Dear Lord, this is happening.

You guys this is happening. What is this?

I haven't even left yet. It's the night before, and this feels surreal. Like I'm going to be gone. For a month. I'm kind of saying goodbye to my nice laptop and to my bed. I will miss you, Normandy (yes that the Laptop's name, because of course it is), and I will miss you, foam mattress topper. I will miss the privacy of having my own room.

Anyway the real reason I'm posting isn't all that, it's that there was a section I forgot to get to in that last post, and wanted to share. And that is prayer:

A lot of the time people ask things like "how can I pray for you" and that is an amazing question. And I wanted to write down here, in ink - er, digital space - my prayers for this trip.

First and foremost, that I am prayerful. I am, I will be the first to admit, NOT a prayerful person. Don't take this post as a "this is something I always do" because it's NOT. I'm not a prayerful person. Bu I wish I was. Because every time I am, the quality of my life - my attitude, my joy - goes up. By a lot. It skyrockets. But I still manage to somehow VERY RARELY let that happen. I am about to be travelling alone for a month through several beautiful countries. I pray most of all that through thick and thin, through fear and through beauty, through history and modern life, through panic and loneliness and confusion and through gasps of joy and squees of delight, that I am prayerful and considerate of God's plan and will and role and love and power. For me, and for all those whose stories made the history (and at time the fiction!) of the places I see real. I want to be mindful and prayerful, because I haven't been. And this is worth it.

Second I hope that I can honestly relax, and feel the freedom I talked about earlier - let myself be free. Right now, the night before, I'm super worried. I have this thing where NO MATTER what the plans are - no matter how awesome - the day before I spend the whole day NOT wanting to go. Like nope, changed my mind, not worth it. Let's stay home and make tea. I'm hoping that that doesn't come back throughout this trip. This whole thing really is INSANE.

Third, general travel safety of course - several of you are concerned about my lack of weaponry. I'm not a fan of running afoul of customs officers and I have no idea what the view of weapons are, but honestly? Weapons are only good if they are at hand, and I don't think I will want to go around carrying one my whole trip. That said, general prayers for safety never go awry. I'm not worried but I'm also not there yet. Mostly I pray that the hostels I picked are good, and that my 3 overnight train rides go ok.

Fourth, general well being. I very VERY often get sick (a cold/allergies) when I travel and that would SUCK. I also just don't know where to get basic things like food, medicine, or even cash in most of these cities! Also I will obviously be lugging around a VERY heavy backpack and walking a lot and don't know how well I'll sleep and all those things too. My back and my legs are already tired just from life in general. I'm really hoping they don't give out on me now. Pray my shoes serve me as well as ever on this front too as I'm only bringing the one trusted pair. 

I guess that's it for now. I should sleep. Not sure I can. If I sleep this will be real. I don't think I'm ready for that. Pray I can wake up and get going without too much stress. I'm making myself get a SUPER EARLY bus to London (where I will catch the bus to Paris) because I'm paranoid. I will spend almost all of tomorrow on a bus, which does not sound fun. But after THAT hopefully everything will be better.

This is crazy.

I really need prayer on that first point.

Thanks again for reading. 

Rissa

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

There's a Million Things I Haven't Done, but Just You Wait

Ok so it's been like a month. Sorry about that. And to top off my silence, this post isn't even an update on this month past! It is, rather, an update on the month to come.

First, I want to say thank you again to everyone who has been reading this blog. This blog is both public and personal, and serves several purposes, the foremost of which is promoting my own mental health, and only second to this is any benefit to my readers (which is often also benefit to me: so that I don't have to give each of you the same update and tell each of you the same stories time and again). For some of you I don't know why you keep up with this blog, but I want to thank you for your love for and interest in me. Whether you comment or not, it means a lot to me that people read this blog. It's a mess, a REAL mess, and often is not exactly uplifting or inspiring. So thank you for sticking with me, thick and thin, through update and silence.

Now comes the fun stuff. This post is mostly to announce a change in pace in my life and my blog, as this blog will, for the next month, become a Travel Blog!

As most of you already know, in less than two days, I am setting out on an ADVENTURE! - I am going to spend almost a month on a solo backpacking tour around Europe! I'll be riding trains and crashing in hostels in 8 cities (in 6 countries), plus a few more. I wanted to give y'all an overview of my trip before I left.

On Wednesday, July 6th, I'll be leaving bright and early to catch a bus to London, which will connect me with a bus to Paris (taking a ferry over the channel). I spend three nights there, and then board a sleeper train to Venice, Italy! Three nights later I'm off to Florence, to spend three nights there and move on to Rome. Then it's a night's train ride to Salzburg, four days there - mostly to rest! By this point I know I will be EXHAUSTED - then another night's ride to Berlin, where I'll be three nights before I'm off to Copenhagen for three nights, and then Amsterdam for the same length of time. Finally, I'll board a train to Brussels, where I will spend just a few hours (basically I'll grab lunch and walk across the city from one station to another) before I'm on a bus (via ferry again) back to London, to catch the night bus home to Oxford on August 3rd.

Well that was a lightning fast overview of the next month of my life! I've several thoughts about this, the foremost that I. Am going. To die. This trip is going to be absolutely exhausting. I know that. I honestly should have done more to prep my body! I've never been on a trip like this longer than two weeks, and I've only been on a trip living out of a backpack once, and that was with my family. I've never traveled solo for more than three days, and I've never been in a country where English is not the #1 language! So those are some of the worries. Mostly, I'm worried about burn-out - that a few weeks in I'll be wishing I was back home in my bed with my gaming laptop and a proper kitchen and a reliable shower and laundry machines.

Overall though, the main point of this trip is FREEDOM. I have very VERY few commitments, and I am going alone. If you've never traveled alone then you don't understand how absolutely liberating it is, but it really is, trust me. Yes I am sad that I won't have my friends to share all the sights with - but that's what my phone camera and this blog are for!  - But seriously travelling solo is SO much less stressful. The only commitments I have are the trains I have booked passage on - all but one of which can be easily re-booked - and the hostels I'll be staying in. Other than that? I've no one else to worry about or disappoint. If *I* am ok, then everyone in my party is ok :) If I want to go see the Eiffel tower I can, and if I think it's a bit overrated and would rather stay near Notre Dame I can totally do that too. I have not planned out each day and its activities. (In fact - if you've been to/are in any of these cites, I'm totally open to suggestions for what to see/do/try/taste!)

 Speaking of FREEDOM - let me take a moment not to say HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, AMERICA!! The other expats and I shall be celebrating tonight, and I have Dr. Pepper BBQ pulled pork in the slow cooker downstairs! Oh BBQ, how I have missed you. My act of patriotic pride today, however - not that Dr. Pepper BBQ Pork isn't patriotic, it totally is - was mailing in my overseas absentee ballot request form. I know, paperwork. Yuck. And politics. Even worse. But still! I've never actually voted in an American election before - can you believe that four years ago in voting season I was, as now, in the UK? I was in Belfast, and I didn't get my request form mailed in time, so I missed it). And even though this year is MESSED UP and disgusts me, I can still have a tiny voice in this election even overseas. Or at least I will if no one messed up this paperwork...

I hope you all have a very good 4th of July wherever you are - even if that's just another Monday to you. Next time I update I may be on my way to or already in Paris! I will have pictures, believe me. So. Many. Pictures.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above, yes heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Thanks again for reading
Rissa

P.S. I'm going to admit here that one of the primary reasons I'm spending so much of my trip in Italy is tied directly to a certain video game series. Please excuse the fact that I will spend the next month freaking out that I am going to the real-life version of the places Ezio climbed. Also please indulge the many Bioshock Infinite references likely to come from my first stop. After I turn and head north I'll be out of video game territory but I'm sure I'll find some way to tie them back in :)

P.P.S. Speaking of video games, I have somehow on this blog and on FB still managed to not mention my newest obsession: UNDERTALE. I blame this on several of my friends, and thank them profusely for doing this to me. If you haven't played this game PLEASE do so, and if you have PLEASE message me because I have far too many thoughts about how amazing this game is and I WILL ramble to you for several hours about my love for this game at the slightest provocation. Stay determined, my friends.

P.P.P.S. It's just past 2pm and I've listened to Hamilton twice already today. 'MERICA!