A message to a friend

I have been thinking about doing this for a while, but never really got around to it.  I wanted to write something on here that I would appreciate after I had been home for a while, maybe even a long while.  I wanted to write how I was actually doing, what I was really thinking, and what was happening with me, not just my travels.  My good girlfriend, Kyle Kilroy, another Kappa back home, sent me this really nice facebook message telling me just some day by day happenings of hers, so I wrote her back.  When I finished, I realized I had a lot more going on than I thought, so I decided I should put it up here, for my sake later. 

Kyle,  

First of all, I have to tell you it was sooooo good to hear from you--the real stuff as you put it. Whenever I talk to girls back home it is always, "oh everything is fine" so thanks for the update. As for me, really, all I do is travel. Almost every other weekend I am in a different country just because it is so easy and cheap to travel in Asia. But I will try to find other, more interesting things to update you on.  

I am kind of in a conflict with myself right now just because I can't decide whether I am really excited/counting down the days until I come home after five months, or dreading the day I have to leave. It's not that I am not making the most of my month here, but it's just that I am really starting to miss the little things about home like spring at Mizzou, parties, a good salad, just sitting on the couch watching tv with my girls, you know. I just know that when I DO finally get home, I will miss it here.  

I have made a really good girlfriend here though, and am thinking about inviting her to my shots. She is our age, a student at U of I and is from Chicago. She is such a sweet girl, her name is Saly. I have traveled with her a lot but more than that we just hang out and talk a lot too. It's nice to have a good girlfriend around. Sometimes that makes me miss you girls even more though haha. She and I go to church here, and most of the time when we are traveling too. It's nice to have someone around to keep you in good faith. She also helped me get through my mom's surgery.  

My mom had surgery on her gall bladder a little over a month ago--nothing big, but it was right around the time that Cari found out about her dad, we were getting all of those emails about Ali's dad, you know, so I didn't want to bother anyone with it. The surgery went fine but then she got pneumonia in the hospital and ended up being in there for almost two weeks. When finally released they told her not to work until she game to visit me in Singapore (over two months later) and my mom being a workaholic (worse than me for sure! ahha) was going crazy about that. But then they called her in saying there was an abnormality on her chest xray and they needed to check it out. When they did they found that it was in her heart and causing her chest pain. Just last Friday (this has been going on for over a month that she has been in and out of dr. offices) she had a heart cath to look into her heart and thank God, there was nothing more wrong than just an artery that is a little smaller than normal, and that's not a big deal apparently.  

You can imagine how hard it was being so far away from home, never knowing what exactly was going on, and not to mention having a hard time calling home due to the 14 hour time difference. It was just stressful and my dad even offered to fly me home for the heart surgery, but now I'm glad I didn't take him up on that. I was just beside myself not being able to be there with her though. But now, everything is over, and I just bought our tickets to Bali for when she comes to visit!!  

So as for men (more like boys here) in my life...just a lot of friends. hah. I hang out with a lot of guys, and travel with them I guess, but while everyone is hooking up and falling in love in a matter of weeks, I just can't justify getting involved for a couple of months and then leaving. It's funny to watch how relationships, even friendships, progress abroad though. Everything moves at like hyper-speed! I guess just to make up for the fact that you probably won't ever see most of these people again though. It's just funny. There is a lot of European eye-candy here though..haha. Can't complain there.  

Tonight is a friend's birthday so we are all going to the Art Design and Media building (it's this glass building with a roof made of grass that you can climb up on top of..I'll show you pictures it's really cool) to have some drinks and just chill out. I'm excited for this actually because I'm getting a little burned out on the whole Singapore clubbing scene. It's just the same every week, too much house music thumping in my ears that I don't know how to dance to, only a few people I know, and spending too much money. I think this will be nice just to chill out with everyone. I feel like we will be getting McDelivery--that's right. McDonald's delivers here. ahha.  

Classes are winding down and picking up at the same time. After today, I will be all done with lectures. Only final project presentations next week and then finals starting the 13-23. It is crazy I'm busier the last two weeks of school than I have been all semester. Singaporean's love group projects and I have one in every class..ugh. I'm just about fed up with group meetings though. haha.  

I don't know if I told you this, but I got an internship with Teach for America in Phoenix as Operations Coordinator so I'm really looking forward to that. I wished that I could have found something in KC to be closer to family and friends, but with the economy the way it is, I decided I should take advantage of any job/internship opportunity that I could get my hands on...plus it's paid pretty well so that doesn't hurt of course. I will also be close to my dad and his family, so that will be really nice. I don't see them as often as I would sometimes like to. I don't know how many rejection emails I got these past few weeks saying that due to budget, the company isn't offering an internship program this summer. It really makes me nervous to think of what we are going to be facing after graduation...but can't think about that now I guess. I think this internship is good because it gets my foot in the door for TFA if i do decide to go that route after graduation, and I have also been throwing around the LSAT idea and taking it in Sept after studying all summer. I don't know though. I have always thought that it would be cool to do Comm Law and work in an ad agency or something. Who knows. Ugh. I don't for sure.  

Anyway, this was really long..probably too long. Give everyone a hug for me please, and pass along anything from this NOVEL haha. I miss you so much, Ky. I am glad to hear things are going well, and keep me posted on that boy, now I'm nervous for him! Can't wait to see you.  

Love,  

Amanda

All in all this sums a lot of things up. I AM having a great time here, but it's not home. I have realized in my four months here, about to be five, that I don't know that I could ever live this far from home. It's not just Mom's surgery that made me feel this way, but also just the fact that it's not home. I miss my family and friends terribly, but will never regret having the opportunity to meet some truly outstanding people, and have experiences that will forever change the way I look at life. I am so glad I decided to go abroad. Looking back, I can remember still not knowing if I for sure was going to do this even so late as September of last year. I didn't know for sure until something like November, then in December I was on a plane. It all moved so quickly, but I am so glad it did because I think I might have changed my mind had it not, haha. My love for traveling has only been sparked, and I know there is a lifetime of exploration ahead of me. I can't wait to see so much more of the world. Saly and I have already been looking into Europe! Being abroad for a semester is an opportunity that I was blessed with, and one that I think I will only fully appreciate once I've gone back home.

Until next time.