I bought a round-trip plane ticket to Beijing, August 4-25. My friend Tyler had emailed me on my birthday a couple months ago and asked if I wanted to go to Tibet with him, his brother, and a couple friends this summer.

Tyler was on my geology thesis-research program in Montana the summer before senior year. He's quiet, but it's nothing-to-prove quiet instead of shy-quiet. He barely said a word the first few days of the program, when most of the others were sorting out who they were going to be friends with or getting together and one-upping each other with tales of sex and alcohol. When there's something interesting or important to say, though, he says it. Some mornings he would get up early and go fly-fishing alone (we were near Bozeman, a couple hours south of River-Runs-Through-It country).

When the program ended, we dropped his car off in Bozeman and drove Mom's Prius up to Glacier National Park. We both wanted to see it and thought hey, we're in Montana anyway, might as well (partly the result of warped east-coaster logic...distance-wise, that's about like saying "hey, we're in New York anyway, might as well see DC").

We bummed around for a couple days near the lakes, then packed light backpacks and covered 48 miles in 48 hours (we ran the last 2 to make it in time). There was a spectacular thunderstorm the last day. While I was thinking 'Cool, I love thunderstorms,' Tyler, perfectly calmly, says "I'm gonna walk about 50 yards behind you so in case one of us gets struck, we both don't, ok?"

He's completely devoid of that contrived self-definition that so many guys (and girls, but differently) our age try to pull that goes something like "I'm cool and ballsy and experienced and this is what I need to say and do to make you think that." He unpretentiously does what he likes, learns what he needs to know in order to do it, and has memories of batshit-crazy thunderstorms where getting struck by lightning was an intensely real possibility. I love being around him.

We drove back to Bozeman, completely exhausted, blistered feet hanging out the window, and picked up his car and parted ways somewhere near Yellowstone. That was the last I saw of him, except when our whole geology group briefly reassembled for presentations in the middle of senior year.

When we exchanged emails a couple months ago, I told him I'm definitely not in 48 mile, 48 hour shape. He said no prob, he and his friends were planning on a pretty laid-back trip. I was in touch with him again last week after I found out I could go. He forwarded me a string of emails between him and his friends. They're talking Everest base camp. Ummm time to start running more. I'm already the party-crashing girl (Tyler's the only one of the 4 guys I've met, and I didn't realize how much planning had already happened before I got on board), damned if I'm the slow one.

I'm beyond excited though. Three weeks from today.