Close...

{ In a position so as to be very near to something or someone; with very little space between. }

This word has been very effective in describing my life lately - even though Im far away from what I normally call home. Why, you ask?

• I'm closer to my future - I've only been interning at the parliament for a week but I already feel like my future is clearer, or at least more feasible.
• I'm closer to God - He is everywhere and always with me. I've been feeling that I need Him more and more. To help me, to lead me, to teach me. It's been a long time since I last felt this close to Him. What a difference starting a new adventure can make in one's spiritual life.
• I'm closer to nature - Edinburgh is gorgeous...I can't get enough of it. As the picture I took above shows you, beauty is in every little part of this city.
• I'm closer to my passions - Adventure, politics, friends, learning, music, travel, photography....just to name a few.
• I'm closer to the world - I had never been to the United Kingdom before. Its a place that I've never dreamed about coming to because I always knew I would come here. Does that make sense? I love this country. LOVE. In February I will be taking multiple trips to explore more of it. And as the months go by I'll see more and more. I'll go to other countries in Europe that I've never been to - making the world smaller but bigger all at the same time.

I guess you could say that my life is pretty wonderful right now. Want to know how I've gotten to this point? I used this inspiration from writer Anne Sexton:

"Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard."

While we are young...

Edinburgh, Scotland

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.

We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.

We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed.

And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again -- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.

See you tomorrow Edinburgh!

Lately...

.... I study at the library from 9pm to midnight every week night except Friday.

.... I eat oranges all the time.

.... I can't stop thinking, dreaming, or drooling over everything Scotland.

.... Im doing fairly well in classes.

.... I wear scarves practically every day. And I freaking love the Autumn/Winter weather!

.... I listen to Coldplay, Brandon Flowers, and Gnarls Barkley all the time.

.... I find myself to be extremely funny.

.... Half or more of my time on Saturdays consists of watching football. Go BSU and BYU!!

.... I haven't been hanging out with my girlfriends. I need to change this!

.... I've been taking lots of photographs. And I've fallen in love with Instagram. (Hence the picture I took above!)

.... Im always in a weird "is life real?" mood....mostly b/c I can't believe Im going to Edinburgh.

.... I have become obsessed with the shows Revenge, The Secret Circle, and Modern Family.

.... I can't stop dancing while I listen to music on the way to school.

.... I talk to some member of my family every day. (My brother and sisters are like the most hilarious people on this planet.)

.... I have been reading the history of Scotland. Its some pretty fascinating stuff.

....

On bucket lists...

I don't have a bucket list.

Shocking, I know.

I've never had the desire to make a bucket list - formally or informally. I've been trying to figure out why and here's what I've come up with:

I don't want to prioritize my experiences. There are a lot of things that I would love to do such as hug a baobab tree, kayak in front of a glacier, go to antarctica... but my life will not feel incomplete if I don't do them. I've done things that I think should be on a bucket list but I think its kind of cheating to add them on after you've done them so then I would feel disappointed that it wasn't on my list. Instead I treat every experience like what they are: a surprise!

I do what I say I'm going to do. Ask my mother, ask anyone who knows me well. When I get my mind set on something, I pursue it one hundred percent until it happens. I have some specific goals and aspirations, but a lot of my goals are more general. I want to travel, I want to learn as much as I can, I want to understand the world, I want to see America from other country's point of view. I like to keep the specifics vague because I don't want to look at my list and be disappointed that instead of visiting the catacombs in Paris, I visited the ones in Prague. The specifics could lead me to be less grateful for what I've done as well as hung up about what I haven't yet accomplished.

I'm rather unpredictable. I know, it doesn't necessarily go with what I said above so let me explain. My life is not set in stone and I have no idea where I'm going to end up. I realize that buckets lists are subject to change but not the amount of change that I would probably cause. For example, two years ago I was dead-set on becoming an anthropologist. If I'd had a bucket list then, it would have been full of things an anthropologist would want to do: work at a museum (and visit all the famous ones), find something older than 1,000 yrs on a dig, and get a PhD. They're interesting, but they would not be on my list today. I can't predict the things that will be important to me in 5 years, let alone the rest of my life.

I don't mean to demean the bucket list. Everyone is different and they should do what works for them. Personally, I don't have a bucket list, nor will I ever. Instead what I do is keep a "What I've Done List." And I must admit, its pretty awesome.