Kristine Dillon

Sunday, January 7

Italy 2017: Milan

Have you ever decided to take a weekend trip to another city? Well, that is exactly what happened at the last second in November. A friend and I took a weekend trip to Milan, Italy to visit a few friends. It was amazing!!! Besides the weather being mostly rainy we made the most out of it. Check out these pictures we took on our two-day adventure.

Day 1:

Milan Cathedral

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

L.O.V.E by Maurizio Cattelan

Sforza Castle

Entrance to the Sforza Castle

"Before we go looking for life on other planets, can we stop killing life on this one?"

Porta Sempione

That booty tho 😉

Bosco Verticale

A night out

Day 1 was super fun but exhausting. Get ready for the pictures from day 2.

Day 2:

Fondazione Prada

Fondazione Prada: Installation

rainy weather = crazy pictures

City Life by Zaha Hadid

Cimitero Monumentale di Milano

Day 2 was so rainy but it was amazing! I wish we had more time to explore! I miss Milan and can't wait to plan my next trip back. I highly recommend visiting.

I have been posting a lot of my study abroad adventure in Italy so check out my Instagram for more pictures. Instagram: @kristinedillon

Monday, January 1

Hello 2018!!!

It's finally 2018!!! Happy New Year!

It is time for a fresh start and to make new goals for ourselves this year. Obviously, you can make goals anytime you want but there is something about January 1st that makes it easier to start. I have my list of goals below. Some of these goals I know I will achieve and some I can achieve with a little bit of planning.

1. My first goal and probably the one I am most excited for is to graduate from university with my Bachelor's degree in Architecture! It has been a long and fun five years but I think I am ready for the next chapter of my life. With graduating comes finding a job. So, my next goal is to find a job (in Architecture) that I will love and enjoy.

2.In 2017 I traveled quite a bit and want to continue traveling. One thing I wish I would have done was to learn another language. I spent an entire semester in Italy and barely learned the basics. I will be spending 2018 learning how to speak Spanish fluently. Wish me luck!

3. I have some major goals I have planned for 2019. I know already thinking about next year, but I have to because 2018 is the year of saving. I will be toning down what I spend my money on because big things are to come and money is a big factor of those big things. Stay tuned for what that 'big thing' is.

4. My last goal for 2018 is to read. I know it seems simple, but I have a hard time finding books I like and just reading. If you have any good books you recommend, leave them in the comments below.

Heres to 2018 🍻 may it be the year of growth and prosperity!

Wednesday, December 27

2017 Recap

Wow! 2017 is finally over. This has been an interesting year, to say the least. Personally, this was one of my best years. Globally this was one of the shittiest years. But we got through it together.

Earlier this year I posted a blog about my goals for 2017 which you can read about here → Starting Fresh: 2017

Go and read it or this next bit will make zero sense. Do it, do it, do it.

SO, I did pretty well this year on sticking to my goals if I do say so myself.

I lived a healthy lifestyle and tried to eat and workout as much as I could. Walking all over Rome really helped me with keeping fit. I walked at least 12,000 steps a day and ate what I wanted but always tried to add a healthy option to what I was eating.

I achieved my traveling goal which was to visit at least two countries and I ended up visiting three. I went to Haiti, Italy, and Spain, all amazing and beautiful. I posted blogs on these with plenty of pictures. Check them out if you want. You can also see pictures of my adventures on my Instagram; @kristinedillon

I almost completed my goal of saving 10% of all paychecks and not spending a lot of money but I was studying abroad in Italy for heaven's sake and had no job. I was definitely spending frivolously but I regret nothing. There is always room to improve come the new year.

I will say that I have improved majorly this year when it comes to being more familiar with architecture programs and increasing my knowledge of architecture. I have to say this even though I am pretty sure it is a known fact, but Rome, Italy is an amazing place for an architect to go to get a better understanding of architecture from the beginning of time. The buildings are just spectacular and grand that it was so hard to fathom how they were built during those time periods. I feel like I need to go back because a semester was not enough time to grasps its amazingness.

As you can tell, I have been trying to blog more and more. I feel like when I write (type) out my emotions, feelings and what I'm thinking it helps me understand what is going on in my brain. Sort of like my own public (sometimes personal) online journal. I think this year has been so great for me because I started blogging and didn't keep all the things I'm thinking about inside my head all the time.

Thanks for following my blog this past 2017 year, I really appreciate it and can't wait for what the 2018 year has to offer.

Tuesday, December 19

Italy 2017: Orvietto

Orvietto, Italy was a dream. A small town in the Tuscany Region Orvieto is a day trip type of city. I visited the city with a friend for a day during Fall Break. Below are a few pictures of what we saw or explored that day. A funny thing that almost happened to us, as we were going to walk from the train station to the city but we were lucky enough to see a trolly that took us up the mountain to the city. If we would have walked it would have taken us the whole day so we got lucky to see it.