How the Time Flies...

"Thirteen months to the day since Gandalf sent us on our long journey... we found ourselves looking upon a familiar sight. We were home. How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back?" ~ Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Okay so I guess it's been more like 11 months, but I still can't believe we're coming up on a year since I met some of the most wonderful people I've ever known and embarked on a journey to see the world with them.

It seems like a distant dream. Did I really sleep on the Great Wall of China in April? Visit the Taj Mahal in March? Swim with Penguins in Africa? Sail around the world with 700 other college students? I have all these pictures, works of art, small souvenirs, phone numbers, and email addresses that mean it must've been more than a dream, but it still doesn't seem real somehow.

The world we lived in for the first four months of this year was unbelievable. I still find myself captivated by thoughts of it; we lived in a world where we woke up in a new country every couple days, where the ocean was our backyard, and where after only a few days I felt like I had known my new friends my entire life.

Fortunately, I've been able to travel out and visit several of the friends I made along the way, but I am reminded of Dean Ken's prophetic words during one of our final meetings, that we would never again be able to experience our entire group of people being together in the same place. We have all gone our separate ways and returned to our old lives.

Though now separated by great distances, we are still linked by the bonds of a shared experience. I am reminded daily of the people and places I encountered throughout our journey and not a day goes by where I don't have at least a few thoughts about Semester at Sea. Whenever I hear someone mention South Africa, or ask what the currency of India is it still grabs my attention. I've been there! I've seen that!

I think trying to resume life at home has made me even more aware of just how lucky all of us were to have seen the things we saw and done the things we did. I learned so much about myself and the world in those four months and I really do think that it changed me in deep and lasting ways. It has ignited within me a spirit of exploration and adventure I never knew I had.

As 2008 winds to a close, I will forever look back at this year as one of the best of my life. My sincere thanks to all of you who helped make it that way! I can't wait to see what adventures the future has in store for us!