Austin?! I don't even know him!!

Bad pun out of the way.

Okay, so tomorrow, I leave for Austin, Texas for two weeks!! I'm very excited about this trip because it combines the two things I love most in the world- traveling and learning. I've never been to Austin before and I've heard it's a wonderful city, full of magic and fairies and light. Wait. No. Wrong city. But I have heard that Austin is pretty incredible. I'll be staying at the Doubletree Suites and taking journalism education classes at UT-Austin.

I'm pretty stoked because this is an all-expenses paid trip. That's right, folks. Jessica got herself a scholarship to attend school for two weeks whereby all, and we mean all of her expenses are paid! They already sent my books to me, and the travel agent booked my flight (more on that later). I even get a (very small, but hey, it's money!) per diem to pay for my meals. On top of everything, I will get three continuing education credits and all the scholarly knowledge my little head can hold for the next two weeks! All free.

The classes center around teaching journalism which is something I've been interested in since I started the yearbook program at my high school. I love teaching the kids that there's more to this thing than a pretty scrapbook of photos. I thought teaching newspaper journalism could take myself and the kids one step further. This institute is right up my alley! I really love learning about censorship, responsible journalism, ethics and all the stuff that goes along with it. And, even if I don't teach journalism as soon as I'd like, I'm sure I can translate a lot of what I will learn into all my other classes.

Now, what I'm not too excited about: Pretty much all centers around my flights. First, I fly out at 9:30 a.m. which means I have to get up before God to be at the airport on time. I'm never a fan of early flights. Next, because the flights were booked in such short notice, I'm in the very last row on every. single. flight. I've never flown in the tail of the plane in my entire life- I am terrified. I get scared whenever I get up and walk to the back for some exercise on my flights home. Finally, as if to add insult to injury, my flight home is non-stop on a regional plane. If you don't know what those are, they're the little 15-row tiny planes that usually take you from point A, 20 minutes later to point B. I'm flying three and a half hours in one of these little guys. In. the. last. row. I hope I'm not complaining, even though it sounds like it. I really am just a very nervous passenger, so I think it's more my fear that's complaining than me because...

This is going to be one awesome trip and I am so excited for it! I'm so fortunate and incredibly blessed! Stay tuned for updates from Austin!