Oh the Places You'll Go

Vienna, Austria
Portofino, Italy
Machu Picchu, Peru
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Santorini, Greece
The Great Wall of China
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Sedona, Arizona
Chittorgarh, India

Travel- all I want to do. This list is just a few of the places I wish to go. I have always felt a strong desire to travel and see the world. I want to experience all different types of cultures and meet people from all walks of life. I want to watch the sunset in Santorini, walk the Great Wall of China, visit a mosque in India, and swim in the Great Barrier Reef. I want to encounter things I never have before and discover new things about myself. New Paltz is such a great place to grow up and I wouldn't want to have grown up anywhere else, but sometimes I feel like New Paltz is a "bubble" and that I am too sheltered.

Growing up my grandparents were (and still are) avid travelers. They have been everywhere from South Korea, to Africa, to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. I guess that's where my desire to travel originated. They would bring me back things from their trips, always something that represented the culture of the place they had visited. I put these trinkets in my room and glanced at them occasionally trying to imagine these foreign places, full of mystery and excitement.

When I was younger, maybe 8th grade my family went to Arizona over spring break. Even though this might not seem like an "exotic" place or particularly interesting one, it was to me. This was one of my first experience with traveling, sure I had been on vacation, but those were our yearly spots this was special and different. I remember stepping out of the airport it was maybe 2 o'clock in the morning, but of course I hadn't slept at all on the plane ride. We went through the strenuous process of getting our bags and a rental car before driving two hours in the dark of night to Tucson. Waking up the next morning the sun was bright and you could see the heat radiating off the ground, so early and already so hot. That first day we went out and explored Tucson, going on a hike that was unbelievably beautiful granted I didn't appreciate it that much, being a bratty middle schooler and all. The rest of a trip was a blur, but special none the less.

More recently, I visited Mexico with my grandparents and my cousin. It was an amazing experience. We visited the ruins in Tulum and swam in cenotes, which are pretty much the most magical places ever.  Cenotes are crazy cave systems with crystal clear water and beautiful, lush, green, vegetation, I'd recommend going to one immediately (and googling it right now). My amazing experience in Mexico made me crave more.

I am optimistic for a future that holds lots of adventure and discovery. There isn't enough time to go everywhere on my wish list, but that's not going to stop me from adding more places to that list.

Venice, Italy

Home Isn't a Place It's a Feeling

The fresh sea breeze brings me to life as I step off the boat and onto the dock, bustling with people greeting each other and trucks ready to take your bags if the walk to your house is to long. As I take in the picturesque landscape, my excitement rises to record highs. I have been coming to Monhegan Island my entire life and summer doesn't feel complete without that blissful week in a half. I rush off the boat and into the arms of lifetime friends. Happy and full of anticipation for the week to come we catch up and it feels like no time has passed since I last saw them. These people only know the "island Lillian," free of stress, ready to have a good time.

It is hard to get caught up with materialistic things on the island, cell phone service is spotty at best and internet is hard to come by, let alone electricity (which our house doesn't even have). In my opinion this is one of the things that makes Monhegan so incredibly special, you are forced to interact with people face to face rather then through electronic devices.

Usually I spend the day by myself or with my family and then meet up with my friends later at night. I cherish those days that I have just to myself. Sometimes I go for a hike, sometimes I hike, and other times I just sit and watch the ocean, taking it all in.

Some of my happiest and craziest moments have happened here. One time I had just gotten off the boat and met up with my friends. I had changed into my bathing suit back at the wharf, so I would be prepared to jump off the dock at a moments notice. All of my friends were gathered around a rusty old bike and one of them said "wanna jump it" before I even realized what i was doing I was agreeing to be the first to jump. As I made my way up the steep hill I immediately began regretting agreeing so hastily. My terror grew even more when I realized the bikes brakes were broken. Scared as hell at the top of that hill I finally let myself go. Shooting down the hill I felt like I was flying, but that didn't even compare to the feeling I had once the bike left the ground and I was falling rapidly towards the blue water. I had to jump off the bike mid-air to avoid hurting myself and landed gracefully (lies) in the water with the bike falling to my right. When I surfaced I couldn't even believe I'd just done that. Now my memory is hazy when it comes to that day, but luckily someone was smart enough to capture the whole thing on video!

Going somewhere for only about a week every year makes you treasure that place even more. You meet people you would never otherwise interact with and become their friend. Monhegan is where I feel most at home and most myself.

Memory, All Alone in the Moonlight

My best friend Nora and I are very close, some may even say inseparable. I practically live at her house on the weekends and on most weeknights you will find us talking on the phone detailing every little thing that happened that day.We share almost everything- music, books, jokes. She knows everything about me, we have no secrets. Her family is my family and I often find myself fighting with her siblings or helping set the table for dinner when I'm at her house (aka my second home). Although we share many equally embarrassing childhood memories I have decided to tell this one because it really sticks in my memory and because it cracks me up.

Let me preface this by saying we really were weird kids, I mean like REALLY weird. In sixth grade we were sitting in the auditorium before school started like every other day, talking about something insignificant probably, when we discovered that both of us had a loose tooth. Being the ridiculous children that we were we decided to name them. Of course we thought it would be hilarious to name the teeth Bob & Sherman because you know that is really f**king funny... well it was to us anyway. We anxiously waited for the day our teeth would fall out.

Brace yourself, I haven't even gotten to the most ridiculous, bordering on metal part yet. We buried the teeth (yep you read that right)... in a cream cheese box... at recess. Using our powers of persuasion we convinced  (forced) poor little Meaghan McElroy to say a few words and offer her condolences to our teeth (for falling out?) and then dug a whole in the ground (with a stick might I add), covered them with dirt, and promptly forgot about them for the rest of Middle School.

10th Grade

7th Grade

5th Grade