Madagascar Madness

I must preface this and say that I feel like these blogs are horribly written. Everything is out of order, I can barely get pictures to upload, and half of it I've written at different times and quite awhile back. I've also probably left a lot of things out. So sorry mom and dad. Haha I'll have more pictures/videos when I get back!  Some things in Africa are just difficult, but I'm doing my best. 

Monday, December 21st 

My first two weeks here have flown by. Everyday so far has just been amazing. It's actually strange that it's so close to Christmas. I really don't feel in the holiday spirit at all. Normally that would make me sad because Christmastime is one of my favorite times of the year so missing out on that kind of sucks. But at the same time, I don't actually know what I'm missing out on so it's not that bad. And I'm also on a tropical island where it's beautiful weather everyday and I'm having tons of fun. So I guess you could say it's not too bad.

We actually drew names and are doing a Secret Santa game on Christmas Day. Camp is decorated with tinsel and Christmas stuff so that's fun too. We are also having special food on Christmas. I think we're having home fries and eggs for breakfast, a yummy pasta for lunch, and burritos and an assortment of desserts for dinner. We were able to choose what all we wanted to eat Christmas day. It was funny to have everyone sit around and talk about what we wanted because it's so impossible to have normal food here. Not only are most things difficult to find, but we also don't have a refrigerator or an oven. So you can imagine how limited the options are.

Most meals here are good still. We have a rotating schedule of food that consists of crepes, fruits, bread, and french toast for breakfast, and then either pastas or rice with vegetables for lunches and dinners. We also have really good desserts too. It's either fried bananas, fruit salad, pinapples, mangos, this weird fried coconut thing, or chocolate doughnut things which are my favorite. 

My first Friday here, we had Environment Day. Everyone was split into groups and had to go to the schools in several of the villages here. There we taught lessons that each group had constructed about degradation. My group taught our lesson in Kelly, a village that's about a 45 minute hike away. We had pictures of animals and explained to them that some of them belong in the forest, and some in the ocean. There is a problem here with people being really mean to all the fish and other animals. People have seen kids beating fish on the beach just for the heck of it. We also explained to them that trash belongs in trash cans and not in the ocean or forests. It was a little difficult to explain because most of the kids don't speak English all that well. They all pretty much speak Malagasy and French. We played a lot of games though and hopefully they took something out of it. I know I did. It was neat to see all the kids so enthusiastic. There were about thirty students between the ages of 5 and about 12.  The school is a small building with benches pushed up to tables that lots of the kids are squished together on. The classroom had a few chalkboards as well. Our class was a little rowdy but it was fun to interact with all of them. They literally love having their picture taken. It can actually get a bit hectic with how much they love it. 

This is the class and classroom we had our lesson in. 

Last weekend was my first time to really explore Hellville, which is the main town on Nosy Be. A boat runs from our camp to Hellville everyday at around 6am and boats come back at around noon and three 'o clock. We got there early and went to Oasis, a nice French cafe that has good juices, pastries, and wifi. After that I went with some of my friends, Savannah and Kristen, to get some groceries and run some errands. It's funny because back home I never eat Nutella. But here it's basically a necessity to make breakfast better. That, and soy sauce have become very important. 

Around town, tuk-tuks are the most common form of transportation. They're these weird, yellow, three-wheeled vehicles with a bench in the back.  It literally costs like fifty cents to get anywhere you want. 

We spent the rest of the day at Beach Bar in Ambotaluka, which is actually the prostitution capital of the world. It's really weird. It's a small town with a bunch of bars on the beach and hotels and stuff. It's actually a pretty cool area. The prostitution thing is strange though. It's really common on Nosy Be to see old white French dudes eating or walking around with young Malagasy women. Apparently it's every local girl's dream to marry a rich old French guy. So yeah it's kind of weird to see but at the same time I guess I'm just used to pretty much everything at this point and just take things in stride. Haha. 

Sunday I just relaxed around camp. It was a pretty busy week though with lots of diving. I passed my fish species test which is super exciting!!!!! I'm officially doing surveys now. We basically have five dive sites that we try to do a set number of surveys each month. We aim for five nudibranch, invertebrate, benthic, and active fish surveys as well as two reef fish surveys. At least I think that's the right number for everything. Either way we do a lot of surveys. 

Since I specialized in fish, I do active fish and reef fish surveys as well as nudibranch surveys, everyone does those. In active fish, we take a slate and just write down every type of fish species we see, normally around forty types. In reef fish, we measure out 50meters with a reel, then follow the path and record the number and size of particular species within a square window, either 2meters across or 5meters depending if you're doing wrasse or damsel fish. 

My slate after an active fish survey. Lots of species. 

Some of the flash cards I had to learn to pass my fish species test. 

On of our local staff's cute little baby playing on camp. 

I also officially finished my Advanced Open Water dives today. My first week I did my Navigation, Peak Performance Buoyancy, and Fish Identification dives. Last week I did my night dive, which was awesome. We did it at our dive site right in front of camp, Turtle Towers. The visibility wasn't that great but what was amazing was the bioluminescents in the water. We stopped at one point and all turned off our dive torches. It was completely black with no light. It was like being in a black pit. Then we were able to wave our arms through the water and amazing things happened. Any movement caused the water to kind of have sparks. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I seriously felt like I was God creating the galaxy. Splash of stars here, giant planets there, constellations everywhere. It was just so insane and beautiful and amazing I can't even describe it. It was just like being in space with all the stars and planets and comets and everything swirling around you. It was definitely something I will never forget. 

That Friday I actually went with the Forest conservation team to Lockabe National Park on Nosy Be. We did a four hour,1090m hike up  and stopped at a look out at the top of the mountain overlooking the rest of the island. It was amazing. We also saw some really neat creatures including several snakes and lizards, lemurs, and a really rare chameleon- a minima. Alice, the forest officer has been looking for one for months and we actually found two, one of which I found! They're the second smallest species of chameleon in the world and very endangered. They were only about an inch long. It was really cool to see in person. It was also cool to hike in a primary rainforest. The trees were so thick you couldn't even see the sky the entire hike. We didn't really have to worry about rain because it wouldn't have reached us anyways. There were Tarzan-like vines everywhere that you could actually swing on. It was really cool and I'm glad I took the day to get off Nosy Komba and do some hiking and get some excersize. 

This past weekend was super fun. We took the early boat into Hellville again on Saturday. We went to Oasis for breakfast and ran errands again and then headed back to Ambataluka. We met up with some other people in the program and hung out for a bit. We got a hotel room right net to beach bar for the night. After a delicious lunch of some type of pasta we rented fourwheelers and explored the island. There were ten of us split between eight quadbikes, as the call them here. Savannah rode on the back with me. The fourwheelers were pretty good but started really sketchy. None of them broke down though so that was good. We actually had a local guy show us around. 

First we headed to the Cascades, a waterfall. The road there was seriously insane. We had to drive off the main paved road onto a dirt road that went through some pastures and woods. I feel like they made this place really hard to get to to make it more fun for people though. We had to cross sketchy flooded creeks and go across weird sections filled with softball sized rocks and through tons of mud. I felt like I was in one of those dirtbike races where you have to go over logs and stuff. It was definitely entertaining with quite a few mishaps, none of which were mine. I was pretty thankful I had grown up on four wheelers. 

When we finally got there we had to hike down to the waterfall. It was probably fifteen meters tall and enclosed on all sides so it made a circular area. The trees went all the way around and over the pond too so it was a really neat effect. There were some locals and little kids swimming too. The Australian guys were all jumping off the waterfall. 

It was funny because when we went to leave, all the little kids grabbed our hands and walked up with us. They were so cute. Sam looked back and saw everyone with these little kids and said "have we all got one of these?". It was quite funny because yeah, we did all have little kids holding each of our hands. 

After the waterfall we drove across the island for around an hour an explored before ending up at Andilana, one of the prettiest beaches on Nosy Be. It was beautiful and had tons of people around who were all on on of the cruise ships. I was seriously SO dirty at this point. The roads, while paved, have tons of dirt on them. When we took off our helmets and sunglasses we all had dirt caked in weird shapes on our face. It was hilarious. A nice swim in the ocean washed off all the dirt though. After that we headed back to Ambataluka to our hotel. We went to a Zeburger for dinner where I had a delicious burger. I'm pretty sure my stomach has shrank a bunch since I've been here because it was a normal sized burger and I could barely eat half of it. And everyone knows how much I can normally eat. I've also gone full vegetarian when I eat here at camp. The meat here just kind of freaks me out and I like the vegetables better anyways.  

After dinner, we went to Beach Bar and had some drinks and danced. It was a lot of fun. I was so proud of myself for staying up til almost 2am too. I usually wake up here around 5:30am and go to sleep by 9. So it was a big deal to stay up that late haha. 

Savanah and I at Beach Bar. 

Funny local named Samuel Jackson. 

Pretty sunset after riding four wheelers. There's no shortness of beauty in Mada. 

The next morning we slept in. It was nice staying in a hotel because we had AC, a refrigerator- which meant cold water- and a hot shower! It was heavenly. It's funny though because all of those things are nice, but it's really not a big deal to live without them. 

Later we went to Nandipo, a cool bar/restaurant in Hellville while we waited for the three 'o clock boat back to Nosy Komba. I had three cheese pasta and it was heavenly. 

Savanah, Kristen, and I in the tuk-tuck. Our driver randomly pulled over and climbed into a small crawl space behind us to hide from the police, which have tons of check points across Nosy Be. Africa is weird. It's even weirder we weren't phased by it. 

Today was really busy. Someone was sick so I was able to go with them to Tanikelly, a tiny island about thirty minutes away to do my Deep Dive, which was the last dive I needed for my Advanced course. That means I am officially Advanced Open Water certified. Yipee. 

Our dive at Tanikelly was so awesome. The water was incredibly clear. We went down to about 20meters. Justin, our dive instructor, brought some eggs down to show us first hand the effect that pressure can have at deeper depths. He peeled the shell off of the raw egg and dthe entire thing stayed together. It was really neat. You could bat it around and squish the yolk around. It eventually all popped but it was really cool to see how the pressure affected it. 

The diversity at Tanikelly was also really good. We saw a lot of the fish we normally see at our dive sites closer to us, but just a lot more. There were huge schools and all of the fish were huge! It was insane. I didn't even know some of the fish could get that big.  

We saw quite a few absolutely massive groupers, some blue spotted rays, giant schools of big emperor fish, and a wide assortment of some really neat species of fish. It was great. 

After that I had an active fish survey dive at Dragon's Den, a short boat ride from camp, and a reef fish survey dive at Turtle Tower's, right in front of camp. So needless to say, it was a busy day, much of which I spent underwater. I barely had time for lunch.

Since then I've just been hanging out and relaxing. Currently waiting for dinner. It's nice to have all my meals cooked and dishes done for me. I'm being spoiled. I also had one of the local staff do my laundry today for a couple bucks. 

The rest of my week will probably be busy as well, with still plenty of time to relax. I'm definitely feeling at home at this point, it's just crazy how fast everything is going by. I'll be home and back to real life before I know it so I'm really trying to enjoy my time here.  

Saturday, December 26th

So I haven't had wifi to post my last blog so I thought I'd go ahead and add the last few days onto it. 

Christmas here was a blast actually. Christmas Eve everyone hung around camp and played games and drank. I've actually learned so many fun new drinking games and I can't wait to get home and play them. The night actually ended with a late night swim. Everyone swam out to the Turtle Express, our dive boat that's anchored off shore about 200 meters from the beach. It's been a really full moon the past two days so it was great. We were all jumping off of the boat and laughing. It was a blast. Funny story though because we had all left clothes and head lamps and everything on the beach. Then the tide came up super fast when we were swimming so when we got back a lot of our stuff was gone. My hoodie, the only long sleeve article of clothing I brought, was gone. My friend from Romania, Victor felt so bad that the next morning he went down to the beach looking for my hoodie and actually found it. So that was nice. 

Christmas day was really good. This has definitely been one of my most favorite Christmas's ever actually. All of our local staff had the day off so we were in groups to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everyone working together and being in and out of the kitchen all day really made it feel like Christmas a lot more. Our meals took forever to cook because we only have one burner, but everything came out really good. Lunch and dinner were the best meals I've had since I've been here. There was also tons of food so that was nice to be able to actually eat and somewhat stuff myself. 

Secret Santa was also really fun. Justin, one of the dive instructors here but is originally from Maine, dressed up as Santa. They have a funny tradition each year where someone wears a funny santa costume that's made up weird red capri pants and a santa jacket and everyone has to sit on his lap while you open your secret santa gift. He even made a beard out of tinsel. It was great. 

The gift I got was so good too. Laura, a girl from Spain, had me. She bought a Madagascar flag and had everyone from camp sign it. It's seriously my favorite thing in the world and I'm going to keep it forever! It was such a thoughtful gift. Everyone really did a great job with the secret santa. Most of the gifts were really thoughtful and nice. It was funny how creatively people wrapped the gifts. We obviously don't have wrapping paper or boxes so people used banana leaves or colored on construction paper. I did mine with brown paper and then tied it with some red and white string I found. Our tree was also cute. We have a tiny like one meter tall tree that we stuck in a bottle filled with sand and decorated it. 

It was honestly just a great day. Everyone was so cheerful and we all hung out and spent time together. It was great to be able to give and receive one gift too. It was nice to take the consumerism out of Christmas for once. No one was focused on what they were getting for Christmas and instead just enjoyed the day. We played tons of games all day. They played cricket and rugby on the beach but I obviously had no idea how to play. Haha. We also did a funny little relay game. I was a team captain and my team won so the losing team had to buy all the winners a beer. 

Vanessa, our Marine Officer who is originally from Kenya, has had her parents and brother here too which has been fun. It's always nice to have family around for the holidays even if it's not my own. They also brought us beer too which was great. We literally ran out of beer Christmas night. It's not easy to get anything around here so once we are out, we are out for awhile until someone goes to Nosy Be. Vanessa's parents are pretty much from New Zealand. Her dad taught everyone how to do a Haka before playing Rugby. It was absolutely hilarious. He was screaming these weird phrases and had people do this funny dance and stomp their feet. It was quite interesting. He was really fun though and kept making up fun games for everyone to play. 

My gift to Savanah! 

Seriously love my gift. 

This is a little out of order, but Wednesday night something completely hilarious happened. Victor, Justin, Vanessa, and I were sitting around. Everyone else had randomly gone to sleep really early. We were all just talking when I saw a big crab running over to the side. I went and picked it up and was playing around with it, pretending to put it on Victor and stuff, when it somehow reached around and grabbed onto my index finger on my left hand. I seriously couldn't get it off. At first they thought I was kidding or something but soon realized I was serious. Of course the first thing Vanessa does is start taking pictures. We have most of it on video too. It was great. We seriously couldn't get it off though. It was angry! We tried prying it off but it just wasn't happening. Justin eventually went and got some pliers and still couldn't get it off. We tried breaking the claws and stabbing it in the face and it literally would NOT let go. Meanwhile I'm laughing so hard and am in excruciating pain. It hurt, but I realized how hilarious the situation was. Finally, after seriously like three minutes at least I finally got it off my finger. No idea how honestly. It literally pinched all the way through my nail. I had actual blood coming out of my nail. So lesson learned, African crabs are angry and not to be messed with. I still can't feel the tip of my finger. 

Here is Justin trying to get the crab off my finger unsuccessfully. 

The aftermath. 

Overall it's been a really good couple of days. We did a "fun dive" on Christmas Eve. I've just been hanging out, reading books, and relaxing. Nothing much else is going on. I'm seriously enjoying relaxing on a tropical island. I love my friends here and just life in general. Couldn't be better.

A view of our storm from the deck on camp at Lockabe National Park on Nosy Be. We have a great view of the island and Hellville. 

Sometimes we had too much time to kill, especially when it rains. Spent a morning coloring funny masks and listening to music on day. 

My First Week in Nosy Komba

It's Wednesday here in Nosy Komba. So it's officially my third day here and I couldn't possibly be loving it any more.

It was an insane journey to get here from Antanarivo. There were actually five other people in the people all traveling here at the same time, so instead of taking a taxi brousse, we paid an extra $40 each and took a private van. Jacko, our driver spoke broken English but was really nice. 

We left from Tana at about four in the afternoon on Saturday. We stopped and got cash before taking off. We wound through the tight streets past rows and rows of stalls full of goods, mainly fruits or snacks or even raw meets just hanging out in the sun covered in flys. There were so many people it was insane. The streets were full of cars (even nice new cars surprisingly), scooters, and wooden carts pulled by zebus. 

  

Finally, we got outside of the main city. The landscape was stunning and as we drove over, down, and between large hills you could see for miles. Most of the land was open without any trees, just shrubs and some small lakes. The road was also insanely narrow, barely wide enough for a single car yet we would constantly pass huge trucks and such. 

After about an hour on the road it unfortunately started raining and our trip turned into a nightmare, at least for me. As many people who know me well know, I hate riding in cars when I'm not driving. It terrifies me for some reason. Planes, boats, motorcycles, whatever are fine, it's just cars that make me nervous. 

Well this drive was one for the record. For FOUR hours, we drove at night, in the pouring rain, on the tiniest, most winding road ever, with cliffs on either sides. I literally thought at one point that this is how it was all going to end. I have no idea how our driver could even see the road. It was horrible. I was also in the front passenger seat so I had a front and center view of the struggle. Seriously if we would have gone off the already narrow road by a foot on either side it would be unavoidable doom. I thought at the very least I was going to die of anxiety. I was also exhausted and I kept trying to make myself go to sleep so either A) I wouldn't know what was going on or feel the pain when we wrecked or B) at the very least the time would go by faster.  

Unfortunately, every time I would close my eyes and almost fall asleep we'd go around a tight corner and my eyes would slam open and my heart would start racing and I'd freak out again. It's not easy to put your hands in the life of some African dude you just met who barely speaks English. Especially when he answers his phone in the middle of all the madness.

Luckily though it finally stopped raining and we stopped for the night about an hour later. We went to some random restaurant. I ordered pasta and it had the weirdest taste to it that I couldn't eat more than two bites. Good thing it was only a dollar. The hotel we stayed in was pretty sketchy. My room was super hot and reminded me of a jail sail. We slept about four hours then got back on the road. 

The second day of driving was a lot better. There was no rain, and the road wasn't quite as windy. It was also a lot wider. So, for ten hours we watched as village after village went by. Each one consisted of a number of tiny huts made out of mud and sticks with thatched roofs of dried leaves. All the people would be outside either cooking or just sitting. There were some old people but lots of little children. It was really eye opening to see such truly poor people and how they live. They literally have nothing. And no opportunities either. I don't even know what they do all day. I didn't see much farming or any businesses. Just huts. Some people would be tending to zebus but that's about it. Speaking of zebus, they were constantly on the road. Our driver was always honking at them to get out of our way. Our driver was always honking in general. At virtually every car we saw, every person close to the road, and just basically at anything. And god forbid if there was a pot hole. He would literally slam on the breaks and drive all the way to the other side of the road to avoid them. I guess when you don't have much you take care of what you do have, in this case his car is in fact his livelihood.

About halfway through the drive we came up on a small town with a city center. We got out to stretch our legs and try to find some food. One guy actually took a picture of all of us. It was hilarious. I guess they don't see many white people. We were out of luck on the food though. One lady tried to sell us raw beef on a stick. About an hour later though we found a gas station with food though. Best Pringles and Fanta of my life. 

After ten long hours we finally arrived in Ankify where we caught a boat over to Nosy Be. It was maddening though because they loaded the six of us into a boat and made us wait for literally an hour and a half in the blazing sun. Meanwhile they loaded up two other boats that left before ours. It was frustrating. Once we finally made it to Nosy Be, someone from our program was there to meet us. Unfortunately since we were so late, we had missed the last boat to Nosy Komba, our final destination. After some talking and another hour and a half of sitting in a boat, we were able to take off. The boat ride took about forty minutes. 

At this point I was completely exhausted and had barely eaten in days. Looking around, I noticed the stars. They're insane. We have stars in Texas but I've never seen anything like this. It's like the stars aren't just in the sky, they are the sky. They surround you and seep into your soul. Looking at them literally makes me feel brain washed. It's beautiful. To make matters even better, there was bioluminescent algae in the water. So as the waves broke against the boat and across the surface of the water it glowed. Looking into the water was like looking into another galaxy full of stars. I was so tired and so relieved to finally be here, on Nosy Komba. It made it all worth it. 

The first thing we did once we got to camp was devour some food, which was rice with carrots, peas, some kind of sausage, and sauce. It was actually pretty good, but at that point I think I would have eaten almost anything. After we had a tour of camp I took a shower and went straight to sleep.

The first day here I had orientation where I learned some rules and more about Madagascar, Nosy Be, and specifically Nosy Komba. Then we went on a hike to Anpang the main village here. The hike took about 30 minutes and went along the coast. We had to traverse tons of boulders and walk across some beaches. The views are absolutely breathtaking though. Hands down some of the most raw and natural beauty I've seen in my entire life, all on the walk to town. 

A few pictures from the walk to the village. 

Anpang has lots of little shops and homes and some restaurants. It's exactly what I thought a little African village on a tropical island would look like. The only place on the island that has wifi is a restaurant at the end of the village up above the water. It's a really cool place with great food and burgers. Burgers! The food and everything here actually is really cheap. A pizza is like $3 and a burger and fries is $5. Even oreos here are cheaper than back home which makes zero sense. 

Also while we were in town, we went to the Lemur Park. Entrance only cost about a dollar which is hilarious. It was really neat though. A guide took us on a walk through the forrest and called "monkey monkey monkey" over and over in a weird tone and groups of them would come down to us. We fed them pieces of banana. It was literally one of my favorite things ever. I mean, you know you're doing something right in life when you're handing  feeding a lemur in Madagascar as it sits on your shoulder. You'd be surprised at how soft there hands are. Its like touching the softest leather in the entire world. 

We also saw some tortoises, boas, and chameleons in the park. 

Fun facts about Madagascar and Nosy Komba:

-Madagascar is the 9th poorest country in the world

-It is also the 3rd most unsanitary

-Polio is a major problem here, luckily I have had all my vaccinations

-On Nosy Komba, 50% of the population is under the age of 5, so there are little children everywhere

-80% of the tourists in the area are Italian, so a lot of the youth is actually learning Italian as well as English

Yesterday I had my first dives. We did a scuba review in the morning where we did mask clearing and just basic skills. Afterwards we did a turtle snorkel where we found three turtles. The procedure is to take a picture of the turtle and then when you get back to camp you use the marking on its shell to see if it is one of the ones they have identified before. All three turtles we saw were new individuals, which is great. After that I started studying fish species. I've learned quite a bit already which is really fun. I love being able to recognize the fish I see. The last even for the day was my first Advanced Open Water dive, which was a fish identification dive. We took slates and pencils with us and had to sketch five different fish. Once we got back we had to identify them using books. It was so much fun. It was like playing underwater pictionary. 

Today was a lot more relaxing with more free time. I had another AOW dive this morning which consisted of Peak Bouyancy Performance. It was fun as well. We had to maneuver through an obstacle course and knock weights down with our regulators, as well as other hovering control exercises. 

The rest of the day I've been relaxing. Went for a swim and threw the frisbee around on the beach. I have to turtle watch here in a few hours. UPDATE: I saw 18 turtles in the span of thirty minutes. 

Camp is really cool here. There is a main house that has some sitting areas. It's all open air and has a good view of the beach. Everything here is also made out of wood and has tall, steeped ceilings. Behind main house you walk up some steps to the kitchen. There are four long tables where people eat. It's again all open air. To the left and to the right are cabins. My cabin is up a lot of stone steps to the right. It's called Sunset cabin. I share the cabin with five other girls. Our patio overlooks the top of main house and right out over to the ocean. It's an unbelievable view and you can see the sunset perfectly every evening, hence its name. The whole camp is kind of wedged onto the side of the island, right in the middle of the forrest. It's all so crazy pretty and I love it. 

Overall I am really enjoying it here so far. The diving has been good, the camp is really neat, and the people are really nice. There are about thirty people from all over the world. The U.S., Austrailia, Columbia, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Romania, England, Denmark, China, and some other places I can't remember. It's really cool because everyone here is working to help make the world a better place, whether they are teaching the local children and adults, working in forest conservation, or to monitor and preserve the coral reefs. It's just really neat to be around people that care about the environment and the world like me. 

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This is the view from my cabin.

Africa At Last

22:32 Friday, December 4th, 2015

  

I have officially made it to Madagascar! Four flights, 10,595 miles, and 28 hours after I left Dallas I finally landed in the capital, Antanarivo. 

It was a very long trip, but it honestly went a lot better than I expected. All of my connections were pretty tight, so one delay could have thrown everything off. Luckily though it all went smoothly. 

Did you know the Detroit airport has a tram line inside of it? it runs above the main floor almost up on the ceiling? I was highly impressed. 

My flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was almost empty. I had a window seat with an entire row to myself so I was able to stretch out and sleep. There were also really good TV screens on that flight so I watched Jurassic World and Train Wreck. The flight was also about an hour early which was great because my closest connection was in Amsterdam where I had to go through customs. Luckily the airport, although it was huge, was empty so customs was quick.

So, funny story. I almost didn't get to board my plane in Amsterdam that would take me to Paris. When they scanned my boarding pass it beeped and lit up red so they sent me to the counter at the front of the gate. The lady scanned it and I saw the words "Blacklisted" come up on the screen. I literally almost had a heart attack. The ticket lady said she had never seen this before and started making calls. They pulled me aside and had me wait about twenty minutes. She kept calling and talking to a bunch of different people but they were all speaking in Dutch so I had no idea what was going on. Finally, right before they shut the gate to the plane they let me get on. Apparently they were looking for another Claire Martin with a different birthday. That would be my luck.

My flight from Amsterdam to Paris was literally like forty five minutes. Once I got there I found some food. It was great because I had Euros still left over from when I was in Europe last so I basically had a free meal. I found some chocolate croissants that were delicious. Like seriously I can't even explain how much I love croissant and European food in general. It tasted exactly how I remember. Also, if anyone in Tyler knows where I can find some chocolate croissants, fill me in please.

  

Mmmm. Croissants.

The flight from Paris to Antananrivo was pretty horrible. I was seriously so tired just waiting to board the plane. To make matters worse, there were literally hundreds of people on the flight. Boarding took literally forever. It was also a full flight. Seriously I don't think I saw one empty seat, which was surprising because who in the world goes to Madagascar?! 

I had an aisle seat next to an old French guy who kind of smelled and kept talking to me in French- even after I clearly explained five times I did not speak French. He seriously just kept talking and talking to me. At this point I was so exhausted I literally didn't care and pretty much started ignoring him til he got the point. Bless his heart he was a sweet old man, but I mean seriously. I. Don't. Speak. French.

I'm really not sure what happened because I was asleep before the plane was even taxiing. But I woke up for a second when the plane was about to take off. It got really loud and you could tell the engine was gearing up, then all of the sudden it all shut down and we taxied back to the gate. I had no idea what was going on and really didn't want to know so I went back to sleep. When I woke up again the pilot was speaking saying that the engineer had taken a look and cleared the plane so we were finally taking off. I think we were delayed like an hour but I really have no idea because I was asleep. We finally took off. I'm pretty sure I slept for like seven hours of the eleven hour flight. Side note: the plane was freezing!!! I was wearing a hoodie and wrapped a blanket around myself and still thought I was going to get hypothermia. On the downside though I realized it would probably be the last air conditioning I experienced for quite some time.

Once we finally landed in Madagascar I had to go through customs again and get my visa, which surprise- was only $40 instead of $90 like I had previously been told. I guess that makes up for the fifty dollars I spent at the bookstore the day before I left. Customs seriously took FOREVER. The airport was open air and hot and everyone smelled bad. I met another American girl about my age in line. She was only going to be here camping and hiking for a week though. We were both slightly worried that our hotel shuttles wouldn't be there to pick us up so we decided that we'd wait to make sure both of us had a ride or we'd go somewhere together. Luckily both our rides were there and things worked out. My bag didn't even get lost. 

Check out my visa. Quite a bit different than my Czech visa. Seriously though I love getting stamps in my passport. It's getting about half full actually. It's funny because it's probably one of my most prized possessions. Anything else is replacable. I worked hard for those stamps. Thinking about it now, my passport is probable the most expensive item I own based on the money I've spent traveling and getting those precious stamps. Funny, but not.

So once I got picked up at the airport, we went right down the road to the hotel. I'm staying outside of the city which isn't too bad. I woke up this morning and walked around a bit. There were about twenty zebus (oxen/cow things) attached to carts right across the street. People were literally walking around balancing things on their heads. Literally every single person stared at me. Like really stared with a very curious look on their face probably wondering wtf this white, blonde girl is doing by herself in Africa. The little Malagasy girls were all really intrigued by me and several ran by saying "bon jour" or something similar. 

I found an ATM and got some cash. Here in Madagascar they use Airiarys. One USD is currently equivalent to about 3,300 airiarys. The conversion is super annoying so at this point I'm probably just going to be throwing cash down without even caring. "Seventy thousand? Sure! No idea what that's equivalent to but I don't care!" I found a small store and got three big bottles of water, some oreos, and some funny "Texas style" crackers which I bought strictly because they said Texas on them, all for about $2 USD.

 

Madagascar Ariarys. They were exactly what I hoped they would be and have lemeurs and zebus on them. Also, why is America the only country ever to have all of their currencies the same size? 

At this point I couldn't even remember the last hot meal I had. I was starving and wanted real food. All of the sudden, I saw the most beautiful sign in the world about 600meters ahead: a giant sign that said "pizza". Too bad everything was in French and literally no one here speaks english. I feel stupid because I literally know five words in French. I was slightly busy before I left and had zero time to learn a foreign language in addition to my other studies so I figured I'd wing it. The only thing I recognized was "quatro formaggio" which I'm pretty sure is French. I got that.

Pretty view of the countryside down the street. Definitely looks like Africa.

After that I came back to my hotel. It was about 2pm here I guess. I went back to sleep on accident and woke up around 7pm. My sleep schedule is nonexistent at this point. Since I boarded my plane in Dallas I've kind of just napped whenever I'm tired. 

Honestly I can't believe I'm actually here. It still surprises me that I made it without any major problems. The weather is beautiful. It was a warm sunny day with a cool breeze. It's kind of chilly now that the sun went down though. Tomorrow someone is supposed to come pick me up and take me and two other people in my program to a bus that will take us to the north west side of the island where we will eventually make it to Nosy Be, the Nosy Komba, the actual island I will be staying on. 

Overall it's definitely been a bit of a culture shock so far, but I expected that. I'm not sure if at this point I either A) am really good at just staying calm in any situation and going with the flow B) am really good at completely ignoring situations so I don't even fully comprehend what is going on or where I'm at or C) really am just too tired and used to traveling foreign lands at this point. Or maybe this is what being an adult feels like?!  Being confident in the world and prepared to handle any situation. Nah. Probably option B. 

I'm really looking forward to getting to Nosy Komba and getting more settled in and meeting everyone. I'm ready to get a better idea of what the next six weeks will hold. I want to pet some lemurs and swim and just have a good time. Hopefully everything continues to go smoothly.

 

The view sitting outside on the patio at my hotel.

I'm currently laying in bed in my hotel room writing this on my ipad with my wireless keyboard. I opted out of bringing a laptop because it's really just too heavy and I don't want mine to get broken. This brought a whole new challenge though with how to keep up my blog and transfer and edit gopro videos. I got a few new gadgets though that I think will work out. Hopefully I will be able to blog every now and then.

Anyways, I'm going to try to get some sleep now. I've got another long one or two days of travel ahead. Who knew getting somewhere remote would be this much of a challenge and journey?! Justtttt kiddinggggggg.

Athens, Santorini, and Texas!

Well this post is a little belated but I’ve been pretty busy since I got back to the states. The past month has honestly been a blur but I’ll try and recount my last adventures and what I’ve been up to the last two weeks here in Texas.

My last few weeks in Prague were a blast. Haley and I had made a list of all the things we hadn’t gotten around to doing so we stayed pretty busy around the city. I also tried to spend as much time as possible with all of my friends since it was our last weeks together. Pretty much every night was something fun and different with many hours spent at the beer garden or in different bars. One night we even did a bar crawl down Dlouha street and hit all of our favorite places and even some new bars. It also happened to be raining that night so we had to walk between bars in the rain which was hilarious. Thomas Jack also came and played at Roxy so we had a lot of fun at that. One of my favorite things we did in the last few weeks was rent paddle boats and hang out on the Vltava River. We had three boats between all of us and just hung onto each other and floated around. Paddling was a lot more work than I thought it would be so of course Haley and I made Tate and Nick do all of the work while we lounged on the back. We also tried to eat as much Czech food as possible because we knew we would miss it. So I basically had goulash, schnitzel, tredelnik, and doner kebaps a hundred times in the last two weeks I was there.

Can't beat that view. Charles Bridge with the Castles in the background.

Love these girls. Haley and Leah.

Kristen and I at Thomas Jack.

The day after finals ended we also had our farewell boat cruise. All the USAC students loaded up on a party barge for a booze cruise. I honestly hate goodbyes and prefer to just ignore them and act normal so the last week wasn’t my favorite. I ended up not getting to say an actual “goodbye” to a lot of people but I prefer it that way. I hate when your last moments with someone are sad. 

I miss Greg already. I'm so lucky to have met such awesome people and made such good friends this semester.

This is my program director, Jan (pronounced Jawn). He is hilarious and always wears a wooden tie, weird coat, slacks, and sandals.

Packing up my stuff was another struggle. I kept putting it off because it was just too depressing and overwhelming. At one point I got home and my other four roommates were all taking stuff off the walls and packing their bags and I laid on my bed and refused to do anything haha. I finally got it done though. It was just hard because I didn’t know what I would still need for my travels after the semester. I had one bag packed though and everything else ready to be put in another bag. I was really lucky because my brother brought me another huge empty suitcase as his checked bag and let me put the rest of my stuff in there. I ended up having one bag right at 49lbs and another at around 44lbs. I’m just glad everything fit and was under weight so I didn’t have to leave anything. I seriously just now feel like I have my life back together and organized though. When I left in January I moved a lot of my stuff back to my parents and just kind of threw stuff in my room and closet. Then I had two huge bags with everything thrown in there, so going through everything and deciding what I wanted to take back to Tyler with me took forever and was a mess. I still wonder where some things are but there is no telling at this point.

Anyways, on that Sunday, my brother and his roommate, Christian, finally got to Prague! They had some delayed flights but they made it. It’s funny because they called me during their layover in Munich and asked for my address just in case I wasn’t at the airport. After I picked them up and took them on a bus to the metro, then transferred to another metro and walked the rest of the way they admitted they probably wouldn’t have been able to find it. Haha. The first night was fun though. I was scared they were going to be too tired but we still went out in the city and had a good time. I took them to the restaurant under my apartment, Pivovarsky Klub, which Anthony Bourdain has actually featured on his show. Christian had goulash and Jarret and I had schnitzel. They both liked the Czech food so I was happy. Then we went and walked around the city. We had a few beers in Old Town and hung around before going to a beer hall, Lokal. They have beer tanks there so it’s really good, fresh beer. It’s also a very traditional communism style beer hall so that was cool. It was really nice to sit and catch up with my brother. It’s weird because even though I hadn’t seen him in months we picked up like it had only been a few days.

First beers in Prague at Pivovarsky.

Old Town.

The next day I took them to Bakeshop, one of my favorite cafes, for breakfast and introduced Jarret to European style croissants and pastries. My favorite is the almond croissant (it seriously tastes like bread pudding), but they also tried the apple, chocolate, and ham and cheese croissants and loved them. They’re seriously the most amazing pastries in the world and at this point I’ve had a lot of breakfasts across Europe so I can say that for certain. After that, we walked back through Old Town and across Charles Bridge. Then we went to St. Vitus Cathedral and the Castle. We walked back down through Mala Strana and hung out on one of the island parks in the middle of the river. Then we went to Wenceslas Square where we had a snack before going back to the apartment for a bit. We still had to pack up our stuff and get ready to leave for Greece the next day. After that we went and had more Czech food at Orion. I had more goulash but Jarret actually tried roasted duck that he said was really good. I took them to my favorite beer garden, Ragrovy Sady, and we sat out in the park for awhile. Later that night we caught up with some of my friends that were still in Prague and went to Chapeau Rouge, one of the bars there. It was a long day but we definitely had a good time. Jarret and Christian probably had a little too much of a good time and were hurting in the morning when we had to wake up early for our flight, but I got them up and going and we made it to Athens okay.

Of course they loved what was written here on the John Lennon Wall. 

Before and After pictures. Prague did them dirty.

We actually had a three hour layover in Istanbul on the way to Athens and five hours on the way back. It was definitely a good airport for people watching… Even though it seriously has to be the only airport I’d ever been to that didn’t have wifi so of course we had super long layovers there. We honestly didn’t mind though because both times we were there we were so exhausted that we found and empty gate and slept the whole time. The food court was at least decent there, they had Burger King and Sbarro which was hilarious.

We finally made it to Athens and hopped on a metro train that took about 45 minutes but dropped us off really close to our hostel. We stayed at a pretty good hostel, Athenstyle, right in the Plaka area in Athens. They were pretty full when I booked it so Jarret and Christian were in one room of six, and I was in by myself in another building with a room for six girls. They had never really stayed in hostel before so I was glad they got to have the experience. I honestly don’t mind hostels. They’re pretty fun because you get to talk to people, but it is kind of annoying because people are constantly coming in and out and being loud. I usually just stay wherever it’s cheapest, whether it’s a hostel or an airbnb or what not. This one was pretty cool though and had a bar on the rooftop with a perfect view of the Acropolis. For dinner that night we tried our first gyros, which were delicious. They kind of remind me of doner kebaps but they have a few slight differences, like different sauces and vegetables, but the same basic concept. These also had French fries on them though which was delicious. 

Gyro!

The next day we woke up and had crepes for breakfast, which Jarret had never really had. He loved them of course because crepes are amazing. We ate as we walked up to the Acropolis. It’s kind of an uphill walk but not bad and you get some really good views of the city on the way. Athens is seriously huge. Everywhere you look are just rolling hills covered with houses and ruins. One thing that was cool about Athens though is that you just have to buy one ticket to get into all the different places. My ticket was also free because I had my Czech student ID. The regular tickets were only 12 Euros though which is a steal considering when you go to like Rome, you have to pay at least 20 to get into each and every place. So kudos to Athens for being awesome. The acropolis was really cool though. It consists of several historic monuments like the Parthenon and temple of Athena. It’s crazy to think about how old the ruins are and how in the world they were able to build these massive buildings on top of a giant hill. I seriously don’t understand how they were able to get the marble all the way up there and construct these intricate buildings with such accuracy. It’s amazing. After the acropolis we went to the Temple of Zeus and then the Agora. I really liked the Agora, which was basically the city center in ancient Athens. It reminded me a lot of the Roman Forum and Paletine Hill in Rome. It was filled with just tons and tons of ruins. The Agora also had a museum which displayed really old artifacts. Our favorite was an actual Spartan shield that looked ridiculously heavy. The temple of Apollo was really neat because it was so intact.

Later that day we walked around the markets in the Plaka area. Someone had recommended a restaurant down the street for dinner and it turned out to be really good. We had like a five course meal for 10 euros each. I had grilled pork for my main course and it was amazing. The owners of the restaurant were really cool too and gave us free dessert and talked to us a lot. We went through a couple bottles of Greek wine which was delicious. The owner even gave us some wine they make there which was infused with honey and it was seriously they best thing I’ve ever tasted. After that we hung around Athens and just walked around before turning in for the night.

The buildings just went on forever.

Parthenon

Erechtheion Temple

Temple of Zeus

Agora

Temple of Apollo

We had to wake up super early for our flight the next morning. I seriously got about three hours of sleep. I’m pretty sure Jarret and Christian didn’t sleep at all. We headed back to the airport to catch our 7am flight to Santorini. Once we landed there we took a short bus to Fira, the main city there and found our villa. That day we decided to rent ATV’s and explore the island since we had the whole day. It was definitely one of my favorite days of the trip. We started out by going to the very southern point of the island and checking out an old lighthouse with some really cool views of the Caldera. Really though everywhere on the island had awesome views. We kept stopping every so often to take pictures and enjoy how pretty it was. After that we went to a famous beach there called Red Beach. You had to do a short hike to get to the beach but it was worth it. The black sand beach was surround by huge walls of red. Of course my sandal broke on the hike there though so the rest of the trip I was hobbling around with a messed up sandal. I made it work though. After Red Beach we made our way to Perissa, a small town area that had long strips of black sand beaches. We hung out there for quite awhile and had some beers on the beach while we lounged and napped in the sun. I really did put on sunscreen that day and still managed to get pretty burned. It didn’t help sitting on the four-wheeler in the sun all day wither. Once the sun wasn’t as hot, we loaded back up and drove back to Fira. Navigating across the island was entertaining. You basically just had to keep following random signs with arrows and if you missed one you were screwed. I’d also like to point out that although Jarret has always been the navigator on vacations, my skills have finally surpassed his and the only reason we made it anywhere was because I was highly adept at following signs. I’ve had a lot of practice though. The Greek language is also not very easy though. I seriously doubt I could ever even begin to learn it because their alphabet is so different. We of course took every opportunity to use the phrase “It’s all Greek to me”. 

Our villa.

The lighthouse.

Red beach.

Perfect view. I love the beach.

Later that night we took the ATV’s to Oia. We ended up walking around and finding some dinner. The ride home wasn’t too great though because the evenings got a little chilly. It was also dark so trying to find your way on four-wheelers when it was cold and pitch black made it a little less than fun. It was definitely an adventure though and we actually found it back to our villa easily. 

The famous Oia.

The next day Jarret and I had our first day of diving! We woke up and got ready and found some crepes for breakfast. Our dive crew picked us up at the main bus station and took us to the dive shop. We got fitted for gear and then eventually made our way down to the water. Apparently their actual dive boat was being redone in the shop so our boat was seriously a glorified dinghy with a center console. It was also pretty windy so the ride to our first dive spot was quite an adventure. I’ve luckily grown up on boats though so I was fine. It was actually pretty fun. I got a lot of footage on my GoPro but I haven’t had time to look through it very much yet. The water was still a little chilly for diving so we wore 5mm wetsuits that kept us pretty warm. I think the water temperature was around 65 degrees. Our first dive was around an old steamboat wreck. It was pretty fun because you could easily swim all the way through the boat. Our second dive was actually off the shore. It’s crazy because the huge cliffs along the western coast of Santorini are extremely tall and they actually continue underwater much the same way. So we dove off a small beach next to the huge cliffs. These cliffs underwater were basically just steep walls that went down and down and down into the black. Walls are some of mine and Jarret’s favorite thing to dive so we enjoyed it. There was also a really cool reef on that dive where the fish weren’t scared at all. You could kneel in the middle of a sandy spot and thousands of fish just circled you. It was really really cool. I literally reached out and touched the fish.

We got back to Fira around three and met up with Christian. We had a quick gyro for lunch and hopped on a bus to Kamari, another beach town. We laid on the beach again and had some beers. I could seriously lay on the beach every single day and read my book and be perfectly happy. For dinner we ate right on the beach. I had a traditional Greek meal with roasted lamb. I had never had lamb before and I feel slightly guility about it, but hey when in Greece right?! Jarret and Christian had a meat platter that literally had pounds and pounds of different seafood and chicken and pork. It was a delicious meal. 

The next day we did another dive in the morning. Christian came along this time and snorkeled. Our first dive was at a really good reef that got pretty deep in some places. There were lots of pretty corals and fish. I liked the sponges too because they feel so weird when you touch them. Our second dive didn’t actually go too well. Funny story, the boat engine overheated or something. So then they fired up the second motor. That worked for about five minutes before that broke as well. So then we drifted around waiting for someone to come tow us in for like an hour and a half and we never got to do our second dive. It was a little frustrating but it happens. I just laid out on the boat and relaxed. They gave us a refund and stuff so it was no big deal. Later that afternoon we went back to Oia and watched the infamous sunset. We didn’t have the best weather for a sunset though but it was still pretty. In my opinion though it’s hard to beat a Texas sunset.  For dinner we had more Greek food in a restaurant hanging off the cliffs with a cool view of the Caldera. I had swordfish and chicken slouvaki. 

This pup looked like my brother's dog, Cash, just with short stubby legs.

Getting back to Prague the next day was an adventure. We couldn’t check our bag all the way through between our flights and we had a really short layover in between. So when we got to Athens, Christian and I headed to our gate while Jarret went to baggage claim and waited for our bag so he could try and check it. It was a little tight but he was able to get the bag checked and made it through security and to the gate with a few minutes to spare. Then we once again had a layover where we slept in the Istanbul airport. Once we got back to Prague we went and walked around the city one last time. We had some street pizza for dinner and had some delicious gelato for dessert. We went home and I packed up the rest of my stuff.

Two huge bags, a carry-on, and a backpack later and I was finally packed and ready to go. I also decided to bring my pillow that I bought there back with me because it was the most comfortable pillow in the world.

 I got about three hours of sleep before I had to get up. We had to take a cab to the airport because the metros don’t start running til 4am. I seriously hate Frosch (the company that my group flight went through) for giving me a 6am flight. But at least Jarret and Christian were also able to get on the same flight so we were all together. We had a quick flight to Frankfurt where we grabbed some food and then hopped on our eleven hour flight back to Dallas. I slept a little but mainly read a couple of books so it wasn’t too bad of a flight. There were tons of annoying people on it though like the lady behind Christian, the random child running up and down the aisles for hours and hours, and even Jarret because he kept leaning his seat back. Once we got to Dallas it took forever to get our bags and get through customs. It was a very happy reunion when I finally saw my parents. I definitely missed them. My mom definitely missed me. I thought she was literally going to hug me to death when she first saw me.

First stop once we were headed home was On the Border where I had chips and hot sauce, a big margarita, and enchiladas with queso. I can’t put into words how much I missed Tex-mex. Jarret and Christian kept talking about how excited they were to get home and eat their favorite foods again. I seriously could have killed them because they were only gone for ten days. It had been four months since I had eaten familiar food.

Since I’ve gotten home I’ve had a really hard time switching my sleeping schedule back. I mean traveling home I was awake for 24 hours straight, so when I got home I tried to stay away as long as I could but I couldn’t make it past 8pm. I then slept for eleven hours straight. Then something really bad happened and I started to get sick my first day back. Seriously I woke up, ran, went and had my hair cut, and then a few hours later felt like I was dying. I managed to eat a solid steak dinner courtesy of my dad but then I went back to sleep. I woke up the next morning with a 101.7 fever. That was also the day that I had to move a lot of my stuff back to Tyler. Long story short and I made it a few days trying to fight through the sickness and spend time with my friends that had come up to Tyler. Then that weekend I went back to my parents and was even sicker and basically slept for three days straight. At this point I didn’t know if it was just severe jet lag or the flu or what but it was about seven full days after I got home until I felt better. One day I slept for 17 hours. I seriously couldn’t stay away for more than two or three hours. I was feeling a little better at the end of last week so I went to Denton with some of my friends and celebrated my roommate’s birthday. Still though the last two nights were the first that I’ve slept for more than like six hours straight since I was sick. I keep sleeping for a few hours, waking up for a couple, and the sleeping like two more. It’s seriously been torture and I’m so ready to be on a normal sleep schedule again.

I also started back at work Saturday night. I was a little scared that I wouldn’t remember anything but it honestly came back like I had been doing it yesterday so that was lucky. It’s also really nice to have some money to put into my bank account for once. Seriously for four months I was doing nothing but spending money which stressed me out haha. That was the longest amount of time I’ve gone without a job since I turned sixteen and started working at the golf course. It was honestly much needed though. I had been working six shifts a week for months before I left. Now I feel refreshed and ready to work again.

I’ve been trying to get stuff done and get back into a normal routine the past week or so. I seriously forgot how much I love it here. I love my house and my room and my roommates and my job and just life. I mean I definitely wasn’t home sick for even a minute for the four months I was in Prague, but it makes it a lot easier to adjust when you get to come back to a place and be happy. I really missed my friends and family so it’s been nice to hang out with everyone.

I feel like my time in Prague did so much for my life. Not only did I get to experience a different culture and live in an amazing and historic capital city in central Europe, but I was able to travel to ten different countries and a countless amount of beautiful cities. All my life I’ve wanted nothing more than to travel the world. It’s always been one of my biggest passions. A lot of people will tell you they want to travel but there is a difference. One of my biggest goals and wishes was to travel across Europe and I went out a made it happen. I’m only 21 years old and I’ve already knocked so many things off my bucket list and accomplished a lot of my dreams. There’s not much else that’s more empowering than wanting something, working hard, and actually making it happen. I had the best four months of my life hands down this past semester. Every single second was amazing and I can truly say I enjoyed every second and took advantage of every day. Now that I’m back home I’ve been able to reflect on what an awesome experience it was. I can’t even put into words how much this semester had meant for me and how big of an impact it’s had on my life. I traveled across Europe, experienced so many amazing things, met some great people and made life-long friends, and accomplished so many of my goals. It was easily the best decision I’ve ever made.

Now that I’m home I feel so refreshed and focused. I literally just took a semester long vacation and it gave me plenty of time to think and get some new perspectives on life, what I want out of it, and who I am. I have tons of goals for not only this summer, but for the next few years and the rest of my life. One thing I’ve learned is that if you want something, you have to go out and make it happen. No one else is going to do it for you and it’s never going to happen unless you go after it yourself. And after everything I’ve just done, I know without a doubt that I can do anything I set my mind to. I know that with lots of hard work and good choices, I can do anything I want with my life and I intend to do so. 

They say there are far better things ahead than any we leave behind. If this is true, then I can’t wait for the future. If there is one thing in life that I believe, it’s that each and every day is up to you. Life is what you make it and I’m more determined than ever to make mine amazing.