Hello from Portland

Dearest teammates and parents of teammates:

We are sitting here in our leadership abode in Portland… talking about you, thinking about you, planning our semester with you in mind! We can't wait to meet you!

Today we explored Portland, and we encountered a great many things, which we'd like to share with you. Some were unexpected, some could have been predicted, and some were downright silly. As we both rode the yellow MAX line downtown for the first time, we realized that Ben is actually extremely tall, too tall to take Selfies with anyone under 7 feet (see photographic evidence included). We spent the majority of the day walking around downtown Portland, looking for food as we had gone to a challenging yoga class immediately before this excursion. We hit up some food carts, and then came upon a life-sized paper-mache stallion on the sidewalk that was begging for some attention. This was the first stallion that either of one us has ever touched with our bare hands, and if you're lucky, you might be able to see a video of this interaction during the course of our semester.

Also if you are lucky (which you already are, as our fortunate semester teammates 🙂 you will be able to learn the magical skills of frisbee, slack-lining, and cribbage — all of which were picked up today in the hopes that we could unite over a shared love of games and trying new things.

Jess then proceeded to drag Ben to the manliest stores in Portland — included but not limited to: lululemon and prAna. There were lots of men with beards. Surprisingly, Ben really enjoyed his experience and almost found a new pair of pants. To make up for this interaction, Jess then serenaded Ben with a rendition of "Steal My Girl" during the great sushi eat-off of 2015.

You might be asking yourself: Did they really do all this in one day? The answer is yes. Of course we did. We are Maya – and so are you! And we can't wait to meet you!!