home sweet home

I arrived back in Iowa on Tuesday night. I gave myself a few days to process before attempting to blog about completing the year and saying the final goodbyes and re-entry into America. My mom picked me up at the Chicago airport in the afternoon and we made the 4 1/2 hour drive home-- chatting the whole way of course. Somewhere between Galena and Dyersville, looking out over the sea of cornfields, I was struck by a sudden, "I can't believe I'm finally home," and at the exact same time, "I can't believe I was gone for a whole year." Basically, the whole ten month experience dropped into the same realm as dreams in about two hours. Funny how our minds do that. So I needed a few days to get my bearings.

Goodbyes were hard. Really hard. The thing is, I know that that means that I made good friends. Saturday the basketball team had our end of the year awards dinner, Sunday I met some of my friends for one last go at the pub near to my house, Monday day I spent saying goodbyes to some of my closest friends (I really miss you guys already!), and Monday night I went to my hosting Rotary club to say a farewell and officially exchange banners.

The honest truth is that my brain is still a bit fuzzy. I am jet-lagged, which in this case means crashing mentally from exhaustion around 6 or 7 in the evening, not even physically being able to stay awake past 9, and waking up between 5 and 6 in the morning. I am still trying to get my head around all the experiences I had and everything I had to opportunity to see and do.

As apart of my Ambassadorial Scholarship, I have to put together a "Final Report" document, reflecting on the year. I am in the process of reflecting and once I put that report together I will post bits of it on my blog so that there will be a more coherent evaluation on here. Then I will also be giving presentations at various Rotary clubs throughout my district in Eastern Iowa about Wales and my experience this year. If you are interesting in having me come speak to your club-- please get ahold of me: lauraedwards13@yahoo.com If you are family/friends and aren't apart of Rotary, but are interested in hearing my presentation, also get ahold of me and I will see if there is a club that you could come as a guest with me when I am speaking. I have learned so much about Rotary this year and it truly is a wonderful organization-- I am so grateful for this opportunity.

As for my summer plans... Tomorrow I will be heading to St. Charles, Iowa to volunteer for the week at Wildwood Hills Ranch. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Wildwood is the non-profit dearest to my heart-- it is a horse ranch that serves as a summer camp for at-risk youth. At-risk meaning kids 8-18 who have been abused, neglected or come from poverty. The camp is designed to give them opportunities to experience the outdoors, horses, swimming, teambuilding activities, hiking, etc. all the while being shown love and that they are worthwhile individuals who are valued, and being taught character and integrity. It is an incredible organization to be apart of. This particular week is especially dear to my heart because the kids who are attending camp are from Waterloo. Please keep the staff and kids in your prayers this week-- the weeks can sometimes be difficult because of habits and environments that some of the kids come from, but the opportunity to be exposed to an environment where these kids know that they are valued and cared about can change their lives.

Besides spending time at Wildwood, I will be spending the summer catching up with friends and family, hopefully getting some hours at Edwards Smith Family Dentistry so I can start replenishing my bank account, and moving myself to Iowa City so I can be settled in time to begin classes at the Univeristy of Iowa Dental College in August. It's going to be an exciting summer!

Thanks to those of you who bearing with my outpouring of words over the last 10 months. :) Thank you for all of the encouragement and support throughout my journey. Like I said before, I will post my final report document on my blog when I complete it, but aside from that... this is me signing off. It's been a good year. I can't believe its passed already. Ta ra! (a British goodbye)