I have been back in the States for a week now, sleeping and recovering from my time away from home. I have to say, it was all utterly amazing and I hope to go back again someday. For the next couple days to weeks, this will be transformed into my temporary travel blog that will detail each week of adventure for your enjoyment and my own archiving. I hope you enjoy living vicariously through me for a little while.

(Photo taken while flying over Lake Michigan. Water is lower half, sky is upper half. Just amazing.)

I’m spending one month in Kingston-upon-Thames, (a suburb of London) at Kingston University studying British Culture at the university, and Art in London in the city with faculty coming with me and the other ~15 art students. That basically means I’ll be gallery and museum hopping, and sightseeing for a whole month. Yay!

After that, I’m saying goodbye to the group, and heading on to the European mainland on my own to backpack through 5 countries in two weeks. The plan is Paris, France; Arles, France; Milan, Italy; Zurich, Switzerland; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I don’t have a whole lot planned other than that. Just lots of train rides and city experience. My hope is to come back with notebooks brimming with inspiration, that I will post much of to my blog here. So look out for my return, granted that no more volcanoes or oil rigs explode. Though an extended stay in Europe wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me.

So be on the lookout for tons of pics and journals when I get back! Adios for now!

So perhaps my proudest achievement is tackling my mom’s sewing machine. The last couple times I tried to use this thing, I felt like I had to fight it and I just ended up frustrated and swearing at an inanimate object. It’s been a few years, so I thought I’d try a relationship with the sewing machine again. And whaddya know?! We get along!! Mostly…. There are still a few rough patches, but with a little practice, the help of the instruction manual, and occasionally calling in my mother for an emergency rescue, I’ve completed several projects! What do you think?

Camera Case

SD Card Case

I believe in the importance of protecting out natural resources. I’ve always been a tree-hugger of sorts. I even gave $30 of my own money once in 4th grade to save an acre of the Amazon Rainforest. I was so proud, I was even allowed to do a special class report on it. Whether that acre of rainforest was actually saved, it’s hard  to tell. But I’m inspired by this initiative, I just might go out and plant a second tree on my own.

I only have two issues that keep me from starting now. One is that I don’t have the time or space to do any major projects. I have classes and homework to keep up on if I’m going to graduate in three years. (Yes, I’m going to be in college for five years total… stupid requirements.) The other issue is, I don’t have a steady address near a post office, and that is basically essential when running an online business where you need to send customers a product. If I lived at my parent’s house, that would be possible, since we live quite literally, two blocks from the post office. But I’m at college, where I change apartments once or twice each year, and tiny college apartments are not easy to work out of, trust me. Especially when you have to share that tiny apartment with a roommate.

Still, I love Etsy. I’ve found so many great things, made my first purchase, and met some great people as well. I love the seller’s attitudes on Etsy. They have a passion for what they do, and all things handmade, and love to support their community of artists and crafters. Hopefully I’ll be able to be a part of that someday as well. I mean, it’s making me contemplate dropping out of college. If that’s any indicator of my passion, I will have a shop someday! Haha!

Then we went to Sherman’s Ice Cream and partook of some of the interesting flavors they offer. I had my favorite, Chocomania, which is dark chocolate ice cream with fudge and truffles and anything chocolate inside. It is sooooo rich, but I love it. My friend tried Birthday Cake, which I never had before but it tasted just like a birthday cake! We discussed how you could skip the cake and ice cream deal with this stuff and just get Birthday Cake ice cream for a kid’s party. I might even do that for my own birthday party someday! Haha! Why not?!

So, what’s your favorite brand and flavor of ice cream? Have you ever had Sherman’s?

#26: Do something fun for my 20th birthday.

So, my 20th birthday was actually back in February. I thought my birthday this year was a good one, a girl’s only Chocolate Party! I made chocolate fondue with many different things to dip, from fruit, to pretzels, to crackers and I don’t remember what! That was followed by some different flavored homemade chocolate fudge that was actually a last minute experiment and it might’ve been a bit overcooked, but the orange flavor was actually quite popular! I also had mint, almond, and plain fudge.

By this point, guests were pretty filled with sugar, but I wanted to make them sick, so we nibbled on different types of fine dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is my favorite. Milk chocolate is good. But is bland and tends to make me feel like I’m eating a mouthful of chocolate chips which certainly has it’s time and place, but I much prefer a small morsel of bitter dark chocolate that is cool on your tongue and takes forever to melt, making the pleasure only last longer. Oh, it makes me sigh and smile just thinking about it.

Well, after that, we sat there in chocolate comas feeling slightly ill and chatted while watching 10 Things I Hate About You. Great chick flick. Heath Ledger is a hunk, and someone once told me I look like Julia Stiles. I don’t see it at all. But whatever. In the end, I really enjoyed my birthday. Apparently so much so, that I didn’t even take pictures of my apartment’s dining table filled with chocolate things. But I think this was one of those occasions that I feel didn’t need photos. I have vivid and fond memories of that night. Thank you to my friends who enjoyed the chocolatey blissful belly ache with me.

I’ve already been in a frazzled mess over finals from this past semester. I usually need my 3 month summer break to relax and recoup, but this year I have almost no down time for that at all.

I’ve had this week off, then I’m moving right back to school for spring term, where I am taking two full Writing classes and Logic (math credit, can you believe it?!) for the next six weeks. After that, I have a few days to prepare, then I’m on a plane to England and Europe for the next month and a half or so. Then I have two weeks to get over jet lag, and then get ready to jump into the fall semester with another fun, full load of classes!

Let’s hope I can keep up with it and maintain my sanity as well! Wish me luck!

Then, in addition to that, I’ll be staying an extra two weeks afterwards and backpacking Europe! I’ve already bought a new backpack, a High Sierra Transport.

My destinations will include Paris, southern France, Milan, Frankfurt, and I’ll be heading home in August out of Amsterdam. For those two weeks, I will be traveling by rail, staying in hostels, and living out of this 70L backpack. I’m excited, and nervous, but mostly excited. I’ve been doing lots of reading on travel sites about backpacking, and what to do in cities, and how to get around. It’ll be such a great life experience to have.

This is my first time outside of North America, so why not jump in with both feet and travel a bit out of your comfort zone? Since this is my first time, I would like to ask any readers, have you toured Europe? What was your experience? And do you have any tips?