Meet The Abraham Project 2.0!

we have officially gotten all moved in! I'm getting used to living in wintson-salem, and the south in general.post to come on all the differences I've noticed so far. we also decided our offical name will be The Abraham Project 2.0 since we're the second class of the project. one of our first outings as roommates was to a local winery with our amazing mentor, Jane. they had wine slushies! best things ever. we also bought a sign for the house that says "wine snobs have more fun!." awwwww yeah.

I also had my first experience with shrimp and grits (...which was interesting) while eating dinner with a hilarious canon from England who was visiting the church. the house is slowly getting decorating, as we try to pool what we all brought and find cheaper things. the fresh flowers from the farmers market here are amazing! the starbucks man here also has a good sense of humor. apparently I'm kelly clarkson from now on.

sunday involved going to all three church services to meet the congregation, with the firs one starting at 7:30am. it was a marathon for sure! my momma also left that day to head back to iowa via chicago. she even got to eat dinner with my best friend in chi last night. so jealous from kat's instagram photo!

My new home

arrival in winston-salem + intentions for the next year

after two days, I've made to winston-salem! thoughts while we were driving in last: I should have gone to grad school this year, why a waffle house the first thing I see?!, I should go hiking, there's a time change?!, what did I get myself into?

pretty much chaos. so I decided to make some intentions for the next year. not goals, because I want them to be flexible.

intentions for the next 10 months:

- be present where I'm at - not worrying about people or things in chicago/iowa
- make a difference
- grow spiritually
- read as much as I can. having a year off from school, especially after being a history/international studies major, is a welcome break but I don't want to learning for a year.
- go hiking
- get back into running/yoga
- learn to trust the process more, and not try to rush things.
- learn how to budget better/money isn't everything - should be easier since my stipend is tiny!
- cook more meals
- learn to cope with my grief
- be true to myself, and really take this year to figure out what is going to make me happy.

Illinois and Indiana are the longest states ever.

So the road trip has started! And so has the me and my momma arguing over what route to take. Also, we drove for 7 hours yesterday and slept in Illinois still. How does that ever make sense?! At least I'm getting to read a ton. After reading mostly history /international studies books for the past 3 years, this is kind of refreshing. But also expensive.. I brought 4 books in preparation for next year, and I've already read two of them. Oooops! I better hightail it to the library once I finally make it to Winston-Salem. Also, I'm noticing I take a lot of photos when I'm bored. Mostly awkward ones of myself, so enjoy!

last night in chicago + last weekend home

friday was my last night in chicago so I went out for deep-dish with some of my nearest and dearest friends.  then, we went out downtown and ended up getting to sit in the vip section of a bar and bottle service. that's out happens when you roll with a bunch of pretty ladies! #baller

 

lots of dancing happened, and everyone dressed up for the occasion. I had no idea how to say goodbye to such a great city, but this night definitely came close. a bit thank you to everyone who came!

 and then it was time to leave the next morning. which meant I had to say goodbye to my best friends, jennifer and kat. "loyola doesn't need to give me a degree. they gave me a best friend."-pretty much sums u the goodbye. just add a bunch more tears, and a beautifully written letter from kat. I know these ladies will be life-long friends, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to get through a year without them

I also got the most delicious sprinkles cupcakes from my friend hannah, and some good life talk. she's the best! thank goodness for tunisia friends.

and finally home for 24 hours! lots of packing, batmen watching, feasting, and goodbyes.  I've been talking to my brother about  the big move, and since he moved to Texas for 3 years, he had lots of good ideas. one was to bring one of my brother Jeff's books with me for next year, and to read it when I'm missing him and everyone else. 

too.sweet.

so life lately had mostly been just a lot of goodbyes, which is hard to handle, but I know the year to come is going to be a good one.  it's also great to talk to so many people, and know that they are supporting me in the year to come.

good day.

 1. new used books from a pay by the pound bookstore//2. me so happy to be at the bookstore//3. books on books books// 4. jj and I might have accidentally gone into the lululemon store...and bought new headbands. #shameless//5. my room all packed up! two full days ahead of time too folks. sometimes I surprise myself

My roommates are seriously too sweet.

today was the best.  I forgot my laptop charger for work today so that meant I either got to have the after noon off, or do the hour commute to the office and back to get it. I choose the afternoon off clearly. this meant I was able to hang out with some great people, go out to eat, and go to a used bookstore. pretty much all my favorite things.

I also feel so ready to move to north carolina, and start having a great year. I'm not sure what it is about today, but I feel like a huge weight was lifted off of me. no more stress, just happiness. :)

tunisia

sorry for the post overload, but I can't sleep so blogging it is!

I left for Tunisia exactly three days after guatemala, and once again, knew almost nothing about the country.  I barely knew anything about the revolution, and even less about the country's history.  I also went into the trip still processing everything from guatemala, and had trouble transitioning between the two. for at least the first couple of days, I felt like I was still focused on guatemala, and didn't know how to handle tunisia. also, the format of the trips was completely different.

but the same thing happened on this trip as with guatemala. the stories I heard over the course of this class with stay with me forever, and words cannot do justice to their courage. visiting the places where the revolution happened and being able to speak to people who took part in it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

another thing I wasn't expecting with this trip was to grow so close to my classmates on it but I guess that's what happens when you are stuck on a bus with the same people for 22 days ;)  they are seriously some of the best people I know, and it was such an honor to take my last class with them.

aaaand now for the photodump!

we got to ride camels!

roman ruins on roman ruins

tourist photos on the beach! love jp's pose

hahahahaha

just posing like jp! booty pop!

best roommates I could have ever asked for!

and I got engaged! .....just kidding. :)

at martyr square

guatemala

so in the midst of working full-time, I've managed to completely forget to blog about the two trips I went on recently to guatemala and tunisia. foolish I know!

I'll start with guatemala first, mostly because it came first in the travel line-up and I also feel like I've had no time to process this trip since Tunisia was so soon after.

going into this trip, I honestly didn't know a lot about guatemala or the civil war and genocide that occurred. I had read "I, Rigoberta Menchu," and taken a Human Rights in Latin America class, but neither of this prepared me for this trip.the first seven days were spent on at a catholic mission in San Lucas, and then we traveled to Guatemala City to delegation work with the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission for the last three days.  these last three days were easily the hardest and most emotionally draining days I've had in awhile.  the stories we heard were absolutely horrifying and unimaginable. I remember talking to one women about her brother's disappearance, and hearing her talk of the pain of not knowing what ever happened to him. she can safely assume that he was murdered but confirmation of this will take years if it ever comes, especially with the recently elected president.

I also remember this same women telling us that the conditions of the country currently are set-up for another genocide. she talked of the fear she feels everyday just leaving her house, and of working for Famdegua, the non-profit that is a co-prosecutor in the genocide case being brought against former guatemalan generals.

we also went to the FAFG, which is the forensic anthropology non-profit that is doing the investigation into the genocide. right away when we walked into the office, it was overwhelming.  it even get to the actual lab, you have to walk through a long hallway filled boxes. all of these boxes contain unidentified human remains.  once you walk into the lab, there are tables with bones laid out, waiting to to be identified by the anthropologists, through things like location id's or machete cuts.

there are also struggles going on within the country in regards to land rights and extractive industries, with the government not following proper protocol on either of these things, and more often than not, helping the companies come in and take over land.

throughout this experience, I remember feeling so frustrated, and really pissed off. I felt like, and still currently feel, like no justice has been served. I got really discouraged, especially since I'm interested in pursuing human rights work as a career, but at the same time, I also remember one thing that remained constant throughout the trip; the resilience and the hope of the the guatemalan people is seriously awe-inspiring. despite everything, they still have hope for the future and are constantly talking about how they are fighting for their children's future. all they asked of us throughout the whole trip was to share their story, so that's what I'm attempting to do here. I know nothing I could possibly write could do their story justice, so if you ever just a chance, please do visit guatemala. the country is also absolutely gorgeous. (:

our group! 

posters for the ongoing genocide trials

names of the disappeared on the national cathedral 

protesters in front of the captiol

breathtaking

faces of the disappeared are papered up around the city

my roommate jill and I. she's probably one of the main reasons I stayed sane during this trip, despite how  crazy we look in this photo

a community actively resisting mining

best weekend ever

as previously mentioned, I went to iowa city this past weekend. it was absolutely great.  I got to spend the weekend with my closet friends, and I got to not act like a real person. in my life this means lots of going out and acting ridiculous, taco bell runs at 3 am, sleeping in, and dancing on benches at bars. perfection!

it started out a little rough with a torrential downpour on chicago's part, and it took us three hours to get out of the city because of traffic>>things I won't miss out chicago.

entirely too much rain for my little car to handle.

also, trips to iowa city have many traditions, such as but not limited too:

-rolling into town blasting tipsy by j-kwon. we're classy, we know.

-eating tons on pancheros, this amazing mexican fast food restaurant. it's even better than chipotle

hahahaha sorry kat!

-someone has to pass out smiling.

jj had us covered on this one

-sprinting into hy-vee as soon as we get there because we refused to stop to go to the bathroom, and everyone is lookin' at us like fools

here's some of the photos from us either going out or getting ready to go out:

some photos are so great, they just had to be in the college twice. that or I'm just too lazy to re-make it.

also, my brother was near-by at a civil war re-enactment so kat, jennifer, and I stopped in to see him...and abraham lincoln. kat and jennifer also shoot guns for the first time ever. such a productive weekend!

and here's one last gem of a photo to leave you with..

no words for this photo, just love.

happy hump day!

first off, please go check out this tumblr: http://realitytvgifs.tumblr.com. it'll make your week.

secondly, I'm taking a small roadtrip with kat and jennifer to iowa city this weekend to say goodbye to best friends tara and kayla before I leave for north carolina. I'm seriously too excited! everytime I go to iowa city, it's amazing. this is my last full weekend before I move, and I could not be spending it with better people.
case in point:

thirdly (I'm not sure why I'm counting off but...), kat, jennifer and I went to target last night per usual, and took some ridiculous photos for your enjoyment.

most awkward smile ever on my part.