Planning an International Trip Without Draining Your College Budget
Planning an International Trip Without Draining Your College Budget

It feels only fitting that on the one year anniversary of my last day in England I should be planning a trip that my best friend, Mary, and I have been dreaming of since freshman year of high school: a two-week backpacking trip through the United Kingdom (with a surprise layover in Iceland). A year later, I will be traveling back across the pond to my home away from home, ready to hand over copious amounts of money to the first crêpe cart I see. But both Mary and I will have just graduated from college, which means—you got it—we're broke. This means I've got to get creative if I want to be able to afford all those sidewalk snacks (not to mention airfare). 

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TravelHannah SchultzInternational travel, budget, college student, europe, airlines, packing, backpack, planning, plan, trip, vacation, Norwegian, Ryanair Comment
The pros and cons of owning a toy breed dog
The pros and cons of owning a toy breed dog

For reference, this is my Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. She's about twelve years old and still just as feisty as ever. She weighs in at about six pounds (so about 6 percent of my Great Pyrenees' weight). She is small enough to cradle like a baby (but she hates it), she loves dressing up in doggy clothes, and she likes to pretend to be human by, for example, sleeping under the covers with her head laying on my pillow. 

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PuppiesHannah SchultzChihuahua, Pro, Cons, Toy breed dog, lapdogComment
Student to Professional Journalism: What changes?
Student to Professional Journalism: What changes?

I've been a student journalist at my university's newspaper, The Asbury Collegian, for four years now, from a staff writer freshman year, to the executive editor now in my senior year. However, during the summer of 2016, I got my first taste of professional journalism, and it was eye opening. I interned at my local weekly newspaper for eight weeks, essentially joining the team for the months I was there. Here are the lessons I learned about the difference between your university newspaper position and a community newspaper role

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JournalismHannah SchultzKentucky, Journalism, The Asbury CollegianComment
The pros and cons of owning a giant breed dog
The pros and cons of owning a giant breed dog

PRO: They are great for general cuddling needs.

What could be better than spooning a person-sized dog? After a bad day, cuddling with the nearest fur baby makes all your troubles melt away. Pyrs, as with many giant breed dogs, are also very empathetic (they are often used as emotional support dogs), so they can usually use their intuition to sense your mood. If I'm upset, mine will immediately calm down and both will try to sit on me and lick my face.

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PuppiesHannah SchultzPros, Cons, Giant breed dogs, Great Dane, great pyrenees, PyrComment
My happy place: University of Oxford Botanic Garden (ft. baby succulents)
My happy place: University of Oxford Botanic Garden (ft. baby succulents)

The glasshouses were my favorite spot in the entire city. There were palm trees and coconuts, pitcher plants and lilies, lemon and orange trees. It was life, and life abundant. I could (and, in fact, did) spend countless minutes crouching and staring at the pond in the Lily House or trying to find every yellow plant to match my rain jacket. One glasshouse even included the corpse flower, which is a giant flowering plant that smells like rotting meat to attract flies for pollination. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatra, and this was the first time I'd ever seen one in person. 

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Nature, TravelHannah SchultzOxford University, Botanical Garden, Succulents, Venus flytrap, cactus, cacti, Lowe's, botanic gardenComment
Princess Arch and Chimney Top Rock: A Cliffside View of Red River Gorge
Princess Arch and Chimney Top Rock: A Cliffside View of Red River Gorge

Last weekend, two of my best friends from Asbury, Kari and Kayla, joined me on a road trip to Red River Gorge, entrusting me with the job of navigation since they'd never been there (I'll let you decide whether that was a good idea). Our church, lunch, hiking schedule promised to play out for the perfect Sunday afternoon of adventuring.

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HikingHannah SchultzNatural Bridge, Red River Gorge, Princess Arch, Chimney Top Rock, Hiking, Caves, Kentucky, Pine RidgeComment
My Great-Pyrenees might be a super genius
My Great-Pyrenees might be a super genius

While Argos is the baby and master attention manipulator of my two Great Pyrenees, Luna has always been the smart one.

When we were potty training the puppies, we tried out the bell system. We attached a dangling bell to the knob of the door we most often used to take the puppies out and hit it before every potty break to associate the bell sound with going outside. It took Luna all of one day to figure out a way to trick the system. The house rang with the sound of the bell constantly as Luna attempted to capitalize on her newfound powers. She believed she now had the magical ability to make the door open at her own free will, her human slaves available at her beck and call. She was more than dismayed when we discovered her ploy and removed the bell. 

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PuppiesHannah SchultzLuna, great pyrenees, pyrenees, pyr, super, genius, superpowers, hula hoops, potty training Comments
A Very Kentucky Photoshoot: Starring my best friend, a Great-Dane, and two horses
A Very Kentucky Photoshoot: Starring my best friend, a Great-Dane, and two horses

Last weekend, I decided to break out my new camera for a test run shooting portraits. As per usual Kentucky standards, it was overcast and on-the-verge of rain all day, but a quintessential horse farm behind our shoot and my friend Mary's natural star-qualities made for some pretty pictures. Take a look! 

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Photography and VideoHannah SchultzKentucky, Horses, Great Dane, Photoshoot, best friend, fall, autumn, dogComment
What's your superpower? Five answers to help you learn about yourself and your needs
What's your superpower? Five answers to help you learn about yourself and your needs

Do you remember that question you were always asked as a child or during those corny orientations for work or school?

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? 

At first glance, this questions seems to reflect more on what superhero was your childhood favorite or the Marvel-movie craze of the late 21st century than anything constructive about you as a person. However, if you look under the cape and neoprene tights, your answer to this question can reveal important insights about your identity. Kayla (KM) and Kari (KE) Lutes, fellow students, writers, and self-taught personality experts, have graciously joined me this week to explore this super-charged question.

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Thoughts on: [Things]Hannah Schultzsuperpowers, personality, invisibility, strength, telekinesis, flying, teleportation, mind reading, psychology, traits, introvert, stress, toxic relationship, argument, control, anxiety, relationshipComment
A (Not So) Wintry Trip to Red River Gorge
A (Not So) Wintry Trip to Red River Gorge

As a hard-line INFJ, I find it very difficult to do anything without extensive planning. So when my brother suggested he, my boyfriend, and I spontaneously go hiking in Red River Gorge, which we are not familiar with in the slightest, instead of Natural Bridge State Park, which I could navigate in my sleep, I had to try very hard not to refuse. As I turned left, forced to choose by the sign that indicated the Gorge could be found both ways, and my boyfriend frantically tried to find a trailhead along the new road, I had to remind myself that the best adventures are usually not created while following a bullet-point list. However, a bullet-point list can be created out of said adventures.

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HikingHannah SchultzRed River Gorge, Slade, Kentucky, Natural Bridge, State ParkComment
The Art of a Breaking News Story
The Art of a Breaking News Story

Normally, student journalism doesn't allow for much excitement. We tend to cover the same events again and again here at Asbury: Holy Emphasis Week, homecomings, student government elections. I could list a dozen things we have covered with a slightly different angle during all four of my years at the Collegian. 

But every once in awhile, something big happens in Wilmore or in connection to Asbury. We at the Collegian have a chance to go head to head with local news stations to scoop a story. When you get a whiff of these stories, you recognize them immediately. They make your blood sing and heart pound: here's our chance, your body seems to say as adrenaline floods your veins. Here is our chance to take the best angle, to nab the exclusive interview, to be read by thousands of eyes. It's intoxicating.

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JournalismHannah SchultzStudent newspaper, Journalism, Asbury Collegian, Asbury University, breaking, news, story, Newspaper, Wilmore, Asbury, social media, controversy Comments
Slippery souls: The otter's survival instinct
Slippery souls: The otter's survival instinct

Otters are often misunderstood creatures. We've all seen the adorable videos of otters playing with a lucky group of people in a swimming pool. Or the latest video of otters at a zoo nosing snow off a wooden bridge. It was this mesmerizing cuteness that beguiled the public and led to the conservation of otters in Europe when their numbers in the wild were dipping.

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NatureHannah SchultzOtters, otter, conservation, aquarium, sea otter, Dortmund, Newport, riesenotter, zwergotter, giant river otter, asian small-clawed otter, environmentalism, advocacy, Wildlife conservation society, international otter survival fund, otter country, miriam darlington Comment