What to do with myself?

What to do with myself?

So I got to thinking yesterday-- dangerous, I know. Since I am graduating on time next May I will have the entire summer off. I haven't had a whole summer off with no class or observations for PT school to do in FIVE years! I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself.

I talked to my dad about it and he suggested going and working with some famous PT. My question is, do PTs get famous? Perhaps famous is the wrong word... very good at what they do. I suppose that must occur because there are specialists. 

I'm not so sure I want to do anything school related though, because like I said, I will have not had a break from such things in five long years. Perhaps I should do something fun. I won't get summer breaks at all during PT school and people in the work force don't get summer breaks either.

I was thinking maybe find a fun job outside of this town I live in. It also happens to be my home town AND where I will hopefully be going to PT school. Thought that would be a good way to scratch that get-out-of-town itch. Just for a few months, ya know. Of course it's rather difficult to find a land lord in a strange town that would be willing to let me rent a place for such a short time. Or at least I would think it would be, since I haven't done any looking. There is a tennis camp held by Texas A&M that several of the people on my team have taught at in the past. That pays $400 a week, plus they give you a place to live. That sounds like a good option.

Then I thought of family I have around the country. I've got some a couple hours down the road in far west Texas, others in far south Texas, some in South Carolina and some in the D.C. area. I'm sure someone in there wouldn't mind me living with them for a few months if I pulled my weight. That could work.

Then my friend, Daniel, suggested traveling. I love to travel, so that's very enticing. He's going to Malaysia next summer, so I thought of jumping on the bandwagon with him. But after researching the price tag, I would only want to spend that kind of money on going to a place that I REALLY wanted to see. The only thing I know of in Malaysia is a couple friends that Daniel and I share. *shrugs* While that would be fun, they're not my best buddies, like they are his.

On visiting friends though, I do have a friend in South Korea who came to visit last Christmas, but I missed her due to my great uncle's death. I wouldn't mind going to visit her. Then she lead me to another friend I made at the same time as I did her, who lives in Germany. That could be terribly interesting as well. And of course I still have my passport from last summer, so it's not like I'd have to jump through the government hoops this time. 

I wouldn't want to go anywhere on my own. 1) It's not safe in the world we live in to be a lone female American anywhere, and 2) it's no fun. So I'd either have to go somewhere where I already know at least one person or find some people to go with me. Not necessarily a good friend, but someone that I know reasonably well and trust.

Plane tickets are terribly expensive though, so maybe somewhere closer to home? I thought of maybe getting some good camping equipment and hiking through a state or two of the Appalachian Trail. Since reading a book on it last fall, I really do want to do that some time.  What better time? Good camping stuff is expensive though and not too many of my friends are outdoorsy enough for that long of a trek. That would definitely be testing me too! That would require some training as well; people don't just magically hike 20 miles a day with 50 pounds of pack on their back, you know.

So, any thoughts or suggestions? Want to go somewhere with me?