Friday, January 31, 2014

Ready for Take-off

Tomorrow this time I will be seeing the world for the first time from the sky!  I'm excited for the new experience, but can't help having the jitters a little bit.  Prayers are appreciated! :)
I thought before I set out on this journey, I'd share some of my favorite quotes, and some new ones, about traveling and adventures.  (I have a thing for quotes.)

"Look at the world, so close, and I'm halfway to it/ Look at it all, so big, do I even dare?/ Look at me, there at last, I just have to do it./ Should I- no./ Here I go!/ ... Just smell the grass the dirt, just like I dreamed they'd be!/ Just smell that summer breeze, the way it's calling me!"  -Rapunzel, "Tangled"


"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can...." -J.R.R. Tolkien

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." -J.R.R. Tolkien

"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun." -Tolkien

Obviously, Tolkien has many great words of advice for the traveler.  :) Here are some more:



"Not all those who wander are lost."

"Never laugh at live dragons."

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."

"Little by little, one travels far."

"Short cuts make long delays."

"It is not the strength of the body that matters, but the strength of the spirit."

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks."

“Home is behind, the world ahead,

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadows to the edge of night,

Until the stars are all alight.

Then world behind and home ahead,

We'll wander back and home to bed...."

Thank you, Tolkien, for all your great, witty, insightful words. :) 




And, from Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Tolkien's "The Hobbit,"




"You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead." -Gandalf




"I'm fine! I just need to sit quietly for a moment."

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long!"




"The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there."




"You'll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you one back."

"Can you promise that I will come back?"

"...No. And if you do, you will not be the same."




"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered." -G.K. Chesterton 

"May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home." -Trenton Lee Stewart

"A ship is safe in a harbor, but that is not what ships are for."  -William G.T. Shedd

"Adventure is not outside man; it is within." -George Eliot

"Are we going on an adventure?"
"No, my dear. We're already on one.  But with faith, trust, this block, and a counting mutant, you may find yourself somewhere you've never imagined." -Mr. Edward Magorium

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." -A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

"You can't stay in the corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you.  You have to go to them sometimes." -A.A. Milne

"When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an adventure is going to happen."

Well, I'd say that about covers it...for a while at least. ;) Thanks for reading folks!  For those of you State-side, 
Stay out of trouble,

keep smiling,

wonder at the creation,

worship the Creator. 

Until next time, God bless you! Live well, laugh often, love much, pray constantly.  






I'M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!








Saturday, January 11, 2014

Good Morning

"Good morning."
"What do you mean? Do you mean to wish me a good morning or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I like it or not? Or perhaps you wish to say you feel good on this morning, or that this is a morning to be good on?"
"…All of them at once, I suppose."
"Hmmm."
"Can I help you?"
"That remains to be seen. I'm looking for someone to go on an adventure."
"Adventure? Now I don't suppose anyone west of Bree would be interested in adventures. Nasty unpleasant sort of things. They make you late for dinner."

It's pretty obvious I'm a fan of Lord of the Rings.  This is one of my favorite exchanges in the recent movie, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
Yes, it's true! "I'm going on an adventure!"  I'm excited to see new places and do new things; and it's Europe!  I've had dreams of seeing places in Europe for a while now, especially Ireland.  I look forward to the adventures that the next few months hold for me.
Also like Bilbo, I will, of course, miss my home and family.  "The Shire," as we call it, is a wonderful place to come home to, and not seeing it for a number of months will not be easy.  But I know I will be united to my family in love and in prayer, though miles of ocean shall keep us apart for a time.

The purpose of this blog is to communicate my adventures, experiences, stories, and thoughts to my dear family and friends back home.  I look forward to writing about these experiences!
My school provides a wonderful study abroad program, with its own campus in Gaming, Austria: an old Carthusian monastery that has been restored and transformed into a five-star hotel that hosts the students for the few months of their studies.  The program allows us three-day weekends every weekend, which gives us the opportunity to travel to nearby countries and see the sights; and there are also to vacations of 10 days each during which we can travel to more distant countries.  It's a tremendous opportunity to experience the history, culture, and beauty of another continent, and I'm excited to learn!  While I am in Europe, I will be taking classes in theology, history, and philosophy.

I hope to post every week after my travels have brought me back to our home away from home, the Kartause.

Please keep me in your prayers as preparations continue. May God bless and keep you!

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." -St. Augustine of Hippo