Welcome!

My name is Kiley Petracek and I’m a student journalist from The University of Tampa. As long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest in photography and especially writing. Pairing the two together as early as middle school, I’ve found a love for documenting everyday moments via photography and writing about them in my own time; creating a passion for journalism. 


The concept of a blog has been daunting to me, as I’ve considered making food-specific review blogs, ones that help teenage girls, and even book/movie reviews since the age of 15. Because to a younger version of me, who would care to read it besides my parents? And why would I need a portfolio?


Journaling has always come easy to me. I recently found a diary from just the second grade where I wrote every single day about my time at school, just to document it, not even expressing my feelings. While I don’t have the commitment to write every single day to myself anymore, but as my days get fuller I don’t want to forget these experiences, and how they are shaping who I am. 


I’ve decided that during a semester full of daunting new experiences, while studying abroad at The American College of Greece, I’m going to take this opportunity to finally blog. I’ve wanted to travel my whole life, and in all honesty I simply don’t want to forget it. I aspire to travel and thoroughly document my life for the rest of it. 


I’m looking forward to using this blog as an expression of self, of my everyday experiences that won’t last forever, and to connect myself to how endless this world is. Anticipate this to be a much more personal travel blog, as the happenings I've experienced are unlike any I’ve experienced before. This will also seem less professional to differentiate my blog from my portfolio.


The photos I use are to demonstrate my travel experiences, express myself, and revitalize my love and ongoing skills in regards to photography. I do not give permission to any outside parties to reproduce or use my photos. 


So feel free to follow along- or don’t- while I learn more about how big this world is, how many people full of love I have yet to meet, and more about myself. 


Popular posts from this blog

Week 2

Image
  January 16th-22nd I began the second week of classes with a sunset hike that’s right down the street from my school. My roommate, Nina, and I talked to a new friend about the path and decided to spend our Monday afternoon headed up there. We were skeptical on our way up that we were choosing the right paths, but ultimately every decision we made led us right where we needed to be up top. We were ahead of sunset and got to see the entire urban area of Athens, just on a mountain right next to our school. It was one of the most captivating moments I’ve experienced.  On our way down, three dogs found us and followed us the rest of the way down. We thought they belonged to another man hiking on the trail, until they started following us into the city. I just kept thinking, ‘at what point does our moral obligation step in?’ When we saw one almost get hit by a car while chasing a stray cat we decided to take them back to the trail and call the name on their collars. Of course every...
Read more

Week 1

Image
January 6-15th, 2023 I’ve never experienced anything like the feeling of flying into Greece. The older man sitting next to me probably thought it was insane that this girl sitting in the window seat had her jaw dropped and was wiping her tears just at the site of the coast. In my head, I just kept repeating GRiZ’s Know Time Like The Present lyric, “When you came into this world so did the world come out of you, you exist so everything can.”  I can’t believe that I exist so that landscapes like the Greek mountains and Mediterranean sea can. I can’t possibly fathom the idea that I was born to experience these things.  After a two-hour delay on the runway, I slept through most of my flight over the ocean. That was my first time flying over a body of water larger than the Gulf of Mexico and it was a daunting thought! I’m glad I did an overnight trip because I was able to get into Athens during the day and see everything. However, as this was my first drastic change in time zones;...
Read more