my only regret, and the thing that anyone who has ever spoken to me in real life probably already knows.

I think it's been pretty obvious for a while now that all I can think about anymore is traveling. My biggest regret from high school/college is not taking a year off to backpack, or not studying abroad more than once. I think I spend 50% of my time thinking about traveling these days, and the other 50% hoping someone will bring up traveling so I can talk about it. I'm a woman possessed.

Normally, here is where I'd say I need to make my mind up about whether or not I'm actually going to get on a plane and go, but I've started using the word "when" to refer to going abroad, not "if," so I guess I already did. 

A lot of my time has been spent researching where I'd like to go and do and see. There are so many options I can't nail down anything close to resembling an itinerary, but I do know that I want to start in Paris. 

So, naturally, I feel like the Universe is screaming FRANCE at me right now. I don't know if it's just that I'm listening for it, and so I'm noticing it more, or if this really is a sign from the Universe, but I swear someone talks about France or the Eiffel Tower or speaks French within earshot of me every day. I wish I could say that I don't check prices for flights to Paris almost daily, but that would be a damn lie.

My only real plan these days, only real goal, is to make this happen. I can't see past it, I can't plan anything else in my life. I have vague ideas and thoughts of what I might do after I get back, but for the first time in a long time, I want something so badly that I will do almost anything to make it happen, and I can't ignore that.

When you want something so badly it physically hurts, you're a coward not to chase it.

 

Image creds: Signs from the Universe in the forms of secrets mailed into PostSecret.

Photo Friday: A World Tour

I'm leaving for China today. 

I can't believe this trip is finally here. 

Wow. 

Well, I don't know when I'll next get to do a real post for you guys, but I hope you enjoy the guest posters while they're here and have a wonderful, wonderful summer.

If you want to email me at any time (including an interest in doing a guest post), I can be reached at:

valorielovely {at} gmail {dot} com

For this week's Photo Friday, I'm posting a photo from every trip I've been on in the last five or so years. 

Enjoy! 

{Costa Rica}

{Kenya}

{Russia}

{Ireland}

{England}

{The Caribbean}

{Chicago}

{Italy}

{Mykonos, Greece}

{Turkey}

{Egypt}

{Athens, Greece}

{Czech Republic}

{Germany}

{Quebec}

{El Salvador}

You can see more of my stuff here.

<33 

Scenes from El Salvador.

 

 

  

 

 

1. Dog and cat seen while wandering around San Salvador, the capital city.
2. Surfer in La Libertad (a state there). El Salvador has a very strong surfing culture.
3&4. Sunset in La Libertad.
5. The very edge of a the city in La Libertad where we stayed. I wandered around inside those buildings for a while -- some of the best food and cutest little mom and pop shops I've seen in a long time.
6. A little shack that housed a good restaurant, right near the beach for all the surfers to stumble into.
7. Chickens run practically wild as soon as you leave the main city. This little chick had lost his momma when I got this shot.
8. A beautiful lake in the mountains that we saw on our way to visit volcano Izalco.
9. Four shots of a beautiful flower I spotted near Izalco.
10. Izalco, one of the many still active volcanoes in El Salvador.
11. This dog I saw in La Libertad is the manifestation of loyalty. You can't see in the photo, but his owner was out surfing and he followed his owner's every move from the beach.
12. We went and saw the Mayan ruins which are actually located right on the edge of San Salvador. The government doesn't have enough money to entirely excavate and protect the thousands of archaeological sites, so this is ones of the only "full" temples you can see.
13. Another 'typical daily' shot. The animal is actually a cross between a sheep and a goat. I don't know.
14. Do you really need an excuse to take flower shots? :)
15. Fried plantains. Yum. Just sprinkle some sugar and sweet cream on and they're delicious. :)
16. This is a shot of my mom in front of the street she grew up on. We were all a little emotional -- it took us hours to find the house that my mom's family had to abandon to escape the civil war that started when she was a teen.
17. A shot of the city of San Salvador and another volcano. The flag says "DIOS UNION LIBERTAD" which translates to "God Unity Liberty."
18. Footprints in the sand. :)

Want to see more?

the travel bug, China, and that time when I realized that I graduate from college soon. WTF?

{mine.}

When I left for Montreal, my main thought was, "Okay, yes. Leaving the country. This will cool that intense desire to travel that's been gnawing at me for the past few months." I mean, I really didn't leave the country once all of 2010 (the first year that's happened since I was born) so I just thought I was just restless for that reason.

NOPE.

Since getting back from Montreal (and getting a $600 voucher to Delta), that desire to leave is more fiery than ever. All I can think about is where I want to go next (Boston? Seattle? San Diego? The Caribbean? Mexico?). I was hoping that finding out I'm definitely confirmed for my program for China this summer would help tame this desire (weeeee!), but NO. ALL I WANT TO DO IS TRAVEL.

So, I've been flipping through travel books and looking at other people's pictures online and looking up flight fares and planning trips with friends and and and not studying. Which is a huge problem since I had two tests last week and the LSAT yesterday. I TOOK THE LSAT YESTERDAY. How is that even possible? How am I that far in my educational career?!

Well, I'm graduating in December. That's how. I could graduate in August, but I don't want to work hard this summer. And also, I want one more Aggie Football season. But also because how can I already be graduating?!

I'm sorry, but, WHAT THE ACTUAL WHAT? Wasn't I like, *just* a freshman in college? Wasn't I like, *just* going through the worst heartbreak of my life and trying out modeling and moving out of my parents' house for the first time and dating a Marine and and and...? What do you MEAN that was more than two years ago? What do you MEAN I'm a senior in college now? What do you MEAN I get my Aggie Ring on April 15? What do you MEAN I won't be in College Station next spring?

I mean like, yes, I AM HYPERVENTILATING RIGHT NOW.

How is this real life?

Get me out of this city right now. Take me somewhere where I can marvel at something else, something constant, just so I can stop marveling at the fact that I'm almost a Real Grown Ass Woman and that I feel like my life has changed over night, morphed into something that I'm not sure I'm quite ready to handle.

Photo Blog: Montreal

This is probably one of the most fun groups of people I've gotten to spend a weekend with in a long time. 

I'd go back in a heart beat. 

The Shenanigans That Defined My Trip to Montreal

{mine.}

I went to Montreal this past weekend for a Model UN conference (if you don't know what Model UN is). While my assigned committee basically blew, I loved this trip and would go back in a heart beat. These aren't the photos yet (photo blog coming, hopefully on Wednesday) but here's a summary of the shenanigans that went down. Because, let's face it, did anyone really expect me to be able to go through a weekend abroad without getting into some kind of trouble?

Actually tell the airline that just canceled your flight that you're pissed. Sitting in the same godforsaken airport for 12 hours will suck, but you just might get a bunch of meal tickets and a $600 travel voucher out of it. [You can leave your suggestions for where you think I should go next in the comments.]

You are very obviously an American abroad when you're slightly excited to have your ID checked at a bar in Canada. Yes, okay, the drinking age there is 18. Congratulations, Valorie, you look ridiculous. It's fine.

Staying out until 3 am when you have an 8:30 meeting is totally a good idea. Let's face it, everyone else at the conference was too. And it's not like you went to Montreal actually for the conference.

I may be in college, but passing notes is still fun. When you don't have phone service but *do* have people whose entire job that weekend is to pass your notes in a room of ~400 people, you will be all. over. that. 

People in Canada really do say "eh" at the end of most sentences. "This chair sucks, eh?" "Call me next time you're in Canada, eh?"  IT'S AWESOME, EH?


When you spend almost 24 hours a day with the same nine people, you will start picking up all their habits. It's fine. NBD. Anxiety attacks. Shwasted. I AM A LADY.

Subzero temperatures are totally survivable, but not easily navigable. If I had a dollar for every time I slipped in the snow/ice/slush, I wouldn't need to work anymore. Not really. But really.

No, really, it's okay to ask directions sometimes. Especially when it's 4 am, -20 F out, and you and your friend are a little drunk and have been wandering around downtown Montreal for an hour looking for "a tall building" because clearly there is only one and it must be your hotel. Screw your pride; ask the creepy guys on the corner where the Sheraton is and pray they don't follow you.

Skip your meetings. Okay, yes, you *did* travel all the way there for the conference. And yes, skipping a bunch of meetings really won't reflect very well on your team. But, I mean, you're in fucking Montreal and, let's face it, even if your resolution passes nothing actually changes in the real world. So, work hard, but skip a meeting or two; see the city, live a little. The pictures and memories you have will last a lifetime.

When the same airline that canceled your first flight also screws you over for the flight back, it's okay to start using the company name as a curse word. DELTAAAAA!

Sometimes, Right Now

{via.}

Here's a little something you should know about International Studies majors: We're always planning trips and dying to go abroad and talking about how the second we graduate we're going to move to another country and work for a non-profit or the UN or be an ambassador or do something for the State Department.

I'm told it's inspiring. I'm told we're some of the most liberal and idealistic people on this campus. I'm told our dreams are impressive.

I'm also told we're really hard people to date.

In a school where dating is almost always geared toward marriage, Aggies at some point developed a mentality of 'why bother?' if we know it's not going anywhere. Which has its merits, I'm sure. It means though that people find it hard to commit to someone who is constantly on the verge of escape, that will never stay but will always leave.

And I totally get this. I don't want to get too involved knowing that I'm leaving for China for three months next summer and that December of '11, I'm embarking on some insane world trip which I don't plan on returning from until Fall '12. I don't want to risk wanting to stay when all I've ever really wanted was to leave.

If I'm being honest, I'm okay with being single. I enjoy my freedoms right now. I like being independent, I like not owing anyone anything. I like being on my own. I like that I don't feel as grounded, that I could take off whenever, that I could fly.

But if I'm being really honest, I have to admit that there are things I miss about being stable, about having a boyfriend.

I miss knowing that I definitely had something to do on Friday or Saturday night.

I miss going to scary movies and having a hand to hold.

I miss having someone who would be there to take care of me if I was sick.

I miss sharing secrets late at night under the stars.

I miss sit-down meals and date nights.

I miss being able to depend on someone.

I miss getting flowers and laughing over little inside jokes.

I miss not playing games and not dealing with the hook up culture.