LT4

"Doubt the first/Cry the second/Love the third/Live the fourth"

That is exactly what I did this past weekend.

My school has a retreat called Kairos that you have to enter a lottery to attend. Don't ask me about the selection process cuz I honestly couldn't tell you; word on the street is that you get chosen when it's your time, when you need it most in your life. Well it took me three years to get called (I actually forgot I had signed up freshman year) and it was worth every second of waiting.

There is a cloud of secrecy surrounding the event - there is no guarantee that you'll get chosen to go, you're not always aware of who is attending/has attended, and those that you know went won't discuss what goes on. It's not even like they make you swear to keep silent or anything; all participant just reach a mutual, unspoken understanding that to discuss it would be to utterly ruin it for future participants.

Although this is my personal blog, you never know who can stumble across such things on the world wide web and I would hate to be the person who denies future generations the joy I felt, the lessons that I learned. And I guess it could be said that if I wasn't gonna go into detail then why write it, but once again it's my blog and that's my prerogative at the moment (shout out to Bobby Brown).

All I will say is that this past weekend was one of the most powerful weekends of my life. I learned to look deep within myself and bring what's always been there to the surface.

The one secret I can tell you is that you're loved. Each and every one of us has impacted a life, whether we're aware of it or not. You may think a simple hi is nothing, but to someone else it's everything.

You are loved.

And that makes the world of difference.

I doubted the first day of the retreat. I cried the second. I loved the third. And for here on out, I'll be living everyday as if it were the fourth.

The end

As I sit in my room and look around, I see three suitcases in the corner, ready to be dragged down the stairs.

How the goodness did this semester end so quickly?

I've done so much and have so much more to experience

I've gone through so many things, but have yet to even cross the threshold

At 6:45 AM I will be boarding a plane back to the States and leaving a piece of me behind

Como triste...

3 continents down, 4 to go

This past weekend I went to Egypt.

Holy crap that sounds so obnoxious, but in my defense I had Tuesday off and it's only three hours away from my current location.

...

Nope. Still obnoxious.

But I'm so glad I did it.

Hands down one of the coolest things I'll ever do.

Highlights of the trip include the Great Pyramid and King Tut's tomb/treasures.

Fun fact: They had hinges back in the day. Yurp. We're not that cool.

I'm on a boat. On the Nile River.

Yurp.

This looks photoshopped. I love it.

Wonder of the ancient world. Awe inspiring.

The standard camel ride. It was quite pleasant.

The Sphinx

Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Egyptian Museum. Sadly I couldn't take photos inside, but wowsers. Amazing.

Yeah they have KFC. And it delivers. I had to capture it, cuz I wouldn't even believe me.

Kodak moments

I guess I should throw up a couple of those pics huh. Well seeing as I've taken nearly a thousand thus far (I wish I was kidding), I'd be damned if I sat here uploading them all, so here are a couple that truly highlight the experience.

The American College of Thessaloniki. One of the two buildings that makes up the campus. The other is the library. No chance of getting lost in this bad boy.

It was Halloween. I'm in Greece. So clearly I had to whip out the toga. Don't act like you wouldn't do the same.

Group shot. Yay.

This place is so fricken beautiful it's disgusting.

Chillin on top of an active volcano. Twas an explosive experience.

Sunset in Santorini. This is the stuff postcards are made of.

Went to a professional football (soccer) game this past weekend. The crowd was really wild and reckless. I'm talking about fireworks before the team even scored.

And when they score in overtime? Whew. The place goes wild.

During my fall break I went to Crete and took a tour of the Peloponnese. This is the ancient Amphitheater in Ancient Messene. Twas quite large.

The boardwalk in Thessaloniki. It's really cute and gets awfully live in the evenings.

I get to look at this every night before the sandman comes and takes me away. Pretty schweet.

So now that pics are there, I guess I should add some words in addition to the captions huh? Well... let's see. Greece is awesome. I've been here for about a month and a half now and I have 6 weeks left. Holy goodness. Where does time go?

This experience is shaping out to be exactly what I wanted it to be and so much more. Even though I received some earth shattering news within a week or two of my arrival, I'm glad I decided to stay and see it to the end.

I have midterms coming up soon which means I have to put the 'study' part back into this trip, but eh, we'll see.

Um... what else?

I'm making it my goal to update at least once a week. We'll see how that goes.

Ain't no mountain high...

. . . not even Mount Olympus. 

Seriously contemplating going on that field trip.

Which one?

The one where unexperienced college students CLIMB towards the heavens. 

Yeah.

Why hello there

Woke up this morning to an email describing our rooming assignments

Went on Facebook to creep on the future roomie only to realize

She beat me to it

Have I met my match?