A Day in the Life of a Master(s) of Education

Hello out there blogger world! Question: have you ever been so in to something or the idea of something that even after it's over you can't believe it happened? That's how this last year and a half has been for me. I now have physical and visual proof that I have completed my master's degree in England. Yet it still feels like a dream or an anomaly. I recently took a trip back in order to attend my graduation ceremony and though I was very saddened that J couldn't join, having my parents along for the ride was amazing. My entire life my mom especially has wanted to visit England but time and circumstances prevented that from happening until now. This trip showed me how much of a treasure my parents are, reaffirmed that they won't be around forever and locked in memories that I will have long after they're gone. There was tons I wasn't able to do with them, like have a pint in a pub with my pop or stroll through the garden with my mom but we sa...

So I've been around a lot of reflective people as of late (which isn't surprising...it's the beginning of the year) and initially I just tried to not be as reflective myself.  To be honest, it feels a bit cliche. That being said there's a reason people do it. There's a reason I am going to do it. I want to be purposeful with my time and choices. Means to an end. A satisfactory end. A few posts ago I created a bucket list, think of this as a continuation of sorts to that. So here we go: I want be more active regularly. To me that means manageable fitness goals. I want to play Quidditch again, get back to doing circus arts and ride my bike at least once a week. I want to build new friendships through existing avenues. There are coworkers I adore, pokemon go folks I keep encountering, and neighbors I'd like to cultivate stronger bonds with. I need to actively carve out time for these things while still maintaining time for myself. Whilst I want to cultivate ...

It's almost been a year since I left the place I've come to call home for the unknown. That unknown being life abroad and graduate school. Making the decision was hard, in fact when I first began the path of graduate school I was single, unsure of any potential for growth or diversity in my job and had started to feel like I had outgrown my life. No longer was I the young 20something, new to the city, exploring and discovering myself. In fact I felt the opposite. I felt like I had been there...done that...time to move on. I don't always think that everything happens for a reason, but I do believe that our path is winding and we don't always clearly see what's ahead of us. Anyway back to the reflective bit. I was in a place where I needed a change (or so I thought) and thus decided to apply for grad school. Fun fact: I looked for schools here and abroad. I also explored taking the GREs again or doing a short course to see if I could even handle being in school aga...

What a week! In the last 7 days I have finished and submitted my dissertation (whew), attended Dragon Con, celebrated J's 30th birthday, saw lots of friends, made some new ones, saw Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie (swoon), danced until my feet hurt, listened to the Georgia Philharmonic play nerd tunes, finished a cosplay, handed out free snacks, stayed up for hours and made life long memories. This has been a week for the history books. Until next post... laters

I've been thinking about the future a lot lately (probably to ignore the present, but that's a story for another time) and it has dawned on me I should make another bucket list. My bucket lists are things I'd like to accomplish but won't be super down on myself if I don't. More like a life wish list. This will probably be updated again but for now, here we go: Travel to each continent (Africa, Mainland Asia & South America left) Learn to ride a motorcycle Visit every Disney Park in the world Attend an Olympics Have an office (which I can decorate however I'd like) Become a flight attendant/work for an airline Learn another language and be proficient (American Sign Language, Spanish or French) Own a old Jeep or Mini Cooper or any car made between 1970 & 1998 Go to San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con Take a Disney Cruise, hopefully to Alaska Update Jan 2019: I mentioned in this original post that I would probably update...

Munich:   Salzburg:   Budapest: Prague:     Dresden:       Amsterdam:                  

There's been ups and downs and I've almost reached the finish line. Just wanted to pop in and say EuroTrip 2018 has been a great way to finish up my time in the UK. The plan was to stay in the UK until mid-September but as they say...best laid plans. Due to a turn of events, I'll be heading back home sooner than originally thought so I booked a EuroTrip with some of my friends as a send off to my time here. The trip included 5 countries (The Netherlands, Germany, The Czech Republic, Hungary & Austria) and 6 cities. Of those, 5 were totally brand new to me. As per usual I do 2-3 things in every country I  have visited since I first studied abroad in Italy back in 2007... 1) Drink beer/wine/liquor 2) Eat McDonalds 3) Purchase a button. When I travelled to Italy for the first time, I learned the drinking age was 18 and also to love wine. To this day I still appreciated the fact that I bought amazing red wine in a juice box while there. I still talk about it as well. I...

Several weeks ago I was suffering from a case of homesickness. Thankfully that has mostly dissipated. One of the ways that helped was travelling. In the last month or so I have been to Edinburgh, Scotland; Alnwick, Northumberland, England; York, England; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Ireland; St. Austell, Cornwall, England & Cardiff, Wales. For those of you following at home that means I've seen every country that makes up the United Kingdom. What a trip. In Scotland, it snowed but I got to eat in the restaurant where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the Harry Potter Series. In Alnwick, I had the chance to visit a poison garden, cross the sea at low tide to visit The Holy Island and take broomstick flying lessons at Alnwick Castle (the Hogwarts Castle in the first two films). In York, I was able to stroll the Shambles which served as the modern day Diagon Alley and also attend a Sunday service at York Minister. Dublin and Cardiff gave me the opportunity to party and dance all night with ...