#back at home with wifi and sooo many pictures

[whippetcrimes]

Such a pretty baby

[5hineefanaccounts]

160529 - Inkigayo pre-rec She Is + Live + Minifanmeeting

OMG 좋아 performance today is AMAZING

Jonghyun is wearing black and red style, so so adorable ㅠㅠㅠ But it made him hot so he kept fanning himself

They started the perf on Jonghyun and two dancers behind a curtain with their silhouettes only. So so good

They started the song and stopped it quickly so Jonghyun was like "uh?" Then they asked him to go backstage so we all whined ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The camera was filming closely Jonghyun's face behind the curtain so we all screamed. His facial expression were so cuuuute. He kept repeating "왜? 왜?" And the staff was laughing at the situation before explaining to him so he laughed ㅋㅋㅋㅋ So adorable ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

When he left he said "bye bye" that's so cuuuuuute

He said he didn't have breakfast and asked us if we ate ㅋㅋㅋ

I'm so tired I can"t remember what happened clearly OTL He talked more to us but I'm not 100% sure of what he said ㅠㅠㅠ

He talked about his face showed on the screen in front of us ans how embarassing it was ㅋㅋ Then he bend dowb and covered it with his hands ㅋ

Black pants, black hat and red oversized sweater ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

We started saying 수고앴어 to Jonghyun but he didn't hear us, the pd saied that it was done so he asked really cutely "it's done?" ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

 Live

Jonghyun was so cuuuute ㅠㅠㅠ While waiting he danced so cutely to the girl group’s song

He also made sure to wave at every lightstick he saw ♡

While leaving after the interview he bounced down the stairs on rythm to up10tion song ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

When Jonghyun arrived a group was performing and few girls were screaming really loud he got surprised and looked at them shocked ㅋㅋㅋ

Jonghyun was so cute he picked up some confettis to send on Twice members and it went all on him ㅋㅋㅋ His confused face ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

He danced to Twice song before leaving the stage ♡

He was so happy with our fanchants, especially the "김종현 김종현" part with all the other groups on stage ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Some even joined us!

When the staff came to tell him to stop to have everybody on stage for the ending he got sooo scared, that was adorable ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Jonghyun was bouncing by himself at the back during the whole ending, so so cute

He bowed so low to eberybody, more than 90° such an amazing humble sunbae ㅠㅠㅠ

Jonghyun waved at every lightstick when he left the stage and bowed to us ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

All the shawols who were at the live are walking to the fanmeeting place 2 by 2 behind sm staff. We look like kids on a school trip hahah

 Fanmeeting

OMG Jonghyun cuteness has no limit ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

He took pictures with us and pictures of us. Event selca ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

He kept saying how many we were and kept thanking us, I can't ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

He even tried to count us hahah he said he was gonna calculate it but then was like "well no it's too hard, you really don't know how many?"

He ate an ice cream ㅠㅠㅠ He actually ate half of it and fans told him to finish it before leaving ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

He made some paper from the ice cream drop and told us he will pick it up and, at the end he went looking for it and picked it up ㅠㅠㅠ

We asked him to walk around us and he kept saying no because it'll bother the staff but in the end he did it!

He put some ice cream on his sweater and we all whined. He told us it'll be alright it's just ice cream ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

He said that he finished his schedule for the day! And that he'll go home and play video game ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

We asked him to do the 샤 샤 샤 from Twice song, he went "what? Why that? No!" But did it shyly ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Some random people were walking and looking at him wondering what was going on and he bowed to them a few times

He said there's no solo concert planned for him! We asked when will SHINee concert be and he told us to ask SM and not him ㅋㅋㅋ

He told us that the fanchant part during the dance was really cute and he even did 김종현 김종현 like us really shyly ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

He asked us our favorite song from the album and it's been a terrible mess everybody screaming song titles so he laughed really hard OTL

He started talking to us then went "what should I say" and decided to answer questions and the very first one was about his hair ㅋㅋㅋ

When he ran around us his sweater fell from his waist so he put it on his shoulders. It was moving with the wind look like superman ㅋㅋ

He said there will be a lot of fansigns because he love that, he find it fun to be able to interact closely with us ♡

He told us he's not gonna go to Sketchbook ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

 Jonghyun : I have a fansign tomorrow!

Shawols : No you have two!

Jonghyun : Oh really? Okay so I have two fansigns in Seoul tomorrow~

Shawols : No~~ Ilsan and Gwanghwamun!

Jonghyun : Oh I have two fansigns in Ilsan and Gwanghwamun tomorrow!

After Taemin now Jonghyun's messing up his fansign schedule ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 He asked us if we ate and we all answered ice cream OTL

We told him to eat and he told us to also eat a lot ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

He said he was not a lot on twitter anymore because we complained about it ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

He talked about twitter and wifi, that he’s only on twitter when there's wifi? I'm not so sure about the link it was confusing haha

Jonghyun said that he really wanted to do SNL and asked us what we wanted to see, a lot screamed pick me and 샤샤샤 and we went "oh nooooo" ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

When we asked him to walk around us someone told him that Taemin did it. "Ah Taeminnie did it... still no." ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Always taeminnie ㅠㅠㅠ

We asked him to wear the pink outfit, he was like "alright; alright I will" and then moved to another question OTL

He said he can't wear glasses on stage because it's dangerous they might fall but he'll wear them at fansign to please us! So sweet ㅠㅠㅠ

A few seconds after he started talking, a girl's balloon escapde her and arrived right on my lap a few rows behind her. The balloon went so high that Jonghyun did a small stop in his talk to look at it OTL Then he asked if it was why some didn't have balloons? Because they fly away ㅋㅋㅋㅋ He told us it was so so pretty ♥ And during the fanmeet a few other flew and everytime Jonghyun looked at them ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

He asked for movie advices and we answered Minho's movie ㅋㅋㅋ He shouldn't have been surprised ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Actually Jonghyun said why he was not going to sketchbook. One reason is the packed schedule, he said another one but I didn’t get it

He talked about Amber! I wanna know what he said, people were screaming questions around me, I couldn't hear ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

I'm so so tired that my brain couldn't focus all along and I missed some parts staring at him OTL

When Jonghyun opened his ice cream he strugled a little and we all went "cuuuuuute" then he bite it and everybody was "ooooh" ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

When he took the selca with us he was bending back at us and lost a little his balance while getting up. He then realized that a photographer was right in front of him so he asked her if she took that on picture and she said yes so he whined ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ After he asked her to take picture of him with us, he kept repeating "you're so many you don't even fit in!" So adorable

I don't trust Jonghyun to upload the pictures so SM I'm counting on you. I so want them

Jonghyun's face when he focus really hard to understand us

That was such a loooong day. But thanks to fellow shawols, as usual it was great! We shared snacks all day ans took care of each other ♡

cr: @_misnaa

[tooruhyung]

ANNYONGHASEYO~~

Hello and welcome to my first post from Korea, please embrace the madness. So, Busan or Pusan whichever romanization you like better I quite the GIGANTIC city. It is surprisingly hard to navigate around here for there is lack of English, the city has many different areas and it's just generally confusing, also after YEARS of listening to kpop and watching k-dramas, you'd guess remembering if i need to take the subway bound for Yangsan or for Jangsan is easy, but nope. Actually even stuff that doesn't even remotely look similar written down still sounds the same when they announce it. So there's that. But JB my host gave me an amazing orientation and a pocket wifi so it's all good! Besides that i feel like crying about 300 times a day because people are just so beautiful. I. Just. Can't. Every single person is super stylish but they are also like really beautiful! But, thankfully they are not perfect. While in Japan everyone stares and stuff they are still treating you very well and they are so polite. Here there are also super polite people but also you are just being ignored, sometimes to the point that it feels like they literally cannot see you on the subway and that is why they keep bumping into you. Also there are so many couples. SOOO MANY. Maybe i am used to Japan now, that people don't really hold hands or display affection publicly in any form but it's just so prominent here. Matching outfits, hand holding, hugging kissing being super cutesy. And like not the in your face type but the kind that makes you happy looking at all these people. So these are my general observations for what i did: mostly hung out from people from couchsurfing and exploring the city together, eating korean food together and drinking together. Yesterday we went to Haedong Yunggungsa Temple which is a unique one as it is on the coast iso the usual mountain or forest location. It was quite breathtaking. Then we walked around Haedong Beach and the surrounding area a lot, like hours and hours and had Korean Barbecue which was a huge dream of mine! (And man, the pork belly was just so freaking good!!) Than at night we went to see the diamond bride at Gwangwali Beach and seriously, i have to say that is the best spot of the city! Now after a few gin tonics i was just buzzed enough to get back home with the last metro. Today i hanged out with only one girl,and we went to Gamcheon Cultural village, which is a really cool place, it used to be a slum, but the government decided to paint all the houses colorful and installed a lot of artwork to attract tourists! And it looks soooooo good now! It's one big area tho so we took out time there, also did the stamp rally which was fun. Then for the rest of the day we were around Nampo-dong where there is a fishmarket the Busan International Film Festival Square a shopping street, a huge park with Busan Tower, an underground shopping mall and a huge market. We ate so much streetfood. And boy, the koreans do know their shit when it comes to street food. Like first of all it really is STREET food. A lot of the ladies are just sitting aside of a road selling stuff. Oh i ate korean pancakes at a place Chanyeol also ate, there was a picture of him hahaha. After all of this we were super tired and just had one beer at Gwangali and headed home. Tomorrow i will go to a Museum, the world's biggest department store and to Asia's biggest spa complex. So yeah that is what is up with me.

[blondevoyagebyabean-blog]

Navrongo Living

Now that you all know of the wonderful time I had in Accra it’s time to talk about the real reason why I am here. I am here to do research at the Navrongo Health Research Center in the Upper East Region of Ghana (my topic is still TBD but most likely will be on the motivators and barriers to contraceptive use for women).

It took a two hour flight and a two and a half hour car ride from Accra to get to Navrongo. This journey began on Monday the 28th and was something I will never forget. We show up to the Accra domestic airport and there are a total of 3 desks to help passengers and our seating area was in a tent outside the building and it was soaking up all of the heat that Accra had to offer. I checked in my two large luggage pieces and sat down with Amy and Hannah (Ali was running a little late from flight troubles from Dubai).

***I am going to sidetrack a little here to let you know who people are! On this trip I will be staying with Amy, Ali, and Hannah. Amy and Ali are in the same Masters of Global Health cohort with men and Hannah is an undergraduate from Georgetown who is majoring in Global Health. Okay now back to the ‘story’!***

We were told that at 12:30 they were going to start pre-boarding for our flight (this consists of going through security and waiting some more). So naturally when 12:30 hit we freaked out that we missed the announcement and got up to go to our gate. However we didn’t miss the announcement because they didn’t call us yet, but everyone else on our flight saw us get up and followed us to the gate. The gate wasn’t happy when they saw this line because they weren’t ready for us yet (#startedamovement). Let me speed ahead to when we actually walk onto the plane with 25 other passengers. This plane is tiny. It was tiny. It had propellers on the wing. It had engines too obviously, but there were also propellers... Anyways, were in the air on our way to Tamale and it was an enjoyable plane trip and was over in 2 hours. We land in Tamale and James, a driver from the research center, picked us up. The first thing he said to us was we had to decide who would be his wife, he was kidding obviously because in the end he picked who would be his wife and decided it was me #betrothed.

The drive to Navrongo was beautiful. There were so many trees and fields full of crops. Goats, cows, donkeys, and roosters roam the streets and don’t care if a car is coming at them. It was a lot different from Accra which is the capital and main city of Ghana. I like the Upper East Region better than Accra, it feels a lot warmer and welcoming.

Two and a half hours later we arrive at the research center. It was around 7 on Monday that we got here so it was pitch black out. We all decided to stay in our own rooms but at the last minute when they said one person had to stay upstairs alone, Amy and I decided to share a room together. Thank god because I wouldn’t be able to handle my thoughts if I was in a room by myself. I will post pictures and videos of the house and room so you all can see don’t worry. The room is actually a lot better than I originally imagined. We got settled really quick and fell right asleep.

Tuesday was in our first full day at the center. We got up at 9 and ate eggs for breakfast at the canteen (cafeteria) (even though breakfast was at 8 but no one told us that). After breakfast we met with our preceptor Cornelius who we have been exchanging emails with all summer. He is a very kind man and told us the next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were adjustment days so we could get settled at the center. We got taken around to about 5 different buildings to meet all of the people who work here. It ranges from admin jobs, demographic surveillance strategists, epidemiologists, research assistants, clinicians, and other research students. There are a lot of people here doing a lot of great work which is really exciting. I do not remember anyone’s name because it was all a blur and they did not understand how to say my name (story of my life). After the introductions were over we decided to go into town because it was market day which happens every 3 days. The market is where we go to get vegetables, rice, beans, and fruit to be able to cook and eat during our stay. It was hella hot out and we were dripping sweat before even getting to the market (it’s not even a mile away). My sunglasses were sliding off of my nose, which is sooo cute! The market was a hectic experience and I will post pictures so you all can see! I got some mangos, rice, beans, and bananas on this first trip. On the way back we walked into the main building at the center to pay our rent and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. They asked us what the sun was doing to us and if we liked the sun. On that day, the answer was no. After the market, we went to our own special room just for the four of us to work at and we connected to the wifi!!! Happy day! After that Hannah, Ali and I decided to workout because were gonna get totally swole out here so be prepared when we come back to the states.

Now it is Wednesday and a huge thunderstorm woke me up at 3 in the morning and it lasted until 5. If you know me you know I don’t really like thunderstorms so I did not sleep all that well. Today was another ‘gather ourselves’ day so we got a ride into Bolga where we could go to vodafone and get a personal portable wifi router for our phones since there is no wifi connection in the guest house that we are staying at. On the way home our driver took us to meet his family because we got so excited when he said he had a new infant at home. He was only three weeks old! When we got to our driver, Remi’s, house we met his brother and his father. I told Remi’s father that Remi was very nice and Remi’s father told me I should marry him. Now I know it’s okay in this culture for males to have more than one wife, but it’s looking like on this trip, I am going to have more than one husband #femalepower. Remi has four boys and they were all so sweet and shy! It made me think about my time in South Africa with the kids at Sarah Fox Convalescent Hospital. After meeting Remi’s family he took us back to the center and now I am here writing this blog for you! It is about 4:30 and soon I will try to cook some beans for dinner and then go workout! Woo!

I promise not every post will be this long but I hope you all are enjoying them! Be on the lookout for pictures and videos!

#blondevoyage

[awindowamirror]

Shai Hills

8/27/17

It’s been a very weekend-y weekend. On Friday night, I went out to Osu (the most popular clubbing area) with some friends and we had so much fun dancing and singing and meeting people. We were out sooo late though (most of you know I have the bedtime of a wise grandmother), so Saturday I was ready to just veg out. I started watching Game of Thrones while eating Digestive crackers loaded with Nutella, so rest assured I had a fabulous day. I also was able to talk to Sue for a while, which is no small feat considering the wifi connection here.

It actually was a very American feeling day—I had fries for lunch (with the extra sugar-y and delicious ketchup they have here), and then we ended up going to the movie theater to see Girls’ Trip. Excellent movie, by the way, it was so funny and surprisingly touching—I bawled my eyes out while eating an ice cream bar (a very pretty picture). It was a cool experience seeing a movie in a new place—almost everyone in the theater reacted very outwardly to the movie. If there was a funny part, everyone laughed their true laughs, no trying to stifle it so you’re not embarrassed. If someone in the movie said something rude, the audience would shake their heads and make noises of disapproval. When something good happened, people would yell “yes!” or “mmmhmm!” There was almost constant talking. I personally loved it because you knew everyone in the theater was feeling the same things, and that heightened the experience for me. When the mother-aged woman next to me doubled over laughing, that made the punch line all the more funny to me. It was really cool, and not something I would have thought about, but our theaters at home are really quite a different experience.

Today, some of us decided to go hiking. Thank goodness. The city has a lot to offer, but I have already found myself missing the fresh air and peace that the woods of Minnesota offer. It’s actually been a little difficult to feel entirely myself without being able to disappear in nature to recharge, even though it’s only been two weeks. So, I was really excited when a friend mentioned Shai Hills, a nature reserve about an hour or so away by trotro (that’s really not bad). It took a bit to figure out how exactly to get there, but trotro drivers know so much about the geography/roads of Ghana, so we were able to ask for directions every step of the way. We ended up having to take three trotros on the way there, and then from the headquarters of the reserve, we took a taxi to the various hiking points.

We found out upon arrival that you basically have to hire a guide, so we took off with our new and knowledgeable friend Greg to see the beauty of Shai Hills. It was so green. And so quiet. We could hear only each other and the birds (Dad, I guess I should have brought those African birding books) and it was so peaceful. Greg directed the taxi through various dirt roads, letting us off occasionally to see antelope or cool birds. We also were able to see ostriches and zebras, which was super cool. Neither are native to the area (ostriches used to be), but they roam free on the nature preserve. We got to feed an ostrich, and when I held up my hand, he gently pinched my skin in his beak. It was adorable.

Then we walked to see a Shai palace, where some of the Shai people lived until the late 1800s. The easiest schema I can use to describe it is a very large cave with several entrances. The preserve has added stairs (actually closer to a ladder, I’d say) that lead up to the top of the palace so that you can see the surrounding hills and plains area. I’m not the most comfortable with heights, but it was fun to scramble up the rocks and be rewarded with the view—green in every direction, and an excellent vantage point to see wildlife. At the top, I enjoyed some chocolate that my dad gave me before I left home, which was fitting considering this was a place my parents would both love.

We visited another bluff used by the Shai people as sleeping quarters, tried to see some baboons (no luck today), and then headed back to the main road. To get home was another taxi and long trotro ride (this one was very full so my legs both fell asleep), and then we were back in the bustle of the city.

It was such a nice break, and we all decided we should do little trips like this every weekend—what better way to spend time than traveling while traveling? Today gave me such an incredible morale boost, both because of the wonderful company and the time with nature.

The power has been out all day, which hasn’t happened yet while I’ve been here. A couple years ago, the power went out very frequently, but it’s really improved recently. It actually is not much of a nuisance here, it doesn’t seem to bother anyone like it would at home (GET THE CANDLES!! I NEED TO SHOWER!! MY PHONE IS ALMOST DEAD!! Etc.) The one thing that’s sort of inconvenient is that we obviously don’t have wifi, so it’s just difficult to communicate with anyone here or elsewhere.

We are technically going into Week 2 of classes tomorrow, although last week most of my classes didn’t happen because students and lecturers didn’t show up, so it feels more like the first week still. Send teaching vibes this way, please, maybe people will show up.

I become more and more thankful for this experience every day. There are many unique things about Ghana that are difficult to explain unless you feel them yourself, and there certainly is a different adjustment period than someone in Europe might go through, and these things make me feel very proud and excited to try to convey how wonderful less-seen areas of the world are. Anyways. I’m lucky to see what I’m seeing and learn what I’m learning.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and have a good launch into the coming week!

[nedilynndominique]

Hong Kong (June 20-23, 2016)

I can’t believe that it’s almost been a year. I don’t want it to be a year just yet, I want the memories to be so vivid that it feels like it just happened a week ago. It was my first to travel outside of the country, and oh how I want to do it again and again. I want to learn about people, their culture, their food... All these landmarks... All these places that people create memories in. I only wish to be motivated enough to finally find a job and earn so much money that I can get to travel as much as I want. With that being said, here is my Hong Kong experience.

After my graduation and after Kuya finally finished his thesis, papa was happy enough to take is to Hong Kong. He paid for kuya, Layne, mama’s, and my airplane ticket, Disney ticket, and accommodations ticket. On that day, uncle Jay was home from Australia. It’s so weird to think, because uncle Jay went home last Christmas, and it just shows that this HK trip happened months and months ago. Anyway, uncle Jay was home and uncle Alvin and his kids were at home that day. Uncle Alvin is going to be driving us to the airport at... I can’t even remember, I think 1 in the morning. I didn’t get to sleep at all! We were so early that we lounged around and ate some snacks for a few hours. It was so weird! My last plane ride was during my 3rd year in High School, but our Cathay Pacific plane ride now was so much better, and so much comfortable. I sat beside mama, and I started taking videos of our experience then. Cathay had all the best music: from Charlie Puth to Demi Lovato! And also, I used the lavatory because papa told us to. Haha. So with zero sleep, I felt like I was floating by. We rode some sort of a train, rented a pocket WiFi, and looked for our travel agency guide, Randy. We were grouped with fellow Filipinos and a lot of Arab people. We were dropped of at our hotel- Rambler Garden Hotel, and mama talked to some Filipino people that already went to Hong Kong before. We waited SOOOO long to be checked in, that we roamed around at the basement level of the hotel to see a 7-11 store, the Park n Shop grocery,  We were supposed to go with them to Madaam Tussauds, and ride with them at the shuffle that the hotel provided, but we left our room too late. We decided to buy some snacks at 7-11, and then we rode a taxi (100 HK dollars for a 20-minute ride) to Tsim Sha Tsui. 

On our first day, we just roamed around and promised to return here on our free day. We bought some food at McDonald’s, yes! And then went back to the hotel- we had two rooms and Layne and I shared rooms, while kuya and mama shared another one. Since they get to keep the pocket WiFi, we stayed at their room up until before we slept.

The next day was a fun day! We went with a Filipino group to tour Victoria’s Harbour, a jewelry shop in Hong Kong- where a Filipino guy who speaks a different language would always hover around me!, a souvenir store (I think they tricked us because the food were really expensive there, but I got Carlos’ dad the Hopia that he liked, and the mirrors I bought were 4 for 100, when the store at our hotel sold mirrors for 7 for 100!!! I only found out about that later that night), and to this boat place- that mama decided we ride even if we spent 60 HK dollars per person and it was a short boat ride. It was still a good experience though! And, while showing us around, Randy made me stand up at the bus, and he called me beautiful, “ a future beauty queen”! Haha! I made sure that Carlos knows that. The best part was when we went to Hong Kong Ocean Park. Only 3 groups of people went there, alongside a Filipino couple who we got to talk to. :)  Ocean Park was loads of fun. We ate lunch even if the the food was expensive, at one of the stalls there. We road the cable car- and we were ALL scared, especially kuya. And we saw so many animals!!! The penguins and the pandas were the cutest of all. We weren’t able to watch the sea lion show though, but the sharks and the jellyfishes were really pretty. There were a lot of rides, too, but we didn’t ride any because we easily get dizzy. This was a really beautiful place, although it was very tiring because we walked around the entire day! At nighttime, we went to Park n Shop and 7-11 to  buy some more snacks! A 24-pc Ferrero pack was on sale for only 60 dollars at 7-11 so we loaded up on that, I bought 2. Layne bought 2. Mama bought 2. And kuya bought 3!!!

On our third day, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland for the entire day!!! It was so hot there! Mama bought a cap for herself, but it was so hot that I was getting grumpy, so she bought one, too. We took pictures a lot and tried to look for places that had air conditioners on- like the shops, where mama almost had a fight with a Chinese woman who cut to the front of the line, and the Lion King show (which was really beautiful!). Before that, we had lunch at the rocketship/spaceship-themed restaurant, and I ordered a two-piece chicken with rice. It wasn’t that good, but it was really expensive! We also went to take pictures with the Disney characters- we spent the entire day waiting in line for picture- I got a bad sunburn because the shirt was really tight! But we got to take pictures with Donald Duck, Zootopia characters, Sofia the First, and Mickey and Minnie. We got badly sun burnt for the Mickey and Minnie line because it was soooo long! For the Zootopia characters, we were originally in line for Chip and Dale, but the couple before us, the guy to be exact, decided to punch one of the mascots!!! The couple quickly left the scene and guards were suddenly all over the place looking for them. Anyway, we saw Pluto, Goofy, and Elsa, but didn’t get to take pictures with them. My dream was to meet the handsome Flynn Rider, but we never saw them. The Disney princesses, aside from Elsa, weren’t around the time that we visited. We joined the afternoon parade, and I felt like a Disney character being one of the people at the front. Lol. And then we had some overpriced snacks at the Disney Bakery- I had a chocolate croissant with crushed pistachios. We bought several drinks throughout the day, too, because it was extremely hot. I noticed my sun burn in the afternoon, and decided to change into a different, more loose shirt. It was a green sequins top that reminds me of the Little Mermaid. We walked around the entire day- and no, no rides yet again. (I will definitely try and ride some rides the next time, THERE IS A NEXT TIME, I go there). We watched the Disney Paint the Night parade at around 7:30, and mama again almost fought with an old woman that tried to steal our spots while waiting for the fireworks show. We then watched the Disney in the Stars fireworks show, and I greeted Carlos an early birthday in one of the videos I shot. I kept on sending him videos of the fireworks. By the way, the internet connection in Ocean Park and Disneyland was soooo fast! When it came to an end by 9 PM, we half heartedly went home. It was tiring, but I really enjoyed it. We were sooooo tired, but we still went down to buy snacks at Park n Shop. We bought these really delicious cherries, and a lot of different candies and snacks (Almond Roca for 2 for 10, Kinder, Snickers, and this mentos/chupa chups 40 pcs pack for only 11 dollars). I also bought these Oreo wafers at 7-11 for only 11 dollars! We ate at Cafe de Coral at the basement floor of the hotel that night. We were supposed to keep the WiFi that night because tomorrow was Carlos’ birthday and I wanted to greet him on midnight, but it turns out that we used up all of our 5 GB data. So Layne and kuya accompanied me to the lobby, so I can greet Carlos via Facetime. Hehe. That night also, Layne and I realized that the cleaners took our towels, so I had to call to get some towels, and panicked because we thought that we would be asked to pay for it- it was 100-200 dollars per towel! Fortunately, we weren’t asked to pay. 

Our last day was sad! First of all, I realized how dark I got! I hated my pictures with my black jacket on, because I was so dark!!! We returned to Tsim Sha Tsui after checking out at the hotel - we left our luggage there as well. We had lunch at KFC, it was soooo good, and the line was sooo long. We walked around a lot to look for kuya’s shoes, but he didn’t buy any. We looked at Giordano and another store, and the clothes were so inexpensive, because they had a sale around this time of the year- plus 10% discount on your birthday month and it was kuya’s birthday month. HAHA. So they bought a lot, and I bought Carlos a 60-dollar hat from Giordano! So we returned to look at the malls- we bought pasalubong face masks from one of the stores along the strip, and we went to H&M!!! nd we went inside a mall where Kuya bought a G-Shock watch.We returned to H&M and again, it was so inexpensive! Layne bought 2 shoes, and because I was a cheap girl, I only bought one boots- but it’ the best and it’s my favorite!, for 150 HK dollars. I bought a couple shirt for Carlos and I, too, for  60 HK dollars. We were getting late, and taxi drivers won’t stop for us- they don’t like tourists, mama panicked. We eventually had to ride a taxi cab that made us pay 200 dollars for the short trip- he was very rude. We arrived on time. Got to the airport, said goodbye to our WiFi, ate dinner at Cafe de Coral one last time because we still had coupons (coupons are from the travel agency) and walked around. We bought some Starbucks and a couple of Big Macs from McDonalds, before boarding at around 9 pm. Mama and Layne slept the entire ride, but I chose to watch Zootopia. Hehe. Note: We sat at the middle seat next to a Pinay this time, and kuya sat across us. This is where our trip ends. The best days and most memorable trip of my life so far. :) Uncle Jay and Uncle Alvin met us at the airport, and we were all so sleepy, I zonked out immediately. 

Hong Kong is such a beautiful and clean place, I would definitely want to return here someday soon! There were a lot of rude Chinese people, but I guess that comes with territory. Again, I love the place and the food and the culture that I got to experience here, and I hope to never forget all that has happened while I was here. 

Link to my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8_DfFr1gMY

[anxiousheart4]

Looking for a Lifeline!

I know it's been a while since I’ve posted in my own words, in fact it's been almost a year, I’m sorry for that. I’ve always been terrible at keeping up with journaling, so why would I think blogging would be any different? Lol. 

If you haven’t noticed, I am a fan of TWLOHA and its message to everyone. I've always followed them, and they mean a great deal to me. So I hope in my absence, you’ve enjoyed the posts of theirs I've been sharing.  🙂

Anyways, I don’t have any really good excuse for while I haven’t posted for a long while  (well I do between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, but not since then), and I even got a new laptop this year, that works SOOOO much better then my old, glitchy, slow ass one; so not having a computer can’t be my excuse. And I've had a lot of free time this Summer, so I can’t even say I was busy either. Basically no excuse, but I’m back; so lets catch up.

So, between Thanksgiving and Christmas I was working 4 jobs!

-Mon-Fri 8am-4pm at an office job that I hated.

-Sat & Sun at the Zoo taking kids photos with Santa

-And then Mon-Fri nights, I switched between working at my local GameStop, and helping at my other local Zoo taking Santa photos as well.

The office job I was working was doing bookkeeping at a nursing home. I met some nice residents there, and some mean ones. I met some nice co-workers, and some I didn’t quite get along with. There was 3 other girls in my office. 

One was extremely nice and helpful, and patient with trying to teach me, I got along with her quite well. I would actually have conversations with her, and it felt like she did want to get to know me. 

Another was the Boss’ wife, and she was nice and all, but also very intimidating, and she never made me feel welcomed; she would be having a conversation with the other 2 girls, but as soon as I tried to join the conversation it was like “we got to get back to work” and the conversation stopped. 

And the last girl, I would have thought I would have gotten along with her so well, we have the same taste in music and tv shows, I was like oh yay we can bond! NOPE! I did everything she gave me to do, and asked me to do and it was never good enough, or fast enough, or competent enough, or just enough. She made me feel like a complete failure! And unless she needed me for something, it was like I didn’t even exist! She would go out for lunch, and ask the other 2 girls in the office if they wanted her to bring back anything, and she never even looked my way and asked me once, never! Seriously the best days at work were when she didn’t come in for some reason or another.

Besides the one girl, no one else ever tried to make me feel welcomed in the office, I spent 6 months of my life feeling like an outcast at work, looking for a lifeline, just trying to survive. Apparently the girls in the office went out after work and hung out together, not like I was ever invited to join and get to know them. Instead I went to the movie theater next to work where a friend of mine was a manager and would stop in to see her or go see a movie all by myself. The only time I was ever invited out with them was when they would go to lunch for someones birthday, and still I think that was mostly because every one split the bill evenly except the birthday girl (which I do approve of), so it was a little less money for everyone else. Only the one girl made me feel like I was actually welcomed, otherwise I just listened to their conversations, cause no one seemed to wanna include me. And Surprise Surprise! They never did anything for my birthday! They do all this stuff for the employees birthdays, bring in breakfast, go out to lunch, decorate their office, etc. all I got was a generic card they did for everyone “Happy Birthday from ’The Companies Name’”.

I think one thing that can make even the worst job in the world bearable, is your co workers. I’ve had some terrible jobs, but I had some awesome co workers, so I didn’t dread going to work as much everyday because I got to see them. Safe to say, most of my coworkers there never made me feel like a coworker, a friend, or anything else. I went to work everyday dreading the next 8 hours of my life. When I got let go, I never even said good bye to any of the other people who worked I the building, I only said good bye to the nice one in my office and that’s it. So the ONLY things I liked about the job, was that I got to sit down to work, and the money, oh the money! I miss the money soo bad! But the job gave me SOOO much stress and anxiety, idk if it was worth the money. 😞

Although, I was able to buy my new computer, a MacBook Air, and I have wanted a MacBook since I was in high school, I just could never afford it.

My other jobs, were pretty good, only minor complaints. But I LOVED my coworkers at the other 3 jobs! The biggest complaint was that I had no time to myself because I was so busy.

Gamestop was cool, after only being there for a couple weeks they interviewed me for a supervisor position, they believed I was competent enough! The only reason I didn’t take it, was cause I got the office job, and I couldn’t turn down the money (though now I wish I hadn’t, it would have saved me soo much stress and anxiety). So I stayed seasonal, so when the holiday season was over, my employment was over there. 

The one Zoo I worked at during the week, I've worked at for years now, and I love it, and the guys who play Santa are sooo nice, I get some really nice guests, and 90% of the time everything goes smoothly, and I actually hang out with my coworkers outside of work! 

The other Zoo I worked at Sat & Sun was pretty much the same as the first Zoo, I love my co workers, and actually hang out with them outside of work. The big complaint about that Zoo, was the guy who played Santa. HE WAS AN ASSHOLE! He had an opinion on everything, and had a problem with how we run our business, and he wouldn’t even let the kids tell him what they wanted for Christmas. We told him we wanted to get a picture of the kids talking to him, and he would tell the kids to “look at him and PRETEND to tell him what they wanted” and then as soon as I took the photo, even if the kid was in the middle of something he would just kick the kid off his lap and move on to the next family. I’m sorry, but if I had kids, I would definitely NOT want them to go see that Santa! I don’t see how so many people line up to see him, and he’s been Santa at the Zoo for years! How has he not lost the Zoo business! But I still like my job, so I'm going back again this year! Lol

Anyways, so that was my holidays, as were coming up to another holiday, lol.

After the holidays, and my busy schedule, I went to Arizona and Mexico for 10 days, and it was AMAZING and relaxing, with only a few hiccups. Like an all inclusive resort without free wifi! What is that? I was gonna use wifi to check in with family back home, but that didn’t happen! And the the room was falling apart, and one of our rooms had bugs in it, and maids didn’t clean very well, like wtf kind of resort was this? But besides that, I got to see and hang out with my sister from another mister who lives in AZ and I don’t get to see often. We went line dancing, which was FANTASTIC! I got to spend my 29th birthday in Mexico, Florida, and AZ + flying over the states between! And with the time difference my birthday lasted 26 hours instead of 24! And I didn’t think about work once during the whole trip until they day I had to come back, and it was because I didn’t wanna come back and go to work!

WOW this is getting long, I'm sorry, only a couple more topics I need to talk out. Its been a very stressful year!

Well after I lost the office job, I've been pretty much Ubering for money, and not making too much of it. But all summer I got to spend weekends going to Bridal/Baby Showers, Weddings and family parties, which I've never really gotten to do before (well besides the weddings, I've never missed a family wedding), so that was awesome! And the weekends we didn’t have an parties, I went up north to my family’s summer home, which my parents just got about 2 years ago, and I’ve barely been able to go before. Which is soo much fun! Ice cream socials, the pool, bonfires, drinking games, bar hoping out on the boat! Nothing about it isn’t fun! So YAY!

If you remember, last November I moved in with my 93 year old grandma with dementia. This experience has been stressful. She spends her days trying to call her mother and grandmother, who are at the cemetery; pacing around the house; she puts dirty dishes in the dishwasher away and washes clean dishes twice; she sets the air conditioning and heat up to 80 degrees, I swear she’s trying to kill me. Its very hard, but I love her, and I love that I get this time to spend with her. And thank god for my mom who is only a call away to help with grandma when my anxiety is through the roof and I can’t deal with her atm, I wouldn’t survive this without her!

This week is going to try me though. I’m staying home all week with grandma, because she just had surgery. She had skin cancer on her nose, and they had to remove it. She’s fine, but she has a bandage on her nose that she isn’t suppose to take off, and yet she does like every time I look away, she’s not supposed to irritate it by touching it or blowing her nose, but she tries to blow her nose every 5 mins. And she’s suppose to sit down and relax with her head back so it doesn’t start bleeding again, I swear she won’t stay sitting if her life depended on it. Ill probably write more about living with her at a later date, but Ill leave it to that now. 

Lastly, while I was sitting down writing the blog post, I got a call that just devastated me. My grandma on my other side, has been having some health issues the last week and it has not been looking good, I was going to go see her tomorrow night. Well my mom called me to let me know that she passed away tonight. She was 82 years old, and though she would technically be my step-grandma, she was the only one I ever knew on that side, and I loved her just the same. My dads mom died of tuberculosis probably about a decade before I was born, but my grandpa remarried an amazing woman, and some of my extended family had trouble accepting her (the cousins opinions, usually based on their parents, who probably thought she was trying to take their mothers place, like some kids react to a step mom), but I always saw her as grandma. What kills me is the last time I saw her, I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye! It was my cousins wedding at the beginning of October, and even though I talked to her during the wedding, when she left that night, I was out on the dance floor or somewhere, and didn’t know she was leaving, so I never said goodbye. And now I'll never have the chance too!! I know she knew I loved her, and though her body was deteriorating, her mind was still has sharp as ever! She was a sweetheart! And my sister and I kept saying we were going to go visit her and bring her dinner, or watch the Blackhawks game with her, and as much as we said it, we barely ever went, and I really wish we had! She was an amazing woman and I’m so happy I got to call her Grandma, but I’m going to regret not spending more time with her when I could, especially near the end! When my Grandpa died, over 15 years ago, I had actually seen him the week before, and gave him a hug and kiss goodbye before I left. Plus he died 2 days after Christmas, and he used to give all the grand children $10 for Christmas (there was 29 of us at the time so for him that was still a lot of money), so I had gotten one last Christmas present from him, which I never spent. I have $10 just sitting in a jewelry box, because nothing ever seemed important enough to spend it on. And after he died I was given his guitar, which I still cherish! I fear I won’t have nothing but 1 picture with my grandma to remember her by. Its going to be hard to say goodbye!  😭

So since its 2 am, and I've been holding back tears while I've been writing this post, and my anxiety and depression will probably be bad this week, I think its time for me to go to bed. Sweet Dreams sweet readers!

[yungtal333]

Hey gyals,

Welcome back to Roseconnexa for another blog post.

How are you feeling today? 

Before we continue; we should take a moment to center ourselves.

Focus on your breath and release any tension in you shoulders. 

Alright now..

Today’s topic is about some of my travel experiences.

I’m giving you guys my Top 5 Places to Travel.  

If you’re looking for a dope vacation spot for the summer; then this is the right post for you.

Traveling is definitely a hobby of mine. I try to travel as often as I can.

And, when I do, I like to emerge myself in the moment and in the culture.

I talk tons of pictures of course but I do it for the purpose of keeping memories.

I try to stay off my phone as much as I can while on vacation too.

So, traveling to another country works for me because I usually don’t have service unless I’m on Wifi.

Attending a Caribbean medical school; gave me the great opportunity to actually live in another country.

I lived  in Anguilla for almost two years. And, Anguilla is definitely on my top 5 list.

Now, I get to travel with my fiance!

His football journey has allowed us to move to Richmond, Va and now to West Virginia.

We love the experience, because we get to see new places. And, we get to travel with each other.

I couldn’t imagine sharing this journey with anyone else.

AND, when I pass my exams; we will have to move to Chicago. I literally can not wait for that!

Okay enough of all that… let me gave you guys what ya came for.

Here’s my Top 5 Places to Travel this summer. 

Anguilla

    Anguilla is my #1 place to travel.

Anguilla is a small Caribbean island that’s located next to St. Maarten.

It has some of the world’s most gorgeous beaches.

The local people are so nice. The local food is delicious and fresh.

Anguilla should really be on everyone’s bucket-list!

Living in Anguilla; I got to experience the culture, the beaches and, really the Caribbean way of life all together .

I LOVED living there.

I love Anguilla so much that I plan on getting married there in Februrary of next year.

This summer, my fiance and I are planning to take a trip to Anguilla ourselves.

We have to officially start the wedding planning process.

YES, a destination wedding in Anguilla. Sounds like a fairy-tale to me. Thank you Hubby!

My favorite thing to do while in Anguilla is of course to, hit the beach.

Anguilla has sooo many beaches to choose from. It’s pretty ridic.

Most of them have bars and restaurants too! So, you’ll be great hands.

The resorts on Anguilla are something spectacular. And, the villas OMG! My favorite would have to be the Four Seasons. Which is on one of Anguilla’s most popular beaches; Meads Bay.

I experienced so much in Anguilla. This blog would be way to long if I kept going on about it. So, I’ll save the rest for another blog post.

But, to sum everything up; Anguilla is one of my favorite places in the world.

It’s a small island with a lot to do. The beaches are breathtaking and to die for. The locals are welcoming and there are so many great restaurants to dine at. There are two islands around; that you can visit too while spending time in Anguilla.

It can be a little expensive but it is so worth it. You can get some great pictures in Anguilla too.

And, better yet you can get some much-needed rest.. if the chickens permit.

If you want to have some real fun; visit Anguilla during carnival week. Their carnival is during the first week of August. When I tell you that its way too lit!!

I never seen so many people on the island before attending Anguilla’s carnival. You will have the time of your life. Trust me.

Belize

  My fiance and I, got to visit Belize during a seven day cruise for his birthday.

We absolutely fell in love with the island.

Well, Belize is actually a mainland that’s on the east coast of Central America.

Spending one day in Belize was not enough. We def plan to visit Belize again.

Maybe for our honeymoon or something! We shall see.

There is literally so much to do in Belize.

Things like visiting the Mayan ruins, ziplining, and ATV tours.

My fiance and I didn’t have a lot of time to do everything so, we just stuck to cave tubing.

Funny enough; we actually thought that we choose a tour that would take us to the Mayan ruins.

But, caving tubing worked out for the better because it was so HOT.

And, cave tubing was cool asf. In both temperature and in sights.

We didn’t try any local food but we were able to eat local fruits and plants. Which were very delicious, I might add.

Overall, I think Belize is a great place to travel to because it is huge!

And, there is so much to do and see. Even while just driving around we saw so much.

Our tour guide was really great too.

I literally can’t wait to go back.

St. Kitts & Nevis

  It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t put my dad’s home country on my top 5 list.

St.Kitts & Nevis is actually pretty close to Anguilla. On a good day, you can see St.Kitts from Anguilla. It’s quite cool.

I have visited St.Kitts (SK) so many times throughout my life.

Nevis is a sister island that is literally right next door. I’ve visited there I think only once for their carnival. It was SOOO fun.

I love SK because it is literally home to me. I first visited when I was 9 months old.

And, growing up we would visit at least once a year. We would stay for a month or two!

One of the best experiences I can remember in SK is when, my family and I climbed through the volcano.

Yes a VOLCANO, you guys. It was about the coolest thing that I have ever done.

We climbed to the top and had lunch on a ledge at top of the volcano (where lava spits out at). Don’t worry though, the volcano is dormant! We were safe but, not safe from the monkey’s who decided to throw half eaten banana at us.

That adventure inside the tropical rainforest and through the volcano took all day! And, after, we all slept like babies. It was a big deal hike. A hike that I would do again and again if I could.

SK is truly a beautiful and upcoming place. So much to do and see. And, the local is amazing.

SK has a cool downtown area which is usually busy during the day. They even have a movie theater there (well last time I went they did!).

When we visit we usually stay at our family home. The home my father and his siblings grew up in.

But, I have stayed at the Marriott Resort in SK. It’s beautiful and very private. And, great place to stay on vacation!

Like my Anguilla experiences; I could keep going on and on. But, I’m keeping it short for the sake of my hands and for you guys.

I will have another post about that’s all St. Kitts in the future. So please stay tuned.

Overall, SK is one country that you have to see in this life.

The culture and the land is beautiful beyond words.

And, having monkeys throw stuff at you or steal your alcoholic beverages is a just plus!

Toronto

  Toronto is probably one of the coolest cities that I’ve gotten the chance to visit.

The city is so inspiring and they have legalized medical marijuana. So, that’s a big plus!

I didn’t have a lot of time in the city. But, I got to see so many cool things.

I took a picture of the CN tower but unfortunately I cannot find it. BOOO!

Toronto is such an artsy city. It almost reminds me of Philadelphia in a way.

It’s a great city to visit; especially during Caribana.

When I visited Toronto; Caribana had just ended.

But, trust that I got the festival vibes.  There were decorations still hanging up around the city. So, that was pretty cool to see.

If you go in during the summer; be prepared for some serious heat though.

And, find this place called Graffiti Alley.

Graffiti Alley has some killer killer artwork.

I took so many pictures of all the creative pieces. They still inspire me to this day!

I also saved a Canadian five dollar bill as a souvenir. Their money is super cool.

St. Lucia

  Oh St. Lucia, how I love you so.

St. Lucia is one of the most greenest islands that I have ever experienced.

It also has so many mountains. Like the famous Piton Mountains.

I went to St. Lucia with four of my classmates.

We decided that after our hardest semester of medical school; that we would take a seven-day cruise around the Caribbean.

It was a great experience to say the least.

We miss cruise!

While in St. Lucia, we did so many things.

We went to the Sulphur Springs to indulge in super hot volcano water and a mud bath.

When I tell you that that water was HOTTTTT. But, it felt sooo good beyond good.

Definitely visit the mud baths while you’re in St. Lucia.

We also took a tour around the island.

We stopped on the side of the road a couple of times too.

Once to take pictures with snakes and some locals.

And, another time to try banana flavored foods; like banana ketchup!

It was surprisingly really good (in my opinion). I bought some home for my family to try!

St. Lucia is known for their banana industry in fact

There are so many banana farms; it’s actually kind of crazy.

The adventure in St. Lucia were truly unforgettable.

I hope to visit again one day. I need a week vacation there. That would be LIFE.

There you have it loves.

My Top 5 favorite places that you should definitely visit this summer.

If you want more information about any of the places on my Top 5 List; then please contact me. 

You can write me, DM me or comment in the section below!

I want to help you reach your travel goals.

I have been to more places than the ones I’ve listed today too.

So, if you are interested in me sharing more of my travel experiences then COMMENT IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW.

I’ll definitely be sharing more about Anguilla and my experience while living on the island as a Caribbean medical student.

I also want to share more about my experiences growing up and being blessed and able to visit St. Kitts every year.

So, STAY TUNED!!

Thank you for reading this far. You’re support means the world to me.

As always dolls,

If you like this post—->

Like it,

share it,

comment below

and, follow my Blog!

You Can Also Follow Me on Social Media:

Twitter: @roseconnexa

Instagram: @troiiiii_

Tumblr: @roseconnexa

Until next time….

Stay Happy, Grateful and Aware. xoxo

With love,

Troi. 

  Travel Blog: Top 5 Places You Should Travel To This Summer (With Pictures) Hey gyals, Welcome back to Roseconnexa for another blog post. How are you feeling today?  Before we continue; we should take a moment to center ourselves. 1,896 more words

[steamishot]

Costa Rica

It’s been a long while since I flew on a plane alone. The last time I believe was to Taipei 4 years ago. Needless to say, I was kinda nervous going to Costa Rica by myself. 

The plan was to meet my cousin (from Paris, flying in from New York) and her friend and friend’s mom (coming from El Salvador) in Costa Rica on Wednesday morning, August 1st. My stupidass bought a red eye plane ticket back in April for Tuesday 12:40am thinking that my flight would be a Tuesday night flight. On Monday morning, I checked my email to see that Delta had already sent me an email to check in. Hmm, this is kind of early I thought. Then I silently freaked out at my office desk when I realized what I had done. I immediately called Delta and tried to change my flight but they were going to charge me the ticket difference of $600 -___-. I said fuck it and decided the best thing was just to go there a day earlier, even though it meant I had to request another day off of work and be alone my first day. Sooo, I dreaded asking my boss because asking for the 3 days off was already hard to do, given that I’ve only been at the job for a month and a half. I explained the situation and he was super chill about it. That was done and I booked my Airbnb. After work, I went home, ate, did laundry, showered, packed and headed to LAX. 

Plane flew out at 12:40am, arrived at 7:30am. My Airbnb hosts were a married couple- light skinned and light haired Costa Rican woman and Jamaican Costa Rican man. The lady offered me to pick me up at the airport for $5. I was worried that it was going to be a difficult process but the airport was really small and there wasn’t a way to get lost. Luckily, I also had WiFi. The pick up went by super smoothly; I texted her as I exited the airport building and she was there 10 minutes later. She sent me a picture of her car and I sent her a picture of me. Because it was really early, the restaurants weren’t open yet. She asked if I wanted to eat at Walmart and of course I said no because... I ain’t tryna eat at Walmart in Costa Rica. She said okay and brought me to a pastries shop instead ^^. After that, we went back to her home and I got settled in and ended up taking a long nap since I didn’t sleep well during the flight. 

After I woke up, I went downstairs to meet the husband. Oh, I should mention that the lady didn’t speak much English (and I don’t speak much Spanish) but the husband did. Anyway, I was just sitting around and chatting with him a little, purposely waiting there for him to offer to take me to the nearby city mall because I didn’t want to walk there myself. He was super friendly and offered me and told me that he’d take me to exchange money and that there was a food court at the mall as well. We walked together and I got to know him a bit more. He said I can spend time walking around the mall and whatnot and walk back myself later. I said no no no sir! And that I wanted to walk back with him! (I noticed that there weren’t many petite girls walking by themselves and really did not want to risk it). The currency exchange was good but I was disappointed in the choices at the food court. It was just a lot of American chain restaurants like Quiznos, KFCs, Hooters, etc. He recommended a restaurant near his home. So, we went there. I ordered food and paid with my newly exchanged colones, not knowing how much I’m actually paying. When we went back, I calculated my meal to be around $22. In my mind, I was thinking WTF I must have calculated wrong. But, I found that this was true and that Costa Rica is ridiculously expensive and I will not be going back. LOL. 

Long story short, traveling solo (especially to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language) is always an adrenaline rush and memorable. My first day there reminded me of my experience in Taipei, where I was scared, but fortunate to encounter really nice hosts/people to make me feel safe and welcomed. Couldn’t have asked for a better start to my trip. 

[lanalcole-blog]

Day 1

Thankfully we finally we’re able to head over the mountains. The pass wasn’t too bad midday it was high 20’s and mostly just wet roads. There’s patchy snow on the ground and it’s lightly snowing here at our cabin. We are sooo happy to be here again. We haven’t been in Sunriver since we tried to spend Labor Day here last year but had to turn around once we got here because of the wildfires in the area.

Once we got here we took a walk through the outdoor mall area in Sunriver, picked up a few items we needed at the country store and headed back to our cabin. We’re staying in a Getaway Cabin in the Thousand Trails here in Sunriver. It is a membership park and my absolute favorite one! On the way back from the country store we spotted a coyote in the field behind the Little Deschutes River. I wish we could have pulled over to get a picture.

The kids have been a bit on edge since we got here. It was a long drive and they want to do everything fun all in the first day. Hoping tomorrow will be lots of fun for them. I am hoping to go to The High Desert Museum Monday.

  Let me introduce our two furry family members; Coco is our Lab-Bordercollie mix and our Yorkie- Dachshund mix, is Rio. They love to go camping with us, but Coco has a tendency to be a bit more anxious away from home. She’s always watching over us.

Monday morning we saw these four elk on our way to the coffee shop. By the time we pulled over and I ran out there, they were well on their way. But still very exciting to see. Hoping to see many more animals this week.

The wifi options here are sketchy at best for uploading photos, so I don’t know how often I will be posting over here or reading as it doesn’t really want to open things right away.

We are on our way out of the coffee shop and on to our next adventure…

Thanks for reading our post and showing interest in our family blog.

#Sunriveroregon, #vacation, #familytrip, #Springbreak, Elk, #nature, #thousandtrails, #colecampfireblog

          We Finally Made It To Sunriver Day 1 Thankfully we finally we’re able to head over the mountains. The pass wasn't too bad midday it was high 20's and mostly just wet roads.

[613526362]

My gum tissue is so eroded I have chronic pain in my mouth but it wouldn't be there if I was dead

8-9-2023 I've loved a lot of people. I've loved a few women. I've sacrificed for so many, for so much. But I truly, truly believe I've never been loved. Pandemos, who loved me of course, was over me in a minute. Maybe a second. Was at the gym on Facebook the next day and deleted our pics and got her brains fucked out a week later. While I was losing sleep and cutting my veins to bleed. I'm counting days and picking my death I leave 8-9-2023 I'm done telling you people No one fucking gets it 223 million views on a video of Montana in Africa for two days And a few of those clicks put $10,000 in an American rapper's pocket. 8-9-23 Eight nine twenty three. I've never been one to get tattoos. But I think if I had it put on my abdomen. I would see it and it would be a constant reminder - "You stupid fuck, if you got this shit tattooed on your body and don't do it, how will you feel about yourself??" I need to start planning it. Six years is enough. It has to be. It must. I'm not trying to get rich anymore. I can't wait for that. I'll be [redacted] soon. Six years. Six years I'll put up with your seductive money grabbers and sports highlights and potato chips and soulless soullessness. Put up with you not giving a fuck about anything but yourself and even doing a bad job of that. Your constant identity crisis in a country with no identity. Fuck you America, I'm not going somewhere more comfortable or safe But six years from now at least I'll be somewhere that is not completely devoid of purpose That is not completely soulless and empty Look into my eyes And you will not see this sick society 8-29-23 Enough years to finish medical school, and do a short residency. Not enough to repay loans. Not enough to get rich in business. Not enough for my father to die from his cancer. He's trying too hard to stay alive to see me become a rich doctor and marry a doctor-chasing model and and have pretty little white babies. 8-29-23 A 74 year old man looks back on half of his life's fruit and says, "Oh my god..... That wasn't a phase." Redacted Dr. K had just told me he had high titers of CMV and EBV when I realized I hadn't met the latest arrival of the clan of 20-year-old black lesbians who just walked in the room. So I went and met her. Way more confident than Gode's daughter. It did weird me out how she said "You're going to show me a good time" when she visits The Big City in a tone like it was a direct order, not a question. Before I'd met his daughter, Gode had talked to me about it as we drove to his office. "She had some bad experiences with guys. She's just so innocent, guys took advantage of her. I was thrilled when she told me she's dating a girl. You know why? A girl can't get her pregnant." That night I would masturbate three times to lesbian videos. I was running two or three a days since I was in the Magical State, feeling a bit on vacation. Feeling a bit like anything is possible. Also I had free wifi rather than the mobile hotspot shit from my phone that drains my monthly data. And the lightning you could see far off, across the water. It was beautiful in the evening and at night. Pandemos' home city, home state. I called her, at 5 on my day arrival. I didn't tell her I was a few hours away from her current nursing assignment at first. We just talked. Then I told her. She was mad. I explained. "I don't know if I can see you. I think you might put me under your spell again." "Oh my god, why do guys ALWAYS say that after we break up." She would remind me the next morning that it might work out for us to see each other. And the next day. My flight attendant is from The Big City. I know the accent now. I'm on the plane about to leave, and she still reminding me that I could have seen her, and should have let her know I was coming. She's one of the three girls who The Magical State brought to me while I was here. Gode had tried to hook me up with his assistant's Puerto Rican friend, but the next day we found out she was pregnant......and married So our trip to the Cheesecake Factory that night was a "hunting session" for Marshall, he told everyone. Sure enough, as we were all looking at menus, he came back from the bathroom and motioned for me to have a word with him back towards the bathroom. I told him I was scared of what was about to happen as we walked. "See you didn't believe that Gode got game. I got my mojo. I'm hooking my dog up." And the two girls whose meal he bought were actually quite pleased to chat with us. And the girl assigned to me liked me, and looked into my eyes, and let me touch her leg. And took my card happily. That kind of went on and on. And hours later as I was on top of my hotel (the construction they were doing was kind of creepy to walk through at night, but I loved it) looking out over the water, I knew she would text me the next day. Because I knew Gode had talked me up and a medical student and brilliant and great and he-would-have-me-date-his-daughterable. But what I didn't know was that when I went back down, the Russian (not Ukrainian, Marshall) front desk worked would tell me what time she got off. Considering I had also called the wrong Gabby and reconnected with an amazingly happy and pretty Asian girl that I would have amputated both fifth fingers in college to have dated..... Considering that, I guess I had four girls in three days. And then in the airport I realized a girl has never loved me And I started writing this I started writing 8-9-23 I wrote an email telling the guy who thinks he was appointed to take over my [redacted] back on the island that I'm coming in November to kick his ass out. CC'd the dean and the current lead. No matter how much love I can show a woman A woman will never love me I like white chocolate I like going to the zoo I like new shoes and I like turkey burgers because they make me feel healthy I like the picture of my dad looking at a squirrel I like being nice to people and surprising them like that I like rainy days and I like infomercials And a woman will never love me And a man will never understand me And I will not sit in this country and try to get rich and try to find love and try to believe I have anything here Goddamnit I will not stay here to give you any peace in your cancer filled intestines father who has always been there for me and deserves heaven And your attempts to impress me have succeeded Gode. I sucketh your dick. Maybe you will take my future. But 23 is coming. I must live life like hell is the earth's gift to me 8-9-23 "As we begin our final descent into the. Big City, look to your right and you'll have an incredible view of downtown." We fly over endless streets of warfare shortly thereafter. Streets filled with blood and murder. I guess I forgot to tell Gode that even though the population of Big City is massive, half that population is dying or killing and probably can't give him ROI. I think I should stop talking to Pandemos By the time I landed, all four girls were gone. My war has resumed 8-9-23 I walk in the door, expecting to be knocked down. I forgot to take the trash out before I left. My Lyft driver home was great. It was a curious situation where I had way more experience with rideshare than him, and he had way more experience with the city. We both had things to tell. One of his was that his girlfriend had applied for Big City Fire Department 15 years ago, and was just today receiving a settlement for extreme gender discrimination they had committed against her and four other women in the hiring process. I slept heavy on the plane. That doesn't happen much. I feel the stress coming back now that I'm here. I see the flashes of light sometimes. How it would feel to come home to a hug from someone who loves you. And then to shower and lie in bed and cuddle with them. How it would feel to have a little two-foot high child run up to your leg and squeeze when you walk in the door. God even a dog who's like "I'm SOOO glad you're back to feed me" would be something. So then, is it okay if I'm never truly loved, as long as I'm hugged, or leg grabbed, or urged to feed? Maybe feeling love from people is just mistaking people's need for you to satisfy their needs. The love I practice is different. It is sacrifice and dedication. 8-9-23 I'm going to rest my eyes now. I guess I'm home.

[sleepy-peachie]

Paris day II

We woke up around 7 am and lazily got dressed and had coffee downstairs in our hotel and ventured off to the subway station.  We woke up so early bc i wanted to look around a flea market in vanves and heard it was the best but i couldn’t get it to come up on the maps app to save my life.  But when we walked outside there was a farmers market right across the street from the block our hotel was on.  We walked around and looked at everything and i wish i’d have bought some strawberries but the prices weren’t clear a lot of the time and we didn’t want to ask so we just walked on to the metro.  We easily got to the station and easily walked onto the right train and then we just had to wait for our stop.  At this point i was like oh my god i can’t believe our professors let us go here by ourselves this was such a bad idea and i was so nervous but all the stops were lining up with expectations and around the 3rd stop we could see the eiffel tower out the window and it was amazing.  We walked out of the station and had a pretty easy time finding the trocadero and since we were there so early there weren’t too many people.  We Walked down closer to the tower and we saw so many couples getting engagement photos or wedding photos and it was precious.  The eiffel tower was a little overrated tbh but we didn’t get to go up in it since neither of us wanted to pay 30 euro and there was a huge crowd there.  

From the eiffel tower we walked on to the arc de triomphe and the champs elysee.  A lot of the stores had guards in front of them whcih was kind of freaky (but two days later someone did try to blow up their car in a terrorist attack so i guess it makes sens)  but even the mcdonalds had a guard and ariel couldn’t use the bathroom unless we bought something. We just went down the road to Quick and there was no guard and barely any people tbh and used their bathroom #lifehack

We stumbled upon Laduree, it was on our list but we hadn’t actively looked for it.  This store was adorable with it’s mint front and curly font and on the inside was sooo fancy with statues and they had a bar that looked pretty amazing and people were having breakfast on the other side of the tea house.  The sweets looked amazing too and we walked around inside for a little bit before we actually decided whether or not macarons would last this heat (86 F i think)  We did decide to go ahead and buy them because it was on both of our lists and i dont think we’d have made it back to the store.  I ended up getting the little round box/ case i wanted and got 6 macarons:  lavender, cognac, rose, licorice, strawberry and pistacchio.  They were all good but they were all sweet and I guess i prefer fruitier macarons but i’m still very glad we went.  We munched on them all day and i tried the lavender first and it was much better than i expected.  I picked the cookies more for the picture than the taste.  We also walked into a tea store right next to it and that turned out to be a pretty great decision.  ariel bought her sister some tea and i wish i had bought some too, it all smelled amazing especially this mint tea that ariel ended up buying.  I did buy a bottle of rapsberry mint tea though it was such a good decision since it was so hot and i couldn’t stop coughing.  We tried shopping for clothes but that was a mistake, we walked into one store and a shirt was 230 euro and Ariel just leans over and whispers “we need to get out of here” and we just fast walked right out the door.  Im’ sure the workers were like LOL.  We also went into the abercrombie since Sebastien had insisted on it and boy was he right.  You had to walk through this huge black and gold gate and guard and through this hedge trail to get to the giant black and gold doors to go in and nothing we looked at was under 75 euro.  I don’t understand why anyone would buy anything from there when you can go into any other abercrombie and get things cheaper.  so we walked around this labrynth until we found out how to leave and left.  

We got to the end of the champs elysee and i’m starting to get tired and my feet are starting to hurt so we sit down on a bench for a second to find our maps and get out of the sun and we were starting to get hungry for lunch since we didn’t really have breakfast yet only coffee.  We walked on to the louvre and took our pictures in front of it and around it and it was really cool to see in person and there were statues the whole walk there once we got out of the gardens.  

I have a thing for green statues i love them

We started walking on towards Notre Dame and found the cutest little cafe and they had french onion soup on their menu board so i’m like hell yeah.  The waiter was adorable, he pulled my chair out for me and and asked if he could have a macaron since he saw my laduree bag and just laughed to himself.  He was super nice and even brought us the wifi passwords without us asking. But it was near 90 degrees and i felt disgusting and sunscreeny so that was great.  This french onion soup was the best ting ever though it was sooo good and the bread in the basket was so good i made Ariel steal the leftovers in her purse.  

We shopped a little in the sephora and walked on to notre dame and it was sooo crowded.  the gardens were open though and my feet hurt sooo bad so we went and sat in the gardesn for a while.  Then walked along montmarte to see the art near the seine.  We had to use the bathroom pretty bad by this point and we could not find any public ones so we had to buy a water from some small italien restaraunt and that bathroom was a treat.  Looking through the art was really cool I really regrett not buying a poster.  They had anatomical posters and vintage newspapers that i really liked and i don’t know why i didn’t buy one.  Then we went down next to the seine again and each ate another macaron and i ate my bread (good decision)

From here we went on to the pantheon.  by the time we got there i had forgotten why we were even going to the pantheon and when i saw it i was even less impressed since it just looks like any big building.  But we did pay to go inside and see Marie Curie’s and Pierre Curie’s graves and we also saw victor hugo’s.  It was cool to say we’ve done that and we wondered if she was still radioactive.  After that we ate dinner at a crêperie and this was the best decision we made in terms of food the whole trip.  I got a ham and cheese crepe and a glass of sauvignon and the restaraunt itself was precious and we got a seat next to the open front of the restaraunt and the sun was going down so we had a great view all around us and the heat had calmed down a little bit and the crepes were made with buckwheat so Ariel was actually able to get one w/o worrying about gluten and they were both sooooo good.  Halfway through my wine though i was like oh my god i’m buzzed right now wtf.   I didn’t really think Ariel was feeling the wine last night i thought she’d just had weird expectations and tricked herself into thinking she was feeling it but nope i was definitely feeling a little spinny.  We came to the conclusion that it was because we were dehydrated so we got some water and just demolished it.  We were so thirsty, we walked 13 miles total on Saturday in the nearly 90 degree heat. and we didn’t get back to our hotel until about 8:30.  

I wanted to buy a bottle of wine for home and we were worried all the stores would be closed on sunday so we walked into a couple stores and I was kind of overwhelmed by it all and didn’t know what was good so I didn’t end up buying any.  but we did go back to the cafe/bar across the street for tea and wine again around nine.  this time I got the cheverny and i really liked it too.  

Also got some crazy tanlines on my chest now so thats cool.

[prettiestrice]

Jour 21: Lourdes, Part 2!!! Dimanche, 11 Juin 2017.

So I woke up today around 8:45. Sleep was so nice!! We went out and tried to find le petit dejeuner but since le francais don’t like to eat a lot there, it was literally not available anywhere. We ended up finding a cafe, and the owner gave me a croissant and a cappuccino, and Caroline a jambon sandwich. Legitimately it was the best cappuccino I’ve had in Europe! 

So then we walked over to the Shrine and went to pray the Way of the Cross High Stations. Basically they were stations of the cross life size going all the way up the mountain and back down. So we start walking and we get to the first station: Pilate Condemns Jesus to Die. Seeing stations on the walls of the church is one thing. Every Catholic church has em. Praying them is another thing, I’ve done that a couple times during Lent. But seeing a literally larger than life size version of Jesus getting condemned to death is one of the most terrifying and striking things in the entire world. He endured all this suffering for us!!! And now we are walking up a mountain just to pray. 

The first station had a sign that said “Scala Sancta. Please go up on your knees”. Some people literally climb this mountain on their knees. Caroline asked why anyone would want to do that and I tried to explain it as best I knew how and that was: Jesus endured all this suffering for us. Literally was hung on the cross by 4 nails. He had to carry his backbreaking cross up the mountain in the middle of the desert and then get crucified on it. Going up on our knees would only be a fraction of the pain that Jesus felt. A tiny, tiny fraction. A little bit of pain is a reminder as to what he did and how we can never repay him so why not go up on your knees? I didn’t today but if I ever went back, I would want to. Just wow. 

By the second station, we caught up with a group of probably 20 people who were from Texas. One was a priest, there were 16 old ladies, and then 3 young kids (two boys & a girl) who were probably 14, 16, and 18. The priest was explaining the station and Caroline and I listened and we decided to stay with them and pray so we didn’t walk up alone. Caroline felt bad for us, like, interrupting but honestly old Catholic people’s favorite thing is young Catholic people. They were overjoyed that we were with them. At every station, the priest explained what was happening and occasionally asked for what we thought about it. The one that struck me most was at Station 4: Jesus meets his mother, Mary. The priest asked the women what they thought about everything and the one responded something like “Mary is seeing Jesus and although she is crying, she is not screaming or trying to attack the guards or trying to help him. Because she understands that this is what he is meant to do and she understands that there comes a time when you have to let your child go and just watch them. And as parents that is the hardest thing in the world to do but we have to do it eventually and so seeing Mary do this is so sad but also so inspiring for so many reasons.” I can’t even imagine what being a mother is like. I can’t imagine how much love my mom has for me or my sisters have for their children. But I can feel how much love I have for Julia, William, Isabella, and Cecilia and I know that moms is more than that. It must physically hurt to love that much. I can’t even imagine it. 

We said Our Fathers between some of the stations. Since all of the ladies were from Texas, some of them were from Mexico and so they spoke Spanish and at some of the stations, they explained it in Spanish. Caroline VERY much appreciated this! I was so happy for her! 

When they asked us where we were from and Caroline said Puerto Rico, one of the boys who were probably 18 or 19, turned around really fast and said “You’re from Puerto Rico?!” It was adorable. His eyes lit up and it was as if he fell in love with her right then and there. 

We did all the stations. The one at the very top of the hill, as expected, was Jesus being crucified. It was so tall and so scary. They even had the two men on either side of him who were being crucified too. 

We walked down the other side and there were still some left. Another one that struck me was Station 14: Jesus is placed in the tomb. At that station, it was just a rock wall with a circular stone in front of it and something carved off to the side in the stone in Latin. But around it were trees and grass and stuff since we were on the mountain. But in the trees and around in the grass and all over the rocks were dozens and dozens and dozens of rosaries. It had to have been close to a hundred thousand. An absolutely insane number of rosaries. Everywhere. 

 At the end of the mountain on the path to go back down, we said goodbye to our new friends who stopped and talked to us for a while. Asking who we were, where we’re from, etc etc more details. They loved having us. They asked us to take a picture with their kids. It was so sweet. The one older lady asked me what I wanted to do after graduation and I told her I didn’t know and she said that was okay and how her kids changed their minds many, many times before they found a permanent job. They also mentioned to us how we could come and stay in the hospital there and volunteer to help the patients and everyone. I could see myself doing that. That sounds so great. Like after they mentioned that, I wanted to do it really really badly!!! 

After stations it was around noon and everything closed from 12:30-2 for lunch so we went and got ourselves lunch and walked around town for a bit. On the way back, we saw that boy who was in love with Caroline again. It was cute because he was so happy to see us! 

We walked over to see about the baths but the line was very long so we decided against it. So we walked across the river to the Candles. There were probably 8-10 little black stations set up with places to hold about 100 candles each. People would buy candles or bring them over to light them with special prayer intentions. Sometimes, the persons candle would even say their special intention. Like with a picture of someone who died or something written on it. Because of the 90 degree heat, a lot of the candles were bent over and melting.

Then we went into the church of Saint Bernadette which was half closed off because of a concert but I prayed in their for a minute. There were so many chapels!!!! Woo!!

Then we decided to go to some of the Bernadette museums. First was specifically a museum on her life. It told the story of the apparitions and her life. In Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, there are like 100 windows. 10 of which contains the story of Bernadette. In the museum, a recreation of the windows was made so you could read along information about what the windows told. Pendant the first pilgrimage to Lourdes, which happened like when Bernadette was still like 12, they made a flag with the Virgin on it. They had that flag in the museum. They also had Bernadette’s prayer book and her dress which had flowers that she embroidered herself on it. 

Then we walked over to Bernadette’s first family home. The original house burned down but they recreated it perfectly to how it was when she lived there. It was a mill house with a mill in the basement where her dad worked. It had 2 beds, a kitchen, etc. 

There was a blue line going all around the town which was like a “life of Bernadette” line. If you followed it, it showed her home (above), her second home which was a one-bedroom home when he family was poor, the Parish church of Lourdes, and the Hospice where went to school. 

After this house, we passed something else that was related but it cost 2 Euro to get in and I didn’t know what it was so we didn’t. We had seen the Parish church the day before when we were wandering, so we didn’t follow that way. We ended up going back for mass at the St. Joseph’s chapel. It was in French which was cool but I missed having a book to follow along like I do at my church in Paris. 

After mass, we walked back to look at the grotto for a minute. It seemed very badly like there was a storm coming. Lots of clouds and wind. I filled up 10 bottles with holy water from the grotto (we saw Caroline’s boyfriend again - he stood right next to us at the tap). I got to drink and wash my face and hands in water from the Grotto!!!!! What a dream! 

Then Caroline waited outside while I went into the Rosary Basilica and prayed. I prayed 4 rosaries and gave each decade a special intention. I was able to pray the Glorious and the Joyful at their specific places. It was awesome because I said each decade while kneeling down in front of each mystery. It was sooo cool! They wouldn’t let me back to the Sorrowful because there was a mass soon so I prayed the Sorrowful and the Luminous in the pews. It was so nice to just pray alone but I do miss saying the rosary with Jack like at Catholic. It was also cool because at CUA, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (not to be mistaken for the Lourdes Basilica of the Immaculate Conception -- so many words), in the Lourdes Chapel there, there are these cute women who every Sunday pray all 4 rosaries one by one and I’ve done it with them. And here I was IN Lourdes, praying all 4 rosaries one by one on a Sunday. Just thought that that was cute. 

So after that, we walked back to grab our bags from the hotel. We sat in there because of the wifi and texted out families. There was a 24 year old American girl sitting there and we talked to her for a bit. She was on a month long Pilgrimage starting in Lourdes, then through the mountains in Spain, then to Fatima. It sounded amazing! I wish I remembered her name! We told her about the Torchlight Marian Procession at 9pm which she didn’t even know about! I’m glad we did because it was awesome and it’d be a shame to be there and miss it. 

Then we went to dinner and we saw the girl pass us on her way back to the Shrine! 

After that my pilgrimage was almost over, unfortunately. I didn’t want to leave. The Pyrenees are so beautiful and this weekend was so prayerful and beautiful. But I had to go. We walked up the hill back to the train station. The train was a sleeper train with lil sleeper compartments and couchettes. It was cool! I laid down on the train and fell asleep immediately and woke up at 7am in Paris. What a beautiful weekend. How blessed am I?!

Here are some pictures below added after the fact since the picture post can’t hold em all. 

[sleepy-peachie]

Paris part I

Friday Pascal drove Ariel and I to the train station right next to his house so we stopped for tea and coffee and to drop his daughter off first and his house was precious.  It was all stone and had the european look with flowers and blue window shutters and it was so cute.  

Anyway then we went on to the train station and he explained how everything worked and what we’d have to do sunday to get back and then he waited for our train to leave on the platform and waved at us like a mom with her kids on a carousal and it was great.  We then realized neither of us had looked up directions to our hotel.  All we knew was that it was a 6 minute walk from the train station and i had downloaded the Paris offline maps about a week prior but they weren’t there anymore so we kept trying to get wifi at every trainstation and nothing was working so we got out the maps sebastien had given us and our hotel wasn’t on there then we got out the tour book and looked at that map of paris and it cut off halfway through montparnarsse so we still couldn’t see it AND BY SOME GRACE OF GOD IN A RANDOM MAP ABOUT HOTELS WE SEE HOTEL DES BAINS LISTED JUST COUNTED OUR LUCKY STARS.  It was a really small hotel and it wasn’t even reviewed in the book it just happened to be shown on the map 

The train ride lasted ~3 hours and we got off in Paris and the train station was a crowded mess.  most of our train was getting off in paris so it was a madhouse and we really didn’t even know how to get out of the train station but we somehow found the exit we needed and managed to find our hotel based on the map in the tourbook and maps along the street and it was amazing.  We checked in and were able to download the maps with wifi. 

We immediately left for Notre Dame and walked all the way there.  Offline map was a lifesaver.  We managed to pass more than one Amorino’s and we were looking for dinner but there was no line so we decided to get our rose shaped ice cream and walk in the luxemborg park.  Good decision 10/10 best ice cream ever,  I ended up getting chocolate, coffee, tiramisu, and dulce de leche and it was sooo good.  We sat in this beautiful park surrounded by flowers that smelled amazing and statues all around us and it smelled lovely and there were people jogging. We finished our ice cream and went exploring a little more trying to find the second statue of liberty.  We just happen to go off the trail the map had set for us to explore a little more and found the statue.  we both kind of slapped each other and said there it is and ran up to it.  it was pretty cool, it’s much smaller than the one in new york but neither of us had seen that one so we were pretty stoked to find it. 

We walked on to Notre Dame and at about this point i remembered i’m mildly lactose intolerant and had not eaten and milk or ice cream for at least a month and not consistently for like 6 months and my belly was grumbling and feeling so weird and i thought i’d just ruined my whole night but we trekked on and Ariel gave me some pepto bismol and i hoped for the best.  We got to Notre Dame without getting too turned around and there was  man playing accordion and  man selling his paintings on the sidewalk and the sun was setting and kids were roller blading and this church is so detailed.  We walked around it and took pictures and walked to the back but the gardens were already closed and so was the inside (which turned out to be a good thing, we came back on Saturday and the whole plaza was inundated with people too crowded to even move).  

We think we walked over that lock bridge that everyone was obsessed w/ for a hot minute since the sides of this bridge were plexi glass.  We walked down to the seine and so many people were just drinking wine with their feet dangling over the edge and we saw one couple with strawberries and bottle of rosé  and i was so jealous.  We considered buying a bottle of wine and sitting along the river but then we’d need glasses and a bottle opener etc so we walked on home and planned on either buying a bottle and taking it back to the hotel or finding a cute place to stop for a glass.  All the stores were closing at this point so we ended up all the way back at our hotel with nothing but there was a cafe/bar right across the street so we went down for a drink.  I picked a rosé because i’d never tried any and they only had one option and Ariel picked a chardonnay  because we’d heard the word before.  I initially didn’t like mine but the more i drank it the more i enjoyed it.  Ariel didn’t like mine either when i gave her a sip and i thought hers was better than mine but she was feeling funny halfway through the glass so she gave me the rest and i didn’t like it very much after that.  It was pretty amazing drinking a glass of wine in paris and just people watching.  

We went back to our hotel and turned on the tv since we don’t have tv’s in our dorm we hadn’t been able to see any french tv this whole time aside from one futball game.  The first thing on tv was a french version of survivor and we eventually settled on a barbie movie since nothing else struck our fancy flipping through the channels.