This past year has been the best of my life.

I began true adulthood by diving into a full-time position just weeks after finishing my degree.

Next came a move across the country in my station wagon, with only belongings that would fit, and my brother, in a quasi-Great American Road Trip sort of way.

My 22nd birthday marked my first day in San Diego as a resident and was spent driving into town and swimming in the Pacific Ocean as a newfound local.

In the subsequent year, I took trips.

Oh, there were so many trips.

So many, in fact, that I don’t know how much time I even spent on the ground in my new hometown.

Don’t believe me? I’ll list them:

August:

Driving from Ohio to San Diego

My brother and I piled in my car with pretty much every belonging I needed and explored our way across the country. We saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Cadillac Ranch in Texas, and White Sands National Park in New Mexico before getting to our grandparents’ house in Arizona.

A week in Arizona

From there, we spent the week in Tucson relaxing and remotely working while spending some quality family time together.

A festival weekend in Utah

My best friend, Brooke, and I met in Salt Lake City that weekend for HIVE, an inaugural music festival where we saw SAINt JHN, Jack Harlow, Post Malone, and lots of other artists.

I got back to Arizona on my birthday, in time for Michael and me to drive to Carlsbad, CA, and crash with my friend Hanna for a few days before my lease began.

Brooke, Sierra, and I subsequently became official roommates, and it felt like so many parts of my life were coalescing.

My friends from my college study abroad and my best friend from childhood all in the same place? Unheard of at that time. Now, it’s just life.

Nashville for Hanna’s 21st birthday

A whole month of celebrations and moving places, the last weekend of August saw a lot of my friends reuniting for the first time in quite a while (and taking a lot of tequila shots, but that’s neither here nor there.)

September:

A week traveling Iceland in a camper van

Brooke and I met up with Gleb and Dragosh, two more study abroad turned ‘real-life’ friends, in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. We spent the next week traveling the country of Iceland in a camper van that we rented, cooking our meals on the portable stove, and exploring the most incredible snow-capped mountains, winding fjords, and active volcanoes I’ve ever seen.

A weekend in Las Vegas

We got back from Iceland and 3 days later Sierra and I drove up to Long Beach to stay with our friends Jenna and Michael before we all headed to Vegas that Friday. Another weekend spent reconnecting as a group, we toed the line between drinking and enjoying each other’s company. (That’s what happens when you all meet abroad and don’t live in the same city, though.)

October:

Bi-Weekly trips to LA (the calmest of my early San Diego months)

I ended up in LA a lot in October for different weekend visits with Hanna at school. My 12-year-old self who was convinced I would end up at UCLA would have loved that for me.

November:

A week and a half in Arizona

One thing I was so excited about when I decided to move here was the proximity to my grandparents. Just a 6-hour drive away, it was time to visit again. I dragged Brooke along for part of the trip and then enjoyed daily sunrise hikes with my grandma during the second half of my time there.

A week in Tulum, Mexico

For Brooke’s 23^rd, we took a trip to Mexico in a way that felt deeply similar to our time in Bali in 2019. Yet, it was so completely unique and acted as a creative catalyst for me, for a while, at least.

December:

A weekend in Alabama to walk in graduation

Even though I finished my degree in London, I couldn’t walk until the paperwork was ready. So, I saw my parents and Michael for the first time in 6 months when we landed at the Atlanta airport. A bittersweet, bizarre trip, this one made me fully understand that I’m already in such a different place in life than I was as a student.

Another LA weekend away

Another birthday, another Semester at Sea reunion. This time Jenna’s birthday led us to all get together, including Michael who came back to California with me for the start of his semester break.

*Instead of taking a trip to Egypt and Turkey, or even our backup trip to Italy and Portugal, as a group, Sierra and Dragosh, and I all got COVID right before Christmas. We spent a very cozy holiday season not leaving our apartment.

January:

Bozeman, Montana for the weekend

Thanks to Gleb and his role at United Airlines, my long-distance travel really took off around now. As an Enrolled Friend, I get to take spur-of-the-moment flights like this one to Montana without an issue when I want to get into nature and catch up with a friend.

Seattle, Washington for a week

To stay on track with the feel of this month’s trips, I reunited with some other study abroad friends (different trip.) We worked remotely together in Seattle and explored the beauty of Washington all while making plans for our next trips together.

February:

Lisbon, Portugal for a week

Brooke and I decided to go to Portugal, and thankfully my job just so happened to need some on-site work done in Lisbon. So, I turned a trip that was planned at 11 PM in our shared bedroom into a work trip and experienced a little more of that European work-life balance that everyone talks about.

*Thus followed the only time I hit a full month solely in San Diego

March:

Columbus, Ohio for the weekend

A trip to Calgary didn’t work as planned when Sierra and I went to visit Dragosh (standby is great until it isn’t) so I decided to head home and surprise my family. There was also an Irish concert, St. Patrick’s Day build-up, and a fair amount of Jameson involved in those few days.

Chicago for a week and a half

I flew straight to Chicago where I got to reconnect even more with Gleb and Max who both let me overstay my welcome. (I have a whole piece about Chicago in the drafts that might get brought back to life soon.) The second weekend, I saw even more study abroad friends after such a long time and had another merging of worlds.

Honestly? Take a shot for every time I say study abroad friends.

April:

Joshua Tree for the weekend

I got home and needed some deep recovery after 3 full weekends of chaos, so Brooke and I went to the desert where we tried (and failed) to do a juice cleanse. Lots of reading, meditation, and good conversations brought April in the right way.

Denver for the weekend

Sandwiched in between my friend Joel and then my dad’s respective week-long San Diego visits was another trip with Sierra and Dragosh (our unofficial fourth roommate for the year) to Denver to see… another study abroad friend. We had the best weekend seeing what Colorado looks like outside of the airport and visiting Fort Collins where Semester at Sea’s home office is located.

Arizona for a few days

This was a last-minute trip and one that made me very grateful for my flight benefits. I went to help out after my grandpa was admitted to the hospital and was reminded of the importance of using my time and resources to see family. Thankfully, all is well, and it was a good visit.

Tulum, Mexico for half a week

The end of April kicked off my biggest trip, and the absolute best part of the year. From our Aldea Zamá AirBnB to the boutique hotel on the beach for the weekend, we started off right.

May:

Tulum Mexico for 2 weeks

We really kept up the momentum between the bottle service at clubs and VIP with a DJ but kept some balance with our remote work and content creation. The entire time in Mexico was a dream, and it felt like we had such a great mixture of connecting as friends and exploring the area but also living it up and going a little crazy. (There’s another piece all about this one that I should share soon, too.)

LA for a few days

I got home and immediately went to LA to see Hanna and connect, finally, with one of my coworkers who had to fly in for a consulate visit. Then, a few days later my cousin got to town and we spent some time in LA amongst all of the San Diego sites I got to show her.

Arizona for the week

I decided to go spend a longer amount of time with my grandparents and threw in a trip to Scottsdale to see, you guessed it, even more of my study abroad friends. As much as I say it all the time, it’s so cool having people to visit all over and I’m so grateful that I have the ability to do things like that.

June:

Chicago for a few days

We planned a group weekend trip, and I didn’t want to miss it due to standby, so Max graciously let me crash for a few days in the middle of the week. I saw my coworker again because my trip overlapped with another one of her consulate visits, and was reminded once again that I love Chicago.

Montreal, Canada for the weekend

This one was elite. The Renaissance and Ritz Carlton were our home bases while we explored the city. We got bottle service again but because it just kind of made the most sense, and embodied that ‘no sleep’ video when we went straight from the club to our 6 AM flight.

LA for the weekend

Another LA weekend, this time I was in town to see Hanna graduate. The youngest of our friend group, it was such a bittersweet, full-circle moment that was such a cool celebration.

Reno, Nevada for a week in the office

After that, I went straight into another two weeks away. As a remote employee, I’d never met most of my coworkers in person let alone visited the office or been to Reno. So, I finally made it out and crashed in the spare bedroom of another coworker for the week. It was the absolute best trip filled with lots of trivia, happy hours, picnics on the quad, in-person(!) meetings, and getting to better know the people I spend so much time working with.

After that trip, I think I’ll always miss the experience I could have had if I’d moved for my job, just a little bit.

Columbus, Ohio to take care of family matters

I flew straight to Ohio afterward for a less fun week of cleaning out my other grandparents’ home. There’s a lot to unpack there, but it was nice to see my family and to watch my grandpa settle into his memory care facility.

July:

Paris for the week (& a day in Belgium)

What was originally meant to be a roommate trip with Sierra, Brooke, and I, turned into Sierra and Dragosh getting stranded on standby and Gleb, Brooke, her boyfriend, and me exploring Paris for the week. The best-laid plans, right? We all ended up having a good time, despite the drastic changes in plans.

Montreal for a day

Speaking of a change of plans, Gleb and I had flown into Belgium to make it to Europe during such a busy travel time, and flying out was even worse. We had to go to Montreal, and spend the night there, before we managed to make it back to the states after days of chaos. Our friends may have dodged a small bullet.

Chicago for the weekend

Our exhaustion didn’t stop us, because I stayed in Chicago, and we celebrated making it home finally. A great, and chaotic as usual, few days back in the city.

LA a couple of times

A visit to the LA consulate for work came up while my mom and our family friends were in town, so we made a trip of it and I showed her my favourite parts of the city. Then, I next went to help Brooke start moving her things as we started the process of moving out of the apartment we shared for the past year. Sad, but exciting.

Back to Chicago for a week

The last weekend of July was Lollapalooza, so I went early and stayed for the entire week. It’s funny, going at the point that I did because I realized I could have very well had a life in Chicago if I’d chosen a different path.

Instead, I signed a lease with Sierra and Dragosh and we moved to a new part of San Diego. Not quite a new beginning, but a shift that feels new all the same.

August:

Another week in Europe- Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

This time, I reconnected with Chloe and Joel for the first time since we’d all been together at graduation. My best college friends from my actual university, we hadn’t traveled together like this before, but it was the best new adventure together. We talked about how we are all in a similar place, but also at such different stages as Chloe gets ready to get married and Joel and I look to new opportunities with our jobs and locations.

To Change:

So, needless to say, it’s been a crazy year full of adventures and connecting with friends and family all over the place. That list doesn’t even include the countless visitors we had in San Diego, which all but filled the time that I had here in between my trips.

I rang in 23 in Bruges, Belgium, after landing on my birthday to meet up with my two best friends from college. It was so different than last year’s new beginning of a San Diego beach, but somehow still feels representative of this coming year and new goals.

Now, in just over a week, I’ll be leaving that job that I directly went into after school. It was the best first position after graduation and one that felt extremely representative of the year that I had.

It allowed me to find a balance between remote work and its travel potential, both on my own and through a few work trips here and there (Portugal included!)

It also feels like playing it ‘safe’ after I studied abroad so much in college, to then work for the organization I had just gotten back from studying with.

Don’t get me wrong, it has been exactly what I needed this year and I couldn’t be happier that I had so many people put their trust in me. I got to connect with hundreds of students and I’d like to think that my impact reached further than the logistical side of the job sometimes showed me.

Travel changes people, and I’m still in awe that I got to be part of others’ journeys in the same way that so many of my coworkers were a part of my journey as a student not so long ago.

As I ring in this newest year of my life and plan a new set of adventures for myself, it is time to move back into a different space. One that will allow me to reconnect with some of the creativity I’ve been so desperately seeking back out.

So, while 22 saw me experiencing the world through a job in study abroad with freelancing as a side gig, I’m flipping the script.

23 will allow me the space I need to keep growing and learning as I move to freelance full-time.

The articles I’ve been writing and videos I’ve been editing will move to the forefront of my priorities list, even though I can’t imagine a world in which I ever shut up about the benefits of studying abroad.

When I looked at my life just 2 years ago, all of these were things that were on my list of goals for my life.

To give you an idea, the list looked a whoooole lot like this:

• Work for a non-profit
• Work for a study abroad organization
• Work as a writer
• Work with more video-based content
• Live in San Diego
• Travel monthly

Check, check… and a few more checks.

That list had a few more things, many of which I’m looking to work toward in the next year or two. That’s pretty exciting itself, to still have some big adventures further out on the horizon.

So, even now, as I question this huge(!) leap of faith as most people would, I’m doing it sitting on our couch in the new apartment that I just leased with my friends.

This space has so much light coming in the windows that I have to move as I’m typing to see the screen as I sit here in the late afternoon.

Our first San Diego apartment was always dim, and it was a wonder to have a ray of light shine through our side window.

This is such a clear upgrade, and it’s hitting me that even though these changes are intimidating, I’ve already leveled up from where I was in the past year of my life.

A better apartment with a nicer design, the confidence to go off on my own into a new way of working, and the serenity to accept that this is all playing out the way that it is meant to.

I’m so grateful for the past year that has given me so many opportunities to find my place in the world.

As scary as this next step is, I know that the year ahead will be even better, and full of new adventures.

So, cheers to 23 and seeing what on earth life brings me next!

(Oh, and a super shameless plug – if you need any written, video, editing, social media, or marketing work – hit me up!)