freedom!!! (and i went to arabia...)

I'm free!  I'm free!  I have eight months ahead of me that do NOT include sitting in classes!!  I just finished my last final today.  My final practical was yesterday.

Before all the madness that was studying and test-taking this week, I enjoyed a dinner and white elephant Christmas party on Friday night with Emory's chapter of Graduate Christian Fellowship.

gcf Christmas party attendees from emory with two from georgia tech

This past Saturday, I went to Arabia!  Arabia Mountain, that is.  My "little," Moire, and I went hiking at Davidson-Arabia Nature Preserve.  The two peaks, Bradley Mountain and Arabia Mountain are sort of smaller versions of Stone Mountain, but much less visited, and much more quarried.  There are a couple endangered species of plants on the stark landscape there, and a sort of surreal beauty in the barrenness of the peaks.

goofy girls near the top of bradley mountain

prickly pear?

evidence of the quarry operations, you can see stone blocks in the background

stark landscape, but beautiful

odd gatherings of stone blocks - why did they do this?

they obviously got large chunks of stone here!

ruins of a granite industry building

The 360 views from both peaks were gorgeous, much less city and more trees visible than from Stone Mountain, possibly simply because Arabia and Bradley Mountains are not as high.

Today after my final, I had my last frozen yogurt run with my "big," Kim.  And after that I went climbing at Stone Summit - my third time ever, and only the second time since living here, the first was the day after my interview.  We had a decent-sized crew from the Emory wall - Marius, Craig, Karen, Lisa, Jia, and me.

kim and me at yogli mogli

stone summit is so big!  so many options, so little time!

Tomorrow's plan is a lot of packing, sorting, and a trip to a thrift store (to drop off a bag of stuff).  Then I'll pick up Judy from the airport, we'll get a group of people together and walk up Stone Mountain, and come back to my place for one last hurrah - home made pizza!  Then Saturday morning the road trip begins...