Where Did 2010 Go?!

I feel that after reflecting on the past year it was only appropriate to blog about where it has taken me, and how it had gotten me here.
It’s hard to imagine that it has been over a year since I was living in Sansepolcro, Italy. I have grown so much from that experience and now am anticipating my next trip abroad. When I returned home I was overwhelmed once again with a full course load and numerous activities on campus which would force me to fill my schedule pretty quickly. While I love being active, it was in Italy that I found out that finding time to reflect and BE STILL (Psalm 46:10) was really important. I realized I was at a point in my life where I had to be a little selfish, worrying about what was best for me for I will soon be old enough to think of marriage and a family. Where did the year go?! I did manage to stay in the country for a whole year!
The process and preparation for South Africa has been going a little slower than I originally anticipated after I found the school and country I wanted to be living in, in South Africa. I realized I wanted to be in South Africa last fall and then found University of Cape Town. All of my hopes have been centered on reaching out to the community and hopefully volunteering some. The application process seemed never ending and before I could so much as blink it was October and everything had to be turned in.

White Iris-On my BIRTHDAY!

A wonderful canoeing trip with wonderful friends like Miss. Hallie Willis

Me and my forever roomie Megan with our beautiful Onyxes-October 22nd

October is MY month. My favorite season, fall and CORN season, has begun. It came and went by with a wonderful birthday weekend canoeing on the river and then only a week later I finally but my beautiful Meredith Onyx on. Reflecting on the 4 semesters already passed at Meredith with good friends made for a beautiful night.It ended in a weekend with friends in the mountains at my favorite place ever, my famiy’s cabin. This weekend I fell in love. I fell in love with this precious dog. Her name is Ellie and although I learned there was no way I would be able to keep her (a dog in my checked bags wouldn’t have gone well upon my arrival in South Africa) she has now found a home with Joe’s roommate Will.

November started pretty CORNY with a week of sleep loss and all night practices preparing for our Junior Cornhuskin. Perhaps that was part of reason that I couldn’t even begin to find the time to blog. I was able to spend time with my 2012 girls and am quite thankful for that! Singing "I love you little sis" at Cornhuskin was a moment for me because I realized I was over halfway done with my time here at Meredith. I can't believe it is already time for me to have littles. I tried to blog in the weeks that followed Cornhuskin but this was all I wrote:” Fall is in full swing and I cannot believe that its November. The leaves are quickly falling to the ground and all of the corn spirit decorations are down. The freedom boards are painted to remind our class of the sleepless nights Cornhuskin week brought. Where did October go, or the semester for that matter? My mind is beginning to wonder to thoughts of South Africa, well who am I kidding it does every day! Now it is less than two months away”.

2012 <3

<2012 <3's 2014. With my little sis' Kathleen and Andie>

And here I sit, only weeks away from leaving the country for 5 months. Christmas practically forces one to stay at home and reflect on the year gone by (or flown by in my eyes). It is nice to be sitting home with my family who reminds me of how truly blessed I am. In good Massey fashion we rolled out of the bed around 10am and didn’t get to get breakfast until 1:30 this afternoon. My grandfather sent out an email this morning that read: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15:13). This holiday season has been different than others because my mom’s mom has now been in and out of the hospital after a stroke and is now quieter and more inactive than ever. It is hard to think of the joy of Christmas in the hard time, but I have found peace in the gift my family has been for twenty years in my life. How beautiful the gift of love to be given this year and every year from family and friends (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The wonderful and amazing Ruth Coffey on her 85th birthday <3

The amazing and always classy Masseys :)

The New Year will be here soon and preparations for South Africa won’t be able to be put off any longer. As advent continues I will celebrate in the beauty of Jesus whose death has given us life eternally. He is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). That is really the greatest gift of all, God’s everlasting love. As I prepare for South Africa I pray the spirit will be ever so evident and alive in me so that I can use my gifts while in South Africa to grow and learn even more than I did my first semester abroad. That same hope and presence in the spirit of the Lord is what will get me through time apart from so many I love.

Gotta get back to blogging more… I know I shouldn’t make promises, but let’s just say I would really like to keep this up in the coming months!

Finding Peace in Sansepolcro

Here is the essay that I wrote in the spring for an essay contest at Meredith College. I placed second and shared the essay with classmates and faculty at Meredith's Celebrating Student Achievement Day.

In the beautiful and quaint Tuscan city of Sansepolcro, Italy it took me only sixteen weeks to find peace. This is a state of mind which I had not reached in quite some time. It must be hard for people to understand why this experience felt fulfilling if they have not studied or lived abroad. However, if the rest of my classmates in Italy were hearing this they would be nodding their heads. In the fall semester of my sophomore year in college I was able to learn more academically and personally than I ever thought possible in such a place or time. Enhancing these learning skills has made me more knowledgeable of the world as a whole and more independent as a young woman.
For someone who learns visually I picked the right study abroad program. I was lucky enough to learn about Italian Renaissance art exactly where it began. In our literature class we discussed Carlo Levi and Iris Origo’s lives during World War II and were then lucky enough to travel to their homes. We were able to take all of our classes in the Palazzo Alberti, a stunning 16th century palazzo which also served as our home away from home. This experience in Italy allowed me to focus more on what I was learning in the classroom because I did not have all of the extra meetings and practices I normally have when I am on campus. I had more time to do my work, instead of attending countless dance practices and club meetings. I thought I would miss these things most, but ended up being refreshed to get a break from them. My semester in Italy challenged me academically, and I was pushed to learn about new subjects I may not have chosen to study had I stayed at Meredith. I can assure anyone that analyzing beautiful Italian art is done better when you are standing before it in awe.
I was not only more excited to learn about the topics of my classes, but more capable of learning about them. I wrote a paper about the north and south divide for Sara Andreini’s Italy Today class. This paper talked about the poverty the south had faced, and how people in the north have continued to separate themselves from those in the south. The sources for my papers did not come from readings alone, but also from images I had seen in my travels. I could explain how I was a witness to the poverty in the south, which made what I was writing about more real to me. After reading Carlo Levi’s book Christ Stopped at Eboili, I was given the chance to see the city he had written so much about. It really put the books context into perspective and if I stopped to imagine what he wrote, I could see the children and the poverty of the small town Levi wrote of surrounding me. These experiences not only gave me an appreciation for the opportunity I was being given in Italy, but also the opportunity I was given to continue learning with such imagination back at Meredith College.
Amanda Oliver, an alumna of Meredith College, spoke this year at the sophomore class Charming Evening event. She told us that if she could give each student sitting in front of her one piece of advice, it would be to study abroad. As a study abroad alumna, I believe she gave them some very wise advice. Amanda never studied abroad while she was at Meredith, but she did hope that as our class advisor she could persuade all of us to. I wasn’t expecting to learn all of the things I learned about myself while I was away from the states, but as my time in Italy came to a close myself and the others around me saw that I was more confident and independent. I feel like a stronger person who can take on so much more after being away from home for so long. While I was in Italy I realized that out of all the people that loved me, I needed to love me most at the end of each day. I needed to get the confidence to achieve things, which I lost near the end of high school and beginning of college. Study abroad helped me find this confidence. I began to understand that in my new experiences in this foreign country I was only going to move forward with my life if I put the mistakes I made in my past behind me. I am so happy that I jumped at my opportunity to study abroad early, while it was right in front of me. Italy was not always in my plans to study abroad; South Africa was. Italy gave me the passion I need to pursue further study abroad opportunities. The experiences I had in Italy and the moments I found happiness began to make me realize I was becoming the strong, independent woman I knew I could be. I realized how easy it was to find “simple joy” in a beautiful afternoon bike ride, or in the smell of a good plate of pasta.
I knew how I wanted things to work out when I returned from Italy, but they have not work out the way I imagined at all. I remember writing about the gift of time and how I learned we must savor the important moments, but since being back at Meredith all I want is more time. I want more time in the day to get my work done, and I wish I had spent more of the time I had in Italy studying Italian. Although my schedule doesn’t include the free time I wish it had, I do remember how important it is to stay true to what I believe and keep the strength I gained while in Italy. I have been proof that one can learn from experience, and my semester in Italy was just another example of how I did that.
People still approach me and ask “How was Italy? Tell me all about it.” I used to hesitate and wonder how much they really wanted to know until I could sum it up in one word: perfect. Nothing will ever replace the time I had in Italy. From the first night in the Palazzo Alberti, as an Italian couple sang a beautiful Italian opera song to all of us, I knew I was in the right place.

...NOW onto the last year, 2010.
Working on reflecting in the little peace I have found this semester.