New England, New Me

This post is a bit overdue. However my trip to New England was so fantastic that "better late than never" is totally applicable! Also, bear with me, your favorite un-technologically savvy blogger. This is my debut photo formatting attempt. Though this photo map may be one that is a bit difficult to navigate, I am writing to you with a promise that I will get better!

I do believe in soulmates. Not in the romantic sense necessarily, but in an authentically human sense. I am certain that the human soul partakes in chemistry, that people brought together by some force of nature mesh in a beautifully perfect way, somewhat analogous to two atoms bonding to create one amazing thing. Personally, I know I have met four or five soulmates in this lifetime, and Hadley, the cutie pictured with me throughout this post is one of them.

Hadley and I met while studying abroad in Tanzania. We bonded hard and fast, then decided to venture out on our own for a month while carrying out a comprehensive research study on Seaweed farming. We always knew that if life together in a third world could be so fulfilling, life in the first world would totally knock us out of the ballpark. (I am not a sports fan, so not sure if that's the exact saying.) My senior year at Iowa, she came to visit me and her trip was everything I could have hoped for and more! After I'd decided I wanted to make the move to the sunshine state, I became determined to spend as much time as I could with those who matter most to me. Naturally, Hadley made the cut so I booked a trip to her hailing state, the smallest state in the federation, good ol' Rhode Island! I spent five days there; at the end I was definitely not ready to come home. I left with a great new dress, about eight extra pounds from all the delicious food, and even more great memories that I will cherish forever. :]

During my short five days, I got to experience the cities of Boston, Massachusetts, Newport, Narragansett, Providence and Block Island Rhode Island. One thing I particularly fell in love with about the East was the almost palpable history. I could not stop thinking about early American History and wanting to learn more. So I bought a book called "The History of News: How the World Came to Know about Itself." Updates to come.

I am 99% confident in saying my favorite thing in life is the deep blue sea and all the magical creatures it is home to. I am 100% confident in saying my second favorite thing is primitively hunting said creatures, from crustaceans to bi-valves, and everything in between! (Of course all the hunting I engage in is relatively safe to the marine eco-system.)

The clam pictured to your right is called a Quahog. It is a burrowing clam that lives in close proximity to razor clams and spider crabs. Hadley has been quahogging her whole life, and the day we went she had to show me the ropes, so to speak. These "ropes" were as follows: "If it cuts you, it's a razor clam. If it pinches you, it's a crab. If nothing happens it's a Quahog." In my case, this expedition did turn out to be somewhat injurious. My first grab was a crab and by my tenth go around my fingers were bloody. But I prevailed through the pain and by the time we exited the water, we'd captured a total of 119.

Our next stop was the shipyard pictured here, which is filled with fishing boats. It doubles as a fresh fish market. You go about buying your desired seafood simply by walking and asking the fishermen if they have what you're after. We were after lobsters! We showed up at the tail end of the day, most of the seamen had gone home already. I believe we managed to find the only guy who hadn't left yet, and he perfectly had the exact number of lobsters we needed! I spent some quality time with them on my lap the entire car ride home, then we boiled them up!

Maine lobsters are different than Floridian rock lobsters because they have claws, which have lots of delicious meat in them. Florida lobsters are eaten solely for the tail. Extracting the meat from the claws is actually quite fun, and I made it my goal to pull all the meat out while maintaining the claws shape. Full claw or not, you just cant beat a good Maine lobster (especially when you dip it in butter)!

My favorite day was my last day, we spent it at Block Island which is only reachable by Ferry. That night we went to Hadley's favorite bar: Ocean Mist. It was a full moon that night and high tide. When you go out on the back deck waves are crashing into the supports of the bar, you can literally feel small droplets of water misting your face. IT'S AWESOME. Hadley told me at one point a couple years ago, they thought the bar might actually fall in!


In the morning however, we woke up, hopped onto one moped and cruised down the side of the highway. On that ride, I am pretty sure I got more waves, puzzled looks, and thumbs up than I ever have in my life. It is true, Hadley and I were (and are) quite the site to see. When we arrived at our destination, the shipyard, we drove our moped onto the Ferry and then joined a bike gang, as you can in the picture below!

Block Island is the definition of quaint. It is quite small and easily circumnavigated by moped. Although we did take many roads that said no mopeds allowed, hehe. Here, the history was easily tangible, all the walls around the Island and fencing to keep livestock corralled are cobbled stone. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

We went to Mohegan Bluffs, which is a stone beach only accessible by climbing down about 40 flights of stairs. On our way down we heard these people talking about a whale they saw. Much to our dismay, we stumbled upon a young, dead, beached humpback whale. It was a heart breaking site, but the whale was still so beautiful. I was utterly intrigued with it. When I got home, I looked into the beaching of whales, and they actually beach themselves for a multitude of reasons. I highly encourage everyone to look into this phenomena and learn a little something about what you can do to aid prevention efforts!

                    

All in all, the trip was unbelievably exceptional. I know I will be visiting again as soon as time allows! Sidenote: During my flights and my downtime while Hadley was working, I entertained myself with a book called "The School of Essential Ingredients" by Erica Bauermeister, recommended to my by the lovely ladies in my Mama's bookclub. It was an encapsulating, sensational read and I highly suggest it!

Until Next Time! 

Perpetual Flux

With the end of this month drawing to a close, I can officially say it has been the most unique month of my life. As the title suggests, I have been living in a state of perpetual flux. A period of completely unstructured time, and even less responsibility, has lead me to essentially have had the world in my hands. This thought is the lighter side of my psyches recent experiences, and what I deem the cause of some of my highest highs. But as the saying goes, “With the highest highs come the lowest lows.” Seemingly endless time, has recurrently left me fully isolated and submersed in my thoughts; deep thoughts inherently lead to realization and conclusions. Not all of which I have come to have been pretty, or exactly spot on.

In the middle of summer, a romantic relationship I cherished more than any I have found myself in before, came to a close. Not because of any negative feelings or wrongdoings, simply because of geographical distance. “Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl, is the novel I am currently using to entertain my outlook on life. Frankl, a Jewish psychologist authored this chronicle after a stay in, then liberation from, Auschwitz. His main point is “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” His “whys” are work, dignity, and love. Although my thoughts for weeks were filled with doom and gloom from rather compulsively missing the aforementioned, rewarding experiences, Frankl’s wisdom, and getting back in touch with flying solo carried me through my sad period and I am now feeling refreshed and as independent as ever. :]

In this past month, I have had periodic conversations with family members more or less about self-confidence. One of them repeatedly mentions her wish of obtaining more. As some of you know, I am a talker, and thoroughly enjoy sharing advice when I see the opportunity to do so productively. This nagging, unfulfilled wish of hers got me thinking. Self-confidence is not a stagnant concept. It is a quality that must be built, it is something that must be continually fed to obtain. Break-ups, especially from super fulfilling and wholly good relationships, undoubtedly lower emotional morale and provide space for soul-crushing pity parties, trust me I know. But the doors that open when you are done crying are massively opportunistic. They allow you to truly discover your “why,” unconditionally influenced by anyone else.

Another interesting complex I have transitioned to is being the youngest in social groups I find myself in, rather than the oldest. This has given me insight on the “real world” so to speak. Being constantly surrounded by people your own age puts being an adult on a pedestal of sorts, it turns adulthood into this goal we are all constantly striving for but also gravely dreading. I have come to realize that in almost every sense of the word, I am an adult. I always thought people were constantly changing until they became who they were. I now understand that some people developmentally have stopped and will be forever content with stagnancy and that some people will never stop their quest for personal growth. I hope to be one of the latter!

Now, for the lighter side of things! Throughout these past 30 days, (roughly) I have been lucky enough to do odd jobs for lots of my parents’ friends. I have done everything from minting coins and squeezing farm-fresh honey-aid, to landscaping. For me, waking up and getting to do something very different than what I did the day before, every single day, has been super fun! I love meeting and working with new people. Everyone has something to offer and there is a lot to learn through one-on-one conversations with strangers; be it interesting facts, fun places to dine, or perspectives on living a good life. 

Through one of these fun encounters, I was able to experience a concert like no other I have ever been to. I served chips and dip for the MoRub tent, at Simnon Estes amphitheater in Des Moines during a Michael Franti concert. I have heard Michael Franti many times before, I even have some of his music saved on Spotify. Prior to seeing him live however, I often skipped these songs when they popped up on shuffle. There is no way I will ever do that again. Michael has catchy, feel-good tunes, but during his performance his radiant love and beauty were so overpowering that the ambiance literally brought me to tears!!! It was a spiritual experience that moved an entire crowd of strangers to hug each other. To witness and be a part of it was amazing. I knew some force had brought me to the right place at the right time when he dedicated a song to everyone who wanted to work toward saving the rivers, lakes, and oceans! It was a magical experience and a catalyst in ending my slump.

Life lately has been interesting to say the least, and I know with my upcoming trip to Rhode Island and big move approaching, my state of perpetual flux will be off the charts! But I am excited to have and share those adventures, so keep your eyes peeled for another post soon! I have attached links to a book discussion on the book I mentioned, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” a link for Michael Franti’s website in case you are interested in learning more, a link to the MoRub site because you gotta help your people out and their products are absolutely delish, and a link to the images of Simon Estes because it is a beautiful place!

Until Next Time :]

Book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

Michael Franti: https://www.michaelfranti.com/

MoRub: https://morub.com/

Simon Estes Ampitheater: https://www.google.com/search?q=simon+estes+amphitheater&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo-Ouu5PrVAhUq34MKHcpCCXgQ_AUICygC&biw=1295&bih=747

P.S. If you would like to be on my list of people that receive sporadic postcards, comment or message me your name and address!! 

Back at it!

I have decided to resurrect my study abroad blog. Partly, because I’m quite fond of the alliteration and catchiness of GracerinoGoesGlobal; although I am planning on having many more global endeavors. Partly, because I am preparing to embark on an arguably bigger journey than my trip to Africa. This time I am only travelling 1,551 miles. But, when I arrive I intend to begin an entirely new chapter of my life, and to continue writing it until I feel I am ready for the next. J

For quite some time, thoughts about re-vamping this thing have been floating around in my head. The other day while driving through the rolling hills, watching the sun set on seas of golden corn stalks, I was feeling particularly touched by the beauty of the Midwest. I was basking in the bittersweet-ness of my short month left in Iowa. Simultaneously a feeling of sadness about leaving everything I have come to call home showered upon me, but a stronger, unshakable excitement about my upcoming escapade arose within me. In this moment, I was undoubtedly sure that I should in fact re-vamp my blog!

So, for all of you who have not yet heard my big news, here it is:  I AM MOVING TO SOUTH FLORIDA IN A MONTH!!! When I arrive, I will be taking yacht crew certification classes, returning to Florida Seabase to become a certified Scuba instructor, then working on a privately owned yacht. Upon sharing this news with friends and family, numerous people have replied with something along the lines of “Wow, that is the most grace thing you could do.” It turns out this statement is right on the money! When I began my job search, I spent almost every night for what seems like a month mindlessly scanning through job hub sites, reading descriptions of jobs I didn’t want to do, coming up with various justifications to settle for one of them. One cool summer night, after walking around Iowa City with my good friend Molly, and feeling particularly nostalgic, I had what felt like an epiphany. My next step became crystal clear to me. I knew where I was going and what I was doing, following my heart to one of the places it’s been the fullest.

Today I was reading an article in PADI’s monthly magazine. (PADI is the diving organization I have obtained almost all of my diving certifications through.) The following is a statement I resonated with perfectly. I thought I would share it with all of you, to make my motivation for pursuing a professional trajectory in scuba diving a bit more understandable.

“We do what we do because we fell in love with the aquatic world and its wonderful creatures, so we support global efforts to preserve and restore the oceans’ health. We do what we do to protect marine animals, to participate in efforts to document and protect marine biodiversity. We do it for people and community, to integrate diving with local communities and train them to value, protect, and benefit from healthy marine ecosystems. And we do it for health and wellness, by using diving to heal people physically and psychologically.” –John Kinsella

I realize the path I have chosen is not the most conventional, and if my parents had not become so accustomed to my fierce independence, I am sure they would be worried about me too. But they are not. Nor am I, I am enlivened and ready for whatever comes my way. I am excited because I know there is so much I don’t know about what my future holds. And I realize everything will not always be as peachy as it is now in my romantic, pre-informed projections about what post-grad life in Florida will be like. But having a way to share my thoughts about life, funny stories, and life-changing experiences, with my ginormous fan base (by this I mean my six frequent readers,) makes the potential rough patches slightly less daunting.

While I feel eager to make this move and leave the Midwest behind, (at least for a little while,) I will dearly miss all the people I have met and the relationships I consider myself lucky to have been a part of. Everyone I have come into contact with over the course of my twenty-one years have played some role in shaping the person I have become today. For that, I will be forever grateful. By writing this blog, I will feel connected to you and hope you will to me.

Until next time! Cheers!