It's been quite a while....

....Hasn't it?

And not that adventures or stories have not been made, but maybe its an unspoken expectation that when a person arrives home, the adventures seem quieter and more "average". It wasn't until I have looked back on my senior year of university that I have even begun to realize that maybe the adventures have been unexpectedly all around me.

So this is the adventure of culture I had this year:

I became the ambassador to these crazy girls, Soria and Denis, from Thailand. And also Lise and Pauline from France, but we never took a picture together! How crazy is that?!

With becoming these girls' ambassador, what I didn't expect to happen was being adopted into a beautiful and fun Thai and international community. But I got lucky and I got lifelong friends from it.

At Denis's birthday party.

For the Thai King's birthday. Yellow is where it is at. 

And then the Songkran festival! I won Ms. Songkran!

Meanwhile, I was being adopted into another family at the Farr House. Words can't really express the beauty and light that entered my heart and life because of this family. They were there when I needed them most, and they were also there to laugh their asses off when I broke my bike in a bike race. 

Without this group of people, I would not be the person I am right now. I am so thankful for them to my core. At the Farr House, I discovered the adventure and diversity that could exist right in my own backyard and within my neighbors' homes. It took them opening my eyes and showing me the different flavors Greeley might have, and I learned to love every spicy flair.  I found new friends from all over the world and we held each other up. It was a beautiful discovery. And then we partied a lot too, with all our diverse new friends. 

We were studying the Bible, promise.

Then I started falling in love with Middle Eastern culture. And I mean in deep, blinding love. Took three classes on Middle East the last semester alone. This was the planting of some kind of seed I am sure, actually, I already know and see the fruit. And then I started working for Arc of Weld County, an advocacy agency who supports people that have learning and developmental disabilities. And I have learned a ton. And it has changed my very heart, to put it simply.

And then I did this thing called graduating. And honestly, to this day, that is still a pretty intense journey.

And then after that, two awesome and lovely Germans came to visit me, and I got the chance to discover my own country a little bit more, which was a refreshing change of pace. We went to six different states together and saw all kinds of new things. 

Franci, Boris and I at the Grand Canyon.

At the beach in California.

At an Angel's game.

And somehow we survived the drive through Utah. 

And now, I have 5 Somali teenage girls living with my roommates and I for a wedding that we are going to go to this Saturday. That has definitely been an adventure within itself. But I am learning that teenage girls and teenage girls, no matter where they come from.

And the biggest news of all....now I am getting ready to move to Egypt. I am getting ready to see things like these (stole all these pictures by the way):

The idea of going to Egypt and teaching English for a few years in a different country makes my palms sweat and my heart race. I wrote out a goals list already and its sinking in; I am going to see Africa, I am going to see the Middle East. Maybe I will even live there for the rest of my life. It's like the day I realized I could buy a cat if I wanted one, I am an adult now and I can do whatever I want. And that means when I step onto that plane I am making a life-changing decision. I am going to be making a difference, I am going to be helping people and loving people that are not of my own culture. I am going to learn. I am going to immerse myself fully into a new place. When I think about it too much, my stomach churns and I feel like I cannot breathe. It feels like there should be this snag that I am missing completely and once I start running it will catch and all that I dream will come tumbling straight down. I am afraid, but I am more afraid of what will come if this doesn't happen. 

So, onto a new adventure...

"Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place." Rumi