July, in Reflection

I am going to be real candid here folks, July is gone and that's a big bummer.

I know that there are some people out there who can look straight to the end of summer with a glint in their eye, but man, I am not one of those people. On July 31st, I was at a movie with my family and as we walked out of the theater, I glimpsed the clock strike 11:59. At that moment I had to do a lot to keep the tears from welling up. Yes, I do sound like a massive drama queen. But when you're a student, the end of summer seems like beginning a 20-mile long march in boots with 30 pound weights tied to the bottom. As morbid as that sounds, its true. Don't get me wrong though, I am a person who loves learning. I value my education and adore taking notes in color-coordinated notebooks. But I feel that a classroom would have a hard time competing with the gift of free time with friends.

Anyway, July is over. And though it's sad, I think it would be good practice for me to review some of the big things that happened this month. As this is a new thing that I am trying, I want to reflect on things that happened in my own personal world, but also things that happened in the (much larger) outside one ;)

Let's start small. Or rather, with the things that happened in my little corner of life. As most American's do, I spent the beginning of July toasting to birthday of America. To outsiders, I'm sure this holiday seems like something that all American's participate in. You could even go as far as to imagine us all in chaps on the backs of a horses somewhere in Montana. Sadly, that is far from the truth. But that aside, I have to admit that I had a little bit of an internal struggle this year surrounding the 4th of July. It has been a rough year in America from all sides. Being a young country, we are still learning from our own mistakes and tripping over our own feet. And this year, we've done that A LOT. Growing up in this country and having roots here makes me proud to be an American. After all, we have done some amazing things. But there is a dark side to our past as well. Being a person of color and the child of an immigrant, it is overwhelmingly easy to recognize the flaws that we still face. Actually, it seems like everyday they become more obvious and more normalized. Anyway, enough of that rant. I am a political science major after all :)

The next two weeks of July I spent working and sleeping, working and sleeping, and working and sleeping. You know that drill... I think that brings us up to the last official week of July, which was much more eventful.

My family and I headed down through the many different landscapes of California. First through Ashland, Oregon. Then San Fran, to Santa Clara, to Los Angeles, and landing in Anaheim. I can bet you know what is coming next? Disneyland! I know, basic alert. Oh well, I love myself a good trip to the Magic Kingdom. And damn, it turned out to be magical alright. Packed full of people and hot as a mother, but always a good time.

Anyway, heading out into the world beyond my own, it seems that July was a fairly calm month. The usual (and unusual) ruckus of politicians aside, July was warm and filled with fires caused by climate change. Natural and unnatural fires raged across all four corners of America. Heat waves are taking the world by storm from the UK to the US. Besides the heat, we also found out that Jeff Bezos takes the cake for money-earned in recent history... what a way to be known! I guess that baseball is also the sport of the season, but if I am being honest, I couldn't be less interested in that. Feel free to share any more that I didn't mention!

To wrap up, my July was warm and filled with fun. I am more than sad to see it go, but I know it will come back around again. Thats all that keeps me plugging towards September. I included some of my favorite pictures from the month in the gallery below! Let's keep our spirits up as we head into August!

Ps. Happy late birthday to all the Cancer's and Leo's out there! Go into the world as your emotional but passionate selves :)