The Beginning of a Great Adventure

 

If you follow me on any social media, you will know that yesterday I left for my study abroad trip to France.

The days coming up to it were nerve-racking. After almost a year of planning, I am here.

Well not exactly.

I had to start in Frankfurt Germany first. It was the cheaper option when booking those long haul flights to Europe, and besides what can be better than 3 days in a city you have never been in before.

For those of you who do not travel much let me explain the situation better as to of why I am in Frankfurt.  Several months ago, when looking for flights, a very cheap one came up. It was a direct flight from Pittsburgh (my home), to Frankfurt Germany. It meant that I had to leave a week early, but by leaving a week early I saved over 700 dollars on flight costs.

I can now use that 700 dollars on traveling around different places in Europe before my time abroad starts. I choose to start in Frankfurt, and then journey to Prague for three more days.

I left Pittsburgh around 10 p.m. eastern time last night, using Condor Airlines. Condor flies seasonally out of Pittsburgh, three times a week to Frankfurt Germany. The flight was pretty packed, since the opportunity to have a direct flight too Europe is not always present in Pittsburgh.

The flight was delayed by an hour, the gate agent was rude, and the line to checkin was horrendous, however, as a seasoned traveler I  understand that things happen that are out of the control of others, so I will let this one slide.

Upon boarding, I was greeted by some nice flight attendants and a huge premium class seat. Both meals on board were good, and surprisingly so was the inflight entertainment.

Most of the people on the flight were quite grumpy, and grew even grumpier when we arrived, and many of them missed their flights. This was primarily because the airline stuck us on a shuttle from the tarmac to the terminal (great fun). I was ok because I did not have a connecting flight, and was in no hurry too get anywhere.

My first bit of culture shock hit me pretty much on the plane. I do not speak German. It has been quite hard for me because I don’t really understand most of what is being said, but  I am just going with the flow of things. The worse part was trying to tell my taxi driver where to go, but thankfully technology saved the day.

So today was my first day in Frankfurt. As we speak it is a little after 8 p.m. local time. I have eaten dinner and settled in my hotel comfortably. Today was nothing exciting, I was  truly exhausted from the flight and spent most of the day napping. I woke up just in time to go to an Irish pub for dinner (Let me tell you it was awful, but that is ok).

Right now, my hotel room that I paid extra money for the have air conditioning (they are having a heat wave it is like 90 degrees), has no AC because the the AC in my room is broken. I hope tomorrow it will be fixed, but if not I guess I will have to be more tough and maybe ask for some of my money back. After all, they did promise air-conditioning.

Even with the bad dinner, and no air-conditioning I am still happy to be here taking it all in. Here’s to hoping tomorrow is even better then today (even though I have no clue what I am doing).

Thank you for following along-Jared

Taking on the City

Recently, I moved to the City of Pittsburgh. Western Pennsylvania has been my home for my entire life, but I never truly have known what it has meant to be an actual Pittsburgher. Nor have I know what it is like to live in the city.

It was a big step for me as it is any young person to live in the city. I got a new job for the summer, and it just made sense to live in the downtown area.

In April the big move came. I packed what I could of my dorm room at Pitt Greensburg and moved it to a quaint little apartment on North Craig Street, in Pittsburgh’s North Oakland Neighborhood.

It is only for three months, so I tried to pack light (I am bad at that).  Also, I live on the third floor so carrying all of those boxes up three flights of stairs was tough.

My first nights were rough, it was hard to sleep. The sirens, helicopters, and general street noise was all a lot to handle. As someone from the country, I am not used to any of these sounds. Plus, the amount of sunlight that comes into my room is insane.

After a few days, I got used to the living situation. I started to explore the area, find the grocery store, places to eat, and things to do.

If you ever live in the Oakland area, I recommend the Aldi on Baum Boulevard for grocery shopping, The Fitness Factory on South Highland Avenue for a gym, and the Urban Tab on South Highland Avenue for a good bit to eat. There is also a lot of great walking trails near downtown to explore.

I have also gotten to explore riding the city buses, doing new things to make money and a myriad of other things that I hope to discuss in some other blog posts with you.

Living in the city as someone from a rural area is not easy. You will get scared, sometimes you will want to move back home, and at other times you will have a great day.

What it comes down to is this: no matter who you are I think you should try living in a city at least once.

It is by far one of the most difficult but most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

It was difficult and still difficult to get used to living in an urban area. I do not think by the end of the summer I will be able to call myself a seasoned veteran. I am sure if I ever live downtown again,  it will still be a tough transition.

But that transition has right now has made me mature so much. I have learned things from how to manage my money more, to just being more open-minded to different people and situations. Living near the city has taught me to emphasize more with other people who are different from me. It is freeing to me in a way.

I encourage you to find your freedom, especially if you’re a young person. Living in the city will bring its challenges, but it will also bring rewards beyond your wildest dreams.

A New Beginning to Jared Hoffman’s Adventures

Welcome!

For the first time since this blog debuted in fall 2019, I am actually going to publish it. That means I will actually publish posts once or twice a week. This time I am dedicated.

When I created this blog, I had every intention of keeping it going during the spring semester, but the semester was busy and I had fallen out of touch with the blog.

Now I am back and better than ever.

One can see that most of the post from before are gone, mainly because they did not follow the theme very well. This time I am actually going to talk about my adventures.

Daily adventures, big adventures, and my passion for traveling all over the world.

I hope to not be like everyone in the world who writes travel blogs on big trips and the highlights of life. I want to share literally everything, including the small things, mainly I want to encourage everyone to take an adventure.

Of course, I do have some big adventures coming up, including a study abroad experience in France in the fall, an exciting internship at PNC, and my beach vacation next week.

I have also had many other big adventures over the past few months including a spectacular trip to Miami and moving into my own apartment (that is still a new thing).

Where the real meat of the blog might be, however, is the everyday things I have been doing to try to make it in this world. Including but not limited to driving post mates, door dash, instacart, and doing a service called wag.

I do have to admit, however, that in the fall this is going to be a huge study abroad blog stay tuned for that.

So I hope that you will go on this adventure of life with me, I really hope you do. Writing is an outlet for me to help me be occupied and have fun, especially when I am alone. So please join me.

One tip for the day before I go, if you ever want to have a fun little adventure, watch music videos from your childhood, you will be amazed about how things from ten years ago have changed.

Best,

Jared

A Word of Encouragement for Finals Week

What’s up everyone.

I am in a chipper mood right now. I only have one more final till Fall 2019 is over. Below is some encouragement for you.

I hope you continue this adventure with me. I am so thankful for all of you.

– Jared Hoffman

Podcast for Final Assignment

Changing Paths

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have been away for a while. Life has been hectic lately. I started this blog in September with the hopes of inspiring you to treat everyday life as an adventure. With that in mind, I would like to share the adventure that we will be embarking on (hopefully together), for the next year.

This blog was something I was unsure about. I didn’t know where it would go. Finally, I do know where it will be going.

To end the suspense, the new adventure I will be going on is studying abroad. I will study in the French Riviera during the Fall of 2019. It has taken a lot too get to the point I am at today.

From not wanting to go to college. To choosing the wrong college. To transferring schools. Then to the challenges I have faced since coming to Pitt Greensburg. It has all been a prologue too what is about to happen.

Over the next several months, we will be embarking on adventure that will bring many challenges. It will be hard at points. The reward is going to be a once and a lifetime experience.

Below is a podcast telling the story of how I got to this point in my life. I hope you enjoy, and will continue along with me as we change the path we are on today.

Our Adventures Begin

Hello! Welcome to Jared Hoffman Adventures.

As you probably guessed my name is Jared Hoffman.  I am a twenty-year old college student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I love adventure. Lucky for me, I believe that our everyday life is an adventure. We never know what will happen from one day to the next.

As someone who loves to write, I do my best daily to journal.  Now I want to share some of my adventure with you.  However, I don’t want this to be all about me. While I will talk about some of my most fabulous adventures of daily life, I will also tell the stories of others along the way.

This blog is not like Facebook. I am not here to tell you every last detail of my life or complain.  I want this to be a place of positivity, inspiration, and support for others. Somewhere along the way, I would like to include you to, and highlight your most exciting adventures.

Often, I see people who think their lives are lame and pointless. I do not always know why that is. With our entire lives now on social media, many of us see the best adventures of people. Lavish vacations, front row seats at concerts, and other special experiences seem to be normal.

For many people life starts to seem pointless. They can not afford to be like their idols on social media. That family beach vacation seems less valuable. Those nosebleed seats at the hockey game just aren’t enough.  Everyday life is not enough.

The truth is, I don’t believe life has to be lavish for it to be an adventure.  Everyday is an adventure. Your walk to class, drive to work, and family dinner is an adventure. Its time that someone talks about it. Thats why I am here.

Our adventures will be very different from week to week.  No two adventures will ever be alike. Some adventures are hard, even challenging. While others are the best time of our lives. Whatever our adventure is, we will always learn something.

Life is short, challenging, and rewarding. We only live one life.  Why not make it an adventure. I cannot wait to share my adventures with everyone. Thank you for being a part of something that I believe will truly be special.

-Jared Hoffman