4 months later

(started writing this 5 days ago)

As of today I've been home from Europe for a full 4 months.  It seems unbelievable that it was that long ago, but at the same time that it was only 120 days ago.  It is good to be home but it feels like my life was taking off without me from the moment I stepped off the plane. There was and still is so much I wanted to do upon returning home that it is a little overwhelming. There are some days that I long for my lazy days in Denmark or even my chaotic days in Paris. I miss Sasha and Maggie greatly and think of them just about every day.

I'm kind of frustrated with myself that I haven't written in 4 months.  Writing was an (almost) daily outlet for me while I was abroad and helped relieve the daily stresses.  I prefer typing to hand writing and I hope to get back into writing at least a little something every day.  Speaking of writing, my thesis, for any of those who don't know, is taking this very blog, up until the last days in Denmark, and turning it into a sort of memoir/travel guide combination.  I'm very excited for the end result, but the 200+ pages looming out somewhere beyond me are rather intimidating. I just have to jump in to get started, which I sort of did, about a month and a half ago.  It's time to get this going.  There is an annual "contest" online called the National Novel Writing Month where people all over the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel (about 200 pages) over the course of 30 days.  I've signed up, not necessarily in hopes of reaching 200 pages (which would be a little unrealistic with school, work, Alpha Phi, and a boyfriend) but hopefully to find some motivation to get me part of the way there.

I truly believe that writing made a difference in my life while I was abroad and contributed to my happiness while there. Don't get me wrong, I am still happy. I'm just overwhelmed and not the greatest at outwardly showing said happiness and instead end up showing the stress I feel from graduating and trying to balance everything out in my life.  I've always had way to many ambitions for the time I have but I still don't find this to be a bad thing.

Speaking of ambitions and lack of time, I cannot believe I just registered for my last classes as an undergrad.  The last 4 years have flown by just as my parents always said they would.  Do I wish I had rearranged my priorities a little? Yeah, maybe. But holy hell have I grown as a person.  I'm not sure I'd recognize the Jenn Wayboer from 3 1/2 years ago if I met her on the street, and I'm happy for that.  I still have things to work on but I am so strong and I know that I can throw myself in the middle of any messy situation and I'll be okay.  I always thought it was just a cliche phrase, but it's true, everything truly does happen for a reason.

Anyway kind of back to present day.  Tomorrow I am so excited to have a night with Paul. We're going to go see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the local theatre and I don't even know what else. It doesn't really matter though because I just love spending time just him and me.  It doesn't happen all that often that we actually have a good chunk of time to spend together and I've definitely gotten much better at taking advantage of that time instead of being upset about the time we don't have together.  

And then! This Tuesday I FINALLLLLLLY have an appointment to go talk to Autumn at Riverview about the next steps on my tattoo.  GOODBYE UGLY PIECE OF CRAP I got originally :) Hello pretty cover up.  I think I'll still have 2 more sessions because for one the actual cover up is going right on my ribs like my first one, which I know hurts like hell. And it is logical to split up the money some.  Then, that night, my sis is coming up and we're going to the Ludacris concert together :)  She gets to meet Paul for the first time too.  She is the other person in my life that I really wish I got to spend more time with.  I'm really excited she's going to be able to finally come up.  It's important to me that Paul meets my family because I definitely feel a much stronger relationship with all of them ever since I got back from Europe.

Life is good. Life is stressful for sure, but life is good.

<3