Stage 3- Ireland and a Few Reflections

It's getting closer and closer- and now I have a definite date to count down to. Sunday, August 30th- I will be flying with another fellow Boilermaker to the land of green for the semester! Wow, a month and half away just about! This doesn't seem possible!

I started my epic, 3-stage adventure last January and now I'm almost to stage 3! I am so glad that I took this huge plunge of being away for an entire year to pursue two wonderful internships and then to study-abroad in the beautiful country of Ireland in Dublin! I have already bought two books on Ireland (with my Barnes and Noble membership mind you). One is a great book filled with photographs of Ireland from the air and the other is a collection of their folk tales. Crossing my fingers, I'm taking Irish Folklore 101 while over there, so maybe I can get ahead a little bit.

Probably the biggest challenge of all of this has been fighting with homesickness and missing my friends back home. I talk with my mom a lot on the phone and I think we came to the conclusion that it is during the settling in process that the homesickness rears its ugly head. But once I settle in and get used to a routine, then I'm great!

That got me thinking just now how different my routines have been between Amarillo and Reno. In Amarillo, I jumped right into a social life at the local college with their Wesley Foundation, I spent a lot at Snaffle Bit barn riding horses and hanging out and then finding time to chill with amazing roomie Meghan- oh and working 8 hour days :) I was seriously non-stop. Meghan probably thought I was nuts coming in late at night and then leaving before her in the mornings. But, I was having a blast and making tons of friends!

Here in Reno, it has been a lot more low-key. When my roomie and I are both in town we hang out a lot and we are eerily similar in so many ways- speech, dress, ideas and even dreams! Yes, we both had dreams about pancakes one night! But when she's not here, I'm either reading, blogging or working out. Very 'independent' type things. Which is great! I love the alone time and I'm finding that I'm liking me more and more. I don't necessarily need the big social life to have a good time. Sarah and I will often just rent a couple of movies and come home and watch them and have a great time!

I've checked out the South Reno United Methodist Church a couple of Sundays, and the associate filled in for the pastor this morning and he had a great sermon on "How Smart is God?". Talked about being completely broken and trusting in God's will. Well, I've been literally to the other side of the country pursuing wonderful opportunities that He has given me and I'm about to hop the pond to pursue yet another great adventure! Wowsers- life couldn't get much better! Maybe a crystal ball to know for certain where I'm going to end up- but where would the fun be in that?

Alright- movie time with the roomie and then off for a GREAT week! Traveling down to central California tomorrow for a dealer visit on Tuesday, then taking that afternoon and Wednesday morning to make it back to Reno to catch a flight home! YAY for Indiana! Wednesday I'll see Yosemite, have a layover in Las Vegas and then be in Indy- all in one day! Crazyness!

Oh- a quote that I've been pondering that has shown up in a couple of books that I've been reading. It was in a fiction novel "Girls and Trucks" and then a fiction/ life guide book "The Compass", which is similar to "The Alchemist." These are two fairly different books, but I suppose you could draw some similarities between them if you had to, which is why I found it interesting that this same quote came up.

"Sometimes you meet someone who changes your life, but it doesn't mean your life has to change."

Riddle me that for a while and let me know what you think. I have some ideas about what it means in my life right now, but would be interested in hearing some other interpretations.