Temporary Expatriate : No hand can deter me from my battle for the truth.

On Friday, December 20, 2013, I embarked on an eighteen day adventure and traveled to more countries in a few weeks than I have in the past ten years. I'm excited to share my experiences with you, and I want to start by clarifying one thing. I know what some of you might be thinking: "Whoa, that's cool, but I couldn't do that. I don't have the time/money/energy." I used to be one of those people!

When I'd read a friend's blog about traveling, look at pictures, or hear the highlights from their trip when they returned, I'd always think to myself, that's awesome but I don't have the time or money to do something like that. End of story. But here's the truth. If you really want to travel, whether it's to see something you've always been curious about (for me the Northern Lights!) or just because you've never been there (um, Washington D.C.?!), the only thing really keeping you from going is yourself. I've never fancied myself as a vagabond or full of wanderlust, even though my mom calls me her little moonbeam. So as a recently converted travel junkie (it's really quite addictive), here are a few reasons why you should make the time, save the money, and go.

First, you can better understand who you are and where you come from by visiting new places. I've always had the misconception that the United States is a conservative country compared to Europe. That was foolish to lump together all countries in Europe and believe that the entire continent is more progressive socially and politically than where I'm from. The first place I visited was Dublin, Ireland. I took a walking tour with the hostel I stayed at and learned a lot about the history of Ireland. I was particularly interested in the feminist movement in Ireland. It's only been in the past twenty-five years that women were given the right to divorce, contraceptives, and equality in the work place. Here are a few pictures I took on the tour, including the skyscraper of Dublin, the River Liffey, the Royal Palace, and Temple Bar, a popular neighborhood in the city.

This is Veronica Guerin, a journalist who was murdered in 1996 for exposing crime and the drug trade of Dublin at the time. “I vow that the eyes of justice, the eyes of this journalist will not be shut again,” Guerin said. “No hand can deter me from my battle for the truth.”

Of course it started raining during the walking tour, and I left my umbrella at the hostel. So with soggy feet and wet hair, I took cover at the Guinness Storehouse with some friends I met on the walking tour. Here I am with Madeline who's from Australia.

Afterwards we headed back toward Temple Bar to find somewhere to eat. I met a girl at the Guinness Storehouse rooftop bar who is a pastry chef and was on Top Chef Masters. She gave us a list of her favorite restaurants in Dublin.

And that's another reason why you should travel. You can make friends everywhere you go. One of my biggest fears when planning my trip was that I would feel lonely. But the fear of being alone shouldn't keep you from traveling alone. Luckily it was pretty effortless to make friends while in Dublin. We all related to each other in that we were away from home for the holidays, whether because of school or work, and were excited to be traveling but also missed being with our family. Here I am with Anul, Madeline, Javi, Kevin, Santi, and Olaf.

We ended up at Pit Bros for dinner and I was the happiest girl in the world to be having slow cooked BBQ brisket. The owner of the restaurant told me to give him an honest opinion of how the BBQ was since I told him I grew up in the south. It was good, but obviously not better than Whole Hog Cafe or Matt Miller's.

I also happened to be in Dublin the weekend before Christmas which is when everyone dresses up in crazy Christmas sweaters and outfits for the 12 Pubs of Christmas. And when I say crazy Christmas sweaters, I don't mean just a tacky sweater with a reindeer on it. People went all out, dressed from head to toe with twinkle lights and tinsel.

The next day I took a bus to the west coast of Ireland to see the Cliffs of Mohar in County Clare. It was incredibly windy that day and I was left speechless by the coastline and luscious landscape.