Barcelona, it was the first time that we met...

Spain!! We love us some jumping pictures! :)

Plaza De Toros in Madrid

Our group in Toldeo, Spain.

Kevin and I in Ciutadella in Barcelona, Spain.

Oh Canada!

Our fabulous LLC Team!

Beaver Tails in Halifax!

Atop the Citadel in Halifax, Canada

What Had Happened Was....

So fast forward about about 3 months. A lot has happened since then and I did a horrible job blogging about it. My bad.

It also freaked me out a little when my boss' boss said, "Elizabeth, I read your blog!" when I first met him. John Burkoff, if you're reading this, thank you again. :)

So a recap of one of the most amazing experience of my life...

I survived faculty and staff training, picked up 739 college students in Canada for the ride of their life, survived the trek across the Atlantic Ocean, was in Madrid during the season when Spain won World Cup, had a dance party or two in the faculty/staff lounge, rode in a gondola in Venice, worked with an amazing graduate student, saw a rooftop view of the Old City of Dubrovnik, served with an amazing LLC team, saw the after effects of war torn Bosnia, won second place in the Sea Olympics (small but mighty! Go Blackout!!), got closer to heaven in Meteora, learned the Thriller dance, visited the ancient city of Troy and crossed into the Asian side of Turkey, had an awesome roommate, saw the Pyramids of Giza, made some lifelong friends, camped in the Sahara Desert, met some amazing people, and gained a new perspective on life, love, education, other people, the world, and myself. All it all it was pretty amazing.

So in an effort to recap the last 3 months (3 of the most amazing months of my life might I add), please enjoy a photo montage from each of the countries that I visited this summer. Enjoy.

I'm on a boat...

So the last two days have been a bit of a whirlwind. After eating our last meal in America (at Taco Bell, fittingly enough), we headed off to board the ship, meet our roommates, and start the process of exploring the MV Explorer, our home away from home for the next two and a half months.

Here are some pictures...

The MV Explorer

Dining Hall

Swimming Pool

My Cabin

A few members of the Living Learning Coordinator (LLC) Team

While we're sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Halifax to pick up the students, they are holding a forum on global engagement. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor may have been relaxing poolside right next to me yesterday. Just saying. (Flat Stanley was there too. :) )

We'll have plenty of time for that...

So after much anticipation, a little pre-trip mishap that I will most likely share at the end of my journey, and performing nothing short of a packing miracle, I made it to Fort Lauderdale in one piece ready to set sail with Semester at Sea tomorrow. (Yikes!) I met up with some of my summer colleagues for dinner and a little last minute shopping trip. (PS Next time I do this, please remind me to not waste so much packing weight and space on 2 gallon bottles of shampoo. Some folks had the smarts to just buy it when they got to Florida. Genius!) Let me just put all those worries that I wouldn't have anyone cool to hang out with this summer to rest. They're a fun bunch. I can already tell. :)

It's Like Coming Home...

I landed in Omaha yesterday morning and I realize how much I enjoy having someone meet me when I get off the plane. I know this sounds like a small thing, but if you're ever picking me up at the airport, I'll give you the $4 for parking. Just meet me inside the airport, look happy to see me, give me a hug, and help me with my luggage. That's all I ask.

I have quite a to do list to tackle during my time at home in order to get ready for Semester at Sea and NCCC. And to top it all off, I have developed some type of phlegmy cooties. Fabulous. Doesn't the universe know I don't have time to be sick? But I digress...

It's kind of a weird feeling knowing I'm not going to be headed back to Anchorage here in a few days. It all felt a little Real World when we had our last dinner together on Sunday and we all parted ways one by one. It took all I had not to cry like a baby when they walked me home. (I managed to wait until I made it inside my apartment before I really lost it.) It took awhile for all of those awesome people to move to the AK, but once they did it made life a lot more enjoyable. I'm going to miss them all terribly. In fact, I already do. I found this quote that sums it up quite nicely, "True friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget." Love and miss you guys like woah. You know who you are.

It's a Bittersweet Symphony

So T minus four days until I leave the Last Frontier. The goodbyes have already started and the clearing out of the apartment has commenced. It's kind of a weird spectrum of emotions. From October to February, I wanted nothing more than to get the heck out of here and never look back. But in the weeks and months since, I have committed to Alaska, for better or worse. I'm not sure what exactly prompted the change of heart, but the "love the one you're with mentality" has made all the difference. I have met some truly amazing people that have touched my life in ways I couldn't have even imagined. And if I'm at all doing what I came here to do, hopefully I've impacted them in some small positive way as well. Have you ever stopped to think on moving day or on the last day of school, that you really might never see these people again? These people who were woven into the fabric of your life, these people you saw day in and day out. Realistically, I know that I will probably never see any of my Homework Club kids again. Even just the thought of that brings me to tears. While I may not get to see them every day any more, I have to trust the impact that our time together will have on them (and me) well into the future. There's a quote from the movie remember me that says it best, "Our fingerprints never fade from the lives we touch." Couldn't have said it better if I tried.

My going away party at Homework Club with some of the
coolest kids you're ever going to meet.