reflection is in the air

On the way back from Stonehenge last week, my friend Alex asked me what the best and worst things about the year have been. A fair question. I've been starting to reflect on my year and put together ideas for the Rotary presentations I will be doing when I get home and part of that has been thinking about the best and worst things.

There have been a lot of "bests." I mean, look at my entire blog! Daily routines, friendships, travels.. the entire experience has been amazing. Today, as I sit here, if I had to pick just one thing that was the best, I wouldn't be able to do it. I would have to categorize: Academically.. the best part has been the chance to take classes that incorporate literature. I have a re-inspired love for reading.

Socially... the basketball team. I've said it before, but these girls have become my best friends. Not only have we played basketball together, but we've hung out, shared meals, traveled together, studied together, laughed, cried... Most recently we went and did an "assault course" together. We crawled through tunnels and mud and water in not-so-warm weather, through tires and over walls and on rope walkways through the trees, laughing the whole way through! They say courses like this are to build a team. We already are a close team so the experience helped to create yet another memory...

Traveling... this one is hard to put a finger on because its really hard to compare a city like Copenhagen or Amsterdam to Barcelona or Rome. I loved every minute of the traveling I've gotten to do. I took advantage of every opportunity I've had to spend time in London and fell in love with that city. It has so much to offer! Barcelona definitely stands out in my mind though, it was just SO unique from all the others, and the architecture and art were probably the most appealing to my eyes. That one is hard!

Rotary related... My favorite club I visited was Aberdare. All of the clubs were warm and inviting and encouraging, as all Rotarians are, but I particularly enjoyed the atmosphere that night. That night I met Robert and Marilyn Bratman, who had me over for lunch a couple weeks ago. District conference was pretty fun too! Getting to hang out in Torquay with the other scholars, Emily, Andrea, Wendy and Claire and dancing the nights away was a blast. As I've been reflecting, I have to say that having a host counselor/host family definitely made this experience top notch. While I am confident that I would have been OK on my own, having the Murrays' help to get around, show me things, and just knowing that there is a family nearby willing to look out for me took my experience to the next level. I am forever grateful to Rotary for setting up the scholarship that way, and to the Murrays for being those people.

In Swansea... The beach! Swansea Bay isn't the absolute prettiest beach I've ever been to in my life, but having the chance to live a five minute walk from the ocean has rocked my world! I love getting up in the morning and going for a walk on the sand, or just peaking out the window during a lecture to notice that the tide had come in, or being able to go out and BBQ and sit around a bonfire with friends. What can I say?? There aren't many beaches in Iowa, and the nearest ocean is at least 1,000 miles in any direction! How can I not enjoy what is new to me?

You may be wondering how I responded to the "worst" part of the question. Overwhelmingly, my time on this side of the pond has been positive, but of course there were moments. Nothing negative related to people or the places though. The things I have found myself most frustrated with have been the rain and when I miss the convenience of having a car. When I say the rain, I don't mean rain in general-- I just mean on those days when it was pretty hard AND the wind was gusting, blowing my umbrella inside out, AND I had to walk the fifteen minutes to campus for class. Which is where the convenience of private transportation comes in. In those same moments, I missed being able to make the dash to the car and zip to class or zip to the store. But truthfully, in hindsight, I know those moments were "character building." I still made it to class and I didn't melt.

I've got a few more exciting little day trips planned for the next couple weeks before my return to the States... and the daunting task of preparing for and completing my final exams, but I can feel the adventure is winding down. Living in house full of international students, I can feel it in everyone's attitudes and emotions. Dreading the goodbyes, cleaning up the house to move out, and packing. Reflection is in the air, and I can say with a smile that my reflecting is full of great memories.