The Three Ghosts of Christmas: Past

Hello!
Wow, what a weird title, right? Basically what I'm talking about are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Except I'm not going to be talking about Christmases... I have been wanting to write for some time now about this past year, the things I have done and learned, where I am right now, and what I hope to work on and work towards in the future. It just so happens to be around Christmastime right now, so there is that, too. With this post I will talk about my trips and adventures I have taken.
Wow! So much has happened, I have absolutely no idea where to start... I guess I want to start with the adventures I've been on this year, or mainly this past summer. I was hardly home this summer. I went on 6 trips, 3 of which were planned and 3 of which were spontaneous. Let's start with the first one: Tulsa, Oklahoma. 
I love Tulsa. I have no idea why. I went there over Spring Break this year for my friend's swim meet and I fell head over heels in love with it. I thought maybe I was just projecting how much fun I had hanging out with my friend onto the city so I decided to visit again for a weekend over the summer. I have another friend who lives there and still another friend who was staying there over a period of time because he was in a big theatre production there. I went on a Friday, did some sightseeing and visiting, and came home on a Sunday. I still love Tulsa. It just makes my heart happy. I don't really know how to put it into words, so I think I won't bother trying. Here, have some pictures (from Woodward Park and downtown):

I would love to go again sometime soon. Or maybe just live there. That'd be far out. After I came home from Tulsa I had a surprise trip sprung on me. My cousin was in Texas at the time for Air National Guard tech school and her family was going down to visit her and wanted to know if I wanted to join them. Of course! So a day or two later I am on my way to Texas. We got there and then came back the next day, so it was a very short trip. Sadly I do not have any pictures from it. Oh well.
My third trip was one of the big ones: Ireland/Northern Ireland.  Wow, there is so much I could possibly say about this trip so I will try to summarise everything. This trip was actually a summer class I took at my university for my communication degree. It was about the conflict, peace, and reconciliation between Ireland and Northern Ireland. We flew into Dublin, travelled to Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, and then flew back out of Dublin. I was 19 at the time and a sophomore and didn't realise that a 500 level course was only one level below graduate level courses. So, being the youngest(baby!) of the group I had to really challenge myself to keep up.  On the topic of the educational material we learned while we were there, I found it quite fascinating to go so in depth in one piece of history instead of just breezing over a large amount. However, what we studied was not the happiest piece of history we could've looked at. Sometimes it can be fascinating to learn about wars and battles from our textbooks. We are intrigued by the strategies and the weapons and the methods used for survival. However, when it is only in a book, it doesn't feel so real. When you step into history and can actually see and experience where the battles were fought, hold the weapons that were used to maim and to kill while hearing personal stories about how those weapons were misused, walk through the halls of a prison while being instructed about how the facilities were run only to follow that trip with dinner where you find you no longer have an appetite. I am glad I got the chance to learn about some of Northern Ireland's history. I just didn't realise I was going to get so much more than I expected. 
It wasn't all history. Ireland and Northern Ireland are beautiful countries so of course we had to do some sightseeing. We visited a nice little handful of popular destinations such as the Cliffs of Moher, Mussenden Temple, Giant's Causway, and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. One amazing thing about Ireland is that the weather (at least, while we were there) was fairly predictable. The morning would start out a bit cold and overcast, we would get rain in the early afternoon, and by mid-afternoon/early evening we had absolutely gorgeous, clear skies. Here are some pictures of the aforementioned sights respectively: 

Haha, cliche foot photo *cheeky wink*

After I got home frome Ireland I learned my dear cousin was to be married so my family made another ridiculously small trip back down to Texas for the wedding. There wasn't really a ceremony and thankfully I had brought my camera along so I could get some pictures.

May God bless the two of you in your marriage as you grow and learn together for life <3

Lastly, Ireland was not the only beautiful place I travelled to this past Summer of 2016. I also went on a road trip with my family to Canada for a family reunion and on our way back to visited some sites such as Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Mountain, and the Badlands. I only used my DSLR while we were in Yellowstone, but I have some crappy cell-phone quality photos of the other locations for you ;)

Yellowstone

Canada

Yellowstone

Crazy Horse Mountain

Mount Rushmore

Oh yeah, and then after Ireland we made one last summer trip back to Iowa for the burial of my grandfather's ashes. Not the happiest of trips but I know he is in a much better place now, praising our Lord every day and he is completely healed and made whole. I think that's a beautiful thing.

So, that is what I did this summer, wow it was crazy!! I saw a lot and I learned a lot and I'm so happy I got all the amazing opportunities. Cheers to 2017!

If you'd like to view some more of my photographs, I will post a handful of my favourites from the trips on my Facebook page Breanna D. Photography

I hope you found something in 2016 that was amazing and I hope your 2017 will be even better!!