Rest in Peace, Jasmine Jahanshahi

This post is going to be on a slightly less upbeat note, as I found out yesterday that one of my friends, floormates, and classmates from UC Berkeley passed away after her apartment caught fire. Jasmine was studying in Paris at Sciences Po, and was quite frankly one of the brightest and smartest girls I have ever known. I remember her coming into my dorm room freshman year, sitting on my desk while I was writing a paper, and she and I spending the next hour talking about the intractability of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, just like that. Jasmine was truly a worldly soul who never once stopped exploring, learning, or asking why things are the way they are. She wanted to make the world a better place, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that she did just that. Her beautiful spirit and contagious passion to LIVE life was something that touched every person who knew her. It's hard not being in Berkeley to share her memory with our other friends, because we are all currently (like Jasmine was), living our dream and studying abroad. But we are all reminded that you don't have to be back-packing across Europe or riding elephants in Thailand or skydiving in the Grand Canyon to live life to the fullest. Please take the time to appreciate how beautiful and really precious life is, and that no matter where you are or what you are doing, it is too short to ever spend one second not doing something you love with the people you love. That's all there is to it! That said, get off the computer, go outside, and LIVE! 

gros bisous in loving memory of Jasmine <3