An adventure. What does that word mean to you? When I hear the word adventure, I think of getting hopelessly lost, wandering into obscure (but tasty) restaurants, and meeting new people. If I'm being honest though...that last part really means meeting a tall, dark, and handsome man at a nice coffee joint, but I digress. For the past 5 years I have been waiting for my adventure to start. In a little over a month, my adventure will begin.

Who am I? I am a 20 year old Maine college student about to embark on a trip that both excites and scares me.  Where am I going?  For the next six months, Cork, Ireland will be my home-away-from-home. I will spend one semester at the Cork Institute of Technology. How is this possible? [I feel like this question/answer format will get old quickly...] I am one of the 2015/2016 recipients of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship! Every year the scholarship sends one or two students from the Maine Community College System to Cork, Ireland. For more information, check out the link!

Once I arrive in Cork, I expect it to be a whirlwind of activity. I am positive there will be rough patches. In a way though, I am looking forward to the hard parts more than the easy bits. I grew up in a large family (8 kids), so I always had someone around to assist me if I had questions, or needed advice. For the first time, I will have to do everything myself. I won't have the luxury of traveling half an hour to do my laundry at my parent's house. I won't be able to call my sister for a half cup of sugar for that cookie recipe I needed to make at 10pm (okay...that never happened but regardless, I won't be able to do it now:P). I will need to stand on my own two feet, and that is okay. It will be a learning curve for sure. But I think I am up for the challenge.

Stay tuned...if I can stay on top of things with this blog (unlike all the other blogs I started in my teens and never posted more than once)...this blog could get interesting! A small town Mainer (or Main-ah) traveling across an ocean to stretch her wings...and her legs because face it...I'm tall and those planes have zero leg room.