I have a few frustrations with living in Spain.  My shower is only two-inches bigger than I am. There’s no good Mexican food and what they do have is expensive. Madrid really is the city that never sleeps and it gets a little old being awoken at 1 and 3 and 6 a.m. by people chanting their lungs out.

But my biggest frustration of all is constantly feeling as if I am not living my life here to the fullest.

These days I find myself joining John Mayer melodramatically questioning am I living it right?

There’s so many different directions an expat can go in over here. I constantly am torn between desires to discover hidden gems in Madrid, explore Spain, learn about Spanish culture and those to speak as much Spanish as possible, write as much as possible and read as much as possible.

There’s not time for them all. There’s barely time to scratch the surface on any.

April 3 was my half birthday. As I previously wrote about, leaving my 24^th year behind was bittersweet, but now my 25^th year is already half way over.

I only have four more months to live in Spain and six more months to be 25. Both my time in Europe and 25^th year are dwindling and it’s frightening to watch them fly by so quickly. Life is short and while I certainly hope this is not the case, there is a distinct possibility that I will never have such access to travel again.

With this in mind I have elected a new goal: visit 25 countries while I am 25 years old.

In honor of the atrocious finale of How I Met Your Mother I boldly proclaim with Barney-style loudness: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

So far, since turning 25, I have made it to 12 countries and I have trips booked to eight more.

It’s going to take a bit of scrambling to hit an additional five, but I know with some savvy planning I will be able to do it and return to the states knowing in my heart that I truly did live it right (at least this year of my life anyway).

Here’s to living boldly and never slowing down!

And now, a look back at the 12 countries i’ve visited since turning 25. In order: Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Morocco, the United Kingdom.