happy leap year.

since new years i've pretty much been a recluse in my room, finishing up two term papers for my grad classes and scrambling to get two last-minute applications to MA programs in geography together. (wish me luck.) i'm loving the queen's gambit by walter tevis. . .getting invited to eat fancy food in a bunch of people's apartments. . .crossing my fingers for obama. . .and, as usual, hanging around laura a bunch. she gave me the most amazingly-wrapped gift: a beautiful print she did - now up on my wall - which came rolled in a hand-colored map of eugene:



and outside my window this month: snow!



this is "lojman 106" where i live. as you can see there is NOTHING near it . . .except lots of mud currently hidden by the snow.



and these are a few views from atop the ankara kale (fort/castle) at sunset.









“Travel (like walking) is a substitute for the legends that used to open up space to something different.”
- Michel de Certeau, from The Practice of Everyday Life