That's it tomorrow I'm flying out to LA, well not quite but slowly taking a step in that direction. I arrived in London from Brussels this afternoon and am flying out to Washington DC tomorrow morning. An undergrad friend of mine is working in the White House and offered to show me around the West Wing so I'm stopping over on my way to California for a week-end of catching up and hanging out in BO's house. And on Monday morning I'm leaving for the Best Coast to start the adventure.
This did mean that I had to say goodbye to my friends and family again which is always a bit sad although I should probably be used to it by now. I just spent 3 weeks at home which is the longest I've spent there since my first year of college and I must admit it felt great, I slept like a log in my childhood bed. I also came to appreciate the place I grew up a lot more having developed a much wider perspective on life over the past few years.
My family lives all over now so it gets harder and harder to see them (lil' sis in Montreal, big sis in London, Dad in Lausanne and Mom in Cape Town) and me moving to LA isn't making things any easier so it's been nice to spend a bit of time with them. I also said goodbye to my old roommate in London. He's also one of my best and oldest friends so we went out for dinner with another childhood friend living in London and it feels nice to know I'll always have my closest friends from back home even while I'm making new ones halfway across the world.
Good old Belgian meal - for me mustard crusted pork foot with "pomme frite", for my lovely companion "boudins blanc et noir" with apple and potato purée
Finally, I've been trying (with little success) to get back in shape these past three weeks. When the pre-orientation trips sign-ups were open back in June I was in China and just about to go on a 20km hike up a mountain in one day. I felt great and signed up for a 4 day camping trip in Yosemite to Hetch Hetchy (supposedly very intense). 2 months later after having lounged around a lot, I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge. With other people talking about marathons, triathlons and even ironmen (!!! good luck Kyle), I've been feeling a bit uh... lazy. On top of that I'm hoping to get back into soccer this year. So I started running. Not much but enough to make sure that while I might be the last one up Hetch Hetchy, at least nobody will be carying me up. Luckily for me, I live close to a forrest and fields in Linkebeek and my runs are done where nobody can see me and in a beautiful setting.
My running ground
That's all for now as I better shape up - I'm visiting the White House tomorrow. See you all in LA!
-Chris Varin, 14'
