Slowly and happily making my way...

Somehow it's already the 5th night of my roadtrip! It has been absolutely incredible so far. I had a fun night out on the town with Mere at my first stop in Penn State. I headed to Harrisburg the next day where Hilary lives. After finding an adorable crepe place and enjoying alone time as I chatted with friendly people in the crepe place and at a chocolate place...simply enjoying having conversation with "strangers." I reunited with Hilary and we chatted for hours, and then Julianne joined us for some margaritas, unbelievable cupcakes and more catching up. Sean joined us for lunch the next day and then Hilary and I visited the oldest brewery in the world: Yuengling, Chocolate World in Hershey, another brewery, and a taproom with 100 beers on tap! We had a fun-filled night out, finishing off the weekend right! So much love! It was a much needed visit. I have missed my best friend so much.

Next I headed to Baltimore area where I reunited with Grace and Mica-2 of the most positive, joyous, beautiful souls that I had the pleasure of meeting on Semester at Sea close to 2 YEARS AGO already... I've never experienced so much contagious joy before. From both of them I received the best 'reuniting after years' hugs. When we reunited there were screams, tight squeezes, jumping, weird noises, and well I really wish there was a hidden camera. I'll never forget that day-yesterday...experiencing such joy just to be in the presence of each other! I really was reminded of the importance of being around positive people that just brighten your light instead of cover it. I feel so blessed to be friends with these ladies and it inspires me to work hard no matter what to surround myself by positive people.

We ate sandwiches by the water, drank lattes in an adorable cafe and then casually went to a $25 Plain White T's and Parachute concert at a small, intimate venue..SCORE. I had so much fun at the concert, mostly because of the gals I was with! We were so happy and just danced the entire time. Today Grace showed me Old Ellicot City, and we explored cute shops. My friend from IC, Will lives only 30 min from my cousins in Leesburg so today on my way there I stopped and chatted with him for a bit. And now here I am at my cousin Bonnie and Dave's house. They have the cutest baby, Gabriel who is 6 months old, so I've been in heaven all evening. Now it's time to catch up on some sleep! I'm headed to Elon University in North Carolina tomorrow to visit my American Music Abroad (H.S. Europe trip) Brooke who I haven't seen in a couple years!