Catharin

Hi everyone! Nice to meet ya'll.

I'm Catharin, 20, college senior in backwoods North Carolina, USA. Graduating in May, but I'm going to graduate school after I'm out, thereby putting off my entrance into the professional job market for awhile.

I have been bitten by the travel bug. After being stuck in Nowheresville, NC all my life, I made a few long-distance friends via the internet and finally had the chance to travel a bit. I've been to New Orleans and NYC this past year, and it's whetted my appetite for getting out in the world. In fact, I spend half my time dying to be on a flight to somewhere, and the other half of my time writing really bad poetry about dying to be on a flight to somewhere.

I'm studying to be a writer...a journalist...and I hope that besides all the other benefits of travelling, it'll give me a ton of story ideas and a chance to further develop my writing. (Or at least that's what I tell myself when I remember the STAGGERING LOAD OF STUDENT LOANS I should be paying back instead of taking off for Europe. )

But...I really, really....DESPERATELY want to head off for points unknown. Well, maybe sort of known...Western Europe to start with, since I'm really a virgin backpacker. I'm trying to figure out the best time to go, since it's going to take me some time to save enough money. I'm thinking of going for 3-4 weeks just to get started. Looking at May or June of 05. I would love to go solo, but on the other hand, I don't know that I'm ready for that experience just yet. I have a couple of friends I'm trying to talk into going. I hope that maybe we could get group and/or student discounts on some of the major things-- plane tickets, etc.

I'm just going to hang out and read the forums, it seems like everything I could need to know about backpacking is here! Thanks so much!