Thursday, August 16, 2012

Chapter 2 - College

Tomorrow is the big day! I am traveling to my new home; a place where I had always dreamed of living and in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people.  Tomorrow I am, yet again, putting myself out of my comfort zone and moving in to college!

Yes! I can't believe the date is already here!  I can turn back to a new experience like this one.  At the age of 16 (last year) I joined a professional women's team (NOW) thanks to my coach Robin Farina and my director Kurt Stockton for believing in me; I put myself in a position of unfamiliarity. 

I was used to being a typical South Charlotte teenager, living in your typical South Charlotte suburb and had the typical teenager dreams of wondering where life is going to take me.  It finally hit me that my life was going to be different when signed my contract and wrote the letter "T", the last letter of my name.  I packed my bags for several weeks on the road and took on the journey of living the dream of a professional bike racer. 

I wasn't really sure what I was in for, to be honest, I didn't really think I was ready for the new experiences or the big races that I attended.  I wasn't really sure what my team mates or my director would all be like (who are all adults).  There were many times I did not have an adult chaperon with me and I had to figure things out myself (like surviving the New Zealand customs).  I had to trust in God and stay strong and know that everything would be alright.  I am pretty lucky to have a dang good set of parents too, who just let me go off and experience life and support me!

If you have been following my blog through the past couple of months, than you probably know exactly what I am writing about.... if this is your first time reading my blog, well than you have something to keep you occupied!

 To those who follow, you know that I went on a mission trip to Haiti earlier this year.  It was such a challenging week: physically, mentally, and spiritually.  I am not going to write about how life changing it was; don't get me wrong it was very life changing.  Going to Haiti put me far out of my comfort zone.  Once again, I had to stay strong in my faith.  I learned so much from that experience and I couldn't be more optimistic about searching for the next time I can go again and serve.

Some people would call my life so far 'living the dream' others might say 'you live in a fantasy land'.   However you describe it is your choice; I call it 'The School of life', thus, the name of my blog.  Today, I am ending Chapter 1 of my life.  I am beginning a new journey, a new life with new friends, and in a new town.  The life of college, or, Chapter 2.

There are so many people to thank for all the love, support, cheers, Facebook messages and status likes, Tweets, encouraging letters, phone calls and chatting over coffee! The list of people to thank goes endless, so thank you.  My life, proving the statement: it takes a village to raise a child!

A lot of people ask me  So do you think you're ready for college Addy?

My answer:  Do I think I am ready? I know.

I love challenges; the more I can mess up and learn from it, the better.  I couldn't be more ready to move out of the house and take on this new experience of being unfamiliar. Period.

Good bye Chapter 1, hello Mars Hill College!!!

Chapter 2 begins....  many more posts to come!