Dani's Writing Journey

Who doesn’t have goals they want to accomplish through out their lives? These dreams don’t have to be written down; most of mine aren’t, but they are still dreams and goals that I want to be able to experience.

Travel Goals

1. Visit Salem, MA
   • I already did this one a few weeks ago, but I feel like I need to revisit it. I love little beach towns, and some stick with me until I satisfy the itch of visiting again. Salem is one of those towns that I’d probably need to visit a few times before the itch is gone.
2. Go to Berlin during Oktoberfest.
   • Growing up, I would always go to the Oktoberfest in the New York/New Jersey area (ok, mostly just Bear Mountain) with my dad, and only got to go to one with my dad after I turned 21. Between this and my German ancestry, I’ve always wanted to experience the real thing: an authentic German Oktoberfest. From the pictures I’ve seen of the actual event, it looks like so much fun, and I would LOVE to experience it myself.
3. Go to Austria’s Krampusfest.
   • This goal I didn’t set until later in life, when I started to research my own ancestry (at least the bits I know of). I stumbled upon the monstrosity that is Krampus, the demonic Santa that kidnaps bad children and punishes them. As a horror fan, this beast of a myth is fascinating. Every year, there are parades (from what I’ve seen online they seem to be held at night to add to the horror) for Krampus, and people dress up as the legend. I would love to see this in person at least once.
4. See the Irish and Scottish countryside.
   • Does this even need an explanation? Have you seen pictures of their countryside? They are absolutely beautiful, and I will probably never want to leave once I am there.
5. Visit Venice.
   • I would need to reteach myself Italian in order to achieve this goal but I’ve been wanting to visit this beautiful city since I was in high school (over ten years ago at this point).
6. Visit the state park in Watkins Glen, NY and Letchworth State Park.
   • Both of these state parks are respectively three (3) hours and six (6) hours away from where I currently live. Not too bad of a road trip if you are from the US (from my understanding those in European countries wouldn’t dream of a road trip that long and honestly that is valid) but still a long drive regardless.

Education Goals

1. Complete my Master’s with honors.
   • I am already 1 year into my program and have been on the dean’s list every semester. As long as I continue to work on my classwork at the rate I am going, I should succeed in this.
2. Get into a PhD program and then graduate with honors.
   • I am a bit superstitious, so I won’t publish online which university’s program I want to get into, fearing I will jinx myself. However, my goal is to be able to put PhD at the end of my name (and hopefully have a leg up when applying for professor positions).