Clara Barton Camp

I have recently returned from Clara Barton Camp, which is a Summer camp specifically for girls with Type 1 diabetes. It is impossible to put into words what it has done to me. The best explanation is that it is my new favorite place. Even better than my own home. Because CBC is my home. Everything was so amazing, from my friends and counselors in Lagoon "Lit" Lodge to how everything was so well coordinated in the whole camp. Our cabin may have been small in number but we were great in spirit. If any of you Goonies or counselors in S3 2016 are reading this, I want you to know that I really miss you (even though it's only been a day) and can't wait to see you again next year. It is so hard to explain how camp has changed me in these last two weeks but it is definitely recommended, whether you're going for 1 day or 3 weeks, camp will be the most amazing experience of you're life.

Arriving there you will be introduced to your counselors and be escorted to a destignated area for medical check in. After that you will do a swimming test, and then return to your cabin for goodbyes and then some cabin bonding time. After dinner is the traditional opening campfire where you are introduced to all of the counselors and current CITs. Then you go back to the cabin for some cabin time. At 9:00 to 10:30 (depending on your cabin) is lights out. 

The next few days will be filled with fun activities and themed days such as "swinter" (summer in the winter). On Tuesday nights you take a bus to Joslin (the boys' Diabetes camp) for "Tuesday Dance Night" where your counselors dress up in camp-made costumes and on Wednesdays you have cookout night, with a campfire, burgers, s'mores, and throwing corn into the lake if your Couselor happened to dress up as Ohio for Tuesday Dance Night (long story). 

If you were lucky you may also have "night watch" a traditional once-a-summer night where you sleep outside and take turns tending for the fire throughout the night with the other cabins, or maybe you'll have 'Color Wars'.

 On the last night you will have the closing campfire, with the torch swim and lots of sad campfire songs. 

I really hope you consider going to this camp. I swear you won't regret it.

Thanks!!  Ana

Austria- Part 2

Hi! I'm so sorry I didn't finish the post on Austria yesterday; it was nearly midnight and I had a headache. If you didn't read part 1 of the Austria post then you can click here to go to it.


Where to go/ what to do - continued:

• The Sound of Music- The popular musical "The Sound of Music" was filmed in Salzburg, so you can visit the Mirabell Gardens and Mirabell Palace and see where Maria and the children sang Do Re Mi.
• Spanish Riding School- In Vienna you can watch people train amazing horses, and also watch shows where they demonstrate what the horses can do.
• Hofburg Palace- In the Hofburg palace you can learn about Empress Elizabeth and visit her home.
• Shows- Basically you can watch an orchestra play traditional Austrian pieces or they can play pieces composed by Austrian people like Mozart.

What to eat:
There are a lot of traditional Austrian foods so I am going to list the ones that I recommend, and I'm also going to briefly explain what they are.

• Schnitzel- schnitzel is a thin meat covered with breadcrumbs that tastes good amazing. It can be veal, beef, chicken, or pork.
• Apfelstrudel- apfelstrudel is a traditional Viennese strudel. A strudel is a sweet pastry with something inside it, like apples. 
• Schaumbecher- Schaumbecher(s?) are chocolate coated marshmallows on a cone. I really wanted to eat one but when we went to buy one I couldn't find any shops that sold them, when the day before every single cafe sold them. Logic.
• Kinderpunsch- I mentioned it in part one, but just in case you forgot what I said, kinderpunsch is a warm juice that tastes like orange juice, but it's probably a mixture of different juices. Sadly, you can only get them in christmas markets :( .
• Sacher Torte- Sacher Torte is a yummy chocolate cake that you can eat at the Sacher hotel, in Vienna.
• Apfelstrudelsaft- Apfelstrudelsaft literally translates to apple strudel juice, because that's what it is. It is juice that tastes like Austrian apple pie. It sounds weird but it's actually really good.

Well, this is it I hope you liked this guide and I hope you go to the places I recommended and eat the foods I recommended. I also hope you learn how to snowboard because it's way more fun than skiing :)

- Ana

Read part 1 of this post here.

Austria- Part 1

Hi again! It's been a really long time since I've written anything so my mom basically dragged me to the computer and told me to add something new onto my blog. I've decided to talk about Austria, since it's my favorite country, and we go there a lot. As I've told you before I snowboard🏂🏂, and whenever we go skiing (or snowboarding in my case), we go to Austria. We're going there next month for the Easter holidays, which I'm really excited for.
Anyways, I've decided to highlight the best things to do, eat, and the best places to go to in Austria.
By the way, I'm going to do this in 2 parts because It's really late here and I'm exhausted, so I'm going to continue tomorrow.

Cities
I've actually been to a lot of cities in Austria, since whenever we go there we go to a different one. I'm gonna put all of the cities (and towns, and etcetera) down in alphabetical order😂 so you can know the places I will be talking about later. By the way I totally recommend all these places, you should definitely go visit them because they're awesome.

• Kitzbuhel- we went to Kitzbuhel in 2013 to ski during the Easter holidays
• Lech- technically we haven't been to Lech yet since we're going there in march, but oh well
• Salzburg- We've been to Salzburg twice, once in 2013 before we went to Kitzbuhel, and once in 2014 when we went to Zell am See
• Vienna- I went to Vienna in early December last year with my grandma and my mom, dad, and sister because we had a national day holiday for a week, a week before the winter holidays. Why not just give us an extra week of holidays? Go figure.
• Zell am See- We went to Zell am See in 2014 to ski, but there was no snow, so we skied anyways.

Where to go/ what to do:

Now I'm going to talk about some cool things to do in Austria like museums, parks, and other cool stuff.

• Skiing- If I haven't made myself clear yet, you should ski in Austria. Even if there isn't always snow, you can still ski, because skiing is cool. Or snowboarding. The feeling of the frosty wind slapping you in the face as you smoothly but rapidly zoom down the mountain is priceless. Especially when you get to have hot chocolate for lunch. Also, if you are luck enough to ski on Christmas day, you get free kinderpunsch (basically hot juice which tastes amazing) or wine and cookies when you go up in the gondola. Also, you can see Santa skiing down the mountain. Or at least I did.
• Ice Skating- in Salzburg we were looking for somewhere to eat on our first night and we found an Ice Skating rink in the main plaza. My sister and I were iceskating and the place was all decorated with lights and there was music and a cafe. There was also a girl in my grade there, because apparently she was also in Salzburg that day. 
• Christmas Markets- Christmas markets are basically outdoor markets where you can buy everything christmassy- from candy to toys to candles to trees to any sort of gift that you would give someone for christmas. Everything is so decorated, and there are christmas trees, and sometimes there are alpacas (?). Theses are found all around Austria, and they are also found around literally every corner.
• Schönbrunn Zoo- the Schönbrunn Zoo is the oldest zoo in the world, and it is inside the Schönbrunn Palace gardens in Vienna. There are lots of animals, and some less adorable ones (🐍🐌🐸). My dad and sister really wanted to see the red pandas, and they were REALLY cute, so I recommend going to see them. And the hippos. And the goats. And the Pandas. And everything else.
• Mozart's House- in Salzburg you can visit the birthplace and home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, where you can see his first violin, his harpsichord, and learn about his music.

                                                                    End of Part 1

Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos

The Forest Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia

I recently came back from my winter holidays in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. It was great, and I had loads of fun.

I went to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), in Vietnam first, and it was amazing. There were so many motorbikes, and apparently, there are 100 motorbikes to every car. I even got to ride one, in a night city tour! After three nights I left Saigon and went to Siem Reap, Cambodia. There were lots of beautiful temples, but the downside was that it was really hot and really humid, which was a bummer, because we were walking and using tuk tuks, so we didn't really get anywhere inside with an AC for most of the day. The picture above is of the Forest Temple in Siem Reap. That one was my favorite temple.

My family and I celebrated Christmas in Cambodia, and we soon left for Luang Prabang in Laos. There, I visited a waterfall (the Kuang Si Falls) and a bear sanctuary. I also tasted a local exotic dish: deep fried frog legs. I thought they were gonna taste horrible but, honestly, they tasted like chicken. In Luang Prabang I also visited a rice farm, where I learned how people grow rice, and cook sticky rice. It was so good. I'm a big fan of rice, but nothing beats the steamed rice I had in Laos.

The day after the rice farm I flew back to Vietnam with my family, but this time, we went to Hanoi. 

We rode in a car for 4 hours and arrived in Halong City, where we got on a 3 day 2 night cruise along Halong Bay. We celebrated new year's there, and then we made our 4 hour car ride back to Hanoi. We stayed in Hanoi for one day, and we watched a traditional water puppet show. Water puppets are basically puppets that float on water, and are controlled by long bamboo poles being held by people backstage.

I came back to Abu Dhabi on the third of January. Overall, this trip was great, but I do have some points I would like you to know:

First off, I had to take nearly twice my usual amount of insulin, because I was eating really different foods, so my blood sugar wouldn't go down. I had to set a temporary basal of 150% every day (I use an insulin pump). Also, don't stress if you get stopped in the bag scanner at the airport because of your diabetes supplies, because the people there aren't used to that sort of thing. The metal detector beeped every time because of my pump, which was annoying, and I was stopped in the bag scanner because of the needles in my inserter set once, when I was coming back.

This trip was amazing, and I loved going there. Thanks for reading!

 -Ana

Hi!

Hi! My name is Ana. I like to travel. A LOT. I also have type one diabetes, which is the reason I started this blog. Diabetes doesn't stop me from doing anything, and I want people to realize that too.
I'm twelve years old, and I've had diabetes since I was four, which means I've had diabetes for nearly nine years (I turn 13 in May). I travel a lot, and I've been to over 20 countries, but I don't know exactly how many because I've lost count. I've been to North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, which means I haven't been to Australasia or Antarctica, but we're planning on going to both those places sometime in the future.
I'm from Brazil, and I was born in Rio de Janeiro. When I was one I moved to Mexico City. Then, I moved to Miami when I was five. Now, I live in Abu Dhabi, In the Middle East.
Some random facts about me:

• I use an insulin pump
• I snowboard
• I play the drums
• I like the color mint green
• I do horse riding
• I like chocolate
• I'm obsessed with Harry Potter :)
• My birthday is on the 8th of May

Thank you so much for coming to my blog. It means a lot to me that people want to come here and read about my journeys. I really hope you enjoy this.

- Ana