I climbed all of the hills on the way home today

on my white Public bike. It was a cathartic moment at sunset, as Back-to-School night and my last summer paper are behind me.

I'm starting to come into my own at my new school, trying to enjoy something being new and unknown.

It's almost September and August has felt like a long month, with my head spinning from the excitement of transitions and the newness of it all.

You can do anything

Gem Renrag, my roommate Caitlin said to me, as I ended a relationship and moved tons of books yet again into storage.

You can start over at a new school. You can come back to an old apartment and not get stuck in your old ways. You can still be yourself, but cry because you are sad. Or smile because you are happy. You can take days to unpack and still not get started on your last paper that you have to complete this summer. You can struggle riding a new bike and start looking for a dog that you've wanted the last four years.

Back to SF and still trying to figure out what's changed within me and the city around me these past 2 months.

27 things learned about myself while in NYC this summer

This summer was one where I was stretched and challenged, beaten down and built up, hot and sweaty, then freezing cold from A/C seconds later.

I rediscovered myself artistically, by failing first and then attempting to transcend my failures. Here goes, 6 weeks encapsulated in 27 digits.

1) My screenprinting teacher told me I'm leaning towards fabric design with my prints.

2) Leaving a place and coming back makes your realize how much you loved it in the first place.

3) Relationships where it's hard to communicate are impossible to maintain.

4) I want to illustrate a children's book one day.

5) I'm inspired by being around other people like myself- teachers who love art and of 8 in my cohort, 3 are vegetarians.

6) I need Christian insight in my life in order to believe what I know to be true.

7) Sufjan and I aren't meant to be at this time (doesn't mean ever).

8) Watermelon pink beaded bridesmaid dresses photograph really well.

9) Crying before a wedding because you burnt your eye on a curling iron doesn't mean that it was just the curling iron that hurt.

10) Getting to see the homes where your friends from SF, who are like family, live is like getting a glimpse into their soul.

11) People in the South are the most skilled in their hospitality.

12) New Yorkers have a harsh exterior, but are often times kind and sensitive at heart.

13) Ivy League schools try to make you think that you won't be able to make it through the semester, only to make you doubt yourself and then realize that you were always going to be able to succeed all along.

14) Blue Bottle tastes better in San Francisco.

15) The East Village is more alive at night than the Upper West side.

16) Seeing familiar faces in an unknown city will always make you feel more at home.

17) Sleep in a city will always be hard, thus why you will need 12 hours or more at night for weeks after.

18) You never realize how people will be coming back into your lives, weaving their own stories in and out of your own.

19) Weddings are an incredible way to celebrate with friends, but something I'm not yet ready for myself.

20) Having quiet time before starting the day will inevitably make a city experience somehow more peaceful.

21) I will always have more at the end than when I started- aka 70+ pounds more.

22) When times get tough, go to F.A.O. Schwartz, and build your own muppet puppet that looks like the female version of animal.

23) Wear comfortable shoes or just keep buying sandals because your legs will be sore everyday from the city walking in different places.

24) Look back over your photographs at the end with a friend, so that you realize how much you actually accomplished in a relatively short period of time.

25) Bring friends together from all parts of your life, at a Sufjan Stevens concert or a Sicilian meal in the East Village.

26) Somehow, all of your worries will be solved in ways that you never even imagined that they would be.

27) Let your friends give out your phone number at weddings, because you have a hard time doing it yourself.