American History Lesson

So, once upon a time I had this great idea for a New Year's resolution. To learn all of the presidents of the United States. I got to Adams (the first one) and quit. 


However, it always really bothers me (ok, really only when watching Jeopardy or playing trivia) when I don't know when a certain president was in office. This is a really big nerd comment I know. However, it is slightly embarrassing to move to another country to teach about my own land and not know the people who ran the place. I figured it would be a good idea to change that before I left.


So I reverted back to elementary school and started learning the presidents. I could say them all correctly about 10 minutes ago. We'll see if it sticks till next week. 


Here's what I used to learn:

I have started seriously looking.

At flights and train schedules that is. 


I think, at least as of right now, that I'll leave the U.S. of A. on the 14th of September. 


Then, I'll take a train to Bregenz getting me there at around 3 p.m. local time. So I'll have plenty of daylight left in my new city to explore a bit. First stop after my apartment: the shore of the lake. My mom has commented how funny it is that I am moving from one lake to another. It's true. Apparently, I am accustomed to marine environments. However, this one will also have something prettier than water; I will be surrounded by mountains. :)


I am getting both excited and nervous as I don't really know what it will be like there. Will I fall in love with Austria more than I fell in love with Germany? Will the people be friendlier? I have heard that's true but it's hard to judge such comments sometimes. I hope I enjoy teaching there as much as I do here. And in case my colleagues intimidate me, I hope that my students are at least kind and interesting. I had a thought a while back that at some point I should start putting together some lesson plans to have on hand for the beginning. I haven't done that yet but maybe this week. I have some ideas for sure.


I am excited to see what God is going to teach me this year through my experiences. Last time I learned about the importance of the church and fellowship. I have a feeling this time around will probably be more about trust and obedience. But who am I to predict the course of life? Mt lesson might simply be to enjoy life and its many blessings


...among them train rides, mountains, lakes, and the satisfaction of getting to do what I love for a little money. 


We shall see.

'Scuu me...

Calm down facebook, calm the heck down.

obsessed.

So, it's pretty much a fact that I could live my life in the following two items of clothing...

Oh who am I kidding? I DO live my life in my $8 target t-shirts (all 10 of them) and my joe jeans. I am pretty much an evangelist for those T-shirts, man. They are so great. I am currently wearing one in bright teal. :) 

So, yeah, I'm obsessed.

What I am up to pre-Fulbright year...

So besides the utter indescribable joys of living at home and working for my mother (note the sarcasm), I have an extremely exciting life (note it again). Why you may ask? 


Because this has taken over my free time:

Yes, I am rereading them in an effort to finish my rereading by July 13th...when the lovely Sally and I (and a few others) will begin re-watching the movies. Nerd. I know. I even have a schedule laid out for what page I need to read to each day to make it in time, I'm embarrassed to say. Ridiculous, I am aware. I am currently on this one:

Which is a really good one. I like 3 and 5-7 the best. 2 and 4 aren't my faves. I understand that it is super dorky to blog about this but I also wanted to try blogging a bit more and try to add video to see what that's like. 


So without further ado...

Just checking...

So, basically I am just seeing how this works. I have no intentions to actually start blogging until September. But just for fun, I'll leave you with some fun travel quotes, like the one that inspired the name of my blog. :)
But first, a picture of one of the schools I will be working at.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” – Aldous Huxley

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson 

″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." ~Mark Twain

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey

and finally...

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins