It's all in a name

     For my first post, I would like to talk about the name of this blog and give a short introduction of who I am and what I want this blog to be. To start, the name Urban Woodsman is a nickname my mother gave me. She uses this catchy phrase to quickly describe who I am to other people. The nickname is accurate. "Urban" describes where I currently live and go to school. "Woodsman" describes what my hobbies are and the lifestyle I want to live. On a deeper level, this witty nickname defines my current state of limbo. The realities of each word are opposites of each other. I am living my life in the mindset of a woodsman, however, my environment does not reflect my mindset. At times this can be frusterating. I long to retreat into the wilderness and create my own homestead where I am self sufficient. However, decisions I made in High School about where to go to university have temporarily halted those dreams. Am I bitter or angry? Certainly not. When I chose to go to college in a large city, I had no idea that I would become so engaged in an alternative wilderness lifestyle. And of course, living in a city offers so many diverse and cultural experiences that I will treasure once I retreat into the woods. So while I may be dreaming of the woods now, I also realize that living in a city is a fantastic experience.

     About a month ago I moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to study for a semester. Initially, I put off ideas of creating a blog. I don't read other peoples blogs and I didn't understand what blogging could do for the writer or the reader. However, after some thought I decided to create this blog for a couple of reasons. I write this blog so I can keep friends and family up to date on my life in Denmark. I write this blog so that people from around the world can learn and gain entertainment from my experiences. Lastly, I write this blog for myself. Not only as a journal, but as a way to express myself. Regardless of whether 0 people read this blog or 100,000 there is something that feels good about putting thoughts and feelings into words and sending them out into the world. Like a message in a bottle.

-John