With, For, In Love

When I make a plan I will do everything in my power to make it happen. (Okay, except for the time I was going to knit scarves, the time I was going to become a vet, the time I was going to go to the Governor's School, and the time I was going to live in New York. But hey those are only a few exceptions!) I love to make plans for everything, including my life. I have my 1, 5, and 10 year plan all neatly laid out. I recognize it might not happen exactly how I want it to but I can sure try to make it fit into my box. I suppose I find a sort of identity in my plan and when there is an inner turmoil regarding it, I lose a bit of who I am, or at least think I am. Vegan ice cream My life was all laid out. But then I came here. And then the ideas all fell apart. I've only talked to two people about this so far so congratulations, you've made it to the inner circle! My life plan has begun to fall apart because I'm wondering if I'm genuinely too selfish for it. I cal...

I thought it would be different than this.... There's a disillusionment with studying abroad. Everyone puts up the best pictures of their friends, their food, and their activities. No one puts up the bad pictures because obviously you can't make people jealous with those. Your pictures have to stand out among the other 1,000 friends you have studying abroad. In fact, your blogs have to be so incredible that people even bother to read them. It's a lot of pressure to be under when this trip was suppose to be about you. But what if I told you I didn't care about that pressure and I wanted to tell the truth. What I'm about to tell you may shock you but it's worth saying.The truth is I don't like Costa Rica. I don't like living in Puntarenas. This experience is very different than I thought it would be. I came to Costa Rica comparing my experience to that of studying abroad in Italy and that was wrong. It didn't give either the chance they deserv...

For in living without much you become free from the world's concept of fulfillment. I stepped onto the sandy cement floor and walked over to my backpack to grab my phone and finally take a picture of our group from the weekend. The floor only showed me a bathing suit bottom and nothing more. Maybe someone had moved my backpack. I walked into the only other room in the apartment and that's when I heard someone say, "Guys, I think we were robbed!" I shook my head no...this was not what was suppose to happen tonight or ever. A group of 10 students travelled to this small non-touristy beach town called Playa Negra. The beach was beautiful and wonderful for surfing. The main attraction was that we were going to have a relaxing weekend free from people constantly selling you things and others pointing at maps with very confused looks on their faces. It had all of the makings to be great. Then we went to the beach at night. And then we were robbed. My first though...