Hi everyone!
Sorry it has been a little over a week since my last post, I have been so busy getting things done in my final week of "working from home" before my actual work begins next Monday with DLE. I have to tell you I am so excited, but also extremely nervous. I think I am going to be quite the working bee when I get there, but the great thing about it is, it will be about sports and all the things that I absolutely love! I am getting myself prepared for the early mornings this week by waking up really early even when I have no reason to, and I have to say it is not as terrible as I thought it was going to be! (I might take back that statement later, but for now it is not too bad.) Anyways, your thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated on Monday. Trust me I feel the love and support from you all every single day!!
Now, to explain the title of this post. I have been the luckiest, most blessed person to encounter one of the greatest human beings in my opinion who has ever lived! Now that may seem like a very strong statement to some of you, but let me tell you if you got to meet this guy you would feel the exact same way! I have had the pleasure of being in the same class as a guy from Seoul, Korea named Cha Yoon Do (we call him Yoon) who quite simply has the best outlook on life of any person I have ever met. In every single situation he sees the positive, he smiles constantly, always asks how you are doing before anything else, and just truly has a zest for life that I wish I had. He is one of the most outgoing people here at TWC and literally he is known by every single person here just because of how awesome of a person he is and how much he truly cares about others. Yoon is one of those people who can truly change the world, and every day that I get to be around him, he makes me think I can change the world as well! This guy cares so much about people and trying to make others happy that he envisions creating a restaurant where people can go to enjoy certain foods and an atmosphere that will help enhance their mood and make them happy and feel loved all at the same time. I am not quite sure how he is going to do this, but I have no doubt in my mind that someday in the near future we will be seeing "Asian Persuasion" restaurants as our class likes to call it all around the world!
I tell you all about Yoon because through him I have realized that it is okay to wake up and see the world as a gift every single day! It is okay to always wonder how others are doing before they ask you about yourself, and most importantly it is okay to believe that you can do anything in this world that you put your mind too! I think we can all learn something from this wonderful guy who I am blessed to call my friend, and that is that life is awesome! Even when we think that there is no way that our day will be good, there will always be something positive in it if we just choose to look at it that way. As Yoon reminds us every week in our Entrepreneurship class, "You can do it, you will be great, I am very proud of you, my brave buddies!" So I encourage each of you as you go about your day to take on the Yoon Effect and live life with a zest to make it great! I am definitely one of those people who needs to let go and stop worrying about what the day will bring, and just simply enjoy the life I am meant to live. To relentlessly pursue my dreams until I know for an absolute fact that it is no longer possible! (By the way, I do not plan on letting that happen!)
So this week, my goal is to live each day with a love for life and the promise of what that day will bring. Even if it is just as simple as saying hello to a stranger or giving a smile to those I pass by, every little thing matters. After all, I truly believe that by making others happy, we ourselves tend to be more happy just by seeing them smile. I am going to strive to wake up every morning with a strong outlook on how work will go and to always be prepared to go above and beyond what I think I can do in order to truly pursue my dreams.
I hope each of you has an amazing week!! Once again, I ask for your prayers this coming week as I start my internship. I love and appreciate you all more than you know and look forward to sharing more stories about Yoon and others in the near future. Have a great day/night!
Love you all!
Kalee
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Granite (It will make sense later)
Hi everyone!
Two posts in one week, look at me go! I wanted to write this post because I have been realizing a lot this week and want to share it with all of you. Just a heads up, this note gets a little sappy so if you are a crier (aka my daddy) please grab a tissue. I even needed one while writing it!
So, you might be wondering what the title of this post implies. Well, it is what I have come to realize, that I take so many things in life for granted. Yes, granted is the correct way to spell it, but up here I am constantly being asked if I am saying 'granite' haha I guess that is one word you can't take out of my true texan accent.
That being said, one of the first things I realized I take for granted are my country roots. I might not be from a small town, 'country girl' type of place, but I truly believe I come from a place where the true pride of Texas and southern hospitality is seen. The sad reality is, you just don't see that type of respect and generosity up here on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong there are so many nice and wonderful people who live here in DC and I have gotten to meet my fair share of them the past couple of weeks, but it is nothing like back home. Back in Lubbock I can be walking into a restaurant and simply get a smile or "Hi, how are you?" from a complete stranger and it makes my day. Basically, I have learned I take for granted how rare it is to have that type of hospitality on a daily basis and it is one of the things I am starting to miss most about home!
The second thing I take for granted has definitely got to be my car! Let me tell you there have been so many times this past week that I have wished so badly that I just had my car to jump in and drive to where I want to go instead of having to walk everywhere. Although, I will admit this walking thing is not all that bad seeing as I have gotten in the best shape I have been in for a really long time these past couple of weeks haha. However, I think going these 3 months without a car will help me to realize just how lucky I am to have that luxury everyday back home. To not have to worry about getting from point A to point B is such a nice thing, but it is also nice to not have to worry about gas prices or having car troubles. After all, God gave me these legs, why not make the most of them, right?
The third thing I have realized I take for granted would be my family and friends. I have met so many great people the few weeks that I have been here, but no one compares to the amazing people that I love and adore back home. Out of my roommates and I, I no doubt have the most Skype dates and phone calls from friends and family back home. I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to be able to call and talk to their loved ones as often as I am, and many of them don't have the close relationships with their loved ones as I am blessed enough to have. Granted I am not the only one who has an amazing best friend, or siblings that check in on her everyday, but I feel so special knowing that I am one of those people. Without the simple texts and calls I get everyday I don't think I would be able to handle this move as well as I am. I want you to know that you all keep me going day in and day out. I know that I take these relationships for granted everyday when I am back home, but I promise you I feel like the luckiest girl in the world knowing I have so many people back home that are thinking about me and checking in with me all the time. You are all amazing and I love you all! To my best friend, aka twin, even when we are 1700 miles apart you are always there for me and you mean the world to me! I hope you know how amazing it is to be able to have a friend like you! To my goofball brothers, I love you both more than you will ever know. I have told countless stories about yall while I have been here, and there have been so many people say how cool it is that my brothers are my best friends and how they wish they were that close with their siblings! I couldn't do this without the two of you, and even when you give me a hard time about me not being able to last 3 months without seeing either of you and I say your wrong, know that it really is that hard, but I can do it because I have your love and support! I take our relationship for granted more than anything and I realize I am one blessed little sister to have big brothers like you! I love you both to the moon and back!!
The last, and probably the hardest thing I am realizing is how much I take my parents for granted. While I haven't yet had that day where I have a complete breakdown from missing them so much (trust me there will be a day, and I dread that day). I have encountered multiple times in which I wish I had them here. For starters, I never realized how hard it is to come home after being out all day at classes and meetings, and fix myself a self sustaining, and decently healthy meal. Momma, you truly spoil me and I don't know what I would ever do without you and your willingness to come home after long days at work to cook us an amazing meal!! I have always loved you and respected you for that, but I don't believe I have ever told you or shown it. I most definitely take you for granted more than anything. I also realize that I rely on yall for the simplest of things, such as money, groceries, gas, lunch dates, laundry and so much more and don't even think twice to thank you for it! Well momma and daddy, this post serves as a small little thank you and I promise that when I get back home I will be sure to help you more!! I love you both so much and realize how truly spoiled I am by you (not that I mind it of course) and how blessed I am to have you. Without yall I wouldn't even be here discovering these things for myself. You are my reason for reaching my hopes and dreams, I hope you both know that! I know its silly to say but I take your abundant love for me for granted so much and I want you to know that I am so so so thankful for all the things you have done for me and allowed me to do over the past 21 years. You have both helped me achieve anything I have ever wanted, and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have you!! Daddy, you need to stop crying now because this is supposed to be happy post :) (momma, hold it together too, I know you can be sappy sometimes too)
For those of you who are not my family or feel like this post was only for my close friends and family to read, please know that I realize I take you all for granted as well. I promise I am not just saying this, but I feel as though I have the best support system back home. From cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and even LCU faculty/staff you are all so amazing and mean so much to me. I'm sorry this post was kind of sappy and somewhat of a lovey dovey note to my family, I just had to get these things off my chest. I miss the state of Texas, my friends and family every single day, but I know I am here for a purpose. I believe this is my time to learn and grow and realize what I want out of life. 3 months isn't the longest time, but it is plenty time to realize so many things I never thought about before.
So for now, I am going to try and stop taking everything for 'granite' and start appreciating the love and support I get from all of you more and more. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and know that my heart is abundantly flowing with love for you all!
Until the next post,
Love you all,
Kalee
Two posts in one week, look at me go! I wanted to write this post because I have been realizing a lot this week and want to share it with all of you. Just a heads up, this note gets a little sappy so if you are a crier (aka my daddy) please grab a tissue. I even needed one while writing it!
So, you might be wondering what the title of this post implies. Well, it is what I have come to realize, that I take so many things in life for granted. Yes, granted is the correct way to spell it, but up here I am constantly being asked if I am saying 'granite' haha I guess that is one word you can't take out of my true texan accent.
That being said, one of the first things I realized I take for granted are my country roots. I might not be from a small town, 'country girl' type of place, but I truly believe I come from a place where the true pride of Texas and southern hospitality is seen. The sad reality is, you just don't see that type of respect and generosity up here on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong there are so many nice and wonderful people who live here in DC and I have gotten to meet my fair share of them the past couple of weeks, but it is nothing like back home. Back in Lubbock I can be walking into a restaurant and simply get a smile or "Hi, how are you?" from a complete stranger and it makes my day. Basically, I have learned I take for granted how rare it is to have that type of hospitality on a daily basis and it is one of the things I am starting to miss most about home!
The second thing I take for granted has definitely got to be my car! Let me tell you there have been so many times this past week that I have wished so badly that I just had my car to jump in and drive to where I want to go instead of having to walk everywhere. Although, I will admit this walking thing is not all that bad seeing as I have gotten in the best shape I have been in for a really long time these past couple of weeks haha. However, I think going these 3 months without a car will help me to realize just how lucky I am to have that luxury everyday back home. To not have to worry about getting from point A to point B is such a nice thing, but it is also nice to not have to worry about gas prices or having car troubles. After all, God gave me these legs, why not make the most of them, right?
The third thing I have realized I take for granted would be my family and friends. I have met so many great people the few weeks that I have been here, but no one compares to the amazing people that I love and adore back home. Out of my roommates and I, I no doubt have the most Skype dates and phone calls from friends and family back home. I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to be able to call and talk to their loved ones as often as I am, and many of them don't have the close relationships with their loved ones as I am blessed enough to have. Granted I am not the only one who has an amazing best friend, or siblings that check in on her everyday, but I feel so special knowing that I am one of those people. Without the simple texts and calls I get everyday I don't think I would be able to handle this move as well as I am. I want you to know that you all keep me going day in and day out. I know that I take these relationships for granted everyday when I am back home, but I promise you I feel like the luckiest girl in the world knowing I have so many people back home that are thinking about me and checking in with me all the time. You are all amazing and I love you all! To my best friend, aka twin, even when we are 1700 miles apart you are always there for me and you mean the world to me! I hope you know how amazing it is to be able to have a friend like you! To my goofball brothers, I love you both more than you will ever know. I have told countless stories about yall while I have been here, and there have been so many people say how cool it is that my brothers are my best friends and how they wish they were that close with their siblings! I couldn't do this without the two of you, and even when you give me a hard time about me not being able to last 3 months without seeing either of you and I say your wrong, know that it really is that hard, but I can do it because I have your love and support! I take our relationship for granted more than anything and I realize I am one blessed little sister to have big brothers like you! I love you both to the moon and back!!
The last, and probably the hardest thing I am realizing is how much I take my parents for granted. While I haven't yet had that day where I have a complete breakdown from missing them so much (trust me there will be a day, and I dread that day). I have encountered multiple times in which I wish I had them here. For starters, I never realized how hard it is to come home after being out all day at classes and meetings, and fix myself a self sustaining, and decently healthy meal. Momma, you truly spoil me and I don't know what I would ever do without you and your willingness to come home after long days at work to cook us an amazing meal!! I have always loved you and respected you for that, but I don't believe I have ever told you or shown it. I most definitely take you for granted more than anything. I also realize that I rely on yall for the simplest of things, such as money, groceries, gas, lunch dates, laundry and so much more and don't even think twice to thank you for it! Well momma and daddy, this post serves as a small little thank you and I promise that when I get back home I will be sure to help you more!! I love you both so much and realize how truly spoiled I am by you (not that I mind it of course) and how blessed I am to have you. Without yall I wouldn't even be here discovering these things for myself. You are my reason for reaching my hopes and dreams, I hope you both know that! I know its silly to say but I take your abundant love for me for granted so much and I want you to know that I am so so so thankful for all the things you have done for me and allowed me to do over the past 21 years. You have both helped me achieve anything I have ever wanted, and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have you!! Daddy, you need to stop crying now because this is supposed to be happy post :) (momma, hold it together too, I know you can be sappy sometimes too)
For those of you who are not my family or feel like this post was only for my close friends and family to read, please know that I realize I take you all for granted as well. I promise I am not just saying this, but I feel as though I have the best support system back home. From cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and even LCU faculty/staff you are all so amazing and mean so much to me. I'm sorry this post was kind of sappy and somewhat of a lovey dovey note to my family, I just had to get these things off my chest. I miss the state of Texas, my friends and family every single day, but I know I am here for a purpose. I believe this is my time to learn and grow and realize what I want out of life. 3 months isn't the longest time, but it is plenty time to realize so many things I never thought about before.
So for now, I am going to try and stop taking everything for 'granite' and start appreciating the love and support I get from all of you more and more. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and know that my heart is abundantly flowing with love for you all!
Until the next post,
Love you all,
Kalee
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
What Comes Next?
Hello everyone!
Yesterday we had our first day of "programming" which is essentially where the Law and Criminal Justice interns come together to learn about different aspects of our professional career and how to create our portfolio for the semester. The lesson was concerning our IDP (Individual Development Plan) part of our portfolio, aka our plan that outlines the goals we have set for ourselves during the 15 weeks that we are here.
This lesson triggered many thoughts for me today. Although everyone else has started their internships already, and I do not start mine until the 30th now (crazy I know!!), I still believe I can create great goals for myself without even knowing the tasks I will be taking on at DLE. In our IDPs we are asked to give two goals apiece for each category: academic, professional, and leadership that we think will help make our time here more efficient and self-fulfilling. I would like to think that setting these goals would be an extremely easy task for me and all of my fellow classmates, but when it comes right down to it, it is rather difficult to put into words just exactly what my goals will be while I am here. Sure it is easy to say that in my academics I would like to continue to grow and learn and for a professional goal I would like to experience all that I can while I am here. But those are far too vague for this assignment, I need to come up with goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). While I haven't quite decided what all those will be yet, I do have a few goals in mind that I think are fun to share with you all. From an academic standpoint I have a goal to complete all of our portfolio assignments the week before they are actually due in order to stay ahead with all of my work and set aside one specific day such as Sunday to work on them. From a professional standpoint I have a goal to help DLE in representation of at least one client and help to advise and research as much as I can for that given athlete or athletes. From a leadership standpoint my goal is to work my tail off as a project leader for my class (Anatomy Entrepreneurship) project that we have coming in November. I want to help manage each task for the event we will be hosting and make sure that each aspect is covered within the respected times that they need to be.
These are just a few of the goals that I will use in order to help put together my IDP and I just wanted to share with you all my goals so that hopefully by the end of this semester I will be able to tell you all that I accomplished all of them and more.
It is crazy to say it, but the class I am taking here at TWC called "From Ideas to Action: The Anatomy of Entrepreneurship" will truly change my life and the way that I see my life going. We had our first class last night and let me tell you, I came out of that class thinking I could run the world! I know that is not really going to happen, but you catch my drift, it was utterly amazing and uplifting to think about the fact that if I set goals for myself and truly believe that I can achieve those goals, I can do anything!! My teacher is by far the best one for this class seeing as she has been an entrepreneur herself since she was just 12 years old. She competed in the fashion world among big wigs such as Oscar de la Renta (who actually stole her design ideas from seeing her photos on a wall in a studio), she helped to create the multi million dollar tennis stadium/club here in DC where Venus and Serena Williams grew up playing and she got to watch them rise to stardom from the very beginning. I am telling you our whole class was in awe of how awesome this woman really is and she has definitely inspired me already! In November we are going to get to be a part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in which we get to organize an Idea Discovery Pitch Competition that will bring in well known people from all across this area and we will even get the opportunity to attend a VIP event in which Daymond John (Billionaire FUBU owner and "Shark Tank" TV star) will speak. Hopefully we will get to meet with him and pick his brain.
As you can tell, I am OVERJOYED by all of the things that I will be getting to experience over the next 14 weeks here in DC!! It might be a lot of hard work and some pretty stressful nights but I am so ready for it. I feel so energized and ready to conquer the world, I am realizing that this internship and the opportunities that I am getting are truly my time to step into the next stage in my life. Before, I have just sat back and said, "someday I would like to be a lawyer in the sports world, but that is far down the road, I still have lots of time" and I would just leave it at that. Now I have an entirely different outlook. I can firmly tell you all that my ultimate goal (barring any other life changes, which is always possible no doubt) is to become a somewhat entrepreneur of my own in the sports law world. To one day open my own agency in order to help represent athletes from all walks of life, across all sports, and I truly believe that my experiences here will help me to achieve this goal. Yes it might take me another 8-10 years but I can promise you that I am going to do everything in my power to keep my dream alive! All of you reading this will no doubt help to make this dream of mine a reality through your love, thoughts, and prayers and I know that I could not have this dream or any of these goals without my family and friends so thank you so much!!
I'm sorry this post is so long, I just have so much on my mind that I am so excited to share with everyone. I hope this has made sense to everyone and that I haven't rambled on too much. Like I said before, I couldn't do any of this without all of you who believe in me and I truly feel blessed by God that I am surrounded by such amazing people in my life! There will definitely be more posts coming your way in the days and weeks to come. Thank you all so much!
I want to leave you with a quote by the amazing entrepreneur Mr. Steve Jobs that comes from his commencement speech at Stanford University back in 2005. This quote sums up this post for me. It is time for me to stop wondering when the next step is going to happen, and start believing that it will through courage and hard work!
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Love You All!
Kalee
Yesterday we had our first day of "programming" which is essentially where the Law and Criminal Justice interns come together to learn about different aspects of our professional career and how to create our portfolio for the semester. The lesson was concerning our IDP (Individual Development Plan) part of our portfolio, aka our plan that outlines the goals we have set for ourselves during the 15 weeks that we are here.
This lesson triggered many thoughts for me today. Although everyone else has started their internships already, and I do not start mine until the 30th now (crazy I know!!), I still believe I can create great goals for myself without even knowing the tasks I will be taking on at DLE. In our IDPs we are asked to give two goals apiece for each category: academic, professional, and leadership that we think will help make our time here more efficient and self-fulfilling. I would like to think that setting these goals would be an extremely easy task for me and all of my fellow classmates, but when it comes right down to it, it is rather difficult to put into words just exactly what my goals will be while I am here. Sure it is easy to say that in my academics I would like to continue to grow and learn and for a professional goal I would like to experience all that I can while I am here. But those are far too vague for this assignment, I need to come up with goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). While I haven't quite decided what all those will be yet, I do have a few goals in mind that I think are fun to share with you all. From an academic standpoint I have a goal to complete all of our portfolio assignments the week before they are actually due in order to stay ahead with all of my work and set aside one specific day such as Sunday to work on them. From a professional standpoint I have a goal to help DLE in representation of at least one client and help to advise and research as much as I can for that given athlete or athletes. From a leadership standpoint my goal is to work my tail off as a project leader for my class (Anatomy Entrepreneurship) project that we have coming in November. I want to help manage each task for the event we will be hosting and make sure that each aspect is covered within the respected times that they need to be.
These are just a few of the goals that I will use in order to help put together my IDP and I just wanted to share with you all my goals so that hopefully by the end of this semester I will be able to tell you all that I accomplished all of them and more.
It is crazy to say it, but the class I am taking here at TWC called "From Ideas to Action: The Anatomy of Entrepreneurship" will truly change my life and the way that I see my life going. We had our first class last night and let me tell you, I came out of that class thinking I could run the world! I know that is not really going to happen, but you catch my drift, it was utterly amazing and uplifting to think about the fact that if I set goals for myself and truly believe that I can achieve those goals, I can do anything!! My teacher is by far the best one for this class seeing as she has been an entrepreneur herself since she was just 12 years old. She competed in the fashion world among big wigs such as Oscar de la Renta (who actually stole her design ideas from seeing her photos on a wall in a studio), she helped to create the multi million dollar tennis stadium/club here in DC where Venus and Serena Williams grew up playing and she got to watch them rise to stardom from the very beginning. I am telling you our whole class was in awe of how awesome this woman really is and she has definitely inspired me already! In November we are going to get to be a part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in which we get to organize an Idea Discovery Pitch Competition that will bring in well known people from all across this area and we will even get the opportunity to attend a VIP event in which Daymond John (Billionaire FUBU owner and "Shark Tank" TV star) will speak. Hopefully we will get to meet with him and pick his brain.
As you can tell, I am OVERJOYED by all of the things that I will be getting to experience over the next 14 weeks here in DC!! It might be a lot of hard work and some pretty stressful nights but I am so ready for it. I feel so energized and ready to conquer the world, I am realizing that this internship and the opportunities that I am getting are truly my time to step into the next stage in my life. Before, I have just sat back and said, "someday I would like to be a lawyer in the sports world, but that is far down the road, I still have lots of time" and I would just leave it at that. Now I have an entirely different outlook. I can firmly tell you all that my ultimate goal (barring any other life changes, which is always possible no doubt) is to become a somewhat entrepreneur of my own in the sports law world. To one day open my own agency in order to help represent athletes from all walks of life, across all sports, and I truly believe that my experiences here will help me to achieve this goal. Yes it might take me another 8-10 years but I can promise you that I am going to do everything in my power to keep my dream alive! All of you reading this will no doubt help to make this dream of mine a reality through your love, thoughts, and prayers and I know that I could not have this dream or any of these goals without my family and friends so thank you so much!!
I'm sorry this post is so long, I just have so much on my mind that I am so excited to share with everyone. I hope this has made sense to everyone and that I haven't rambled on too much. Like I said before, I couldn't do any of this without all of you who believe in me and I truly feel blessed by God that I am surrounded by such amazing people in my life! There will definitely be more posts coming your way in the days and weeks to come. Thank you all so much!
I want to leave you with a quote by the amazing entrepreneur Mr. Steve Jobs that comes from his commencement speech at Stanford University back in 2005. This quote sums up this post for me. It is time for me to stop wondering when the next step is going to happen, and start believing that it will through courage and hard work!
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Love You All!
Kalee
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
We Aren't In Texas Anymore: Welcome to DC!!
First off, I just want to say that I am only writing this blog to help my family and friends back home understand a little better the experiences that I am blessed to have while I am here. It is by no means meant to be grammatically correct or extremely professional. I just hope you all get to enjoy reading these posts as much as I love writing them.
Okay now that I have gotten that out of the way, let me just start by saying I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be living in Washington, D.C. (it is crazy to even type that statement!!) This place is so much more than just our nations capitol and a place for tourists. It is essentially a history book that is being played out in real life. I can't get over how great it is to just get on the metro and ride to a stop (Chinatown being my favorite) and getting out and walking around just watching people, foreign and domestic experiencing a culture like none other. In the short time I have been here I have seen it all, men and women of dignity dressed in suits, constantly starting at their expensive watches, to tourists from all corners of the world, to homeless people sleeping on benches literally across the street from the White House. I knew this experience was going to be a new and extremely enlightening one, I just didn't realize how utterly amazing it really is. Sure there are tons of great sights and sounds to experience around the city, and trust me I have certainly spent my days walking to all of those. But to me this city is so much more. It is the way the bricks on the sidewalk wobble under your feet because they are so worn down, it is the simplicity of watching families playing Frisbee and football in the park, it is the ability to go sit on the 3rd floor of a Starbucks and look out the window to see people from all walks of life, young and old, every race and gender, simply co-existing in a world that is so often against such a thing. By no means am I leaving my Texas roots and the world back home that I so dearly love behind, I am simply getting the opportunity to open my eyes to the unknown and see what life is like 1700 miles away. There will be days when I wish I had my car to pack up and head home in, there will be days where all I want to do is grab a sweet tea (which I have only had 1 glass since being here) with my best friend, there will be days that I will miss being surrounded by friends and family and those who keep me lifted mentally and spiritually.
But for now, I choose to keep discovering these simple pleasures that are what make DC so great. I hope each and every one of you reading this know how much I love and appreciate your support. I am surrounded by great people here at TWC. I have amazing roommates and some great new friends, and I know they will help step into the role that all of you play for me back home.
I am going to try my best to post once a week to keep you all updated and in the know and I can not wait to come back and tell all of you the stories of all my experiences here. What a great ride it is going to be!
For now, I am gonna get my walking shoes on and go explore.
"The purpose of life is to live it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out, eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." - Eleanor Roosevelt
Love,
Kalee
Okay now that I have gotten that out of the way, let me just start by saying I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be living in Washington, D.C. (it is crazy to even type that statement!!) This place is so much more than just our nations capitol and a place for tourists. It is essentially a history book that is being played out in real life. I can't get over how great it is to just get on the metro and ride to a stop (Chinatown being my favorite) and getting out and walking around just watching people, foreign and domestic experiencing a culture like none other. In the short time I have been here I have seen it all, men and women of dignity dressed in suits, constantly starting at their expensive watches, to tourists from all corners of the world, to homeless people sleeping on benches literally across the street from the White House. I knew this experience was going to be a new and extremely enlightening one, I just didn't realize how utterly amazing it really is. Sure there are tons of great sights and sounds to experience around the city, and trust me I have certainly spent my days walking to all of those. But to me this city is so much more. It is the way the bricks on the sidewalk wobble under your feet because they are so worn down, it is the simplicity of watching families playing Frisbee and football in the park, it is the ability to go sit on the 3rd floor of a Starbucks and look out the window to see people from all walks of life, young and old, every race and gender, simply co-existing in a world that is so often against such a thing. By no means am I leaving my Texas roots and the world back home that I so dearly love behind, I am simply getting the opportunity to open my eyes to the unknown and see what life is like 1700 miles away. There will be days when I wish I had my car to pack up and head home in, there will be days where all I want to do is grab a sweet tea (which I have only had 1 glass since being here) with my best friend, there will be days that I will miss being surrounded by friends and family and those who keep me lifted mentally and spiritually.
But for now, I choose to keep discovering these simple pleasures that are what make DC so great. I hope each and every one of you reading this know how much I love and appreciate your support. I am surrounded by great people here at TWC. I have amazing roommates and some great new friends, and I know they will help step into the role that all of you play for me back home.
I am going to try my best to post once a week to keep you all updated and in the know and I can not wait to come back and tell all of you the stories of all my experiences here. What a great ride it is going to be!
For now, I am gonna get my walking shoes on and go explore.
"The purpose of life is to live it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out, eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." - Eleanor Roosevelt
Love,
Kalee
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