What, Where, Why in the World??

So here I am, on the eve of my departure, and I am writing a blog....

I should be learning how to work my new (amazingly awesome) camera, picking out the next book I'm going to read, or stuffing 20,000 packets of Splenda into a space saver bag, but I'm not.  I keep hitting this physical and emotional wall and it is almost paralyzing.  I just stand and stare at things with a bag in my hand, unsure of what to do. 

Then the questions start to flood my brain. Do I really need 6 scarves? I have never lived anywhere but Texas...there are maybe 12 days in a year where a scarf serves a purpose....what is winter? Is work canceled for snow? Will I be able to find ranch dressing?  These are the things that get my heart racing and my anxiety amped. 

I am jumping ahead of myself.  I must explain. 

Tomorrow I am leaving for what I plan to be a year long move to Ireland.  I have a work visa that is good for a year, I have some money saved, and I am going.  I have been reluctantly planning this move for about 5 months now.  I say reluctantly because this was a backup plan that I never planned on using.  I was supposed to graduate college, take my month long backpacking trip around Europe, then settle into a nice job in a nice office building, where I wear slacks and fashionable jewelry every day and of course, get benefits. 

But nothing ever goes according to plan.

I didn't get that elusive "job" I have heard so much about, and what I felt was owed to me.  I had a really hard year of rejection, aimlessness, confusion, anger and boredom.  I just couldn't understand why life was moving on for my friends and classmates, but not me. 

Then one day, while randomly googling things ( I enjoy reading my old google history, it is full of weird 24 hour obsessions like, "how to become a librarian" and "Jonathan Taylor Thomas 2012" ) I stumbled upon a Working Holiday Visa   program for recent college grads.  And, well...it became my backup plan.  You see, while backpacking through Europe with one of my best friends Angela (check out her awesome blog as she travels on The World Race ) I fell in love with Ireland.  The people, with their friendly sarcasm, and the place, full of old, beautiful buildings and picturesque scenery.  It was very different from my hometown of Allen, TX.

So that brings me here.  I applied for the visa, bought the ticket, and boom! I'm leaving tomorrow.  How this happened I'll never know.  This move was God ordained and planned from the beginning, I just know it.  Things have worked out in ways I never could have hoped.  I am filled with fear and hope as I plan my next few weeks of life.  I say next few weeks because I do not know where I will be once I land in Ireland.  Right now I'm thinking Dublin, but we'll see how it goes.  It feels strange to not know what I'm doing next, but I know it is exactly what I need to do...

Here in this blog I hope to share more of what I'm doing on this adventure I find myself on.  Tune in to read about my life overseas and about the ridiculous things that WILL happen to me.  I promise, ridiculous situations follow me around. {Insert magician's assistant story here}. And if you want to leave an encouraging comment, I will read it with a big 'ol smile on my face, because I am a words of affirmation gal.

I am so very scared of all the unknowns that lie before me.  However, I keep finding strength in the timeless words of Julie Andrews...
watch this
and Stewie...

See y'all soon,
Lauren