{"id":10683,"date":"2017-01-23T16:44:28","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10683"},"modified":"2017-01-23T16:44:28","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:44:28","slug":"is-this-real-life-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10683","title":{"rendered":"Is This Real Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-10684\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/files\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2967\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-203x270.jpg 203w, https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_2967-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I have stared at beauty in the face. She has been my loyal companion and guardian. I see her in every corner, through every blink, I see her\u2014beauty even lingers within my dreams. I must confess, it feels like I am dreaming, though no dream has been as pleasant and good to me as the one I have been dreaming on for the past 2 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I feel so afloat. My abode is now Madrid, and it\u2019s funny to say but I feel so at ease. I feel so free and so much like myself. If ever there was a time to love and discover yourself, it is through travel and exploration. Throughout my stay in Madrid I have come to acknowledge yet of another beautiful thing I have before me\u2014myself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I have allowed myself to be completely and utterly present in the moment while in Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When I was a child, about 4, I used to ask my mom, \u201cwhat will we have for dinner tomorrow\u201d, and she would hastily reply, \u201cwe shall see, for tomorrow has not come yet\u201d. I would never understand why she just wouldn\u2019t tell me, she was to make dinner, not God, how would He know what tomorrow would bring. Though now, as I see interchangeably see beauty and God within all things more than ever, I now see that all good things are worth the wait. All good things come at do time. Tomorrow has not yet come today, and so I live my days here day by day. I enjoy every second of this air. I often look at the sky and for a few second I allow myself to get lost in the sea of blue. I warmly whisper to myself of how my parents are looking at the same sky, and this brings joy and warmth to my heart.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I know that my time here is not to be wasted, and so I find no time to sit around and not enjoy the grandiose opportunity that has been given to me.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I kid. I do sit around and enjoy the mere sight of people hurrying to their various (clueless) destinations. I often enjoy sitting by myself, merely enjoying my own company.\u00a0I feel as though I have taken myself for granted for too long. I have let the skin I walk around this Earth with become so ordinary to my sight. I have not noticed, or have not noticed for a long time now, that my cheeks can extend quite beyond my face (may the occasion arise). I have found that I walk with my left foot following my right\u2014always. I have found that I enjoy taking the long route home and admiring how much green I see before me. I frankly enjoy myself\u2014I quite pleasantly confess.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Self-discovery is such an odd thing to talk about, at least for me. I have never been one to even take a second look at myself, but today I became vulnerable to myself. I now truly look and I see my mother, I see her eyes, for they have taught me what true love is. I see my father, I see the expression he makes the instant he spots me within a crowd, he has shown me what complete joy looks like and where to look out for it. I have discovered so much of myself these past few weeks. Never before had I felt so vulnerable, and yet so relieved in my life. I wake every day thankful and willing to take and seek chances.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After all, what is going 4,000 miles away from home without a little mischief.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Madrid, you are my wonderful home now. You have been quite the host. I have seen only but a fraction of what you have to offer and still I think that when I do see you all I shall crave more and quite possible never want to leave you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I would love nothing more than to eat hot chocolate with churros for the rest of my life, though tomorrow has not come yet, and I have no clue as to where I shall be. And that brings great peace to me. I know that for whatever tomorrow brings shall be whatever shall be.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have stared at beauty in the face. She has been my loyal companion and guardian. I see her in every corner, through every blink, I see her\u2014beauty even lingers within my dreams. I must confess, it feels like I am dreaming, though no dream has been as pleasant and good to me as the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10683\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}