Be Amazing!

A friend posted this video on her Facebook wall earlier today.

Watch it. It will blow your mind.

This isn't going to be one of my longer posts. Instead, it's going to be short and sweet.
To put it simply, this girl teaches us one very important thing: be amazing. Maybe you can't spider-man climb a wall and catch a baseball hit by Brent Johnson, but I know that you can do something amazing. And you need to do it--whatever it is. If you can sing, then sing loud and clear. If you can run marathons, then run with all of your might. If you can rock climb, then climb on. If you can grill a mean rack of barbeque pork ribs, then grill away, baby!

But whatever it is that you can do, always be sure to remember the second very important thing that this girl teaches us: be humble. You know what you can do is amazing. Others definitely know what you can do is amazing. So instead of bragging about it, just own it, live it, do it.

Go and be amazing.

100 Steps Toward Happiness: Part 1

I've decided to compile a list of things that make me happy. They might seem silly or pointless or just downright ridiculous at times--but give them a try. You never know... they might make you happy, too. And what is so bad about that? Exactly! Nothing!

This is the first installment--the first ten steps to happiness. Each installment with be ten more things, until I reach 100! Expect them every Thursday for the next ten weeks.

That way, you have ten things to be happy about every week for ten weeks! It's like hitting the lottery, smile-style. Cha-ching!



1.) When you make eye contact with someone, smile. The first couple times this might feel weird. It might feel creepy. But when you make eye contact with someone, even if it's a stranger, make it a habit to smile. Who knows? They just might smile back. And then you're both smiling, and life is good.

2.) Compliment yourself every morning. You know when you're standing in front of the mirror after waking up, you're brushing your teeth, your hair is a mess, and you're still a little groggy? Spit out the paste and compliment yourself. "Damn, girl! Those are some dazzling, pearly whites!" "Oh hey, cutie. You're lookin' fine this morning." "You're going to kick some butt in that meeting today." "What beautiful eyes you have!" All right, it's a little silly talking to mirror-you at 7 in the morning (or whenever in the morning), but give yourself an ego-boost in the AM. It'll set your mood for the day.

3.) Listen to a feel-good song. Personally, I have a feel-good playlist that I like to play for myself whenever I need a mood-booster, but even just having one go-to song to listen to in order to help you smile is good enough. I recommend When I'm Up by Great Big Sea, Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root, or Catch My Disease by Ben Lee.

4.) Eat something yummy. Whenever I'm feeling a little blue, if I eat something delicious it helps me to feel better. I'm not talking about bingeing on oreos or finishing an entire jumbo-bag of potato chips (although, I'll be the first to admit I've been there, done that). I'm talking about eating just enough of something that has good feelings attached to it. For me, it's peanut butter. It's hard for me to feel unhappy while eating a banana or an apple with some peanut butter on it, because it's just so damn tasty!

5.) Pick one place to call your own and decorate it. Whether it's in your room, kitchen, office, desk, or garden (or anywhere else for that matter), pick one place that you spend a lot of time in and decorate it with things that make you happy. Currently, the wall next to my bed in my apartment in Rome is covered with pictures of my family, friends and dogs in addition to a few of my all time favorite fortune-cookie fortunes, a message from my boyfriend, some birthday cards, and a few magazine clippings. These things remind me that I'm loved--and that makes me happy!

6.) Open a window. Everyone needs a little fresh air once in a while, and what better way to get it than opening your window, especially if it's a nice day. It brings in some warmth and breeze into any stuffy apartment or house, and then you can hear the goings-on of your neighborhood, as well. For me, when I open my window, I get to hear birds chirping, little Italian men greeting each other with "Ciao!" and "Buon giorno!" and mopeds zip by down the street. It reminds me of all the good things my neighborhood offers!

7.) Wear something fun. For me, I love big earrings. I have more pairs than I probably know what to do with, and I rarely go out without a big, dangly, bold pair in my ears. They're unique, and a great conversation starter. So wear something different, like a brightly colored pair of sneakers or a flashy patterned shirt or a glitzy handbag or a bold solid color tie. It doesn't matter what it is, but it will make people want to know about it and will more than likely gather you a few compliments.

8.) Blow Bubbles.  Remember when you were a kid and you'd get those little jars of bubble soap with bubble wands and you'd stand outside with your siblings and neighborhood friends blowing bubbles for who knows how long? I know I sure do. And it was a blast. I can't think of something I enjoyed more than blowing bubbles on summer days when I was ten years old. It was the bees knees. And I know that, eleven years later, I still get giddy whenever I see someone blowing bubbles. It makes me want to join in. So go to your local dollar store and buy some bubbles. I bet you'll have fun.

9.) Celebrate a ridiculous holiday with a group of friends. International Chicken Wing Day? Sounds delish! Leif Erikson Day? Yarrr! Cockroach Race Day? Ok... maybe not. But regardless of what you want to celebrate, there's probably a ridiculous holiday for it. And with a few good friends and some funny ideas, I'm sure you can think up a good time and be happy while celebrating. Check out some of the holidays here.

10.) Keep your room organized. Now, for clutter bugs like myself, this might seem like more of a chore than a way to stay happy. But I assure you, if you keep on top of your mess and continually put things where they belong instead of on your floor or desk, you'll be happier. Clutter amounts to stress, because then when you go to look for something you have to sift through piles before finding it (if you even manage to find it). So instead of letting it pile high until its unmanageable, be sure to put things where they belong every day. It makes cleaning easier, it means less stress, and it makes everything look nice! Cleanliness - Stress + Looking Nice = Happy!


What are some little things that make you happy? Share here and perhaps you'll be credited and see your suggestion in one of the future additions to 100 Steps Toward Happiness!

Take the Plunge

I've done my fair share of plunging into water these past couple weeks.

I've dipped into 38 degree C bath in the Szechenyi thermal bath house in Budapest, Hungary (hot, hot, HOT!)
I've jumped off the side of a small motor boat into the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Capri, Italy.
I've dived into the Adriatic Sea off a yacht in Brac, Croatia.
I've been drenched by freezing cold torrential rain in Prague, Czech Republic (okay, maybe not my own doing, but certainly still water...).
I've leapt into the Cetina River from a 3 story high cliff outside of Omis, Croatia (twice!).

And currently, the heavens just opened up and released its bath water upon the city of Rome. Thankfully, this time, I'm safe inside of my lovely little apartment listening to the pounding rain instead of standing in the midst of it.

Throughout all of my diving, dipping and plunging I've found that sometimes the water is hot and sometimes the water is cold and sometimes the water is just right (granted, I might have stolen this from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but "bear" with me). Regardless the temperature of the water, I wanted to jump into it anyway.

It's about the experience, and this is what I often write about--the experience.

What if I had not jumping to the numbing Adriatic Sea and had stayed on the boat instead? Well, I wouldn't be able to say that I swam in the Adriatic even though I'd been to Capri. If I hadn't gone to a bathhouse in Budapest, I would have been missing a crucial part of the culture of the city. And if I'd not ignored my fear of jumping off a three story rock in Croatia? I wouldn't have had the adrenaline rush I got from the thrill of leaping into the crystal clear Cetina River of Croatia.

It might seem like such a small and insignificant thing in the grand scheme of traveling the world--but next time, take the plunge and jump into a body of water. It's invigorating, refreshing, and sometimes the best memory you have from a place!

When have you taken the plunge? Were you nervous to jump into water you knew was really cold or too hot? Were you unsure about cliff jumping or leaping off a boat? Did you ignore those feelings and dive in anyway?

You Leave a Part of Yourself In Every City

You know how the saying goes: "I left my heart in San Francisco."

The same is true whenever you travel. You leave little bits and pieces of yourself in every place you go. It's hard not to--you get attached, you form relationships, you eat delicious, interesting or weird new foods that you can't get enough of, you do new things and you see places you've only ever seen pictures of previously.

I've definitely lefts parts of myself in every place I've visited. Croatia is lucky enough to have claimed my left foot next-to-pinky-toe toenail.

I bet you did not expect this post to go in the direction it just did.

Well, regardless of what you were expecting ("I left my heart in Croatia!"), I did, unfortunately, leave a more gross part of myself in Split, Croatia. Being the klutz that I am, I tend to not watch where I'm walking more often than I care to admit and then trip or fall over things just a little less often than not watching where I'm going (although, I will admit, the two go hand-in-hand).

So, Croatia wins this round. "How?" you might ask? On my way to dinner with three girl friends I walked into a chair. That's right: a chair. Once again I was not paying attention to where I was walking, and walked directly into the leg of a chair. At first I thought it was a standard stub-the-toe-and-wince kind of accident, only to look down and discover a less than enjoyable scene. Sucking it up, I told the girls we had to backtrack to my hostel so that I could perform emergency first-aid on my toe.

It wasn't pretty. It wasn't fun. But looking back, it makes for a good story.

My moral for you this time takes several forms, and you can decide which direction to take (kind of like those childhood books where you pick your own ending! So fun!): either wear close-toed shoes and continue to be clumsy, or begin to pay attention to where you place your feet so you can avoid the entire situation completely.

I'll be opting for the latter of the two in the future. I just can't give up my sandals!

Have you ever done something clumsy and literally left a part of yourself in a city?

Obsession of the Week: Sandy Beaches

This week, I've found myself obsessed with SANDY BEACHES. 

While this may strike some as odd, to those of my friends and myself that just came back from Split, Croatia--this obsession it not odd.

Sandy beaches are great. Split, however (and Brac, an island off the coast of Split, for that matter) both have rocky beaches. My initial reaction to these rocky beaches was: "These aren't beaches..." However, they were. I was just not accustomed to such beaches because I grew up in South Jersey only a short hour drive from the Jersey Shore (not the fist-pumping, GTL kind... the family-friendly, boardwalk kind). The Jersey Shore is definitely all about their sandy beaches.

While Croatia is gorgeous (and I do mean GORGEOUS), it just wasn't my cup of tea in terms of beaches. I prefer my beaches sandy--and I see nothing wrong with that!

(Thanks to Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net for the photo.)

Short, short, short hiatus!

I'm leaving for Split, Croatia in several hours! How exciting!

Unfortunately, I won't be traveling with my computer. So you'll all have to wait until Tuesday for an updating blog post (and new Obsession of the Week) because I failed at scheduling posts for the upcoming few days.

Enjoy your weekends! I know I will!

Ciao!

Stay Calm. Don't Panic. Look for Solutions.

Sometimes, the most horrible things can happen when you're traveling. And by horrible, I do mean horrible.

However, that's the price you pay with travel. You risk that things will not go the way that you plan them to go, and that things will go wrong at any moment. And while most of the time, travel is exciting and rewarding, it's better to be prepared for when disaster strikes than not.

I have learned about disaster striking the hard way several times throughout my travels, and so here I hope to divulge some advice for if or when these things happen to you while traveling.

1.) Don't Panic. Just like in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy recommends, don't panic. This is rule number one for a reason. If you panic, that's when things get even worse. Panicking only leads from disaster to more disaster, because it means you aren't thinking straight and you are being progressive in finding a solution to whatever the problem should be.

How I learned this lesson: When I was in Costa Rica this past summer backpacking the country with my best friend from high school, someone broke into our hostel room while we slept and stole majority of anything with value from me and two other guests. I'm talking passports, cameras, wallets, credit cards, phones, IDs, ATM cards, money, iPods, purses, etc. This guy made out, literally, like a bandit, because he easily took off with probably $4,000 worth of items. Upon waking up that morning to catch an early bus to another part of the country, I discovered that my stuff was gone, and silently began panicking. My mind clouded up, and all I could do was cry and breathe entirely way too fast. However, I quickly found that that was not helping matters, calmed myself, and set to work in fixing the situation as best I could, which consisted of alerting the hostel owners, calling my mom on Skype to have her cancel my cards, submitting a theft report to my travel insurance company, and reporting the incident to the police (regardless of how unhelpful they were). No, it wasn't easy. No, it wasn't fun. But it was necessary to stay calm and reasonable so that I could do my best on solving the problems at hand. So don't panic. Just get to work in finding the best possible solutions.

2.) Buy a substantial amount of traveler's insurance. This one is important. Because if you do run into a problem, insurance will help cover whatever monetary costs you accrue. It may not cover everything, but it will help to cover at least some of the costs, which will help lessen the burden when disaster strikes. Oh, and be sure to get enough insurance. When it comes to insuring yourself, it's better to pay the extra $10 for the next level up in coverage than risk not having enough coverage.

How I learned this lesson: Again, the theft in Costa Rica helped me learn about the importance of not just having traveler's insurance, but having enough insurance to cover the damage. Unfortunately, I opted for a lower coverage plan when I purchased my insurance before Costa Rica. Instead of spending the big bucks and paying $60 for the high coverage, I went with the $47 lower coverage plan. And I regretted it less than a week into the trip because of the theft I mentioned above. Instead of getting a reimbursement check from Travelex, I received $500, which covered about a third of the items I had stolen from me. It was better than nothing, but I was still out $1,000. This was a hard lesson to learn.

3.) Theft proof yourself as much as humanly possible. There's no way to completely ensure that you will have nothing stolen from you while traveling. The fact of the matter is that you risk having your things stolen when you travel. Some countries are riskier than others. But no matter where you go, whether it's New York City and Los Angeles, Tokyo and Hong Kong, San Jose and Mexico City, Rome and Paris--they all have people looking to pick pocket you and steal your camera, money, phone, wallet, etc. But the best way to avoid getting something stolen is to either don't bring it with you when you travel, leave it in a secure place when you go out for the day (like a safe in your hostel, in your apartment/place of residence, locked in a closet, etc), or keep it in a safe place on your person if you do decide to bring it with you (like an inside zippered pocket in your purse or a breast pocket in your coat).

How I learned this lesson: No surprise here, but this also applies to the theft I experienced in Costa Rica. However, it also applies to just the other day here in Rome when I was riding a crowded bus into the city center with my small point and shoot camera in my front jeans pocket instead of in my purse where I usually keep it. This was a bad choice on my part, because after exiting the bus at my stop, I found that I had been pick-pocketed. I thought I was going to be able to make it 4 months in this city without having something stolen from me, but I was careless and let my guard down, and was once again reminded of why it is so incredibly important to never let your guard down and become careless with your belongings if you want to maintain possession of them, especially when riding crowded busses.

4.) Be cautious of the water and if you decide not to be, then have medicine ready. If you're like me, you would rather risk drinking the water when you travel than rely on purchasing bottled water every time you're thirsty and need a drink. While this is an extremely foolhardy way to live, bottled water is expensive, and I've found it's just much easier to just drink the tap water when I travel. This choice, however, is one that carries severe consequences with it. All sorts of nasty things happen when you drink unclean tap water, so if you choose to drink it anyway, make sure you have some kind of medication like Cipro with you to relieve your distress.

How I learned this lesson: When I was in Tanzania two summers ago I suddenly came down with a violent illness about a week and a half into the trip. I was unsure as to why I was getting so sick, only to realize that my choice to drink the tap water was paying its toll to my stomach. I had gotten sick of relying on the bottled water several days earlier, and began to brush m teeth with and drink small amounts of the tap water. It led to 12 excruciating hours which were relieved only after taking Cipro and sleeping for an extended amount of time. Since then, I have continued to drink the water when I've traveled to places like Costa Rica, Honduras and Argentina, but it is a conscientiously decided risk that I take because I know of the consequences and just how un-fun they truly are.

5.) Get your shots and take your meds. This one, I think, is self-explanatory. If you're going to be traveling to countries that have medical risks, like typhoid, yellow fever, malaria, TB, etc then please, please, please go prepared. This means scheduling a visit to your local travel clinic and getting your shots and prescriptions for malarial pills.


How I learned this lesson: Before I traveled to Tanzania with the group of students and advisors we all went to a travel clinic to get our shots. We needed to be guarded against typhoid, yellow fever, and Hep B. We also needed a prescriptions for Cipro (the all-mighty stomach guard!) and malaria medication. Thankfully, the shots guard you for about two years, so when I went to Honduras I scheduled my own visit to a travel clinic for my Hep A shot and to get more malaria medication and Cipro. When you travel to places that are in danger of these things, you need to get your shots. There's no way around this one. Just do it. It's much better to be safe than sorry. Plus, you don't want malaria. Malaria sucks.


6.) Be prepared to see something gruesome, especially if you're budget traveling in poorer parts of the world. You can't stay naive about the goings on in countries all around the world. Some cultures have certain practices that are pretty awful, disheartening and upsetting. Some people live extreme poverty. Some foods will make your stomach churn. It's part of what you experience when you travel, so it's better to be prepared to see or hear about these things than to be ignorant and then shocked if they do happen.


How I learned this lesson: While in Tanzania a group of students I was traveling with had the unpleasant experience of being shown a video of someone being stoned to death for stealing. The stoning had taken place around the corner from the school where they were working, and their bus driver had been present at the stoning and video taped the entire thing with his cell phone. They students had heard about what had happened from some of the boys at the school, but never expected to see it. Unfortunately, the bus driver showed two of the students the video he took, which I can only imagine must have been one of the most terrifying things they'd ever seen. This wasn't a movie like Hotel Rwanda where you could feel removed, even if the violence in the film was graphic. This video was real life, and had taken place only blocks away from the school. But however sad and upsetting it is, that kind of practice is part of the culture in Tanzania when someone steals and is caught by the public instead of the police.

I don't want these things to deter you from traveling, but I do want you to know that travel, while absolutely incredible most of the time, comes with its downfalls, as well. It's better to be prepared for these kinds of things than it is to be unaware about the dangers of traveling, especially in cities or poor areas. But if you're prepared, you're less likely to experience these problems, and will therefore have a much better time during your travels.


What are some things you've learned about traveling in order to avoid disaster? Share them here!