Austria in Hindsight

It's a crazy life in Ohio, just over four months after "Austria" happened. I still look back on it all the time; with each passing day, I grow more and more thankful for the semester I spent there.

In hindsight, I'm so thankful that I didn't get the Celiac diagnosis until I returned. That way, I was able to to sample all that chocolate and all those waffles guilt-free. (not sickness free, but guilt-free!) That's my one exception to the ignorance is not bliss rule.

I can wear 0" heels here without death glares from every female in a 50 foot radius. And that makes me thankful to be an American.

You know, the people you sleep in train stations with? Well, you come to know each other pretty well. And I am thankful that I can rely on them to have my back--literally, when I am falling off a bench out of sleep-deprivation, and figuratively, when I just need a friend. You don't just forget people who you've been through a lot with.

But probably what I am most thankful for is the opportunity to have witnessed what it means to be a part of the Universal Church. Having been able to experience in a very tangible way the magnanimity of our faith, I have found since returning that I have so much more to draw from spiritually in the face of struggles, doubts, and tragedies.

I think I wrote before that Austria was like a spiritual slap in the face. And I stand by that claim still. It hurts a lot. You can sort of see it coming, you can sort of brace yourself, but no matter what, it stings. Afterwards, though, you are stronger for it. Physiologically speaking, the pain of the slap even stimulates an endorphin release.

...and hey, if we don't suffer, and die with Christ, we can't rise with Him. So if my spiritual physiology is correct, I'm pretty sure the slap all works out for the best. The very best.

And there is so much more that I just can't put in words, and I know that I have so much more to learn from Austria. I hope at the very least that I have allowed some of what I have experienced to change me for the better.

I'll just have to leave you with a song by one Kevin Heider. He went to Austria a few years before me and wrote this about everything he experienced there. I suppose it hits most home to those who can relate to what he's singing about, but maybe if you listen you'll get a hint of the glory that is four months in Austria.

Peace, and God bless.