Easing into blogging & travel writing
- alanafrew
- Jan 22, 2015
- 3 min read
For those who don't know me, my name is Alana Frew. I am a senior at the University of Cincinnati with a double major in journalism and environmental studies. I work at the UC in university communications handling their social media as community manager (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram), but the crazier thing is I'm currently in my last semester of college. It's still hard for me to process!
Numerous times, I have tried to start a blog, but haven't because I didn't know what to write about and becuase I wasn't sure I could stay dedicated to it. I also didn't want to do it on a completely separate website. But, once I was tasked to have one for my Travel Writing course (which I'm currently taking) and found out that this site could support a blog format, it made sense.
Most (if not all) of these blog posts will be for my travel writing class (including this one), but I would hope you get a kick out of these regardless.
I thought I would start this talking about why I have an interest in travel writing. I like to travel, but since I started college, I've done very little of it and I have been car-less since February 2014 (RIP my 2000 green Nissan Maxima, Dusty Baker. I named him after the former Cincinnati Reds manager because it would get 'dusty' & had a leather interior, so it would 'bake' in the sun). It's also hard as a college student to have the money or the time to do it (if you know me, I work almost constantly). If I do go anywhere, it's in Cincinnati and with the amazing growth we've had for the past few years, it's not hard to find something fun to do. With my friends, I love trying the new restaurants (and returning to the long-standing favorites), exploring unfamiliar areas in town and most of all, visiting local attractions.
My interest started when I was little when my family would go on vacations to the Smoky Mountains (Fun fact: they spell smoky without an 'e'!), but the biggest thing for me was when I got more into T.V. My family never had cable (One thing my sisters & I enjoyed on vacations while staying at hotels. Ha ha ha!), so I watched a ton of P.B.S. shows for kids (Arthur, Cyber Chase). Because I'm also a dork and an old soul, I watched the shows for adults (Keeping up Appearances, The Red Green Show). One of these was Rick Steves and I fell in love with the places he traveled to in Europe. Most people have typical places they want to visit in Europe, but I have a fascination with all of them, even the Baltic countries that aren't as popular as Paris, Venice or Berlin.
There are a few places I've always wanted to go to outside of Europe including Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but the one area I really want to visit it the U.K. I love the rolling, green pastures, hillsides and cliffs throughout the whole area. I have some Scottish and Northern Irish roots on my dad's side and my mother has some British roots. I still have relatives in Ireland too, so I would love to meet them. I just want to dive into the culture of Ireland, Scotland and Britain. I love that the climate is rainy because I love the rain (Seattle is my favorite place I've ever visited, though it really isn't that rainy, despite popular belief). Being a fan of Pride & Prejudice, along with Harry Potter, I would love to visit the movie scenes too. Granted, I would also love to go to France nearby so I can use the French I took for five years, but I have to still go with the U.K.
Once I get a full-time job and settled in the real world, my goal is to save up my money to go there (and maybe France by ferry). Hopefully I can do that within the next two years, but since I still don't know what my life is going to be like in 3.5 months (a terrifying feeling!!), it may take me a bit longer. During high school, I got to see Rick Steves in person at the Main Cincinnati Public Library and ask him how younger adults can afford to go on a trip on their own. Someday, I hope to finally use his advice!
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