I am now a college junior. Finished year two of college. In a few days I will be starting spring term. My concern is getting burnt out this year.

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!

So, remember post #73: Look into doing a semester abroad in England? Well, I did more than that. I’m going to England! Not quite for a semester, but for a month this summer with a faculty-led study abroad Art in London trip. I’ll be studying British Culture and touring lots of museums and galleries during that month. As well as a few weekend trips to Scotland, and around the UK.

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?

So Monday and Tuesday this week, I spent around 25 hours on set for the movie What’s Wrong with Virginia? I found a link online that said they were filming in my hometown, so I clicked on it and read about it, and it had a link at the bottom to go sign up to be an extra. So… I clicked it and signed up!

It ended up being two days of very little sleep and long days of waiting around on set just being fascinated by the film crew, and a little time where you’re actually doing something useful while filming. I was cast as a hot dog vendor with three other guys, so I spent most of my time inside a little glass box that blocked the cold, under 50ºF winds and got to warm my hands on the heat lamps for the french fries. The other extras played tourists on Virginia beach on a hot Labor Day afternoon. HAH! Some warm Labor Day. Everyone was shivering and got to wear coats in between sets.

There were, however a few celebrities on camera. Jennifer Connelly plays the crazy ex-wife of Ed Harris, who is a sheriff running for State Senate. Toby Jones has a part. He plays Dobby the House Elf’s voice in the Harry Potter movies. There was one guy who was cast from Michigan playing Dale, the friend of the sheriff’s son, Emmett who was played by a guy cast from Australia. Dale has a cool death scene that was right outside my hot dog stand, so I got to witness that being filmed about two dozen times from inside there.

I’m so glad that Michigan passed the film incentives and is bringing the film industry into Michigan. It’s a beautiful state that can use the economic boost of Hollywood films. And a big thanks to TicTock Studios as well for being one of the first film studios to cater to Michigan. I hope to see lots more film productions coming to Michigan. I greatly enjoyed my teensy acting experience, and would like to be an extra again in the future.

I do not garden. The last time I  “gardened” I picked weeds out of the bricks for my mom when I was 9. That’s the extent of my green thumb outdoors; killing weeds.

My mother however, loves to keep a garden. A few years ago she decided she was “too old” to go crawling around in the garden, so she’s hired a gardener to keep tending it and planting new flowers. And now, it’s made a nice place for me to take pictures! I use it as a background for senior portraits, and now I make it my subject as there are quite an abundance of lovely flowers in bloom. So check out this new lovely set of a Summer Garden.

#7. Plant some potted flowers and keep them alive.

So it’s not flowers, but it’s an avocado plant. I’ve decided to adopt it from my mother and help it grow in my room. I remember having another avocado plant when I was about 7, so it’s not that hard to keep alive, but it’s pretty fragile right now. I’ll keep track of it’s progress through the summer with more photos as it grows. But this is all I have for now.

Photo is also one of my 365 Days flickr project for today.