going solo

i hope you're having a wonderful Easter Weekend. i wish i could be with friends and family right now.

this year, i am celebrating Easter Weekend by myself. i have no church to go to right now because they're away on a retreat for Easter...

i am going solo on a trip to Austria and Switzerland. a couple weeks ago, i felt very compelled to go on a trip by myself, for several reasons. one reason is because i'm never going to have this chance again in my life, to travel by myself while i'm young/naive/stupid/spontaneous/unattached to responsibilities. another important reason was to break away from the routine/habitual/obligatory nature of my spiritual life. sadly, that's literally what it has become. i need some time to backtrack what i know about God. it'll be refreshing to think about my spiritual life in a different context/environment/world. but the most important reason is to fix this problem i have: i've always been a control-freak--it's really terrible and i've tried to hide it in the past...but it's come to the point where i stress about the smallest/stupidest things until i can't sleep, or i simply can't trust in God's providence and protection. it's going all wrong. this trip might be an interesting solution/experiment/adventure to address this problem.

basically--i want to go on my own little retreat before i dive back into reality as an "almost-adult." i might as well get my head on straight before transitioning into senior year, right?

so i asked friends on facebook about where i should go. i wanted to go some place beautiful, somewhere i could immerse myself in art, music, creation, and God's word. many suggested Austria and Switzerland. it just so happens that the cheapest and most affordable tickets at the time when i was planning this trip were to Austria and Switzerland. it also just so happens that Austria was once the capital of classical music and art. and Switzerland = Alps. can't get better than that.

it's me and a backpack with some clothes, SIGG waterbottle, some nutri-grain bars, journal, bible, camera, pens, and toiletries. 

no room for my netbook and no cellphone (i left my phone in italy...oops.)

my thoughts at the moment: this trip better be worth taking a week away from writing my final papers, and making me completely broke.

please pray for me: safety, open heart and mind, courage, growth, realizations. and if you don't pray, send me happy thoughts. and if you don't think happy thoughts, then maybe you should go on a trip too.

i'll be celebrating Christ's resurrection with the Austrians tomorrow. it'll all be in German! AHAHAHAHAA!

this is comically serious. or seriously comical.

i'll be back in a week, friends. bye!

ps.

i'm in a cafe right now and there's an old man sitting in an armchair across from me. he's writing/working on a manuscript and it tickles me how adorable he is! old people make me smile.