it's the faces, not the places

i like to think that i have traveled quite a bit for a girl of twenty-three. i've had some amazing experiences, above water and below, in the sun and in the snow. the thing that stands out in my mind about a place, however, isn't how beautiful a sunset or a temple or a painting was. the images that come to my mind from traveling are the faces of the friends i have made along the way.

i think of my summers in hawaii, and i think of brandy and keely. wherever we were, we were laughing together. we took too many photos. we spent too much time in the sun (yes, i do have sunspots already). we got on the bus without having a destination, just stopping when we saw a nice beach, waterfall, or something interesting on the side of the road.

i think of my junior year in italy, and i think of patrick, sara, and jacqueline. we may have complained about our program, but we had far more fun than anyone else. we spent hours in coffee shops, museums, and piazzas. we were always dancing. or cooking. we cooked a lot.

i think of my time teaching in thailand, and i think of leslie, grat, and katherine--the yellow spotted boxfish of love. we met in chiang mai and became life-long friends. we spent every weekend together tearing it up in bangkok's clubs, lounging on the beach, talking about our schools, and, let us not forget, getting terrible haircuts and funny henna tattoos.

i think of bali, and i think of camilla and warren. camilla and i are quite possibly the world's best divemaster team. we come from two very different places, and yet we think so similarly. and then there's warren, the love of my life. i'm so glad the three of us decided to go surfing on sunday mornings.

i think of koh phi phi, and i think of my dive girls. sure there were lots of interesting boys on the island, but they came and left. the dive girls made everyday in "the office" fun and every night an adventure. i'll never forget my going away party...completely covered in fluoro paint, we danced on the rooftop of the banana bar to "sex is on fire."

i'm so much happier in korea now that i have a group of friends here. amanda, gina, and karla, those will be the faces that will come to mind with this place.