Hi all! I’m excited to restart this beautiful blog of mine. I haven’t updated this in quite some time, but what I have learned over the years is that everything happens in perfect timing.
I started blogging in 2016 from my piso in Madrid, Spain. It was my second year teaching English in Spain through the auxiliar program, and I was SO excited to share all of my travel knowledge thus far. I had already studied abroad in Bilbao, and had my first year of teaching experience under my belt after living in Burgos. I was ready to embrace and share my love of travel and living abroad.
When I started, I felt like I had found my calling. I absolutely LOVED blogging – it combined all of the things in life I truly enjoyed the most. Writing, photography, and sharing my story with the world in hopes of helping others.
In the midst of the year I started my blogging journey, I was extensively planning for my next destination: Thailand. I truly could not tell you why I wanted to go, other than I knew that I wanted an Asian education teaching experience. So, I packed my bags and went off on another adventure.
While in Thailand, I felt as if my travel momentum couldn’t stop. I was only there six months, but already planning on where I could live next. I ended up choosing to apply for an Australian Working Visa, and planned on staying for at least two years.
Now, insert the classic “Man plans, God laughs” quote here. I only ended up staying one month before deciding to come home to Chicago and stay for good. Throughout all of my travels, I always wondered when my momentum would come to an end. To be honest, when I came home I still didn’t know that I was ready to come home. I still thought I was going to go back off on another adventure. I felt as if there was no way I was going to settle down in the place that I had purposefully left behind. There truly was no way – I had too much pride for that!
But here I am, sitting in Chicago, Illinois. Three years from the time I decided to come home from living abroad for good. 
When I came home in April of 2017, I applied to local teaching jobs, and landed a job at a high school teaching History. Ironically, European & World History to be exact. I would be lying to you if I said I was 110% ready to take on that job. In all truth, I wasn’t. I was stuck between the world of practicality and adventure. I kept asking myself, was I ready to settle? Was I ready for my momentum to come to a self-chosen halt?
I eventually accepted my teaching position, ready to embark on a new adventure close to home. I have had that job the past three years, and it has challenged me and saved me in so many ways. I have become friends with colleagues that feel like family. I have had students challenge my perspective to then beautifully reshape it. I have learned that I can still find adventures outside of the stamps in my passport. I have learned that there truly is no other job such as being a teacher. It has been one of my life’s greatest gifts.
I am sure to dive more into this later on, but what I want to say today is that I am ready to start sharing again. I am excited to share my story that I stopped sharing because I thought it wasn’t exciting or important enough. I am ready to show that there is beauty in the ordinary, and that life itself is what you make of it. That owning my story – no matter how mundane or how exciting it may be – is the most important adventure I could have ever embarked on.
Thank you for being a part of my story – whoever is reading this and whoever you are. I’m so glad you are here.
Love you all,
Bridget