I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best friendships are the ones you really don’t expect making. When I first found out that Demetra was going to be my roommate I was a little worried about what the next few months would hold, but it didn’t take long for us to admire each other’s differences and qualities and become great friends, even like sisters. Luckily, because we both currently live in Chicago, we have been able to hang out and reminisce in our memories of London and traveling Europe.
To know a little bit about me – I have always liked to travel. My family swam competitively so we were always road tripping around the country for swim meets. Also, my parents love to travel and do fun stuff like camping, sailing, flying, and basically anything that seems appealing and fun. My mom told me once that her and my dad lived their lives and just put us kids in the back of the car to enjoy the ride. For my 4th birthday, my family traveled the east coast of the US and made stops at Niagara Falls and D.C. I have this vague memory of mom and me going through the turn stiles of the White House and her telling me that we couldn’t very far because we might catch President Clinton with his mistress (I’ve told my mother this and she has no memory, so…?) – Monica Lewinsky jokes *sigh*.
My favorite trips with my family were to San Diego and Sanibel Island. We went to San Diego because my older brother, Matthew, had a (swim) training trip at a university there. We sailed on the Pacific Ocean and saw tons of sea lions. I was 16 years old and was allowed to steer the boat and drink Coronas. Sanibel Island was a little hectic because my brother Matt and I have fought A LOT – like really, unbelievably much – in the past, and on that trip we were not speaking at all after a violent blow up. Anyways, we did do a lot of fun stuff in Florida that year for Christmas. We stayed in Sanibel for a week or so where Matt and I parasailed (and saw sting rays!) and ate amazing food. For Christmas, my dad rented a sail boat for a few days and we lived on the boat – we opened presents there and for whatever reason my dad let us 3 kids use his credit card! We also sailed on the Gulf which was fabulous, except for that it rained a majority of the days. To end the trip, my mom and I went to Epcot and a ton of places in Orlando.
Just a heads up, I’ve done a lot of traveling with my mom. She’s one of my favorite people on this planet and I admire her so much. Also, Matthew visited me in England, so if you don’t hear it from me, I know Demetra will bring him up… especially because her and Elliot (her boyfriend) love to make weird couple jokes about my brother and me. This is especially creepy because we look a lot alike and practically hated each other until I was like 19.
This post may have taken a weird turn, but the point is I caught the travel bug early. I was set on studying abroad in college and basically made it a priority. I traveled to Berlin summer after freshman year and a total of 9 countries while studying in London, including: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Morocco, and of course England.
x, Sarah
Runaway Blond 