It's crazy that in a week and a half I will be in Ukraine! This summer has both dragged and flown by, but now it's over and I will be gone for two whole years. I've never been away from home for that long. When I come back will I feel like this is still home, or will I feel like I've left my real home behind in the land of onion-domed castles and the Cyrillic alphabet? I don't know, but I can't wait to start on this adventure!

My best friend, Hannah, and I got matching tattoos last week. Mine is still pretty red, so this is a picture of hers, but they are the same design. I love it.

Ah, here is an interesting story that happened recently. Last Wednesday was my last day of working at Angelo's (the family Italian restaurant that I've worked at since high school--5 years, to be exact), and at the end of the shift we had brownies and ice cream as a kind of  goodbye party. There were a lot of extra people there, and this girl, Ashley, had them all gather around me and her. Then she took both of my hands in hers and gave a really sweet speech about how much she loved me and was going to miss me, and then she kissed me. On the mouth. In front of everyone. And Amy videoed the whole thing. haha