I have exciting news for my blog and Youtube channel! This summer, I will be traveling and new content will come streaming in!
Current plans include a trip to Mexico with plenty of sand and sunshine! I hope to make a packing video for this trip, Eagle Creek packing cube reviews, and a blog (if not multiple vlogs).
After that, my summer adventures continue as I head to Europe and backpack for a month! This trip will include time in Iceland, Ireland, and lots of other exciting countries. I plan on reviewing a my travel backpack, posting vlog footage in every country, and plenty of blogs to catalog my journey.
I am thrilled to be planning this adventure as one last hoorah before my senior year of college. I am excited to visit all of my European friends and family, and improve my trip planning and navigating skills even more.
Although I have had a slow line of travel content lately, this summer will make up for it, I promise!
Thanks as always for reading and your support. I can't wait to share my coming adventures with you!
Your friend,
The Opinionated Lassie
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Rough Transition
When I left Ireland in May, I gave the event very little recognition. I tried not to think about leaving, I tried not to post about leaving. I thought that if I gave as little emotional energy as possible that it would help ease the eventual pain. And this strategy worked, for a while. I was able to sleep, I was able to edit videos, I was able to do absolutely nothing but eat and watch television and felt relatively good about being back.
Now that I am a month out it has finally hit me and it has hit me hard.
This jolt has come very unexpectedly and I am just now concluding that it is, in one form or another, the "reverse culture shock" people predict. And perhaps most confusingly, the stress is in no way about leaving my beloved Ireland but is instead about returning to my beloved Kansas.
Ireland facilitated a glorious lifestyle for me - minimal school work, unlimited travel, social expansion, and a whole lot of self discovery. While I miss that life (and probably always will), that is not the part that I am stressed and depressed about. Instead the turmoil comes from the incongruence of the life I led before and the person I am now. The new me cannot seem to fit in the spot the old Emily left behind and into her dependable relationships from a year ago.
Not only is this now-world jokingly mundane compared to what I had abroad, but to my ignorant shock everyone did actually move on without me. My presence is now a year old in every eye and the gossip and camaraderie more than a few months expired. The distractions in Ireland made me horrible at staying in touch and naturally (as I should have expected), people learned to live without me and I without them. It is as if I am back in a land of acquaintances and I have to reintroduce myself, regain their trust, and reform opinions of the people walking in and out of my days.
I don't know if this is common for students that return. Today was the first day I became truly overwhelmed and hope that as I force these two lives together some harmony results.
While I try to keep this website positive and lighthearted, I also strive for transparency. I am hoping to fully document the "study abroad experience" and want you, my reader, to realize that it is not all daisies and roses. When you study abroad there is a clear beginning and a clear end. And if the journey was worth taking, the end should always be bitter sweet.
Yours,
The Opinionated Lassie
Now that I am a month out it has finally hit me and it has hit me hard.
This jolt has come very unexpectedly and I am just now concluding that it is, in one form or another, the "reverse culture shock" people predict. And perhaps most confusingly, the stress is in no way about leaving my beloved Ireland but is instead about returning to my beloved Kansas.
Ireland facilitated a glorious lifestyle for me - minimal school work, unlimited travel, social expansion, and a whole lot of self discovery. While I miss that life (and probably always will), that is not the part that I am stressed and depressed about. Instead the turmoil comes from the incongruence of the life I led before and the person I am now. The new me cannot seem to fit in the spot the old Emily left behind and into her dependable relationships from a year ago.
Not only is this now-world jokingly mundane compared to what I had abroad, but to my ignorant shock everyone did actually move on without me. My presence is now a year old in every eye and the gossip and camaraderie more than a few months expired. The distractions in Ireland made me horrible at staying in touch and naturally (as I should have expected), people learned to live without me and I without them. It is as if I am back in a land of acquaintances and I have to reintroduce myself, regain their trust, and reform opinions of the people walking in and out of my days.
I don't know if this is common for students that return. Today was the first day I became truly overwhelmed and hope that as I force these two lives together some harmony results.
While I try to keep this website positive and lighthearted, I also strive for transparency. I am hoping to fully document the "study abroad experience" and want you, my reader, to realize that it is not all daisies and roses. When you study abroad there is a clear beginning and a clear end. And if the journey was worth taking, the end should always be bitter sweet.
Yours,
The Opinionated Lassie
Friday, May 29, 2015
Just Roman Around
Now that I have moved home and am officially settled back in Kansas City, I am excited to share trip summaries from my last two months of traveling! To kick this off, I will share my adventures in Rome, Italy, where I spent Easter weekend with fellow UCD friends and the Pope.
Before I booked this trip, I was sure that I didn't want to go to Rome. Back to Rome that is. It is not that there is anything wrong with Rome, but I had already been to this beautiful city twice in my life and a third time seemed like it could wait until at least my late twenties. Then a friend of mine casually suggested going for Easter, when the weather should be beautiful, when we had a long weekend off from school, and when a student tour group was running a trip and I wouldn't have to plan a thing. I was sold - how could I pass up on such a unique and educational experience! So we grabbed our credit cards, got on our computers, and booked away.
Prior to this trip I had been in charge of planning every other international trip alone or with my travel partner. I would scour TripAdvisor and other sites reading reviews and planning the most exciting and busy weekends of my life. For Rome we decided to book a tour with Weekend Student Adventures - a student travel company founded by Rick Steve's son, Andy - that would include transportation, admission tickets, and guides so we could simply follow along. This was the first thing we did right, and I would have traveled with them much more if I hadn't run out of time.
The other awesome thing about going with this group is that other friends of ours independently booked the same tour and we had no idea how many students from UCD were on the trip until we got off the plane in Rome. It was such a fun surprise and made the trip that much more memorable and fun!
Because I had no classes on Friday, my travel partner, Laura, and I flew out that afternoon. We ended up learning of seven other students from UCD that were on the same flights and this became my main group for the weekend. What a huge and hysterical coincidence!
We arrived in Rome late Thursday night and, after we found our way to the hostel, we stopped at a local pizza joint for some grub. It was very tasty and we were very slap happy that it truly hit the spot! We then went to the hostel, checked into our rooms (which were more like hotel rooms) and went to the hostel bar for a quick drink.
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| Laura, Me, Will |
The next morning we woke up bright and early to head to the Vatican for the day. We started with a public bus trip to the city and, after some shopping in the Vatican shops we had a pleasant tour of St. Peter's Basilica. Even after seeing this amazing structure two other times, the enormity of the basilica is still overwhelming! All of the walking made us ready for some more pizza which we ate for lunch and some delicious gelato after. Then we toured the Vatican museums (and ignored our sunburns from the hot, sunny, non-Irish weather).
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| Maura, Me, Laura, Rachel |
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| Laura, Maura, Rachel, Rachel, Claire, Me |
Once we left the museums we went back to the hostel to freshen up. We then headed to dinner and walked by the Colosseum as the sun was setting perfectly behind it! For dinner we ate pizza and pasta and then went back to the Colosseum to see the Stations of the Cross with Pope Francis. Even though the Pope was far away and the service was in Latin and Italian, it was still a fun thing to witness with thousands of other people around the beautiful landmark!
The next morning we got breakfast at the hostel and headed to the Colosseum for an official tour. Our guide was pretty good and we had individual headsets so hearing him was nice and I could wander without missing any information. We then took an adorable group picture and went to the Roman Forum for a tour. Then we walked to the Pantheon, took a look inside, and made another souvenir and gelato run!
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| Maura, Me |
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| Me, Claire, Rachel |
On the way back I went with Laura and our other friend, Maura, to a local grocery store for snacks. I then took a little nap and we prepared for the evening. Our meeting place for dinner was the famous Spanish steps where we met got to meet the famous travel author, Rick Steves, before we headed with him and the rest of the group to the Trevi Fountain. Although the fountain is under construction and was a bit unexciting, when we left and walked to the restaurant I talked the entire time with Rick Steves - just me and him! He asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I told him all about Ireland and my ambitions of being a math teacher and eventually a principal. For about 15 minutes I talked to him and answered his questions about the US educational system, Ireland, and even Kansas!
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| Rachel, Brian, Rachel, Claire, Laura, Maura, Me |
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| Rachel, Me, Rachel (A Rachel Sandwich) |
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| Maura, Sarah, Rachel, Me, Giorgio, Claire |
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| Rick Steves, Me |
After the awesome encounter we finally arrived at the restaurant. This meal was planned by WSA and included a ton of delicious food (pizza, pasta, bruschetta, and tiramisu). Not to mention unlimited wine! My table had a blast and it was definitely one of my favorite memories from the trip!
After a late adventure getting back to the hostel, we woke up at 3am, packed our things, and headed to the Vatican to stand in line for Easter mass. It was an exhausting 6-hour wait and a very wet and rainy day for mass but, hypothermia aside, the experience was amazing! Every time I have come to Rome I have hoped to see the Pope - and that dream was finally realized!
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| Me, Laura |
Once the mass was over and Pope Francis drove around in the Popemobile, we headed back to the hostel to get our things. We changed our clothes and departed for the airport to conclude our amazing trip!
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| Claire, Me |
I had 27 plane rides and left Ireland 11 times during my 9 months abroad. While every trip was amazing, this one really stands out. Rome was a perfect 4 days and I will never forget the places, the food, the memories, or the people! I am so grateful.
Yours,
The Opinionated Lassie
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