Quick Wrap-up of my Pre-Summer Adventures.

Can you believe I did all that in a month, before summer even technically started? I can't. What I really can't believe is that I have been home for seven months. It feels like it was all a dream, and none of it really happened. :( Luckily I have photographic evidence. So, after my journey concluded, I did some calculating of my mileage from my whirlwind month of adventure. Here are the stats:

From June 2 to June 5 (Nauvoo Student Tour), I travelled a total of 2,883 miles.

From May 2 to May 26, I traveled 13,314 miles.

For a Grand Total of:

16,197 miles
(~26,066 km)

And that doesn't even include foot travel, Tube travel, or Metro travel. If I was somehow able to calculate that the number would be much higher. Dang it! I should have worn a pedometer!

You have to admit, that's pretty impressive for a time-frame of 34 days. It was the best. It was exhausting, oftentimes miserable, but it was truly grand! I miss that month with all my heart. I miss it so much that I'm still wearing the leather bracelet I bought in Galway nearly eight months ago. I also continue to wear my silver Claddaugh/Trinity knot necklace pretty much daily. They were good times. I grew a lot, and I gained a lot. Ever since I have been home I keep thinking of things my adventures taught me. Here are some examples as quoted from my travel journal:

• Other churches have some truths, and really amazing people, even if they don't have the fulness of the gospel like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• The saints in other countries are incredible people, and no matter what our political and cultural differences may be, we are brought together through the truth of the gospel.
• The world contains limitless beauty, and Heavenly Father is the source of all of it.
• We can learn to love and be happy in any situation that we are in. God and the Savior know what is best for us, and it's important to trust in them wherever we are led.
• We can find thinks we have in common with anyone, and learn to see past differences. 
• Every person on this earth is indeed a child of God, and each and every one of them should be treated as such. 
• First impressions are almost always wrong.

There you go--some of my nuggets of wisdom. ;) Not really, but these lessons have really helped me to see myself and the world in a different light. In fact, reading them again now has been a good reminder for me to look for the good in my life, and in my roommates. :) 

And with that, I'm officially done with playing catch-up! Now I can get on with the present day! But, I warn you, it's not quite as interesting. :)