Happy Tuesday! (:
I promise, I didn't disappear off the face of the Earth. However, I did go to the bahamas for a week and immediately to a leadership camp!
I had so much fun with my dad and my sister in the bahamas. It was so beautiful, and I loved having time to not have to worry about anything.
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| Hotel |
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| One of my favorite parts- All American Rejects concert on the beach at sunset. |
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| The beach at Atlantis |
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| View at Atlantis |
Besides the All-American Rejects concert, my favorite part of the trip was getting the opportunity to go snorkeling. I have never done anything like that before! We took a boat out to an island called Sandy Toes and rented some snorkeling gear. I loved it. It was so cool seeing all the fish and the coral and being right there with them. I felt like I was in finding nemo. It was fascinating and totally amazing! I do have more pictures, but they are on my sister's camera at this moment. Oops!
I got a bad sunburn though, and I have been peeling off my skin for the past three days (Gross, I know). I also had to eat out for every meal for the entire week... That gets so tiring. It's so hard to eat healthy when you aren't the one preparing the meals.
I went to this leadership camp and the food situation got worse. We were staying in college dorms in Wisconsin. While there were SOME healthy options, it was nothing like I have at home. The worst part was that desserts and snacks were constantly being eaten, there was even an ice cream machine. I ate so much food, I felt really sick for most of camp. I am relieved to be home for that reason (:
Camp, besides the food, was absolutely amazing. It was life-changing. The camp was mostly kids from the west and south side of Chicago. Anyone who watches the news knows the violence that takes place in these communities. Hearing the stories of these strong people my age having to grow up so fast because of the situation they were born into was eye-opening. For once in my life, I felt like an outsider, and that also changed how I look at things. I live such a safe life compared to all these teens. I don't have brothers in jail, college isn't only a dream for me, I don't have a 2 hour commute so that I can go to a decent school, I haven't grown up where it is the norm for the men to leave, and I haven't had to survive a bullet in my shoulder from a neighborhood shooting. While we have all had struggles, I feel like the strength of the people I was surrounded by was uplifting and hopeful. The friends I made are going to do great things by being leaders for their siblings and working so hard to go to college and find a safer, happier place to live.
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| Can you see me?? I'm sitting down in the orange shirt. |
Going to camp reminded me that I need to step back and look at the big picture. I am genuinely happy. I can't let something like food or a couple pounds or a running time bother me. I am lucky to be safe, alive, and to have the opportunities I have had. During camp I got to work on a lot of goal-setting and planning and coming up with a personal mission statement. I loved this. I love discovering who I am and who I want to be and how I will make an impact on other's lives.
That's all for today, folks. Back to regular blogging this week. No more going away. It's good to be home.
~Emily
~Emily
