Hey guys! I can’t believe this is my last blog post ever! I am so relieved to tell you the truth, I don’t really know if blogging is for me. I hope I’ve posted some interesting stuff for you all this semester!

My last little piece of advice has to do with summer plans. I feel like as college students, we are torn between wanting to live it up all summer before we get internships and real jobs, and working ourselves to death to pay off student loans/other college expenses. My advice to you is to do what feels right to you. Honestly, I would try to find a good balance. I say all this because I usually just choose to work myself until every muscle on my body aches, and I regret not doing more with my friends and family because I had to work or I was too tired to do anything between shifts. There are so many things I still have to do experience before I become a real adult, but at the same time it’s so hard for me to go out and have fun when I know I could be making money instead. I have such an issue with this, but I’m thinking I found a nice balance for this summer. So, I’ll tell you my plans!

The fact that I’ll be home the second week of May is absolutely fantastic for a couple reasons. 1. I won’t be stressed 24/7 and I can take a little breather, and 2. I can go back to work! You are probably thinking that I’m some workaholic…and that’s because I am. I have had a job since I was 14 years old. I have worked at a kid’s amusement park for 5 (soon to be 6) summers and I have worked at a restaurant since I was 16. So yes I have had two jobs at once. The summers are my money makin’ months for sure. Between the two jobs, I average about 60 hours every week working. That of course includes days when I go to work at 9 am, leave my first job around 4, and spend the rest of my night at my other job, until around 11. I am very used to 12-14 hour days and it might sound crazy to literally anyone, but I love those kind of days. My social life is sort of nonexistent, but working so hard is so rewarding to me. I mean I bought my first car and a trip to Italy all by myself! What 16 year old does that?  Anywayyyy my summer plans here ya go!

So I get home I think the 5th of May? I have about two weeks to relax and not worry about school, and then guess what! I’m taking an online summer class from about mid-May to mid-June and I’m not excited about it at all. It’s physics 212 and from what I know about physics 211, it’s gonna suck. While I am taking this online class, I will be only working one of my jobs, which will be the restaurant. It’s a cute little place tucked into the woods called Foggy Mountain Lodge and Restaurant and I have worked the past two years there as a hostess, but this summer I’m going to be a server and make a crapload of money. My kinda job am I right? 

Once the summer class is over, I will celebrate by going back to my second job, at the amusement park. I know, I’m such a hoot. Anyone would kill to have my life, yeah I’ve heard it a lot. I don’t really love the work I do at the amusement park, but it’s one of the most layed back jobs in the whole park and plus my best friend works with me there so it’s pretty fantastic if I have to be honest.

Okay other than the boring stuff, here’s where the fun comes in! For the first time ever, I am taking a road trip up to Long Island with my friends to stay with my roommate for a week! I am so excited about this that I’m already planning about it. I have never been to New York at all, and we will be going into the city for a couple days as well as the beach. I’ve never really gone on a vacation with my friends so this is a big deal for me, and also nice relaxing break from work. 

I am so excited for summer, but sad that I only get to spend a week of it with my friends from school. I’m gonna miss the people here a lot.

So to help you out with some ideas of how to make your summer more interesting, I’m gonna include some summer bucket lists so you can fill the months with awesome activities before we go off and become real boring adults. Ps the people in these pics are the friends I’m going to New York with!!

I really hope everyone enjoys their summers and the rest of their time at Penn State 🙂 Thanks for reading my blogs!

The ultimate 2018 summer bucket list

Welcome back to school everyone! I hope y’all had an amazing break and your year is going well! This week I am going to talk about my vacation over spring break to Turks and Caicos!! 

My family went to Beaches Turks and Caicos last week for the second time ever and it was more beautiful than ever there. We went back when I was 13 so I was super awkward looking and wore really unappealing clothes so I’m glad we have some new memories so I don’t have to think about that…

This trip was really special for me because I was about to get certified as a SCUBA diver! I have been taking the SCUBA class here at Penn State and have learned so much that getting certified at the resort was super easy and fun! My little brother and I are the only ones in my family who aren’t certified, so I’m really glad that we’re a complete diver family now!

A little backstory as to why I have put off being a diver for so long… So I am honestly just a wimp and have been terrified all my life to swim with fish. That’s literally it. I was scared they would touch me or I’d get attacked by a shark or a crab would pinch me or something idk and my family has laughed at me for years. You can get certified at 10…I’m nineteen. It’s about time I grew a pair. So taking this course at school and getting certified on vacation was kind of a huge accomplishment for me. I have been facing my fears and the outcomes have been nothing but rewarding.

The first full day we were there my little brother, Max and I went through our skills in a pool before we took on the big fish take (aka the ocean) and it went really well. I already knew all the skills so it was fun getting to help Max and make him feel more comfortable. The only thing left to do was our checkout dives in the ocean! Piece of cake. Unfortunately the next two days diving was cancelled across the island due to the strong wind and currents. It kinda sucked especially because that really never happens there. My luck I guess. 

A few days later we finally got to go out. I have never seen water so clear, the visibility was about 40 feet. It was insane! Max and I got to suit up with our mom and her friend Pamela who came on vacation with us (she is also a dive instructor at another resort in St. Lucia) and head into the water!

I am so glad I chose to face this fear, but I’m a little mad that it took me so long. I’ve missed out on seeing some truly amazing sights because I was scared and I can’t get those years of diving back. We saw so many cool fish. A lot of Dory’s (I hope you know what that means), some stingrays, lobsters, and a SHARK. Wow! And the best part about seeing the shark was that I wasn’t even scared! I was so excited I was laughing through my regulator with my mom. What an experience. I can’t wait to go out and dive more. That was so much fun. 

The rest of my vacation was fantastic as well. All inclusive resorts are the way to go, trust me. As much food and drink as you want and you don’t need your wallet with you ever. And did I mention the drinking age there was 18?? I really enjoyed getting to go on a family vacation again, I hadn’t been on one in so long and it was such a relaxing break from school. My parents are the best for taking us.

I know I need to be adding some sort of advice into these still, so what I really want to say is you should really think about facing the little fears bottled up in you. I had such a stupid fear of swimming with other creatures that it kept me from doing potentially the best activity in the world for so long. After facing that, I want to do it all the time. I plan to take scientific diving classes here at school and maybe even writing my senior thesis on something with diving! Face your fears people!!  

Best dive locations in the caribbean