Nine Months and Twenty-Two Blog Posts Later...

The end of the school year always gets me a bit sentimental. I teared up a little when I read the last page of my geography textbook and took my last notes for biology this year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to miss staying up until midnight in a pile of chemistry homework or sitting in a class for an hour and a half with a bunch of people who have not quite yet established a hygienic showering schedule. However, the end of the year really makes me reflect on all the memories tied up in these short nine months and how much I have changed as a person over the past year. This year has been one of my best, and it has shaped my personality and my outlook on life a lot in several different ways.

Firstly, this year, I have learned the importance of relaxing. At the beginning of this year, I basically had my life planned out down to the clock I would own in my retirement home. I was positive that I wanted to be a pediatrician and go to Columbia and live in San Francisco for five years, then move to Shanghai, then to Dubai, etc. Now, I honestly have no idea what the fuck I am going to do with my life, and I am totally fine with that. And I am totally fine with the fact that I showed up last week not knowing I had a final in geography that day and that my passing at volleyball absolutely sucked last night. Learning to place my happiness above test scores, reputations, and expectations has probably been the biggest thing I have learned this year, and I'm glad I have.

In addition to being extremely stressed and slightly stuck-up at the beginning of the year, I was also pretty scared of people, especially those older than me, and I had horrible social skills. I remember sitting in my chemistry class on the first day of school at a table with a bunch of sophomores and thinking to myself, "Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact." Eventually, I did make eye contact, and a handful of the people in my class who I was originally terrified of have now become some of my best friends. I even sit next to a senior cheerleader in my bio class who I actually talk to, so... *insert sassy girl with hand emoji here*.

Finally, this year, I have learned to follow my dreams. (Sorry, I couldn't find a less cheesy way to say that.) I started this blog at the beginning of the year as a "what if" sort of bucket list. I wanted to travel when I got older, but never really considered going anywhere in the mean time, because who has that sort of time? However, sometime in the middle of the year, I realized that if I wasn't going to pursue my interests now, I probably wasn't going to later. So I applied for a two-and-a-half-week service project in India, and this July, I am going to go volunteer in a leprosy colony in Chennai (which I actually talked about wanting to do in a post earlier this year). I also signed up for paragliding lessons and a number of other things that were previously just fun ideas that I had. 

Where I'm going in India. I'm also going to see Jaipur, Agra,
and Delhi after in the North! Maybe I'll do a blog post while
I'm there!
Image Courtesy of: Britannica Kids

Ninth grade has been a wonderful year for me, and I have changed a lot as a person. I hope I can carry the lessons I've learned with me into the future.

Eastern Europe: Home of Weird Accents and Pointy Buildings

I have a little bit of stalking problem (in fact, if you are reading this, I have probably Googled you at least once), and I may or may not be following my middle school English teacher's wife on Instagram who happens to be a photographer and recently went to Eastern Europe and grammed the whole thing. So, using her posts as inspiration, I am writing this next post (which happens to be the last real post!) on Eastern Europe, which has always really interested me.

One thing I would want to do in Eastern Europe is visit Prague in the Czech Republic. I would love to get to one day see this city's famous Gothic architecture, especially Old Town Square, Prague Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral ('cause I have a weird thing for churches). I would also like to try some Czech food, even though I'm not entirely sure what it is. Originally, I was guessing somewhere along the lines of like dogs or something weird like that, but as I'm looking it up, it seems to mostly be beer, pastries, and meats with a lot of weird accents that I can't figure out how to type on this keyboard.

Inside St. Vitus Cathedral. Do you get my fancy church obsession now?
Image Courtesy of: In Mozart's Footsteps

Another place in Eastern Europe I would love to visit is Budapest. Budapest, like Prague, has a lot of really old and simply amazing architecture. I would want to visit Fisherman's Bastion and pretty much any church in Budapest. Also, I would want to take a walk along the Danube River, which runs right through Budapest, because, I mean, who doesn't love walks along rivers?! Finally, I would want to visit Miniversum, which is basically a mini village that I just found out existed. By "mini," I don't mean that it has a small population or occupies little land area, I mean like a little toy village that you would probably find in your grandma's living room or something but which sounds strangely interesting to me.

The Danube River running through Budapest. That pointy little
red building thing is Hungarian Parliament Building and makes
our capital building look like a shack.
Image Courtesy of: Wikipedia

Budapest and Prague seem like really great places, but they also tend to be very typical tourist attractions, and I think by visiting solely tourist attractions, you don't get a taste for culture and actual society in a place. I would want to spend some time visiting some less typical places in Eastern Europe to try to understand the lifestyle there better. Maybe I would spend some time in rural Austria (think Sound of Music sort of deal) or Ostroleka, some Polish town I found on Wikipedia. I would definitely want to travel by train throughout Eastern Europe to try to take in as much of the landscape as possible and maybe even meet a few Polish/Slovakian/Czech/Hungarian/whatever people while doing so.

The Grossarltal mountains in rural Austria.
Image Courtesy of: The Guardian

Eastern Europe seems like an amazing place with fascinating architecture, history, and attractions. Before I die, I definitely want to be able to experience all that this region has to offer, even that found outside the big cities.

Morocco: Better Than A Taco

Earlier this year, I did a post on Ethiopia, which is one of my top dream vacation spots of all time. I've realized, though, that that was really the only post on Africa I've done on this entire blog! And that ain't right, cuz Africa's pretty cool. So I figured that I owe Africa another post, and since I've already written about a jungle-y sort of country, I though I'd write about a sandy one: Morocco.

Since Morocco is a sandy-ish African country, I think I ought to visit some sand dunes; what trip to a sandy African country is complete without sand dunes? I would love to go all movie cliché and get a camel to ride out there while I watch the sun set, too. That would be cool. Believe it or not, even though the desert is thought to be some sort of barren, lifeless nothingness, there is actually a fair deal of wildlife out there that really isn't found much elsewhere, including but not limited to: ostriches, chameleons, hyenas, gazelles, and jackals (who doesn't love a good jackal, am I right?).

A camel caravan crossing the sand dunes of the Sahara in Morocco.
Image Courtesy of: Guide4Tourist

One place in Morocco that I have heard is absolutely gorgeous is a little mountain town called Chefchaouen. Kind of a weird name, but it's supposed to be pretty cool. First of all, it is situated in the Rif Mountains, which are very foggy and green and cool-looking in all the pictures I have looked at. Secondly, the entire city (well, almost) is blue! How cool is that?!

I've officially found where I'm gonna live as a retired old lady.
Image Courtesy of: Gallivant Girl

Another thing in Morocco that I would love to do is stay in a riad. A riad is basically just a traditional Moroccan home that has been converted to a hotel, kind of like a Moroccan bed and breakfast. Riads are generally cheaper than normal hotels, and any one who knows me really well knows that I love to save money (it's a genetic thing), so this is a major plus. Besides the lower prices, riads allow you to get a better sense of Moroccon architecture than just staying in a Hyatt or something. What's not to love?!

The courtyard of Riad Chouia Chouia in Marrakech.
Image Courtesy of: Hotels and Ryads

Finally, while in Morocco, I would love to visit the city of Fes. Like Chefchaouen, Fes has gorgeous architecture, but gorgeous in a much different way. It's got the more typical Moroccan type of architecture, with the fractals and stuff. I am absolutely obsessed with Moroccan styles, so I would be more than content just walking around and checking out the buildings and tiles and mosques and stuff. Fes is also well-known for its leather tanneries. Usually, I'm not a big leather person, but these look pretty cool.

The beautiful fountain of Fes.
Image Courtesy of: Trip Advisor

Morocco is a fascinating country with a ton of history, beautiful architecture, and life. I would love, love, love one day to visit this amazing place.

The Perfect Cross-Country Road Trip (Part 2)

In my last post, I talked about the West coast portion of my dream cross-country road trip, ending with Montana, and of course, no cross-country road trip would truly be cross-country if it were limited to the West coast, so this post, we continue the road trip on the East coast!

7) North Dakota
Jk lolz. Nobody likes North Dakota. It's just South Dakota without Mt. Rushmore. Moving on.

7, for reals now) Chicago
I have only been to Chicago like three or four times, and most of the times I went, it was winter and freezing cold out, so we didn't really get out much, but the times I have gone and not been a hermit have been pretty interesting. I would definitely want to hang out at Lake Michigan and get some good deep-dish pizza (I had this once and it was delicious) while visiting Chicago.

8) Cleveland
I know, I know, what the hell's in Cleveland, right? Well, my family, for one, and my grandma is a doll, so I would want to visit her. Plus, last time I visited my family out there, we visited some Amish country and it was actually really interesting; they had these kittens running around and really good food and you got to ride in a horse and buggy sort of thing. Maybe I'll hit up some Amish country with my Grandma!

Some lovely ducks I saw on my trip to Ohio Amish country.

9) Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine
I think it would be amazing to visit any of these states in the fall, just to see all of the leaves, even though it is probably a mosquito hell. I visited Dartmouth (which is in NH) with mi amiga Sage last year, and I loved the whole old colonial thing they had goin'. I would also want to stay in a B&B in some town on the coast of Maine, because I think that would be really cute.

10) Boston
I have been to Boston a couple of times, and I absolutely love it. I love the style of all their buildings, and all the cool colleges they have there, and their food is simply *kisses hand and mwahs like an Italian*. I once ate myself into a cannoli coma in Little Italy there.

Side note: If you ever go to Boston, go to Mike's Pastry. Their cannolis are heaven rolled up in a crunchy little waffle thing.

Cannolis are love, cannolis are life.
Image Courtesy of: Oderi's Italian Bakery

11) New York City
I love New York. I love the sirens, I love the lights, I love the skyscrapers and the food and the subway and the people with all their different stories and the fifty-five gajillion languages you can hear walking down the street. Needless to say, New York would most definitely be one of the stops on my East Coast road trip.

12) Washington, D.C.
Museums, monuments, and memorials, oh my! Actually, I kind of hate all of those things, and I just wanted to make that really nice play on words while I had the chance. Anyways, D.C. is a pretty cool place. There are a lot of really cute, old neighborhoods (I love Georgetown) and hipster restaurants and what not. And, my uncles live there, so that's a plus.

DuPont Circle is the adorable D.C. neighborhood where my uncles live.
Image Courtesy of: Wikipedia

So that pretty much concludes my cross-country road trip, as anywhere below the Missouri Compromise Line is not of much interest to me (and yes, I realize that includes D.C., but it is towards to the North-ish, so I'm not counting it). Hope everyone is having a great break! Let me know what you have done/are doing!

The Perfect Cross-Country Road Trip (Part 1)

Who doesn't love road trips?! Fifteen-hour car rides through miles of corn fields, forests, and deserts, eating Twinkies and watching Monsters Inc. way too many times are some of my best childhood memories. Although commercial airlines are nice to get you from point A to point B quickly, I think there is a lot to say for driving; driving exposes you to parts of the country you would likely not ever see if not for road trips and is kind of like a vacation on the way to a vacation! One thing that has been on my bucket list for years is taking a huge road trip across the US, so this post I will be highlighting some of the places I would love to stop by.

1) San Diego
In my dream road trip, I would start off in the lovely San Diego. San Diego is pretty dang close to being the southwestern-most (is that a word?) point in the US, so it gives you the opportunity to maximize the amount of the country you can see. From San Diego, I would rent a convertible (preferably blue, of course) and drive up the California coast. I actually did this for about 100 miles with my mom in 7th grade, and it was gorgeous, so I definitely want to try again to get as much of the coast in as possible.

How fricking gorgeous does that drive look?
Image Courtesy of: Federal Highway Administration

1.5) San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo is one of the cutest towns I have ever been to, so on my trip up the coast, I would be sure to make a stop here and maybe stay in a B&B for a night or two.

2) San Francisco
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I LOVE San Francisco. This wonderful city would be the next stop in my dream road trip. I mean, who's gonna drive all the way up the California coast and miss out on San Francisco?! I would be sure to stock up on peace, tea, and killer Asian food for the rest of my road trip here, too.

3) Yosemite
I have vague memories of visiting Yosemite as a little kid, but I can remember absolutely loving it (probably because we went with my first grade boyfriend)! Yosemite is gorgeous and I would definitely want to spend a while camping here on my road trip. (Fun fact: My parents got married in Yosemite, and that is how I got my name, cuz it's in the Sierras, get it?).

My sister and I road-tripping to Yosemite whilst trying
to pull out my tooth. We were weird children.

4) Portland
Next stop on my dream U.S. road trip would be the lovely little city of Portland, OR. You don't ever want to pass up Portland, with all of its food trucks, bookstores, and bearded guys!

5) Seattle
After Portland, I would head over to Seattle. I haven't been to Seattle for a while, but I would love to visit while taking my road. Maybe I'll take a ferry over to Orcas Island, one day, too.

6) Somewhere Nature-y
For the past few months, I have been dying to go on a hike in Montana. I don't know why; I've never even been to Montana and I kind of hate hiking, but I've had this vision in my head of me hiking somewhere all nature-y in Montana, so maybe I'll hit up Yellowstone or Glacier National Park on my road trip, as well!

Hopefully, this can be me one day... if I don't have an
asthma attack or get eaten by a grizzly bear on the way up there!
Image Courtesy of: All Trips Missoula

So this pretty much covers the West coast portion of my dream road trip, so next post we'll head over to the East coast and finish there!

Straya Mate!

So this past week, I have been informally polling my friends, getting their opinions on where I should do my next blog post on (since I was kinda running low on ideas), and it appears that the majority of them think I need a post on Australia, so guess what this post's about? If you guessed Timbuktu, you're wrong. It's Australia.

I have to admit, I honestly have never given much thought to a vacation in Australia (probably because I always just associated it with crocodile wrestlers and violent kangaroos), but after thinking about it over the past few days, it actually sounds kind of fun! The first thing I would want to do in Australia is visit Sydney Harbor, where a lot of the really well-known things in Sydney, like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Botanic Gardens, and ferries are. I've kind of had a thing for harbors and sailboats ever since I visited Baltimore's Inner Harbor this summer, so I would definitely want to see Sydney's harbor if I ever get the chance to visit.

An aerial view of Sydney Harbor.
Image Courtesy of: Wikipedia

Since the first time I watched Nemo however many centuries ago, I have had the life goal of finding the real life 42 Wallaby Way Sydney. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, you really need to waste more of your life watching Disney movies. I would have no problem spending an entire in Sydney looking for this address. Unfortunately, however, the prospects of me actually finding this address are looking slim, based on my search on Google Maps; it comes up with a map of Utah, so that's always promising!

This movie is honestly my life!

Video Courtesy of: YouTube

Another thing I would want to do in Australia is visit Tasmania, an island off the coast of the Australian mainland. Because Australia was more separated from other continents as they broke away from Pangaea, they have a lot of really weird animal life that is not found on other continents, and Tasmania is kind of like weirdness of most of Australia x 10. They have (well, had, because some of them are extinct now) these weird Tasmanian tigers, Tasmanian devils, these big poisonous lizard-dragon things that I saw on Animal Planet once, and more! I would definitely want to see as many weird Tasmanian animals as I could while in Australia.

Look at that cool Tasmanian tiger! Too bad they are extinct :(
Image Courtesy of: Daily Mail

Finally, while in Australia, I would like to creep on hot guys and hear them talk. I think it is unanimously agreed that Australian is the hottest accent (although I have some friends who would argue that Portuguese is), so if I ever get to go to Australia, I would be sure to shut up enough to hear my fair share of Australian accents. While at my nerd camp this summer, my roommate's best friend was from Australia, and I loved her accent so much that every time she would come into our room, I would turn off my music just to hear her talk!

Are you guys going anywhere fun over Spring Break? Let me know if you are; I'd love to know where people are going to be visiting!

Netherlands: The Beautiful Country

I am currently in the middle of reading John Green's The Fault in Our Stars for my English class, and right now I'm at the part where Augustus and Hazel are visiting Amsterdam, and I have to say, it sounds like a pretty cool city. I have always wanted to visit the Netherlands, with its wooden shoes, and underground-ness, and weird language and all, so this week's blog post is featuring one of my top dream travel destinations of all times: the Netherlands.

One thing I would want to do when visiting the Netherlands is visit Keukenhof, which is the world's second largest flower garden (second only to some flower garden in Dubai, and we all know Dubai is a show-off). The Dutch are well-known for their flowers, especially their tulips, so a trip to the Netherlands without flowers is no trip to the Netherlands at all! Keukenhof is home to nearly eighty acres of flowers (that's seven million flowers total!) and a seventeenth century castle, as well. I would love to visit such a gorgeous place, but I might O.D. on Zyrtec, considering I have pretty bad pollen allergies. But YOLO (if it's still cool to say that).

Doesn't it look like it could be the set
for Sleeping Beauty or something?
Image Courtesy of: World For Travel

Another thing I would want to do in the Netherlands is take a canal cruise in Amsterdam. I know this is probably on the list the most touristy, cliché things you could possibly do in the Netherlands, but I don't care; boats are cool. Taking a canal cruise would be a great way to take in all of Amsterdam's gorgeous architecture and the night lights of the city once the sun goes down. Plus, some of the cruises supposedly have really nice food, and you can't really ever go wrong with that!

A cruise boat in one of Amsterdam's canals.
Image Courtesy of: Carnival

While visiting the Netherlands, I would love to go to De Efteling, a theme park in Kaatsheuvel. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I love theme parks (minus all of the germy, whiny kids and the unbelievable number of Big Gulp cups scattered throughout the park, of course). De Efteling is kind of like Disney with a Dutch twist; it's fantasy-themed and looks like it just came out of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It has a lot of really neat-looking rides, including a water coaster, a bobsled ride (!!!), and a tow boat ride that I would definitely want to try.

The Flying Dutchman water coaster at De Efteling
Image Courtesy of: Theme Park Review

Finally, I would want to visit Oude Kerk, the oldest building in Amsterdam. Oude Kerk was (and still is) a Calvinist church in the Red Light District. Interestingly enough, its patron saint was St. Nicholas, as in Santa! But I think the most astonishing thing about this building is simply its age and history. It's crazy to think about all of the people who walked in and out of this building over the past eight hundred years, and think about who they were and what their life was like.

Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.
Image Courtesy of: Netherlands Tourism