so little time

I've officially been in Argentina for a week and I've come to find that I really don't have much time to blog. I hardly ever pick up my laptop, unless it's to do homework at 12am before class the next morning, or to quickly load pictures up on my computer. Each day is packed full with classes, serving, and adventure.  There's just not enough time in the days to spend some leisure time on things like facebook. Right now it's 1:30am here, so I'm choosing this instead of sleeping; whether or not this is a smart disicion shall be determined tomorrow morning.

Buenos Aires, Argentina is a fantastic place to start this trip around the world. The culture and lifestyles seem to be more similar to mine own then I expected. It's also nice that atleast a few of us can carry out legitamet conversations with people around the city. I am not one of those few. My spanish ablities are very minimal. I can ask where are you from, how are you, what's your favorite color, and what time is it...that's about it. So conversations is something I tend to not try too hard at, although I've gotten much better at it.

So far my days have consisted of a mix of classes, walking, sightseeing, haning out with kids in slums, yummy food, spanish, and plenty of amazing memories with awesome people. I love that i get to wake up in the morning, shower in a semicold shower, go down stairs and eat bread with dolce de leche, have devotions, have class, go out and about on the Buenos Aires streets, go hang out with kids in slums, then come back to the hostel and hang out!! This life is so amazing!! I love being able to walk around the Argentine streets, it makes my heart very happy. There's so much to see, smell, eat, and fall in love with.

I can't believe this is only the 1st week of this 4 month adventure and already so much has happened. All of us have already grown close together, and that's really exciting to see all of these relationships develop and grow. I'm excited to see what God has for us for the rest of our time here!!  For now I'm going to enjoy each moment as they happen.

This is it

Tomorrow I get on a plane headed to Argentina. I can't believe it's finally here. I'm all packed and ready to go. This is weird. I've been working up to this moment for so long, and it's finally almost here. I'm a little nervous but mostly I'm just so stoked for this adventure to start!!!!!!

Surpise Party

On Friday August 13th Brianne Krueger, one of my best friends, threw me the most amazing going away party!! There were fun people, hot dogs, rock band, a very interesting game of Loaded Questions, talks till 3am, and great memories to take with me Around the World. Brianne you rock, thank you so much for making my last Friday night at home an amazing one!!

most of the sleepy party crew

i love you all, and will miss you!

3 days to go...1st meltdown

     Today's been the first day I've actually felt stressed about this trip. I can't even walk into my room because I see my large backpack, carry on backpack, pants, shirts, shorts, socks, underwear, towel, shoes, flip flops, bathroom bag, notebook, journal, power adapter, plug strip, pencils, black pens, laptop, chargers, and Ziploc bags EVERYWHERE! I walk into the war zone and I'm overwhelmed by everything I have found, bought, and been given for this trip. All of the STUFF stresses me out! I just want to get away from all the "stuff" of life; good thing in three days I will be.
     I'm blessed to have all of these things for this opportunity, and I'm thankful for it all.  But that doesn't mean it all can't stress me out; because it does.

5 More Days

     Five more days until I get on a plane headed to Argentina, and then onto nine other country's after it. Four months traveling around the world. The anticipation is so thick I can hardly sleep at night anymore. I'll watch the clock tick away as I think about how close I'm getting to the trip of a lifetime. These last few days are flying by so quickly. I keep thinking about how this anticipatory time that I'm in, I'll never have again. As exciting and challenging as this is, it's so unique; it's something I need to cherish and not take for granted. A good friend of mine explained that this time I’m in right now is just like waiting in line for a roller coaster. When you're in line you're excited about the thrilling experience ahead of you; at the same time though you're terrified of it. It's all part of the anticipation. But once you get on the ride the confrontation between fear and excitement goes away. The fear leading up to it was the anticipation, not the ride itself.
  
    Right now I'm waiting in line for the most thrilling and frightening ride of my life. I'm excited, scared, worried, bewildered, in awe, and feeling absolutely crazy. It's all worth it though. As each day passes, I'm getting closer and closer to stepping onto that roller coaster and buckling in.

Down to the wire- 10 Days away

It is now ten days until I leave for my trip around the world. It's crazy to think that in just four months from now I will have traveled around the globe. This trip has never felt real before. Even right now, so close to it, it still doesn’t feel like it's real. I can't even fathom the opportunities and experiences I am going to have on this trip. Ten countries in four months, that's crazy. In fact, I'm crazy. But if I wasn't, I wouldn’t have chosen to go on this trip. Good thing I like crazy.