New Year Update

Hello, and Happy New Year!

     The Adventuress is back! I wanted to real quick give a shout out to everyone that follows and/or occasionally reads this blog: teachers, friends, family, family friends, friends of friends, complete strangers, etc. I appreciate you following my adventures, seeing where I go and what I do and all of the things. 

   First matter of business to share on the blog in the new year: I wrote a song and made a video for it! Both the song and the video are a little rough around the edges, but I wanted to throw a little something together for the time being so that I could share with you guys and also have it out in the world. So here it is!


     A little about the song:

     At the beginning of last month I was messing around with my ukulele, just strumming a couple of chords, and then in less than 2-3 hours I had created a song. A very basic song, but still a song. I apologize in advance: it is very catchy and will get stuck in your head very easily. It's fun and simple and I hope you enjoy listening to and watching it as much as I did writing it! (And yes, I truly do want to go to Amsterdam to dance in clogs. If I get there on this spring's trip, or at any point, I will definitely be doing that and taking a video of it. :P)

     In addition to writing a song, I have also been reconsidering my travel plans. So, instead of going to 9 cities and doing one week in each, I'm going to do three weeks in possibly four different cities. The cities I've chosen are London, England, Tuscany, Italy, Blanes (pronounced "blah-nays"), Spain, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Even though it would be nice to stick with my previous plan, a week is very short and would be tiring. I am however, still going to try to get to quite a few places that were on that list. Depending on my host situation, I could potentially do some weekend trips to other cities.

     So far I've looked at WorkAway hosts in Tuscany, Spain and Amsterdam, and I've received responses from all of them! The hosts in Tuscany are looking for help with taking care of horses, cats and dogs, the host that I have in Spain is looking for someone to help her young son learn English, and the hosts near Amsterdam are in the countryside and looking for someone to babysit their kids after school and do other household tasks. I've also started looking into WorkAway hosts around London and other cities in England with my friend Brent, who will hopefully be joining me on the London leg of my trip. We just sent out a message to a couple that live near Oxford that we both like, so hopefully we'll hear back from them soon! :)

     I'm still waiting to determine more details with my Tuscany and Amsterdam host, but I did get the chance to talk with my host in Spain! At the end of last month we did a video chat. The mom, Natalia, is really nice and friendly and her three-year-old son, Marc, is so cute!!! We talked about things like how I would be reading, playing, and singing with Marc in English so that he can understand and respond in English, what is expected of me (keeping my room clean, cooking once a week, etc.), and days that I would be there. It's looking like it will be the last leg of my trip, staying there for most of the month of May.

     There's still so much to do and finalize in the next 55 days(!!), which is a little overwhelming, but it'll all get done in time! Here's the last of my do list:

- Confirm my leave of absence with my boss and the store leader 
- Book flights for once I'm in Europe
- Book any trains needed for getting around Europe
- Finalize WorkAway hosts and when I'll be in each place
- Get a first aid kit for my backpack
- Revisit my travel agent conversation notes
- Book tours/museums/other as far in advance as necessary/possible

     Exciting stuff coming up! Stay tuned for more on planning updates, and, in addition to that, I should know in the next six days if I got accepted into the Honors College!!!

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