EUROPEAN BUCKET LIST

1. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

2. Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain

3. Eat spaghetti in Italy

4. Ski the Swiss Alps

5. Meet an international pop star who falls madly in love with me & become famous just like Hilary Duff in The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Okay, okay, so the last one is a little far fetched (but hey, a girl can dream right?!)

Heck, that’s the whole point of a bucket list – to dream.  A bucket list is just that little (or big) list of things you always have in the back of your mind.  You know, those things you never really imagine could actually happen, but you secretly wish they would? It’s basically a list of dreams. Really awesome dreams…ones that if you’re lucky, will someday come true (yes, even #5 on my list…I would have to be REALLY lucky, but still, it could happen.)

At 19, I am proud to say I have already crossed a few things off my bucket list. Survive high school without being personally victimized by Regina George? CHECK.  Get accepted & attend a private college on the beach that looks more like a five star resort than a school?  -thanks to Pepperdine- CHECK.  Run around Europe on a wild vacation with all of my friends for a year? (some people might also call this phenomenon “studying abroad” 😉 CHE…well, half a check.  This bucket list item is currently in progress.

As you read this, I am currently sitting in Lausanne, Switzerland, staring out my window at the Swiss Alps overlooking Lake Geneva (sorry, I will try not to make you too envious, but it’s gonna be kinda hard 😉

Yes, 70 Pepperdine sophomores (myself included), embarked on our trip of a lifetime just 7 days ago.  Since the rest of this post is full of amazing jealousy-inspiring fabulosity, I will give you one little teaser of something not to be green-eyed about- my first ever trip to Europe began with our group having to meet at LAX airport at 4:00 a.m. Yea, as in the 4:00 am when it is still completely dark out…all I can say about that is THANK GOD for Starbucks.

Over 24 hours of travel time (with time changes) later, we touched down in Geneva, Switzerland!!! We all lugged our 3 pieces of cheetah luggage while wearing high-heeled sneakers and sorority sweatshirts (okay, maybe that was just me…but still, point made) to the awesome double decker bus that awaited our arrival. With the start of the engine, off we drove through the incredible Swiss countryside to our new home in Lausanne, where I am currently typing this post.

The house we now call our own is actually an old hotel converted into a mini Pepperdine campus.   Seventy Pepperdine sophomores reside here in double rooms (which all have views of the lake, Alps, and Swiss countryside…(like I said, not making you jealous will be tough).  The professors, abroad faculty, and everyone else associated with the Lausanne program lives here too (did I mention there is also a live-in gourmet chef!? Well, there is :).  It’s like a giant fraternity house…only way better, because (1) It’s coed and (2) It’s in Europe. Enough said.

I have been having too much fun in the past 7 days to have time to blog, which is why I am writing my first post tonight (you know it’s fun when I, the queen of social media, doesn’t have time to blog…)  In just our first week of being here, we swam in Lake Geneva, visited cathedrals and museums, toured the United Nations, traveled on trains, shopped in markets, ate grapes right off the vine at vineyards…I could honestly go on for pages and pages about everything we have done, but like I said, I’m trying not to make you too envious…yet.

Our classes finally begin tomorrow, (I almost forgot we were actually here for school in the midst of our European adventures), but not to worry, because classes are in session only 4 days a week.

And in-between classes we will be planning our weekend trips…I’m thinking Paris this weekend, & Rome the next? Maybe London or Morocco after that?

Yes, being abroad rocks.

So tonight as I sit here, gazing across the lake at the illuminated cityscape of France, (yep, I can see France from my bedroom), I can’t help but be filled with a great sense of anticipation and joy as I think about this upcoming year.  The lifelong friendships, memories, and the trip of a lifetime lay ahead…Does life really get any better than this?! Nope. I don’t think so.

Unless my European pop star boyfriend just appears at my doorstep of course 😉