Stop Talking, Molly.

This is a video story I did as part of my capstone class for my journalism major at Elon. The assignment was as follows: In order to start telling other people’s stories, it is important to be able to be in the spotlight, so you gain knowledge and understanding of what it is like to have your words and life be documented. Personal vulnerability is not something typical journalists usually face, as we spend our careers asking other people to be vulnerable and share their stories. I learned a lot about myself as a person, and as a journalist throughout this project. This is Stop Talking, Molly: on why I am so passionate about journalism, and how I got here.

Making this city feel like home!

Hello world, it’s me again. Today marks exactly two weeks since I’ve been in Dublin, which is absolutely crazy! Half of me feels like I’ve been here for an eternity already, and the other half of me feels like it’s been three seconds since I walked off of that plane from Boston. I’ve been having the most incredible growing experience already in just these two weeks. I’ve made so many new friends (which can I just say, can be so terrifying), but the people on my program are all such lovely, kind people. It’s been really fun to get to know them. We all really get along, and they all crack me up (which is important!).

I’ve also been getting to know many Irish people, which has been such fun. I made it a goal to talk to every bartender I can whenever we go to a pub. They usually have the most interesting backgrounds and stories about Dublin or Ireland, or their home country - wherever that may be. The other night I was out at a pub and met a big group of Irish girls who told me I was a ~cool American~. It might have been one of the best compliments I’ve ever received, haha. I’ve been so blown away by how friendly and welcoming the Irish people generally are. If you talk to anyone, chances are it will turn into at least a ten minute conversation, and by the end of it you’ll either be beaming with confidence from their kindness or cracking up from their sarcasm.

Chicken Burger w/ Wedges

Guiness!

Phoenix Park

Our shadows in front of the President's house

I’ve been working on exploring the city more, without using google maps. If you know me, you know this has been a struggle. I will say, I am okay at a few things in life, but directions are definitely NOT one of them. But I really want to learn this place like the back of my hand, so I’ve been forcing myself to try and use the GPS as little as possible when I walk around. I’m happy to report that yesterday I walked to and from my Internship without a GPS! Go me! My group and I also took a walk through Pheonix Park the other day - the largest enclosed park in Europe! It’s where the President’s house is as well. It was a beautiful day when we went, and we had a great time exploring. We finished the day at one of our new favorite local pubs for some burgers and Guiness. What could be better

I’ve also, slowly but surely, started to discover some of my new favorite restaurants and cafes throughout the city. The other day I went to a cafe with Diana where I got the most amazing gluten free porridge; with gluten free oats, compote, yogurt, honey, hazelnuts, granola and fresh berries. The place is totally a hole in the wall type of cafe from the outside, but you walk into a very bright and chic looking space. I also got a latte, and the foam came out in the shape of a swan. I’m obsessed. Last night I went to a little falafel restaurant with two of my new good friends in my program, and I think it’s going to be one of my go-to places. I got a meal order of Palastenian Falafal sandwhich (a pocket of hummus, tomato, cucumber, pickles, fried aubergine, parsley, and tahini sauce — so up my alley), that came with Batata Hara (spiced potato wedges), and a cup of tea! And here’s the best part: it was only 9 euros (and I couldn’t even finish the meal).

I’ve also started to feel more comfortable in my internship this past week. The bi-monthly paper came out yesterday, and I have two published articles in it! That was really cool moment for me to see my name in an Irish paper, it made me very excited to see where the rest of the semester takes me (even if it is a tiny, shoebox of an office). I’m really starting to learn a lot. They have me writing about immigrants throughout Ireland, so I’ve been able to interview and write about some very interesting and inspiring people.

I’ve been starting to plan a few travel adventures for the rest of the semester as well. Some throughout Ireland, and a few throughout Europe. Not this weekend, but next weekend, our program is going to Galway! I’m wicked excited for that, so stay tuned :) Until then, I’m going to work on ditching the GPS and making this place my home. Everyday feels a little more comfortable then the last :) XOXO!

A Week in Dublin: Pubs, Howth, and more!

Hello form across the pond! Today marks exactly one week since I have arrived in Dublin, and boy is that crazy. I think if I could describe my time here so far in one word, I would have to go with: Rollercoaster. With everything from moving in to my new apartment, being surrounded by all new people, and trying to adjust to life in a completely new city, I’ve been feeling both very excited, and very overwhelmed.

On the first day I arrived, Diana and I split up at the airport as we are here through different programs. I met up with my group and took a shuttle back to our apartments in Dublin. Our group’s luggage almost didn’t fit all the way in the bus so we were all squished into our seats with our luggage bleeding out into the isles and the trunk. (I’m glad I’m not the only one who overpacked). We did a lot of orientation things the very first day, and didn’t have any time to nap. So basically I slept two hours in the matter of 48 hours - while taking in all this new information - talk about overwhelming!

We had another full day of orientation on Thursday, and our program took us to a huge group dinner at a great tapas place. The restaurant was super unique, and we got to try loads of different foods. My favorite happened to be this fried oyster mushroom… I’ve never had anything like it before in my life! We all got drinks as well, and I discovered my new obsession here: Orchard Thieves Cider. I think my new friends here are already tired of me talking about it, haha. It’s literally apple juice for adults! We hopped around the city a little bit that night, popping in and out of different pubs with literally NO idea what we were doing, but that made it fun!

On Friday, we had our internship orientation where I found out my placement. I’m working at this very small multicultural newspaper that focuses on immigration issues throughout Ireland. And when I say small, I mean SMALL. The office is about the size of a normal bedroom, and is just piled high with random newspapers and old notes scattered everywhere. The most surprising part for me was that there are no coworkers… It’s just my supervisor and I that sit in the office all day. They do have some other employees, like the accountants that work in another bedroom sized room upstairs. They also have some more contributors and designers that just recently moved, so they work off site. My first day there was definitely a long one - my supervisor spent most of the day on the phone so I kept to myself and worked on my assignments. I’ve already written two articles for the paper after just one day, so it will be a really great opportunity to gain more pieces for my portfolio. I’m just going to have to get used to spending the day in that small little room with not many people to talk to. My supervisor did take me for coffee when I first arrived which was really kind, Dubliners love to do that I’ve found.

These yellow flowers were scattered all throughout our cliff walk. Yellow is my favorite color so I really loved these!

Saturday was probably one of my favorite days so far. My group took the train about 30 minutes out of Dublin to a small seaside village called Howth. It was beautiful. We took a long cliff walk/hike along the coast that was absolutely breathtaking. I felt like I was in a movie. It was beautiful and sunny on the walk up, but it did start to rain on the way down (and I found out the hard way that my big coat was not quite water proof enough). But I didn’t even care because there was a beautiful rainbow over our heads all day. Everywhere we walked we could see the rainbow in the distance over the tiny little village - again, I felt like I was in a movie. At the end of the Hike we stopped to walk around in a local market in the village, and then to a little hole-in-the-wall place for some of the most delicious fish and chips I’ve ever had. It tasted even better after having walked those four miles in the rain. I really loved Howth. It honestly reminded me a little bit of home, like a small oceanside village in New England because of the rocky coastline, green grass, and quaint shops. I definitely felt in my element.

The next day I was finally able to see Diana again as we both have been so busy with our different orientations! It’s been nice to make our own friends, and then once we are settled in we will be able to spend much more time together and hopefully share our new groups of people with each other! The next few days were full of adjusting, finding new pubs, and trying to find my new routine. I’ve definitely already met a lot of really great people that have made me even more excited to see where this semester takes me. I’m not going to lie, though, there have been some moments where I’ve felt extremely overwhelmed with all the newness. I know that will definitely go away with time, and how else would I grow if I wasn’t a little bit uncomfortable?

One thing that never fails to make me smile here however is the Irish slang people use. My favorite line everybody says is “you’re grand!” For example, if I accidentally bump into somebody and I say, ‘oh I’m so sorry about that excuse me!’ the Irish immediately respond with, “Oh you’re grand! You’re grand!” I think it’s charming, and it makes me smile. They also refer to everyone as a lad, and instead of saying thank you they say “thanks a million!” I’ve honestly never encountered a more friendly and welcoming people! I’m really excited to see where the next few days take me as I continue to settle in. I think it’s going to take another couple of weeks before I fully feel immersed into my new home. But until then, you all are grand for reading this & cheers!

Traveling across the pond with my best friend ~ the start of something new!

Hello, world! The time is officially here; Diana and I have finally begun our travels to Dublin for the semester! As I am writing this, I am sitting at my gate in the Boston Airport. It has been a long process to get here, and we still have quite the travel day ahead of us, but none the less we are extremely excited.

It’s funny because everyone keeps asking me how I’m feeling - if I’m excited for the next four months. And, of course I am excited - but a more accurate word to describe the feelings I’m having right now is: surreal. Everything feels surreal. It seems like just yesterday Diana and I were running around the col-da-sac as little kids back in Maine, dreaming of the day when we would be able to travel the world together.

Back then , I didn’t know where I would go to college or what my life would look like. Fast forward a handful of years and I’ve found myself 800 miles away from home at school in North Carolina, while Diana is 600 miles away from me at school in Massachusetts. Our parents never even entertained the idea that we would go to the same college, it was fairly unrealistic. We’ve learned to live apart from each other, but it never gets any less sad to say goodbye. When we said we wanted to study abroad together to spend a semester together, our parents sort of laughed. “Good luck figuring that out between two schools, don’t get your hopes up!” They said. And to that, we said challenge accepted.

So here we are, sitting at our gate in the Boston airport about to take off for this new adventure together, and it just doesn’t seem real. I’ve watched so many of my friends go abroad during the past fall semester, and while I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me excited to go experience it for myself, it also made my experience feel very far away. Something out there in the distance. For so long, going abroad to me felt like a dream I would one day live — but not anytime soon.

And boy was I wrong. This day snuck up on me faster than I ever thought. Even with all the packing dilemmas, fitting everything into each suitcase meticulously and carefully as to not tip the weight too much. I weighed, all of my suitcases about 100 more times after that to make sure they were in the very strict (and annoying) flight weight regulations. And I’m happy to report, both Diana and I passed the security checkpoint with flying colors… it only took two weeks of packing and weeding out half of our wardrobes.

As I write this, I’m getting more and more excited to get on this plane and start the journey. It doesn’t feel real quite yet, but it does feel exciting. And adventurous. And new. I’m readily waiting for this new challenge, and eagerly imagining what our new lives might be like.

For now, I’m going to get myself together and get ready to board the plane. They just announced the beginning of our boarding process! I’ll check in with all of you from across the pond. And until then, Diana and I will be snoozing (hopefully) and dreaming of all the Guinness we will be drinking in the next four months. Cheers to 2020 :)

Vacationing at Home

Summer is supposed to be one long vacation, right? Well, it used to be. I remember my summers as a kid; they were full of camping, playing outside passed sunset, and riding my bike four miles up the road to get the best ice cream in town, just because I could. When you’re a kid, each day in the summer was an empty slate. You could do everything you wanted… or you could do nothing! As a kid your summers could take you as far as your imagination let you wander. I miss that.

Now that I’m growing up, enjoying summer’s endless freedom is getting harder and harder as my days have become jam packed with work schedules and internship duties. I don’t get to get away as often as I used to, and I definitely don’t have much time to let my imagination sit in the driver’s seat of my day. This summer I’ve been busy soaking in a great (but unpaid) internship for half of the week, and running around as a waitress trying to make up the extra cash at a local Lobster restaurant for the other half. While it’s been a wonderful summer for gaining work experience in my future field and making money before I go back to school, I’ve been so busy I was starting to feel like I needed a break from my summer break… But the problem was, yet again, TIME! I have hardly any time to get out of town to relax and destress, so I had to improvise. With my boyfriend coming into town to visit during the fourth of July, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and treat myself to a staycation! And let me tell you, I’m so glad I did. It turned out to be one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.

Smoke Show

A fourth of July clam bake right in our backyard!

Lobstah, Lobstah, and wait - Clams too!

Fourth of July feast

Vacation views at home

Exploring the Portland Harbor

Portland Harbor

@ Slab Portland

Sun, Pizza, & Live Music

Enjoying live music at one of my favorite pizza places at home

*WARNING*

This photo may induce aggressive mouth watering, stomach grumbling, irresistible pizza cravings.

Vacationland

I mean, come on. Vacationland is right.

I'll be Your Tour Guide

Nostalgia

Our late night bonfires truly brought me back to my childhood summers. If nostalgia were a smell for me, it’d be a campfire (with a hint of bug spray).

What's a vacation without a sunset picture?

This time, it’s a sunset picture - staycation edition.

It was Parker’s first time in Maine, so we did all of the touristy things you could do. We ate at my favorite restaurants, had late night campfires complete with s’mores and too many mosquito bites, and took lots of unnecessary (but worth it because they’re cute) pictures. I did so many things I’ve done countless times before and normally take for granted, but treating this week like a true vacation changed my entire experience. Nothing reminds you the importance of enjoying where you are quite like a staycation with your favorite people. It was the perfect relaxing week with family and friends, and I didn’t have to pack a suitcase or get on a plane. I guess they don’t call Maine vacationland for nothing, huh?

Moral of the story, don’t under estimate the power of a staycation. Look up, take a breath, and appreciate the place you call home.

Did I Just Go Back in Time?

I just recently finished up my spring semester at Elon University in North Carolina, and moved back to my home state of Maine for the summer. The adjustment from college life back to life at home is always slightly awkward, but this time it wasn’t just awkward — it was like a large-scale moment of deja vu.

Let me explain.

Growing up in Maine exposed me to very specific seasons; long, long, looong (did I say LONG?) winters, a split-second summer, and a very cold fall. There is no spring — instead there’s mud season: melting snow that turns into muddy slush, and eventually becomes consistent, cold rain lasting from mid April through early June. Sounds lovely, right? Nope. Don’t get me wrong, Maine is the most beautiful state in the country, and I’m here to say it until I’m blue in the face. BUT, like anywhere else, it comes with its downsides and mud season is one of them.

In North Carolina on the other hand, Spring is a short and sweet transition to it’s 90-degree summers — you blink, and you’ll miss it. By the time my finals rolled around, summer in North Carolina was in full swing. I was wearing shorts every day to class, getting sunburnt without even trying to tan, and the birds were chirping and flowers in full bloom. It was finally starting to feel like beach days and bonfires were right around the corner.

I lived through North Carolina’s transition to from cool, rainy days to warm weather, and finally had summer fever. So here’s the kicker. I returned home to Maine for “summer” during the last week of May. And guess what? The weather is grey, rainy, and cold. So here I am, reliving the entire transition of spring to summer all over again. If time travel existed, I’m almost certain this is what it would feel like. Slowly but surely I know the warm weather will come to my beloved home state, but right now I’m impatiently waiting for the hot sun and colorful landscape North Carolina so kindly provided for me weeks ago.

However, Here & Everywhere is all about enjoying where you are. Yesterday I started my summer internship at Portland Magazine in one of the country’s most unique small cities; Portland, Maine (of course, I’m a little bias). The weather was a mere 58 degrees with torrential downpour — yet, the city still showed me a graceful beauty. The West End is full of beautiful, historic town houses and granola crunchy cafés and coffee shops. I took my thirty-minute lunch break to walk through the area surrounding my office building, and was captured by the way the beautiful brick buildings stood out against the gray sky. And thanks to the rain, trees and bushes alike were finally starting to burst with potent colors of green and yellow. It was magical.

As someone who is constantly stopping myself from looking ahead and moving too fast, this was friendly reminder to enjoy the moment. While it may feel like I went backwards in time and lost my sunny skies, I’m happy to be right here, right now.

Mt. Pleasant, SC

Mount Pleasant is a suburban town located just outside of Charleston, SC, and it is one of the fastest growing towns in the area. With a quick trip across The Ravenel Bridge you can be in the bustling downtown of Charleston where there are many renowned places to eat. However, Nico | Oysters + Seafood is the only reason you’ll need to stay in Mt. Pleasant for a night. The modern, French oyster bar is owned by Chef Nico Romo - the youngest ever US member of The French Culinary Academy and Master Chefs of France. At Nico, he creates beautiful french dishes cooked in a wood fired oven. One of the most unique things about the restaurant, though, is their open seating raw bar. There, you can enjoy your meal while watching the seafood magic behind the bar just like I did.

I was lucky enough to have a connection with one of the servers at the restaurant, Nick Thompson. He took great care of us as we sat at the raw bar and enjoyed the view. Nick, as well as the whole staff, treat their guests like royalty at Nico - that was very clear during our dinner. Nick knew the menu like the back of his hand — he was able to describe each dish in great detail for us and make many suggestions catered toward what foods we liked. He started us off with a wonderful Amuse-bouche - a one biter hors d'oeuvre that originated in France, meant to cleanse your pallet before a rich meal. That was followed by an oyster platter curated to our liking, and a wonderful red wine butter escargot.

*Oyster platter with oysters from; Lady Island, SC., James River, VA., and Harwich, MA.*

With a multitude of high end, wood-fired seafood plates to choose from, choosing an entree was not easy (although a great problem to have at a restaurant). I went with a french-style gnocchi per Nick’s recommendation, complete with shrimp, calamari, broccolini, and merguez (a red, spicy sausage) in a wonderfully rich and creamy cheese sauce. Parker, my wonderful dinner date and boyfriend, went with the ever-so-classic, Maine-style, Lobster Roll. It was presented on brioche toast, with pommes frites and a camembert fondue dipping sauce. I know… my mouth is watering too as I write this. It was incredible. The food has the warmth and technique of an authentic french bistro, combined with the freshness of East Coast’s finest seafood. While this restaurant may not be greatly suited to eating on a budget, trust me, it’s worth the extra dollars on the bill. AND absolutely worth the experience of wonderful service in a nice, but casual, fine dining setting.

I’m not one that can usually afford to treat myself to a meal at this caliber, but I was lucky enough to do so on this trip. And, I would do it all over again without hesitation. I’m a big believer in making the most of your experiences where you travel, and my trip to Nico was well worth it. If you ever find yourself in the Charleston area, I encourage you to venture out to Mount Pleasant for a night and give Nico a go - you won’t be disappointed. (And be sure to say hi to Nick for me!).

Charleston, SC

Charleston, South Carolina is one of the most unique cities on the east coast. It’s known as the Holy City for it’s historic religious freedom. The town is the oldest and largest city in South Carolina, and takes pride in its historic roots. Unlike other major cities, you won’t see a typical skyline of Charleston from the distance. Buildings in Charleston are not allowed to be taller than the tallest Church steeple, giving the city a skyline of steeples - unlike anywhere else in the world.

*One of many colorful buildings downtown*

*College of Charleston quad in the heart of downtown.*

Downtown is a rich and diverse area complete with College of Charleston, endless fine dining and local restaurants, and any shopper’s dream stores. The colors are something very distinct to the city. Charleston is famous for its street Rainbow Row - a strip of 13 historic houses painted in bright, pastel colors. Throughout the city itself many buildings follow the same aesthetic, and if you’re there in spring like I was, the blooming flowers and trees compliment the buildings just perfectly.

College of Charleston is a main attraction for many young adults, located right in the heart of downtown. The school is nestled right into the bustling city and its campus makes for a perfect, scenic stroll on a nice day. The students do not dominate the area, however. Business men, young families, and elders alike will also be seen walking throughout this beautiful area.