Onward!

the return back home

I meant to post this the week I got back to the States, and then I meant to post it after a month, and then once I got to Bellingham, and then on the year anniversary of my departure (the 1st of October). BUT better late than never! It has been a good and soft transition back, first to home in Colorado and to both coasts visiting family, and finally back to my current home in Bellingham, Washington.

I’m back in a little house with my dear friends and a sweet dog, back in classes with favorite and new professors, and back dunking in the Salish Sea. Sometimes I feel like the last year didn’t really happen as I’m wrapped up in the way my life is now, and sometimes I’m pulled back into memories of the last year so sharply that it’s hard to believe I’m not still living out of a big backpack and moving countries every few months.

new little house!

I think the work of reflecting and synthesizing everything I’ve learned will be ongoing and internal. I’m thinking about ways to integrate back into this community I was a part of for a few years and how to share what I’ve been doing and also make space for more change to keep happening. I’m really grateful to this writing form for having given me space to wiggle and stretch around new ideas and experiences. It is so cool to look back and see how my perspectives on travel and my work shifted through the year.

Looking forward, I’ll be finishing my senior year here at WWU and graduating in June. My brother and I get to spend a month going down the Grand Canyon over my winter break with a crew of friends, and I’m working on sneaking weekend adventures in to balance out this whole having a schedule thing. I’m planning on heading back to Peru next August to work a Students for Rivers Camp, a 2-week intensive conservation program centered on permanent protection of the Marañón, the river where I spent the last few months of my grant year.

After that is still to be seen! I’m slowly checking out experiential education and community centered conservation jobs as I think about life post-grad. In the meantime, I’m hoping to have lots of fun with my friends! And academically, I’ll be working on a senior capstone centered around the Skagit River (about 30 minutes south of Bellingham) that aims to map the watershed and will revolve around themes of cross-border management, Indigenous stewardship, and historical and ongoing resource extraction.

me and my friends romping around Stuart Island on a recent sea kayak trip

That’s all I have for now :) Much love to all of you who have followed along, cheered me on, and welcomed me home! I hope to still use this blog intermittently to send updates and share what I’m working on. <33333!