for every end, a new beginning

i've had a lot of lasts in the past week or so. i finished my last final (for the term) on saturday. i'll be honest. it felt amazing. this was also my last semester as a kines student, and may potentially be my last spring term of classes. tonight we had our last riders meeting before 'camp texas 4000'--the week long preparation we do the week before pedalling onwards towards alaska. my last day of work is on wednesday. i'm excited.

but with all these lasts means there are a bunch of starts to new things. i'm now officially a biomedical engineering phd student (back to engineering--woohooo!). i have to meet with my advisor in the next couple days, but it looks like this fall might actually be the last semester of classes i have to take. after that, i'll just be working on my dissertation. in two weeks, i will be the netherlands presenting at my first professional conference outside of the us (fortunately the presentation will be in english, not dutch). this summer will be the first summer since sometime in high school that i haven't had a paying job, and it will be the first summer in about five years that i will not be doing research. yep, it's going to be weird, and i intend to enjoy every minute of it.

on sunday to celebrate the end of the term (and the beautiful weather), i took one of my bikes on a little tour of austin. i grabbed a small backpack and packed a book, a camera and some sunscreen. lest you think this had the potential to turn into a serious ride, i was wearing my bathing suit and board shorts (meaning no 100 milers). i went to mozart's, a great little coffee shop on lake austin. it was nice to see the water. i am definitely missing it and am really looking forward to being in san francisco next week. after enjoying a cup of chai and a bit of my book, i packed up and rode westlake dr out to 360. it was fun to just 'putz' around and not have to worry about work to do or places to go. lately i have had it pointed out to me repeatedly how i have 'very different philosophies' on various aspects of life relative to other people. i have to say though that my sunday was very relaxing, even riding up hills. it just felt amazing to be outside and free from studying.

its scary to think how much has to be done in the next three weeks before i leave for alaska!