Alright well... First of all I just have to say WOW HOW TIME FLIES. It honestly seems like I was just sitting here in these airplane seats that double as floatation devices typing away on my iPad on the tray table in front of me... "I’M GOING TO ENGLAND.” Ha well now I'm coming back!! Hard to believe…
To be honest I am really really excited to be going home and to see my family and friends and town and SNOW again....but I know I am really going to miss England. It is kind of impossible to come up with a word to describe this semester... As I sit here all sniffley, I am just thinking to myself how crazyy blessed I am. I really reallyyyy lucked out on this trip. I got to see so many beautiful places, meet so many beautiful people, and overall just have a beautiful time.
Reflecting a bit, I am really quite proud of myself. (Or as the English would say, “proper chuffed”) I was away from home for a long time! At least, it was the longest time that I've ever been away from home... And I know this is cheesy and cliché but it really was the time of my life.
As I also said in my first blog, the theme song for my trip was Needtobreathe's "Keep Your Eyes Open". "If you never leave home, never let go, you'll never make it to the great unknown… keep your eyes open, my love."
I really tried to keep that on the forefront of my mind everyday this semester. Elyse, be open minded today. Keep your eyes open to see everything you possibly can- especially the little, less-extravagant things. I've definitely seen a lot that's for sure. Everyone always talks about study abroad as this massive "life-changing experience". Well, in the words of Josh Garrels "I've been changed by what I've been shown". Changed for the better, of course.
I like to think I had a very good perception of who I was before I left. I don't know that it's a matter of feeling like I know myself better now because I "profoundly discovered myself" or anything like that but it's more of I just feel even more solidified in who I am. I feel like I was really able to connect with people and genuinely share who I am and what I believe with them. As I mentioned before, I got to have some really solid faith talks and then just about life in general too and I don't know it's hard to explain but good conversation = good relationships= good memories. Something I appreciated very much and referenced multiple times throughout the past 3 months was something that Kelsey Walsh wrote me in a letter before I left: "you can always make more money but you can't make more memories." She helped remind me to not be so concerned with money and to really do everything I could because guess what? You can't take money with you when you go. Heck I need to listen to my yellow sub too. "LV2DAY". My boss Patrick wrote me a note I hung up in my room too. “Elyse, have a fine time and live in the moment.” Definitely feel like I did…and I’m so thankful for that because that moment comes and goes all too soon…
So, to keep this blog from going on forever, I am going to just highlight a couple of my "highs and lows" of the semester.
HIGHS:
*Seeing the 1975 and The Maine and Lydia live in concert in London
*All the traveling I got to do!! Especially Amsterdam and Wales
*meeting so many great people especially the Seattle girls, Kotryna, Batman, and the girls on my floor
*NOT GETTING TO OBSERVE IN A SCHOOL. Ahhh so so so upset about this... With all the traveling I think it made it hard to have a set schedule :/ :/ but I should have tried harder because this is something I really wanted to do while I was over there…
*procrastinating on my essays resulting in mega stress the last week
*feeling like, because of all my traveling, I wasn't really at 'uni'. I mean I spent my fair share of time in the library but I feel like my 'study abroad' was much more 'abroad' weighted. I knew I wanted to travel a lot going into this but I don't know, I just feel like I wasn't at the university as much then. This isn't to say that I regret traveling so much, it definitely stays a high, just the other side to it is that I wasn't as present at school (sound familiar 3rd floor girls :P)
Reflecting on the way to the airport this morning, I decided I didn't want to talk about my trip using the words "should have" or "could have". I am thankful for the time I had and for the experiences I had.
Father talked in mass yesterday about the importance of reflection. All you Carroll kids know that silence is something Father Marc drills a lot too. "How can we listen if we are constantly surrounded with noise?"
So. The lesson that has been reiterated to me during these past few months: keep your eyes, ears, mind, and heart open. Forget the fact that I was half way across the world. It doesn't matter what country you are in; what matters is that each and every day you are given you have a choice. You can step out of bed and mindlessly wander through your day seeing everything in black and white and writing everything off as boring and mundane. Or, you can be like Bob, the Lovespoons shop owner in Wales, and get out of bed every day recognizing that you have a pulse. That you are alive. You can be like Joseph, the poet on the streets in London, and do what you love. Even if you get stuck, don’t quit. Keep trying.
The world is one heck of a place. Full of many beautiful things. Unfortunately though, we don’t get all the time in the world. Our clocks are ticking. So while our hearts are beating, let us go out and see the beauty of the world. Let us go out and hear its music. Let us go out and attempt to understand all of its wonders. Let us go out and fall in love with the world.
I know I have.
<3 <3 <3
Thank you all for coming along with me on my adventure! What a crazy one it has been.
Cheers for the last time…
Keep Calm and Study Abroad.
Peace,
Elyse (: