Life lately

 My life the last couple of weeks, according to my iPhone:

Okay this isn't on my iPhone, but the Davis Enterprise thinks I'm pretty cool and included a blurb about my trip in their online newspaper! Check it out here.

Bike & Build homework: reading up on affordable housing! 

Visiting the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity (and getting there by train + bike, of course!)

Overseeing the implementation of a student life mural at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) with my committee, Aggie Public Arts

Re-painting the Aggie Pride murals in the bike circles on campus with my committee, Aggie Public Arts

I should really have some more pictures of me biking... but that kind of requires two hands! Safety first! :) 

Bike trips and bean dip

Hello again, blog world. It’s been a while. 


I’ve been quite busy the last couple of weeks. Sure, there’s school and the ever-exhaustive list of extracurriculars keeping me busy. And of course, there’s tons going on with Bike & Build-- the final blitz of fundraising, sweat equity hours with the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity, affordable housing presentations, and spending lots of time (but not enough!) in the saddle. 


I’m in the one month countdown. It hasn’t totally hit me yet. Most of my peers dread that “so what are you going to do after you graduate?” question from inquisitive but well-meaning people, but not me. Lately, I’ve found myself talking more and more about my trip with those around me. Cashiers at Trader Joes. UC Davis staff. Doctors and nurses at the health center. Random strangers. Seriously. I can’t help telling everyone- I am so excited! 


And while I am doing a lot of preparation for this trip, there’s a lot I can’t plan for. As an aspiring urban planner, it’s no surprise that I like to plan things, have everything accounted for, and know what to expect. But that’s not how life works. Some of the best things happen organically.


As I get closer to the start of this adventure, I find myself thinking about John Lennon’s line from his song “Beautiful Boy”- "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." I’m trying to work on being more open to letting life work in its mysterious ways, having faith that things tend to work out for the best and accepting the things that are out of my control. 


I’ll be honest. Dealing with uncertainty is tough. It’s just one of many different things I feel towards this trip. At times I feel like human bean dip- each layer representing something unique: 


 • Cheese that’s haphazardly placed on top: that carefree feeling of “I’m just going to ride my bike casually, without abandon, wearing a huge smile on my face”. Cue the gentle breeze to blow through my hair like I’m in a commercial for a convertible. I’m sure as soon as I hit my first mountain and begin to climb this feeling will disappear all but completely. 


• Sour cream that is totally not necessary but it tastes oh sooo good: the privilege I feel about this whole trip, being somewhat self-indulgent to take time and go ride across the country. 


• Pico de gallo chopped into tiny bits of tomato, cilantro and onion: the overwhelming support from my family and friends. Letters of encouragement, financial contributions to my trip, gear for my bike. 


• Spicy salsa with a kick: Dangerous, exhilarating sense of adventure. Biking across the country, seeing new sites, operating heavy power tools to build houses. 


• Bright green guacamole: Connection with nature. Being outside all day and then camping beneath the stars at night. Seeing the country by the “greenest” and most sustainable mode of transportation! 


• Beans: Uncertainty, nerves, doubt. That heavy pit in your stomach. That “OHMYGOD WHAT AM I DOING- I’m about to bike over 3,700 miles with twenty complete strangers for two and a half months?!” feeling. Wondering if I’m in good enough shape, if people will like me, if I’ll be able to do it. 


All of these feeling are important and critical to the experience, and I’m working on embracing them all- especially the beans.

Happy May is Bike Month!

The weather has warmed up, it's May is Bike Month, and fundraising continues to roll along. Tomorrow I will begin getting trained as a construction volunteer with the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity chapter. I am so excited! My summer adventure is starting to feel real!

I want to ride my BICYCLE!!

Exciting news-the bike that I will be riding across the country this summer has arrived! A GIANT sized box with a GIANT brand bicycle inside. Pretty perfect, right? Can't wait to open it up, get it assembled, and start riding!

I wonder what's inside?? :) 

Also, fundraising is going well for my ride. I've raised over $1,700 already. I'm so impressed by everyone's generosity. You guys are AMAZING! If you're considering donating to my Bike & Build adventure (the money will be distributed as grants to housing-related organizations around the country), be sure to check out my rider page. 

Bike & Build: The Ultimate Adventure

It doesn’t feel real yet, but in less than ten weeks, I’ll be graduating from UC Davis with a degree in urban planning (and a minor in Latin)! At school, my studies have focused on better understanding the connection between people and the built environment. Over the years, I’ve worked for the City of Davis’ Transportation Planning Department, the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington DC, a landscape architecture firm in Sacramento, and volunteered in Honduras as a construction worker.

I am so excited to start this next chapter of my life and begin working to strengthen communities through well-planned architecture and infrastructure. Before officially joining the working world, I’ve planned one final hurrah—the ultimate adventure that combines my passions for traveling, bicycling, architecture and helping others. This summer, I will be biking across the country to raise money and awareness for affordable housing with the nonprofit Bike & Build. Over two and a half months, I will be biking 3,757 miles from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Vancouver, British Columbia. On days that I am not biking, I will be volunteering with local Habitat for Humanity chapters and helping with construction on affordable housing projects. To put it simply, I am beyond excited and cannot wait!

In order to participate in Bike & Build, each cyclist must raise $4,500. The proceeds from the trip will be used as grants to fund affordable housing projects around the country. During our travels, riders will be able to make donations to various non-profits and housing authorities. I am writing to ask that you support me and Bike & Build by making a tax-deductible donation. I know that your donation and the contributions from others will have a serious impact on improving the housing landscape across the country. Already, I am well into my fundraising efforts!

As part of my commitment to Bike & Build, I am spending my final quarter preparing for the trip. I’m taking a class on housing policy to better understand issues of housing inequality in our country. I am reaching out my family, friends and the Davis community for financial and moral support for my trip. I’m also contributing my own work paychecks this quarter to help fund my trip. And of course, I’m training like crazy to get in shape for the trip of a lifetime!

I encourage you to look at Bike & Build's website for more information. To donate to my cause, please check out my personal page, and of course keep checking this blog to keep in touch during my journey.

Enjoy the ride,

Debs


Sustainable Cities of Northern Europe study abroad program.

(Copenhagen, Denmark 7/2010) (photo credit: Peter Hess)


Bike + backpack full of food= grocery shopping in style!

(Davis, CA 3/2012) (Photo credit: Sam Halstead)

Destination: Honduras

Summer vacation: time to revisit the blogosphere.

I spent the last week in Honduras with the non-profit Global Brigades working on a series of home infrastructure projects. Students from UC Davis, UCLA and Maryland united forces to become the Bruggies and work with the rural community Zurzular. We poured cement floors in homes to alleviate the prevalence of Chaggas disease, built special stoves to help combat respiratory problems, built latrines and pilas for water storage, and taught classes in Spanish about the human body to the children.

The experience was humbling, to say the least. My major lets me study how to empower communities, and this experience was certainly a good exercise in praxis. Public health initiatives are definitely a real and viable solution to some of the serious inequality that exists in this world. Our projects, while small, did help improve the quality of life for the families we worked with. They also are efficient. For example, the eco-stoves use less firewood, which means cutting back on deforestation and the amount of time spent gathering wood. Having water storage devices frees up time to advance economic mobility rather than spending hours walking to and collecting water. It’s things like this that we take for granted back home in the United States. We forget how interconnected social and economic forces are with health. Good health should not be a privilege: it is a basic right.

In Honduras, I found enjoyment in simple pleasures. Long bus rides were spent rocking out to reggaeton and cheering to Lil’ Jon’s “Get Low”. Making friendship bracelets for new friends. Relaxing in hammocks. Drinking wine and watching fireflies. The slew of jokes about unfortunate bowel movements and getting sick. Plantains guest starring in every meal in a new form. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches around the clock. The sun rose, I spent the day doing construction, and then the sun set. The Internet and the rush of daily life felt so far away.

But now, onwards to Washington, D.C. Another airplane, another city, another adventure. Final exams ended not too long ago, and already, my summer vacation is in full swing.

We're not in Denmark anymore, Toto!

Just a little update to say that I've left Scandinavia behind and am now in Hannover, Germany. These last few days in Odense were a mix of bike riding and relaxation. Odense takes its claim to fame as a cycling city, so we put its moniker to the test and went on a 6 hour bike ride around the city. The verdict: excellent biking infrastructure, interesting cycling campaigns, and truly immaculate parking facilities. They have lighted, music-filled underground parking at the train station-- way cool! The connectivity between the park systems was also really admirable. We went around numerous parks, weaving in and out between zoos, bridges, lakes, fountains and these really cool boats that looked like swans. Being in Odense gave me a few days to catch up on some of my sleep, and was an excellent close to my time in Denmark.

Our last day in Denmark was spent on the island of Ærø, whose claim to fame is being an island run almost entirely by renewable energy sources. We visited a solar water heating farm and the energy distribution center, where they burned wood pellets and straw as a backup system if they don't have enough solar energy. It was really exciting, but my favorite part was visiting and learning about their wind power. We visited some of their turbines and a speaker told us about the shareholder system that the 6,500 citizens of the town created and use to operate and manage their power. We went inside of a wind turbine-- which was a super exciting moment for all of us. Oh, and for the record: wind turbines do NOT cause a large amount of avian accidents and they do NOT sound terrible. I actually found their noise to be relaxing and peaceful.

Now I'm looking forward to our adventures in Germany! Our first night in Hannover has already been full of excitement. We found an outdoor roller disco, which makes me realize that roller blading never died... it just moved to Germany. Also, I tried German Bratwurst Sausage....and it was quite tasty! There goes my 5 year stint of vegetarianism. Oh well; when in Europe!

PS photo cred to Christina!