Day 307: One Month To Go

         It's a bit crazy that I've been in this place, Aberdeen, for almost a year now. A bit weird that all my friends and normal routines have become so dear to me in a length of time which has flown by so quickly. Weirder that it will all be uprooted so soon. It's weird that probably as soon as I'm home everything will rush back to me and it will feel like my feet never parted with American soil. Weird how soon after this return I might not always be able to bring an Aberdonian accent to my mind. Weird how I won't continue to hear the phrases “I'm knackered/chuffed/gutted,” “I can't    be bothered,” “ken fit I mean?” etc.

         It's kinda crazy how easy it was to fall into place in this Silver (...grey) City. It's a bit weird how falling in happened so quickly and how falling out will, too.

         It's all a rush of wonderful events, friends, lessons, and growth, this past year. I can look back fondly on my time here, see God working, and know that the feeling I had when preparing to board the plane last summer was one of truth: that I was indeed meant to go to Scotland, to Aberdeen, no matter the stress and nervousness that came in the process. I can look at my time with love, joy, and peace, and I can smile about this last month that I have to cherish it all while it's still around. Even through the sorrow of departing, there is so much happiness. “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

        If it weren't for this year, I'd be in a much different place in many ways, literally and figuratively. God is calling me to great and unknown things for my future and I'm positive that this year in the cold, damp, north-east reaches of Scotland has and will continue to play a vital role in the unfolding of my vocation towards Christ.

       There's so much I still want to do here (I've made an Aberdeen bucket list), so many friends I want to hold on to, so many goodbyes I don't want to say. There's so much mystery in the days ahead, so many decisions to be made. It'll all be an adventure, and, as life goes, you gain some and you lose some; I'll try to detach myself enough not to fall into a Pit of Despair (catch that reference-- Candlers, at least) some point after I'm back home and I realize that my year really has come to a close and I'm not a cool American in a foreign land anymore.

       Much love to the granite, the rain, the sun, the sea, the tea, the ceilidhs, the karaoke nights, the church communities, the young adults, the Poles, the Indians, the Scots, the Nigerians, and everyone I encountered here in Aberdeen. It's been real, y'all.  Let's party while we still can! (Read: write this dissertation...)

scene from Footdee, a small fishing village in Aberdeen

Serious best sandwich. Sautéed mushrooms in balsamic with Red Leicester cheese melted all over a baguette mmmmmm

Inside the chapel at Pluscarden Abbey, a Benedictine monastery I visited for a retreat a few weekends ago

Amish bread. Muffin style. 

The baker in me has come back out officially. 

Scottish countryside on my bike-overnight a couple weekends ago.

The Old Deeside line. A bike path from Aberdeen to Banchory.

Ice cream break, and lots of others were on the same flow.

Black Cherry and Honeycomb, mmmmm

Me. The past couple weeks. Library. Books. Dissertation time.