Well this past week has been pretty eventful. On Friday, the event that had been looming over us since we began the program had finally come: the Final Symposium. And now that it’s done and all the stress and anxiety has been washed away, it was pretty sweet! As much stress and work goes into these kinds of things, it’s always very rewarding to share what you’ve been working on with your peers and colleagues and have them share their own work-babies with you. As much as I’m terrified of public speaking it was a good feeling to stand in front of the crowd and show them some of the images that we received for the Wild Rivers Coast Project. And it’s always fun to dress professional for a day! (only for a day though, that’s more than enough)

Happy Professional Dustin in his non-natural habitat

When I had first told friends from SoCal that I was going to be in Oregon for the summer many of them were quick to exclaim “I’m going to come visit you!” Well nine weeks later and not one friend has made it up here until now. On Wednesday night, one of my oldest friends came to visit me. I have known Jordan literally since I’ve been born. Our dads went to college together and their group of homies made it a point to raise all their kids together once they had them. Fast forward many, many years and you have nine intelligent, adventurous, and deliciously mixed brown adults. Jordan definitely embodies these adjectives. He graduated college Summa Cum Laude, is dedicating his life to public service, and has traveled much of the world, even living in Bolivia for a year teaching English to kids. He actually has been working a 9-5 for the past year but due to a lack of fulfillment decided to quit his job two weeks ago and is now starting a trip through the main 48 states. I was fortunate enough to be his first stop. And though we are very different in a lot of ways I love the guy to death and I’m so happy I got to spend some quality time with him for a few days. I wish I had had more time to show him the South Coast, but I’m very glad he got to accompany me on my adventures up north and that we could experience the eclipse together.

We played putt putt at Bandon Dunes and I got two holes in one and my highest score so far. Holla at cha boiii.

Eclipse photo feat. Zach’s trademarked eclipse photos

In addition to hanging with Jordan, I was able to have one final, elongated chillness with the North Coasters which was very swell. Jordan and I stayed at Hatfield on Friday and Saturday night (thanks Neil) and in Corvallis on Sunday night. During those days, we went to the beach, checked out the farmer’s market, ate some good food, checked out cute Newport shops, made Eclipse t-shirts, watched Game of Thrones, and juggled soccer balls. On top of that we all saw the eclipse which was INSANE. All in all, it was a great weekend shared with chill ass people, some whom I knew well, others who I didn’t at first but now I feel like I do. I didn’t get to hang out with these people as much as I would have liked this summer so I’m very happy this weekend happened. I will say it, North Coasters are a chill cohort. Now, I am tired and slowly trying not to accept that the program is coming to a close so I’m going to slide into bed. Night.

TOTALITY

Eclipse squad feat. Jordan’s face

Unrelated to everything I talked about but Zach thought this sleeping bag made him look like Jon Snow so I kind of have to show him and the world how false that statement was.