Traveling the world...

Hello friends,

I've been away from my blog far too long. I've been enjoying my summer break since I finished my first semester of graduate school. Let's catch up!

The day after I finished my semester I traveled to Boulder, Colorado. I knew that I was going to have a lot of fun hiking and exploring. However,  I didn't think I would fall in love with the town of Boulder. I was completely swooned by the mountains, people, and food. The hiking trails were challenging, but the view from the top was such a beautiful reward. I could easily see myself living in Boulder. There is an abundance of hiking trails, the people are incredibly nice, and again, the mountains. Ever since I started hiking more frequently this year, I've become enamored with nature. There is nothing more stress-relieving than hiking and being among nature. I seriously can't wait to go back. Colorado is absolutely stunning.

After my trip, I started working a little more to save money because I have a huge trip planned next month. In 25 days I'll be taking a trip with EF College to Europe for one month. I'll be traveling solo and I'm going to visit eight countries. I am beyond excited! I also get to meet up with my best friend Jenn in Paris, which should be incredibly fun. :)

I am going to be traveling to:

Dublin, Ireland

Liverpool, England (Home of The Beatles!)

London, England

Oxford, England

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ghent, Belgium

Paris, France

Lucerne, Switzerland

Milan, Italy

Pisa, Italy

Florence, Italy

La Spezia, Italy

Cannes, France

Monte Carl, Monaco

Barcelona, Spain

I have been preparing for months now. I decided to film a video featuring all the travel accessories necessary for a month long trip in Europe. I hope it helps! I've been doing plenty of research on pinterest, travel blogs, and watching YouTube videos to find the most essential accessories. Who knows, maybe you'll be traveling to Europe soon as well. :) Oh, and before I forget... I meant to include a camera as well but I was using it for filming.

Moving on, I've been really great. I am so excited to be traveling for one month. I've been eating healthier and working out in order to prepare. I've also abandoned my blog, but I was focusing on myself and spending time with my boyfriend, family and friends for awhile. It's going to be hard to leave my boyfriend but I am going to be able to contact him while I am abroad. I've also been visiting my family at least once a month to spend time with them. I get to go home again next weekend to see my family and friends before I leave. It should be a nice time but I am not ready for the valley heat. I also get to go on a mini vacation with my boyfriend to Houston the week that I leave. We are going to watch one of our favorite comedians, Louis C.K., at the NRG Stadium. A lot of exciting things are happening in my life, and I couldn't be happier. I am so thankful for everything and everyone in my life. I'll have a lot of travel posts coming up when I get back from Europe featuring plenty of videos. I am also planning on doing a packing video to show you how to pack for one month in Europe. I hope that all my readers are doing well. I am thinking of getting a snapchat just for my Europe trip so you can follow me along the way and see the beauty that Europe has to offer. I'll keep you posted when I decide to get snapchat so you can travel with me. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with a song. Enjoy! Stay wonderful. 

 Woods - Military Madness

Love, 

Deborah G

A lot has changed...

Hello everyone!

I went M.I.A. again, sorry about that. Life has changed and it felt as if it happened in an instant. These life changes have helped me grow immensely. Here is just a few things that have happened within the last few months.

December 2015 

I graduated and received my Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. (I'm so glad to be out of there! They have the most unhelpful administration and they are ridiculously disorganized.)

I moved cities and I now live with my boyfriend in Kyle, Texas. It's nice to live in the middle of Austin and San Marcos. I have a cute and modern apartment here. I absolutely love it and I had a lot of fun decorating. (I really want to do record an apartment tour. I'll try to work on that for my next blog post!)

January 2016

I traveled to Seattle, Washington with my boyfriend and met up with my older cousins who live nearby. It was incredibly fun! I already want to go back to Seattle, I miss those mountain views.

I started a master's program! I am in the Master of Art's Literature program at Texas State University. Oh my gosh guys, this is an incredibly wonderful opportunity. You have no idea how ecstatic I am to be part of such a great program.  My professors are inspiring, open-minded, intelligent, and extremely nice. This semester I am taking three graduate courses. I am taking a course in Literary Theory, African-American Short Stories and a Young Adult Children's Literature course that focuses on... THE BEATLES! Yes, The Beatles! It's seriously the coolest class ever. I've never been so inspired to learn and read. I'm not going to lie though, I've been buried in schoolwork. Oh, and grad school is tough!

I got a new job towards the end of January. I am a cashier at a local thrift store here in Kyle. It's pretty cool and I've met some nice people. Also, I get a little extra cash to spend on myself which is nice. 

February 2016

Eddie and I always have Sunday's off from work which is great. We don't get to spend that much time together because we are busy with work/school constantly. Every Sunday we try to plan a hike in the nearby hill country by ourselves or with friends. It's nice to explore the outdoors, and it's great to get away from all my responsibilities. 

I turned 24! I feel old now, I like to stay home and relax in my free time. At times, I am so drained from school and work that I literally want to do nothing but sleep. My birthday weekend was great because my family came to visit me. I really do miss having my family around me. I am so grateful that they made the four hour drive to spend the entire weekend with me. 

March 2016

As of now, I am currently on Spring Break. I am off of school for the next 7 days. It feels so great to have a break. There are times when I get completely overwhelmed with school and I never have enough time to focus on myself. I finally have a few days to just read a book that isn't for class, watch some TV/movies, and hopefully do a little hiking. My spring break won't be completely full of leisure because I  have an insane amount of work to complete over the break, and I still have to go to work. Oh well, at least I don't have to go to class. Well, I've been pretty great and it feels nice to write in my blog, It always does. At times, I just get bombarded with being an adult and having obligations, and then it almost feels impossible to write a blog post. This Summer, I am only going to take one summer session because I want to have time to focus on myself and traveling. I've been going to school full-time with no breaks whatsoever since August 2014. I'm pretty sure I need a break, there is only so much academia that one person can handle. This Summer, I am planning on taking a trip to Europe. I am hoping to spend a little over two weeks traveling and exploring Europe. I may travel solo, it just depends if I find a friend who is interested in traveling abroad with me. My friend Jenn will be moving to Paris this Summer, so even if I travel alone, I can always meet her in Paris. Anyways, we will see what happens. I hope that you all have a nice spring break filled with leisure. Thanks for reading my blog post and catching up with me. 

Smell ya later,
Deborah