Chapter Two

Before I say anything else I first want to thank you for reading my blog for the past 5 months. What has made this experience so enjoyable for me was being able to share my experience with you. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people who support me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing in this incredible and wonderful experience with me.

This will be my last entry before I take off on a backpacking trip over the next month with Sean. We will be spending the next month making our way to London, where we will be meeting his family. We are spending time exploring:
Riga, Latvia
Vilnius, Lithuania
Krakow, Poland
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Antwerp, Belgium
Brussels, Belgium
From Belgium Sean and I are heading to London where we will be meeting his family. We will be staying in London for 6 days. We are planning to see Wicked, a Shakespeare play, and spend a day a Wimbledon as well as sightsee around London. I will be leaving London to come home to Nebraska on July 3rd.

Since this will be my last entry I wanted to share with you how I have grown as a person through this experience.

At the beginning of this experience, I would have had a hard time trying to find anything positive to say about my experience in Estonia. It was a very difficult transition from kind, friendly, caring Nebraskans to cold, quiet, independent people. But I think it took me that difficult transition to teach me how to accept and appreciate others who are different. Being away from home has taught me how to be independent. I no longer need to rely on others and this experience has shown me that I can make it on my own. I have learned how to be patient with not only others but also with myself. I have faced many situations where I could have easily gotten upset, but I have stopped wasting my time worrying about things that are not important in life.

At the beginning of this journey I would have never considered calling this place-Tartu, Estonia-my home. Little did I know that spending five months learning and exploring a new culture would soften my heart and I have grown very fond of where I have spent my time. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to a place that has become a part of who I am. Estonia has helped shape who I am and who I want to be. I will deeply miss Estonia, but I know that this will not be my last time here. This has been my home and there will always be a special place in my heart for Estonia.

This is the closing of one chapter of my life and the beginning of the next when I return home. What I have learned on this journey has prepared me for what adventures lie ahead in chapter two.

With appreciation,

Collin