I finally got my passport back from the Austrian Consulate with my processed visa on it. After several weeks of worrying that I wasn't going to get it back in time to fly to Dresden, it felt really great to get the passport with that little sticker in it saying that I am allowed to stay in Austria for my semester. I was worried that I filled something out incorrectly or forgot to send something, but the whole thing turned out to be a lot smoother than I expected. With that out of the way, it's time to focus on Austria now. Not only am I going to Austria on January 12, I'm also leaving Iowa on that day. I know that seems like common sense, but they are two entirely different situations with two entirely different feelings that follow. Iowa is where I grew up, it's where my family is, it's where my friends are, it's where most of my life is. I've left before, but this time seems different. I'm going without anybody I know to a place I've never been. That part seems to be the same as the other times I've left. I think that the thing that is different is the state, not geographical but emotional, that I'm leaving. Since I've been back in Cedar Falls, things have changed. My eyes have opened to great things I never really recognized before. A lot of those great things are people, but they are also places, ideas, feelings that are alive in Cedar Falls. I once told a friend of mine that the reason I don't really like Cedar Falls is because I never really see any passion. I know, that's quite the statement, especially coming from a young guy who really has no room to talk, but it was how I felt. Over the past few weeks, though, I've seen passionate people throughout the town. My friends surprise me everyday with the things that manifest in their lives. I've also met several new people this semester whose presence in my life has affected me in a way I never expected. These people are two of my best friends, Molly and Bekah, and a man I met in a coffee shop. Strange, I met all three of them in that coffee shop. These three people seem to understand my crazy ways and thoughts in a way that not many people do. When I'm with any one of the three of them, I feel at home. I feel like they were placed in my life to help me live the life I am supposed to live. They constantly challenge me, encourage me, open my mind to new ideas, and help me remember that life is not worth living if it's not spent loving. I had to say goodbye to Molly yesterday. She was my first goodbye. Today, she is going to be spending her New Year's eve on a plane to Ireland where she'll be studying for the next semester. She was very hard to say goodbye to because she has been so influential in my life since we met. I'm going to miss her very much, but I'm excited to meet up with her in Paris. We'll always have Paris. Over the next 12 days, I expect to encounter many more goodbyes. I will have to leave the guys who have been my life for years. I'm going to have to leave my parents, my sisters, my beautiful niece Zoe. I will be leaving so much here in Iowa, but I am going to be going somewhere that is worth it. My friend Aaron Weiss talks about this feeling of leaving and going. He says, "From my left eye flow tears of joy, of sorrow from my right." And Ernesto de la Serna adds, "What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two; melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land." You see, every moment in our life is not simply one moment itself, rather it is an end and a beginning. Just like these two friends of mine say, there is happiness and sadness when moments get split like that. The hard part is choosing which feeling you want to let control your body. I choose the joyous feeling; the one of excitement for the future. I have a lot to look forward to with several weeks spent in YWAM Herrnhut and my studies in Klagenfurt, Austria. I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet in Herrnhut, Germany, but I'm excited to be back with YWAM. I'm only going to be there until the end of January because I start an intensive German course in Klagenfurt in February. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to get from Herrnhut to Klagenfurt, but that will work itself out later. More important to me than learning while I'm in Austria is experiencing the world. I want to learn more German, but I also want to see the beauties my eyes can't even dream of in Iowa. I want to see things like the Slovenian Alps, Irish countryside, Budapest baths, Vienna cafes, busy London roundabouts, and everything else I can't think of. The whole time I'm over there, I want to write what I see, feel, experience. I want to write about the exciting trips and the boring school days. I hope that you stick around to read what I post. It may not be that exciting for you, but I like to write for myself. Only 12 days left until I leave. The ball is rollin.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” -jack kerouac
