Virgin Blogger

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Hello everyone! (assuming people actually are reading this besides me and my mom) I decided finally to create a blog, three years late, but better late than never, right?

I figured I should start virtually recording all of my travels and adventures, and well, lets be honest, who doesn’t like to talk about themselves? In the spirit of brevity, something I am trying to get better at, I am going to skip all the boring intro stuff about me, and get straight to the point. I want this blog to be a record of my travels, something that I am obsessed with!

I literally spend all my time and money on traveling around the world, and when I am not, I am planning a trip and saving every penny I can, much to the annoyance of my parents and friends. oops.

I am 21 years old, and I have been to 21 countries (USA, Norway, UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and the Vatican City—-yes I am counting that)

And since I am turning 22 soon, it seems only fitting to add another to the list.

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(The Blue is where I have been, the red is where I have lived, and the green is where I want to go)

In six days I will be hopping on a jet plane down to Peru for spring break!

I couldn’t resist the opportunity of traveling to South America, somewhere I have always wanted to go but always put off. Well that time has arrived! I am very excited, but it still seems so far away because I have so much to do before leaving. But I have been slowly getting ready, dusting off my favorite eagle creek backpacking backpack, unearthing my hiking boots and passport, and getting vaccinated for some very odd things.

I also consider myself to be an amateur photographer-last year before a trip to Rome I invested in a canon rebel xs camera which is my baby!!!! And for this upcoming trip I just rented an awesome wide angle lens for it (Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 EF-S from cameralensrentals.com) I can’t wait to see what pictures I am gonna get with it. I just hope I don’t drop it off a mountain, lose it in the rainforest or get mugged by small peruvian niños, since this lens is worth more than my plane ticket down to peru in the first place! *fingers crossed*

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Mount Holyoke College, my home for the last 4 years

Anywho, in addition to being an avid traveler and photographer, I am about to graduate from college in two months. OH MY GOD.

I’ve spent my last four years studying Spanish and Medieval Studies-best not to ask-at Mount Holyoke College, a small liberal arts college for women, again best not to ask, in South Hadley, MA. Its been both a frustrating and amazing experience to say the least. I spent my entire sophomore year abroad “studying” in Salamanca, Spain, having the time of my life while making amazing new friends, becoming fluent in Spanish, studying at one of the oldest universities in the world, and traveling all over Europe. It was hands-down the best year of my life. From bungee-jumping in Switzerland to drinking absinthe in Prague to sleeping in a castle in Germany to dancing all night til 7 in the morning in Salamanca, I learned more about myself in that time than during the rest of my life in the states.

I got my first taste of real backpacking in that year, when I had a two month break between semesters, and much to the chagrin of my family, I chose to buy a rail pass instead of a flight home. With nothing but a big backpack and my student loan money, I managed to get around a whole lot of Europe. Entirely on my own. My lifelong passion for traveling had now begun. I came back to the states 9 months later a completely different person.

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Me in la plaza mayor in Salamanca, Spain, fall 2007
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Salamanca, Spain – la catedral nueva y una monja
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Toledo, Spain
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The windmills of la Mancha, Spain
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la Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Back on campus, I managed to finagle my way onto a January term class trip to Rome for two weeks before coming back to the worst semester of my life-I had mono, boooooooooo! But I managed to get a grant from MHC to research back in Madrid last summer for my senior thesis. I have been working on this project for over three years now, where I am writing a big senior capstone, thesis, honors project, dissertation thingy on medieval queens.

Wait! It’s really interesting, I swear!

Basically I am studying how these women acted as men in order to be super powerful (really basic) I actually really love my topic, and I am glad I chose to continue with it, especially as my school thought it was interesting enough to pay me to go play in Europe for 6 weeks researching for it-best decision ever! Consequently, I have to write it in Spanish-worst decision ever! I have a huge chapter of it due before I leave for Peru, as well as two other papers. basically, I am fucked. But I am determined to look on the bright side. It will get done. Probably.

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Katherine of Aragón, one of the queens I am writing about
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Me and Mo pretending to be gladiators in the Roman Coliseum

So I am just trudging along now, last semester of senior year, planning trips when I can. I have applied for a job teaching English in Spain next year. Hopefully, I’ll get it! I should find out in the next week or so! Typical Spanish government taking forever, but that’s a WHOLE other story entirely. Basically I will find out soon if I’m through with the next stage. For now, I am just a typical college student, getting ready for a crazy spring break trip, dreading graduation, the job market, the future, and procrastinating on everything in the mean time. Peace.

 

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6 Comments on “Virgin Blogger

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  1. Your first post is definitely inspiring. I mostly enjoy how real and open it is; it’s like a story that anyone can follow and be apart of. Brilliant. What comes to mind when you look back at this post?

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