Hello again.

I've been working and traveling and working and...here I am: a little muddled and having trouble keeping track of which day is which. For the most part this is not an issue because most services (i.e. food) are available every day. It does get a little annoying when I need the library or the bank so I make the extra effort to arrange those errands successfully.

I had a lot of fun traveling around Ireland a bit as well as Italy, a bit of France and a second trip to Amsterdam. I had serious difficulty remembering which language I should speak, even once I got back to Ireland. I was walking through Dublin and thinking I needed to translate into the few words I have in other languages.

I enjoyed some of the silence of being in the midst of people and not speaking because I don't really speak the language(s). I am enjoying the time in my apartment to regroup and get back to my dissertation. The time off was nice in that I could forget some of the details I was agonizing over and focus on the stuff that's remained strongest. My advisor is on vacation, but he assured me that he will be accessing his email so he can help support me in this.

I hope this finds you all well. And I hope no one worried about my lapse into silence. I'm still here and still sane. I am intensely ambivalent about life after August 30th and that's an interesting experience. I really enjoy being in Ireland, but I really miss being able to wrap my arms around my loved ones. And I miss San Francisco. I know I'll come back to Ireland again soon and that makes this all a lot easier. It still hurts, but it's a little easier.