First off, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I have been looking forward to starting one so I can share with everyone what I have been up to. I am very excited, and I hope you are too, to see what adventures I will have in the future.
I decided to start a blog now because I am currently going to school in Massachusetts and plan on doing A LOT of traveling during the semester I am here. So you may be wondering how I am attending a school in the United States other than my home school, University of South Carolina. Well there is this awesome program called the National Student Exchange (nse.org), which has about 200 participating schools in the US, Canada, and US territories (Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico). Students can attend a different school for a semester or year and their credits transfer back to their home school. Some reasons students do this is to take classes their home school may not offer, try living in a different part of the country, and explore possible graduate schools or future employment. My two reasons for participating is that I love living in different places to see how people live (I tend to get bored if I stay in one place for awhile…) and to travel all over New England on the weekends.
Since about the time I decided I wanted to spend a semester here last winter, I have been compiling lists of things to do and places to go within 3.5 hours of Westfield, MA. It is nine pages long and includes maps, information about hostels, and festivals in the area. I have gotten most of my information from magazines, Frommers and Lonely Planet websites, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and news articles. Call me crazy, but I have word documents for every state with places I want to see and things I want to do. For years I have been an avid Coastal Living magazine reader and any information they publish about a destination I record in a word document. I am hoping to go on “mini-trips” every weekend, since I have almost a dozen that I want to go on! I strategically planned my schedule so that I am done with classes on Thursday at 2:00pm and don’t have class until 1:45pm on Monday.
I am extremely grateful that my mom allowed me to take my car, which will make it so much easier to explore places. There is also a bus and train station in Springfield, which is about 25 minutes from campus and can get me to cities such as Boston, New York, and Providence in a decent amount of time at a good price.
I can’t go alone, so I’m hoping to meet people who want to take these trips with me! My roommate, Kelley, thinks she might go on a few and my friend Amanda from home, who goes to school at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, wants to go on some (if she has time!). If you live in the area, want to visit, or know someone who lives in New England (who is trustworthy!) that wants to travel with me or show me around a city they live in please let me know! I enjoy spending time with people of all ages!
Well that is all for now… quite a long first post! If you think any of your friends will enjoy reading about my escapades, please pass this on to them! Also, please follow my blog! I will post soon about my adventure getting to Massachusetts… Thank you SO much for reading this J
Dear Brianna! Wow! What a wonderful idea to do a blog.. But I think you are in the wrong profession. I think you should become a travel writer a la Rick Steves! You sound like you are headed in that direction! Good luck and I can't wait to hear about your travels!!
ReplyDeleteKT
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ReplyDeleteYEAAA I finally figured out how to post a comment!!!
ReplyDeleteVery cool to hear about all you are up to. I enjoyed reading about your impressions of the places you have been seeing.
And I can't help but feel proud of you.
Love you!
Dad
PS
I agree with KT - you could write for a living if you wanted to.