deep in the valley

i am here! after five days of some hilarious, incredibly adventurous roadtripping- i am here. it's hot. i'm home.

driving with lauren was perfect. between music, listening to harry potter on tape, and chatting each others' ears off we never got sick of each other. go figure. we started out west heading for indiana to stay with some of her family. it turns out we love indiana and it was so sweet to see the haubers and hang out with them for a while. from there we hit missouri. first we stopped in st. louis and rode up the giant arch. a bit nerve racking and jittery but so worth it from the top. so worth it. missouri is beautiful- who knew? we loved springfield where we stayed with lauren's old work crew friend and her husband. they had a tent set up on the floor from when their nephew stayed with them which made for a sweet campout night for us. we woke up to rain- and lots of it. thanks a mill hurricane isaac. our rooftop carrier proved to be waterproof, yet the straps holding it on were not. they soaked through and brought significant water into the car soaking our seats and some items in the backseat. luckily nothing was ruined but many of my cookbooks are stuck and my car smells awful. but we moved on. this day was our least favorite drive- oklahoma isn't the most interesting of states. by the time we got to texas we were pretty exhausted. we were greeted by a gorgeous sunset and a lovely family who was eager to make us dinner and chat. we had never met the youngs before, relatives of my boss this summer, but instantly felt at home. we crashed and woke up the next day ready to take on the west. we had been driving around 8 or 9 hours a day until this day when it only took 4.5 to get from texas to new mexico. we loved this drive and were free to stop wherever and whenever we wanted. we drove on route 66 a while and ended up at this hole in the wall little diner which felt straight out of a movie. after receiving an email from our host family the night before that they would be out of town, we ended up with a house to ourselves in albuquerque. we chilled and watched movies and went out to dinner. albuquerque is the best- our favorite place we stayed. we would both live there. finally we set out on our final drive to arizona. this was about 7 hours but by then we were a bit impatient and just ready to be there. new mexico to az has to be the best drive in the country. seriously so beautiful. after a few hours we made it! we easily found my new condo and met my awesome roommates. the place is huge and i live on the third floor with madisen and sarah. sarah's sister julie lives on the first floor and our kitchen and living room is on the second. life her is going to be great. i know it. it's really hot. but i am so happy to be here!

since i was driving i didn't get to take too many pictures...but we did manage to take a picture with every state sign we drove through! thanks tripod

since i had no furniture whatsoever we spent the first night at the lovely chiappetti's house. it is great to have family when you are so far away from your real family. they have proven to be a great help out here. since recently moving they had tons of extra furniture and let me go shopping in their garage...for FREE! i ended up with a bed, dresser, bookshelf, and lamp that went perfectly in my room. don and reed helped me move in and get settled. god bless the chiappetti's- for real. yesterday after some strenuous moving we met my roommates at a resort on the side of a mountain and laid out at the pool a bit. we needed it. last night i had my first area leadership meeting for young life. there are about four times the number of leaders here than in howard county. and four times the love. i was overwhelmed by the welcoming spirit of these people. i am going to love it here. i know it. i also have a lot of learning to do. i have absolutely no idea how to lead that many people. i have no idea what i am doing. i am in the best place you can possibly be to see the Lord work. because heaven knows i cannot do it on my own.


so now i live deep in a valley. literally. i am here for two years and i am in an unfamiliar area doing a job i don't totally know how to do. i am in a position where, if the Lord doesn't come through and work through me, i will surely fail. without a doubt. but one thing i do know is that He is good. He comes through. He does what i can't. those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.


i will seek Him with all my heart and everything will work out. i trust. and, for now, i am home.

2,248 miles.

i am doing it again. venturing out. following the Lord. and this time He's taking me to scottsdale, arizona. for two years. tomorrow i will be leaving my home my family my friends. everything i know. driving across the country and heading towards nothing i know at all. i will get to work full time for young life, hanging out with high school kids and talking about jesus. loving on people. starting over in a new place and letting God mold me into who He wants me to be. i am excited. i am nervous. i am happy i am sad. i am overwhelmed and completely uncomfortable. it's going to be great.


tomorrow i will drive alongside my best friend of eleven years to indiana. and then missouri, texas, new mexico, and finally arizona. for two years.

car is packed and ready to go. stoked.

i am home.

it's over. the end of this chapter of my life. onto new ones. and the end was great. seriously nonstop fun for a week. we took full advantage of our last week. the last night our program basically took over this bar and danced, laughed, and cried all night. it was terribly fun and terribly sad. most of us had to leave early in the morning so we just stayed up all night. which we were absolutely feeling the next day...but it was worth it. it was all worth it. all the energy all the tears all the missed sleep- it was worth it. this was the best four months of my life and i am absolutely changed for the better. it is over. i am home.

the last night my dear three best friends and i ventured up a large hill to piazza michelangelo. we sat in silence and watched the sun set over the beautiful city we loved. so i jotted down some words on the back of a receipt

Our hair is longer

Our skin is darker

Our wallets are emptier

Our hearts are fuller

Our Italian is better

Our eyes are wider

Our horizons are broader

Our friendship is deeper

Our suitcases are heavier

Our futures are brighter

i left home to come home.

i saw the light

video mashup of spain, amalfi, cinque terre, easter, rando florence
song: i saw the light by state bird

THE amalfi coast

we finally caved and did an organized trip through florence for fun to the amalfi coast. there is simply too much to see and not enough time to see it. so we decided to let someone guide us instead of aimlessly wandering around and missing half of it. our home base was in sorrento but we honestly only slept there. every day we went on day trips to nearby towns such as...

capri- friday was capri day. our bus got in at 230am and we had a few hours to sleep before leaving for capri at 8am. we took the ferry to the island and immediately embarked on a boat tour around capri. which was nothing short of stunning. the weather was gorgeous and the water was sparkling. we stopped at the blue grotto and some lovely friends of mine paid for me to go in as my belated birthday present (ps i'm broke.). you have to lay flat in these skinny boats and go through a 1 meter opening in the cave at the moment wave goes down or your boat will be crushed. pretty thrilling. and inside is so cool. it's really just a cave but something about the reflection of the sky on the bottom or on the water causes the water to be brilliantly bright blue. like unreal. our boat tour continued and we saw some natural beauties as well as the houses of sofia loren, giorgio armani, and mariah carey. from there we climbed up to the top of capri (which is actually much farther and steeper than we'd assumed) and back down the other side the to the beach. the view was amazing and the whole time walking down we were skipping with excitement to get to the beautiful beach. we finally made it down to the clear water and smooth rocks and laid out for hours. swimming was limited due to an overwhelming number of jelly fish but south carolina stacy and i decided to jump in anyway. so we dove headfirst into the mediterranean sea. freezing, jelly fish infested waters. but worth it. made it home ate dinner and passed out. very long, adventure filled day. i loved it.

walk down to the beach

boat tour

positano- day two was a trip to the black beaches of positano. weather decided otherwise. beaches were out of the question but we still walked the 800some steps down into the city in the pouring rain. quite and adventure. without weather we didn't have much to do so we shacked up in a cafe and capuccino-ed all morning. eventually we started playing cards. and ended up staying for four hours. we did get food (some of the BEST calzones i've ever had in italy!) and sat around and talked and laughed all day. when the rain mostly subsided we ventured out for a little shop browsing and ended up with nothing. positano wasn't really what it was intended to be but was still actually quite a lovely day. friends are wonderful. and we're only together for a few more days so might as well make the most of it. we ended up playing cards again after dinner and having a mostly chill day compared to the go go go day we had before.

playing cards

ridiculous girls in hotel room.

pompeii and mt vesuvius- i have had this weird obsession with pompeii ever since i was in like elementary school. i have no idea why. it just fascinates me. so being there was quite cool. unreal really. 25 feet of ash covered the entire city. yet archaeologists far more brilliant than myself managed to restore it to almost what it would have looked like before the tragedy. this is beyond me. we saw casts of skeletons in the exact position they were in when they died. strangely twisted bodies with horrific facial expressions. and teeth. they still had teeth. we walked around for a while with a tour guide who's name i cannot remember. it was very cool. i'm a big fan of pompeii. eerie and a little on the depressing side, but so interesting. then we ventured up mt. vesuvius. busses can only drive a little up so we had to hike the rest. we walk a ton in italy but rarely uphill so we were a little more out of breath than we'd bargained. but it was very cool. how often do i climb volcanoes, much less mt. vesuvius? it was cold up there and we were actually in a cloud so the view wasn't incredibly impressive. but we could see inside it. and it was smoking. creepy. plus we kept hearing these huge bangs which sounded like it was exploding. it didn't. but we still don't know what that sound was. we couldn't see actual lava and we were coated in bugs but well worth the hike. then hopped back on the bus for the seven hour ride home.

body cast in pompeii

pompeii ruins

vesuvs

inside vesuvs

amalfi was beautiful. very eventful and exciting. full of adventure. it was a great final excursion and i think i'm finally ready to leave. i feel like i did italy. i did europe. i've lived harder in the past four months than my whole 21 years combined. and i'm ready to take it all home and see how i fare in good old ellicott city, maryland. the adventure is only beginning.

cinque terre

saturday i embarked on a hiking adventure with my dear friend lauren and her lovely mother allison. the saba sisters. we left at 7am and took a few trains to get to the regaled cinque terre. which really just means five cities. you are supposed to be able to hike between each little city. they all kind of look the same with tall, thin, colorful clumps of buildings on the water. absolutely beautiful. some trails were closed so we ended up only hiking from riomaggiore to manarola and taking trains between the rest of the cities. had a lovely lunch on the water in manarola. it's fun having a mom here, i get to pretend she's my mom. and allison is a painting, no clothes wearing, hair dreading, hippie which is so my kind. we sat on the water for a while and painted with water colors. it was such an adventure, we just wandered all day. and i can't think of two people i'd rather do that with. thank you lo and allison for letting me join you. and paying for way too much. full day of travel but so worth it.

my traveling companions

cliffs we hiked

keys on via dell amore

barceloooona

barcelona. worth it. plenty of expensive travelling, but worth it. i've never seen anything like it. definitely the most unique city i've ever been. i mean gorgeous. crazy architecture. gaudi sure did know what he was doing. or maybe he had no idea what he was doing and he's just brilliant. overall i love barcelona.

thursday- 12 hours of travel. lots of waiting. and more money than we'd expected. but as soon as we got there we didn't care. while it wasn't quite as warm as we'd hoped it was beautiful. our good friend denny met us at the bus stop and we walked across the city to our hostel. i have never seen architecture like spain in my life! we had a very packed night. straight fun til 5am. literally. we hit up bo de b for spanish goodness dinner. then to a bar to meet denny's friends for drinks where we met hilarious people and played ridiculous games. then to opium- this sweet club on the beach. i mean unlike any club i've ever been too. we danced so hard until we crashed at 5. such a long day, but so worth it.

our friend ariel eating patatas bravas at bo de b

friday- after a good amount of sleep we took on the day. first to park guell full of gaudi goodness. kind of a mixture of whoville and wonderland- enough exploration to last a whole day. then we grabbed some food and had a hilariously fun picnic in a little park. and ate and ate and ate. ran to a surprise denny had for us which turned out to be a sweet fountain light show so we camped out and watched for a bit. then hit up champagneria for some world famous champagne and chicken sandwiches. so worth it. decided to get the most out of denny's blanket so we headed to the beach and looked at stars. another full, happy day.

park guell

park picnic

fountain show

saturday- got up early enough to snatch some hostel breakfast. mmm bread. went to check out sagrada familia. i have never seen a church like it in my life! again more sweet spanish architecture. got the BEST churro's i've ever laid eyes on and wandered around an antique market. went to a different inside food market and stocked up on more picnic materials. went to the beach and laid out- eating of course. an infamous local perpetually naked man named "sassquach" graced us with his presence. lucky day. we napped in a pile until it was time to eat again. of course we had to go back to bo de b. more spanish goodness. then headed out to a bar to watch the barcelona madrid soccer game. tied in the end but such a fun cultural experience to be there!

sagrada familia

churrrrrros!

beach picnic

and sunday we left. we went hard all weekend and took in as much of barcelona as we physically could. so much fun. thanks to our very dear friend and tour guide we got a full spanish experience. we love you denny. it was perfect. and i do love spain.