#also i like how this quick pic while waiting for the bus turned out lol

[whyarewewlwlikethat]

oh and i got my bachelor's btw

[lilithbasically]

PITA

Pt. 4

(Bakugo x Reader)

Warnings: Just cussing, bit of angst, bit of fluff

< Prev. | Pt. 4 | Next >

____________________________________________________________

Never one to miss an opportunity to sleep in, you woke up around 9:30 Sunday morning. Anxiety and excitement coursing through you about your lunch with Shoto, you were quick to eat a light breakfast and get ready. While you waited for your bus, you texted Layla to let her know you would be in after lunch. Still looking at your phone, you got on the bus and got a text. When you opened it, you saw a picture of you, waiting at the bus stop.

Pissy Pomeranian

11:15 AM

> Attch: 1

> So are you a closet goth or some shit?

What the actual fuck lol <

If it was anyone but you, I'd be hella creeped out. <

Also not really a secret my guy. I thought it was obvious😗 <

Do I look bad? 😬 <

11:25 AM

> Nah. I like it. Fits you.

> See you later today?

Thank you 🥺 and def <

Okay he's acting cute as fuck today.

You locked your phone as you stepped off the bus. The cafe was right next to the bus station and you saw Shoto right away thanks to his unmistakable red and white split hair.

"Y/N, hi. It's nice to see you. Shall we?" Shoto asked.

"Oh, yeah, of course, Shoto. It's nice to see you too!"

Shoto led you to an outside table and pulled your chair out for you. Of course, you caught several people staring, stealing glances, and sneaking pictures. After the waiter took your drink orders, you noticed people still staring. You turned to Shoto and asked, "Hey, um...is this okay? You know the staring and pictures?"

He chuckled and said, "I'm used to it. I didn't consider the fact you may be uncomfortable with it though, I do apologize. We can leave if you'd like."

"No, Shoto! I don't really care, honestly. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it." He hummed in response and you found yourself in comfortable silence. After a few minutes, you looked to Shoto and found his eyes already locked on you. You simply cocked an eyebrow and gave him a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I know it's rude to stare. You're just exceptionally beautiful, Y/N," he said. While making unwavering eye contact, mind you. And you could do nothing but blush and try to hide it behind your hands.

"Ahh, Shoto, thank you but there's no need to lie," you giggled.

"Oh, I don't waste time with lies. I very much meant it," Shoto replied.

"Okay not to be weird or anything but have you seen yourself? You're one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen in my goddamn life. No joke." Shoto laughed and assured you he didn't think it was weird.

You both asked and answered questions back and forth over your meals and found a pleasant friendship forming. As your lunch ended, you found yourself incredibly anxious and not wanting to waste any more time; you finally said, "Hey, Shoto, I do very much value you as a friend but someone put a thought into my head that I need to get out. This isn't a date, right? Before you answer, please let me clarify. My last relationship was absolutely horrible and I'm just not in the right headspace for dating right now. It's...difficult to explain, but I hope you understand and don't hate me for it?"

Shoto looked at you with a small smile for a moment before saying, "This is just a friendly, platonic lunch. However, make no mistake, I would love to go on an official date with you in the future. If that's how life plays out, I surely won't complain. If you find someone else before then, I'd love to stay friends. You're interesting and nothing short of lovely. I'd hate to lose that regardless."

__________________________________

*Bakugo POV*

Is that...is that Y/N?? Holy fuckin shit I could die. Why does she look so damn good? Is she doing that for the half n' half asshole? Wait. She was dressed like that when she went out with Deku too. I gotta know though. Oh shit. I didn't think sending her a pic would be creepy as hell what the fuck is wrong with me???

Oh, she doesn't think it's creepy. Okay uhhh...fucking hello? Brain? Come up with something?? PLEASE??? Compliment her, dumbass. You're trying to make your move, right? Make sure you'll see her later too. When did you get this dumb about women? Okay full disclosure, not women. Just this one woman. I'm rambling. I'm rambling in my own goddamn head. Oh my god.

Bakugo was relieved you'd be coming in but that also meant he would be with Deku AND Kirishima for half a day since they both had the day off and they weren't volunteering at their own places. Finishing his patrol and leaving his agency, Bakugo decided to do something a bit uncharacteristic. He was going to get you a gift. True, he hadn't really given himself a lot of opportunities to get to know you or your favorite things, but he had always been a very observant person. Not many people realized this, but Bakugo didn't talk much because he wanted to listen to those around him. Doing this let him learn almost all of your favorite things by listening to your conversations with Layla and Deku. However, as important as that information was, Bakugo wanted this gift to be bigger. He wanted his interest and affection to be voiced. Since he didn't gift anyone anything often, this was already a huge deal. But, he wanted you to know how important you were becoming to him.

Seeing Deku and Kirishima waiting outside, Bakugo rolled his eyes and groaned, but knew this would be a good opportunity to bounce his ideas off the pair so he sucked it up. As the trio started walking to a restaurant for lunch, Bakugo asked, "Oi, Deku, what would PITA enjoy more; a trip to a museum or one of those botanical butterfly garden things?"

"Oh, um, probably the garden. When her grandmother was alive, she used to keep a ton of flowers and plants in their backyard. Shit, it was basically their own mini botanical garden. They even planted specific things to make sure the butterflies would hoard there during migration. Her and her grandmother were really close so it may be a bit emotional for her, but she'd love it regardless, why, Kacchan?" Deku asked.

"Obviously I wanna take her there, dumbass."

"So manly, bro. I'm glad you finally stopped being an idiot about your feelings. But why do you call her PITA?" Kirishima asked.

Bakugo chuckled and with a slight smile said, "First, shut up, shitty hair. Second, because she's a pain in the ass."

Kirishima and Deku exchanged glances, both noticing the small smile on their friend's usually scowling face. Neither daring to say anything to the blonde, they simply enjoyed lunch and went their separate ways.

Walking to the shelter, Bakugo's thoughts were rife with worry that you wouldn't accept his offer.

Ah, fuck. I didn't even think about her not wanting to go with me. Not like I've given her many reasons to want to. Shit. Shit shit shit shit.

Reading his childhood friend's inner conflict with ease, Deku tried to reassure Bakugo.

"Kacchan, you know she likes you right? She's not obvious about it but she has reasons for that. I think your idea is perfect and I'm actually impressed you thought of such good date ideas. I mean, since you haven't known her that long. Seriously, don't worry. She'll be happy to go with you," Deku said.

"I'm not a fuckin idiot, Deku. And I'm not fuckin worried."

"Oooookay, Kacchan," Deku said sarcastically. As the pair walked through the shelter doors, he could have sworn he heard Bakugo mumble the quietest and rarest thank you.

I just thanked Deku. Oh my god, this woman has done something to me.

Deciding to pass the time until you arrive, Bakugo and Deku took Abyss and Daybreak to the play area. It had been about 20 minutes before Bakugo heard a giggle that made his skin flush and his body shiver.

"Oi, the fuck you laughin at, PITA?"

__________________________________________

@lordmypantsaresocool

[haikyuu-sins]

Hello!!! I have another fun request for you!

Can I request scenario Law x S/O? Okay a while ago my mother called Law's six pack Kadetjes. XD (Kadetjes is a Dutch word for bolletje brood. Bolletje brood in Eng is bun bread.) And I was like they look the same!

Also Law hate bread so, *evil laughing😈* It's gonna be fun. Anyway S/O sees his six pack and bun bread on the table. And suddenly realizes they look the same. And they were like heeeey do you know what your six pack looks like? And he's like heh what's it like? And then they say it looks like Kadetjes. Law is like what???? (Kadetjes is old word. So it's use almost never.) They grabs the six bun bread like in the pic and put on the stomach and tell that the six bun bread looks like his six pack and laugh at it. Law looks disgust and the rest you can decide how it goes.

Okay but your mom isn’t wrong! 😂 I’m gonna need that full picture of Law for uh.. Research purposes 😬 lol

*****Law x Reader

You and Ikaku sat in the kitchen waiting for the bread to be done in the oven. “This is when I’m glad that Law doesn’t like bread, it means more for us!” you grin as the timer goes off.

“I know! Now we just have to eat it before the rest of the crew gets here.” Ikaku laughs and she grabs some oven mitts and takes the pan of steaming buns out. The two of you are nearly drooling at the sight and smell of them. “Oh I can’t wait to have one with some butter and jam~”

“I’ll give them five minutes to cool before I start eating!” you exclaimed as you took a deep inhale of the hot bread.

“Come and get me when they’re ready okay? I’m going to go shower really quick and I’ll be in the cabin.” While Ikaku was off showering, you simply cleaned up the kitchen, humming a little tune as you did.

It was then that your captain decided to grace you with his presence with an almost disgusted look on his face. He rarely came out of his office except to eat and get coffee or tea and he just so happened to come out when, “You made...bread.”

“Perfect timing! We made your favorite!” you tease him with a smile.

Law just rolls his eyes and tries to pay no mind to the bread that’s sitting on the counter. It looks like he wants to gag and you can’t help but stifle a laugh. That’s when you noticed something. Law’s button up shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way so you were able to see his abs peeking through.

“Hey Captain.” you said as you eyed him.

He made a sound of acknowledgement while he grabbed a clean mug from the cupboard and some tea to steep.

“You wanna know what your abs look like?”

He’ll admit that this somewhat peaked his interest and he turned around and leaned against the counter with a smug look on his face. “And what’s that?”  

“Kadetjes.” you try not to smirk walking over to the pan of buns and that were cooling off and because it was usually so cold in the sub, it didn’t take long for it to become warm.

“Kadetjes?” His smug look began to fade and his eyes began to narrow as he noticed where this was going. “Don’t you dare.”

You grab the warm pan and put it next to his abs. “Look! They look exactly like bu-”

“Don’t!” Law stared you down, ready to grab them from your hand and throw them across the kitchen. “Don’t do it.”

“Buns.” you finish your sentence and you’re doing your best to keep the smile off your face and you have to put your hand over your mouth to stop the laugh that’s about to escape. But it’s too late. The look on Law’s face caused you to burst out. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help it! Captain you can’t even deny it!”

It was true and he hated it. But as much as he wanted to get rid of the bread, he knew you had taken the time to make it and would probably feel about it later. “You better count your blessings that your bread is still in your hands.”

“Okay okay~” you put it back on the counter. “How about I make it up to you? I’ll make you something for a snack.Your tea, too.” taking the mug from his hand, you place it on next to the stove and begin to boil some water for him and make it for him. He watched you cut up some fruit for him and boil some noodles and an egg, as well as some other things to go in as well. “You really should take a break.”

“This is my break.”

“You know what I mean. A longer one. I know you’re just going to eat for ten minutes and then go straight back to work. You deserve some rest for how hard you work.” you brows furrowed and you sighed, stirring the noodles, then putting them in a bowl. You cut the egg in half and placed it on top as well as some other garnishes. The bowl of noodles and the plate of fruit was set on the table for him.

Law let out his own sigh and sat down to eat while you finished making his tea and brought that to him as well. “I can’t exactly afford to take too long of breaks…But thank you.”

You sat down with him. ”Don’t you wanna hang out with us? We miss seeing our captain.” you put your hands under your chin and pout up at him with puppy dog eyes to try and guilt trip him into spending more time with the crew.

It was working. “Stop acting cute…”

“Oh so you think I’m cute~?”

His ears turned a bright shade of pink and his voice gets stuck in his throat for a moment before he rolls his eyes and pushes the plate of fruit over to you so that you can both share. “Shut up…”

[amphtaminedreams]

My Amateur European Travel Guide

Hi to anyone who’s reading!

I spent just over a month in Europe over the summer and have far too many good food pics that deserve more than sitting in my camera roll untouched and thus I thought I’d do my very shitty, amateurish version of a travel guide, basically a run down of my favourite things that we did in each city. From touristy shit like the Colosseum and the Roman Forum to some equally beautiful but lesser known places, getting an inter-rail pass gives you the time to see everything whilst not spending an absolute fortune. 

I went with a friend and we did the basic, first-time traveller route: Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Ljubljana, Venice, Rome and Milan. The pass, which allowed us to use domestic and international trains on 10 separate days within a month, for students only cost £230. We did then have to pay extra for the Eurostar from St.Pancras to Paris, and additional “reservation” fees to get seats on the trains in Italy and between France and The Netherlands, but all in all this didn’t cost us anymore than about £50. The flight back from Milan to Southend Airport cost £30, though be warned that it’s actually pretty hard to get from Southend to central London; if we hadn’t been able to get a lift, we probably would’ve spent an extra £30 getting home from there. 

We were away for 3 weeks and 4 days in total, and on top of the approx. £700/£800 we spent on hostels and air b&bs, I spent about £1500 whilst I was away. You could probably get away with taking about £1000 with you if you’re willing to cook while you’re away. We did a couple of nights whilst we were in air b&bs, but on the whole, we usually ate out. The hostel kitchens were a bit of a nightmare, though I’m not going to pretend it was anything other than a combination of laziness and gluttony that stopped me from cooking, lol. HOW CAN YOU GO TO ITALY AND NOT GO OUT FOR PASTA EVERY NIGHT?! It can’t be done. With my non-existent self-control anyway. 

Once I got back from inter-railing, I also then spent a week with my family staying in the cutest seaside town about half an hour outside of Barcelona, Sitges, which we’ve visited a few times before. For that reason, I thought I’d write about some of my favourite things to do in and around Barcelona, not just from this trip but from all the times we’ve visited over the last few years.

I’ll start, though, with the first place we visited on our inter-railing trip: Paris.

Paris, France

It might be because it was the first place we went and the place where I had the most energy and drive to explore, lol, but Paris was my absolute favourite of the cities we visited. I know a lot of people seem to be disappointed with it but there’s just so much to do and so much culture; gorgeous architecture, art, fashion, food, I feel that it lives up to its reputation in every way if you really utilise your time there properly. The public transport is easy to understand and use and my only gripe with the hostel is that it was a little far out. This didn’t really limit us in any way though, so it didn’t bother me. 

The Hostel

Our first hostel, Jo&Joe’s in Gentilly, was a really cool place. I believe it was around £30 a night (one of the more expensive hostels we stayed in) to stay in a room like the one I've included a photo of. The beds were comfy and you had a decent amount of space, and the wi-fi was good. My only issue is that there wasn’t much privacy in terms of the bathroom; there was one toilet room and one shower room in the actual bedroom to be shared between the 6 of us. There didn’t really seem to be much about in Gentilly but to be honest, we didn’t venture very far and there’s more than enough to do in central Paris.

Paris Top Things to do:

1. Palais de Tokyo

Probably my favourite art museum we visited our entire trip, Palais de Tokyo was...an experience. 

Costing £8 for a student ticket, almost every piece of artwork in there was strange as hell. That being said, it was all very immersive and interactive and like nothing I’d seen before which is why I liked it so much. 

Well, apart from the dirty sock. Literally. There was a dirty sock on display. Art, right? 

2. Musee D’Orsay

I’d say if you only had time to do one of the “big” art museums in Paris, do Musee D’Orsay, not the Louvre.

 It’s a lot more compact and has a wider range of styles, plus a lot more modern art, including some Van Gogh and several Degas. I had so many favourite pieces from Louise Abbema’s Allegories of Spring and Winter, to Thomas Couture’s Romans in their Decadence:

Plus I’d take Amaury Duval’s portrait of Marie-Anne Detourbay over the Mona Lisa any day. The staring into your soul game she’s got going on is unparalleled.

3. Eiffel Tower 

I think the level of dumbassery involved in my decision to wear heeled boots to make the 500 or so step journey up the Eiffel Tower cancels out any smarts that went into us saving €3 by booking in advance and walking instead of getting the lift, but it’s all about the experience, lol, and I would do it again for the view. It only cost €5 in total and by booking online about a month before, we didn’t have to wait in what is usually about a 3 hour queue if you turn up on the day.

4. Yves Saint Laurent Museum

It only took us about an hour to do the Yves Saint Laurent museum but it was definitely worth the £10 for entry if you are interested in fashion. It was pretty quiet when we went which I liked as it made for a much more peaceful experience than say, the Louvre, and the museum is very well laid out. There’s a load of original pieces in there and I feel like I learned a lot about Saint Laurent himself too. I also learned that I am very unsophisticated (I really didn’t feel posh enough to be walking into the building, lol) but we been knew.

5. Sacre Couer 

Warning: The Sacre Couer is a very steep walk from the nearest tube station. I internally died. Several times. But it’s very beautiful once you get up there.

6. Monmarte

I wish we’d had more time to explore Monmarte as it was one of the prettiest places I saw on our trip, with so many cute restaurants and cafes. Top things to see in the area are the Wall of Love and though we didn’t actually go there, Montmarte Cemetery too. I found out when we got back that the latter is supposedly inhabited by a load of stray cats and now I am severely disappointed that we didn’t have a look. I guess I’ll just have to go back! You know, just to check if it’s true about the cats. And also eat some more of the food, ofc.

7. Vintage Shopping

We had a quick look in two of the vintage shops whilst we were in Paris, Kilo Shop and Tilt Vintage, and I saw a lot of really cool things. Unfortunately, because I couldn’t really fit anything else in my backpack and was being pretty tight with money at that point in the trip (an attitude my bank balance probably wishes had been sustained throughout, lol), I didn’t get anything. Still, I’d definitely recommend checking the shops I mentioned and the other vintage shops in that area out if you are interested in buying some clothes whilst you’re away. The only thing I’d say is to avoid them if you have trouble with crowds and/or small spaces as there were a shit tonne of people in pretty much all the ones we went in and because of the layout, not much room to move. And protip: if you like breathing non-body odour tinted oxygen, don’t venture in any of them in the middle of heatwave. Not fun. 

8. Champs Elysees 

I think it’s kind of a given that you see the Champs Elysees whilst you’re in Paris, but last time I was there, I only really saw it from an open top bus and was quiet underwhelmed. On this trip, we walked from the Louvre through the Tuileries and then slowly made our way down towards the Arc de Triomphe, having a look down the streets that run perpendicular to the Champs Elysees on our way, which were all very typically Parisienne. At the bottom, you have Aventue Montaigne which has all the fancy, designer flagship stores, and then down Avenue FDR (where we went for lunch) there are plenty of places to stop and have a bite to eat. I thought I’d been all French getting a baguette from down here before realising it was from a glorified Paul which we have all over London, BUT, if you’re into açai bowls, my friend had a really good one at a place called Cojean.

9. Versailles

Before we went to Versailles, a lot of people told me that it was really crowded and not worth going to but I couldn’t disagree more. It was so beautiful both on the inside and out and there’s so much to learn! I’ve always been fascinated by Marie Antoinette so I might be slightly biased but I was totally in my ex-historical nerd element. I would definitely recommend arriving as early as possible if you’re not paying for skip the line tickets, since we got there for around 10 and had to stand in a very long queue to get in. It did move quickly but looked very daunting at first and I imagine it only gets worse as the day goes on.

10. Disneyland Paris

I mean, we didn’t got there this time and technically, it’s not Paris. But come on, it’s Disney. I couldn’t leave it off the list.

Future Paris Bucket List:

Moulin Rouge

Musee d’Orangerie

Jardin du Luxembourg

Louvre Highlights Tour

Louis Vuitton Foundation

Paris Museum of Modern Art

Get dinner in Trocadero

Centre Pompidou

Paris Catacombs

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam is one of my favourite places ever. It’s picturesque, easy to find your way around, and full of amazing food. It was my second time here and my friend’s third so we had a pretty chilled out time but still did a lot. I definitely wouldn’t say no to going back again.

The Hostel

The hostel we stayed in in Amsterdam was called ClinkNoord and was a short (and free!) boat ride away from the city centre. Also at around £30 a night, the rooms were basic yet comfortable and the place as a whole had a modern, utilitarian vibe to it which I really liked. The bathrooms were a short walk down the hall, a more private alternative to the bathrooms in our Paris hostel, and were pretty much always free. As for the showers, they were a wet room kinda situation and a little bit grim at times but as long as you bring flip flops (I didn’t, another example of dumbassery, lol) you’ll be fine. Maybe this is the 10 year old in me leaping out but I really loved the bar area at this hostel too: drinks were cheap, but more importantly, it had table football, pool, AND a ping-pong room. WITH A BLACK LIGHT MIGHT I ADD!

Amsterdam Top Things to do:

1. Electric Ladyland

The edibles had already began to kick in a little bit by the time we got to Electric Ladyland so this might be a bit of an overstatement but this place was, in a good way of course, very trippy. It’s basically a mini fluorescent art museum and exhibition in this guy’s basement (not as weird as it sounds, lol), and for £5 you can go in and see it and then, if you hang around, watch him give a demonstration on how it all works and where he sourced his paint from. It says on the website that it’s by appointment only but we just turned up on the day just as a slot was about to start and were allowed in. In terms of taking an edible before you go in, maybe don’t, lol. It was a bit of a surreal experience; in a very dark room, listening to an old American hippy talk about how he explored caves in Utah to find mineral rocks, the weed-induced paranoia low-key kicked in. I did, at points, momentarily forget that there was a room around the point I was immediately focussed on and started panicking that we were just drifting through space. And then there was the occasional fear that I was trapped in some kind of eternal time loop where the man would just keep on talking in circles and I would be stuck down there forever, not wanting to be rude and leave whilst he was mid-sentence, as part of the universe’s karmic punishment for my impractical level of politeness and need to people-please. Climbing the ladder up out of the basement was...a little tricky, to say the least.

2. Pancake House

You have to have pancakes in Amsterdam and my friend recommended this place as the original one. I had a pancake with ice cream, caramel sauce and chocolate sauce and whilst a little sickly, it was tasty af. If I went again, I think I’d just stick to one sauce; it was so sweet that I had to admit defeat about halfway, something I do not look back on with pride. Next time, I will be victorious over one of these beasts of a pancake. Speaking it into existence.

3. Hire a bike and visit Vondelpark

There are plenty of ways to get about in Amsterdam and the trams are super easy to use but hiring a bike for the time you’re there is probably the cheapest and most Amsterdammy (I know, not really a word) way to get around. We hired our bikes from Starbikes by the central station and it was a very simple and affordable process which I would definitely recommend; their shop has some of the best reviews on Trip Advisor for bike hire. Riding along the canals is quite chilled but if you’re not super confident, the best place to go is probably Vondelpark, as it has wider lanes with the added bonus of not living in semi-permanent fear of being yeeted off your bike into the canal by a car coming up behind you. It also has friendly ducks! How can you say no to that? I mean, ignoring the fact that male ducks have like, 9 inch corkscrew penises which apparently spin when they mate. Thank Reddit for that life-altering and mildly disturbing piece of information.

4. Mannekin chips

The BEST Belgian fries which I spent the entirety of the rest of our trip craving. Best sauce combination is ketchup and samurai sauce, and I recommend going for a regular portion. The large is insane and I am very much in awe of anybody who can finish it.

5. Van Gogh Museum

We didn’t actually visit the Van Gogh museum on this trip but I went on my first visit to Amsterdam and you really can’t miss it. Not only does it have a lot of Van Gogh’s most famous works, including sunflowers, it has a lot of the work of the artists who inspired him as well as pieces from some of his contemporaries. 

7. Stedelijk

Really cool modern art museum with an interactive room where you can take part in activities relating to the current exhibition too. Though I guess it really depends on your art preferences, if you do only have time to do either this or The Rijksmuseum, I would definitely say Stedelijk. 

8. The Rookies Coffeeshop

So I can’t say I’ve tried a lot of the coffee shops in Amsterdam as on our first visit we only really went to this one and The Bulldog chain, and this time we didn’t go as much, but they do the best space cakes. They’re genuinely really tasty but they can be quite intense if you haven’t smoked in a while or don’t do so regularly so make sure you’re in somewhere you feel safe and have other people with you.

9. Amsterdam Dungeons

Though the Amsterdam Dungeons were more similar to the London Dungeons than I thought they would be, with less of a focus on the dark history of the area and more on general dark European history such as the Spanish Inquisition and witch trials which also came up a lot in the London run through, I would still thoroughly recommend them. The Dungeons are definitely a tourist trap but they’re also just hilarious and you genuinely do learn a little, so I think worth the money!

10. The Blonds Cafe

I wasn’t crazy about the menu here as I’m a ridiculously fussy eater but I think most people will easily find something they like, and the actual cafe and presentation is really cute. The grilled cheese sandwich I ended up having was really good and even if you end up just having a cake, I’d recommend it. They had lemon AND mint infused water dispensers, which, now I’m writing down doesn’t seem very exciting at all, but I got hyped up, okay? And worst case scenario, it’s not for you, there are loads of other cool and very hipster-y looking (lol) independent cafes in the area. 

11. Anne Frank House

Again, this was something I did on my first trip to Amsterdam, but you can’t miss it. From a history standpoint and as someone who read Anne Frank’s diary several times when I was younger, I found it very surreal to actually visit the house I’d heard so much about. You definitely get a sense of just how stifling and claustrophobic living in that annex was and even if you’re not into your history, I do think a lot of insight can be gained from taking a trip here! 

12. Go to one of the Pastry Shops

If you go to Amsterdam, you’ll see them everywhere, the little slightly shabby-looking cafes with all the amazing waffles and donuts and crepes and cupcakes in the window. Go to one! I had a waffle covered in white chocolate and Oreos and it was 1000% as good as it looked. 

13. Moco Museum

The last thing on my Amsterdam list and another thing we did on my first trip, the Moco Museum is one of my favourites I’ve ever been to. It’s pretty small and doesn’t take you that long to look around but it’s full of contemporary, provocative art based around the theme of political and social commentary. Given that description, it’s probably no surprise that it houses a lot of Banksy, but there’s also a fair bit of pop art too, and a very cool gift shop. Because I can never resist a good gift shop.

Future Amsterdam Bucket List:

A day trip to the tulip fields

De Poezenboot

Eye Film Museum 

Swing at A’dam lookout

Canal Cruise

Berlin, Germany

Berlin definitely wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. As a capital city, I expected it to be this very built up, bustling, commercial place, but it was actually pretty quiet and very spread out. In a way, it almost seemed a bit left behind and completely deserted in parts. That being said, from a historical point of view, it was probably the most interesting place that we went. It’s easy to forget that just a few decades ago the city was completely divided and you can definitely sense that it’s still rebuilding itself.

The Hostel

We stayed in a hostel that was tucked away in the basement of the Aletto hotel, just a minute’s walk away from the Zoologischer Garden station. I believe it was around £20 a night for an 8 person mixed dorm. The beds weren’t the comfiest and the room itself was a bit dark and dank, given that it was below street level, but all in all, the hostel was decent as a stop-off point. I liked that there was a kind of a small communal area in the kitchen and the bathrooms were spacious and clean, and fortunately, it was pretty quiet when we were there so we usually had them to ourselves. 

Berlin Top Things to do:

1. Never Ending Love Story

A really lovely little cafe in a pretty, quiet area, the service here was exceptionally good! I’m not one to complain when workers don’t seem overly enthusiastic, I work in retail so I get that you sometimes can’t be arsed with all the over-the-top politeness, but I do appreciate friendliness and the waitress here was so sweet. I had delicious scrambled eggs on sourdough toast and my friend had pancakes and we both really enjoyed our food. 

2. East Side Gallery

I wish I had more to say about the East Side Gallery, but to be honest I was pretty drunk and had half an edible-I thought we were going out out after, don’t judge me-so I can’t remember much. Judging from my very shitty and my friend’s very good (this is one of hers, lol) photos though, it was really interesting. Good street art is up there with the best of them imo and given the context of the gallery, it’s no surprise that a lot of the art is politically charged, which just adds an extra layer of appeal to it. There’s also a lot of good photo ops, or so drunk me clearly thought. 

3. Topography of Terror

Built on top of the former SS Reich Main Security Office, the Topography of Terror is a museum I’d say you need to set aside at least 2 and a half/3 hours for to properly do. There’s so much information to get through and I’d say I ended up skimming half of it towards the end because we were short on time; I later found out that there’s even more to see outside which we didn’t even touch. 

4. Jewish Museum

Unfortunately, a lot of the Jewish Museum was closed when we went but it’s still a very physically impressive building with exhibitions that are equal parts daunting and thought-provoking, relating to both the Jewish experience during the Second World War and Jewish culture in general.

5. Museum Island

We didn’t actually go in any of the museums on Museum Island but we walked around and sat at a nice little green spot nearby; t’s very pretty to explore, especially as the sun is going down. There were plenty of bars around and people drinking, sunbathing and listening to music by the river. Generally a really relaxed vibe.

6. Fritzies 

I know dirty fries aren’t the classiest thing ever but the ones from this place tasted really fucking good. How can you go wrong with a fast food restaurant dedicated to chips?

7. The History: Brandenberg Gate, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler’s Bunker, Jewish Memorial

Most of these places are within walking distance of each other and we did them all within a couple of hours. Like I said, the best thing about Berlin is the history so I think making an effort to see all these things is really important. On our last night we managed to find out, via a nearby poster, about a free show on the river (with English subtitles obviously; as the basic monolingual bitch I am, anything other than dankeschön and hallo went right over my head) which covered major points in the history of the Reichstag over the last century; it was the perfect way to round off our trip.

8. KW Institute for Contemporary Art

This museum was half the overly pretentious contemporary art that makes classicists roll their eyes:

-though I do actually like it, sue me-

And half the simple, but millennially-inspired kinda stuff that I love. Like, that top collection got me feeling like the new Van Gogh every time I accidentally screenshot my home screen. 

So obviously, I rated it. And side-note, the building in general, which had an old, unused warehouse kinda thing going on, along with a shady little courtyard outside, was very cool.

9. Pizza Nostra

Look at this photo. Do I need to say any more?

Future Berlin Bucket List:

Historical River Cruise

Return to the Jewish Museum

The Story of Berlin Museum

Berghain (even just to see it from the outside)

About Blank, Suicide Circus, i.e one of the tamer, more mainstream clubs

Anne Frank Zentrum

Hackescher Hof

Oranienburger Strasse and Kunsthaus Tacheles

Prague, Czech Republic

I absolutely adored Prague. From the second I stepped out of the metro station into Old Town Square on our first evening, I felt like I was walking into a fairytale. All the buildings were so ornate and beautiful, everywhere you look is like a postcard. There’s so much history there which we only really had time to scrape the surface of and I can’t wait to go back.

The Hostel

We stayed at Hostel Dakura which was only around £15 a night and a few metro stops from the city centre. As you can see, it’s a little outdated but all in all, still clean and comfortable. The dorm and bathrooms were very spacious and there was an outdoor seating area with benches and ping-pong too. I’d definitely say it was good value for money.

Prague Top Things to do:

1. Explore Old Town

The Old Town part of Prague is definitely the main attraction, from the cute and very typically European seating areas outside the restaurants, to the Trdelnik shops, to the gothic statues, and the colourful buildings that surround them; you'll feel like you’re walking through a mix between a shopping mall and a medieval time capsule. There’s not really all that much point me putting Old Town on the must-do list as it’s pretty much unavoidable but I liked it so much I just couldn’t leave it out. I really haven’t been anywhere like it before. It’s part Westeros, part Fantasyland at Disney (with some stag dos thrown in), and that’s saying something; Disney World comparisons do not come easy from me.

2. Letna Hill

A bit of a steep walk uphill but totally worth it for the view of the city.  Lots of cool bars and places to get cheap beer and cider too, if that’s your kinda thing. Spirits, to my dismay, are pretty much the same price as they are back home. Not that it was on Letna Hill but I paid €20 for 2 doubles one night. €20. PRAGUE IS CHEAP FOR ALCOHOL, THEY SAID. YOU CAN GET PISSED FOR A TENNER, THEY SAID. IT’LL BE FUN, THEY SAID. Sigh.

PROTIP: Make sure you have cash on you, especially if you’re heading up Letna Hill, as they don’t take card at any of the bars and there aren’t any cash machines. There also aren’t any water fountains and the tap water isn’t drinkable, apparently. You know what there are, though? Rats. 

I’m going to stop before I put anyone off. Our experience wasn’t the best but done right, I think you could have a really chilled evening here. Go to Letna Hill. It’s lovely.

3. Prague Castle

Also a bit of an uphill walk, Prague Castle is a gothic dream with live music, tantalising food stalls (hehe, tantalising, somebody hire me to write their cookbook ASAP) and insane views. Half the time I felt like I was in King’s Landing and the other half Hogwarts, and that is the kind of 50/50 split I live for. 

4. Walk across Charles Bridge and walk alongside the Vltava River

I thought our day peaked when I came to the realisation, whilst crossing the Charles Bridge, that we were in fact surrounded by vaguely religious and mildly creepy Jesus-looking statues but then we reached the other side and soon after, became one with nature. We saw ducks! Otters. Swans. Inject that wholesome shit into my veins. 

Also, a pigeon landed on me! That’s right, if you stand there with your arm out for long enough whilst walking alongside the Vltava River, you too can experience the fleeting terror that comes with the possibility of being pooed on but then the earth-shattering realisation that comes after: that pigeons, maybe, aren’t so bad after all. That they’re actually kinda cute in their own weird, scavenging way! That maybe the pigeon lady in Mary Poppins made some points! I mean, can’t we all relate to wanting to steal other people’s food? I definitely can. Consider me a changed woman.

5. GOAP Museum

Though I’m not much of a Salvador Dali fan and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the “artwork” in this museum was actually just prints from google blown up on A2 photo paper, I thoroughly enjoyed the Alphonse Mucha and Andy Warhol sections of the GOAP. 

-Untitled Salvador Dali-

The former is one of my absolute favourite artists so I definitely had to take a moment when I walked in and saw that not only did they have several of his original lithographs, but also a whole wall dedicated to him. I wish I had good photos but the lighting was a bit too artificial to really do it justice. The lithographs came out pretty well though:

Obviously Andy Warhol is an icon too; his exhibition in particular was hugely informative and well laid out, definitely a people pleaser. I couldn’t find all too much online but it seems like the exhibitions mentioned are permanent, so definitely go and check them out. 

I also feel the need to mention that it was here I ascended to an elite level of art hoe by buying a Mucha lighter. Jokes on me because it doesn’t work very well, like...at all in anything windier than a very, very mild breeze, BUT it looks pretty, so points for that. 

6. Cafe Chloe

Seeing the size of the queue outside Elan Cafe in London, it kinda blew my mind that considering its flower wall, you could just walk into Cafe Chloe and get a table straight away. Obviously the flower wall is a draw for Instagram purposes (yes, I’m a shallow human being, *insert Ariana Grande “and what about it?” gif here*) but the food was really good too. The perfect place to stop off for brunch. 

7. Pedalos

Again, the pedalos under Charles Bridge are kind of a tourist trap but it was only around €12 between us to rent one for the hour; most of them appeared to be 4 seaters so you could get 2 more people in there and split the price again, making it even cheaper. Plus, it was really fun and we got to go right up to the ducks! 

8. Karlovy Lazne

I’m not gonna lie, tackiness aside, I love a club with multiple rooms and this one had FIVE. There were a lot of English people in there and it did cost about 12 euros in cash to get in (take the cash out in advance as the machine outside charged quite a steep fee), but they played ABBA on more than one occasion so I have zero regrets. I mean, apart from drinking maybe a bit too much once again, but that’s kind of a given at this point. I can only apologise to my liver and what’s left of my dignity.

9. Joy Burger

NGL, the service here wasn’t the best and I kind of felt like I was annoying some of the staff literally just by trying to order my food BUT to be fair, I’d probably be annoyed by me too considering my upholding of the British tradition of asking everywhere if they speak English and hoping for the best rather than actually learning the native language. Anyway, back to the point: look at this burger. Fit. 10/10 would demolish again.

Future Prague Bucket List:

Museum Kampa

Petrin Hill

One of the free city walking tours

Pub crawl

Vienna, Austria

Honestly, of all the places we went to, Vienna was the one I was most pleasantly surprised by. Before going, I’d heard that there wasn’t much to do there and I thought that 24 hours would be more than enough to see the main attractions, but aside from Paris, it’s probably the city I want to revisit most. On every other block there seemed to be some kind of beautiful flower garden or sprawling palace or stately home or elegant cafe, but at the same time, it still had a very modern feel to it. A lot like Paris but more compact, and with a slightly Germanic twist. Plus, I had one of the best Maccies of my life here, so I really can’t complain.

The Hostel

For around £18 for the night we stayed in a 6 person dorm at the Wombats Hostel by Naschmarkt. Because we weren’t there too long, I didn’t get all that much of a feel for it but the communal areas and bar seemed very cool and the central part of the city was in walking distance. The dorms were a little small and outdated and we did get woken up by a fire alarm in the middle of the night but it gave me a kind of primary school trip type nostalgia so I didn’t mind too much. I’d probably look for another hostel if I went back to Vienna just because I think if you were staying for a while, you'd start to feel a bit cooped up in the room. For the one night, however, it was ideal.

Vienna Top Things to do:

1. Museum Quartier

We really only walked through Museum Quartier but there seemed to be loads going on and definitely lots to look at. There’s also a giant astroturf covered waterbed which sounds kinda wack but was actually super fun when I wasn’t fearing my head was going to be squashed like a watermelon by the kids quite literally throwing themselves around on it. So yeah! Check it out!

2. The Traffic Lights

It sounds silly but the traffic lights in the central part of Vienna are super cute. Have a stroll around and see how many of them you can spot. Berlin’s Ampelmann wishes. 

3. Belvedere Palace Grounds

Boujie. 

4. Schonbrunn Palace Grounds

Even boujier.

5. Volksgarten

I really felt like I was walking through the Red Queen’s gardens. Minus the crochet and threat of decapitation of course.

6. Max and Benito

SO GOOD. And a really funky seating area outside too. Probably best for a quick lunch and I also imagine would make great drunk food if you need an excuse to day drink. 

Future Vienna Bucket List:

Natural History Museum of Vienna

Wien Museum

Leopold Museum

Belvedere Museum of Contemporary Art

Cafe hopping

Further explore MuseumQuartier 

Naschmarkt

Budapest, Hungary

It might be an unpopular opinion but I didn’t adore Budapest as a city. To be honest, my expectations were probably slightly too high as I’d heard so many people rave about it. I can see why people like it so much: there’s loads of great places to eat, drinks are cheap, and ruin bars are very cool. My issue was just that I thought there’d be more to do in terms of daytime activities. The one art museum we went to was completely deserted and there didn’t seem to be as many historical places to explore as in some of the other cities we visited. Of course it’s all a matter of personal preference and I might have just not done enough research/planned enough, plus that’s still not to say I didn’t have a good time. We had some lovely chilled out days and the city kind of comes alive in a different way in the evening; the boat party we went to was by far the best night out we had throughout our trip and I had some insanely delicious food. We also hired an Air B&B here for about half the price of some of the hostels we stayed in, and so got to actually settle down and spread our stuff out for a few days; something that was much needed after living out of lockers for 2 weeks.

Budapest Top Things to do:

1. Mr.Funk’s

Look at this bad boy and tell me you don’t want to go to Mr.Funk’s and try one of their freakshakes. Tell me that freakshakes being banned in the UK wasn’t a devastating miscarriage of justice and an attack on my human rights. Tell me that I’m not a failure for leaving a donut behind. Pls. Validate me. 

2. Street Food Karavan

Street Food Karavan is such a cool little spot with so many delicious looking food stalls, I honestly could’ve eaten there for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Plus loads of vegan and veggie options too.

3. Boat Party

I believe we booked our night through budapestboatparty.com and honestly it was so fun and such good value for money. It may have partly been down to the alcohol and the edible I had before, lol, but everything felt so surreal; I spent 90% of the event just being amazed by how beautiful our surroundings were and the combination of the breeze and the scenery and the music made for the absolute best atmosphere. Everyone we spoke to was so friendly and if I went back I’d love to do it again, maybe slightly more sober (unlikely) so I can take even more of it in. That being said, bear in mind that these kind of things can probably be a bit hit or miss. The friend that recommended the boat party told me that she spent the first half of the event avoiding being hit on by men twice her age, so clearly it depends a lot on the company, lol!

4. Kiosk

We didn’t actually have proper meals at Kiosk but we did find some deck chairs to sit on whilst we ate ice cream from one of the stalls they were running outside. The restaurant itself was inside but the outdoor seating had a stunning view of the sunset and the river and the area in general was really buzzing. 

5. Shoes on the Danube

It’s a simple monument but the story behind the Shoes on the Danube makes it one of the most important things to see in Budapest.

6. Szechenyi Baths

Before we actually went into the baths, I was a bit grossed out. Like, it sounded great in theory but then we got there and I realised we were about to step into what is essentially a steaming pit of bodily fluids. BUT, put that minute, mildly repugnant detail aside and you’ll have a brilliant time. Start with the whirlpool in the outdoor area and by the time you’ve done that, you’ll be feeling wild enough to bath and sauna hop to your heart’s desire. Unless you are a real, compulsive germaphobe, pissing yourself at the sight of little kids and adults alike getting uncontrollably whisked around like a bunch of sweaty egg yolks is enough to make you put any (don’t get me wrong, warranted) hygiene concerns to one side. You can shower when you’re dead. That’s what they say, right?

7. Margaret Island 

I think we had one of our most relaxed afternoons at Magaret Island, lying out on the grass by the dancing fountains; it’s definitely a great place to sunbathe, read, or grab a cheap alcoholic drink. There’s options for if you’re feeling more adventurous too: on our second visit there, we paid €10 between us to hire a pedal car for the hour and decided to cycle round the island. It was by the grace of god (or for the most part my friend’s very necessary backseat driving) that there was only one casualty of my steering. Angry Hungarian man, if you’re out there, I’m very sorry our pedal car almost knocked you off your bike. My bad. But yeah, my catastrophic attempt at doing the bare minimum physical activity aside, go and chill on Margaret Island. It’s super pretty.

8. Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion

Just a heads up that we paid around €4 or €5 each to go up to the top of Castle Hill with one of the companies giving out flyers at the bottom, so have a look and see if you can find a better deal before paying to ride the funicular. Once we did get up there we could hop on and off, and the ticket included a ride down as well. In terms of what to expect when you get up there, spectacular views. Though I found the castle itself a bit disappointing, Fisherman’s Bastion was really beautiful and had some great photo spots. If I went back to Budapest, I’d probably spend more time in the area as I think that’s where a lot of the history actually is.

9. Szimpla Kert

Probably the most famous ruin bar in Budapest, I really loved Szimpla Kert. It was a bit chaotic and very crowded but the eccentric interiors and open air courtyard gave it an almost magical feel that only a tiny number of bars I’ve been to have anything on. Vaulty Towers and Bar Elba in Waterloo I’m looking at you. Missing you and your overpriced drinks always xoxo

10. House of Terror

The House of Terror was my only real history fix whilst we were in Budapest and I found it really interesting. In particular, I liked how all the visitors took sheets of information in each room to read in our own time rather than us all trying to crowd round one sign. The basement part of the museum is presumably the main draw, and I understand why given how unnerving it is, but I enjoyed the whole museum. Obviously there are things you have to take with a pinch of salt and (our Air B&B host warned in our welcome package that it was slightly biased; I couldn’t find much about public opinion of the museum online so if by the slim chance somebody who knows more is reading this please let me know! Educate me!), but at the same time, if just for walking through the site of the past atrocities, there is definitely something to be gleaned by visiting.

11. Parliament Building

There was really no need for the Hungarian Parliamentary building to step on Westminter’s neck like that but...I guess she did what she had to do.

12. Ludwig Museum

Like I mentioned, this museum was pretty deserted but they did have some cool contemporary art and in particular an exhibition dedicated to the fashion designer Kiraly Tamas which I really enjoyed. His are the pieces in the photo above!

13. Donut Library

Oreo donuts. Need I say more?

14. La Fabbrica 

A very boujie but surprisingly affordable Italian restaurant right opposite St.Stephen’s basilica (pictured), I had one of the many top tier spag bols on this trip here. The toilets are also stylish af and made me feel very much like a peasant so maybe wear something nice so you can get those good good HQ bathroom mirror pics. I was certainly not in any shape to do so. Those toilets were really wasted on my scruffy ass that day. 

Future Budapest Bucket List:

The Hungarian National Gallery

Műcsarnok

Museum of Fine Arts

Budapest History Museum

Hungarian State Opera House

Flippermúzeum

Instant

Great Synagogue 

Memento Park

Secret Walking Tour

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Though we mainly went to Ljubljana so that we could visit Lake Bled, it was still a very cute little area. Pretty small for a capital city but there were loads of day trips out from the centre and for the evenings, a whole range of lively bars and restaurants along the river. 

The Hostel

We stayed at Hostel Kva right in the city centre and paid around €20 a night. The hostel itself was lovely and kind of felt like more of a young people’s B&B than hostel; the communal area in particular had a very cosy, personal feel to it and the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. That being said, the actual rooms were very small and I did feel pretty cramped whilst we were there, more so than in any of the other hostels we stayed at. 

Ljubljana Top Things to do:

1. Meselkova Mesa

About a 15 minute walk from the city centre, Meselkova Mesa is a very interesting place. I'm not going to lie, I did feel a little on edge whilst we were there, lol; it was pretty deserted apart from a couple of men having a very loud argument. Nevertheless, there’s some very cool buildings and street art so if you’re in a group, check it out.

2. Lake Bled

Our day trip to Lake Bled, a half hour coach journey from Ljubljana Station for IIRC €8 return, was one of my favourite things we did whilst inter-railing. Not only is it absolutely magnificent to look at but there’s so much to do that I feel like you could have your whole holiday there if you wanted to. Assault courses, hikes, swimming, water sports, rowing, tobogganing, chilling on the (yes, artificial) sand, whether you want to relax or thrill-seek, you’re going to have plenty to do.

3. Puffy

These mini pancakes were so good that I didn’t even notice the chocolate sauce was Nutella and that’s saying something because WHY DO THEY PUT IT ON EVERYTHING IN MAINLAND EUROPE!? PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE NUTELLA HAVE RIGHTS TOO!

4. Pop’s Place

The best burger of the entire trip, hands down, and the whole menu looked delicious. Would I fly to Ljubljana just to have another one? Probs. 

5. Tivoli Park

A great place to sit down and read a book or go on a bike ride, or alternatively, if you’re me, awkwardly hide from a bunch of people from your hostel you irrationally believed were judging you earlier that day in the bathrooms.

6. Castle Walk

The uphill walk did kill me a little but I am mildly asthmatic so let’s put it down to that. Nothing to do with the fact I haven’t been to the gym in a year. Nothing at all. Anyways, the view was very pretty and though we didn’t go inside the castle, there’s apparently an escape room in there as well as a museum, a restaurant and a jazz club so definitely worth the minor hike.

7. Flower Market

If you go to the square where the food market is, by Dragon Bridge, you’ll find endless stalls of some of the most beautifully arranged flowers I’ve ever seen. It might be a seasonal thing, I’m not sure, but if you’re there in the summer, I’d recommend seeking the market out. They’re a very reasonable price and yes, I did specifically buy a sunflower for a photo op for 50 cent, guilty as charged. When vanity is that cheap I really can’t resist, lol.

8. Illusions Museum

I would definitely recommend going with at least one other person to get the most out of the Illusions Museum and €10 is pretty pricey but if you want to get a cheesy oh-look-I’m-standing-on-the-ceiling photo, here is your best bet.

9. Grefino Frozen Yogurt

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t actually like frozen yogurt myself but I can appreciate good food when I see it and my friend’s portion looked FIT. Plus, I always get excited when anything’s make your own; there will always be a part of me that feels incomplete without regular trips to Pizza Hut to overdo it with the ice cream factory (which this is basically a frozen yogurt, grown up version of). Miss you always. 

Future Ljubljana Bucket List:

Escape Castle

Ljubljana Castle guided tour

Tobogganing at Lake Bled

Row to the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Maria at Lake Bled

Škocjan Caves

MSUM

Venice, Italy

Everywhere you look in Venice is picture perfect. It literally looked exactly how it did in all the photos I’d seen beforehand. There’s so much to do and so many amazing looking places to eat, I could easily spend a relaxed week here. Emphasis on the relaxed because getting around does involve a lot of walking and a surprising amount of stairs, and we had to pack as much as we could into the short amount of time that we had. By the end of our first day in Venice alone, the word exhausted had a whole new meaning. In terms of public transport, there’s only really the boat system, and that’s a steep €18 for a day ticket. Probably partly due to my moaning, we did end up getting one of these on our last day, but that meant that we also got to go to the islands of Murano and Burano which are included. I definitely wouldn’t say no to going back but it’s quite an overwhelming space: a bit disorientating, crowded, and very expensive! You’d have to give me a few years, lol!

The Hostel

Whilst in Venice we stayed at the Wombats Hostel in Mestre, for around £13 a night. We were lucky in that it had only opened the week before (they were actually celebrating its opening at the Wombats in Naschmarkt when we were there!), and so it was super cheap. I imagine by now the price would’ve increased as it was a lovely hostel. Being new there were obviously some teething problems: queues on the front desk were pretty long, the free drinks vouchers given out had mistakes in that you couldn’t redeem them for one of the drinks that was listed, the kitchens were apparently very overcrowded with 2 faulty hobs between about 50 people, and our room as well as the bathroom in the lobby frequently ran out of toilet paper. Other than that, the dorms were the most spacious, modern and breathable of all the hostels we stayed in and the bar and communal areas were great. The only thing to bear in mind is that you do have to get a train into the main island of Venice, but it’s only about €3 for a return and it’s a short journey. 

Venice Top Things to do:

1. Peggy Guggenheim

A really beautiful museum and garden right on the waterfront, there were all kinds of modern and contemporary art and even a piece (pictured above) by Jenny Holzer who is one of my favourite contemporary artists! I definitely fangirled a little! Some other standouts were by Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Max Ernst, Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning which I’m going to offload here to free up some space on my camera roll, lol:

Composition by Joan Mitchell (1962)

Silver Bedhead by Alexander Calder (1945-1946)

Untitled by Willem de Kooning (1958)

Circumcision by Max Ernst (1946)

2. Liberia Acqua Alta

An eclectic little bookshop tucked away down some Venetian side street with tower upon tower of some of the most random combinations of books I’ve ever seen, my favourite thing about Liberia Acqua Alta was the cat chilling behind the counter. It’s shameful the vigour with which the crazy cat lady in me jumped out but I actually did start tearing up at the sight of it. I hadn’t seen a cat in 3 WEEKS! I missed my babies okay:(

3. Takeaway Pizza 

There’s loads of fresh takeaway pizza places around Venice but this particular slice was from a place called Farini. I think there might be more than one of them, and to be honest, when there’s pizza that delicious looking in the window, it would be a crime not to at least seek one out.

4. St.Mark’s Square and Basilica and Bridge of Sighs

It might be a huge tourist trap but you really can’t miss St.Mark’s Square. The Basilica is one of the most magnificent buildings I’ve ever seen and even as someone who is not at all religious, you can appreciate the thought and craftsmanship that went into it. The astrological clock right next to the basilica is also absolutely stunning, just as much so as the one in Prague, imo:

Getting dive-bombed by a flock of pigeons in the square was fun too. My life flashed before my eyes just for a moment. It was a humbling experience.

5. Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibit at Palazzo Zaguri

Basically, this exhibit was a collection of Da Vinci’s drawings of the anatomy of the human body side by side with the corresponding plasticised body parts. Really interesting and not at all as gory as it sounds, which was really the only disappointing part for me, lol.

6. Fondaco de Tedeschi 

If you want a good view of the city without paying a fortune, Fondaco de Tedeschi is your place. It’s a fancy mall with a rooftop area that you can, by booking a time slot online, go up for free. 

7. "Get Lost”

I’m not really someone that enjoys walking around aimlessly but if you’re gonna do that anywhere, Venice is your place. Every street and bridge and balcony is postcard worthy and there are pizza and ice cream and just generally good food places everywhere. You’re bound to stumble across at least one authentic, non wholesale mask shop whilst you’re wandering, and although there’s something vaguely creepy about a load of these blank faces staring out the shop windows at you, some of the displays are totally bewitching:

The middle display is from the shop window of the place that made the mask for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut which I thought was very cool!

8. Get a boat pass and visit Murano and Burano

As I said, on our last day we bought a boat pass (€18) and visited the nearby islands of Murano and Burano, Murano being the island famed for its glass, and Burano for its rainbow houses. Burano was definitely my favourite of the two; it was a buzzing place full of charming little stalls and shops and boats, and of course, colour. Plus, we even got some close cat encounters in there! Murano was pretty but a lot quieter and seemingly more spread out. The glass shops get a bit old after a while as most of them all have the same things in and so I think finding out where you can see a glass blowing demonstration or visiting the glass museum is a good idea if you are thinking of visiting.

9. Osteria Trattoria Al Nono Risorto

This was a super affordable little restaurant with a really lovely outdoor seating area, recommended by my friend’s mum. The service wasn’t amazing (they forgot about my friend’s pizza, lol) but I had what was probably my number one spaghetti bolognese of the whole trip here, and the garden was very pretty. Finding spots to eat a proper meal in Venice that aren’t going to charge you, like, €12 for the privilege of sitting down in a nice place is hard so I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

Future Venice Bucket List:

La Biennale di Venezia

Lido di Venezia

St.Mark’s Campanile

Chiesa de San Giacomo

Gondola ride

Doge’s Palace

Punta della Dogana

Bugno Art Gallery

Palazzo Fortuny

Rome, Italy

Our final overnight destination, Rome was a lot more cosmopolitan than I expected it to be. I was so focussed on the historical side of things that I kinda forgot it’s a capital city and thus, is going to obviously be pretty commercial. Still, it’s strange to just be going down a very pedestrian street on a tram, turn to one side, and see the bloody Colosseum there. I’m not going to lie, by the time we got to Rome I wasn’t feeling my best and was physically pretty exhausted so I don’t feel like I got to appreciate it as much as I should have done; I ended up going back to our Air B&B a couple of the days, largely due to the heat. It was almost 40 fucking degrees! I was honest to god DRIPPING in sweat on the tram back at one point! But I definitely want to go back again, maybe some time when we aren’t feeling the effects of the planet withering and dying as much, and explore even more. Rome is undoubtedly a very cool place.

Rome Top Things to do:

1. Colosseum and Roman Forum

Before we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, I kind of expected it to be something you looked at, went “wow, that’s cool”, and then moved on, lol, and I was low-key a bit pissed off that we were paying €20 to do so. When we did arrive, though, I was blown away by the scale of both the landmarks and how much there was to see and do there. The Roman Forum in particular went on for ages and there were signs regularly dotted about to tell you what it was you were looking at, what it used to be, and who built it, amongst other things; though I’d love to go back with a tour guide, it’s really not necessary. I can’t tell you how starstruck I was to see the foundations of a temple that Julius Caesar ordered to be built; the Romans have always been fascinating to me and I genuinely feel like I learnt SO MUCH on our visit. We booked a last minute whistle stop tour that got us in and out of both venues with allotted time slots, meaning that we couldn’t stay too long in the Forum, so I’d say if you can afford it, just go full out and buy skip the line tickets in advance. You could definitely make a day of it.

2. Fattori Ice Cream

From a really cute little independent shop near the Air B&B we were staying in, this ice cream was SO GOOD that my fussy-ass-self didn’t even mind that I’d accidentally picked a flavour with lemon in. It’s a bit out of the way but I’d say worth the journey, and there’s supposed to be a lot of good street art nearby so there’s non-food related excuses to make the detour too.

3. Vatican Museums and Basilica

Honestly, the Vatican is worth going to for the ceilings alone. Raphael’s frescos are some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and if anything was going to turn me (to Christianity I mean, lol), it’d be them. I love contemporary art and on the whole find classic art to be a bit repetitive and same-y in its themes but some of the work that can be found in the Vatican is just an example of the level of passion and dedication and patience that can be found in so many pieces of the period and is something that I think modern art can occasionally lack.

4. Aventine Hill

You’d think that a spot with such a good view of the city would be absolutely mobbed but Aventine Hill is just as serene as this photo makes it look. Do-ably uphill, amazing place to watch the sunset, and heads up: I can’t think of anywhere more romantic to propose.

5. MamaEats

One of many lively restaurants in the Travestere area, I had (surprise, surprise) another glorious spaghetti bolognese here. IIRC, they also specialise in gluten free food which is very forward-thinking!

6. Travestere and Riverbank

As I mentioned, Travestere is known for its host of buzzing bars and restaurants, but one thing we didn’t know about until we got to Rome was all the stalls and activities down on the riverbank. Though it didn’t seem to be a year-round thing, there was a whole strip of amazing food places and clothes and jewellery stalls and even some kind of VR experience down there which I would definitely recommend checking out if you are in Rome for the summer months.

8. St.Paul’s Outside the Wall

A really beautiful Church both inside and outside that's lacking absolutely nothing of St.Peter’s Basilica except the queues, my protip for visiting St.Paul’s Outside the Wall is to WEAR SOMETHING COVERING YOUR KNEES AND SHOULDERS. I mean, I’d say the same thing for all of the Italian Churches, but specifically this one because they WILL force these blue sheets of tarpaulin masquerading as “ponchos” upon you and you WILL feel like a complete and utter twat. You have been warned. 

9. Street Art 

We didn’t quite walk far enough to get to the cluster of street art by St.Paul’s Outside the Wall, but what we did see we found easily through the StreetArtRoma app, which marks out the various murals and professional graffiti points around the city. I think a really interesting day would be to hire a bike or a scooter and use the app to explore those various clusters that are dotted all around the city. 

10. Largo di Torre Argentina

The site where Julius Caesar (yep, him again) was assassinated, but also the site which is now populated by a group of very cute, and also very friendly cats. We didn’t get to go in the daytime when the actual cat sanctuary was open but when I went down the steps to get a closer look at the site one of the evenings, several of them came to say hello! No offence to any Christians out there, but if there was one point on this trip when I felt I was truly in the presence of something greater, it was here. And they were furry and adorable. With whiskers:3

11. Parthenon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona

Basically, you gotta do all the big tourist spots. Yes, the Trevi fountain felt a lot like an overcrowded kids’ swimming pool, and yes, I did fear I was about to get yeeted into the fountain like a coin at some points too, but it is undeniably a very captivating sight. Along with the Parthenon, it’s a prime example of Rome not really being what I expected, because there’s no big clearing for either of them; they’re literally just slap bang in the middle of the street like they’re NBD, which is kinda wild considering they're hugely important pieces of history and architecture. Piazza Navona is very pretty too and a great place to sit down and get something to eat, even if it was just boxed pasta from one of the supermarkets round the corner in our case. 

Future Rome Bucket List:

Galleria Borghese

MAXXI Museum

MACRO Museum

Cinecitta Film Studios

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna

Capitoline Museum

Milan, Italy

We only visited Milan for the day as that was where we got out flights home from but I still really enjoyed it. I went once in 2018 and I think the appeal back then was lost at me, but this time I get it: shopping, lol. There’s also a lot of art and fashion museums which are a huge part of the draw, and of course, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle; I think if you’re a person with *ahem* a fucking shitload of money, that’ll be enough to occupy you for at least a day or two.

Milan Top Things to do:

1. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele 

The oldest shopping mall in Italy and undoubtedly the most beautiful, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele might be the boujiest place I’ve ever stepped foot in. Sure, the shops are too intimidatingly expensive to consider even attempting to enter but they’re fun to marvel at and the general area has every typical high street store you can think of. Even the Zara in Milan looks like a fashion Haus inside! The same shop that in my local town centre resembles a jumble sale a good 50% of the time! So yeah, despite not having any money to spend and the fact that I was *supposed* to be on a shopping ban until October, I still like wandering around the area.

2. Novecento Museum

With several floors of modern art, interactive exhibitions (which you had to sign a RELEASE FORM to participate in), and an amazing view of Il Duomo upstairs, I really enjoyed the Novecento Museum. I thought it was going to a be a disappointing alternative to the Armani Museum, which was closed at the time, but it ended up being one of my favourite museums we visited on our whole trip.

3. Sforza Castle 

My friend that we met up with whilst in Milan (she has a flat in the city! I’m very impressed!) took us here and we sat down in the grounds for a bit, which was a nice way to chill out for an hour or so. There was a fountain out the front that people were paddling in to cool off too and there seemed to be several exhibits going on inside the castle as well if you did want to get a bit of background.

4. Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Via Cordusio 

The fanciest Starbucks I’ve ever seen in my life. Again, intimidatingly so. But if you like your coffee you will probs be in heaven.

5. Gallerie d’Italia

So me and my sister went here the last time we came to Milan and IIRC, really liked it. The modern art section was a bit sparse but the rest of the museum continued into some kind of grand old building and the usual stately home staples that I love were of course there in abundance: intricate ceilings, palatial stairways, opulent chandeliers, beautiful flower gardens, the place is basically a labyrinth of decadence and we lapped it up, lol. People being rich enough to own buildings like this? No. Them being open to the general public so we can go wild in them? Yes. 

Future Milan Bucket List:

Armani Museum

Navigli

Go in the Duomo

Barcelona, Catalonia

I’ve been to Barcelona about 4 or 5 times now and aside from Paris and London, there is no other European city that compares. It’s so huge, full of character and unique beauty, and endless things to do, that I could return probably about 10 times more and still leave with an incomplete bucket list. With stunning architecture, a laid-back coastline and bustling commercial areas, it’s a city with such a consistent vibe and sense of history. The only thing they could do to make it better? Take down the Christopher Columbus monument. Because having a giant statue of a man who facilitated the genocide of a whole country full of native people is a bit...yikes. Sorry, had to drop that in there. But on the whole I adore the place.

Barcelona Top Things to do:

1. CosmoCaixa

We didn’t actually go to CosmoCaixa on this trip to Barcelona, but we went a few years ago and it’s without a doubt, the coolest science museum I’ve ever been too. There’s information in Spanish, Catalan and English so most people can probably follow the exhibitions and even if not, there’s a whole interactive area with a load of contraptions that you don’t really need to understand to be entertained by. You could definitely make a whole day of it too; we went for about 3 hours and still only scratched the surface.

2. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC)

2 things!

Firstly, this is a portrait of Colette, the French novelist, which me and my sister got really excited about because we kinda stan after watching that Kiera Knightley film!

Secondly, and probs more importantly, the modern art section of Museum Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is one of the most ingeniously laid out I’ve even seen. With the sections separated into different eras of Catalonian art, it kinda reads like a whistle stop tour of the cultural history of Barcelona, and so not only did I see so many gorgeous paintings, I got educated af!  Also, the building which the museum is housed in, the Palau Nacional, is stunning. Plus, there are escalators most of the way up. Iconic.

3. Portaventura

It was my sister and I’s fourth time visiting Portaventura this year and it was as amazing an experience as ever! The park is split into different themed areas, kinda like Disney, and has everything from thrill rides to Sesame Street Land (which is low-key super fun). It has what is probably one of my favourite rides ever, Shambhala, and also randomly the best theme park food I’ve ever tasted. One thing I would say is that the accompanying park, Ferrari Land, isn’t worth the extra money as the queues are super long, and there’s only really one ride worth going on, which is basically just a replica of Stealth at Thorpe Park. Same goes for the neighbouring water park; unless you’re going to pay for express passes there, give it a miss. The lockers are €10, the queues are ridiculous, the wave pool didn’t work (not that the staff bothered to tell everyone who was just stood there waiting for an hour) and the “lazy” river is pure anarchy. Literally, kids half-drowning themselves for the lols, popping up under your rubber ring when you least expect it, and then being screamed at by their parents. I live for a bit of chaotic energy but that lazy river...

4. Visit Sitges

A small city on the coast about half an hour from Barcelona, I really cannot recommend Sitges enough. There’s a ton of cute little art museums, delicious restaurants, heavenly beaches (the waves are INSANELY GOOD! You WILL get knocked under water half a dozen times but you also get to watch it repeatedly happen to other people too and it’s great), and a fucking ridiculously hard assault course out in the sea that me and my sister tanked at, hard. There’s incredible food places everywhere but favourites are Pom D’Amour and Dino for ice cream and sweet treats, and Beach House, Big Al’s American Kitchen, and Soca for mains . There’s also a really prominent LGBT community, plus lots of bars, pubs and clubs. Honestly, if you’re going to Barcelona, I really recommend staying around here as you get away from the the majority of the tourists but can still easily get in to the city by train.

5. Walking with Gaudi at the Gaudi Exhibition Centre

A very cool, very interactive exhibition that dives into the life of Gaudi, his creative process, his projects and his influences. My sister particularly liked the replica of El Drac. Like, she for whatever reason thought it was cute. Named it. Made us walk up to Parc Guell to try and see it. Wouldn’t leave the area til she got a keychain of it. Sigh.

6. Passeig de Gracia

Down Passeig de Gracia, you can both wistfully gaze through the windows of the designer shops you pass by, and actually spend your money (too much in my case) in the high street ones. Best of both worlds, bby.

7. Casa Battlo 

So it’s on Passeig de Gracia, pretty much opposite the metro station, but I had to give it its own little bit because it’s my favourite Gaudi building. Kinda looks like something aliens would build, kinda looks like something that sprang out of the ground, but that’s pretty much what Gaudi did best. 

8. Park Guell 

Just a warning, Park Guell is VERY uphill, and we somehow ended up getting off at the metro station right at the bottom of that hill, only to find out once we got up there that you had to book a slot and that all the slots for the rest of that day were sold out. My sister didn’t get to see her dragon and I was pissed off that I’d just nearly busted a lung open and regretted throwing my inhaler away for 20 minutes straight whilst getting up there, but it was still a pretty good view and we did get to see a bit of the park. Moral of the story though is to obviously book Park Guell before you go. 

9. Sagrada Familia

We’ve never actually been in to the Sagrada Familia, again, because we’ve never thought to book it (I want to absolve myself of responsibility here since every time I’ve gone to Barcelona before this trip, I’ve been a baby and let my parents organise everything), but it is an absolutely magnificent building even from the outside. I would one day love to go in and go up the spiral staircase though, because it looks fucking terrifying and I’m one of those strange people who likes being scared every once in a while.

10. Buenas Migas

I’m pretty sure it’s a chain thing but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a focacceria, and maybe I’m just uncultured but...I got pretty excited. That being said, my sister and I both ended up getting pizza; it was as tasty as it looks.

13. Las Ramblas and Plaza Catalunya

The most typically mediterranean looking square you’ll ever see, Plaza Catalunya is the perfect place to stop off and get some tapas whilst you’re exploring Las Ramblas.

14. Mount Tibidabo

“I was backpacking across Western Europe, I was just outside of Barcelona, hiking in the foothills of Mount Tibidabo”...yes, I got excited to go here because of the Friends reference (I’m a basic bitch who likes friends AND has other personality traits, smd), but equally so by all the adorable old-timey fair ground rides once we did get up there. It was a few years ago now, so I’m not sure exactly how it worked but I do vaguely remember it being a bit of a rip off in that you had to pay to ride them all individually, so it’s good to know that the view from the Church and the Church itself is more than enough of a reason to go up. There’s also places to eat on the walk down and plenty of ice cream and food stalls up there.

Future Barcelona Bucket List:

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA)

European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM)

El Jardin del Gats

Port Cable Car

Carrer de la Neu de Sant Cugat

So, that was my summer! 100% the most eventful one I’ve ever had! I’d love to go back to every one of these places, at least for a day, and am so grateful I got to have this experience. I definitely missed home a lot and maintaining your wellbeing whilst out of your comfort zone is hard, I’m not going to lie, but I hope that a year from now I’ll be feeling even more adventurous. 

There are so many places in Europe I desperately want to go to, some even more so now that I’ve visited the country. Now that I’ve been to Germany, for example, I’d be really interested in seeing somewhere like Munich or Cologne, as they’re supposed to have a completely different vibe from Berlin. It also really inspired me to get back into Spanish and possibly even learn French. 

I don’t know if anyone who is going inter-railing will read this but if they do, feel free to message me if you have any questions. My friend did pretty much all of the organising so I’m not the most knowledgeable person ever but I will do my very best to answer! Similarly, if anybody has any recommendations of other places to go whilst in any of these cities, food places and art museums especially (lol), let me know. 

Thanks for reading!

Lauren x

[the-angry-pixie]

You taste so good on my tongue

Below the “Read More” is a NSFW story submitted by one of my Anons who was a little too shy to post it themselves. Putting it behind a read more so that if NSFW Byeler isn’t your thing - you don’t have to read. Enjoy :)

(This isn’t my best work, but hey it’s something in the dry well that is “NSFW Byeler” lol. ALSO THEY’RE AGED UP OBVIOUSLY, IN THEIR EARLY 20’s CAUSE COLLEGE) (It’s a damn shame I can’t share the pic as it’s the only reason why I got inspiration to write this in the first place. The guy really does look like an older Will ready to go to pound town for his man smh, fuck you tumblr)

“Will- wait, hold up!” Mike called out. Why was Will running so fast. And so far for that matter. They must have been a couple minutes away from where the gang was currently parked. When hey finally caught up with his boyfriend, Mike was damn near out of breath. His hands pushed up against his now bent knees, trying to fill his lungs back with all the air they lost. “Just…Why…Did you…Run off like that.” Mike looked up to the beautiful sight of a secluded grassy plain beyond the forest they had just ran through. His eyes then fell upon his boyfriend’s face, he was smiling. That beautiful smile Mike loves so much. But wait, he’s happy, so what gives? “Damn it, Byers I seriously thought something bad was happening.” The bright eyed brunette walked towards him. “I even thought some deranged killer was behind us for a second, not cool. I’ve seriously ran more in these few minutes than I have in all the gym classes I’ve taken. I mean, Will, come come on-” Will shut Mike up with a sudden. deep and passionate kiss on the lips.

“Anyone ever tell you, you complain a lot?” Will said after breaking the kiss

“All the time, yeah” The both laughed. Now that Mike had caught his breath and had the chance to take in his surroundings in full, he found this little place to be quite nice. It was quiet. Peaceful even. But before Mike could take in anymore of the surroundings, Will was already kissing him again. This time more fiercely than before. Will was pushing him back and usually it’d be up against their bedroom walls, but there was nothing of the sort out here in the wilderness. Mike wanted to question what exactly had gotten into Will- Wait, no he didn’t. He didn’t want to question it at all. At least not anymore. When Will pushed Mike as far as he could go, the smaller boy’s hand found it’s way onto the front of Mike’s jeans, cupping Mike’s semi-hard dick. Mike was a little caught off guard by this, seeing as they were in the middle of nowhere and their friends were parked not even ten minutes away from here. Mike broke the kiss “Mmm- Uh, Will, out here? Now?”

Will stepped back to look up into Mike’s eyes “Yeah. Right here. Right now. We’ll be staying in the same cabin as the others at the resort, we might not get a chance like this to be alone-”

“Well we’re not really alone now, I mean the guys could walk outta nowhere at-”

“Just shut up and kiss me, Wheeler”

“Um, ok” was all the taller boy could muster.

Will was shy. Timid. Even when it’s just the gang, he’s still a little quiet. But when it’s just him and Will. Alone. Getting down to business? Yeah that’s when this entirely different person comes out. Mike had no qualms with any of this of course. He loved how frisky Will got on certain days. How risky he made things sometimes. Mike wasn’t submissive or a push-over or anything like that, but when Will got like this, he always found himself just going along with what was happening. It got him excited. It got him hard.

And so the battle between tongues, hands and body movements began. The two of them not giving an inch. Mike could feel Will’s hard cock rub against his, even though they were both wearing pretty thick jeans. It was actually starting to hurt with how little room he had in his pants. Mike once again had to break their sexy shenanigans “Wait, did you bring a condom, cause I left my wallet in-”

“Yeah. Right here” Will said while rummaging around in his back pants pocket. Mike could hear the rustling of the condom packet as Will struggled to pull it from his pocket. Eventually the smaller achieved his goal.

Mike eyed the small squared packet, then locked eyes with Will. He didn’t know what, but there was just something hungry in Will’s eyes that made Mike gulp with anticipation. “So, do you wanna? Or should I-” But again, for like the hundredth time today, Will cut Mike off. But it wasn’t with words this time. Oh no, no words were needed. Not this time.

Will turned his back to Mike and without hesitation dragged his jeans down to just above his ankles. His underwear too. The sun was shining directly on Will, illuminating his beautiful bare, pale skin, all for Mike to take witness. He didn’t know if it was God or some other higher force, but he thanked someone for this moment. “I want you to fuck me, Mike, okay?” The way Will said those words…Their meaning and context was full of hot, blooded affection, but the way Will said them. Well he made them sound innocent! It was just one of those things Will was able to pull off. Mike being the love-struck idiot he is, was using his dick instead of brain, because he too pulled his jeans and underwear down to his ankles, but this was before walking over to Will, so he kind of had to shimmy over, being careful not to fall. He was insanely hard. His head had already accumulated some precum. God the things Will was able to do to him.

Will held the condom over his ass cheeks for Mike to take. Of course he grabbed it almost instantly. But then a thought occurred “Wait, Will. Are you sure you wanna do this, I mean, no lube and all…”

Will giggled at that. Giggled like Mike had just shouted out the wrong answer in class when they were kids. “We don’t need lube”

“Oooo-kay? Bu-”

“Just use your tongue” There it was again. Something so dirty. So sex fueled, but when those words left Will’s lips it sounded nothing but innocent. Mike gulped once again. And just like before, Mike didn’t, wouldn’t question it. He got onto his knees, not caring if small patches of dirt would surface on his knees. Will was already using one hand to spread his right cheek, so Mike spread the left and immediately went to town.

“Fuck!” Will cried out. Pure ecstasy in his voice. Mike didn’t always go down on Will (like this), but when he did, he absolutely loved the sounds Will made. The moans and whimpers of someone who was being driven to the brink with just his tongue. Mike wondered in that moment why he didn’t do it more to be honest. But now wasn’t the time to be thinking. He just wanted to listen to Will’s sex-filled screams in the middle of nowhere. Mike’s tongue slid past the tight rings of muscles and went in and out. Mike really enjoyed the taste of Will. The taste of lips, his tongue, his cock, balls, ass and hole, all of him. His hole had that salty taste to it, just like his balls, but not as salty as cum. He didn’t even know why he was thinking this, he just told himself not to, but then again, the only thing on his mind right now was Will. Mike was throwing his face back then forward in one quick motion, repeating this over and over again. “Aw- Shit, Mike, use your fingers, use them quick, I want you as soon as possible. Want you inside me”

“Mmmph” Mike replied back, seeing as he was still busy pleasing Will with his tongue. Mike didn’t actually take his tongue out, he just began by adding one finger. Will moaned out loud. Not that he was hiding his moans.

“Alright, Mike. Come on. Now. I want you now”

Mike pulled back, his tongue and finger slipping from Will’s beautiful pink hole “Will, you sure? I don’t think you’re full-”

“I don’t care, Mike. Please, just please give it to me. Fuck me, please” How in the holy hell could Mike ever say no to that?

“Alright, hold still…spread your ass…” Mike hurried to rip the packet of the condom. And so it began.

__________

“What the fuck took you both so long, we were starting to get worried” Dustin shouted, clueless as ever.

Lucas didn’t say anything, only giving Will and Mike his “Now? Really?” look. Eyes squinted for maximum sass

Max was shaking her head as if she was disappointed, but she was laughing because she knew what was up.

“Did you two have fun with the sex?” El asked, completely serious. Then everyone broke out laughing, excluding El and Dusting.

“Wait what do you mean- Oh no, no, no. You two are gonna have sex then get back into MY car?” Will and Mike buckled back up, Dustin taking off, rambling as he drove, eyeing Mike and Will through his rear view mirror every now and then.

——-

Again, not my writing. Simply submitted for me to share. I can’t take credit for any of the above deliciousness. ;)

[katieamazeballs]

SYTYCD Tour Recap

Y’all.....this is a face of distrust and regret. Like any good recap, this will be lengthy so it is going after the break.

First things first, we bought these tickets a few months ago for Abs, me, and 2 of my coworkers.  One coworker has since left the company but was still going to go until about noon yesterday when she was informed she had to work mandatory overtime at her new job leaving me with Abs and my coworker I’ll refer to as A.  Let’s just say I had my hands full with those two.  All day long A was walking around the office making grabby hands because she said she needed to warm up for grabbing Slavik.  This is the same coworker who wants to go to DWTS with me and wonders if Artem will let her rub his abs.  Coincidentally, this is the person who killed my dream that one day Abs would become a reasonable adult.  I had high hopes that she would be sane during the bus meets........

 Pre Show......We went for a quick dinner at Panera where A laid out her plans to Abs and swore Abs to secrecy so that she wouldn’t warn anyone that she was planning to squeeze some cheeks.  We got to the theater about 6:15ish for a 7:30 show.  We parked and found the buses and sat on the benches watching for dancers.  We did see Cole, JayJay, Lauren, and Chelsea but it was too close to show time for them to come over so they all shouted hello and said they’d see us after. 

Showtime.......We got inside the theater, bought Abs her shirt, and climbed Mt Everest to get to our seats.  Then we laughed at our my ability to find the most hysterically amazing nosebleed seats.  But hey, me and A were like “Sorry, Abs, cheap seats for the win!”  They were actually FABULOUS seats we saw everything and no one got altitude sickness.

 Intermission.....Abs and A were still talking about Slavik (I wish I could have snuck a picture of A’s face when he danced his solo.  It was hysterical.  The thirst is real).  While they were going on I looked down and saw security and the police and we all cracked up.  We were texting the rest of the office in the group chat and they were all placing bets on which one of us would be arrested and who was gonna have to bail us out.  I am sure this isn’t as funny to you guys but we were crying laughing after Abs and A’s conversation.

 Post Show Bus Shenanigans......OMG Y’all!  OMG!  This was the best bus experience!  Aside from the drizzly rain which we hid from in a doorway outside of the bus.  There were only about 15-20 of us out there and everyone came out to see us.  We were standing with 2 ladies in ballgowns and the sweetest family with the cutest daughter.  The one lady was obsessed with Lauren.  Like “name your car after her and get a vanity plate with her name and season number on it” type obsessed.  She was intense...and really really tall. 

First out was Cole and Slavik.  They came over after stashing their things on the bus and Cole immediately looks at the crowd and yells “Who’s gonna give me a hug?  I need a hug!”  Abs came to his aid right away.  Abs released Cole from her grips and Cole looked at me and was like “OMG!  It’s Katie!  You’re a superfan!  Thank you for always supporting me!”  The Ballgowns jaws dropped and they were like “OMG!”  He gave me a huge hug and thanked us for coming out and started asking  the adorably sparkly little girl next to me about her favorite dances while he stood there with his arm slung over my shoulders.  I never got a picture with Abs and Cole....whoops.  He ended up walking by us about 5 or 6 times stopping for hugs each time. 

While I was talking to Cole I was oblivious as to the horror happening behind us.  I turned around and saw this......

Y’all.....this is a face of distrust and regret. The Ballgowns were talking to Slavik and Abs and A were cackling.  I said “Oh God, what did you do?!?!”  Apparently A got two juicy handfuls of Slavik.    However, he was SUPER nice and laughed as well.  Abs pitched her ship name and he was all about some Javik. It is of note that lots of people wanted autographs and The Ballgowns had a sharpie.  Cole kept coming back to borrow it because Slavik wasn’t coming back in our direction....not without security at least.

 Next out were Cyrus and Lauren....The Ballgowns were EXCITED!  Cyrus came over to us first and he’s so nice!   He had his fanny pack…who decided these things needed a come back.  They should be exiled from making decisions ever again. He did the robot with Lil Miss next to us and it was the cutest thing.  After we talked to Cyrus we turned around and The Ballgowns were showing Lauren the pictures of the car.  Lauren mentioned that Faith the Merch Lady had told her that they would be waiting for her.  She was very pleased to meet her superfans as well. 

  Abs made her dance pose.  It was super cute.  

Then came Darius and JayJay.  I freakin love me some them!  They were both FULL of energy and so fun.  Abs and JayJay are new besties and JayJay says we’re twinsies because of the mustard yellow tops we were wearing.  FYI….Darius absolutely owns the stage and even prettier in person. JayJay pulled a Cole and had to stop and hug his new bff every time he walked by. 

 Genessy came next and made her way very quickly down the line.  I’m not sure if she didn’t feel well or was tired or just doesn’t like crowds but she basically just took a quick selfie and moved on.  She was out and in in about 5 min.  She did stop to hear Abs Javik pitch and said she’d run it by Slavik…..they created a monster and it’s hysterical.  She’s so damn proud of her ridiculous ship name.  

Then came Evan.  He went pretty quickly through also but talked a bit with the sparkly cutie next to us because she taps.  I have still never figured out why he doesn’t dance in Juice and lost my nerve to ask him. Dude can tap like a dream though! The only thing that bothered me was that his taps were dubbed in the audio, which is strictly logistical because duh they have to, and he was slightly off both times and that kind of thing annoys the shit out of me.  It was like when the sound and the lips don’t match on the tv.  It’s one of my biggest pet peeves.  It also made me feel a little bad for him as a performer because I know that dancers/singers/anyone really switch it up here and there and he won’t ever be able to.  Man that man’s feet can move.

Hannahlei, Jensen, and Magda all came out together and honestly, I initially felt a little overwhelmed because OMG they’re all right there!  All the girls Abs and I wanted to meet!  However, we most definitely did get to meet with each of them.

Abs was VERY excited to report that she’s taller than Hannahlei.  It’s the little things in life when you’re a short person. 

And Jensen....who is every bit as exuberant in person as she is on TV.  Pure sweetness and energy.

And then the queen herself.....Magda!  She went to The Ballgowns and the adorable girl next to me while we were taking pics with the other two.  Once they walked away she did the cutest scream/squeal and fangirled while I almost passed out because HOLY CRAP!  It’s Magda!  Her stage presence is absolute fire and she is just the sweetest in person.  We talked and hugged and talked and hugged. 

Me and my idiot fan self is all “I’m KatieAmazeballs” and she laughed and said “I know exactly who you are!  I’m so glad to finally meet you!”  Y’all.....Y’ALL!  Night was freakin made!

After Magda and I talked (she was the only one still out there because the massive crowd of 20ish had pretty much dispersed) Abs and A had figured out we only had Chelsea left.  Abs asked if Madga would go get her.  She said she’d go find her but that she may not come out because she hadn’t been feeling the best earlier.  She went to the bus, got up on the first step, and yelled “Yo, Chelsea!!!!!  Get out there and meet your fans!”  Out came a very perky Chelsea who apologized that she was stuffing her face with pizza in the bus instead of meeting fans.  She asked if we had any questions about tour life and Abs wanted to know how bus life worked.  She explained the lay out of the bunks and Abs said she couldn’t do it because she’d roll out.  I said I couldn’t because I’m ridiculously claustrophobic and she said there’s actually more room than it looks and that it doesn’t bother her claustrophobia at all.  Then Abs asked if anyone snores.  Chelsea said she doesn’t know because once she hits her bed she falls asleep pretty fast so she’s never noticed....but outed JayJay as a sleep talker.  Abs is truly his kindred spirit. 

(Peep the security photo bomb.....lol)

Now that we were done, we made Abs stand here for this picture because pre show she was ahead of us and was super grossed out by the “male toilet” right out there in the open. 

We came around the corner and died laughing because apparently my kid has never seen a pay phone before.  Then she picked it up and immediately freaked out because “IT’S RINGING!!!!!”  That was the moment I realized she’d never heard a dial tone before.  Kids these days.  Lol.  We were still laughing on and opening car doors when we heard this CRUNCH that sounded like someone crumpled about 6 water bottles at once.  We jerk around and some dude had his car on top of the damn yellow pole.  Then we speculated the whole way back to the office (where A’s car was) about how he was gonna play that one off to the insurance company.  Now to today.  It is overcast and dreary and A and I are so tired but everyone at work is much relieved that we both made it out without handcuffs.

[monohart]

5:42am. (roadtrip!au)

ft. sleepy!jungwoo, long drives and wong yukhei.

i made a mood board for this imagine too. 1/9 pics belong to me, the rest belong to others... and... in other news, i’m ?? overwhelmed?? with the unexpected support and feedback i’m getting with my content and you guys have no idea how happy that makes me. <3____<3 thank you. truly. and i’m sorry this ain’t as fluffy as my previous works i just really appreciate jungwoo’s hair and also wow he looks good in a seatbelt

you were awake before the sun was.

thank goodness the alarm clock went off on time because you would’ve slept right through

and you hated falling off schedule.

actually, you and your boyfriend jungwoo both hated that.

being punctual was so important to you, and you were kinda glad that he valued punctuality too.

after waking jungwoo who slept on a spare mattress on the ground next to your bed that night, the two of you moved efficiently around the apartment

you got yourself changed and condensed your typical 20 minute morning routine in 5, and grabbed the bags you two packed last night

jungwoo dashed into the kitchen while brushing his teeth, and grabbed your groceries.

by 5:42am you were behind the wheel

and jungwoo was still trying to wake himself up as he flicked through the radio channels in search of something

yep

yep he found it after a while

he glanced at you with a shy smile and you rolled his eyes

there was this early morning talk show he really liked listening to

it was a bit dumb.. the hosts were ex-comedians,

but you tuned in once, and they actually talked about interesting things. you’d learn a couple of new things from them

but you’d never admit that to him lol

or else he’d literally play it all the time

and you knew how much he liked that channel you were actually lowkey jealous because

if only he was just as obsessed about you as he was with those two hosts who were uh, middle-aged men with beer bellies

anyway

after a while jungwoo dozed off and you were stuck listening to the talk show by yourself

while stealing a quick glance at jungwoo, who was snoring really quietly, you reached over and changed the channel

bad move because the next channel was the rock channel

jungwoo sat up almost immediately, his eyes snapped open and scowled at you.

“i’m gonna doze off if i kept listening to that...”

he deadpanned at you for a second before resting his head on the seat to stare at you.

“what’s up, jungwoo?”

after getting no response from him, you thought he might’ve dozed off again, but after glancing at him, he was just staring at you with a drowsy look in his eyes

“what?”

...

“whaaat?? is there something wrong?”

he shrugs before turning the other way to sleep again

and you sigh, slightly confused and frustrated tbh.

you were sleepy too and you kinda just wanted to cuddle with him and wait for the sun to rise but you had to keep to schedule.

you were kinda restless as well because you didn’t have breakfast yet and your stomach was making odd growly noises

you kept driving though because you guys had to pick up yukhei from the bus station

y’all had the worst communication in the past month and this trip was so badly organised but what can you do

so the three of you were off to a college reunion in a neighbouring state, but jungwoo wanted to stop by the beach

only God knew why he wanted to do that but then again maybe God himself didn’t even know why

and since y’all were best friends with yukhei, y’all let him tag along on the roadtrip

the only problem was he lived on the other side of the country and

he forgot to book plane tickets so the only tickets he could get last minute were bus tickets

they were much cheaper so he grabbed it

the only problem was he arrived at 6:15am that morning

but

you guys were on a tight budget so

there wasn’t really anything else you guys could do except wake up extra early to pick him up.

jungwoo didn’t have his license yet so

you behind the wheel was the only option.

when you pulled up to the bus station, you spotted your almost giant of a friend almost instantly.

you haven’t seen jungwoo jump that quickly out of a car before, to greet his best friend

not saying you were jealous but you were kinda jealous

but oh well i guess at the end of the day you were the one who was dating kim jungwoo

and real talk he was cute and cuddly to you

just not in public

nah he’s way too shy for that

UNLESS... he was either 1) feeling extra soft, 2) drunk or 3) sleepy.

he rarely showed you off in front of other people but sometimes you wished he would show you off a bit more, y’get what i mean?

anyway

yukhei was yukhei and he must’ve been on something because he was Hella Energised??

he noticed the sleepiness in your eyes and he knew jungwoo couldn’t drive

so he told you to have a nap at the back

you were like Sure but can jungwoo sit in the back as well

cue major?? eyebrow raise?? from yukhei???

oh right.. shit.. he kinda didn’t know about your relationship yet

lol

jungwoo was Shifty Eyed but he was like ok the back is more comfortable anyway sorry bro

and yukhei rolls his eyes and then y’all were on the way again

yukhei was yukhei so he connected his phone into the sound system and the bass was booming again

he always had great music taste and you were kinda glad that you could sit in the back with your boyfriend while listening to yukhei’s playlist.

you stole a glance at jungwoo, and your heart went skrrt tiing boop because

he was!!??

already looking at you

he had that really cute hint of a smile on his lips

and he brushed his hair back every two seconds

kinda restlessly

and you could tell that he wanted to cuddle

but he was also hella sleepy

almost as much as you were

so you shifted more to his side, discreetly.

and he shifted to your side too

and you shifted again

and then him again

until you were only centimetres apart

phew that actually took a long time and you were glad that y’all were able to make it next to each other without being too obvious.

then he could finally place his warm hand on yours and you ran another hand through his bed hair which made his eyelids flutter and his lips stretched into a wider smile, one that you mirrored.

and then

he turned to you and slowly slipped an arm around your waist and pulled you flush against his side and -

“holy mother of grated cheese.”

jungwoo slammed his back against the seat and you started laughing but you leant against your boyfriend, hiding your flustered face in his shoulder.

“you two are disgusting.”

jungwoo’s laughed nervously and ran a hand through his hair again

“you, kim jungwoo, you are a f*cking brat. and i am so disgusted.”

jungwoo was laughing now, and you shrunk deeper in your seat as he placed his arm around you again.

“i tried to tell you lucas, ᶦ ˢʷᵉᵃʳ!”

“no you didn’t. you’re a disgrace.” yukhei snapped back playfully.

he kept glancing at you guys in the rearview mirror, pretending to be angry, but he was biting onto his bottom lip to stifle his grin..

because you and jungwoo were a flustered and giggly mess at the back

and y’all were so cute together and so obviously obsessed with each other

like what in the actual hell..... he’s never seen jungwoo so whipped for someone before

and maybe you couldn’t see it

but

actually now yukhei finally understood why all this time, jungwoo’s tone always changed when your name popped up in their conversations

y’all were embarrassed and flustered as heck but you guys held on tighter to each other while trying to deny anything shifty happened

to hell with that, won’t you just look at you guys smh

yukhei was cringing and screaming so hard inside but he maintained an unamused face while speeding along the highway.

jungwoo, on the other hand, was so nervous and shy and flustered you could feel his entire body just heat up

and it was kinda funny how yukhei was able to tease his best friend so easily

“i did, i swear i did! you were too.. ᵇᵘˢʸ .. ᵇᵘʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵍʳᵉᵉⁿ ᵗᵉᵃ ᶠᵒʳ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᶦʳˡᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈ.. to listen to.. what i was saying..”

yukhei scoffed and shook his head

but he was smiling now

“whatever.”

“you guys are cute or whatever.”

[emilyslifeinlondon]

Tuesday May 9-Sunday May 14 Woohoo, today's the day Mary comes!!! After graduating from UConn on Sunday the 7th, Mary unpacked all of her college belongings only to re-pack for London. A few of the many things we did over the last 5 days: -Stonehenge 🗿 -Sketch -Oxford St 🛍 -Westminster -Platform 9 3/4 -Bowling w CIEE 🎳 -Afternoon tea at The Orangery 🍵 -Matilda 🔮 -221B Baker St -SSE Women's Cup Final ⚽️🏆 I took the tube to Heathrow and ended up picking Mary up at her terminal. I (as well as the Heathrow staff) was confused about whether or not a flight from Dublin was considered international or not, so I stood on the opposite side of where I was supposed to be until Mary texted me saying she had collected her luggage and was waiting. She also said she hadn't gone through customs and wasn't sure if she should go back in. I was shocked since border control is quite strict in the U.K., but since Dublin isn't considered an international flight, Mary had technically gone through customs in Ireland. We took the tube back home and went straight to King's Cross/St. Pancras to board a train to Salisbury, en route to Stonehenge! The train ride was about 1 1/2 hours and before we knew it, we were in Salisbury. We boarded the Stonehenge tour bus (it takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the Visitor's Center) and got to listen to some audio that gave us more information about the site and neighboring town. We hopped off at the visitor's center and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I got a steak pie which was delicious, and Mary got a sandwich that she really enjoyed! We picked up our tickets and boarded a golden bus to the actual rocks. The ride was short and once we got off the bus, the rocks were only 100 feet in front of us. I had heard that the audio tour was something worth getting, so we had our little telephone like sets and made our way around the area; since the ground isn't stable enough to support thousands of people, you can't actually walk through the rocks, but you can get pretty close. We listened, took a break sitting, snapped lots of pics, and had a great afternoon! We spent some time in Salisbury and went to The King's Head (pub recommended by the bus driver) for dinner and I got tomato soup and (spicy 🌶) wings. We boarded the train back to Waterloo in London, and only 15 minutes later I couldn't find my phone. I went through my whole backpack and checked under my seat and it wasn't there. I was panicking and knew it had to be at the train station since I had used my phone for directions from the pub to the train station. We got off at the next stop and had to wait and excruciating 40 minutes for the next train back to Salisbury. I ran through the station back to the bench we had been sitting on before we got onto the train and my phone was sitting right there where I had left it. God, am I lucky or what?! It's safe to say I had a good night's sleep that night. We got back to London an hour later than we had anticipated and went right to bed. The next morning we met up with Christine and Amanda at Sketch, a fancy restaurant in London right off of Oxford street. Sketch is known for its pink tea room and egg pod bathrooms. I had toast and bacon for breakfast which was good but nothing special. After waiting until the tea took opened, we finally made our way to the iconic bathroom. It was so cool! I accidentally used the men's side but how can you really tell when the pods all look the same? We took lots of pics and then Mary and I walked around Oxford and Bond street. Mary bought some Chelsea boots and Schuh and I got some tanks and a pair of jeans at New Look. I also got a waffle with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and Nutella ice cream which was delicious! I had class in the afternoon, so Mary went to the British Museum which is conveniently right across from CIEE, where I have class. We went to Pizza Union for dinner and then headed to Chinatown after for bubblewrap, basically ice cream in a waffle. The line wasn't too long, maybe 25 minutes or so, and the dessert was so good! I was surprised by how tasty the waffle was- it was sweet, warm, and soft. We walked around Chinatown/Soho for a little bit but it was chilly so we headed back to Chapter afterwards. On Thursday morning I had class, so Mary slept in and went to the British Library (only a 5-10 minute walk from Chapter). We explored Westminster, walking by the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and ended up at Buckingham Palace after walking through Saint James Park, enjoying all of the birds and ducks. After getting off at King's Cross we waited in line to get our picture at Platform 9 3/4. Mary and I got our jumping pic. We were both exhausted and rested for a few minutes before walking back to CIEE in Bloomsbury for the farewell dinner. We met up with everyone and walked to dinner which was at a bowling alley! We were served lots of small appetizers ranging from crab cakes, pulled pork sandwiches, fried chicken on skewers, and fried mac & cheese balls. I had a handful of pulled pork and chicken as well as a beer and 1/3 a (fruity & delicious) cider I shared with Mary. After eating, we all picked teams and started bowling. Although I hadn't been bowling in some 5-10 years, I was better than I thought I would be. There were no bumpers, and I ended up with 70. Pretty bad but I was happy I actually knocked some pins down. We were exhausted after waiting some 20 minutes for the tube home. Since it was the last night everyone in the program would be together, we all went out. Mary decided to stay in, and as much as I wanted to join her I knew that I would have regretted it had I not gone. I also had a lot of tequila and a whole bottle of wine that I didn't want to waste. Our group basically took up half the dance floor at some point, and we got 2 free shots since they overcharged me at the door. That morning Mary and I got afternoon tea at The Orangery. I wasn't able to make my 9 am class, but don't worry, it was only a walking tour and James had said that it wasn't mandatory. I had book an appointment for 11:15 am, but they didn't start afternoon tea until noon, so we had something small to hold us over until 12:00. I got some Royal something (I forget the name, lol) tea and it was delicious! I never used to be a fan of tea, but I enjoyed it the last time I was in London two years ago. We had little sandwiches, scones, and desserts. They portions are tiny but with all of the food you're sure to be full at the end. After tea, we walked around Hyde Park for a bit before heading to Harrods. I wasn't able to go the last time I was in London and although I can't afford anything in the department store, it was cool walking around and starting at all of the chocolates that cost £90 a box. We headed back to Chapter afterwards and rested for a few minutes before walking back to the GI for my last class! We just watched some British news comedy show for an hour or so before he ended class early (thank god). We met up with Christine and Rex at a pub nearby for fish & chips before heading to Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda. Matilda is quite new to the stage and everyone at the ticket office had said that it was wonderful and that they highly recommended it. I'm not sure where to begin by describing the play, I'll start by saying that it was somewhat strange but in a good way. Some of the music numbers were fantastic and the choreography was well done! Most of the cast consisted of children, and Miss Truchbull was played by a man. The play was very funny at times and the actors that played Miss Trunchbull and Mr. Wormwood were perfect for the role. We also got some Oreo McFlurries after the show! It was so stressful packing the night before moving out but thankfully Mary was able to fit a good amount of my winter clothes and jackets into her suitcase! After scrambling around to fit three month's worth of stuff into a mere two suitcases and a backpack, alas I got the suitcases zipped by sitting on them! However, my large suitcase was a jaw dropping 72 lbs! I was dying laughing. How did I possibly accumulate more than 25 lbs worth of stuff?! I bought a few jackets and clothes, but I didn't think they would have amassed a shocking 25-30 lbs. Who knows. We left our bags behind the front desk and walked around Covent Garden, where we got brunch at a cute diner. I was exhausted after getting about 5 hours of sleep, so thanks to Mary's suggestion, I got a mocha to help wake me up. I was surprised that I liked it! We both had a great breakfast and proceeded to make our way to the Covent Garden market area. Mary had some Ben's Cookies (so delicious & gooey) and then we took the tube to Baker Street (221 B) aka the Sherlock Holmes door. We got our pics and then headed back to Chapter to grab our bags to check into our Airbnb. Silly us, we took the tube and DRL with all of our luggage when we should have just taken an Uber and paid the £20some pounds it would've cost. Lugging my freaking heavy suitcase up and down stairs at the tube stations was a nightmare. Luckily, some people helped me out a lot by carrying my large luggage for me since the lifts were under construction, of course. We finally checked in and had a little while to rest before leaving for Wembley Stadium. We had ticket to see the SSE Women's FA Final Cup! I had hoped to go to a premier league men's football game but either the game was too far away or too expensive (£250+ per ticket). Regardless, we were both really excited. It took a while to get there since there was so much traffic, but we made it a few minutes after the game started. When they announced that Carli Lloyd had scored one of the goals for Manchester City against Birmingham, Mary and I turned to each other in shock and I quickly googled her to see if it was indeed her! We love watching the World Cup, and both love the USA Women's Soccer Team! After finding out that Carli Lloyd was playing on the field only 50 feet in front of us, we were a lot more engaged and excited. During halftime, we got hotdogs (mine was a pulled pork dog) and were surprised that halftime was only 15 minutes or so. The final score was 4-1 Manchester City v Birmingham, and the game brought in a record crowd of over 35,000. We got ice cream on the way back at a gas station (there were no restaurants/ice cream shops near the Airbnb) and hung out/packed since Mary was set to leave early the next morning. 6 am came all too early when we had to wake up, and learning from our mistake, we took an Uber to the airport. I dropped Mary off at her terminal, said goodbye, and walked to the next terminal to wait for Emily to arrive! It was a whirlwind of week with Mary! We did so much in only 5 days, didn't get enough sleep, ate a lot of food, saw Stonehenge, and had an amazing week! I was so glad (and really excited) that I got to share a place so important to me with my sister.

[basketcase789]

BTS Wings Tour in Newark

March 23, 2017

My most memorable moments about the concert. I tried to keep them in chronological order.

So I need to start by saying something personal. This day was the anniversary of something horrible for me from 16 years ago, so this concert was almost therapeutic for me, and I’m so so glad I have a really good memory now to replace the bad one. I was afraid the date would ruin the show for me but it didn’t really :) I’m so thankful to BTS even though they’ll have no idea

The first thing we really saw upon arriving at the venue was someone with a sign saying “lesbians love Jungkook” 👌👌👌

Outside the venue before the concert they had these booths set up where if you filled out a survey online you could take a picture with your digital(?) bias. We’re Canadian so we couldn’t use data and there was no wifi so we couldn’t do it  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ also I was biasless at the time so I don’t know who I’d have picked

Apparently before the show a bomb disposal unit came??? to inspect the army bombs (lightsticks). We didn’t get to the venue until merch was closing up so we didn’t know about it. Allkpop made an article about it tho

Our view + zoomed in view:

Ironically we were sitting right underneath a Canadian flag xD

While we were waiting for the show to start they had their mvs playing on the screens and everyone was screaming and singing along

We could hear people doing the fanchants during the mvs but didn’t really hear any during the show. It seemed like people preferred to sing the actual lyrics instead

The music started to get louder about half an hour(?) before the show and everyone was getting more and more excited

When the lights changed everyone lost their shit

They opened with Not Today (it was spoiled for us while we were waiting in line and talking to some other fans)

My J-Hope light up sign broke just before the concert :’(

I only realized once I turned it on for Not Today(?). One of the three battery packs was broken and I was too embarrassed when I realized so I just left the lights off

I hope he saw the lights at first and got the gist of it, or that he saw it without the lights but I doubt it because we were waaaaay at the back

The songs that I found the most lit were Fire, Dope, Cypher 4, Blood Sweat & Tears, Baepsae

The songs that ended up being most meaningful to me considering the date were Save Me, Cypher 4, and Spring Day

Some songs were kind of remix versions (Dope?)

They had a quick greeting after their first couple of songs where they all introduced themselves in English

During the first(?) ment the camera focused on Suga for a good couple of minutes and the audience was screaming like crazy, but I don’t think he knew and he seemed to be oblivious that we were cheering for him? XD just stood there like a cutie

When the camera focused on J-Hope for his turn he motioned for us to scream louder, the boy really wanted to hear us

We were surprised they performed Boy In Luv and Baepsae

BIL was a short version in a mashup with Danger and another song I can’t remember

Jin and J-Hope did a lot of aegyo throughout the show

We’re pretty sure Jin saw @observetheview‘s fan sign for him, and he blew a kiss in our direction

In my opinion J-Hope had the most stage presence, and he’s even more gorgeous and charismatic in person

With his blond hair and glowing skin he was literally the sun :3

He was the moodmaker of the show tbh, he got us to jump, wave our arms around, and cheer louder but I couldn’t really jump because I was afraid it would hurt like it did at the shinee concert

They each did their solo performances from the Wings album

They actually performed every song from Wings, I think, and in the same order off the album except for some of the solos

Jimin’s solo was super sexy??!! At one point the backup dancers picked him up yes king

Suga’s solo was so emotional, even though I don’t know the lyrics I could seriously feel the emotions

Just before Suga’s solo everyone was chanting “Min Yoongi! Min Yoongi!”

J-Hope’s was so much fun! He seemed to be really enjoying himself

And they played baby pictures of him on the screen :3 I had a hard time deciding whether to look at him or the pics

He had another dance solo later on too

I FINALLY DECIDED ON A BIAS

For years I’ve been undecided between Rap Monster and J-Hope, but I finally picked *drum roll* J-Hope!

During Rap Monster’s solo everyone chanted “We love you! We love you!”

Jin’s solo tho T_T he got so much applause and I’m glad. His performance was also super emotional and his singing was so good. Part of the stage lifted him up at one point

THEY’RE ALL AMAZING SINGERS SERIOUSLY

And they’re all cuter in person

Suga is so talented but pretty quiet

There were a ton of stage dynamics

Some of them came up from under the stage, during Jungkook’s solo part of the stage was spinning slowly, they had a phone booth on the stage during Rap Monster’s solo that he went into etc

They all spoke completely in English, but Suga added a few things in Korean like “kamsahamnida” and “saranghae”

They did not have a translator, probably because Rap Monster is fluent in English

Their ments seemed shorter/fewer compared to other kpop concerts I’ve been to (maybe because they didn’t have a translator?) Or maybe that’s just how their shows go

I had trouble hearing them at some times because the audience was too loud

They had a lot of cool VCRs!

After they saw the rainbow ocean toward the end one of them said we were their rainbow :3

Also props to the people who organizd the rainbow ocean! They handed out coloured bags to people before the show depending on what section we were sitting in

J-Hope(?) said we were his wings and that we’d fly higher together

Someone threw something onto the stage near J-Hope during one of their ments, right as he was turning, and he went WHOA WHOA and it was so cute

They held out their mics a lot for us to sing along

Especially during Dope

Rap Monster talked about how they felt when they heard the Prudential Center sold out for their shows

He asked us if we would stay with them “until the end” and had a big smile when we cheered like crazy

Sparkly red jackets!

Also J-Hope’s purple robe during Cypher 4

They didn’t perform War of Hormone which is what first got me into them :( or if they did I must have blacked out for it which isn’t uncommon for me at concerts lol

Their “last” song was Wings (Interlude) and it was so lit, everyone was clapping along

I felt like the show was just getting started when it was ending :(

2 3 and Spring Day were their encore songs

They ended with Spring Day

I had so many feelings, not only because I LOVE the lyrics, but the song came out around the time I had to go to the ER last month, and while I was kinda bed-ridden I just listened to it on repeat for days. So it has a lot of significance for me I’M NOT BEING DRAMATIC OK

The choreo for Spring Day stands out the most for me, it was honestly so beautiful 10/10 HIGHLY RECOMMEND

V got ahold of one of the fan banners and kissed it

Jungkook put an American flag around his shoulders

They all stayed on the stage a really long time after Spring Day, while the ending of the song kept playing on a loop

They made sure to wave at literally everyone

They were giving us hearts, especially V

J-Hope looked emotional toward the end

They made sure we recognized the backup dancers and their contributions to the show and they all bowed together

V was the very last one to leave the stage, along with J-Hope

There were credits on the screen afterwards, and clips of all of them preparing (for their tour?)

We could only afford to go to the one show :(

Bonus: I had a BTS related dream after the concert. In it me and @observetheview were driving to her apartment after the concert and on the way I spotted Suga and another member I couldn’t remember upon waking, standing at a bus stop in a residential area. I waved my BTS hat at them as we drove by xD

Me + my hat:

Also I have some vids that I took in my bts in newark tag but they’re not great because my phone sucks

[artificialqueens]

Imbalance Ch.2 (Group Fic/Katya Centric)

A/N: Hey guys! So I’m finally getting the hang of this whole writing process, but like I said before please bare with me for the first few chapters as I figure my life out lol. Basically just to clear some things up (also because I’ve been trying to work this out as well) When Katya is in drag she’ll be referred to as Katya and it’ll be ‘her’, but when she get’s out of drag I’m going with Brain and will use ‘he’. You’ll see that in this chapter and I think I did a pretty decent job with it, but it it seems shaky of confusing let me know! If I’m talking about other drag queens it’ll probably be just their drag names unless they’re being serious, as to stress a point. If that makes sense haha (like using your full name when your parents are mad at you)…Anywaysss thanks for the support and I’m really enjoying writing this and I have some great plans for where this is headed! This is a longer chapter than the first so enjoy! Xx -Chloe

Katya cowered, shoeless mind you, against the far end of the wall in the small stall. Waiting for the two giggling girls who stumbled into the bathroom to get the heck out. The last thing she needed was someone from the club recognizing her and snapping a few pics. Twitter would explode. She couldn’t disappoint her fans like that. The other girls would flip. Michelle would probably take her off of the next few performances, at the very least (Michelle was quite scary when she was upset, and when her ‘children’ get into trouble she gets scared and then takes some not-so enjoyable actions, consequences Katya did not want to have to deal with to begin with).

The consequences. Oh dear lord, she needed this night to be over…well technically it was the morning.

3:37 am

I have to be in the hotel lobby surrounded by everyone and on a bus in less than 4 hours…kill me.

“I might as well try and at least make it back to the hotel in one piece and sleep in a real bed for at least a few hours.” Katya muttered to herself.

The clicking of heels became softer, the giggling disappeared, and finally the door shut once more. Leaving Katya alone once again.

After looking in the next stall over she found her illusive pair of red heels hidden behind the toilet. In her state of mindless panic (that she couldn’t really remember?) she must’ve kicked them off and shoved them away. Katya got like that when she drank…panicky. Well not just drunk, actually when she used any substance. It was because she knew it was just a temporary bandaid for the depression and anxiety that was about to rear its ugly head again. She knew that once the effects wore off she’d be in a hole so dark and deep she wouldn’t want to get up, or move, or live, or…

Focus girl

Taking a deep breath and grabbing her phone off of the sink Katya got ready, to exit.

Opening the door slowly she looked left towards the bar (only a very wasted man sat, with a very exhausted bartender trying to push him out the door), and then right which lead down a hall way. At the end lit up a sign saying EXIT in large red letters.

Walking/stumbling out of the club and into the side street she could see the entrance of their hotel glaring back at her.

“Thank God,” she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew where she was.

Making a run for it she bolted across the empty street, into the lobby, and into the elevator.

Wait what floor, what floor, what floor?

She stared at the bright numbers on the panel of the elevator…there were 36.

“Shit” she cursed, wracking her brain for some piece of information that would help her remember what floor they were all staying on.

Coming up completely blank Katya had to resort to her last option. Alaska fucking Thunderfuck 5000. The bitch would kill her for calling her so late (early? It was almost 4am..), but she had to get back to her room, and Alaska had the unlucky pleasure of being roomed with the one and only Katya herself.

Grabbing her phone she dialed…and waited…and waited…the ringing was killing her…

“Umm what the fuck hello?” A tired and half mumbled voice spoke on the other end.

“Hey uh Lasky its Kat, would you mind just um uh telling me what floor we’re on, and like um also the room we are…and you know while you’re at it maybe just open the door so I know where to go?.”

“Brian what in the actual hell, it is four in the fucking morning, what are you even doing here? Last I heard Michelle said you found some cute trade to cuddle up with,” Alaska drawled sounding annoyed she’d been awoken from her beauty sleep

Even while half asleep she can still be petty, Katya thought, rolling her eyes.

Putting on the most convincing ‘I’m Katya Zamalowhatever and IDGAF’ voice she spoke, “Look, none of your business, it’s not like you got any tonight. I just forgot the room number I was on my phone when Michelle made the announcement or whatever. Look can you just please tell me where the fuck to go so I can take this makeup off and go to sleep.”

“You’re still in drag?”

“Yes, that’s besides the point, can you just-“

“Kat, are you okay?” There was a serious undertone in Justin’s voice. He knew that as much as Katya loved being Katya, when the shows and parties were over she liked to go back to Brian…at least to sleep. Brain never slept in full face, and for it to be four AM and have a very flustered Katya call asking what room they were in? That was weird. Even for someone as naturally weird and eccentric as Katya.

Katya was exhausted and beyond done with this conversation. Justin was in his sweatpants cuddled in blankets in their hotel room laying on a fluffy bed. Katya on the other hand felt disgusting, was sitting on the floor of the elevator (there seems to be a theme of sitting on gross public floors tonight). Her feet hurt, her head hurt, her body hurt, her mind was racing.

There it was, the panicked feeling again. It felt like a weight was being shoved on her chest. The elevator suddenly seemed much smaller than it appeared to be.

“Justin, please,” Katya choked out. “I’ll talk later. I’m fine okay, just tired. Please don’t push it any further, it’s a moot point anyways, I am fine Barbaraaa”

“Ugh fine. Floor 19. Room 7B. I’ll leave it cracked for you. I’m going back to sleep though bitch. Take your makeup off, but don’t wake me up or I’ll slit your throat with my fucking nails. Goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning…well in like 3 hours. Good God girl you’re going to be fucked tomorrow morning,” Justin chuckled, and with that the phone went silent. At least someone was going to be sleeping well tonight.

Floor 19, room 7B. Easy enough.

Pushing the buttons and getting off of her ass Katya waited for the doors to open for their floor.

Seven B, Seven B, Seven B

She glanced down the hall to her left side, the sign read “1B-28B.”

Okay, that way we go.

It only took a quick walk past a few closed doors to see the one that was opened slightly, reading ‘7B.’

“Jackpot,” she whispered to herself.

The room was completely dark, and the only sound was Justin’s obnoxiously loud breathing.

Yup definitely the right room, she thought rolling her eyes once more.

Walking into the bathroom Katya turned on the light and shut the door gently, as to not wake the sleeping beast on the other side of the room. She didn’t want to look in the mirror anymore. She didn’t want to be Katya anymore. Stripping off the dirty clothes, matted and tangled wig, and tattered tights, she turned on the shower.  

He was Brian again, which originally he thought would make him feel better. Like he could somehow separate himself from Katya and the actions he had taken, but apparently that was not the case.

Washing the makeup off and cleaning his body seemed like it took an eternity, but at this point, this entire night felt like it would never end so the closer he was getting having it be over with the better.

Brian felt numb the more he thought about it. What did I do? You piece of shit. I hate you I hate you I hate you. Why don’t you feel anything. Feel guilty. Feel sad. Feel fucking something. Please. FEEL SOMETHING.

But Brian couldn’t. Just like Katya couldn’t. It didn’t matter if he wiped all of Katya off, it didn’t matter if he could look in the mirror and see Brian. It didn’t fucking matter. It all blurred together now. When Brian looked in the mirror he saw addiction. He saw suffering. He saw his anxiety and depression. He saw all his fucking past and history dug up and start to wrap their hands around his neck taking the life out of his eyes. Dressing up as Katya couldn’t fix that for him.

“Why can’t I feel anything,” Brain agonized running his hands through his hands, “What’s wrong with me.”

Turning up the temperature in the shower to a basically boiling point, he sat down and wrapped his arms around his slender body. The water on his back burned. It burned like a mother fucker, but at least he could feel it. It made things seem real for him. The water. The pain.

“Feel the heat on my sizzling meat…” he laughed dryly into his hands.

Okay girl time to get your ass up and out of here.

Brian could basically hear Alyssa in all her glory making a joke about “girl look how fucking red and wrinkly you look, girl.” That made him smile slightly, he was happy to have friends on the tour. He needed them. He just couldn’t tell them.

Maybe you should..you could get help.

“No.” Brian whispered as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry himself off. “No one needs to know.”

Putting on some clean clothes and making his way over to his bed he finally was able to lay down and breathe. He’d never been so tired in his whole life.

4:32am….awesomeeee I can sleep for a solid 2 hours.

Wrapping the comforter tightly around him he started to close his eyes.

This night never happened.

[survivormoheli]

Rites of Passage

Becca - i never met u but i’m sure u’re a p cool chick! Matt J - i didn’t get to meet u either but if u turn ur name around to tamm it’s like tim tam and i rly like tim tams Eric A - i never got the chance to meet u either!!! but eric k is p cool and u guys share the same name so u must b alright too!! Akito - omg it sucks how we were kind of aligned w different people and never got the opportunity to talk much or work together. i rly valued everything you told me though and it would be cool if we got the opportunity to work together in future games since i’ve heard a lot of good stuff about you! Bryan - omg!!!!! )))))))))-: i’m so sorry i wasn’t able to save you. you’re literally so much fun and i can’t wait until the seasons over so we can start talking again! i also rly hope we get another opportunity to play again!! i wishhh you made merge so we could stir up shit and annoy everyone else. send me more finger pics too plz xx love uuuu Elliot - I’M SO SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was way too pushy and i wish we spent one world chatting and having fun n talking instead of arguing over who to vote. i miss you so so so so so so so so so so so much and i regret EVERYTHING!!! i really hope we can talk after the seasons finished bcos i actually love you and want to hang out with you more. i hope schools doing great u rock!!!!

Andreas - omg our late night chats (early morning for you) were my favourite and i had so many laughs whilst talking to you. i really hope all your other discord orgs are going good and i’m having fun checking on the Egypt one occasionally, goodluck in ftc!! i hope we can continue talking after the game! say hi to isa from me!!

Annmarie - omg even though we didn’t get to talk too much, my like one encounter with you on call was like the funniest and I hope we get another opportunity to talk or play bcos you are soo iconic hahaha. i’ve heard a couple different things about why you left and i’m not sure which one is the real one but i hope you’re doing good and you’re healthy!

Raffy - i am sooo lucky to have met you!!! thank you for like keeping me sane in this game lol and taking the stress off of my shoulders for all of premerge n the beginning of merge. love how i could finally witness your famous weird camera angles! i got so many laughs out of the calls with you, jg, and bryan and i can’t wait until we’re all reunited!! goodluck in your other games, i know you’re going to kill them!!

JG - omg we actually got redemption for isle of skye? i am sooo happy and like privileged that i got the opportunity to talk to you and work with you! you have such a bright and bubbly and happy personality and i really hope we continue talking after this game so i can hear more mcdonalds horror stories and learn more about the exciting things that are coming up in your life! ooh and so i can watch u n raffy mess around in fortnite.

Dani - hows jury?? xx

Richie - omg you are actually sooo funny and i’m like mad at myself that i didn’t try to get to know you better. i think i was a bit intimidated by you because i heard from others that you weren’t my biggest fan eek! but the few conversations we did have were my fave. we need to start up that face mask company, me n blake came up w an amazing marketing scheme but we need our model!  my fave nicole gif btw:

Tim - i’m rly bummed that we didn’t work as closely as we did in isle of skye bcos that was so much fun. your final memes that you sent me were so funny and gave me heaps of nostalgia. i hope everything goes well for prom and you n your friends have heaps of fun!!

Blake - i keep reading funny things or spot a hot guy or something n go to message you but realise i can’t. i rly made my life a lot less interesting huh!! becoming friends with you was probably the best experience for me of this game. i really hope that voting you out doesn’t change our relationship and we can still be friends and talk heaps, and watch horror movies, and be mean to people. HAHHAHA. i love you lots!!!

Blake: You are such a great guy and an awesome player! From being the only two from Sima that stuck together at the first tribe swap, to getting back together on Thueban. You were a great ally and I was to have to cut ties.

Tim: Tim! You’re a really great guy and I still really loved the flag you made for the merged tribe challenge all on your phone, especially the beret and mustache :P Have fun at prom when the time comes and hopefully you found a nice tux!

Richie: You played hard right up to the end and I respect that! You played a great game. Keep dropping your Survivor/BBCan/BBUS knowledge and you’re bound to get a job on the spot! I guarantee it!! Haha Remember, you’re a survivor of grad school, no matter how long you were in it

Dani: You played an awesome game but I guess the odds just weren’t on your side in the end. I wish you the best of luck with your goal of getting on Survivor! :) I’m sure you’ll get on it, just got to keep on trying. I can’t wait to see you on my TV screen.

JG: We often kept our chats to game talk and I felt like we had a really good bond and shared a similar mindset in terms of threats and allies. I was sad to see you get voted out and wish we could have played together for longer. Keep on killing it at Overwatch for me and I’ll keep on killing on Mario Kart for you :)

Raffy: Raffy! You were definitely a character from the moment we interacted right until the very end. Causing tribe drama by forfeiting that challenge was something I’ll never forget. Good luck with the rest of high school and keep enjoying those video games.

AnnMarie: Look at you causing drama with a MedEvac! Haha I’m glad to hear that you were okay. Best of luck with school and make sure to take the time to destress once in a while. You honestly won me over when I saw that you chose Michaela as your picture haha

Andreas: I’m sorry to hear about the frustration you had during the early portion of the game. It was nice to connect with another non-american player! Hopefully your job search went well and your fun interview turned out for the best!!!

Elliot: You were so great! I’m glad we shared a lot of same opinions and it was always great to get my frustration out and screaming into the void with you when needed. You were somebody I saw myself aligning with before you got voted out and that tribal really sucked.

Bryan: We never got to chat much sadly simply because we were never on the same tribe, except for the One World twist. You’re obviously a huge presence in these games which is something to be respected. It would have been cool to play alongside you and learn a bit of your skills. Hopefully see you in the next one!

Akito: We never really talked much, and I blame my busy work schedule for that, but I remember suffering through the duolingo challenge with you from beginning to end. Talking about our progress and how much we didn’t want to do it anymore. Sorry for accidentally congratulating you for getting the highest score only to immediately realize I misread the results haha

Eric A: All the way back to the original Sima tribe. I had a great time shit talking about people who spell their name as Erik over the more superior Eric. But I’m sure we weren’t bias or anything haha We never went far together but I enjoyed the time we had early on in the game,

Matt J: I’m sad that I never actually met in the game. As a first time player myself, I was excited to chat with you. I hope your early elimination won’t stop you from playing again in the future!

Becca: It was sad to see you go home first :( I hope you had a good time throughout your time in the game and hopefully we’ll actually cross paths one of these days.

Blake- ohhhhhh my god. i love you so much and everyone knows who already really won this game (you) even without the actual title! can’t believe you were done like that and if you play other survivor games (or real survivor) you’re gonna win! Tim- we didn’t talk much but i really  like how you never gave up even when you had like 0 hope. Richie- we didn’t talk much like at all but you’re obviously vvv smart and was always on the top for challenges. Dani- you really were the queen of surviving tribal council and i fully respect your gameplay and you turned into the threat pretty quick! JG- we’ve had our differences but now i really appreciate and respect you!! so glad we got these chances to talk lol! i’ll be rooting for you your next game lol!

Raffy- it was nice talking to you for the short period we did. sorry it ended so shortly but threats can’t stay threats!!!

Annmarie- idk what to say like you flipped on me and after bryan was out you were basically nonexistent Andreas- so you voted for me and that’s completely cool i feel for your awful timezone situation and how you played even with the struggle!

Elliot- i don’t think we were ever on a tribe together but i heard enough about you from blake to feel like we were tbh Bryan- …… i mean the first time didn’t work but the second time was a charm?? Akito- idk you just really tried to throw me under the bus which is kind of an awful thing to do but look who’s here now taquito Eric A- ya know this was my first attempt at trying something and it didn’t work out agdbd but rip to you i really tried

Blake: You are so cool, unfortunately you just were too good :-( hope to play with you again!

Tim: I really want to play with you again, you are a really good player

Richie: I wish you were still in the game! Unfortunately they targeted our alliance...

Dani: I would have gone to the end with you, I hate that you're not here...

JG: I hope to play with you again! You are a really good player

Raffy: lol your name always autocorrects to Taffy, I hope to play with you again and you're really cool!

Andreas: I'm really sorry that you got voted out, it's a part of my game that I regret the most... Hope to play with you again :-)

Bryan: it's unfortunate that you had to get voted out, I really enjoyed playing with you!

Matt J: I'm sorry that we voted you out early, but you were going after me!

Becca: I wish you could have stayed longer... Good luck!

[bamonikash]

So I turned 28 on Saturday. Yay!! As they say, you’re only as old as you feel– and I’d say I feel 28. Lol! The month leading up to my bornday I did a tally, of all my accomplishments, in my 27th year and I am glad to see growth. My focus, since graduating from university in 2014, has been to find my purpose. My search has led me to South Korea, and every time I see 11:11 or 1:11, I am reminded that I am on the right path and to pause and take notice of my thoughts and surroundings. I sometimes see this sequence a lot and it has influenced my outlook.

I don’t know about you, but the closer I get to 30, the more excited I become. Probably because I know how much growth can take place, in a year, so imagine the growth potential two years from now. I am manifesting this person everyday.

This year I really wanted to have a low key, and chill day. The introvert in me doesn’t enjoy planning get togethers unless it’s just for me and one other person. It took me planning, and then canceling, 3 different events to end up just following my gut and not try to force any bornday festivities. So, instead I decided to cut my guest list short and keep my plans open to all the possibilities of that day. What took place was exactly what I wanted so I am grateful.

I started off my day by taking an overnight bus ride, to Seoul. I had to be at my new job by 10am to sign my employment contract, its official, yay! I got to Seoul with about 5 hours to spare before heading to my appointment so I stayed at the jimjilbang called Siloam. Fyi. a jimjilbang is a Korean style bath/sauna/spa. They often also have an area where you can sleep and all for a cheap price of like 10-12 KRW.

After signing my contract I met my friend Gladys, in Itaewan, and we went to a vegan restaurant called Plant. Omg, it was so damn delicious! I got a veggie, avocado, burger and wouldn’t have minded coming back there for dinner that evening to have it again.

Next, we went to a record store a few blocks away from the restaurant. I wasn’t really feeling this record store in particular because it was really commercialized but I browsed while Gladys looked around and sampled some tracks. After this we headed to Gangnam to check into the hotel room Gladys booked for herself and basically took me in for the night lol! It was my first time experiencing a nice hotel, in Korea, since moving here I’ve only stayed in hostels/guest houses/Airbnb. After my lovely hotel experience I’m not going back to hostels. Lol! The hotel was called Shilla Stay.

After checking in, we headed over to our second record store for the day, called rm 360 in Bangbae, this one was exactly the kind that I prefer. One word, crates! I must have sampled over a dozen old school reggae records and ended up buying two. Mind you, I don’t own a record player, yet– but that will be my next purchase. On Amazon browsing as we speak lol. My only qualm about this record store is that I wish they had a larger jazz collection and they only had one Miles Davis record. Other than this I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this store.

Once we finished up there we headed back to the hotel to drop off my records and make a small modification to my outfit. On our way back out I had a quick photo shoot with this enormous teddy bear in the lobby. Thank you, to Gladys, for capturing the moment because it was a lot of fun hugging and posing with the teddy bear. It brought out the kid in me and I believe it’s important to tune into that part of ourselves sometimes. I’ve shared a few pics below.

Next we headed to a pizzeria, in Gangnam, called Brick Oven Pizza where they had New York style pizza. They unfortunately didn’t have vegan pizza but they did have a veggie pizza so we shared one. It was delicious.

Once dinner was done we headed, to Itaewan, to meet Gladys’s friend for drinks and shisha. We had good talks and exchanged positive vibes. As the night was winding down I got the urge to bar hop because well, it’s my day shouldn’t I do it up? But in actuality there was nothing more that I wanted to do than go back to the hotel and take a bubble bath, in the huge tub, in the room. That’s exactly what I did! I haven’t had a bubble bath since moving to Korea, most apartments only have a stand up shower. So my bath time was bliss, so grateful.

Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a different way to have spent my day. I was in good company and doing things that I enjoy. Oh, and I almost forgot, Gladys got me this gorgeous head wrap all the way from Ghana. It was really touching that she was able to figure out what I’d love and get it for me. I can’t wait to wear it.

Keep scrolling for pics of Teddy and I.

Hetep~

light

peace

love

Another year older, wiser, faster, stronger ! So I turned 28 on Saturday. Yay!! As they say, you're only as old as you feel-- and I'd say I feel 28.

[survivorelsalvador]

EPISODE 1 - An Army Of Porn Pete (TM) - Josh (Camp)

(If a confessional is just a gif or a picture then it was most likely Veronica, winner of Jeju Island, uwu <3)

WILLA

One world? This is going to be an iconic mess and I can't wait to see how this turns out.

WILL

Will she decapitate me or will we work together: The Regan/Will love story begins all over again (for when these go public I have nothing against you Regan you're a queen in my eyes)

DANA

How quickly are you trying to kill me. First of all: I literally know 99% of these people and am playing in Athena with them right now, which makes my game in each more complicated. On my tribe: Me, Chris, Willow, Willa, and Austin The only person I don't know is Austin. I'm aligned with Willa in another game and was aligned with Chris in the same game. Willow and I were friendly in Solomon Islands. Hopefully this puts me in a good spot. Other than that, going through the rest of the cast on other tribes: Playing with in Athena right now: Adrian, Kai, Lily, Jaiden, and Nicholas. I'm in an alliance with all of them except Adrian (who might not like me after tonight). From Solomon: Zakriah, my literal child and snapchat streak buddy. He's also vv close with Willow, so this is good. Potential alliance? From Great Lakes: Kyle and Ashton. Idk Ashton AT all. We were never on a tribe together. Heard he's pretty good at orgs though. Kyle and I didn't super get along in GL. I voted him as first merge boot, he voted me, and I went home. I've also heard a lot about Regan and i'm excited to meet her. Basically I know/ have a relationship with half of the cast, so this should be INTERESTING. I'm excited.

JAKE

So the game hasn't even officially started yet and I formed a tight bond with Kyle and Lexi. I feel that we all relate to each other pretty well, so I like where this is going.

LEXI

Ok so i already have an alliance with ribsor and jake. I know jake from a mini we played together and we bonded right away. I also know regan,austin and jaiden from the other tribe. I have a good relationship with all 3 so that made me happy seeing them. I hope they can stay and fight until merge. Heck i hope i can stay and fight until merge. this is a small tribe so thats alittle scary. Also this one world crap aint working for me. I cant talk to that many people and keep up. I'm in another tumblr game and hosting a skype org...so its hard to keep up. But i try my hardest and im just glad i got in an alliance already.

WILL

I actually feel pretty good so far like I think I'm on the good side of mostly everyone on my tribe - two of them played with me before two of them don't know me - and I'm already sensing some tension between certain people so like... this will be a good one lol. Plus I have Nicholas on my side through one world and I've made some other lowkey connections so it's all going great for the first day

KAI

Been a pretty quiet day, no ones really spoken much so kinda worried but oh wwll

JOSH

OKAY.  Hello.  I'm here to confess and such for the round since I haven't just yet.  I'm feeling pretty okay on my tribe so far?  I know Regan from previous experiences and we're friends and I think that Jaiden knows he isn't super popular so he'll rely on me to kind of keep him safe?  I"m talking with Will a lot and I enjoy him so I'm glad to have him here.  The only person I'm not feeling really great about is Zakariah so far?  I'm not sure how close he is with other people, so I have to wary about just throwing his name out.  But, if I had to choose someone to be at the bottom of the totem pole on our tribe.. It'd be him.  He's not super active.  I can also see Jaiden being a bit of a flop and being first to die, so I'm just going to kind of figure out where people STAND here right now and figure it out later.  Because I don't imagine us being on these tribes of five for too long, so I just need to make sure that I do my best to survive here while I still can. I'LL HAVE MORE THOUGHTS AFTER I TALK MORE STRATEGY BUT I NEED TO WORK ON IMPROVING MY SCORE

DANA

my new aesthetic in games is to just talk to the hosts in host chat instead of the players because i love them more. <3 Rob

WILLOW

I'm just gonna do a cast assessment rn bc why not Dana- Ahh we played in Solomon together and I love her, she's so sweet! Austin- We talked a lot last night and he's really nice, and has a good taste in survivor opinions Chips- Hasn't messaged me back yet and has only talked in the tribe chat twice Willa- Seems cool, but didn't talk to me for very long Also I'm confused about what happened during the "fight" in One World Also One World is too much at the beginning so I might just stick to talking to the people on my tribe first, and then once theres a swap I'll start talking to the other people idk.

ADRIAN

Whew El Salvador! Que tal chicos y chicas? Me llamo Adrian y yo soy no esperando nada mas por el juego para comenzar! Like this tribe a lot and really, I see 2 people from other games that are running side by side on my tribe, and really its cool to see that people are willing to work with me. But there is the downside of having people being inactive on the Apopa tribe, and really I'm not ready for shit like that to happen so quickly. 

Of course it would be One World this season. I see alot of familiar names and faces and I'm already thrilled to start this game, until I see Regan. Is it possible to hate a bitch because of how negatively she rubs people upon meeting them? Wait, hold that thought. Yeah. Its very possible. 

Its not even the end of Day 2, and already this bitch is asking for me to rip her head off. Like I don't give a flying fuck. Don't slander my name when you don't know me either. Fuck. Seriously, don't go preaching shit you won't practice. Regan's asking for a verbal beatdown, in English and in Spanish. 

Keep it up Regan, and I will end you before you have a chance to be on a tribe with me. I am not someone to fuck around with and I don't care how many people would say that I should apologize to her. I guess I can't play more subtly now cause I just ended the living shit out of her. Oh btw, she can have her wig back. There's like pieces of scalp like attached to it. 

(Note: Each paragraph was its own confessional)

DANA

My tribe is killing me with this challenge. Why did none of them start until like 7hrs before it is due when none of them know any Spanish and this challenge is semi-all about putting in time. Me right now: trying to make up for literally everyone's scores on my tribe. Quick assessment of my tribe? (Even though I knew everyone except Austin before we got here) Austin: Putting in a lot of effort to be friendly, which is good. Probably will want to work with him honestly but betraying someone I am already friendly with to do this will be hard. Chips: Isn't speaking to anybody. Why? Idk ur guess is as good as mine honestly. Willa: Honestly a fav. He better want to work with me here. Willow: My queen. My thoughts on one world? IT IS HYSTERICAL. Pls bring Regan back so she and Adrian can fight more and I can intervene with lighthearted comedy. Honestly I love problems and drama, sign me up pls. 

LILY

Hi! So I don't know what I'm doing playing two games cause it ain't my style but I'm trying. So far I really like jake on my tribe because he is also a Michigander and that makes you awesome. I also like will a lot but he isn't on my tribe sooooo. Yeah. Also I suck at Spanish. So yeah.

AUSTIN

I know nobody on my tribe. So far I want to work with Willow and Dana!! Honestly I'll probably be the first boot but my goal is to make the tribe swap I guess. I know Lexi ribbons and Jake I hope I play with them :)

WILLA

Dana is a lesbian? oh cool

JAIDEN

I have nothing to tell the world about my experience... yet.

MICHEAL

Dana is a lesbian which is not a suprise i mean have you seen her profile pic anyway in the game i made no connections i know what a great way to start the game but tonight i plan on making them

NICHOLAS

KAI

WOOO! WE WOOONNNN! That's pretty awesome!

RREGAN (That’s how she spelled it in the confessional hehe)

im perfect ill send one after bbhell ty

ASHTON

Well ugh life is good. This game on the other hand I have no idea what's going on. I've talked to richie cuz i knew him already but that's about it. Overall i'm happy im not gonna be first boot but pretty sure i'll be gone soon lol

RICHIE

who am i if i dont start off the game with my first confessional saying "i hate this fucking tribe!!!!!!!!" i've been out doing things for the last 3 days so i havent gotten a chance to do anything or really talk to anyone but i just played the duolingo immunity challenge before i went to sleep and when i was on the bus and train going to my friends lmao i didnt realize that i was the only one who was actually putting effort into it and thats sad because i really didnt play much but i guess the rest of my tribe is just full of flops!!! ashton i played with before we didnt talk much and we voted for eachother but i like them hope we can talk kai i talked to a little but like..... that needs to be worked on michael is the biggest flop ive ever met they are perfect first boot material if i leave before them i'm never playing another game and nicolas seems cool thats it! uneventful first week my social game is weak nothing happened not much to report but whew

KYLE

this host sucks

NICHOLAS

hello i am excited for this game but my tribe is dry as fuck besides richie 

[ratuvictoria]

Singapore Trip Day 2: Universal Studios

You might have come here from years ago, but this was my first time so I'm gonna post this anyway. On our second day in Singapore (read the Day 1 here), we gathered at the hotel lobby at 10 a.m. and shopped for snack around. What I meant with 'we' are me, my sister, her friends Afen and Andre, their kids Chloe and Ben, and another friends' kids Nevy and Nixon. Day 2

situation at 3rd floor Vivo City

the ticketing booths

we're heading to Sentosa Island!

S$4.00 for all-day fun!

there's also a Madame Tussauds museum here but we skipped it

We arrived at Vivo City by MRT and went to the Sentosa Island ticket booths on the top floor. The admission is S$4.00 for a day-full of fun on the island (applies to all ages from 3 and above). We got on the Sentosa Express train that brought us to the fun island and stopped at its first stop: the Universal Studios.

me and sis

yay! I got the Elmo ticket!

are you ready?

our group

We didn't want to waste too much time here so we purchased the Universal Express to skip queuing (better check your travel agency for best price). It's like one of the best bet because we could cut the queue up to 100-300 people and took only about 5 minutes queuing instead of the regular 30-70 minutes.

I'm feelin' the jive already!

they said if I kept taking pics I'd be left behind but I can't leave such details unsnapped!

am sure it's movie time already

at the Madagascar zone

Our team of 8

"Are we there yet?"

I'm such a sucker for crown and palace 3>

waiting for the 4-D Adventure to let us to the dungeon

finishing the Puss In Boots ride be like

Entering the first gate we followed the path to go to Madagascar area, where we hopped on the opening ride, "A Crate Adventure", which was a very cute shortcut/reminder to the movie.

Puss In Boots ride

Then we entered the Far Far Away zone (from movie Shrek), where we went for Shrek 4D Adventure (if I'm not mistaken this was my first 4D movie experience) and Puss In Boots' Giant Journey jet coaster (which was our first adrenaline rush that day).

sayin' goodbye to Far Far Away (yes it's time to move on)

.. and entering the WaterWorld on the time where stunts were giving the instruction

we didn't wanna get soaked so we sat at the back

the set of WaterWorld

We arrived on time at The Lost World zone, because the WaterWorld stunt show was just about to play at 1 p.m. It was a lot of splish-splashing, gun-shooting, and even bomb-exploding. Too bad I haven't watch the movie so I didn't really feel it. Yet, it was so fun to see.

Jurassic Park area

the "dinosaurs facility" decoration

our lunch menu

It was almost 2 p.m. and we were starving. We headed to the Discovery Food Court which was decorated as Jurassic Park's dinosaur facility. We had chicken rice and chicken pop for lunch and after a while we were good again to go.

the S$4.00 raincoats

full gang

After lunch we went for the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure and bought a S$4.00 transparent Universal Studios' raincoat to keep us dry. It was like a rafting ride with a lot of splish-splash and I strongly recommend you to bring a rubber flip-flop to wear here because your shoes will definitely get soaked. Or, remove your shoes and place it on your lap under the raincoat. That'll do. (Oh. We also had to rent a locker to keep our stuffs and charged per hour but I forgot the price) Leaving the Lost World zone, we entered the Ancient Egypt. Smaller kids didn't want to go for the ride so only the four of us young girls went to the Revenge of the Mummy. It was a total dark high-speed jet coaster ride and I must say one of the most fun, memorable ride I'd ever had.

dunno what this rental/repair booth is for actually, but we sat in front of it to rest for a bit

It was raining really hard when we finished the ride. Andre came to bring us raincoats and we went on to the Sci-Fi City which had canopy on the streets, which was--luckily--close by. We went to the Transformer's The Ultimate 3D Battle. It's the mix of jet coaster ride and 3D animation so we enjoyed it to the max.

the streets have canopy here so we can walk around freely tho it's raining

do you wish to speak directly with Optimus Prime?

when the rain stopped, we went back for that red track!

The rain subsided so we went back to the Sci-Fi City to get on Human Battlestar Galactica (the red track). The pair (of Human and Cylon) was the craziest roller coasters in the USS so we just gotta ride 'em although at first I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it. Turned out, I enjoyed it so much. We couldn't get on the Cylon because it was closed due to rain (again) so we hopped on the Accelerator just to find some console. Then, we carried on to New York zone.

and by this subway, I thought of Newt, Porpentina, Queenie and Jacob on their farewell rain..

... and yep, this building next to it also reminded me of that Fantastic Beast movie, right?

just another detail on the shops--to bad they're mostly closed

one of the art-deco stores we love

the bus I'd ride if I could.. LOL

I just love all of the New York-style details here

me want cookies too (but I didn't buy anything from here)

The New York got the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase and of course we went in! As the closing ride, this space chase is a relaxing ride that simply brought us back memories to that one street with lots of animal puppets talking. And I still love that program until today that I'm almost 33. Do you remember them too?

the final ride

they finally got the spaghetti! yippie!

We finished the tour by entering Hollywood area, and the gang went back to hotel without us. Meanwhile for me and my sister, it was another round of tour around the studios! We headed back to Sci-Fi City and because the rain was stopped, we hopped on the Cylon and never regretted it. I mean, seriously, it was just the best roller coaster ever (in that complex). I was glad I didn't say no. (we had to store our bags in the locker again, but this one's for free under 45 minutes)

Shrek waffles with Ben & Jerry ice cream... Yumms!

see how waffles can also be cute like us?

I thought I'd find some potion bottles sold here.. but well--I'd gone crazy!

And we got a little hungry so we stopped at Goldilocks for our Shrek waffles and Ben & Jerry ice cream afternoon meal before our merchandise hunting. My fave stuff goes to The Mummy because they're elegant with gold plating, and the Sesame Street--of course.

checking out if the ogre's home..

  My list for the souvenir shops from the best:

Carter's Curiosities (The Mummy),

Supply Vault (Transformers),

The Brown Derby and Big Bird's Emporium (Sesame Street),

Penguins Mercantile (Madagascar),

Shrek (Fairy Godmother's Potion Shop),

The Dino-Store and Jurassic Outfitters (Jurassic Park),

Silver Screen (from other blockbuster movies),

Galactica PX (Battlestar Galactica), and finally 

Minion Mart (Despicable Me).

hunting for merchandises in this store? hey, don't limit me!

meet my gang here: Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Oscar

If you don't have so much time, you can visit only the Universal Studios Store and That's A Wrap for a quick pick. But shopping at the end of each ride, I must say, is definitely worth it because the two big stores don't have all the souvenir ranges and you must go to a specific store for the special items.

too bad we didn't have time to watch this.. next time perhaps..

Spend at least 5-10 minutes exploring the shops after each ride and just grab something there if you really like them to save you from going back to the stores later. If you wanna do it our way, we toured twice because we had time to focus on merchandise shopping on our second tour. But it would cost you time and perhaps sprain legs just like I got..  *grin*  Yet, I think it's all worth it (;

one of the iconic diner, Mel's Drive-In from the movie American Graffiti

the very lasts of our Hollywood tour

Then, we pursued our merchandise hunting, which is one of the most satisfying thing to do because it combines two types of guilty-pleasures at once: watching the characters from movie in 3D shape in our very hands, and having the chance for taking them home (a.k.a. shopping). How could we skip this?

all sweaty and tired.. but still happy!

check out the shopping bags! but don't be fooled, most of them are just key chains.

My sis and I stopped at the food court at Vivo City for dinner, and went back to our hotel by MRT. It was terribly painful for I wore the "wrong shoes" but I didn't mind (read my tips here). We soaked our feet on the bathtub we filled with boiling hot water and it helped a bit. A hot shower before sleep also helped, tho my feet still hurt until the next day. Anyway, read my experience on Day 1 here or carry on to Day 3.

well, good night!

from Blogger http://ift.tt/2m2wvOw via IFTTT

[katieamazeballs]

MVP Recap

Ok, guys.....sorry this is late but I 100% waited until today to do this because #1 It’s faster to type it on the computer than on the phone and #2 I’m now getting paid to do this.  (Who’s the real winner here).  Also....I can post this with a fancy page break so it doesn’t hog everyone’s feed.  But before the break....have a pic......

(As per my now usual.....I will post about my experience more than the dances, because you can find those online or will be seeing them yourselves.)

To start off the day, I finally got to meet My Girl and it was AMAZING!  We met at her hotel then went to dinner.  As we predicted, the girls were instant besties and so were we.  (I love it when a plan comes together).  When we got to dinner the girls sat with My Girl and I sat with her hysterical mom, Nonna.  We had good food and good conversation and it was really nice to have a meal with “my people” and discuss DWTS the entire time.  The best part, however, was Nonna telling me no less than 7 times “I don’t like-ah that Maks.  He’s a jerk”.  (read that in a thick Italian accent).   

(Abbie killed it with this selfie)

After dinner, we found our way to the theater.  I was no help, of course, because I don’t do downtown even though I’ve lived here for 34 of my 38 years.  As we were looking for parking we saw the buses straight ahead, lining both sides of the street.  We saw Ivan outside smoking (wtf dude) and JT.  Once we parked, moved the car to a different spot, and took selfies, we made our way to the theater.  As we were walking up we saw a guy with big girly hair standing by Val’s bus talking on the phone. We were all like “OMG....is that Val?!?!”.  The girls and I started booking it and got closer, that wasn’t Val but OMG HOLY CRAP he was right there in front of us!!  We attempted to approach him and the worlds grumpiest security guard stopped us in our tracks. 

(Seriously.....look at her looking at me like I’m gonna rush him or something!  Trust me when I say she plays a theme throughout the night and imagine that face any time I mention “Bitchy Security Guard” or “BSG”.)

Well.....Val didn’t take too kindly to his fans being treated that way and told us to come take pics but that we had to do it quick because he needed to get inside to get ready.  I have to say....much like Brandon, pictures do not do this man justice.  He is really really really good looking in person.  I mean REALLY.  Gahdamn, Valentin. 

(Notice the guy in the red flannel who is NOT Maks and will not be Maks at any point in the evening no matter how many times we thought he was)

Y’all be proud of Abbie.....she was given strict instructions of things she was banned from saying (I hate Jenna because she STOLE you from me.....and You used to be my favorite but now you’ve been replaced because Jenna STOLE YOU).  Girl handled herself like the sane fangirl we all knew she could be and didn’t even cry. 

(Notice the death grip she has on him)

She showed him her purse and “may” have scared him a tad.  He went “Whoa!”

(She keeps shirtless Val in the center.....because Mama ain’t raising no fool)

After we met Val.....and I failed to remember that I was lugging his book around in my damn purse and forgot to get it signed (I win at life, I swear), we were told exactly where we were allowed to stand and if we so much as took a deep breath, BSG reminded us that we weren’t allowed to move from that spot.  Then she would sigh and roll her eyes at us.  We tried to see other cast but it was getting chilly and windy (scroll back up and look at the chick’s pony in the pic of BSG) and it was getting closer to show time so they were all inside.  Before we left we did get to see Katie the Nanny taking Shai from the venue to the bus.  He is freakin adorable!  His little curls and his little wave to his adoring fans were on point!  I do not have a picture of this because #1 It happened super quick and #2 It’s not my baby and that’s kindof weird and intrusive and BSG was still side eying us and I’m pretty sure she would have taken my phone and deleted all the pics or something in retaliation.  She was seriously bitchy and hated her job. 

We got inside the venue and hit the merch stand.  We all got our shirts (to my surprise, Abs picked the white tour tee instead of the Team Val tee).  We found our way upstairs, got drinks, and found our seats.  They were pretty decent seats except for we had to sit forward to see the very front of the stage if they laid down (a few times) and couldn’t see them picking the people out of the audience.  The show was, of course, amazing.  In my opinion, it was better than the DWTS show.  Those Chmerkovskiy’s can dance!!!!  I’ve heard that Peta is amazing live, but that doesn’t do her justice.  She truly is the queen and literally commands the stage when she’s on it.  There were moments of great group numbers, moments of hilarity (the dad dance and the stripper section), and gut wrenching serious moments.  It really does tell a story through dance and we all loved it.  What you probably don’t see in the YouTube videos of the dad dance is Kiki has twins.  Abs is still laughing about those twins and when the baby sneezes and Maks yells “It got in my eye!”.  During the Chippen Val/Magic Maks section they pull up the lady out of the audience.  Let me tell you.....that lady was living her best life.  She was so funny!  Throughout the show we were annoyed by the group behind us.  There were about 8 or 10 of them and they talked the entire show.  I’m not talking quiet respectful whispers.....these bitches were straight up chit chatting.  I did giggle at one point because the oldest of them was totally Team Nonna.  They were doing their first talking section and this chick pipes up with “I’ve always hated Maks.....he’s such an arrogant jackass”.  During the super emotional break up section....it was so quiet in there you could hear a pin drop.  I had been annoyed the entire show, but at this point I started to get a little concerned that because it was so quiet in there (that section is riveting) that Maks and Peta would actually hear these bitches trying each others wine in an attempt to figure out which one had the tastiest.  Seriously y’all.....they were SO LOUD!  At this point, I turned around and said “PLEASE stop talking!”.  They shushed to heated whispers through the rest of the show but if one of us so much as looked at each other they’d say “NO TALKING!”.  At the end of the show they got up and left during the final bows (seriously the rudest group of drunk bitches ever).  I booked it out after the show to pee.  Abs didn’t have to so she went to stand outside of the bathroom to wait for the rest of our group.  I hear “That’s HER!” and look over and these bitches were WAITING for me to come out of the theater!  They start yelling “We are at a concert!!!  Talking is expected in this type of situation!  And you were rude too!!!”  (of note....no one ever said they were rude)  Abs is looking at me with huge eyes and I was like “Wait...how was I rude!  You know what...never mind....Abbie get over here!”.  I drug her into the bathroom still completely appalled at their behavior.  Be proud that I was an adult and didn’t engage.  Once all of our group was done, and these bitches are still standing there waiting, we just kind of grabbed the girls put our heads down and booked it out of there. 

We got outside and went to stand by the buses again.  BSG was still manning her post and was quite possibly in an even worse mood than before.  She seriously hates fans.  She should probably look into different employment.  Thankfully we had a different security guard posted to our standing area.  He was funny and nice and roughly the size of a mountain range.  He didn’t seem to be that huge of a guy but he had a chest and shoulders that somehow blocked the entire sidewalk.  He also must know us (is our picture up in these venues or something) because dude kept a super close eye on Abs.  She must have looked shifty to him.  He’s a smart man and I wish I would have taken a pic with him.  We stood there and stood there and stood there some more.  We had met Val, but wanted to talk to him again (because my damn book) and Makayla really wanted to meet Peta.  My goal was to meet Val (for Abs of course....ha) and meet either Maks or Peta to personally give them Shai’s hat.  Peta came out loaded down with bags and went to the bus.  She came back out and headed our way to go into a different door (probably to get food, they all went in there) and said she’d come back.  While we were waiting, we saw quite a few of the dancers coming out.  Ivan was standing there talking to a crew member and since no one else would pipe up I yelled his name.  He waved and I asked for a picture.  He was super nice and came over (Mt. Everest was amused by this).

After meeting him, both girls (and the rest of the small crown of about 15-20) were oohing and aahing over how good he smelled and I realized that my damn sinuses are still acting up and I didn’t smell anything.  I thought back to meeting Val (when both girls had the same reaction) and I thought my lack of smelling him was just because we caught him before the show and he wasn’t freshly showered.....apparently my inconspicuous deep breaths when I was standing with him were just fail. I’m super salty about this.  Seriously.....I may not ever be ok with the fact that I didn’t smell Val.  Shortly after we met Ivan, we saw Emily standing there.  She also came over when I got her attention and asked for a picture.  Mt. Everest was again amused by me while the others were plotting how they could always manage to be by me at bus meets because I not only recognized everyone by name, but was brave enough to call them over. 

I think it was at this point that My Girl’s girl was attempting to convince her mom that they should come to Jax to do all tours with me and Abs.......I don’t think she was successful.  Lol.   At some point in this process, we saw JT a few more times.  I really wanted to get a pic with him.  I yelled his name and he threw a half hearted wave, then looked over and said “Oh Hey” and waved harder.  He did not come over for a picture.  He must actually have recognized me....he was like “Yep...that’s a nope all day long, that bitch is cray”.  He has since been relieved of his best friend duties....but it’s ok because Nicole and Alyssa (Serge’s gf) have agreed that they are better choices anyways. 

Finally.....the queen emerged and came right over to our group.  She is strikingly beautiful in person and so so so tiny.  She could probably share clothes with Abs!  I gave her a hug and told her I had made a gift for Shai for his morning inspections.  She laughed and then peeked in the bag.  She awe’d and thought it was adorable!  (Totally winning at life here). 

She chit chatted with our group for a bit and talked about how they had had to adjust and reblock that day because the stage was a tight squeeze (which explains all the rehearsal stories) and lamented the weird lights outside that went from normal to pink to red (which is why the pics are kindof weird).  Abs asked where Maks was and she laughed and said she had no idea and that she hadn’t seen him since bows.  As she left she thanked me again for the hat and said she’d post it on insta.  I’m really hoping he’ll wear it (toddlers are iffy on hats....and all things really) but I’m pretty sure she’ll post it some how if he won’t wear it. 

(Of note....I could smell her.....she smells like a girl.....flowery lotion.  It makes me more salty)

We waited a bit longer and still no sign of Maks or Val.  It was getting late and even more chilly and windy and we decided to call it quits at 11.  The time came and after me having to snap at Abs (she is a determined fangirl), we made our exit with the agreement that one of the remaining group would watch us until we got to the corner and they’d yell Maks’ name real loud so we could come running back.  Mt. Everest thought this was hysterical and kept waving to us while we walked off looking back every 5 seconds.  We made our way back to the hotel, I was again no help because while I can confidently get myself home from downtown....the hotel was on the other side of the river and I had no idea how to get there.  The girls were passed out approx 37 seconds into the drive home.  When we got there Nonna popped out of the van and looked down and saw her shirt button was undone.  She goes “Oh look at me, all naked!”  I died.  She is the best and I might steal her.  We sadly said our goodbyes and Abs and I headed home.  After I got home (about 11:45) I went to check and saw @loveisstatic was the lone hold out and got to meet Maks.  I bet she really got the wrath of BSG for waiting so long.  (Girl...you gotta vouch for me on BSG....she was serious!)  All in all, we had the absolute best time and I can’t wait to do it again.....next year.....after my wallet stops crying.