Thank you.

I once had a dream that seemed to last all night. That was the longest dream I have ever had. Well, recently I had a dream that lasted even longer than that one.
This dream lasted about 5 weeks. I guess you cant really classify it as an authentic “dream” though, because apparently it actually happened. But as I sit here in my living room back in Seattle, Washington, I sure feel like it never did.
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever experienced something so wonderful, so enriching, that when you looked back on it, you could have sworn it never really DID happen, because it was just too good to be true? Well, that’s something that im dealing with now.
As I sit here in this empty house, I have to pinch myself because I feel as if time stood still for 5 weeks, just as it does when you dream at night. I sit here and feel like nothing ever happened because no one around me knows what really DID happen. I was trying to explain these emotions to my grandma, and she said, “well katie, I felt like I was right there with you when I read your blogs!”
yes, that may be true, but, who can I run to and reminisce with about, “that one time we jumped off the mountain to paraglide!” or, “that one time when we were in spain while they won the world cup!” or, “that one time we climbed up that rock and got all cut up to just then go jump right off it again!”
I have no one here who can relate to me about those experiences or feel what I felt. I have the awesome people I experienced this all with, but they’re now dispersed throughout the country, and sad to say, I will probably never see them again.
So I sit here in this weird in between stage- struggling with the fact that the most amazing experience of my life seems as if it all occurred in this one beautiful dream. A dream that I unfortunately, had to wake up from.
But since this all indeed DID happen, friends and family- from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to follow and support me on my adventures throughout Spain. I am a young women who is blessed beyond words. I cannot begin to thank everyone and everything who was a part of making this experience a reality. But most of all I thank God for choosing me to go on this trip, at this time, to this place, all while keeping me ever so safe. I am a woman richly blessed.
There is something else I feel is very important for you to know. Not only did I SEE several “very cool places,” but, I experienced LIFE in another city, another country, another culture, another world.
I now well understand another way of life. And ya know what? I appreciate it. I appreciate that 180 degree different way of life, and, I actually came to love it. I am happy I went on this trip for several reasons. But I am primarily happy I went on it because I now know life outside of the life I thought only existed. it’s valuable knowledge to gain, and I suggest you all go out there and learn about life outside of what you know, too. It may surprise you.
Many of you have no idea what it is like to go abroad alone or be alone for an extended period of time- where you have no loved ones to run to, or confide in, or just rest your head on their shoulder. You are forced to make new friends, be vulnerable, be different.
In all honesty it was all of your support and love that got me through one of the most amazing, yet CHALLENGING times of my life. Your constant encouragement forced me to feel loved even if I felt abandoned and to feel in good company even if I felt alone.
Thank you for letting me take you with me on this adventure, and I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Now, after reading all of the triumphs and challenges I faced throughout this journey, let me propose something to you. Please, for my sake, go out there and see what the world can do for YOU, because just as I experienced, you never know what can happen.