Countries I Hope to Visit this Summer

A 86 days until England! I CAN'T WAIT!

Here are the countries that I hope to visit this summer!

England 
duh.  It would be pretty hard to not go here seeing as how my study abroad is located in East Sussex and I'm staying with my family..

London, England

France
Mostly Paris. :-D  Another easy one to get to because it is so close to England

Paris, France

Ireland
It's so close, why not?

Spain
I have a friend who is studying abroad in Spain and we agreed that we were going to come and visit each other!

Barcelona, Spain

Italy
How can anyone go to Europe and not visit Italy? I mean come on.  The Colosseum, the Vatican, the art, the architecture?  A must see.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Germany
Germany has so much history involved it would be hard to pass up a trip here.

Greece
How beautiful Greece is!! Just by looking at the pictures it is to die for! Not to mention all of the Greek temples like the Parthenon.

Parthenon, Acropolis

Egypt 
This one may be a long shot this summer but I defiantly want to go here at some point in my life. I would love to see all of the pyramids and I absolutely love Egyptian culture.

Now, I'm realistic enough to understand that I probably won't make all 8 countries in 10 weeks (it could be possible though!). But I will see where I end up and make the most of it no matter what and whatever I don't get to see will just be added to the travel wish list!

Smash

Marilyn Monroe

Smash is a new NBC American musical original show produced by Steven Spielberg which is following the creation of the new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. It focuses on the behind the scene work of the creation including the audition, script writing processes and the family and home life of the characters involved.

Smash premiered February 6th and is currently on it's 4th episode (I have seen 2 so far and plan on getting through the rest during this break!) and IMDb suggests that there are 11 more set to be released (15 in total for the season).  It has stars from both the big screen such as Debra Messing (Will and Grace, The Wedding Date) and stars from Broadway such as Megan Hilty (known for Glinda in Wicked).  Katherine McPhee is also a lead in this show, playing the newcomer to Broadway. (McPhee broke into show business from being the runner up on American Idol).

Smash is shown Monday nights at 10pm Eastern time, right after NBC's hit show The Voice.  This may or may not be a good thing.  It shows right after The Voice, hoping to retain at least half of  The Voice's audience.  Smart idea considering that the audience that watches The Voice has overlap with Smash.  Smash  has also been heavily advertised and promoted but according to The Chicago Tribune, Smash is failing and The Voice is climbing.

My grandma (who shares my love of theatre) called me up the day after she watched it (surprising because it's on so late) gushing about how amazing Smash was and how I needed to check it out.  While watching, I was incredibly impressed by the vocal skills and I absolutely love the leading ladies and how the show is trying to bring in a touch of Broadway and call attention to the behind the scenes attributes.  However, it is such a slow start and seems to be missing something with the plot.  I can't exactly put my finger on it but the show seems to be just okay.  Disappointing because of the huge promotion and huge names involved in the making of Smash.  I am however, going to stick with it at least a few more episodes before I consider it a complete loss.

Watch Smash here or Monday nights at 10pm Eastern time (I sadly have to Hulu everything with my schedule).

What do you think of Smash?

FREEDOM!

IT'S ALL OVER (with the exception of one tiny online final and work)
WINTER QUARTER HAS COME TO A CLOSE!!

I'M FREEE!!!

"Oh Kristine! How free you must feel!" - Jenifer Krist as Nora in A Doll House

YES, YES I DO

I now can write in my blog (so many story possibilities in my head!), watch movies, hang out with people, plan adventures, clean my room, look at grad school and goof off on the Internet just like I have always wanted!

Be on the lookout for soooo many awesome new blog posts (I know I keep promising!)

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days are Over