Hello...It's Me

*waves* HELLO! It has been quite a while, hasn't it? (Yes, it has.) I can explain, I promise. It's been a crazy few months, with the end of my first semester of college, traveling this winter, and starting my second semester. It's been quite a ride, as my friends could surely tell you. I went to Barcelona during my winter break, and it was breathtaking and life changing. I learned so much from the trip and from my experiences, and it truly sparked my desire to travel, particularly all over Europe. If I thought I wanted to travel before, it's nothing compared to my desire now. And Barcelona will now forever have a special place in my heart. I may write more about it either here or on Infinite Golden Floors, but it was a really personal time, so we will see. I just fell in love with the city and made some great friends.

BUT after just a few days there, I found out I was in a huge reading slump. I was either just too tired to read after exploring all day or just wasn't feeling pulled into the stories (there's slightly more to it, but that's a bit personal), even if they were books I think I would normally love. Then it only got worse once I started meeting people and hanging out with friends at the Spanish school I was taking classes in. Suddenly, my life was entirely more exciting than any of the books I was attempting to read, and I just couldn't read more than three or four pages on my Kindle at one time. This slump has continued, even long after I've come back from Barcelona. First it was the whole getting back to school thing, then it was the fact that I'm participating in FAWM, and then it's been added to by my new relationship with YA novels. I've put myself on a book buying ban, particularly on YA, with only a few exceptions. Instead, I've been trying to read more classics and adult books. There are various reasons for this, and I'll explain it more in another post, but it's just been a rough few reading months, and I think it's also affected my motivation with this blog as well. I love blogging, and I still really want to talk about the books I'm reading, but it might be in a new direction, and right now, it's just hard to feel motivated when I am not motivated to read.

That being said, I have some catching up to do, so expect some mini reviews to roll out over the next few weeks. In addition, there are a bunch of discussion posts I've jotted down ideas for. Some are going to be more for Infinite Golden Floors, while others will be here. Once I've caught up, we'll see where I'm to go from there. Hopefully, by then I'll still have time for blogging and will have gotten back to my regular reading.

On that note, I'm currently reading Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut, and though I'm going through it slowly (most of my reading in college so far has been slow going regardless), I'm really loving it. I loved Slaughterhouse Five, and this is just bringing me back to that. I love his writing and his style, and I hope that enjoying this will help me get out of this huge funk.

Lastly, I'd like to try to get back to Tweeting and Instagraming more regularly and with content that's more relevant (re: Twitter). I feel like I've fallen out of the community quite a bit, and I'd like to step back in after my little time away. I still love this; it's a tough road, but I'm ready to be back on it.

How have you all been lately? What are some books you're loving right now or are really excited for? (I'm so out of the loop with releases this year. Except When We Collided. I am SO on top of that.)