Firsts of 2016

New Year's Eve.  Time to celebrate all the good stuff from the past year, wish for this coming year to be just as good, and make promises to ourselves that we may or may not keep.


For me, 2016 has been an amazing year.  Here are most of my "firsts" from this year:

• Ice Climbing/Mountaineering, outdoor climbing, time in North Conway - January 23rd

• Laser Tag game - February 14th

• IMAX movie - March 1st

• Trying fried pickles - March 21st

• Shooting a gun - March 23rd 

• Time purchasing train tickets - March 26th

• Watching an official climbing competition - April 2nd

• Taking a trip without a family member - April 9th

• Going to the MFA Boston, and the Cheesecake Factory - April 10th

• Trad climbing - April 14th

• Staying somewhere by myself - April 15-21

• Onset for a film/video shoot - May 1st

• Promotion! - May

• Flying by myself, out of the USA, having a meal on an airplane, watching a movie in Italian, visit to the Asian continent, stay in a five star hotel, visit to a different continent- June 30/July 1st

• In the world's tallest building- July 4th

• Hand feeding rays - July 5th

• Having a Krispy Kreme donut - July 6th

• On European continent, in Italy (just the airport)- July 8th

• Backpacking trip - August 27th 

• Metal show - October 15th 

• Outdoor bouldering - November 12th

  As you can see it was quite the exciting year, and this isn't even everything! In addition to every on this list I started dating my amazing boyfriend, who was the reason I was able to do most of the things on the above list, including the four different countries (not including my brief stop in Italy), and three different continents I've been to in the last six months.  
  I've made a lot of friends, some I lost contact with fairly quickly, others I've kept and talk to regularly.  I saw my favorite species of shark in person for the first time, got my second and third tattoos, hiked 32 miles with a 50+lbs backpack on, climbed outside for the first times, and much more.

Here's to hoping 2017 is just even better!

Travel adulting, Important Points for the New Adult

As you may know I am only 18 years old.  I used to tell people that when I got older I wanted to just to travel, and I didn't plan on going to college or getting some super fancy normal job that made lots of money.  This, of course, freaked a lot of people out.

Now, I have found ways to say the same thing, but without saying "I want to do something where I can just travel!".  Such as, "I'm slowly starting up a travel blog, and I've got a nice camera so I'm learning about photography", and "I'd really like to write and run a travel blog, in fact I already have a blog that I've been working on for a little while!" These answers, to the common adult, sound way better than the original.

Saying I want to travel is one thing, actually traveling and being smart about it is a completely different one.  Anyone can say "oh I want to go other places in the world", it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to plan an entire trip, and then actually do it.

So, I have here a couple of things new adults will want to consider when traveling for the first time (or first couple times) without a parent.  Hopefully this will give you a couple things to think about.

• When, where, what, who, how?  When are you arriving/departing, times and dates.  Where are you going, exactly?  What are you doing while you're there?  Who, if anyone, are you going with?  How are you getting there, back, and to/from bus stations/airports, etc?  Answer these questions to start.
• Travel Insurance.  Depending on where you're going and how long you're staying you may want to consider Travel Insurance.
• Budgeting.  Do you have enough money to buy that souvenir and get dinner tonight?  Taxi, or the subway, which is cheaper or faster, and do you have more time or more money to spare? 

As an example check out my answers and thought about the above points in reference to my upcoming Boston trip:

• When?  I am leaving in the morning on April 9th, and returning late night on April 10th.  I know I need to be at the train station at least 30 minutes before departure.
• Where?  Boston, Massachusetts.  Personally I don't know the exact address, we're staying with my friend's friend. 
• What?  My friend has most of the plans, that she has made.  I do know that on Saturday we are going to the aquarium in the morning, and to get piercings afterwards.  We'll also be visiting some museums, and the cheesecake factory on Sunday!
• Who?  I'll be traveling with my one of my best friends, Amy.
• How?  We'll be traveling by train there and back.  She will be driving to and from the train station here.
• Travel Insurance?  I did get cheap travel insurance through Amtrak because in case of a last minute cancellation, if I wasn't concerned about that I probably wouldn't have gotten it for this short of a trip.  However, because I am concerned about that (I've been sick a lot lately!), and because it wasn't very expensive I went for it.
• Budgeting?  I'm still working out my budget for the trip.  My friend has been looking into pricing for piercings, and has already gotten passes for a couple things.  I bought the tickets for both of us already.  The biggest thing is going to be food, so as long as I plan for that I should be all set!

So, maybe I don't have everything 100% figured out for my trip, but I do have possibly the most important things, my tickets there and back.  I also know where I have to be and when I have to be there for those! Being prepared is important.

Full Week of "Adulting", + Crossing Things off the List!

You may not know what "adulting" means, so before I dive into this post I'm going to give you a brief definition.

Adulting: the term for when a young adult (usually 18-24, or so), does something by themselves that is something that's basically required of adults in this day and age.  Such as, making an appointment, going to a job interview, buying a car, renting an apartment, etc.  An "Adulting win" is when they do something successfully, usually for the first time, I.E. getting their first job.  An "Adulting Fail" is when they attempt to do something "adulty" and screw up, such as microwaving tin foil.

Last week, my week of adulting was:
Sunday: I Ordered several things off of ebay, including a refurbed 2009 MacBook, without a charger.  I had to be very careful and research the seller before I bought the computer, to make sure the under $200 laptop was worth it.  It definitely ending up being worth it! I received it two days before I was supposed to, and only two days after it shipped.

Monday: I went to work? (Um, I did that four days this week though...) That was the most adult thing I did on Monday, I believe,

Tuesday: I made my own appointment to get my haircut, in person. I also made an appointment to get my belly button pierced over the phone.

Wednesday: First potluck I've been to by myself, I even made a cake to bring.  It was at my new job, we had an employee potluck.  It was certainly a lot of fun!

Thursday: Just my normal music lessons and volunteering... Though volunteering at the animal shelter could almost be considered an adult thing.

Friday: Payed for my own belly button piercing, and for my haircut.  I even tipped both places! I didn't try to figure out the correct tip amount, though, I just gave them extra money.  I was shocked, I had most of my hair cut off, I got it shampoo'd, and styled, and the whole thing only cost $27 before the tip!

So, with my full week of adulting, I also knocked something off of my list: getting my belly button pierced.

I'm going to be honest, it hurt more than I was expecting.  I've read a lot of people say that they barely felt it at all, or that they didn't feel it.  I definitely felt it.  I didn't bleed, but it felt like he had pierced too much of my skin, and was having a hard time getting the needle through.  Maybe it was just me, but it seemed to take a long time to poke all the way through.
It's doing better now, except for when I accidentally pull on it, or brush it wrong.  I'm sure it will be sore for a few days. The piercer I went to was pretty bad, too, from research and talking to people, so that could have been part of it.