Adventure is Out There!

Chocolate. That's the beginning of my weekend. Early Friday morning, I was on a train heading to Perugia. Not many people would choose to spend their early morning anywhere outside their bed cacoon. However, when chocolate calls, I can't help but answer. At the factory, we were greeted with free chocolate and more free chocolate. Much of it found its way into my purse. Most people that have spent a day at Hershey are familiar with the famous Hershey Chocolate Tour. In the tour, when you're still a beautifully naive child, you believe everything you see. Once you grow up, the illusion is shattered. This is not the case at Casa del Cioccolato. You are taken up through a small passageway above the factory where you can gaze down on real chocolate Easter eggs being made and wrapped by a worker-machine partnership. Oh, the Easter eggs, let me tell you. They are GIANT. Holy gracious, I have never been so excited for Easter. After the tour of the factory and buying all the ch...

The day comes every year, just as it should. I'll be honest, I've never had a date for Valentine's Day. Now please don't think the typical ,  "Really??" or "Awwwwww, poor thing." Don't get like that. Over the past years, sure, it's been a wonderful reminder of my singleness. Not this year. There was no dread last Thursday night, no lonely Friday night with Netflix. Only anticipation.  At 6:40 a.m. (an inhumanely absurd hour) I was in the air on my way to Sardinia. It's an island off the coast of Italy (if you look at the boot on your mental map, it's on the left). My roommate Maria and  I flew into Alghero, a quaint town that I now dearly miss. Our adventure began with the search for the bus. You would think simple, right? But, of course the ticket machine is hidden in plain sight and the bus schedule? In hieroglyphics. After getting off, back on, questioning locals, wandering the streets, and a couple phone calls, we foun...

So, I'm about to be 20. Two.Zero. No more "teen." I blink, and two decades are gone. I'm an adult. Okay, well technically I became an adult at 18; however, the ever-present "teen" and the fact that I was still in high school begged to differ. With the "teen" disappearing from the picture, the whole "adult" concept is suddenly staring me in the face. Tomorrow, I won't feel any different. That's not how it works with birthdays. Today, sitting here typing, re-typing, and staring at the random picture of the New York bridge on the wall across from me, two decades are yearning to burst free, to spill onto this page. That would definitely get real boring for you, real fast. Let's keep it plain and simple for a hot sec. My life has been so blessed. Honestly, it almost brings me to tears contemplating all the names of those that have touched my life. The person I am isn't made up of my accomplishments, my grades, my w...

When you study abroad, you tend to rack up some firsts:  FIRST time out of the United States. FIRST "Scusi, Scusi!" as the tram jolts to life and I stumble into an unsuspecting Italian woman. FIRST Italian pizza. FIRST gelato (of many). FIRST glass of Italian wine. FIRST Italian coffee . FIRST Sunday with Pope Francis. The typical and definitely delightful firsts are all there;  however, the unexpected ones nudged themselves into my week as well: FIRST  time  walking to school. FIRST  time  getting hopelessly lost..alone. FIRST  time  cooking  real  dinner (without a microwave). FIRST  orange. FIRST  time making an omelette. FIRST  time hanging  all  my clothes to dry.  FIRST  time using Face time .  Some of those are pretty ridiculous, I do admit. Yes, I haven't eaten an orange before (well technically since the golden days of kindergarten). No, I have only ever made scr...