Pantanal

Oi! It has been a little while since I’ve written. I’ve blinked and we are already at the end of October! During the month of October, our school had a week long holiday. I took a trip with my friends Mali and Sofia to the Pantanal and Bonito. Mali organized the whole trip through ABN […]

Parkland HS- Pray for Healing

Today, my heart is heavy. In the past, I had heard news stories about school shootings and was in shock and awe, but quickly moved on with my life. It’s sad that we live in a place where this is commonplace, and mass shootings happen regularly. Politics aside, this one feels different. I am currently […]

Land of Oz

As I finally begin to remember what it’s like to relax and have fun after grad school, I realize there is a lot to see without traveling internationally. Traveling is one of my favorite hobbies, and today I was able to be whisked away to the Land of Oz, yellow brick road and all. My […]

Commencement Speech

Once upon a time, a young 20 something went to graduate school to become a counselor. She foolishly thought she would have time to write… 2 years later, that girl graduated. Moving on from speaking in 3rd person, that girl is obviously me. Now that my program is done, I can breathe a sigh of […]

The Good, the Bad, and the Slurpy: 10 Lessons Learned in China

On my last night in China, I thought it would be nice to let you peek into my reactions about my experience here in the land where pandas roam and noodles and dumplings are had. I’ve been in China for about 1 month, so I cannot say with certainty that any of these are true […]

Buddha Buddha Buddha Buddha Rocking Everywhere

The Leshan Buddha was no where near my radar until Jenna mentioned that she saw it on her trip to Chengdu. I’m here for 4 days, so might as well right? I got my panda loving in, so I can spend some time seeing the world’s tallest Buddha if I’m so close. Let me just […]

Chengdu Panda Palace

Today I embraced China’s “National Treasure”- the Giant Panda. And now I feel as though my Chinese experience is complete, and I am so overjoyed. They are SO DANG CUTE. I spent the morning at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, or as I refer to it in my dreams, the Panda Palace. […]

Climbing Uphill in the Land of Avatar

Tianzi Shan is a mountain in the Zhangjiajie National Park, in the southern area of China… and I climbed it. Like a boss. I climbed up it, but not back down. I’ll get to that later. First some background- this was the BIG sight to see during my time with Jenna. She had to teach […]

Tall, Blonde, Blue Eyed- as described by Chinese HS Freshman

My wonderful friend Jenna is teaching English at a rural public school here in Cili. As a special lesson for two of her classes, she brought me in as a special guest. They were given the opportunity to ask me questions about anything they like, and then afterwards wrote 10 sentances about me or to […]

Calligraphy, Tea, and Duck Intestine

One of the perks of staying with Jenna is getting to meet all of her Chinese friends. Jenna translates and I just smile a lot… similar to my experience in Hungary… hmm. Anyways, her friends have been so very sweet to Jenna as well as to me. On Monday we went to visit with her […]