Out with the old...

Happy New Year! Good lord, where has the time gone?! I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that 2015 is over and 2016 is just beginning.

This time last year, I was starting my first big adventure, living and working in Washington D.C. Since then, I have travelled throughout the United States and in the process have met many amazing, inspirational, loving, kind, adventurous, and wholeheartedly good people from the states and abroad. I am so thankful for all of the opportunities I've been granted and cannot thank everyone who helped me enough. I wouldn't be where I am today without the support and love of my peers.

(The sun setting on the last day of 2015)

Ok now that the sappy "thanks" are over, let's talk about 2016!

I spent the holiday in Koh Lanta. This is a large island in the South part of the Krabi province. I took two different busses and a car ferry to get to the island, but boy was it worth it! This was such a chill, relaxing weekend, and it was a long overdo vacation!

Koh Lanta itself is lovely, if not a little disheveled. It was hit hard by the tsunami some years ago and has since been rebuilding slowly. Despite this, there are so many  places to stay and go and eat that there is no shortage of things to do.

My first day on the island and the first day of 2016, I took the liberty of signing up for a 4 islands tour with a company called "The 4 Islands" (righty so...). The trip including jetting around 4 islands in the area, onboard lunch and snacks, endless opportunities to snorkel, exploring a cave and relaxing on the beaches. So yeah I was pretty pumped! It was so much fun! I met some great families and couples on the tour and had a blast chatting with them. Besides the social interaction, chilling in the water and swimming with the fishes is a favorite past-time of mine, so you could say I enjoyed myself! The Emerald cave was our second stop on the island of Koh Muk. This was wild! So we had to play follow the leaded into this sea cave (that isn't very big when you try fitting three groups of conga lines in it), and we just kind of bounced around on the inside until escaping the dark to swim into the center of a hole. Wild! There's a random hole in this island and in the past, pirates would use this secret spot to hide their spoils of war and treasure. Then, it became a spot where fishermen would stop to collect the bird's eggs that nested on the walls. Now, it's a tourist attraction. There's a little beach and foliage, and shallow water to swim in and the overall experience was, well, wild!

(one of our stops to snorkel)

The rest of the tour was fun. I saw some neat fish, got some cool pictures of the coral and tried my hand at taking underwater selfies with the GoPro (a lot harder than it looks to get that "insta" worthy shot!) Getting back to Koh Lanta around dinnertime, I took a dip in the pool, got ready and headed out to find some food! I didn't have a single disappointing meal on this trip and I discovered the love that is mango sticky rice! Man I think I ate my weight in mango sticky rice while in Lanta!

The rest of my vacation was mainly spent getting incredibly sunburned on the beach and relaxing with a good book. It was a solitary trip for the most part, but I enjoy my alone time! It was nice to not have to worry about anyone's schedule but my own! And ringing in the new year on Koh Lanta was quite the experience and one that 2017 is going to have a rough time of beating!

So New Years Resolutions. What's next?

Well I've got a few like everyone else and their mom, but I don't dwell on the things I know will not change and instead look to the things that I have direct control over (with the exception of my body. Like my idol Bridget Jones once said, I'm always going to be just a little bit fat, and you what?! I'm OK with that! Deal with it.) But I have big plans for this year! Adventures I want to go on, loves I want to pursue, and things I want to try.

(Inside the island of Koh Muk via the Emerald Cave) 

The next big move will be back to the states. I have decided to finish out the semester in Thailand and then do some travel in the northern part of the country before coming home in April. I will spend the majority of the summer in Wyoming with some trips to Colorado to hike, see family, go to camps, see friends, ect.

Then, the next big move will be to Africa! As many of you know, my best friend in the whole wide world Laura, is embarking on a year long round-the-world volunteer extravaganza. I will be meeting her halfway through her journey in Cape Town, South Africa where we will hang out for a week or two before heading to Tanzania. While in Tanzania, we will be volunteering with and HIV/AIDS relief program. I am so incredibly thrilled to be working with this program considering the amount of research and study I have done on the subject!

So that's what's up with me! Happy New Year and 'till next time!