100 Happy Days.

I've decided to start off April with a new project:

I've decided I'm going to make the most of my final 6 weeks here in Luxembourg, which is why I've started the 100 Happy Days project today. If you're unfamiliar with the project, it's simply a sort of "goal" of focusing only (or at least, mostly) on the happy things in each day and making sure that finding those things is most important. You post a picture on social media (I'm using Facebook) of something that makes you happy every day for 100 days. I haven't been unhappy recently, but I think that this is a better attitude to finish out my final days in my amazing Europe experience and will be a good thing to focus on this summer. 

I've been having a blast in Europe but spent the first ~4 weeks or so here in a state of on-and-off intense homesickness. While we were traveling and experiencing new, sense-shocking, fun, and awesome things, I was fine, but when I was going about daily life in Luxembourg and going to school the homesickness/lack of familiarity became almost crippling some days, making it hard to remember the simplest things (like to bring my Eurail pass to Paris) and nearly impossible at times to focus on schoolwork. Even though there were people all around me, I felt alone. I'm not sure if it was homesickness or culture shock or a lack of a normal schedule or lack of sleep or what but I'm thrilled to say I've been having a much better time of it the last few weeks. As I said before, I definitely wasn't unhappy, because I was having a blast, but I was having a tough time with things at some points for sure! I didn't want to talk to family or friends about this because I didn't want to seem ungrateful or like I wasn't enjoying Europe, because I was both of those things. I also didn't (and still don't) quite know how to phrase what I was experiencing. It was just about a month of WEIRD. I'm one of the few on this MUDEC program who hadn't ever been off American soil and I think I was overwhelmed by all of the "new" that I was experiencing. I knew that some experiences of daily life here were slipping through the cracks since I was so absorbed in how I was feeling, almost cocooned away from the world. 

Glad that's behind me :) Some days I still miss Oxford/Shaker and the people there, but I've been much more focused on my time here lately. I really am the luckiest girl ever to get to go to school and travel like this. I still can't believe it's all real!

I think #100happydays will also be great for me this summer. It will last up until August 9, which is  my Pelaton ride and the day Alex comes back from Omaha - two great "finale" things. Last summer was great but at times work stress and loneliness stopped me from focusing on the best things in each day and I want to use this project to make the most of each and every day. This project may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it'll be a fun thing for me :)

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen my #100happydays cherry blossom picture already...

One random thing about today: I bought a mango last night because I had some mango slices from the supermarket in Interlaken... I've never prepared/sliced a mango before so this will be interesting! I think I'll be figuring that out with dinner tonight...

Speaking of which, I've found a new dinner fave! Roasted broccoli and SWEET POTATO SPEARS. I just slice up the sweet potatoes in chunks and sprinkle some pepper/salt on and stick 'em in the oven for a half-hour. Yum yum yum.

So? What made you guys happy today!?!