Hello World!

Well it's been over a year since I have written on my blog. When I first started this back in 2009....wait, maybe even 2008, it was because I was going on a huge adventure overseas and wanted to document my experience. Not only for me, but also for my dear friends & family back home, as well as to any fellow travelers who perhaps stumbled across it and I could help them out, ease their nerves, and so on. When I returned to America from Korea, my blogging just stopped completely. I've been thinking about it a lot recently, especially because I enjoy reading so many blogs and I miss writing. I guess I thought I had to be writing about some crazy adventure in some random country or about something bizarre I had eaten for people to be to be interested in my blog. And while I hope some people DO enjoy reading it, or are grateful for finding it on the web somewhere, this blog is mainly for me....my outlet and how I want to  "scrapbook" my life per say. I named this blog "Live the Life you Love" because I believe in that very strongly. We only get one life and we should live it with no regrets - something that I actually have to remind myself of from time to time. But living life doesn't always mean hopping on a plane to a foreign country, which I was certain it meant back when I was 22, fresh outta college. It also means being with people you love, doing activities you enjoy, living through milestones. It means watching your friends get engaged, attending weddings, getting excited for babies being born, and fulfillment in your career. And while I will continue to strive living this life that I love so much, I realized that many exciting things have happened over the past year, just in America this time. I hope to write about them in the next couple of weeks because they are just as important to me as the time I went to my first Korean wedding, or stayed up all night at a festival in Seoul and took the 5 am train home, or had a crazy birthday in the Czech Republic.

I also find it fitting that I am writing this post on 9/11. After I studied abroad in college, I couldn't wait to graduate college so that I could move back to Europe. And while I would never give up my experience or time living overseas, it is amazing how fulfilled I felt last June when I came back to America. How when I walked off the plane in San Diego, I've never been so happy before in my life to see "Welcome to the United States of America" plastered right in front of me, and proud that that was MY country. America needs a lot of work, but what country doesn't? I am very proud and happy to have been born in this country. We truly are lucky. I will never forget how it was a half day at our school and we were having a study hall instead of chorus. Mr. Zortman turned on the tv and explained that one of the Towers had been hit. During the 5 minute walk up to Spanish class in between classes, the other Tower had been hit, so when we walked in, our Spanish Teacher had more news to tell us. I will never forget the fear, the sadness, the panic. And I will never forget that feeling of Unity we all had afterward that I wish we could all feel again without having to go through a National tragedy. I will also never forget those we lost and those who acted in heroic ways. We will never forget.