DONE!

There! I'm finally done putting all of Patrick's and my Europe adventures on here. (Sorry, again, if the proofreading isn't superb--it got kind of tiring.) I hope all of you who were waiting for this enjoy the last installment. :) It was an amazing trip and sometimes I think it might have been a dream or that it happened to someone else... but then I look at pictures or read this blog and I remember how amazing it was. And how thrilling it was to experience all that I saw and did...

I traveled to five different countries. I have a huge stack of programs from the dozens of plays I saw, as well as memories of seeing some of the greatest actors and actresses ever perform. I got to walk right in the midst of history and see and touch things that previously I had only been able to imagine. I discovered that I can survive (even without a wallet) in another country--and enjoy it so much that I cannot wait to go back. I tasted delicious food, such as pizza and nutella in Italy, croissants and french bread in Paris, and--of course--pub food. I got to not only learn about, but engage in another culture and perspective. And learn from a few of the many intelligent minds who have come from it. I got to feel what it is like to be an outsider; the odd one out in a crowd. I also got to feel the warmth of being invited to learn about and share with another culture. I found out that I could cope with being so far away from everything familiar to me and take pleasure in the new, different adventures offered to me.

I've done a lot. I've walked through gusting wind in Edinburgh, squeezed my way into sweltering tubes in London, shivered in the snow in Italy, and squelched through pouring rain in Paris. I've slept in the sun in Cambridge, seen London at a standstill in the snow, sung along to folk songs in Ireland, smelled the flowers of Stratford, and walked the very streets of Dickens' characters. I've fought the crowds walking along Oxford Circus, consumed copious amounts of chocolate, stood before Shakespeare's bones, felt the magic of Salisbury, kissed the love of my life in front of the Eiffel Tower, and much, much more. For a little over three months, I absorbed a portion of Europe. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And I'm so glad to have had it.