A feeling I haven't felt in a while..

I was thinking today of how clear my mind has been lately, and I think it is down to the lack of stress and anxiety I usually have moving around my head like the ball in a pinball machine. For the first time in probably 6 years, I feel calm and at ease. No worries of students lives, data, planning, observations, coworker drama, working multiple jobs, etc etc. I feel normal again.. Funny now detaching yourself from everything that you are familiar with will make you closer to your true self and feel free... It will be hard to go back to a grind when these magical months are over, but I will remember this feeling I have currently and know how to get back to it.. Maybe in India I will finally get better at meditation and can make this feeling my happy place...haha.

Speaking of India, the great outsourcing company VFS was brilliant in processing our visas and we are officially allowed to enter and stay for 6 months if we wanted to... So quick. It took 3 days, unlike the company they use in the US that would have taken anywhere between 3-25 days to process, if we were lucky.The office we went to in Atlanta before leaving in hopes to get the visas then was the most unorganized and unprofessional mess I have ever experienced in terms of travel documents. Be wary of this should anyone want to get a visa for India in the US. It can be a confusing process!

We have been back in Portsmouth since our last commute to London, but as we are professional commuters now and should probably buy stock in National Express, we are heading back up to London for the Local Natives concert next week. It will be awesome! During our week so far we have ventured out into other parts of Hampshire and seen small villages and pretty vistas. I am getting antsy to go hiking in the South Downs hills and talk to some of the sheep I've seen on top of the hill... I think that maybe we will venture out that way later this week. I'll be sure to post photos. :)

I ran my first international race on Sunday, and thinking my poor quality of sleep the night before would have make it an awful experience, I surprised myself and got my fastest 10K time to date... 47:15. I also came in 4th in the overall women's division.. I killed it! It was awesome! It didn't dawn on me that I was doing so well until the turnaround mark, where I noticed that there weren't hardly any women heading back toward the finish line and I was surrounded by dudes except for a couple other girls... It felt amazing, and the weather was unbelievable.. Sunny, around 63, and hardly any wind. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Coming in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd would have been sweet though.. ;) I've set a new pr to beat!

Stephen has come down to visit for a few days this week.. We played trivia at a local pub last night, or "pub quiz" as they call it here. I love trivia, especially when it involves fun people and a few drinks. We had a great time and while we didn't win, we did better than the last time we played trivia... It's hard being foreign for these questions though because half the people I didn't know, and I'm not up to date on all current events! That's another good thing about travel... You see places through a visitors eyes and don't have to get wrapped up in all the political and social issues that would affect you if you lived there.... I must say its nice not being wrapped up in the mess at home either... Out of sight, out of mind. I will never miss seeing all our problems plastered over the news every time I turn on tv or happen to be at the gym and be subjected to Fox News as I sweat on the cardio machine. I will continue to live in the moment and not worry about things I have no control over... Travel is awesome to promote a healthy mind.. I suggest everyone at least set goals to visit somewhere unknown and work toward it.. It definitely makes life more interesting! 

Until next time...

MC