My Life in France

<3 IRELAND <3

what a beautiful way for that guy to say goodbye to me! so simple. 

i just want to learn spanish so badly

My top four beers:

1. Guinness

2. Grimbergen Rouge

3. John Smith

4. Heineken 

This has nothing to do with being abroad, but….this song. Never gets old!

As much as I originally hated my uni, Saginaw Valley, back in the States, I’m kind of glad I ended up choosing it. Because of the scholarship I receive and the ridiculously low prices I’ve been paying thus far, I will be able to actually DO something with my life once I graduate. Unlike most of my peers, they will be forced to promptly find a typical 9-5 American job to pay off their college debts. They will settle into a job, maybe transfer to another one, but probably within a few years find one where they will stay until they retire. My older brother is already on this typical American path. He graduated last May and found a job by September. He’s working for this one company, and it’s more than likely that he’ll stay there until he retires.

I am thankful that I won’t be forced into a certain path because of college debts. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pay off any small debts I have and start living my life. One thing I’ve learned about being abroad is that college is NOT real life (yeah, I know that sounds kind of obvious :P). And although everyone says it’s the best four years of your life, I think there must be more to life than just partying it up at uni! My best friend Emily has always said that she can’t wait to finish college and start real life…and I never understood that! Why would anyone want to leave college?? You live with young people, your only responsibilities seem to be class, and you can do whatever you want whenever you want! But that’s not real to me anymore! Kind of hard to explain, I guess, but now when I get back to the States I wish I could be done with school already so I can really start my life. I refuse to look back on my life and say that COLLEGE was the best part of my life. What a sad life I would have lived if that became true! 

Pure Love

Easyjet is the BEST airline, hands down

when I have a baguette, cheese, and ham in my flat so that’s probably all I will eat all day long. :D

Easter dinner with Kayla and her friend Chelsea! A genuine Dutch meal, called hustpot, made of mashed potatoes, carrots, onions, and bits of meat. It may look a bit nasty but it was SO good. Definitely the best home-cooked meal I’ve had here so far!

For the first time, I’m not with my family on Easter. Even my brother with a full-time job out of town was able to go home and be with my mom and sister. It just feels so strange to know that they are all together in Michigan and I’m not there….definitely the first time they’ve celebrated a holiday and I wasn’t there, that’s never happened before! Thus, I am SO thankful that my girl Kayla is here again because this day would be so sad if I didn’t have anyone to celebrate it with! And my family in Michigan are planning on Skyping me into their Easter today. :) I love them. My extended family is celebrating at my Uncle Ted and Aunt Tracy’s house in Southbury. I’m sure that meal will be DELICIOUS (and very fancily presented). I miss my extended family so so much, and it’s times like these that make me miss them even more. I wish I could Skype into their celebration, but I don’t think anyone there knows how to use Skype… For breakfast this morning (well, let’s be honest…it was much past noon by the time we woke up), we made crepes. PBJ crepes, banana and nutella crepes, crepes with cheese…the list goes on! I’m getting pretty good at making those things ;) For our Easter dinner, Kayla is going to make us a Dutch meal she had while in the Netherlands. It’s called hutsput (or something like that) - lots of potatoes and vegetables and some meat. Should be good! Happy Easter!