I Was Born A Ramblin' (Wo)Man

So that is probably one of my favorite pictures ever. That's right--two deans of the college serving ME, for a change. The event is called "midnight breakfast" and it's really the only time of year when you can catch the college deans wearing aprons and serving you free food. And yes, I most definitely had seconds.

I'm finally back at school and although it's nice to have a change of scenery, it's time for the endless cycle to kick into full gear once again. Winter break seemed unusually short this year, but I would say I made the most of it. Here's a short synopsis:

First of all, my family sort of spontaneously moved into another house and I had to help, which I wouldn't have minded missing. I kind of have a thing for manual labor, but not so much when my parents are around. They have a knack for making anything simple into absolute chaos.

The second fun thing was going to the west coast for the first time EVER. My boyfriend and I planned the trip back in October and ever since I'd been looking forward to it, and for good reason! We went to Portland, Oregon (and did manage to make it up to Vancouver, Washington for a day). Now, I know what you're thinking--"Why would you go during the winter? That's the rainy season!" Fer sher it rained, but it was still beautiful.

If on graduation day they asked me what trait I acquired during college, I'd say it was my love of travel. I'm scared to death of heights, which makes flying a bit scary, but I can handle it if it means going somewhere new. As I may have mentioned before, I studied abroad in Prague, Czech Republic, and while there I made a point to visit France, Austria, Turkey and Italy, then backpacked through the Balkans, meaning Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (okay, so we more or less passed through that one), and Slovenia. I came back from Prague a few pounds thinner and a lot better traveled than before I had left.

In Portland, we mainly looked at colleges and schlepped around the city. What else would two tourists do? (Oh yeah, check out microbreweries). We also stayed at a hostel called the Hawthorne Hostel (it was in the Hawthorne district of the city, duh), which was awesome because beds cost only $17 a night--which is definitely in my price range.

On the way home, we had a layover in Houston, which was cool because I'd never been to Texas. I decided to get the southern breakfast classic, which included grits, and was pleased when the cashier referred to me as "youngster" in a pleasant southern drawl. I may be 21 years old, but apparently I qualified as a youngster. Then again I was mistaken for a 15 year old the week of my 21st birthday....