This January, my parents decided to take my sister and I to Jamaica. We flew out of Charlotte, NC on New Years Day which was a struggle, but landed in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We landed at nighttime and drove around 100 miles South through the mountains of the island. This equated to about a 2 hour ride in the car. This wasn’t the most comfortable ride either. We were in a small compact Toyota and every person in the car including the driver had bags on their laps the whole way through. We made multiple stops to get gas and food, but arrived safely (but terrified). The whole car ride was through dark, tiny roads though the deep foliage, where every couple of miles we were stopped by military checkpoints with where soldiers inspected the car with M-16s. My dad said trip in the car took off two years of his life with all of the stress he went though. The driver was swerving in and out of potholes, barely missing oncoming traffic but to him it was an everyday occurrence and was unshaken. We spend our vacation in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, right off of the coast in a hut with a palm roof and all local wood. It was truly and experience. Not being in an all-inclusive was probably the best decision my parents made on the trip, as the conversations and experiences we had with locals was unmatched. We were a 5 minute walk from a bar right on the beach, and multiple small fishing boats were docked here as well. One day we decided to take a trip to the Pelican Bar. If you haven’t heard of it or seen it, please look it up. This is a tiki-style bar built on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. It is the coolest restaurant/bar I have ever been to. After doing this we proceeded to check out Black River. I could go into detail for hours, but my favorite part about visiting Jamaica is the complete change in culture and attitude. Yes, Jamaica has a high crime rate, but you would never know from visiting the small peaceful beach town that I stayed in. It was like life had hit it’s pause button, and this was the intermission. Quite an experience if I do say so myself.

Currently, I sit here at my desk thinking of my life. My struggle to get where I am, but my success in life as well as work. Sometimes I get caught up in the small things in life, but I have to remember to look back at all my accomplishments and all that I have accomplished. I started my journey of academic achievement, and at the end of the long dark tunnel I am starting to see the light. Day in and day out I am working. If I’m not at my job typing emails or calling leads or in class, I’m sleeping or in the library studying. I work 25-30 hours a week, as well as take 15 credit hours a semester as well as having extra curricular activities. I see it as a challenge, but sometimes it wears me down. My time is of the essence and managing it is my job.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

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