Don’t get me wrong, the past few months have been some of the most wonderful months of my life and I wouldn’t trade them for anything, but there’s a lot more that happens behind the scenes of this blog. I try to show you the excitement and the new experiences. I rarely, if at all, show you the hard times. There’s homesickness and heartache, loneliness and frustration. Part of me has felt somewhat defeated recently. There are still so many things that I want to get out of my experience here, but at times like these, I start to lose motivation.

Something that has always helped me when I’m having trouble putting one foot in front of the other is making lists. I’m always writing down things I want to do, whether it’s small things on a day-to-day basis or big things I want to accomplish at some point in the future. But sometimes the future seems far away and these big things begin to overwhelm me, creating a sense of anxiety. At times like these, I think it’s important to remember I don’t need to check off all the items and toss them aside in a “been there, done that” sort of fashion. I want to make another kind of list. One that will inspire and remind me how full my life has been already, regardless of what the future holds. The Reverse Bucket List, I suppose you would call it, of all the things I have filled my life with so far, that have shaped me into the awesome person I am today. So read, feel inspired, and make your own. Because if you look closely, I bet you’ve created a pretty damn good life, too.

My Reverse Bucket List:

1. Saw many of America’s greatest cities: New York, Boston, Washington DC, Nashville, San Francisco
2. Graduated high school with a perfect GPA
3. Graduated with a degree from Boston College
4. Spent a summer in my own apartment
5. Stepped foot in over half of the United States
6. Drove an RV to Indiana for a football game weekend, camped in a Wallmart parking lot (and survived crashing into an Olive Garden sign)
7. Built houses in Kentucky and West Virginia
8. Volunteered at a pre-school in Mississippi
9. Gambled at a casino on the Mississippi River
10. Cliff jumped on the North Shore of Hawaii
11. Had my own photograph featured in an art school exhibit
12. Learned how to throw a bowl on the ceramics wheel
13. Took a drawing class with nude models
14. Ate tapas and churros in Madrid, Barcelona, and Sevilla
15. Climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris
16. Took an overnight Eurotrain
17. Visited Buckingham Palace in London
18. Drove on a party bus to Quebec
19. Lived, studied, and worked for 4 months in Florence, Italy
20. Had a feature article published in an Italian newspaper
21. Visited Roma’s Colosseum and Vatican City
22. Rode horses through a Tuscan winery
23. Celebrated Carnevale in Venice and Viarreggio
24. Rode a gondola on the Venetian canals
25. Hiked Cinque Terre 3 times
26. Took the classic photo with the Leaning Tower of Pisa
27. Took an illegal photo of Michelangelo’s statue of David
28. Went inside the Blue Grotto
29. Visited the fossilized city of Pompeii
30. Ate gelato from the World’s Best Gelateria
31. Became a “regular” at an Italian panini shop
32. Canyon jumped in Interlaken, Switzerland
33. Skied the Swiss Alps
34. Spent Spring Break in Cancun
35. Moved to a foreign country completely on my own
36. Lived and worked in Brisbane, Australia
37. Climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
38. Rode elephants in Bali, Indonesia
39. Snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef
40. Hiked the oldest living rainforest on the planet
41. Bungy jumped in Cairns
42. Held a koala
43. Snuggled a kangaroo
44. Pet a rhino
45. Kissed a giraffe on the lips
46. Dated guys from all sorts of backgrounds
47. Survived heartache and loss
48. Got a tattoo
49. Learned to drive on the wrong side of the road
50. Made friends who live on every corner of the Earth