It's been far too long.

I have not blogged here in nearly nine months. A lot has happened during that time. I'll do my best to summarize all that's happened, as well as update my plans for the future.
February: I turned 22, found out my penpal would be coming to visit for a couple weeks in the summer, signed my lease for my apartment!
March: Got called about a job working at my college's library.
April: Got hired for the library position! Training began.
May: Officially began working at the library!
June: My penpal spent two whole weeks with me here in the states! We went to Michigan's Adventure theme and water park, saw and sort of swam in Lake Michigan, built bears at Build-A-Bear, saw and sort of swam in Lake Huron, visited a really weird dinosaur park, visited my family's cabin in the woods (spooky), dyed our hair fun colors, and took a crap ton of selfies. It was an absolute blast!
July: 'MURICA
August: moved into my first apartment! New semester began.
September: went to Camp Timbers for a weekend with the family. I got to kayak for the first time ever, rode a zip line for the first time ever, and went horseback riding for the first time in years! My favorite aunt and uncle came up from Texas to spend a couple weeks in Michigan as well as spending the weekend with us at the camp. They came to visit my apartment too :) Also began writing for Grand Central Magazine.
October (so far): first story for Grand Central was published! Yay! Registered for classes in the spring. I'm taking 3 journalism classes, a creative writing class, and the next level Spanish class I need for my degree. If everything works out, I should be out of here by 2016. I also got to use a button machine for the first time and it was so much fun! I may be addicted.

Alright, that should be everything. Though, knowing me, I've left some stuff out. Oh well.

So, update: I might be studying abroad this summer. I've been looking at Kingston for the summer and I found a really amazing class that incorporates Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and even Sherlock Holmes into the curriculum. It's only a month long, but part of the class is going to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff and also going to the Warner Brothers studios and taking the Harry Potter walking tour. So, yeah, I'm going to do my damndest to get there this summer so I can get those amazing experiences. And also to see my penpal again. Yay!

That's about it for now I suppose. My semester is going incredibly well right now. I'm passing all my classes, my teachers are all wonderful, and I am loving my job at the library. This school year is already infinitely better than last year, and I'm also involved a bit more on campus as well. I'm still friends with my roommates from last year, though I don't get to see them as often as I would like. That tends to happen when you move off campus. But we still talk frequently and I've made some new friends in the clubs I've joined. So I'm feeling pretty good right now. Let's hope I can keep this up next semester so I can get out of here as soon as I possibly can.

~A