So long Ph.D...HELLO EUROPEAN ADVENTURE!

Joy's got the dreamer's disease...Holy Cow I'm going to EUROPE...for a MONTH...all by MYSELF! Sort of... Here I go, watch me run…a hundred miles under the sun…

Gil Baile has a great quote that goes like this..."Dont ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive because what the world needs in people who have come alive." The outcome of my many hours of contemplation of that quote...So long Ph.D. Hello, Europe! As my principal Dave Katzin has reminded me over and over again, I will be getting a waaaaaaay more valuable education gallivanting around Europe for a month...more so that I could ever get sitting in some classroom here in the States. As I like to remind him...My European education, unlike the classroom, will NOT move me up on the pay scale. Lucky for him.

But anyway, it is finally my time to get the heck out of here! (Thanks J.R. for reminding me of that). I have been thinking about some sort of a World adventure for very long time. I love learning about new cultures. I love history. I love just exploring things that are different than the here and now! I’ve always felt the need to march to the beat of my own drummer and but out of here, but something has always kept me close to home. Case in point...Immediately after college when I was living in San Diego, I was contemplating living and teaching there and continuing my mission work in Tijuana, Mexico; but my best friend from high school, Becky needed a kidney, I matched, and due to amazing circumstances, got a job near home and ended up coming back to Chicago (I still have both kidney's btw...long story). The following summer, I had a very rough first year of teaching high school, and as a result had applied to the Peace Core and also to study English Literature and/or Creative Writing at Trinity University in Ireland, but my sister-in-law's cancer had come back and the prognosis didn't look good at that point and I ended up pretty much living back in the burbs for almost 6 months while still maintaining my apt in the city just to help out with the kids and whatnot. I began my Master's Degree at DePaul University which took up 2 years of my life. Had a couple of long-term relationships which held me back. Don't get me wrong...I have not for once ever regretted anything I have done in the past 6 years, and I would not have changed any of the experiences I've had (well...most of them...haha) for the world; and Chicago is a pretty great city. I’ve had a great life here the past 6 years. There are so many things I’m going to miss while done during July…summer concerts and street festivals, going to the beach, hanging out in Michigan at my parents boat, walks up and down Clark Street, sitting outside at cafes and just writing or reading, friends’ BBQ’s…soooooo many things. I totally willing to give all of this up for my European Summer Adventure, but once again, there is something much bigger that is making me want to stay home. My grandma went into the hospital with some sort of stomach infection 2 days ago. I went to visit her yesterday and she was completely nauseated and depressed, and she just looked plan aweful. It made me so depressed that I started to cry in the elevator when I left the visit and began thinking that maybe I should cancel my trip. My mother told me ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! She also told me that if something happens to my grandma when I’m gone, she’s not telling me until I get back because of course I would want to come home immediately, but mom said that my grandma would be totally “pissed off” (which if you knew my grandma…is sooooo true) if I cut my adventure short… Mom…that’s crap! I promised not to come home…I’d be soooo angry if grandma passed and I didn’t know so you better tell me! Today she was much better, so keep her in your prayers please : )

So I’m sitting here in my living room waiting for my sister to come and pick me up, thinking about how my sense of adventure has been slowly fading away over the past few years...and I didn't even realize it. I am totally NOT the uninhibited girl I was back in college. Sure, I can blame it on starting life in the real world, needing to be more responsible, growing up, whatever; but there has been a stirring in my soul for a while now, and I just need to get out of the push and pull of everyday life here and explore because there is such a LOT of world to see out there…
What followed was...this trip started as an idea one day, and 1 week later the trip was completely booked. I'm extremely excited, but at the same time I haven't quite gotten to the point where it has set in that I am actually going...well, not until I look at my credit card statement and the "oh s**t" factor hits me HAHA!

My friend Josh is the one who really opened this can of worms almost a year ago... I first met Josh and his brother almost exactly a year ago at Andersonville's Midsommer Fest. We were listening to Mike and Joe (great festival band btw) and we just started talking...that night ended up being the first of many adventures Josh would take me on...this one climbing to the rooftop of the Drake Hotel via the fire escape. What followed were several more hotel roof tops, sneaking into major concerts at Northerly Island, late nights of billboard climbing and dance parties etc etc...Haiti was another eye opener to this. That trip was the first for me in over 5 years...and I had never been so clear on something that God was calling me to do more so that this trip. And well, you all know what kind of adventures I got "STUCK" in there. If not...read my blog archives from August 2008. There was one specific moment where I can remember feeling completely me and completely uninhibited. We were all huddled in the back of the taptap heading to the orphanage. The rain was coming down hard...so hard it was stinging. Everyone was trying to get out of the wind and stinging rain drops and I just put on my sun glasses to keep the rain out of my eyes, stood up and took it all in! That picture is my current profile pic on facebook. The comments attached to it are about how I'm living it up and everyone else is huddled together like sissys! I mean...seriously! When is the next time I will ever be in the back of a pick-up during a hurricane!?!?! I've never felt more alive, more in harmony with God and with the world than at that moment.

So here is my European plan…

I leave Sunday, June 28th (TODAY) for Dublin. I'll be in Dublin for a few days, sightseeing, meeting up with some friends of friends, heading down to Country Kerry where my family is from, and possibly visiting with the church plant Parkview planted there last year. On July 2, I fly to Santander, Spain to meet up with Ale. I have a 10 hour layover there where I plan to practice my Spanish at a local cafe and/or head to the beach and journal for a while before Ale and I fly to Dusseldorf, Germany. Ale has a friend in Dusseldorf so we plan to explore that city before taking a bus to Berlin for a few days. I'm super excited to drive up the Rhine and see that part of the country. I hear it is beautiful. On July 6, we head to Frankfurt where we will catch a plane to Prague. I'm most looking forward to seeing this city. Everyone I know in Europe says this is the best city in Europe. We will be in Prague until July 8 when we will take an overnight train to Vienna. We will spend a couple of days in Vienna, including a day trip to Salzburg where we will go on the Sound of Music tour...sooooooo very excited about that. On July 11, we fly back to Dusseldorf, and then back to Bilbao, Spain as Ale has to work that week. I'll spend the night of July 11 at her place before flying off to Rome all by myself for a few days on the 12. I'm very excited to see Rome too. While there, I hope to meet up with a few friends who are staffing summer project there. These guys were in San Diego with me while I staffed SDSP in 2003. I fly back to Bilbao on July 16 and Ale and I catch a train to Paris the next day for a long weekend in France. My friend Mike will be traveling through France on the 10th on his way to Africa, so I hope to catch dinner or at least meet him at one of those cute little French cafe's you see in the movies before we leave. I'm also excited to visit this part of the continent because my grandfather, who was a medic in General Patton's army in WW2 helped liberate Paris from the Nazis. He later went on up into Holland and I think over into Germany and Austria, but it will just be neat to be in the places where he was. After France, Ale and I head back to Bilbao that Sunday, where I leave her for good. On Monday, July 20, I fly off to London which is where I'll end my trip. I have already booked 2 Broadway shows in the West End Theater District and a tour that will take me to see Stonehenge, Shakespeare's and Jane Austen's birthplace, as well as some castle. I head back to the States, via a layover in Dublin (my gateway to Europe) on July 28, just in time for Kulovitz's wedding the following day. Wow!

Be sure to check back as I plan to blog about each city I visit. And also check on facebook for pictures as I go…

“Welcome to the planet, Joy. Welcome to existence! …I dare you to move!” ~Switchfoot