Work.

I had amazing adventures in Europe, but being home is awesome. I missed my friends so much and I am also broke. The return home was stressful and continues to be so because I am having the roughest time finding a job.

However, being jobless does not mean I am workless. I have been working for my father, grandpa, and aunt throughout the beginning of this summer. So far I have helped reside a garage, started the process of repainting a hundred year old building, worked in the woods, and helped fix a vehicle or two.

Working with my father brings back many childhood memories although now I have the advantage of being a bullshitter which helps a lot.

Finland.

Visiting Finland was awesomely fun, but in a very different way than Ireland and England was. I traveled alone for the first time in too long.

While in Finland I stayed in Turku with my dear friend Walter who I met whilst I was in Ecuador.

Walter, on the left, showed me how to live like the Finnish live throughout my half week in Finland. I was reminded greatly of Wisconsin as I learned more about Finland. There are many similarities between these two beautiful places.

My first full day in Finland I spent literally just wondering around the city. This church is the largest in Turku and it's also where both Walter and his brother were baptized.

Most of my time though I hung out with Walter and his friends and explored the amazing city. Although I loved Finland I would have a really hard time living there because it reminds me way to much of Wisconsin and I would get very homesick.

England.

Alright, it has been ages since my last post and I suppose it's about time I write about the time I spent in England.

I, of course, saw most of the main touristy things my first day in London. I visited a very popular Harry Potter attraction. I saw The Elizabeth Tower and heard Big Ben ring. Also I saw the London Eye, but didn't ride it because it was ridiculously expensive.

I hostel hopped my whole time in England because I refused to pay more than 18 pounds a night for a crappy mattress and clean sheets. I stayed at four hostels in five days each in a very different location around the city. After experiencing these different hostels I must recommend to stay at the Fresh hostel chain in London if you ever visit. It was by far the best hostel I stayed at.

 Seeing as how I stayed all around the city I spent much time on the tube while there. Although I spent a lot of time riding around I will never stop enjoying the reminders of 'Mind the Gap' there the play on the cars and in the stations.

The last day in London I spent on Abbey Road. I love The Beatles and have my whole life. I definitely accomplished a major life goal visiting this iconic Beatles location.

Ireland.

I think I may have almost recovered from my trip. It was an insane journey and I enjoyed every second of it. I had really missed traveling AND speaking English. It was very shocking to get off the plane in Ireland and be surrounded by English again.

The first day I was in Ireland I did the most typical touristy thing imaginable and went to the Guinness museum with my friends. We were able to tap our own pint and which was awesome because it was my first Guinness ever, I tapped it, and it was is IRELAND!

Later that night I met up with a group of my friends that are in the Spain program with me and we went on a pub crawl. It was so much fun and even though it was a Wednesday night almost every pub had awesome live music.

The next day I went on a free tour of Dublin! The doors on the left are all different colors because they didn't used to have house numbers in Dublin so everyone was required to have a different colored door then their two neighbors so no one would wander into the wrong house.

The picture of the right is of the palace in Dublin. This is as close as I could get because the building was closed due to the meetings of the European Union being held there.

The next day my friends and I visited a place called Howth, a small fishing town on the coast. It was a completely gorgeous town and we were able to climb around in the hills on the coast.

Ireland was awesome.

My favorite place I have every visited, I wish I could have stayed forever. I felt like the luckiest girl on earth the whole time I was there. I can not thank my family enough for this amazing opportunity. I have the best parents ever and I owe every bit of my awesomeness to them.

-Thank you Mom and Dad-

-I miss and love you-

To see more about my trip watch Evaire Leerson's new video!

Break.

One of the things I've been looking forward to since I've been in Spain is Spring Break. We have two weeks of vacation and it is FINALLY here!

I'll be visiting five maybe six countries on this trip and staying with one of my friends in Finland who I haven't seen in more than three years!

I am so excited to be living out of this backpack for 14 days and  I'm excited to see my long lost friend. I can't wait to see all of the things that until now I have only seen in movies. I hope this trip will be as amazing as all my dreams.

Ridiculous.

Yes, I do indeed fail at keeping up with this blog.

In my last post I talked about traveling abroad to Valladolid, Spain. I am in fact now in Valladolid. I've been here for almost three months now and it has been quite the trip.

Valladolid was the capital of Spain for five years from 1601 to 1606. The cathedral above was built during that time, but remains unfinished since the title of capital was moved to Madrid and Valladolid lost their funds for it. Valladolid is an interesting city, but I can't say it's my favorite so far in Spain. I've gone on a few excursions with my university and visited some amazing cities. The aqueduct pictured below is an example of Roman architecture that litters the country of Spain. This aqueduct is in Segovia and was used to bring water from the mountains to the city until the mid 1900s.

Although I've traveled a lot since being here and also have classes to study for I decided that starting a YouTube channel was the best idea. My roommate and I have been making videos here since January and I like to think that they are pretty ok.

I met my roommate, Eva, right before coming on this trip and now I consider her to be one of my best friends. She is just as weird and cheeky as I am and I am so glad that we were randomly placed together as roommates.

Summer.

I did it.

My first year of university is finally over.

I have accomplished a lot in the past year. I decided my majors will be International Studies and Spanish and I was also accepted into the Study Abroad program at my college. I will be studying in Valladolid, Spain for a semester next Spring! Most importantly, however, is that it is finally SUMMER!

I doubt there is a better way to start the summer then with a day of lounging around outside. My sister made infused water for her and cookies for my Father's birthday. I was able to steal some though. :)

But of course what good is any summer day outside without my trusty puppy by my side. Reuben and I were reunited at last and I couldn't be happier.