adventures

Nothing to Say…

Mary6 Comments

I’ve been a blogger for nearly three years, however, I feel like this year I’ve lost the privilege to say that. I went from daily blogger to 3-5 days a week, to no schedule which means some weeks are better than others but mostly I never see WordPress anymore.

I don’t know what it is or if anyone else feels this way. I just don’t know what to say. I sold my soul to the Odyssey so when I do have decent ideas I feel like that’s where they go. My blog has fallen to the wayside of my not busy life.

I think part of my issue is, I have nothing to say. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I have a lot to say. Am I self-censoring again? I don’t know. I think a huge part of the problem was that I dated someone this year and took 18.5 credits last semester and it kind of wore me down, and I forgot about blogging in my free time, especially since it was so limited. If the boy wasn’t around I wanted to be with my friends because I did feel like I was neglecting them. After I ended the relationship my weeks were filled with seemingly endless amounts of school work. Now, I’m at school for the summer spending my free time with friends, and the rest watching Netflix and doing research. I guess I’ve just lost touch with my blogger self.

I used to share my whole week with this little section of the internet. I used to write down every single thought that came through my mind. Now, I’m a senior in college and the biggest thing I have to show for my life (in my opinion) is this blog. It is my baby and I’m so proud of it, however, recently I just haven’t been doing it justice. And I don’t know how to fix it.

This year is the the year I’m supposed to really get my shit together (or at least that’s what I’m taking from it) and I always had this sliver of hope that someone would find this and it would be my salvation from the real world. I thought that it would help me become some freelance writer with oodles of free time for adventures. I now, don’t foresee that happening and freelancing is hard and I don’t know if there’s anyone I want to write for if I’m being honest. After reading about all the BuzzFeed stuff I’m very conflicted.

Anyway, I’m really hoping that I get some inspiration soon. I’m tired of not blogging. I’m jumping back into it. Maybe things will change, like my social media handles, and the content of my blog, but I’m back (hopefully).

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Goodbye America

Mary5 Comments

I am currently in the airport writing this on Microsoft word because there isn’t wifi so we will see if there’s an actual post that goes up in America.

It’s funny because I’ve had this post idea in my head for so long. Like “I can totally do a post in the airport as my last US post,” well I didn’t think about the lack of wifi and I also didn’t even think about what I would write.

It’s very odd because I feel like there’s all this build up, which is great. However, now I’m still waiting. This whole summer has been like a waiting game and it’s just weird that it’s about to end and everything is becoming real. I’ve waited so long, study abroad is something I’ve wanted to do since I knew it was a thing that people did and now that it’s here I’m just like in this state of unknown because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if any of that makes sense, but right now, I just feel so weird and happy and excited.

The waiting game is finally ending. It’s weird because this was a huge goal on my list of New Year Goals, like the biggest one on there. It’s crazy. It’s finally here.

Airports are so weird. I can’t find a normal bag of chips! I just want like something super plain because I’ll get like a meal once I’m in Philly but no, all that I can find is like kale chips and things that aren’t written in English, and the airport is not the place to try new snacks because they are way too expensive. Get what you know and spend the money on that.

If you like to people watch, this is the place to be, however, don’t watch the same people constantly. The man at the table next to me has been staring for far too long and it’s no longer people watching it’s creepy. Like you know how you can feel someone staring? Well it’s beyond that because I can see him in my very poor peripheral vision.

I do like that I can see the people rushing. When it comes to travel, I’m not a rusher, I am a take my timer. I feel bad for them though, because that must be so tough and stressful. There are also very confused people and very happy people and very just average people. I hope I fall mostly into average. My goal in life is to never really stand out too much because then people want to pay attention and it makes me uncomfortable, like the guy staring at the table next to me.

I am here so early. My family laughed because I wanted to be super early. I have a promptness problem, I’ve explained it before. Basically I was four and a half hours early for my first flight then I have like a three hour layover in Philly and I leave at 9:10 for Dublin. The waiting game kind of continues until tomorrow morning at about 8:40 and it finally is over. I get to start my adventure.

Since writing this I have arrived in Philadelphia. The flight from NY to here was absolutely beautiful. Totally worth the inconvenience (for me at least) and made the money saved even more valuable. I’m now sitting in a power cube thing charging everything in case the flight doesn’t have USB chargers, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

Irish updates to come soon.

Bye America.

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Average Adventure: Harry Potter World, Universal

Mary4 Comments

So it’s been over a month since my family vacation now and I still haven’t finished my adventure posts. So far I did one on Animal Kingdom and the Lodge. I just haven’t had the motivation to edit my pictures. I really just need to sit down and do them all. I have however, finished a bunch of pictures from Harry Potter World, which was awesome.

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This is a really cool view (in my opinion) of Hogwarts Castle. It is among a bunch of other attractions but I like how it’s right and the middle and really stands out.

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This is the Knight Bus, and it was very realistic. However, it was a pain to get a picture of because there was an official line of people constantly waiting to get a picture with it instead of of it.

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This is really cool. This is 12 Grimmauld Place and every few minute Kreacher peaks out of the window which I find very in character and a great touch for the park.

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This is the side of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes building which I just thought was super cool and fitting. Everything was made with such details it was amazing.

P1080392This is the Gringotts Dragon that breathes fire. You can also see the Butterbeer store as well as the book store.

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Here’s a picture that focuses more on the signs rather than the dragon.

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Here is a better picture of the dragon, and Gringotts.

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Knockturn Alley. It’s air conditioned to feel cold like you would expect Knockturn Alley to feel like. It was creepy, there was Bellatrix Lestrange wanted posters that actually moved. It was so cool. The pictures were hard to get though because it was dark like it should be.

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This is the Leaky Cauldron, which we actually got to eat at and it was super cool. We had Wizard  sodas and some different foods.

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Platform 9¾. Super cool. Hogwarts Express goes between the two parks and ends in the two Harry Potter sections. The ride is complete with Wizard World scenic videos.

Harry Potter World is super cool. If you get the opportunity GO. It’s amazing.  I will be uploading more pictures of my Flickr once all of my vacation pictures are edited (hopefully within the next week or two).

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Late Night Blogging with Mary: Part 1

Mary13 Comments

 

As my stats page drops more and more everyday and traffic driving posts aren’t coming to mind, I’ve decided to start a new series. Just late night thoughts and blogging with me, very accurately (this is not the word I wanted to use but I can literally not think of it) named “Late Night Blogging with Mary”. The title image is really big but I’ve worked on it for too long and I give up to be quite honest.

So for this series I’m just going to share my thoughts, like a stream of consciousness type of thing, or just like what I’m up to. I hope to incorporate friends when we have late night talks and thoughts with them and we could share too. You know, just see where it goes.

Tonight I’m thinking about essential oils and how to prevent anxiety when I’m abroad, which will definitely be a whole post. I know that my anxiety gets really bad when I’m uncomfortable. So I’m really trying to plan ahead because I know there will definitely be things that will make me uncomfortable when I’m gone, but I will never want to let that stop me from doing what I want to do in life. Yet that will be a whole post.

I’m also thinking about how I just dyed my hair partially purple and that I really like it. It comes out after like two or three washes. I think I’ll show pictures eventually or maybe next time I do it because I’m definitely going to do it again. I’ve always wanted to dye the tips of my hair a color and I finally did. It feels like refreshing, like out with the old, in with the new, even though it’s only temporary. Maybe one day I’ll do something more permanent…

Today my mom and I were talking about my birthday, because it’s her birthday today. But we were talking about mine because it’s a bigger one, I’m turning 21 in September, however, my birthday is five days after I get to Ireland, where it’s really not as big of a deal and I won’t have friends. So it’s different.

So I’m going on vacation next week and I haven’t said anything about it yet. That’s what I miss about daily blogging. Like I don’t know why I don’t share like things like that anymore, it’s just like a difference. I guess I feel like since I’m sharing less I should like do great quality posts but because of that it’s like whatever now, there’s a lot less character.

One last thing are there like American blogging networks? I follow Loz on Twitter and she and a few other are always tweeting like #nzbloggers (like New Zealand because that’s where she’s from, isn’t that cool??) but is there one for Americans? The blogging community is super interesting to me, but how do I get involved? Anyone know? Is this a thing or should I like start a hashtag or something? Anyone???

Another thing, like what is that saying I was looking for up at the top? If you know, please tell me.

What are we thinking about this new series? Yes? No? Maybe so?

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Travel Tips

Mary4 Comments

I’ve noticed that for my blog that was intended to revolve around travel, I’ve never really done a post on travel tips or anything of the sorts so I thought maybe I should do that.

  1. Always make lots of lists. In case you haven’t noticed I’m queen of lists and I use them for about everything, this includes travel. Make a list of places you want to see in each location, a list of things you need to pack, a list for your carry-on, and a list for the smallest details of any food you want to try while venturing a new land.
  2. Be prepared. Always expect the worst. Even if the forecast says no rain for  your entire two week trip, bring an umbrella. Have emergency contact numbers with you just incase you break your arm and end up in the hospital. Have a method of transportation waiting for you when you get off the plane/train/bus. This can vary from a taxi, friend or rental car. For example, a service like Turo is perfect for an airport car rental. There are no lines and you have direct contact with the owner of the car. They’ll bring the car to the airport, you exchange pleasantries and after noting and previous damage on the car you leave with the perfect car for you and your travels.
  3. Be early. Travel time take TIME. Air travel recommends you be two hours early, I recommend three just incase. If you are taking a train, be early. If you are taking a bus, be early. The only time you have room to be late is for a road trip. The last thing you want is to miss a mode of transportation and have to delay your trip.
  4. Don’t overpack. This is my downfall, I think that I need everything and I don’t. While it’s good to be prepared you don’t need to bring a jacket with you to the beach in July, if it’s cold at night a sweatshirt is a great souvenir. If you don’t need to do work you probably don’t need your laptop. Think about your lists before you act on them, really think so  you don’t bring something stupid that takes up a lot of space. If you are going somewhere for an extended amount of time also consider packing lighter and buying things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, and other things like that while there.
  5. Don’t underpack. While it’s important to skip out on the nonessentials don’t think you can get by on a pair of shorts and three shirts for a week. Don’t forget things like socks, a nicer pair of shoes, maybe a pair of flip flops if you’re going somewhere warm. You can always get stuff while you’re away but that’s not the best way to try and think of packing, you don’t want to forget anything vital to your personal travel needs.
  6. Plan. Know where you’re staying and how you’re getting from place to place. This information is important to share with someone at home too, that way incase anything happens someone knows where you should be at all times. This is especially important when you travel alone that way incase you lose your itinerary someone else has it too. Also it’s good to know what you’re doing at all times so you know where you’re going and what exactly you’re supposed to be doing. Booking ahead is also cheaper (typically) then waiting until you get somewhere like early bird discounts and such.
  7. Utilize your carry-ons. Most airlines allow two carry-ons, use them. Make sure you bring clothes in at least one of them in case your luggage is lost or sent to the wrong place, especially if you have a connecting flight somewhere. They’re also great for flight entertainment if you have a long domestic flight without any inflight entertainment. These are of huge importance for long car rides too. You never know when you might need to get a charger out or book just incase everyone else falls asleep and you’re bored, it’s better to keep them with you than with your suitcase that’s inaccessible in the trunk.

These are just a few of my travel tips. Please leave your own favorites in the comments because I want to travel soon and maybe I’ll need them one day!

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Average Adventure: A Hike with Lindsay

Mary1 Comment

Today I went on a nice little walk in the woods with my best pal, Lindsay. I took some nice snapshots of the woods and some video which will be linked in tomorrow’s post hopefully. Walks are just nice to do with friends because it’s the best way to catch up and get exercise. Lindsay is very fitness friendly but I was the one promoting lunge walks today. You’ll see some of my ways to exercise in my video later. For now here are some pictures!

What are you guys doing over fall breaks?

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The Best Kind of Adventures

MaryLeave a comment

As I haven’t actually done a post on adventures on such a long time, so I thought maybe I could actually write about my favorite kind of adventures and I had one today. I know this kind of an expensive and pointless adventure, but my friends and I do this at least once every break thingy we get. If you’ve been around for awhile you know that there isn’t much to do at all where I live, so my best friends Katie, Lindsay, Jade, and I take turns driving around trying to get lost. Which happens to be really hard when you’ve lived in the same area for 19 years.

I’m not focused today, I apologize. Anyway, this is one of my favorite things to do just because I get to spend time with three of my best friends. We went around the Lititz area today, Lindsay was driving Betsy, who could hardly make it up the hills, and these moments just become some surrell. I just looked around the car, laughing with my friends, on the top of the hill looking down at all of the really smelly fields, listening to music, and it’s one of those moments where I wouldn’t want to change anything. Except the smell.

These are just the best kind of adventures and I would do this every day if I could. I think it’s the moments like those that will stick with me the rest of my life. Like I’m not going to remember the stupid things we argue or get annoyed with each other over, we’re going to remember the times that we failed at getting lost on the backroads of Lancaster County. I’m glad I have something like that to cherish forever. The best kind of adventures don’t have to be far away they can be right in your backyard, it just takes a little work to make it an adventure. Never take for granted those of you who can turn an average day into an adventure day.

So one last note, well more like advertisement. I’m still in desperate need of a partner for this blogger convention so please contact me if you’re interested. Here’s a link to the the post Blogger Convention- Help Needed I really need help, I’m basically on my knees begging. If you are in the slightest bit interested in being my partner, but have concerns contact me anyway and we can talk about them! Thanks for at least considering!

XOXO

Mary.

marysaverageadventures@gmail.com

Planning My Next Adventure(s)

MaryLeave a comment

Let me just fast forward through February and March and into April so that I can get to my adventures. The first weekend in April I’m making the journey to  Boston to visit my friend Lindsay and I can’t wait. I got a really cheap overnight bus ticket so I’m looking forward to that. So I’ll be spending the weekend with her and doing stuff in Boston. She named a few places that we’re going to go to but I don’t really remember. I’m just excited because I love cities in the north, they’re so pretty, they could give cities on the west coast a run for their money- however, I’m still a fan of San Francisco and Seattle more so. It will totally be worth the long ride, hopefully it’s not too crowded and it won’t affect my anxiety, and most importantly, hopefully I can sleep. I also would like to do some vlogging on this trip so hopefully Lindsay won’t mind and I can get some good footage. I will sure to take a lot of pictures and do a proper blog post on traveling again because I have for sure been lacking on adventures and I hate that.

So what else is bringing you ask? Well I am going to New York for Model UN, and I’m a pretty excited for that as well. It is for a grade, and basically all work as well, but we do have one night off to go out, which I will love. I’m not super good friends with anyone that’s going which makes it a little bit more difficult, but I think I’ll have fun either way. I really want to Central Park and spend a good amount of time there, maybe work on some of my writing, I mean I do write stuff other than blogs. Or would that be too super cliche college hipster girl for me? I’m not a hipster you know. So hopefully I can get some cool city pictures too and stop stealing a lot of the ones I use off of Tumblr. Anyway, I can’t wait to finally share some adventures with you guys again! This is getting boring up in here! We need some change guys! So more of that to come in tomorrows update- beware it shall be a long one.

XOXO

Mary

My Adventure: The Coolest Movie Theater EVER!

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So my friend Ashlee invited me to the movies today, she’s a commuter and lives a few towns over, but I decided that I could do something on a Saturday night. Now, let me tell you it was totally worth it. First of all we went to Friendly’s for dinner and it was delicious, so good job Friendly’s. Anyway, we then went to the movies to get our tickets and we still had an hour until it started so we went to Sheetz. Ashlee and her cousins seemed a little annoyed that the ticket was $12 and that’s how much it is at the one near school so I assumed it was normal. They proceeded to tell me that usually it’s only around $8, so why did we pay $12? Because since it was a new movie, “That Awkward Moment” they only show it in the VIP theater, however, I still didn’t know what that meant, and they explained that it meant that there were comfy chairs. Little did I know that those comfy chairs would change my movie theater experience forever.

This is the seat. I don't even have a seat like this in my house. It even reclined.
This is the seat. I don’t even have a seat like this in my house. It even reclined.

As you can see I’m still really amused by this whole thing. I mean obviously I did a whole blog on it. I’ve seen the bed and couches theaters on tumblr and stuff but I never thought they were real. Is this like a common thing? Do any of you guys have movie theaters like this? Because there is nothing like this near my house. Well that’s my adventure sorry it’s lame and I’m easily entertained.

XOXO

Mary

TRIVIA IS BACK!

Answer

January 22: Oxpeckers

Question

January 23: What song is playing when the screen turn to black in the controversial diner-scene finale of TV’s The Sopranos?

January 24: What are the two most popular highlighter colors?

January 25:  What are the only two U.S states to have a single consonant in their names?

January 26: What role did an Australian beach play in the design of the very first iMac computer?

January 27:  How many bonus squares are there on an original Scrabble game board?

January 28:  In what TV show was Broadway superstar Mary Martin’s son shot by Hollywood superstar Bing Crosby’s daughter?

January 29:  When it comes to weather what is the SWEAT index?

January 30:  What is the real name of the Cookie Monster on TV’s Sesame Street?

January 31:  Where in its body does a camel store water- which it can drink 20 gallons at a time?

February 1:  What is the only diploma hanging on the wall of billionaire Warren Buffett’s office?