Boone, NC
A great step in the journey
After my adventure to Japan, I moved back to NC for a year while finishing my associates degree at Carteret Community College. This year was one of the toughest emotionally due to the reality of being back home. I was forced to figure out who I was without the distraction of the amazing things I kept myself busy with in Japan. This entire time I was back in NC, I was planning how to get back to Okinawa and was able to get back for a month in May of 2016. The summer of 2016 was truly one of the best summers of my life. From scuba diving in japan and eating ramen daily to hiking over 100 miles at Philmont scout ranch, life was good.
Appalachian State University
In the Fall of 2016 I took off to Appalachian State University as a Junior to study Recreation Management. I was a huge band geek in high school and thrived a music environment so I decided it would be incredibly fun to join the Marching Mountaineers and make some new friends. It turned out to be fun for the most part and I met some wonderful people and got to experience some once in a lifetime things from a paid trip to New Orleans to being on the field at every single football game and playing my heart out to Bohemian Rhapsody. During this time I was on the beloved college meal plan and ate a diet of mostly McAlister's mac n' cheese and some type of chicken. One of my best meals in college were the free specialty events that I found myself getting invited to from an etiquette dinner to leadership banquets, I was blown away by the amazing foods that our school could provide when they wanted to.
When eating out in college it was all about the deals. While I had a job, it didn't pay enough to really fuel my inner foodie. A go-to food was the kids meal at chipotle or the 1/2 priced boneless wings at Macado's on Sunday's. Many times since graduating people have asked if I ate here or there in Boone and many times I have to say no because of the budget I was on while in school. Now when I go back to visit I make it a point to eat somewhere new and try all of the places people say that I missed out on.
One spot I didn't miss out on was the Sunrise Grill. This post night out breakfast was some of the best meals I had in college. The raspberry cream cheese french toast and the queso chili hash browns were my go to and made my tastebuds melt. I linked their Facebook below because I don't have any mouth watering photos to post.
https://www.facebook.com/SunriseGrill
A New Hope
I'm not a huge Star Wars fan but I do like a good pun. Anyway, my time in Undergrad was amazing and while I wish I would have had some delicious ramen and sushi to eat, I was happy to be having that fun experience. During my time at App, I realized I could take my recreation degree and work for the military to get back overseas to Okinawa, which was the main goal to what I thought was happiness. This was the path I took for the next few years and really fueled many of my decisions.
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