Writing from Vermont

Greetings!

It's been far too long.
Much has changed, but nothing too substantial.
All continues to be well.
I've enjoyed blogging this summer, and I hope to blog more, I've found the transition from writing in and of Scotland though became challenging when I returned to a (lovely) life that I was so used to before. Each day in Vermont or New Hampshire (I've been splitting my time pretty evenly between the two and jumping the state line often) doesn't seem as news/blog-worthy as my days in the U.K. Yet there will always be words to write.
I've read quite a bit of American Contemporary poetry these past few weeks.
If I hadn't left the book of my favorite poems in the car tonight, I would share a few lines here.
I've also been writing plenty.
I've begun the enormous (and slightly embarrassing to admit) task of writing a novel. Yikes. It's gone well so far. Day Three completed. I'm trying to take a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) approach which involves writing somewhere around 1500 words per day for a complete, unedited, full-length (well, I guess average length) novel at the end of thirty days. As NaNoWriMo is celebrated as a community event in November, I've never quite felt free enough from school and finals preparations each November to write that much per day, but June/July may be a different story. I've tried to use my evenings after work wisely.
I hope too, that by writing this all here, I stay motivated and finish.
It's a process.
It's positive and negative.
I'm happy I want to write.
I'm happy the ideas and characters and settings and descriptions haven't left my head in three days. I'm happy that I have a notebook nearby me at work to write down ideas.
Yet I'm not too pumped that it could detract from my internship...
The internship continues to go well.
I've loved working at community events each week. I've done my share of face painting and speaking with Vermonters about the upcoming Health Care exchange in which Vermont (as the only state in the country) will require all residents to have health coverage beginning in 2014 with businesses of fifty or fewer employees transitioning to the employees now purchasing independently.
I've continued to write articles on health and wellness, update social media platforms related to BCBSVT and edit plenty of health care magazine/brochure drafts.

I'm living more full-time now on the Saint Michael's College campus as it's closer to work, and this week I've been between NH and VT frequently with my brother visiting from California. After a year away, it's been wonderful to be on the Saint Michael's campus again and spend time with friends here every evening. My room is cozy and smells like a freshman dorm in the most beautiful sense of reminding me at every doorframe of the memories of first entering school here nearly three years ago. I've been reminded too, how much I'm enjoying still being an undergrad, and how happy I am to be here for the following year. I eat dinner here in the dining hall most nights with friends before evening walks and plenty of laughter as the sun sets. The grass is long and the Vermont trees are far greener than my memory recalled. Today we ventured through a residential area with large brick homes with wrap around porches, lilac bushes (not blooming), and old-fashioned street lamps. It was a warm night with a pink setting sun shortly before 9pm and so many residents were on porches, grilling outside and socializing with neighbors. The smell of coal was strong and so comforting in the relaxed-outdoor-summer-evening kind of way.

It's taken a few weeks, but I continue to feel better each day with my experiences and the life I'm living in the U.S. There are still little things I'll always remember and miss about Scotland -- a memory or two come back to me each day -- but I know that this is where I am for now. I'm striving towards living in the moment and realizing what I have here -- the small and large comforts I missed while in the U.K. are with me now. I know that as phenomenal and wonderful my experiences were there, the tricky part has been transitioning back and re-adjusting here. Words and spellings that I never mastered while there now come flooding back here -- I've gone into restaurants and asked for 'take-away' rather than 'to-go', I spell my words accidently with an extra 'u' in the '-our' sequence, and more than a few times have accidently referred to 'lines' as 'queues'. And while I know I'm not fully realizing it now, it is wonderful to be home. It was wonderful kayaking with my brother and hiking with my Dad this weekend, perusing the dozen or so books I hope to read soon (but will probably never get to in the near future), seemingly never talking for long enough with my Mom, finding and arranging picked clumps of daisies and wildflowers in the forests of New Hampshire, laughing with friends each night at Saint Michael's, listening to Bruce Springsteen everyday, and witnessing my grandparents celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary this past weekend. As I begin to watch this summer and this year unfold and the direction of the years to come become clearer, I want to remember where I am now and in the coming days. It's the present I want to remain focused on.