"Oh, I just got back from South Africa."

I know, I know - I've been slightly MIA the past couple of months. Please, allow me to explain...

The beginning of May was infused with final exams (for FIVE classes, mind you) and the relocation of my entire office to multiple buildings. Two days after my last final, I left for a two week vacation to South Africa. Upon my return, I was sick for a week and then had to get acclimated (read: unpack) to my "new" office which is, in essence, a cubicle. (Thank God I'm only here for 2 months.)

Now that my suitcase is finally unpacked and my routine is once again somewhat normal, I can now tell you about my wonderful vacation to South Africa!

Except that I really don't know how to describe it. It is truly indescribable!

Adam, Kristi, and I hit all of the touristy hot spots:
- Lion Park outside of Johannesburg -- feeding giraffes and watching lions feed
- a 3 day all inclusive safari in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve (my personal favorite)
- a drive to/through/along The Garden Route
- riding elephants in Addo at a sanctuary through the mountains, with views of giraffes, zebra, and wildebeest
- visiting the infamous surf town of Jeffrey's Bay (J-Bay, to the locals)
- bungee jumping from Bloukrans Bridge in Tsitsikamma National Park -- Note: at 216 meters, this is the highest commercial bungee jump in the world! (Miraculously, my mother was not too concerned about me doing this.)
- stopping at the Southernmost Tip of Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet
- Gansbaai for cage diving with great white sharks (Mom was, however, eager to hear about this. She was actually excited for me to do this! Maybe she was on medication that day...)
- Franschoek & Stellenbosh for a few (ok, a dozen) winery tours and tastings
- Cape Town -- Table Mountain/Lion's Head/cable car ride, Cosy Bay, Boulder's Beach, V&A Waterfront
- and a few other random and miscellaneous stops at wherever the wind blew us

This was, hands down, the vacation of a lifetime. I can't choose one vacation over another as being my favorite because I feel that each vacation I've taken has lent itself to completely different adventures. We met some wonderful people along our journey and had amazing experiences that brought us together as even closer friends than we were before.

I am just so so so thankful that I have the support and resources to take such amazing vacations!

Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. (If you want to see more, check out my Facebook or email me for a link.) Enjoy!

I'm alive!

(Great, now I'm going to have that song in my head...)

I just realized that it's been almost 6 weeks since I have updated all of my fabulous readers! I do apologize for the delay.

A brief synopsis of my life as of late:

The end of April and beginning of May marked the end of the Spring 2011 semester which meant papers, projects, presentations, and final exams for the academic side of my life. This, along with the fact that I had to prepare not only my office but my entire building for a close/renovation for the summer (aka the professional side of my life), left me a basket case. Throw in a visit from my best friend Megan and then a little two week holiday (and related planning) to South Africa and there you have my absence explained!

Many, many people have asked me for pictures from SA. The thing that they don't realize is that I just returned to the States on Sunday evening. Give a sister some time to shower and grocery shop, geeze!

Once I have had time to catch my breath, I promise that I will post more blogs and update you on my SA travels, both in picture and word form.

I'M FREE!

FINALS ARE OVER!

I am so giddily excited that I just don't know what to do with myself!

Actually, that's a lie. I know exactly what I'm going to do - READ!

I have put my "for fun" reading life on hold since late August so that I could devote all of my time to my studies. I submitted my last final - an online exam and project - last night around 7 p.m. I went home and immediately started reading Tucker Max's Assholes Finish First. I figured that I would lightly delve back into the world of pleasure reading by starting with this book.

After this book, I plan to finally finish Eat, Pray, Love and then move on to Nelson Mandela's A Long Walk to Freedom. EPL has been half read since August; Mandela is going to be a tough and lengthy read. At some point, I also need to do research for my vacation to South Africa in June. (More details about that in another post.)

Even after classes are done, there is still so much to do!