"Lidia's".

I know it's spelled wrong, but what's a girl to do?

I'm in Pittsburgh for MathFest, and last night I was lucky enough to go to a great dinner with some of my professors from St. Mary's. They found this restaurant and just had to take me. "You have to go to Lidia's with a Lydia!!"

It was fantastic. I felt at home. I'm here in Pittsburgh on another trip in this crazy summer, and I felt at home.



The past 8 months I haven't been at home, in Bowie, for more than 5 days in a row. From leaving for Budapest in January, to flying home from Budapest, driving up to Potsdam, driving over to Vermont, driving home to Maryland, driving up to Pittsburgh...and there's even more to come!

But here I am, sitting at a table with people who have influenced not only my academic life, but my life in general; people I haven't really seen since December, and I just couldn't help but sit back and smile. Smile. That's what I always seem to do when I'm with these people.

Dave, a professor who I get to TA for this fall (and am super duper really excited for it), looks over at me and says, "It feels like home, doesn't it?"


He couldn't have been more right.

Me, Dave, Casey, & Alex

It doesn't matter where you are, what state you're in, if you're driving, flying, drifting: it's about who you are with that makes a place home.


Today I gave a talk with two other people on the research we did this summer. We had a little hiccup in the beginning, but I think we recovered well. Our talk was packed: standing room only. That was exciting :)



This is just the beginning. The next few months are going to be jammed pack with life's events. Math. Field Hockey. New life. Math. Grad School. Math. GRE. Math.


Wait...did I mention math?!