simple day with words from the dalai lama

looney tunes

last week in traverse city and grand rapids

veggie pizza for the sun set

he peed on me

that light we all look for

familiar traces

my mind

currently listening/dancing to: alt j's album, an awesome wave

learning about: stoicism

reading: kirk's copy of the bhagavad gita

i sit here on a beautiful night, trying to get two weeks worth of online philosophy homework done, feeling right in the middle of the emotive spectrum. i'm so satisfied by the material i'm learning for this class. i'm actually having fun. i'm also heavily anticipating all of the questions to ask kirk when i see him tomorrow. some heavy, some wonderfully light.

oh, and the weather today was enough to give happiness a definition. 

The nuns taught us there were only two ways through life- the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow.

Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.

Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things.

What I want to do, I can't do. I do what I hate.

Mother. Make me good. Brave.

help each other. love everyone. every leaf. every ray of light. forgive.



from my favorite film, tree of life by terrence malick. 

being home so far, my down time between adventures, has been wonderful.

very good things.

the beginning of the second day in barcelona was spent touring antonio gaudi's famous park güell, a mystical place unlike anything i've seen before. the weather, the views, the energy couldn't have made us more grateful to be where we were. 

our legs carried us through countless vendors, amazing spanish food markets, and boardwalks until we finally collapsed on the beach to take in more of the sea and the lovely spanish people that it charms. 

there aren't words to describe swimming in the mediterranean.

there were a group of men so full of life at the park making beautiful spanish-reggae music. 

they called themselves the mañaners. 

four days before heading home, we decided to escape to a different part of europe. barcelona, spain.

and it was beautiful, possibly my favorite of the places i got to go this semester.

between hectic days of traveling, our little adventure in barcelona was perfect. i think we'll be in withdrawal for a while. 

"je suis, chaque matin, le premier espagnol qui touche le soleil"

dali