time to hit up Red Rocks, Celestial Seasonings (a fav), and Ft. Collins. We also messed around with the virtual reality oculus thing that my brother got recently. Matt gave Garren a haircut. All around productive time on the Front Range.

SKY SO BLUE. Seriously. I love this. Colorado. Geez.

Some other things we did in Breck: painting & wine. Casual walking (lol can’t call it a hike). Fancy dinner.

Oh man. Okay we discovered Settlers of Catan on this trip (a classic board game). Ever since the infamous Risk All-Nighter 2k19 which concluded at 4am, we’ve avoided board games, but this break seemed like a good time to try again. We spent a good fifteen hours playing over the break. No regrets.

I’ve always visited Breck with family, and it took me a while to fully recognize my independence this time. But on one of the last nights, I slipped out of the condo at 2am and drove a little out of town. It was eight degrees (fahrenheit), so I had to keep my windows up, but I reclined my seat, wrapped up in blankets, and watched the stars through the sunroof. So dreamy. The picture above is the spot I pulled over.

 Gosh, it’s so weird to write a post about something I did. Feels like fifth grade when your teacher makes you write about your favorite activity from the summer. I know the writing here is crap, but ya know, gotta keep working. Study abroad is gonna be a lot of trip posts, so maybe these’ll get better eventually. 😉

xoxo,

Cecilia

The Pursuit of Purpose

Here I am!

I am tasked to encourage

love and acceptance

in my life and my country.

I am here to follow the voice

inside of my heart that is constantly

encouraging me to live a more

meaningful life aligned with my

deepest values. 

I am an aspiring author:

introspective, autodidactic, and curious.

I work as a spiritual carer.

I’ve always lived my life trying to

find happiness,

pursue something more meaningful,

lead a value congruent life.

I have led a nomadic lifestyle,

exploring deeper the meaning of my life

and my values.

I want to understand what makes us

whole and happy.

So shying away, no more!

Lets get started!

Salam.

Peace out

 

This poem is a collage of the words of between fifteen and twenty people from around the world. None of the words are my own. The free online open courseware website edx.org offers an “Existential Counselling and Wellbeing” class. I was a participant in this class. To create “The Pursuit of Purpose”, I collected phrases from my classmates’ introductory discussion posts. Their phrases are quoted in this poem. I changed punctuation to make the poem flow, but the words are all original. I never used less that two consecutive words from a post or more than ten.

In this poem, I specifically sought to convey my classmates’ desire for growth and exploration. There is a certain yearning about the way they write, and a hopefulness too. Some of the words in this poem are written by a Syrian refugee. Some by a recovering addict. They hail from Lebanon, Australia, Belgium, Thailand, Brazil, America, Greece. And there is so much hope. 

Tamo Junto

I would like to address attachment

to people and my lack of it.

It has started to hinder my daily life.

Everyone is in this pursuit of

happiness but most don’t even know the

simplest way of finding it. 

We’re in the process.

I am here to follow the voice inside of my heart,

fervently directing me to support others.

If we need psychological help,

we just go talk to the ones closest to us.

A person who stands very

closely to my heart advised:

Communicate with the simple

joy of connecting with another person,

hoping to learn more about the

wisdom other humans have to offer.

Syrian refugee.

Recovering addict.

Aspiring author.

Strong and vulnerable people.

As they say in Brasil, “Tamo junto.”

(we are together)

 

This poem is a collage of the words of between fifteen and twenty people from around the world. None of the words are my own. The free online open courseware website edx.org offers an “Existential Counselling and Wellbeing” class. I was a participant in this class. To create “Tamo Junto”, I collected phrases from my classmates’ introductory discussion posts. Their phrases are quoted in this poem. I changed punctuation to make the poem flow, but the words are all original. I never used less that two consecutive words from a post or more than ten. I was particularly impressed by the desire for togetherness my classmates spoke about, and thus crafted this poem to mirror that.