Feels Like The First Time...

So I am writing a post here for the first time and it feels a little overwhelming. I've done this blog world once before, but for different reasons and it was awhile ago. Since then, it seems to have grown a great deal or at least my community has become much more engaged in this crazy world.
In exactly five weeks from today, I will be on a flight to London, England with only a backpack, an IPod, and myself in tow. For the first five-ish weeks I will at L'Abri in London and then will be met by my friend Ashley from there to do a 2 and a half week European backpack trip through Italy, Switzerland, France, Ireland, and back to London.
Exhilarating? Yes. Terrifying? Somewhat. Confusing? YES.
This last season of life has been full of tumultous changes, monumental life lessons, and a reforming of myself. More on this later-most likely to be scattered throughout each post, but for now let's talk Europe.
The first questions I always get is: "What is L'Abri?" quickly to be followed by: "Why are you going alone?". L'Abri, meaning shelter, was started in the 1950s by Francis and Edith Schaffer in Switzerland as a safe place for people to come and learn more about the Christian faith. There are now several sites throughout the world. I have begun to describe it as a type of seminary that reaches very far outside of the box and welcomes people of all walks of life. While I am there I will be concentrating on two different topics but will also be learning about all different facets of the Christian faith from those that I'll be living in community with. I am going alone as a kind of cornerstone to the last year. I left Auburn a year ago this month and moved back to Nashville. It has been a very growing, healing, full year and one that really is summarized by the fact that I have grown into more of who I am apart from anyone or anything else in the last 12 months. I wanted to take some time to reflect on this last year, what it all meant, as well as how it ties into the approaching seasons of life. In order to do this, I really felt like I needed to be isolated and in a quiet place so what came out of that was L'Abri!
I'm in the middle of planning that month and a half and am in need of so much help! Stay tuned and please comment with any suggestions you have of how I can spend my time there while being effective both in time and budget!