A New Adventure

Almost two years ago, I wrote my "final" post, wrapping up one of the craziest, most action-packed, never boring chapters of my short life. My time in Jordan is something I will never forget, and my experiences there have shaped the way I view things and react to things today. I still love to talk about my adventures there, from taxi marriage proposals to 36 hour trips to Syria. But that chapter came to a close, and upon arriving in the States, I stopped writing, presumably for good.

So why start writing again? Why now?

Well, yesterday morning, I arrived at work a little before 8am. I was scheduled to work an all-day conference, and I had to be there early to set out the coffee and bagels and such, so I ran in, hopped in the elevator to put my things in the offices upstairs. Big mistake. The security guard, who was the only other person in the virtually empty building, had not yet switched the elevators to public access; it was still keycard-only permission. Guess who doesn't have a keycard. The door of the elevator slid shut, which is when I discovered that the button wasn't working. None of the buttons were working. I was trapped. No way out. Pulled out my cell phone - no signal. Go figure. I'm not claustrophobic, thankfully, but this was not my idea of a good time. I had no idea what to do, and no idea if the security guard even knew that I was in the building. So I just get pressing buttons, hoping they would magically start working and let me out. I debated for a few minutes about pressing the emergency button, but decided not to for a while, maybe after 10 or 15 minutes. But luckily for me, after 6 minutes in the elevator, the security guard switched it to public access and up I went. The rest of my shift was largely uneventful.

The reasons I tell this story are a) because this is the kind of stuff that happens to me, and I think it's funny and b) because as I was walking down the stairs (no more elevators for me for a while...), I was composing a blog post in my head of how to describe what had just happened to me. I do it without thinking. It's a habit that started back in Jordan once I started writing about my adventures - something would happen, and I would think of ways to write it. On many occasions in the last year or so, I've found myself walking somewhere, thinking of how to write about my adventures, how I would want them to be read.

Many times, I get into a lull, I feel like living in the States just doesn't hold as many adventures for me, like there's not as much to be experienced here as there was overseas. I find myself longing for the days of unpredictability, when there was so much to learn about a culture and a people from my day-to-day interactions. I get bored by my academic life, by the same routine, day in, day out. I want to travel, I want to see new places, to meet new people. But then there are days like today that remind me of how much there is to be experienced here. I live in a melting pot of people and cultures, and there are so many opportunities, if only I would venture out of my comfort zone again and find them.

Which brings me back to my question - Why now? I feel that in ways, writing about my adventures caused me to notice and appreciate them more, which I think is really important. So I think it's time to start writing again, to pay more attention to the great opportunities I have in front of me rather than spending my time wishing I was someplace else. Plus, it will give me a chance to write about some of the crazy stuff that's gone on in the past several months - like how I got married two weeks ago!

To sum up where I am now, I am finishing up my second semester of my sophomore year, majoring in Global Studies with a concentration on the Middle East, working at a Middle East Area Studies center, and getting involved more in my church community. I'm newly married to an incredible man who is also my closest friend, and I could not be happier! And so it begins, a new chapter of life - a new adventure.