Here are some of my favorite things (order does not reflect an item’s degree of awesomeness)

1. My summer spent abroad was probably the pinnacle of the year, I raged in the Dub, queued for hours to see Wimbledon while in London, swam in the mediterranean during our weekend in Barcelona, made some of the greatest friends I will ever know and that is just scratching the surface.

2. Spring Break in Panama City Beach. This speaks for itself and I was so lucky to have spent an amazing week at the super classy Sea Haven Beach Hotel with some of the greatest girls I know.

3. Serving as a Director for Mizzou for Malawi. I could not have been prouder to lead such an amazing group of students that worked incredibly hard to make a difference in the lives of 600 children on the other side of the world.

4. The feeling I had after “Light Up The Night”, incredible, rewarding, amazing doesn’t even begin to describe it. Courtney and Lauren you know what I mean.

5. All the days, nights, and adventures at my favorite neighbor’s house.

6. Winning 1st place in Homecoming, I love the feeling of success after weeks of true dedication, collaboration and hard work.

7. With that, 1st place in blood. It was worth the almost heart attack feeling for a full week.

8. College Gameday at Mizzou.

9. Rushing the field after Mizzou beat Oklahoma.

10. Singing “American Honey” with a few of the most talented girls I know, holding that guitar is such a comfortable feeling, I have missed it.

11. Random adventures around Greek Town.

12. My sister continuing a legacy.

One of the very best things is that every setback, success, failure, heart break, improvement, laugh, high, low and new experience has brought to right where I am today. Everyday cannot be a good one but the great days outweigh the bad and are the pieces of this thing called life. You learn from the bad things and embrace the good.

Cheers to the next 365 days, I can’t wait to see what life in 2011 has to offer!

Happy New Year!

1. Facebook… there are always updates to be read, new photo albums to be viewed and friend requests to be accepted that will keep you entertained and occupied for hours on end. Even if there is nothing new to look at because you have gone to your Facebook page about 37 times in the last 15 minutes, you will make Facebook interesting by resorting to creeping on your Nana who recently discovered Facebook or to see how good or bad the girls you used to know in high school look since being in college.

2. Twitter… usually useless updates on your tweep’s lives however often links to interesting and obscure articles, videos, or photos are provided.

3. Taking laps… this is one of my preferred procrastination techniques. I consider “laps” of  just walking around my sorority house a healthy break for my brain and a chance to get some air and catch up with my fellow friends being productive. This often turns into several laps and several random conversations that can only be had when you have reached a certain extent of delirium due to lack of sleep and a fried brain.

4. Food runs… these can be road trips to Sonic, Taco Bell, the mini mart across the street or just the kitchen. The tasty goodness of processed junk food and copious amounts of caffeine are the essentials when it comes to surviving finals week. The change of scenery from Ellis Library or the small confines of your desk to the outside world is much appreciated and probably the only thing keeping us sane.

5. Blogging about procrastination in order to procrastinate. Enough said.

This is my life for the next 24 hours. Good luck with finals everyone!

Happy Procrastinating/studying!

I am entering the second half of my college days and quite frankly it’s freaking me out! All I hear is talk about resume building, career fairs, capstones, internships, graduation and job offers and it’s coming from all directions. I’m still unsure of what exactly I even want to do or where I want to be and I only have so long to figure it all out.

How can everyone else be so solid on their life plans when I am still on shaky ground?

This is what I know:

-I love sports and I love music….potentially I would like to do something along those lines with my life

-I am getting my degree in StratComm Journalism

-In order to get a job you need experience…therefore I am currently on the hunt for a super fantastic internship

-Preferably my super fantastic internship is one that is paid.

-I want to end up in Chicago, KC or St. Louis (in that order) when I start my big girl job.

-I have no idea how to get from point A to point B.

So I know where I want to go (kind of) however the whole getting there part is still unclear. I am not one to fancy uncertainty or the unplanned so naturally this is driving me crazy, I don’t know how people cope with that. Any advice for this life wanderer? I’m hoping things start to fall into place, in the mean time I fully intend on focusing my attention on a wonderful Mizzou football season, counting down the days to 21, having some fun and oh yeah that whole school thing too.

1. I am now a Junior  in a mid-college crisis and the future freaks me out

2. My little sister Kara is now also my Theta Sister and I couldn’t be happier

3. Mizzou Football and tailgating has officially begun and Saturday is the best day of the week

4. I am finally in classes that pertain to my future career. It’s about time.

5. The best part of the year aka Homecoming is in full swing with the men of Ag Sig and Sig Nu

6. I have an unhealthy obsession with QT and Sonic that has only increased in severity since being back

7. My goal for the year is to be more direct and change the things I am not happy about rather than passively just let them happen.

8. I love having all the Perconti girls back in the same area.

9. I think I might actually like/want to buy TOMS

10. I love glitter

That’s all I can think of at the moment! I’ll add to the list as life goes on…

I was warned that “you won’t be happy until you go back again” and it is absolutely true. I am already coming up with excuses to go back…21st birthday gift? Graduation? Straight A’s?

I can only express to a certain extent how incredible this journey has been. I could tell you that the experience was amazing, beautiful, life changing, epic, adventurous and I would do it again in a second. However, those are just words until you go and experience it for yourself.

If I could give any student one piece of advice, it would to be to travel abroad. If the opportunity presents itself: TAKE IT. Many attempt to make excuses or worry about the cost, if they would have time, if they would enjoy it, or if they know anyone else going abroad. Those are simply details and you will work it out.

You will have the opportunity to create memories with new friends and share a unique connection with them for your entire life. You meet people from all walks of life and immerse yourself in a multitude of cultures. Through studying abroad you gain a sense of confidence that you never thought you had.

I know I overspent while abroad, but being a little bit broke when I come back to the U.S. is nothing compared to how much I gained. At 20 years old I successfully navigated three major European cities, language barriers, too many airports, and became a master suitcase packer.

I had the opportunity to work for an Irish business and actually implement tools that will better their company, and that is just the start of what I got out of the last four weeks.

The rest is not as tangible, but more the “feelings” I had while traveling. I was able to marvel at something, let a view knock me off my feet and just soak in my surroundings. I was able to experience that indescribable “buzz” that each new location had about it and find that sense of “family” with the people I was traveling with and so much more.

Are you still wondering whether not you should take the plunge and go abroad? Stop wondering and just do it.

Spend too much money, eat and drink more than you should, take a last minute flight to Prague, Spain, Budapest WHEREVER, let your self go. You only live once; you won’t have the guts to do it later in life. It is time to be selfish and just do this for you.

Book a plane ticket, pack a bag and just wander. It will be the best investment of your life.

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.  ~Hilaire Belloc

It is a small fishing town with a huge pier, lots of restaurants, sailboats and even SEALS that you can feed! We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant called “Octopussy’s” (yes, we laughed too) and watched the seals as little kids fed them from the dock. It was adorable. There were actually so many families around and it was precious, they all come out on a Sunday afternoon with the parents, grandparents, and kids get an ice cream cone, explore the fresh market and walk around the pier together. It was a really nice change of pace from the city, I wanted to live there it was so cute.

We took our time around the pier looking at sailboats, all the rocks, the water and just relaxing. Andrew was of course still hungry because his fish cake was just not cutting it for him, so we explored the market and it was amazing, there was so much to buy and tons of food especially the fruit (me trying to live on a budget in Europe has forced me to cut out essential food groups and I am dying for fruit!)

We finished our lap around the small town and headed back to Dublin on the DART just in time to go to The Bleeding Horse, which is one of the oldest pubs in Dublin, to watch the World Cup Finals. What was even better was that I was meeting up with Miss Amy Davis, who has been traveling for eight weeks all over Europe. It was so nice to see a familiar face and the best part was that we both had our very first European Kiting picture there have been no other Thetas with me so as silly as it sounds it was fun to do!

Amy, her traveling friends, and family all met up with us and after dinner, drinks and the game we headed out on Camden Street to show her some of the pubs we tend to go to. We started at Feile’s and when that closed we moved on to Whelan’s, which was packed by the time we got there and also is supposedly the pub they filmed P.S. I Love You in….I have yet to verify that one. They were playing some old school music and had corona bottles on sale so it was a good night. The most entertaining part may have been when my friend David was befriended by a 57 year old single woman on the prowl. His efforts to get away were just not good enough when she invited him to come back to her flat to play with her “pussycats”…on that note it was time for us to leave!

It was an eventful evening to say the least, it was nice to spend the day at a slower pace, meet up with some old friends, and gain some quality entertainment at night.

It is so sad to think that this is was the start of my last week in Ireland. I have loved every moment of it and I can’t even remember life before Europe! It will soon enough be back to the grind of recruitment and school in just a few weeks and I wish I could stay on holiday for a little bit longer!

With the help of a trusty “Paddywagon Tour” we took ourselves to the edge. The edge of The Cliffs of Moher that is. This is a marvel that is almost too amazing to describe that words would simply just not do it justice…but I will try my best.

We got on our tour bus around 8 a.m. to make the three hour journey to Ireland’s west coast and Galway bay. Along the way we soaked up the scenery and took a detour to see the Burren, which is an incredible area that is covered entirely by limestone. It was explained that at one point the area that is now called the Burren, was once completely underwater and that there is still plant life that should exist underwater still growing today. It was a really interesting experience, because all of the stone looks like it could be part of a coral reef and walking on it was as if you were walking the bottom of the ocean.

After the Burren and lunch we finally arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. It had been miserably rainy all day and foggy that seeing all that we could was difficult. However, we had a little bit of Irish luck when we got to the top of the cliffs. The rain died down to a mist and then stopped just in time. We went to the general tourist area of the Cliffs that you are allowed to see, and it was breathtaking, I thought I couldn’t see anything more beautiful. Until we decided to get a bit rebellious and ventured past the restricted area of the Cliffs. We jumped the fence and moved carefully along the very muddy edge of the cliffs. If you took about four steps to the right of the path you would be off the edge.

I have an odd fear of heights that some things scare me and some things don’t. For me, I was pretty fearless when it came to navigating the Cliffs, but there was a nasty wind  that would come up out of nowhere, so you definitely had to be very careful. It was a winding and narrow trek to the edge and my Sperry’s were completely covered in mud, but once you reached this small clearing on the curve of the Cliff it was SO worth it. Though it was an overcast and sort of gloomy day you could look down and see this amazingly blue water swirling below you. The water was crashing at the rocks and air was salty from the ocean. If felt like you were standing at the very edge of the world. It was incredible. I feel like I have used the words “incredible, amazing, or gorgeous” every other sentence, but that is the best I could do. It is something you have to experience yourself and have the opportunity to marvel at something truly wonderful. Despite the gloom of the day it gave us all such a high and state of excitement, it was almost unreal.

We stopped at Bunratty castle and then made our way back to Dublin for some music and a fun night out. I learned so much and  could not have asked for a better day west…well sunshine would have been nice.

Happy and full we headed towards Dublin Castle, we walked around for a bit but could only see everything if we had a guided tour and the next one was not for an hour, so we forged onward. Our group split up and most headed to the Guinness Storehouse to learn how to pour that perfect pint, while Katie Kelly and I headed to the Kilmainham Gaol on the edge of the city.

The jail was incredible, we learned so many different things, from how they gave the prisoners spoons made of horn so that they would not be able to sharpen them into weapons, to the love story of Joseph and Grace Plunkett who were married in the chapel in the jail the night before his execution and were only given ten minutes to spend together. Being in the jail was almost an erie experience, we were able to go in an actual cell. It gives you goosebumps going in there, knowing that so many people spent their lives just staring at bare walls for crimes such as stealing food merely to survive during the famine. The crimes seem silly to us today and but back then were so very different.

After experiencing the jail and it still steadily raining outside, Katie and I stopped at a pub for a drink before heading back, and nothing sounded better than a nice Irish coffee. Mind you that this was our first Irish coffee experience so we were not sure what to expect. We took our first sips and it was DELICIOUS…for about the first five sips and then it turned to straight whiskey! It got us going that’s for sure. We paid our bill and grabbed a taxi home after a successful day out in Dublin.