Wow. I feel like the luckiest person in the world...

As it turns out, I'm not just going to Ireland on the Bishop, but I'll also be in Germany for two weeks for FREE, thanks to a fund with the Associates and Professor Warren Brown. Apparently, the Associates (association for donors to tech) schedules several trips every year for members, and this year, Brown's leading one through sites in Germany pertinent to medieval history. And yesterday, the secretary for the Associates called him up, mentioned that there were extra funds and asked if he'd like to take two students along for free... so he was kind enough to offer the opportunity to Joe and me. Of course, we both jumped at the chance (after we'd gotten over the shock/disbelief stage). I still find it difficult to believe. I had enough trouble believing that I was actually going to the field school in Ireland... that's absolutely incredible. But Germany too?? Yikes.

Perhaps I came to the right school after all... would I have managed to stumble into *two* fantastic study abroad opportunities if I'd gone to UT Austin? Would I have ended up in history, or continued in physics and discovered only in grad school that it wasn't for me? Who knows... but I'm darned glad I stayed at tech now. For many reasons beyond these two trips to Europe... for my awesome friends who've never let me down, for realizing that history, not science, was what I really loved, for the fun and wacky times I've had in the house. I can't say it's ever been boring here. And I don't know if I would've really found and pushed my limits at UT. Perhaps. But I'll never know now. Best course from here on out is similar to jumping, I think: keep the eyes forward, don't worry about what you've just accomplished, and look for the next fence to tackle. Just to continue to live in the present, without regret for what's happened in the past. It gets easier all the time...

Anyway, better get to work on an 101 and h 161 reading...