"Corrymeela begins when you leave." In March over spring break, I visited and observed the work at The Corrymeela Center in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. The time was right, the people were great, and the experience was unforgettable. It is with this lens that I begin my 2015 end of year reflection.

At Corrymeela, we learned about intention and social connection. One of the most revolutionary parts for me was learning and accepting that everyone that you interact with has a role in your life. We live in a giant network, and we don't even realize it. Not only do we have the family and friends who last a lifetime, we have the ones who are only around for a short while, but make a big impact. As cliché as it is to say, it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality.

What I learned at Corrymeela, as the saying goes, translates into my life here and anywhere. As focused as I was on personal relationships before that experience in March, I became even more convinced of their importance. Everyone at the center was deliberate with their time and their interest, and I hope that I can always do the same. Through my experiences with orientation and summer art camps this past summer, I emphasized the individual experience with the knowledge that everyone has different backgrounds and networks that influence their personality and decisions.

A rainbow of hope, seen at The Corrymeela Center in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland.

In 2016, I will be traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland to intern at a theatre and take classes in a very different environment. I am looking forward to exploring the city, finding my coffee shops and bookstores, and connecting with the people that I'll be living and working with in an unfamiliar place. I think that 2015 has adequately prepared me for this adventure because I challenged myself to dig deeper.

Within the last week since starting this blog, I've already seen a change in my determination for new beginnings and continued creativity in the next year. I want to write more, take more pictures, and share my story with others. I want to learn about other people's stories, take pictures of them, and grow my network. My resolution is to enhance my love for creativity, adventures, and connections (as my About page states). I am excited to see where this next year will take me, literally and figuratively, as I immerse myself into a different culture and style in Edinburgh and in my return to Greenville for my senior year.

Lucky Strike of the Day: I wrote this at Methodical Coffee this morning, my new favorite coffee shop, and I got to catch up with a friend who loves the place as much as I do.