I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22...

 Okay Okay, I know. The title is very cliché and everyone does it when they turn 22 now. But it's fun and I love it. I tuned 22 yesterday! Yay! First thing you need to know about me is that I LOVE birthdays. All of them, mostly because I love any excuse to eat some cake, but I especially love mine.

 My mother has always, always made a huge deal out of my siblings and my birthdays. She would blow up balloons in the middle of the night and sneak in to our rooms so we would wake up surrounded by them. Then she would always make pancakes. She would make the pancakes into the shape of the number we were turning that day and it is seriously one of my favorite things about my day! She would make us our favorite meal and our favorite dessert and the day would just be all about me. Every birthday party I had as a kid was always well thought out and executed to perfection by my incredible mother and I was never ever disappointed on a birthday, ever. The only day I was disappointed was when I finally figured out (at an embarrassing age) that the flags that were put out on June 14th were in honor of Flag Day and not for my birthday. Thanks family. Despite the obvious deception from them I still always wear red white and blue.

When I went to school I was worried I would miss out on all of that but then I met Jerica and our birthdays are a week apart and it was always an extravaganza! So, coming to Ukraine I knew it would be fun but I thought I would really miss out on that. Nope. My amazing roommates sensed that I love birthdays and made my day great! So, yesterday I woke up to the best breakfast, crepes. And there it was. A crepe in the shape of a 22! I danced to 22 by Taylor Swift an embarrassing number of times. We ate pizza and they surprised me with a cake. Not to mention all my friends and family made my day even better with all the love and weird videos they sent. Great birthday. Great friends. Great life.

Ballet + Pizza = Perfection

We went to a Ballet recently. Swan Lake was performed and it wasn't terrible but it wasn't amazing either. So we watched the first two acts and then split. We were all starving and wanted pizza in a bad way. We found Pizzeria 33 but it looked more like Heaven to us. The pizza was great, the company even better. Kiev is starting to grow on us... shhh, don't tell anyone!

What happens when we find WIFI.

Jerica Elizabeth Denby

Today is my best friend's 21st birthday! And the sad thing is, I am half way across the world. Our birthdays are one week apart, so for one week we get to be the same age! Since I met her in my first year in college we have had a birthday extravaganza! We celebrate basically the whole month and it is seriously the best few weeks ever, every year! This year I had to settle to only Skype her for a few short moments and to make a really embarrassing yet perfect depiction of our friendship and life. Jerica is one of the best people I know; she is so kind and makes me want to be better every day. She likes to eat a lot, mostly tacos and dance for hours in the living room and watch Harry Potter for days straight. It is a match made in friendship heaven. There are only a few people in this world I call my best friends. There are exactly 2 who I can call my sisters. I was never blessed with a sister of my own and neither was Jer, so I think that is what helped us to become so close. She is hilarious and the best advice giver, her dancing when she gets up on the table and hits her head on the celing is probably the best thing about her. I love her with all my heart. Now here is a video for your viewing pleasure. Don't judge. 

Italy

Okay let's talk about this for a minute. Italy is seriously incredible. When you dream of going to Italy and you think it is going to be a certain way and you have all these expectations, you assume that you might be let down in some ways. I am here to tell you that is not the case. AT ALL! It honestly surpasses any kind of expectations and you leave feeling like you just left a dream you never wanted to wake up from. Italy was perfection.

Now let's talk about getting there. That is hell on earth. We had to take the train straight from hades and then sit on a bus for hours upon hours with a bunch of drunk Ukrainians. Although we have some of the greatest stories from this experience, my advice to you when traveling across Europe: Fly. 

We made 5 stops in Italy and each of them incredible. Venice was probably my favorite. Walking through the streets and running into a dead end into water. The gondola ride. The sheer perfection of beauty in that place was breathtaking. Rome was insane. So much culture and history. I could literally sit at the Trevi fountain for hours. The second day we were in Rome Stephanie and I broke off from the group, went to the Trevi fountain again, got Gelato and just explored Rome... If that wasn't ideal enough just wait. It started to rain. Not just rain but pour. So we ran through the streets of Rome all the way to the Coliseum and it was perfect. Florence was filled with shopping and eating and laughing. Pisa was the biggest tourist thing we did and the most fun. Verona was rainy and cold but it couldn't have been more amazing. I walked the streets to Romeo's house and to Juliet's and we ate pizza while writing our letters to Juliet. It was magic. It may seem like I am molesting Juliet in one of these pictures but it’s for love. How awkward would that be if it doesn't work? Italy=Perfection.

1st Stop: Venice

2nd Stop: Rome

3rd Stop: Florence

4th Stop: Pisa

5th Stop: Verona 

Kiev

My home away from home for the next 3 months would be Kiev, Ukraine. What can I say about Kiev? It is really hard to live here. So very different than America, which I thought I was prepared for, but I thought wrong. Everything is in Russian here-- a language I can't speak-- Everyone speaks Russian here -- even though I was clearly told that tons of people spoke English--. America is so different in so many ways but the biggest challenge for me is the friendliness of people. In America, in most places you go, people smile or say hello or something and here that is not the case. I miss that sense of community that I get in America. I crave it. So, next time you find yourself complaining about someone or something just remember that there are a million things to be grateful for. Smiling at others is one.

Although it has been a struggle I have found some places here to be grateful for. And every day there is something I can find that reminds me to be happy. There is truly beauty wherever you go in the world; you just have to look for it. It's there. Find it.

The other day I had a very hard morning and got on the bus in a mood. Next thing I know I hear English. The song they are playing on the bus is in English. They played "We are the Champions" by Queen. Day made right there. Later that day, 2 drunk guys in two completely different places decided to sing to me and my friends. It provided us with a little entertainment and some laughs. And best of all... We found a Mexican place in Ukraine! Chips and salsa never tasted so good.

Amsterdam!

After the flight from hell, my group and I arrived in Amsterdam for an 8 hour layover. I mean sure we were excited to maybe go explore the city but we were exhausted and cranky and we all barely knew each other so a little awkward. All of us decide to explore the city so after a 30 minute, embarrassing struggle to get our bags into a locker with no help and instructions that were in broken English, we were on our way. Our coordinator told us before we left America that it would be no big deal to leave the airport and get to the city, she said "Take a cab". So naturally we listened. We get in this cab and tell him to take us to the Anne Frank house. After talking a bit and thinking we had been in the cab for a long time, we look up to see that our cab-fare was already 45 euros. Crap. So we all started to kind of nervously laugh and say maybe we can walk, maybe we can get out and find it ourselves. I do not know what happened, but 20 minutes later, hyperventilating belly laughing from Saida and a cab driver who would not let us out, we get to the Anne Frank house and pay this man 87 euros for his services. The sad part was, we didn't even go inside Anne Frank's house. However, we explored and found a McDonalds for Saida and went on a boat ride through the city. The boat ride all but put us to sleep and then 6 cranky Americans tried to find their way back to the airport by getting on a train that took way too long to get tickets for because no one would speak English! Drained and grumpy we slept in the airport for about an hour and then boarded the plane to Kiev. I don't know if it was the cab ride, or the lack of sleep, or the general musk of weed in the air in Amsterdam, but some kind of magic happened and we all became instant friends, like we had known each other forever. That is in fact the biggest tender mercy I can think of.

Wanderlust.

I have dreamed and dreamed my entire life to travel this world. I was obsessed with the idea of foreign countries and different cultures to the point of having my room be Paris themed from the age of 12 to 16. It all just seemed like a romantic idea of traveling through places and meeting new people and seeing how other people lived their lives. I have waited and waited for the opportunity and it has finally come! I left for a study abroad program on May 7th. I've been to Amsterdam and Italy and I live in Ukraine. It is like a dream traveling. Being here is like a whole other world. Have I struggled? Yes. Will I still? Absolutely. But these are the experiences that help us grow, and I for one have already found things about myself I didn't know existed. It is an incredible life I have been given, and I just want to make the most of it. I have an intense desire to wander and I don't think that will ever change.