Travelin' Through

There is so much that I could tell you about the past month of my life! I have been to Ireland for Christmas and it was probably one of the best experiences I could have had outside of spending it with my own family. My sister came to London right after Christmas and we celebrated the New Year in my favorite city and then traveled to Paris to spend time with a great city and an old friend. Over all the last month has been pretty fantastic and has taught me a ton about myself and others. I probably won't go into day to day details but if you want to know, how I've been feeling and what I've been thinking over the past month please read on...
So I went to Kilworth, Ireland with my roommate Thomas and spent the holiday with his family. Outside of the general day to day details (Christmas, Irish pubs, pictures of Spencer), spending the holiday away from home really was a learning experience. I have found that Christmas and family seem to be the same all around the world. I am sure I am over generalizing and I know that there are aspects that are different, but it is really hard not to notice how similar the world and all the traditions are even when you are thousands of miles away from your own traditions. Spending the holidays away from home also made me realize things about myself. Most would probably think I would have been a mess, being away from family at a time when for the last 23 years I have been in the same place celebrating with all the same loving people. So then you transport me away and I spend the holidays in a new and strange place. I obviously managed to survive it, but it is amazing how great I have become at turning off certain emotions. I knew for months that I wasn't going to be home for Christmas so then when it comes time for Christmas away I have already put up the walls I needed to not be sad about it. I don't know if this is a survival mechanism or just a way to make myself strong when I need to be strong, but somehow, over the years, it has become surprisingly more and more easy to just not feel. Does that sound too dramatic? I'm sure it does...gosh, I'm always such a drama queen! :) All I am saying, is that I think the more prepared you are for sadness the easier it is to deal with and to just sweep away. And as long as you don't think about being away and don't think about being in a different place with different people, then you pretty much don't have to deal with it at all. Maybe thats just me and my new found ability to compartmentalize my life into home and away, but I'm looking at it as a positive, although i'm sure you all might be able to argue differently...
After Christmas, I traveled back to LONDON and waited for my sister to arrive. We then spent the next week or so traveling around London and enjoying all that it had to offer. We were able to hit up a lot of the tourist stuff that I haven't gotten around to doing before...some of it good (Windsor Castle) and some of it not so impressive (Tower of London) but over all I think we had some pretty successful journeys. We also spent New Years Eve (the eve of our birthday!!!) at the theater and then went to Parliament Square and watched Big Ben strike twelve and saw the fireworks. It was really pretty amazing and it is an awesome feeling to know that at the one moment in your life you are in the only place you really want to be. The only thing that would have really made it better would have been a mile run to a train station and Kyle! Its funny how I was so happy to be where I was, but the moment still didn't add up to being in Times Square on New Years Eve! Maybe we just have one experience that kinda taints all the rest. One awesome New Years Eve makes all the others fall short, one amazing kiss makes all the other guys just not measure up, and a favorite song makes you not ever want to listen to anything else. It happens I guess, that new moments in life will always remind you of old ones not matter how hard you try. There isn't anything wrong with that and there may not be anything we can ever do about it anyway. We can never seem to shake the memories of the past no matter how hard we try...
I could probably write so much more. I love that I got to travel a little and see more of the world and I love that I got to connect with some American friends and make some new non-American friends along the way. I am planning new adventures though, and considering planning a trip back to the states...flights are cheap, what can I say...but until next time, do your best to shake off the past and live today like there was no other day...