Part 2.

I just met a man while crossing the street to come to Zocalo (the best little coffee shop in Bozeman) who was spending the day walking Main Street. He had just come from a cross-country skiing trip in West Yellowstone, where he said the weather had been "divine." He held my elbow as we crossed the street, him bumping his long white cane on the ground and repeatedly pushing his sunglasses up his nose while I tried to walk slowly. Once we reached the other side, we stood for a few minutes talking about school and his trip. This man (who happened to be blind) told me, "Enjoy every minute of school, before the real world comes up to snatch you. Don't waste a minute."

So, here I am.

I've wasted the last year bumming around Montana, wondering where I fit into this mess of mountains and moo-cows. I left the University of Portland to begin a double-major at MSU, flying from Austria to Billings, Montana, where the culture shock was all too real when the man next to me had to remove his cowboy hat for landing. I chopped my hair off, embraced a healthy lifestyle and faced my diagnosis of clinical depression, anxiety and OCD with an open heart and open mind.

I spent the summer hiking through rural riparian areas, collecting date for the Bureau of Land Management. I blew more than a fair share of tires, got lost only slightly less than the year before, put 9,000 miles on our truck and acquired an anti-government stalker. Needless to say, it was an adventurous summer. I sit, bouncing on my chair, waiting for May to come around so I can jump up into the cab of that ridiculously large, green Ford and take off on a dirt road again. The bouncing may also be caffeine induced, but... whatever.

I have made my home in Bozeman, loving the surrounding mountains and hating walking to school when the weather dropped below zero on a regular basis. (Let's be real -- I hardly ever walked. Cars were invented for a reason. Getting to school in sub-zero temperatures is one of them.) I am living with two incredible women who inspire me on a daily basis. I have made leaps and bounds in my knowledge of writing, photography, artistic communication and snow reports. I now own a Subaru with stickers on the windows, which puts me one step closer to achieving my life goal. I'm working on the next step (Spoiler Alert: it's large, golden and a "retriever" of sorts). I started a new job at the MSU Writing Center that allows me to start conversations with strangers over writing and enables me to grow in ways that I never knew would come from a forty-five minute tutoring session. I have made my home here -- and I'm happy to call it that.

I've wasted the last year ignoring my writing. So, because of my nagging conscious and a kind, blind stranger, I'm here. I don't want to waste another minute.

Here begins the Entfalten Journey: Part 2. Stay tuned.