3 lessons I learned through seeing the world

I had no idea how big the world was. On a map it seems so small, so flat, so similar. In pictures it seems almost fake, photoshopped, and unattainable. However, when you are lost in Prague and it's midnight and no one speaks English and the bus is not going towards your hotel... It gets real. And then you drive past a lit up castle and it almost gets fake again. BUT the world is real. And it is big and beautiful and definitely attainable. There are real people living their everyday life in thousands of year old cities. Some people walk past the Colosseum on their way to work every single day. Other people have been working in the same crystal factory in the middle of the Alps for over 40 years. There are people fighting against discrimination. There are communist governments. And there are happy people in the worst of circumstances. The people are real. It's easy to only be consumed with yourself, but there are other people out there. SO MANY other people. 

Lesson 1: The world is real.

Mike and I went to Cancun on our honeymoon. And it was amazing and I loved it, but every time Mike suggested going out of the resort, I opted for staying at the resort and just hanging out there. I had never really traveled outside of the country and without parents. Pathetic, I know. But I guess I was kind of scared of the world and didn't trust myself to safely navigate around a city I didn't know, especially when English wasn't the native language! I never ever ever would have thought that I would feel comfortable using solely a map, a good old fashioned paper map, to navigate around foreign cities. Especially big non-English speaking cities. I never thought that I would be able to comfortably use public transit. I never thought I would be able to hand wash clothes in a hotel bathroom sink.  I never thought I would be adventurous in trying food. And I never thought that I would be happy to see a McDonalds. I also never thought I would ever fly around the whole globe in 34 days. I never thought that I would be able to communicate without words. And I never thought that I would see such beautiful sites. But I did. If I can do it, you can do it to.

Lesson 2: Believe in yourself.

Being a married college student isn't always easy. School is expensive, jobs are low paying, and everything is times two as expensive. We're only two people! There's only so much we can pay for! We're also dying to buy a house, wanting to buy a better functioning car, all while buying groceries, going on dates, going out with friends, buying books, the list goes on and on. Sometimes when I think about all we have to pay for with part-time during the school year jobs - it looks scary! But it's possible all while contributing to the savings account. I promise it is. Mike and I were saving for a down payment on a house... until we heard about this trip. We debated what to do for a few days and asked others about what they thought we should do. The response was unanimous - GO. So we did, we spent our life's savings (well two years saving technically) and signed up to go on a month long trip around the world. Was there times I questioned our decision? Absolutely. Was I scared spending more money on one thing than I ever have before in my life? Absolutely. I mean this isn't $200 boots from Nordstom that you can return the next day. The experience we had was priceless. Traveling around the world with my best friend is hands down the best thing that I have ever spent my money on. I honestly could not put a price tag on the experiences that we had and these lessons that I learned.

Lesson 3: Experiences > Money

DisneyLand vs. DisneyWorld

So this past year Michael and I have been extremely blessed in the opportunities that we have had to travel. And I am going to write all about it eventually. But I need to start off with the beginning of the year. For New Years, we were in DisneyWorld. And I love Disney and I love fireworks and it was completely magical. However... I had been to DisneyLand 3 times the previous year and so I could not help but to compare the two the whole time we were there.

Here's my conclusion: DisneyLand is better. I'm not even kidding. I mean you can't go wrong with Disney in general, but if I had a choice, I would honestly choose DisneyLand over DisneyWorld. Let me explain why I believe this.

#1- Cost. This is not considering the thousands of dollars that you have to spend to fly there in the first place. The ticket prices are more expensive:

Ticket page for DisneyLand

Ticket page for DisneyWorld

Then, since there are 4 parks in DisneyWorld, you have to buy a more-day ticket to see everything. More days = higher ticket prices + more expensive food.

#2- But there are more things to see at DisneyWorld right? Not necessarily. I mean there are a few things that are in DisneyWorld, that are not in DisneyLand.... But on the other hand, there are also a few things that are in DisneyLand that are not in DisneyWorld. The one ride that I am sad that DisneyLand does not have is the Rockin' Roller Coaster. That is one of my all time favorite roller coasters. BUT DisneyWorld does not have Indiana Jones, and lets be honest, that is one of the all-time best Disney rides ever.

#3- The distance. Since DisneyWorld has four parks, all of the rides are spread out pretty far from one another. It requires a lot more time to get from ride-to-ride and from park-to-park, And that is valuable time since you paid so much stickin money for a pass! It is also hard because Disney already requires so much walking. Any more time on the feet than necessary is a killer.

Three of DisneyWorld's four parks

#4- The lines. If you are from out of the country and you are forced to choose between DisneyLAND or DisneyWORLD.... what are you going to choose? Probably the WORLD. You are already spending tons of money to get to America, so why not go all out and go to the seemingly bigger, better park? That would be my thought process at least. Which I think is why there are more people and longer lines. "Well, that depends on the time of year" you might say. Well I was in DisneyLand over New Years 2013-2014 and then in DisneyWorld over New Years 2014-2015. So over the exact same time of year. And yes, also the busiest time of the year. The lines at DisneyWorld were definitely worse.

So there you have it. My breakdown on DisneyLand vs. DisneyWorld. If I was planning a trip to Disney again, I would definintely save the money and go to DisneyLand.

BUT... Disney is magical no matter what. There is no way that I would ever pass down a trip to Disney anything, lets be honest.

However.... the one thing that just might take me back to Orlando it The Wizarding World of Harry Potter... It is amazing. I love it so so much. But that is a whole different story.

the internal struggle

So, I changed my blog layout... Again. Also, this will probably not be the last time. I'm indecisive and whenever I see someone else's blog, I'm like, "That's really cute! I want mine to look like that!" And then I change it. So in the year that I have had this blog, I think I have changed it about as much as I have posted on it. And that is an internal struggle, however it is not the internal struggle that my blog title is referring to... That is below... 

This next section of the post is taken from a blog that I had to create for one of my classes last semester, so the post was written on November 20th, but I wanted to share it here also. So I present to you, the internal struggle. 

I feel like I'm a person who has an adventurous heart, and an over-analyzing mind. As you may guess, these two parts of me tend to really get in some pretty big fights. I always have the desire to do crazy things, like go sky diving for example, like I really really want to go. Until my friends ask me if I want to go with them next week. That's when my over-analyzing mind jumps in the the ring and starts to take charge. Then I'm all the sudden like, "sitting in my nice, comfortable home, doing my normal Saturday activities sounds really great." But then my heart takes a shot at my mind and is like "NO! You are breaking all my wildest hopes and dreams!" Seriously, the struggle is that real.

So the latest brawl that has been going on in my head is about whether or not my husband and I should go on a study abroad together in May. Everyone is always quick to say YES OF COURSE! and honestly, that's what I said too when my husband brought it up. But then it got more realistic, and my mind started punching back. "It could be hard," it jabbed, "it's so expensive," it kicked, "THAT'S A DOWN PAYMENT ON A HOUSE," it roundhouse kicked my heart in the face (what? Yeah I don't know either). So what do I do? Well I don't really know. But one of my biggest fears is that my mind will get the best of me and keep me from doing all the fun things in the world. I hope that just knowing that that is how I work, will help me to remember NOT to let that happen.

So that was the post from about three months ago... And I am pleased to inform you that my heart won the battle! We are going on the study abroad! And now that I have publicly announced that we are going on the study abroad (and they always tell you that once you post something on the internet it may as well be written in stone) and also invested sums that are four digits long into it... There is no turning back! We are leaving May 1st and will arrive in London, England on May 2nd. After that we will be traveling to Prague, Salzburg, Venice, Rome, Athens, South Africa (as long as ebola stays put), Thailand, and Beijing! Crazy, right? I don't know how my mind let my heart get away with this one. Well I guess I kinda know... It's cause my husband is amazing and so fun and helps me be stronger than I could ever be on my own. And I cannot wait to travel the world (literally we are flying completely around the world!) with him! So stay tuned to hear about the adventure. 

In honor of the upcoming travels, here is a picture of me in
Morocco (The DisneyWorld rendition anyway)