I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls...

I've never been into the whole "blogging" craze, but I decided to finally try it. I entitled my blog Live. Laugh. Love. because those are the three words that I try to put into my everyday thoughts. The past few years have been trying but they've ultimately made me who I am today and I am incredibly happy with who that is.
This time last summer I was gallavanting across Europe. I had the time of my life. It was my first trip abroad and I absolutely fell in love with Venice, Italy. The city is beautiful and enchanting and the people are so welcoming. I traveled to Europe once again over spring break for a class (Woods Around the World) and ventured to Berlin, Germany; Krakow, Poland; Warsaw, Poland; and Prague, Czech Republic. This time, the mood was much more somber as we were studying the Holocaust. The most sobering experience was when we went to Auschwitz. I'm usually pretty good about keeping together but the minute we stepped into the gas chambers and you could see the scratches on the wall from more than 50 years ago, I lost it. I'm not even Jewish, but the fact that humans were killing their fellow man (and women and children) because they were different is something I have never understood. I am a complete history nerd and have studied the Holocaust, as well as other tragedies in history, attempting to find something that redeems those who were in the wrong. Or at least somewhat justifies their pillaging and takeover. Hitler and the Holocaust is one of the few that have nothing. It was nice being able to see the beauty of Switzerland, Italy and France and having a light-hearted trip the first time around and then being able to see the unexpected beauty of Berlin, Poland and Prague.
I have always admired Paris. I've wanted to go since I was in the second grade. The culture, the people and the history is overwhelming. The language is THE single most beautiful language in my opinion and I had always wanted to test my skills. I found that Venice soon replaced Paris as my favorite city, closely followed by Verona, Italy and Nice, France. After my most recent trip across the pond, Prague has become number one on my list. I have never seen such a beautiful city. Like Paris, cities in Italy and even cities in Poland, Prague has an old-world charm. Most of the the streets look like they are straight out of a story book. Now that I am closer to graduating, I keep thinking that I should've taken the time and studied abroad for a semester instead of only going for two weeks at a time on two different occasions. My friend Barb went to Ireland for a semester and then traveled all over Europe. That experience is invaluable. Nothing can take away the experiences that you have and what you can discover about yourself. I am sort of on a path of self discovery. I have an idea of who I am, but I'm also trying to figure out what I'm going to do and who I want to be. I have so many dreams and aspirations and I don't want to let any opportunity pass me by.
In line with me being a complete history nerd, I'm graduating in December with a B.A. in History. I have an internship this summer at the National Winston Churchill Museum to try and test the waters and figure out what I want to go to graduate school for. I would love to work in the Smithsonian or at the Museum of Natural History. If I do the Museum Studies route, I would have to work at a bigger museum in a big city. I couldn't do the small time stuff. There is too much out there to discover in bigger museums. On the other hand, I would be perfectly happy teaching and coaching. Teaching would give me the opportunity to have summers and also travel.
I'm trying to figure out where my life is leading, but the adventure is the most fun.