.: time to get oriented.

I'm leaving in about an hour to attend a week-long orientation for the Augustinian Volunteers. I'm anxious, excited, not really that nervous, & really mostly looking forward to getting more focused on my imminent year abroad in South Africa. One of my best friends from college just had her orientation for a different volunteer program, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and she said it really helped her re-focus and reminded her why she wanted to do this year of service in the first place. I hope to come away feeling that centered.
I think I've overpacked, but it is eight days long. Although it's just down the turnpike in Wayne, it'll be nice to have some time away from home with new faces. I think there are a handful of other Villanova grads in the program as well so maybe I'll make friends with people I never even knew while at school!
Before finishing my errands (like getting a heinous passport picture for my visa and picking up medical forms from the doctor), I stopped by the book sale at the library again with my mom and sister. Today, the remaining titles are half-off... which means I just bought:

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
A Supposed Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace (which I almost bought at Border's for fifteen bucks last week!!)
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, and
Brick Lane by Monica Ali

for a grand total of.... FOUR DOLLARS. God bless the library.

That means that my "fall reading list" now looks a bit like this:

I can't wait to get stuck in! I think my commute by train to my new job in Center City will give me some much-needed reading time.

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was quite enjoyable; on Friday night, I stayed in with my family and then made a trip over to my friend Ashley's house for birthday cake and a hug, since she turned 22 this weekend. On Saturday, my college roommate Colleen & I met up in Philly for drinks and eats at Tria (one of my new favorite spots!) and then went to see Passion Pit at a sold-out show in the basement at the First Unitarian Church. It's one of my favorite venues, but I have to say it was less of a passion pit and more of a sweat pit. I've never been so disgustingly hot in my whole life. It was, however, one heck of a dance party!

Yesterday, my sister Niamh and I hung out together since she'll be moving back to school when I'm at orientation. We shopped (and I got super excited for fall), laughed a lot, & then made spicy black bean burgers for dinner- they were so delicious! The recipe is here if you'd like to try your own... I highly recommend using Hungry Student's variations on it.

And so, I leave you with a photo or two from the weekend, and à bientôt until I get home next week.