Alexa Marsh: January 2019

tea time

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen this photo that I posted of my mom and I enjoying a lovely cup of tea and delicious teatime sandwiches and desserts at an adorable tea room. It was such a fun yet simple excursion that was a reminder of how many local and undiscovered attractions you can find that are both entertaining and won't break the bank.

back 2 school

Today is officially the last of winter vacation, as I will be heading back to school tomorrow night. Christmas vacation truly flew by, and I am a little sad to be leaving the comfort of my home to return to the stresses of school and academics. I know that once I get back into a routine it will become easier, but this time of year always seems to get me down. I have never liked the winter simply because the dull, grey skies and frigid temperatures all have a tendency to affect my mood in a negative way.

Thankfully, however, my mom and I have a couple of trips planned that will help me to get through these next couple of months until spring break.

Reading

I have been loving Michelle Obama's autobiography entitled Becoming. Not only is she such an inspiration to me, but she is also such a talented writer. Reading her novel has been so eye-opening and enjoyable. She fearlessly opens up about every aspect of her life, showing a vulnerability that allows the reader to truly connect with Michelle and her story as well as facilitates a deeper appreciation and love for her positivity and kindness. I cannot wait to continue reading this book (I am currently a little over half way)!

Traveling to

I am beyond excited to be attending the Women's March in Washington DC on January 19! My school will be providing transportation for the ride there as well as the trip back, but my mom is hoping to book us at a hotel or find an airbnb in the area so that she can meet me in DC and we can spend the night there before I head back to school. Though it would only be a one night trip, simple little excursions like these with my mom are always so enjoyable and are a really nice break from the stresses of everyday life.

My mom and I also have a trip planned to Orlando, Florida over my long winter weekend in February! I am thrilled to be able to escape from the bitter weather of the northeast, even though it won't be that hot in Orlando anyway.

If you read my 2019 Goals post, you may also know that one of my big dreams for this year is to visit my cousins in Santiago, Chile! While the possible trip is not until early March, it is important to book in advance so that we can get good prices for plane tickets, and so it has been so exciting for my mom and me to search for potential flights!

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I absolutely love to read. Whether it be fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, or an autobiography, I love immersing myself into a good story and escaping from the stresses of the world around me.

Rather than choosing to read one book for a certain number of days, weeks, or months, I decided to simply create a number of books to read as my goal because it fits my busy school schedule much more, allowing me to complete much of this goal in the summertime when I have an abundance of free time.

Getting my driver's permit is something I've been meaning to do for over a year and have not yet done. I am currently sixteen and a half (I'll be turning seventeen in May), and still do not have my permit. I was eligible to get it in November of 2017, and have simply been putting it off.

As of the summertime, I will be a seventeen year-old rising junior in high school. I have wanted to volunteer in previous summers, but have found that many organizations (specifically animal shelters) have strict regulations about the ages at which volunteers can help out with certain activities and often require parental presence. I'm hoping that because I will be a year older, many of these restrictions will no longer apply to me, and I can have a variety of options for volunteer work and internships to choose from.

Not only is volunteering and interning simply a kind and generous deed because you are offering up your time and effort free of charge in order to help someone, I also feel that it would be a great way for me to get out of my comfort zone and would be a great learning experience.

If I'm being completely honest, running a mile is not at all something that I look forward to doing. It's not that I don't enjoy physical activity, because I love playing sports, hiking, and simply being outdoors, but I always seem to dread the timed mile runs that I try to encourage myself to do.

That is why this goal, to run twenty-five individual miles, may seem very minuscule seeing that there are 365 days in a single year. However, I wanted to be realistic and honest with myself when creating my goals, and I'm hoping that when I do get to the twenty-fifth day, I'll enjoy running a bit more and perhaps will continue running despite having completed this goal.

Though I've always loved to read and write, I've only recently discovered that I have a love for writing poetry. Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a poem simply because I was feeling inspired and submitted it to a couple of poetry contests I found online. I thought that I had no chance whatsoever of winning any of the contest I submitted by poem to, but did it anyway simply "in case." I am so happy I did though, because I was chosen as a young poet for the Bethesda Urban Partnership Poetry Award (click here to read my poem)!

I would love to submit another poem I recently created to possibly be accepted for another poetry contest or some sort of writing award. It was such an incredible opportunity and I learned so much from my experience, so I would love to try and submit another one of my works again this year.

One of my biggest dreams for 2019 is to visit my cousin and his family in Santiago, Chile. I have dreamed of visiting this beautiful country since my cousin, a foreign service officer, was sent there, and have spent countless hours on Pinterest scrolling through photos of the bright and colorful streets of Santiago and the incredible natural beauty surrounding this historic city. Also, besides being able to visit this extraordinary city, I would be able to reunite with my cousin, his wife, and their adorable kids whom I am only able to see via Instagram and miss very much.

Because my cousin will be reassigned to a new location in June, this year is really the only one in which we will have this perfect opportunity to visit my cousin in Chile, so I am really hoping that we are able to make it there before it's too late.

This next goal of mine ties in with my previous goal, because the next destination that my cousin will be sent to as a part of his work as a foreign service officer is Rwanda! Rwanda is a small country in Africa bordering Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

When my cousin lived in Ghana years earlier, my older sister, around the same age as I will be in the summer of 2020, considered working as an intern there and staying with my cousin and his family, but the idea sort of slipped away and she didn't end up going. My mom and I were just recently talking about it and thought how amazing it would be if we could both visit Rwanda and if I could work as an intern there alongside my cousin! To ensure that this idea won't "slip away" as it had with my sister, I really hope to get started on the planning early.

Lastly, my goal for 2019 is to maintain grades that I am proud of. Rather than having a set number goal for my grade average, I chose for my goal simply to be to work hard and do my best so that I can continue to earn grades that I feel proud of.

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