Go.

I’m on my way back to The Netherlands from Italy after three weeks of independent travel with my best friends, on a train at 2 o’clock in the afternoon somewhere in Switzerland, and I’ve been starring out my window in awe for the last hour.  I only visited Switzerland in winter, and I loved it; it was beautiful, but this place comes alive in the springtime.  At each stop, I have a hard time restraining myself from busting out of the train and into the sunshine and beauty.  I’m convinced Switzerland is the most beautiful place in the world.  It’s weird, because I feel like I now have at least a tiny bit of ethos saying that because I have seen a good portion of it.  That’s crazy to think about.  As my travels begin to come to an end, I get the feeling that they are just beginning.

I love this.  I don’t mind living out of a suitcase.  I don’t mind long train rides.  I love everything about traveling.  I’m slowly forming plans for the future: teaching math in Spain when I graduate, getting a summer job in Greece, going to grad school in London, spending an entire summer rock climbing and boating daily in Switzerland with my husband someday, going on a family vacation to see Denmark, Sweden, and Norway… of course all my dreams are in God’s hands so I’ll see where His plans take me, but I really just want to run around the world, experience the way people live, and tell everyone I meet about Jesus.

Going into this trip, I knew I would learn and experience a lot of amazing things, but I never imagined it would get me so psyched about traveling.  I don't want to come home.  I mean, I miss my family and friends, but I wish they could just come here instead of me going back there.  I never thought I could live in another country, but now I’m not even sure if I want to go back to America at all.

Besides wanting way more than three months to travel, I have learned a ton and changed so much.  I’ve tried, but I can’t put words to it.  I think my life attitude has shifted: I always knew it was true, but I feel like I am finally seeing what it means to live like nothing really matters but Jesus and to finally believe that I can do literally anything through Christ.  God has given me a weird combination of passions, and I still have no idea why He has given me them and how He will use all of them to further His kingdom for the rest of my life, but I see no point in waiting to find out.  I’m chasing after whatever he puts on my heart right now, starting with serving Him in Africa this summer.

Anyways, I know I haven’t finished my blog; I still have to do all of Italy and Crete (which I promise to get to in the next week!)  So it seams kind of silly to be posting a trip reflective piece before writing about all my travels, but I wanted to post this before coming home simply to say that I have changed in a million ways this semester.  From appreciating art and history in ways that I never thought possible, to seeing reasons to worship God in everything and responding with praise daily, to learning to love myself thanks to indescribably wonderful best friends I have made, I hope you don’t expect me to come home the same person.

That's basically all I wanted to say.  Please please please, don't expect me to be the same person.  I will try my best to explain it to you, to talk about it if you want me to, but I promise I won’t do my experience justice.  All I can say is go see for yourself.