Finals.

It's exam week at my school next week, however, all my professors don't seem to mind that at all. I've done two presentations this week and have four essays due next week. The good thing is those essays count as my finals for those classes.

I am surprised with myself, I haven't procrastinated this semester as much as I have in the past. Lately I have found myself staying up late, drinking coffee, and writing my essays. Not stressing, only finding peace in the silence the night time brings that is good for my writing. My house is almost never quiet during the day, night is peaceful here.

Room.

Year three of my college career is starting next week! I've been living in my college house for the summer, but now I'm finally in my actual room and ready for classes to start.

I've been setting up my room for the past day and I am quite pleased with the final result.

(The sign above is a replica I made of Bilbo's sign in the Lord of the Rings because I'm awesome.

No admittance except on party business.)

This room had just enough room on the walls to put up all my flags I have collected.

I couldn't feel more at home in this room and my plants love the bright windows!

As the days pass more and more of my roommates have been moving in. I will end up having either six or seven roommates and I can't wait.

Hair.

I recently got a bit of a haircut.

I had two foot long hair.

Now I have two inch long hair.

I went to a Rotary conference and helped raise money for my good Rotary friend Destiny who was diagnosed with a severe type of Dysautonomia.

Two other former Rotary students and I sectioned off our hair into ponytails and then "sold" each ponytail for a ten dollar donation.

I was scared in the beginning, but when the first cut was made there wasn't going back so I decided to get excited about it!

We ended up raising about 1,500 dollars for Destiny and Dysautonomia Research and our hair went to locks of love!
I do miss my hair, but I don't regret it for a minute.
The hair grows back, but the impact never ends.

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.