Newtown.

I know that this blog is supposed to be about my adventures abroad, but I need to talk about this. It's all I'm thinking about and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to move past and go on with my journey here. There have been many of these terrible incidents in my lifetime, but this hits so close to home. Literally. I live about 20 minutes from Newtown. I'm lucky enough to not know anyone directly affected by this tragedy, but I can't express how much I feel for everyone. Everyone lost, all families, the members of the community, everyone. I spoke to my Mom on the phone today for a while and I was just so happy to be able to hear her voice. I'm here and having a great experience and an amazing time. I'm meeting incredible people. But all I want is to be able to go home and hug my family. I'm not going to get into a discussion of what we should do now because this just isn't the time or place.

I guess all I can do is accept that it's okay to feel this way. It's okay to grieve. It's okay to cry. I don't need to move on right away. In fact, we shouldn't just "move on" from things like this. All I can do is keep everyone in my thoughts and hope that we can come together as a community to help each other through this terrible time. It's so strange being abroad while this is occurring. Everyone here is saddened by the event, but it's different when it's right next door. I know I can't let this ruin what I'm doing here. But, I can't pretend everything is okay. I'm going into school tomorrow and I don't know what I'm going to say to my students. How can I just give a lesson about the holiday's around the world like everything is okay? I'm sure they'll ask me about it, but what can I say? They likely know just as much as I do.

I just can't stop feeling for the families of those poor children. It's a sick world sometimes with sick people. It will always come as a shock when something like this happens in such a "safe" place. But, what can you do? You can't refuse to leave your home because of fear. I don't know what the answer is, but this will remain in my thoughts for some time.

I'll update you all with my adventures another time. But for now, I love you all very much.