Learn And Live Part 1

       I swear to you, my dearest readers, that it was life-changing.

       This past weekend I took a school-sponsored trip to the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Highlands. Along with a large group of truly amazing international students from various countries, this trip included stops at numerous beauties in nature, from waterfalls to statuesque mountains to immense cliffs overlooking the ever-reaching sea. And while our days were filled with historic sites and wonderful sights, our night was filled with raucous laughter and seemingly endless excitement.

       We witnessed so much this weekend that it is quite hard to pick out one favorite place. I thoroughly enjoyed Glencoe, a spectacular mountain range where various movies have been filmed, most recently the new James Bond film, Skyfall. I also loved the cliffs along the Isle of Skye as it reminded me very much of my times in Portugal during high school. Every place we visited was just fantastic in its own unique way.

       There was a moment on the bus ride back when nearly everyone was asleep and I looked out the window and saw something truly spectacular. There were mountains in the distance of every shade of green, surrounding a valley of lush trees and fields, scoping every color you could imagine that would make up a beautiful landscape. The lake right in the center was a fluorescent blue and reflected the small rays of light breaking through the dark clouds above. It was like a portrait, a puzzle scene, an image out of a movie that you could only imagine seeing and never really thought it could exist. And then in the blink of an eye, it was gone. The bus kept driving, people kept sleeping, and the dark trees on the side of the road blocked all vision of ever seeing that landscape again.

        It was right then that I remembered something, something I had only known once before in my lifetime. It was that my goal in life, my purpose, was to see these images, these moments when my mind is literally blown away by the wonders of the world. I first realized this while in Portugal three years ago as I stared out into the Atlantic Ocean and dreamt of all the things I could see in the world. Whether it is a sight only Mother Nature could have created or an encounter with an amazing group of people, I want to experience it. All of it.

       I think we need these moments- moments when we remember that we are not masters of our own universe, that there are things out there in the world that are bigger than ourselves, that we are here on this planet to learn and to live in the most grandeur of ways.

       For all of you who desire a little more, I have attached the link to a photo album of this trip equipped with everything your heart may desire.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202110756115601.1073741829.1388736035&type=1&l=757dc353e3