A Very Lucky Girl

Our journey to Budapest started out relatively rocky. Keep in mind that we speak zero Italian. We arrived at the train station early (per usual) and scanned the board for our departure platform. Our first train was heading to Bologna, Italy where we would then board our night train. Underneath the platform listings we saw a running header that listed Firenze, Venezia and Bologna as places with cancelled trains (at least, that's what I thought it said...). We went straight to the customer service desk and took a number, wanting to confirm before properly panicking. I have never in my life been so happy to be wrong.  We located the platform and boarded our non-cancelled train at 8:20 PM with no issue. We were scheduled to arrive in Bologna at 10:35 PM with 22 minutes to catch our connecting train. However, our train from Rome ended up slowing down and we pulled into Bologna at 10:45 PM. We had 12 minutes to find our next platform. We bounded off the train and the race was o...

My sister-in-law and I recently returned from a 13 day adventure around Europe and I couldn't think of a better avenue to share our experience. We both received a multitude of questions of how we planned, executed the plan, and saved $$ for the plan. Do you sense a "plan" theme? Stay tuned, not very much actually went according to plan once we were in motion.  Jordan and I talked on and off about making this trip a reality, but it honestly came together fairly spontaneously. Jordan ordered her passport in January and we booked our trans-Atlantic flights in February, with only about 2 months to go. We decided on April 19th through May 1st, strategically celebrating Jordan's 23rd birthday in the middle! Once dates were selected, destination decisions were made. With this being Jordan's first out of country trip (and her very first flight!), I wanted her to pick most of the places. I had 2 places on my wish list: Nice, France and Budapest, Hungary. After stud...

It's been a busy few weeks. America is far more stressful than Scotland. Most likely because I didn't have classes that counted or a job in Dundee (I actually still haven't found a job so totally willing to wash someone's cat or something). Moving to Norman has dominated most of my time. I gathered my life from what seemed like all corners of the United States, from OKC to Houston, and I still have belongings coming from Louisiana in July. I'm in love with our little grey cottage situated on Brooks Street, only a mile from campus and a mile from Campus Corner bars. Could the location BE anymore perfect?!  I couldn't wait to move to Norman, but now that I'm permanently here, it is filled with memories from the last two years of my life. Places that once made me smile make me cringe as I drive past. There are certain CDs I don't listen to anymore. There were so many plans that are no longer going to come to fruition.  I fully trust that this change...

Since Taylor C. was so generous with her hospitality, we stayed in Arezzo for two nights and used our day in the middle to take a trip by train (what else?) to the famed city of Florence.  The place was surprisingly packed despite it being the bare beginning of tourist season. I imagine the proximity of Easter was a large draw. We braved the streets without a paper map and moved blindly through the maze of tourists and vendors. My first purchase of the day was raspberry gelato for breakfast. The fruit base made me feel slightly better about my nutrition choices.  We found a giant arch near a carousel that probably is really significant and continued under it until we reached the river. We walked along the edge until we accidentally found the right narrow street that spilled us into Piazza del Duomo . The cathedral was the most spectacular building I saw. The intricacies of the architecture was flawless and mesmerizing. We walked around outside for quite a while for two ...

I haven't been on any big trips since going to Dublin, but a lot of exciting things are coming up in the next few weeks and I can't wait to share them with you all! I've been saving my cash for my upcoming adventures and writing my final essays. I will be done with all things academic related on March 31st! Which means I'll have almost two full months to travel and just soak up Europe without the drag of having to go to 4 hours of class a week. Like ugh. My goal is to complete all of my assignments before Hannah and Megan arrive next week! I've finished one essay and am 1,000 words into my Shakespeare one. It's slow going, but I only have four days until Hannah gets here!! She arrives in Dundee on Tuesday and I am so excited, considering I haven't seen her since August. Megan arrives a couple of days after her and then we have a few days as a trio, recreating our SB12 vacation in NYC. I cannot wait to show them around my home. Being the obnoxious planner th...

As I mentioned before in my first post about London , our hostel was absolutely not conducive to sound sleep. Therefore, on Saturday morning I woke up at 5 AM, almost an hour and a half before my alarm was scheduled to start singing. I used my extra time to Whatsapp Tyler, considering it was only 11 PM in Oklahoma. We weren't even in the same day yet! Eventually I crawled out of bed and located my clothes by flashlight, trying desperately to not wake up Kiera. Today was our split up day, bringing out our equally nerdy tendencies with different tours. I booked a 10 hour bus tour to Windsor, Oxford, and Stonehenge, while she was jetting off to Warner Bros. Harry Potter tour later in the afternoon. I didn't see a single sign of the continental breakfast that was promised on the hostel website so I headed straight to the tube station. I took the DLR to Tower Hill before I transferred to the Circle Line and landed at Victoria Station. The entire travel time took about an hour. I sna...

I went on a rainy adventure on Sunday. I got on a moving vehicle for the first time in two weeks! We walk everywhere in Scotland. Literally EVERYWHERE. I'm going to have killer legs when I return to America. We paid 6 pounds return to board the bus headed to St. Andrews and I tried not to think about the cars coming toward us on the wrong side of the road. Seeing backwards traffic literally makes my brain hurt. I've lived with the other way for so long! Someone is going to need to teach me how to drive again.  We arrived in St. Andrews around 11 AM and went straight to the beach. We did pass the St. Andrews Links golf course, the oldest in the world, but I went back later in the day to get proper pictures. I found a few seashells on the shore of the rocky beach and pulled my hood up to stave off the wet wind.  From there we wandered down the street until we found an alley that led us to the  University of St. Andrews! It was so amazing to stand in a quad that was 600 ye...

Do you remember where you were on January 17, 2011? I was in an ICU bed at an Oklahoma hospital, recently diagnosed with Addison's Disease , missing a gall-bladder, and weighing in at 98 pounds. I was told that I wasn't the healthy 18-year old I thought I was. I wasn't the strong athlete I used to be. I wasn't the vivacious college student, full of promise and plans. I was a broken hospital patient, depressed and seemingly hopeless. Coming to terms with a chronic illness is weird. I don't like to think that who I am is fueled by how I feel or how many pills I'm currently popping. I hate the memory loss of most of my senior year and TCU semester. Friends will reminisce, "hey remember when?!" No. No, I don't. And I really hate the unknown. The questions. The why me? How does this disease even exist? Why does it target who it does? No one knows. There aren't answers for those questions. For someone who likes to know everything NOW, no an...

Planning is both my escape and the bane of my existence. I always want to know what exactly is happening when and my philosophy on timing is: if you aren't early, then you are DEFINITELY late. With that being said, I've already started mapping out my attack on how to conquer Europe during my three week spring break in Scotland. Because if I don't do it now, then I'll be behind! And let's be perfectly honest, researching train times and castle tours is far more stimulating than writing the last final paper hanging over my head. My spring break begins on March 30th and runs at least until April 20th (depending on when my exams start) and I've made a rough sketch of where I will be traveling during those 21 days. I purchased my Eurail pass ($700 well spent I hope!) so this adventure is happening, whether I'm ready or not. I plan to travel from Dundee to Edinburgh to get to the airport after my classes. I may stay a day or so there just exploring castles and ...

We arrived off the coast of Georgetown, Cayman Islands on Wednesday morning. The Island was so small that there was no dock so tender boats brought us to shore in groups. We set foot in Georgetown around 11 AM, after eating a bacon heap for breakfast and marveling at the miniscule Island, and immediately found a cab to take us to a portion of 7 Mile Beach. here you can see the water BEHIND the island! mojito First things first: I hit the bar and ordered my very first mojito. It was DELICIOUS. Seriously one of my favorite drinks I've ever had. Tyler and I hung out in the waves with his step-family and I wandered back to the bar every so often to take advantage of my legal drinking age. I can vouch for the Cayman Lemonade, a second mojito, and a Cayman Crush that accompanied my lunch. I had sips of Tyler's Caybrew and White Tip beer, and immediately regretted them. We ate lunch at a water-side cafe called Paradise where Tyler and Hunter ordered turtle burgers and I c...

Week three is complete. Only 2 more weeks left until my entire week off. I'm a little bit excited about 7 whole days dedicated to just being 20. Because I've figured out that the trick to making nannying enjoyable for everyone is to act their age--to a point. If I put myself into a 9 year old mindset (the mean of their ages), then I don't mind playing play dough nearly as much.  On Monday I took the kids to Frontier City. This was my first time there. I suggest a motion to rename it Jank City. Every single ride creaked. The very first one was a Splash Mountain wannabe, where you rode in a rickety log flume around a riveting creek until plunging over a drop. I clutched the handle bars  until my knuckles turned white and gritted my teeth as the less-than-stable log made its agonizing ascent to the top of the drop. I used to love roller coasters! And I think I still do...I just have an aversion to the ones that aren't reassuringly, positively safe. I couldn't stop t...