I originally thought I was going to change my topic to a review of microwave meals however as busy as I am I realized that I have zero time for that. As a result I will continue my travel stories. Ill start by a recap about what this blog is for those of you who weren’t forced to read my blog posts last year.

I’ve been to Austria, France, Finland, Hungary, Spain and even Uzbekistan, however the circumstances on why I am there are very different than your normal traveler’s. When I travel I have the privilege to see rundown convention centers (most of which are gross and smell weird it’s lovely), the occasional family owned restaurant, and the local H&M if i’m lucky. This is because when I visit other states or countries I am there to compete either for my Club or the USA national team in Fencing.

I am a competitive fencer and have been for about seven years now. I travel around the country and around the world in an effort to try and make National Team and recently retaining my World Team status. National team is the top twelve girls on the points list and are selected to represent the United States of America in International tournaments. Of these twelve girls the top four are taken for World Team. The World Team competes in that years World Championships. I have been lucky enough to have made it the past two years and I’m fighting for this year’s team. Another part of fencing is the collegiate meets. When we travel we either get the cheapest flight or we bus for hours to get where we are going. This means that about seventy of us are all crammed onto a bus for eight hours or more to go to competition, Unless it’s a travel team only competition in which case the number drops to around fifteen people. No matter the size, when we travel while representing Penn State we aren’t seeing luxury hotels or eating at fancy restaurants. We are more likely than not eating at the host college’s dining hall and staying in Hampton Inns or something.

The point of that long ass background information was to make it clear that when I travel and blog about it, don’t be expecting some artsy post about a cute little french town that I have been to. Not to say that the french towns I visit aren’t adorable, most are, and most do have excellent food however don’t be expecting to plan your summer vacation trip with this information.

Not much for the first post but it gives some good background information on my blog and why I am late posting a bit. This semester I will be traveling every weekend be it for collegiate meets or team stuff I’m hella busy. Im just glad I will be in town for our discussions.