WAY OVERDUE!

I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote, but at the same time it feels like only yesterday I returned to the Colorado! Forgive my absence, I have no good excuses for not updating.

my roomie and I baked a pie as soon as I got back!

Not too much has been going on since being back except re-adjusting back to life in America. Part of getting back to the daily grind has included working on my grad school applications full speed ahead. I hope to get them pretty much wrapped up by the time our post-internship ski trip comes along on December 10th. I've learned quickly, though, that if there's anything I learned in architecture school it's how to work well under pressure (and so trying to finish my applications a month before they are due reminds me of when I was an overachiever in high school!).

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting about my trip to the rest of the eMi Colorado Springs office during our weekly Friday worship time. Usually a project leader does most of the presenting and interns get a little time-slot in the presentation to talk about how the trip impacted them. But, as was announced last week, I am the first intern to have the entire 30 minutes to myself, seeing as my project leader is in the Middle East office. So, it was up to me to represent our Sudan team well, and also to give the Colorado Springs office a glimpse into life in the Middle East office. It was challenging not only because of the pressure of having all eyes on me, but also because my time in Egypt was difficult and I didn't want to get up there and be a Negative Nancy about MENA. Overall, I think the presentation went great and I felt like I had a good balance between high points and low points of the trip, and it was really rewarding to get to share the whole experience with my co-workers.

Elevations that I've been working on for the Girls' Dormitory building

Work has been going well. I've really enjoyed getting the buildings we designed in Sudan into CAD and seeing some of the drawings get to the point of printing. We hope to get the project done in the next couple of weeks for review, so I will be busily compiling all of the information into one report to be printed and sent out!

It's that bittersweet point in the internship where there are only a few weeks left and I am torn between focusing on investing in the people here, but also preparing to go home. I can't wait to return to Minnesota; being here has really shown me how blessed I am back home and what a wonderful community of people surround me there. However, as I reflect on the past few months with eMi, I am astounded by what a life-changing few months they were! It's funny to think about how upon graduation last spring, God had this awesome experience planned for me and I was completely unaware of how excellent it would be. I've gotten so much clarity on why I want to pursue architecture now (upon graduating I didn't even know if architecture was what I wanted to do in grad school), and so much hope and excitement for the opportunities that await me! And the people I've met are invaluable; I have such a great network of architecture and engineering friends around the globe now who enjoy the same kind of work that I do!

Prayer requests:

-Please pray for a stress-free and efficient finish to this term; it has the potential to be busy with work, grad applications and socializing and thus, stressful :/

-Please pray for the admissions committees of the schools I'm applying for : University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Virginia, and University of Texas- Austin; it never hurts to pray for them, right?! Mainly I am praying that where and if I get in, that those places would be places God wants me to be for this next step in life