"Dude. These waves are heavy."

So....a couple of my friends here are into surfing (none very advanced, but still) and, over the course of hanging out with them and hearing them talk about it....I've heard this phrase a lot. I went surfing for the first time today (it was SO GREAT - more in a second) but I still have no idea what it means. Ideal? Rough? Intense? I could look it up but I'm really just fine not knowing. but anyway, I went surfing today and it was awesome. Both of the friends who surf have long boards, which makes them easier, and they were really patient in teaching another of my friends and me. I rode several waves in all the way kneeling several times and even STANDING a couple of times! I've never been a huge adrenaline junkie - partly because I err on the side of caution, and partly because I've never had the opportunity - but this was fantastic. It really is almost intoxicating once you stand up, and you can't get enough of it....even if you are heartlessly battered by the waves the other 60% of the time. Maybe there's a life lesson about ambition in there somewhere......

. . .

We're halfway into our second week of classes, and things are wonderful. I LOVE my internship at the planning office here...everyone is laid back and fun - it's almost like The Office with Steve Carrell except no one is as excruciatingly awkward as Dwight or Michael. Everyone seems genuinely happy that I'm working there with them. It's so great to feel welcomed & included. Erin (the town planner, who's only a few years older than me which is so cool - gives me hope for finding a job!!) - anyway, Erin and I talked about some possibilities for a project and decided on something that was mentioned in a land use plan from a few years ago... the need for a 'development evaluation tool' to review proposed developments based on criteria established as priorities by the town. Beyond that, though, I'm learning a lot about the inner workings of municipal government, which is a huge amount of what most planners do. Erin is terrific - she takes the time to explain projects, decisions, conflicts, legal processes...basically anything she's doing that I don't understand. I went to the planning and zoning board meeting this evening, which was really interesting. They (at the Town Hall, where I work) all give me a hard time about giving up hope on the field of planning now that I'm seeing how slowly local government really works, but really it's great to get a 'real life' perspective - to see it in process. To see real people (i.e. people I know, more or less) making decisions that will affect the town for a while to come. THIS is where change happens! Cool! ......or, more realistically, where change can happen. [Thankfully Manteo has done remarkably well in terms of planning for the long term....as opposed to, say, Nags Head, which is over-developed and quite unpleasant to drive through.]

. . .

Our classes are going to be a lot of work, but I can tell already that I'm going to learn a lot. We get credit for 6 classes, but only three of them are in the classroom - Coastal Law & Policy, Coastal & Estuarine Ecology, and Resilient Coastal Communities. [The other three are the internship, a one hour workshop/community speaker series, and a group capstone research project.] More on all those later......mainly because I should be doing reading for all of them and instead I'm doing this.......but it's such a worthy object of my attention!

. . .

Now for some pictures:

A cute little snake I found while sweeping my porch after the hurricane.

beginning of a truly incredible sunset...

cool huh?! on our way to the beach

our beach of choice at Nags Head. this is where I was surfing today!

wow.

My ideal house turns out to be this bungalow c.1880 right on the sound in Old Nags Head. I've always known I'd know it when I saw it, and this was it. Sweet, old, very full of character...with a big wrap around porch and lots of windows.

View from the porch out over the sound. The weather on the evening we were there was also ideal.

The group, minus Robb and plus a few.... from L to R, Colleen (it was her house), Robert (our very dear program director), Jamie, Betty, Josh, me, Sasha, Alex, Nathalie, and Ann.

. . .

As Robert often says, "Ah! wonderful! hooray!" 

I couldn't agree more.