Food.

Necessary for life, eaten by all, loved by many. Food has to power to bring people together, to fuel the body and soul, and to bring all of the senses together. This summer I have been doing a lot of cooking for myself, and I have to say, I've impressed myself. While I'm by no means making four course dinners, I do make a mean omelette and my homemade pizza isn't bad either. I've been trying to make things myself instead of buying them as a normally would, and decided that a fun summer treat to make would be popsicles. Popsicles are easy to make and a great dessert on a hot summer night.

I made watermelon popsicles in my first attempt. I've listed the recipe below, but you can always add or subtract what you like!

Watermelon popsicles.

What you need:
-popsicle mold
-watermelon-cut into small pieces
- sugar (about a teaspoon, add more or less as desired)
- water (a splash, or if you must measure, about a tablespoon)

Directions:
Put all ingredients together in a blender. Blend until a smooth puree is formed. Pour into mold, filling up as high as possible. Let sit for at least 12 hours. Enjoy :)

The finished product!

Three months from today...

...I will officially be in Dublin.The flight has been booked and it's all starting to come together. It's crazy to think that I will be beginning another journey and starting all over again. This seems to have happened many times since graduating high school. While it can be hard at first, the constant changes have brought me some of the best friends and memories in just two short years. Now that my study abroad is coming up so close, I need to try to blog more consistently. I will create a new and separate blog for my adventures in Dublin, but I need to try to post more on here to get used to blogging a lot. Try being the key word, as I am far busier than I thought i would be this summer. I can't believe that my study abroad experience is just around the corner. I remember when I toured colleges in high school and they would ask who wanted to study abroad during college. Some times I rose my hand., sometimes I didn't. When I started college I was pretty sure I wanted to study abroad, but the where and when were all up in the air. Then the next thing I knew it was second semester of sophomore year and I'd picked a program and applied. Travel is something I truly love and have a passion for in life, and I could not be more excited to start the experience of a lifetime. I am so lucky to be able to have this opportunity and will make the most of it. It will be exciting, scary, thrilling, eye opening, and an adventure.

Since I will be seeing the world, the best thing to do is capture all the memories in photos. I have a regular point and shoot and wanted to see how well it would do for photography abroad. I decided to take some photos around my current city of Boston, which is a popular travel destination itself. Below are some of the photos I took and I hope to have many more to come in Ireland.

Some may call it running from your problems, I call it chasing my dreams.

I left for college in Boston in the fall of 2011. Almost two years later and I haven't been home for more than a few weeks at a time since then. It's weird, this change. All of my friends have returned home every break and every summer, while instead I have stayed in the city. I see all of them continuing to hang out and go to all our favorite places, and it makes me sad. While I love my life in Boston, I sometimes feel that I'm missing out on old friendships back home. When I came to Boston, I knew the city was the place for me. People told me I wouldn't like actually living in the city as opposed to visiting it, but boy have a proved them wrong. Not only did I explore the city every weekend freshman year, but I ended up loving it so much I stayed the summer after my first year of college. I rarely visit home because other than family and a few friends, I feel that my hometown has very little left to offer me. I believe I took full advantage and did my best with everything I could while in the hometown, but once I left I knew I wouldn't be coming back much. It's sad that I don't get to see my friends from home as often, while they continue to grow closer and hang out a lot and I sometimes go months without talking to them. While this is slightly depressing, the best part is that when we do get together every few months, it's like nothing has changed. Whether it be them visiting me in Boston, or us hanging out at each others houses like we used to, we continue to have a good time. So while I am missing out on the last summers of freedom we'll have together, I think the friendships and opportunities in Boston are even greater. My hometown will always be my hometown, but Boston has become my new home. As I prepare to head to Dublin in the fall, I can only begin to imagine how things will change yet again.

What are we waiting for?

Every Monday we wake up and wish it was Friday. Every cold winter day we wish for the warm days of spring and summer. When we're missing someone we wish we could be with them. It seems like we're never truly satisfied in life and always waiting for the next big thing to happen. Why don't we enjoy the current moment and stop wishing we were somewhere in the future? While the best things are often the things we wait for the longest and will create the memories we'll hold on to forever, enjoying and cherishing the every day is a rare skill that more people should try to master in life. As I stumbled across the text above on Pinterest, it made me think about how much waiting we do in life and our constant desire and longing for something in the future. We need to learn to live more in the present. This includes myself also, as I am always looking forward to something in the future. While it is great to have things to look forward too, we should not let those things stop us from taking every day as a blessing and finding the joy in the simple things.I spent most of my teenage years waiting to go to college and waiting to move the the city. Then it all finally happened, and suddenly there was not big thing to look forward to. I try to enjoy every day because you never know when it will be your last. As I spend this summer anticipating my study abroad to Ireland in the fall, I have to remember to enojy the summer. The things that will happen and the memories I will make will all have an impact on my life and who I am and will become. After all, life's more about the journey than the actual destination. :)

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

Summer. It's a time when life gets a little easier, the temperature is warmer, and everyone seems a little nicer. In high school, summer meant sleeping in, going to the beach every week, going out for ice cream with friends, and bonfires. For most people, summers stay in this similar fashion once they begin college. Not for me. I chose to stay in the city for the summer instead of going home, and while it's not the same, it's just as good, if not better. In college, summer starts earlier. For me, summer means working at my school and doing a virtual internship. However, I get to do all this while also living in one of the greatest cities in the world, Boston. The trees are in bloom, the birds sing, and you can walk everywhere. There is so much to do and see. Summer has begin and I have brunched, attended Earth Fest, gone on many walks, and started my summer glow. Boston is a completely different place and much quieter in the summer, and I love it. While I don't go to the beach as much and it can get really hot, I wouldn't trade summers in the city for anything in the world. Let summer 2013 commence.

Live your life to the fullest potential.

Our generation is so filled with materialism and commercialism, that it’s hard to see what’s real. Money has become the all powerful tool and the only thing that seems to matter to people. We need to revert back to what’s real and what really matters. Friends, family, and happiness are far more important than Facebook, iPhones, and wealth.

So I’ve made a list for myself to make my life more positive, and I hope to inspire more people to do the same.

 1. Read. This seems to be a lost art in today’s world. I’m not saying you have to go out and read every classic novel or a book just because it’s on the New York Times Best Sellers; just read what you will enjoy. You’ll learn a lot and have an escape from the world. Reading gives your imagination a work out, as you will try to envision everything you read in your head.

2. Travel. This is one of the most important things to me, and something I always take the time and opportunities to do. Not only is it a vacation, but you get to see how other people live and experience another culture. I think it is best said by St. Augustine that “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” 

3. Find love. Now I’m not saying you have to go find your partner and settle down (I mean I can’t even do that right now), but just find love in life. Start with loving yourself. If you love yourself, than friends and a significant other loving you back will happen soon after. Also, love your friends. Find friends who love you back and don’t waste your time on those who don’t, life’s too short. Finally, when you do find that once in a lifetime love with someone, don’t let it go. Keep it and cherish it each day; appreciate what so many long to have.

4. Find meaning. Find something to live for, something you can be thankful for each day. Maybe it’s your family, your significant other, your children, your job, volunteering, or simply just the beauty in every day life. If you find something that has meaning and something to live for, you will never feel empty or alone.

5. Be less materialistic. Volunteer more. Go a day without technology. Remember that there is more to life than the materials that surround us, and that “the most important things in life aren’t things, they’re people.”

6. Be happy. This is the most important thing in life, and yet so many people can’t seem to achieve it. If you don’t like your life, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit it. Sure it may be tough at first, but at the end of the day your happiness is worth more than what’s in your wallet or how many people surround you.  Accept what you can’t change and appreciate what you have. Live your life for you and no one else. Lead a life that one day you can be look back on and be proud of all you’ve done. You are responsible for your own happiness. This is your life after all, live it how you want.

Another year over.

Finally a moment to breathe. This past week has been hectic with finals and wrapping up the end of the semester. It's crazy to think that I am now halfway done with college. It seems like just yesterday I was moving in and embarking on the next chapter on my life.

This past year has been an absolute whirlwind and I have had some of the best times of my life. I have made so many new friends and made so many memories it is unreal. To think how far I have come since arriving in Boston two years ago blows my mind. I have discovered who I truly am and grown so much. I have weeded the negative out of my life and focused on the positive. I have realized dreams and aspirations I never knew I had and experienced a city that I love.

As this year came to a close, it was an extremely bittersweet end. Last year I was excited for summer and my new HA job, and this year I have loved school and my friends so much that to see it end was very sad. I have grown so close to my two best friends this year and do not know how I ever lived without them, as cliche as it sounds. We always have a great time together whether we're going out or just spending hours procrastinating in my room. It was especially bittersweet because I am going abroad in the fall, so these were the last days guaranteed we will all be together and in the same place. I know we'll see each other a lot this summer and before I leave, but it's just so weird to go from seeing people almost every hour of every day to then going months and barely seeing them. I know it will all be worth it, it's just going to be different. It's so weird to think in just 4 months I'll be heading to Dublin. I love Boston so much and in high school all I ever wanted to do was go to college and be in the city, I never liked where I was. Now I love where I am and I'm sad to leave, even though where I'm heading will be just as a great and a whole new experience.

This summer is yet another change. Last summer when I started HA, I literally knew no one and spent the first week mostly to myself. I ended up making some of the greatest friends and having a fantastic summer, and it was unexpectedly great. Now this summer I know many of the people I am working with and I am already good friends with one of them. The two of us are so similar and I am really looking forward to all our adventures this summer. One of my other best friends of the two I was talking about is also coming later in the summer for a month, and I am very excited about that too. It's going to be so different this summer from last summer, but I know it will still be good. All this change is just different and outside the norm that I love, but it doesn't mean it won't be good. Change is really the only constant thing in life, and we have to enjoy every moment because life goes on and good things end, but better things often lie ahead. As this year comes to a close and summer and my journey to Ireland begins, I can only use one word to truly describe how I'm feeling, and I have never felt this word to be so relevant before, it's all just: bittersweet.