In retrospect...

Well, I apologize for the serious delay in my final entry regarding studying abroad. However, I was too busy living and loving London during my last two weeks of residence to take the time to attempt to put words to my experience.

Leaving London was extremely difficult. I can't say the living situation was ideal, nor did I really want to continue writing final papers and studying for a final exam. However, the overall beauty of all that I was able to accomplish while abroad is something that will forever embellish the walls of my heart. Therefore parting with the city that I will forever associate with the purest form of wonderful was one of the most bitter sweet things I have ever had to do.

While abroad, I was forced to confront a change in my lifestyle, not just because of where I was, but because of who I was with and what I was doing. I learned how to jet-set around Europe at the cheapest possible price. I learned the in's and out's of British Parliament and how a government representative's office works. I learned how to navigate not just London, but the rest of England and many of the cities that I visited during my time abroad. And this is just the beginning... I can't even begin to delve into what I learned about myself and other people.

In fifteen weeks, my world was shaken and tossed about by the winds and tides of culture, time, distance and unfamiliarity. Was it perfect? In terms of the dictionary definition, absolutely not. I had a panic attack on the train to the airport before my trip to Copenhagen because the scrolling destination list was not working in the train car I was in, thus preventing me from confirming that the train was in fact going to Gatwick Airport (don't worry, it was). I spent many evenings pouting because I could not get Skype to work properly. I often opted to cover (insert food here) in Nutella and call it dinner on far too many occasions. Also, there are some things that I wanted to do and see, like Abbey Road, St. Paul's Cathedral and Paris, that I was unable to make the time or effort for. Yet, in my own understanding of perfection, my study abroad experience was exactly that. It was everything that I wanted and needed for it to be and I am forever thankful for all of the situations, people and opportunities that came together to bring me to where I am now.

I know many people who did not study abroad this past semester who get very antsy when my friends and I bring up how changed we are because of our experience. I can understand why because even if they had no desire to go abroad, hearing people wallow in nostalgia for the person they were in Europe is in no way entertaining. However, I hope that these people, at Wake Forest and elsewhere, who did not take advantage of an opportunity to study abroad or simply were not able to do so will at least be accepting of and interested in the changes we have undergone. I have said before that I know that a lot of what I learned while abroad probably has yet to surface and that my experiences in London and all over the world will continue to resonate in every situation that I am for the rest of my life. I would hate for people to assume that studying abroad is a skin-deep experience... I am not quite sure where I am going with this. However, I can say... perhaps as a segue into the next chapter of my life (and blog, if you're lucky)... that one of my greatest fears in leaving London was that no one will understand or care or even wonder how I have been impacted by the past four months of my life. Yet, only time will tell and I too owe it to those who did not the face the same trials and opportunities as I did this past semester to take it easy on the 'well, when I was studying abroad' anecdotes. After all, even I will admit that there is no way I could ever do the overall study abroad experience justice in words and therefore I cannot assume that people will just get it.

Enough with the rambling. I'm off my soap box and back on planet america where capitalism trumps freedom, food actually has taste and mom and dad are no longer a skype date away. My nugget to take away from all of this, something I may try to make a motif in my blog posts from now on, is this:

Sometimes things just do not work out the way you planned them. People flake. Rain falls. Tube lines close. Drinks are overpriced. Heels were a bad choice. Skype fails. Exams are hard. Flights are cancelled. Each of these happenings however are not the end. They are the beginning of a new challenge, the coming of a bigger conquest, the opening of a greater window of opportunity. All you have to do is look past the moment it all comes crashing down. Once you do, it's easy to see how with every door that closes, another one is begging to be opened.

Until the next adventure...

Happy Holidays!

Don't mind if I do...

I have been really good about withholding political/athletic rants this semester so I think I deserve the right to have at least one blog post about America. I have recently categorized myself as a cynic due to my lack of appreciation for how America is viewed from this side of the world. Don't get me wrong, Europeans don't hate America and they absolutely adore Obama. However, everyone is pro-their country and, having worked in a Member of Parliament's office for two months now, I have become a little bit... jaded... in my opinions of American politics. I also have become quite infuriated by what has appeared to be an extremely idle Obama administration. I have not done my research, so this could be entirely wrong. However, what I gather from the current events I have kept up on in the news is that the Obama administration has had a lot of talk, a lot of discussion, and a lot of unfilled promises. Yes, it is his first year of presidency and yes, true change does take time. However, until now I have not really seen much stride toward definite, immediate changes that were promised and reiterated throughout the Obama 2008 campaign. Key words: Until now.

Before I start to bleed red, white and blue (which is going to happen in the next paragraph, I apologize ahead of time), I have to take note of the Health Care Bill. Anyone who has brought this up in conversation with me knows my one-liners. It's longer than War and Peace. It has five times the words of the Torah. It's full of pork and there is no way that every single member of Congress read all 2000+ pages of the Bill front-to-back with an analytical and critical, yet compassionate mindset. I'm sure you've figured it out... I'm not a fan. However, Obama is making strides. The Democrats have done SOMETHING and I have always believed that action is always better than inaction because if the action itself does not correct the problem, it will at least bring the reality of the problem to light. Learning the hard way doesn't always have to be a bad thing because you are ultimately learning. Granted, in this scenario the government is hypothetically learning through incurring a sort of impending destitution on my generation. Yet, you get the picture. Something is being done and that says a lot for a legislative process that has come to revolve around which party is better at filibustering.

Now, here it comes... a letter of approval from the cynic of all cynics, the critic of all critics. I hate war. If you read the personal essay I wrote over the summer and posted on here, you know that I sing John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" at every opportunity, want a peace sign tattoo on my wrist, and firmly hold true the idea that you can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace. I am also a strong believer in the idea that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Thus, the concept of attempting to unite Afghan tribes under one, uncorrupt government by means of force (basically the same thing that the USSR attempted to do not too long ago), is something that I have highly disapproved. Yet, finally someone decided to stand in front of the American people and explain WHY we are in Afghanistan, WHAT we are trying to do, WHEN we will get out, and HOW we will achieve the goals that we did all want to achieve after our nation was viciously attacked on September 11, 2001. That someone was our President.

I was very skeptical of Barack Obama during his campaign and still am. I do see him as a beacon of change in America in that he is the first black President, he is younger, he appears to be more accepting, understanding, compassionate and compromising than most politicians. Yet, I could not fall for his fluffy speeches about a new era nor did I ever want to believe that one man's power of rhetoric and general persona could actually change the dynamic of my country. This has all changed now. Well... kind of.

I just finished watching President Obama's speech from last night at West Point and I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up or get the chills. I have always been entranced by the power of speech, so my watching President Obama orate is kind of like... a cocaine addict receiving a new stash FO FREE. Yet, there were many elements of President Obama's speech that invoked a new sense of American pride in me, something I especially haven't felt since I have been in London. Like I said, I hate the fact that we are at war. I hate the fact that young and old men and women are dying for something other than themselves. However, now we have a plan of action. Now, there are guidelines. Now, Obama is getting it done. I can't take the time to go through the speech again and dictate what I found most compelling, but here are a few things from my memory:

1. Barack Obama stating that the extremists on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, also known as the Taliban/Al-Qaeda, have distorted Islam, one of the world's greatest religions. I ate this upppp. When did George Bush ever stand up in front of the American people and express any sort of respect for the values that these people hold true? Barack Obama confidently spoke to America and said that the Islamist Extremists in the Middle East were using Islam to justify violence, manipulating the religion that is not really all that different from those that most Americans hold to be true in order to make up for the fact that they have been maliciously murdering innocent people around the world.

2. Barack Obama stating that American support for other nations, most specifically Pakistan and Afghanistan, will be conditional. I believe the phrase he used was 'there will be no more blank checks'. Instead of just handing over money and support, Obama vowed to check on the governors, local leaders, and national government to make sure that they are not corrupt and are remaining true to the Constitution. Finally, he gave these countries an ultimatum so that they see us as 'partners' not 'patrons', as Obama said. Genius.

3. Barack Obama made the most brilliant point that I have ever heard from a politician. One that put me over the edge and must have been the turning point for me in my opinions of America. He noted to all viewers that what sets America apart from all other super powers of years and decades past is that we have never asserted ourselves over a people, invaded a country to take complete control, gone into a nation and taken over simply for the sake of their natural resources, or overtaken a nation because we found our ethnicity/culture to be better and more worthy than theirs. Talk about calling out the greatest tyrannies of the 20th century, my goodness. I had never really thought about this though. I mean, we have been engaged in some pretty sketchy confrontations and of course we probably have some economic motive in all of our international endeavors. Yet, when we have gotten involved in international relations, even in Iraq, it has never been with the intention of making a global empire. Even Great Britain, my second love at this point, had the empire upon which the sun never set, also known now (in more politically correct terms) as the Commonwealth. Yet, America has always been about America. America was born out of a desire to not be oppressed, to uphold human rights, to maintain freedom and security for all, and to thrive as a nation, not as a domineering hub for imperialism. This had never occurred to me and I thank Barack Obama for bringing it up.

Leave it to Brobama to make me actually want to be American for the first time since Septmber. I know there were more things that Barack Obama said in his speech that sent chills up my spine or tears ALMOST flowing down my cheeks, but I can't remember them at the moment. I am still kind of mystified by the whole thing. Now, I promise I haven't been brainwashed and I am attempting to look at all that he said with as much realism as possible. No, I still don't like that we are at war and that my fellow Americans are dying for the sake of another people. Yet, as Barack Obama reminded us all in his address at West Point, our efforts in the Middle East were never necessarily about the Afghan people. They were about diffusing the volatility of the Pakistani/Afghani border where a safehaven for Islamic Extremists and terrorists has been brewing since our initial efforts after September 11th, 2001. Along the way, we have helped England and other nations who have been attacked by Al-Qaeda in their attempt to secure themselves and seek revenge. And yes, along the way we have assisted the Afghan people in democratizing and ridding their government form Taliban influence and an Islam dilluted with violence and hatred toward the West, a civilization that may defy the values of Islam, but does nothing to infringe upon it. Yet, in the end, by dampening the strength of dissidents in Afghanistan, by disarming and killing off the Taliban, and by erasing all leadership in Al-Qaeda, we are first and foremost securing a better, less fearful and more hopeful future for ourselves, our country and our world.

My point is basically this: the world is a miserable place right now, but there are some things that just take time. The economic situation will take time and recovery in Afghanistan will take time. For once, we have been reminded of why almost every single member of Congress (98-0 in the Senate, 148-1 in the House) wanted to go to war in Afghanistan in the first place. Also, we now have a President who realizes that dilly-dallying and hanging out while Osama Bin Laden and his biddies continue to plot is not going to bring about peace. We are moving forward and although this means sending 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan and ultimately means more lives lost, both American, Middle Eastern, European, and Australian, these are strides that must be made for the safety and security of our world. I don't know about you, but I have no intention of spending the rest of my life terrified of flying or taking public transportation or standing in a crowded area of a big city. We can do something about the terror that we live in. We have the power, the means, and the support and now, too, we have a leader who understands the reality of the situation at hand and has committed to bringing terrorism and extremism to an end.

I guess you can take the bleeding-heart out of America, but you can't take the American out of the bleeding-heart.