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pinkja · 4 years

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Sports, Crushes, College and All Other Things Stressful (Nora x Black Female Reader)

AU where Nora is a stressed out college student and you are a simple black girl who has no time management.

Nora felt like she was a simple person.

She grew up in a small town near Salt Lake City, made it through the akward teenage phase, and graduated high school with honors.

Does it matter that she was always so close to pulling her own hair out in frustration? She doesn’t think so.

She liked to think that her high school years went swell.

She was captain of the swim team, played in both tennis, chess, soccer, and volleyball. She was also co captain of the debate team, won the Reading Bowl in TOME for three years in a row (she didn’t join freshman year) and did a bunch of community service at the homeless shelter every other Saturday from 9am to 3pm.

Yeah, Nora was a simple person, she thinks.

Does it matter that she barely had time to sleep? She doesn’t think so.

She got into college with a full ride scholarship (which her family celebrated for two days straight. It practically turned into a block party.) She was on the Pre-Med track, wanting to become a pediatrician like her grandmother had been, and like her mother had been, and like her older sister had been as well.

Wait…who exactly was she doing this fo–

Doesn’t matter!

She got to get an apartment on the campus housing first year with her best friend, Abby, who’s a biology major of all things, when Nora was pretty sure she was gonna be an English major. Her room was pretty average, but Abby often made comments about how it really needed some personality.

“You don’t even have a poster!” Abby remarked one day while she was laying on Nora’s bed. She had an old copy of Lord of the Flies in her hands, read and re-read about eight times.

“Not everyone needs a poster, Abby.”

“Yeah, they do. Especially when you don’t have a book or a video game, or even something to play music on-”

“Isn’t it enough that I have a phone?” Nora placed her head on Abby’s lap. Abby rolled her eyes and sat up on the bed so Nora would be more comfortable.

“And you had to beg your mother for it. Now hush and let me finish this chapter.” She leaned against the headboard and made a comment about how she was going to buy her a poster for Dirty Dancing or something.

Now that freshman year was almost over, and tennis season for the school had started up again a month prior, Nora, being captain of that and many other teams, was starting to feel even more stressed. She has to aid the coach in training the less athletic recruits, plan their next meeting, and prepare for their next game which was in two weeks, which was a few days before a big biochemistry test.

She was out by the track, the slightly warm early April air hitting the side of her sweaty face after almost an hour of staying out in the sun. There was another hour of practice left, and with a clipboard, a pen, and a timer in her hand, she watched the baby-faced girls run laps around the field.

“Ok, the game is on a Saturday, it takes around 30 minutes to get there by bus, so 30 minutes to get back… but the game ends at 6:30 so I have to give at least another 30 minutes to an hour for traffic, not including the time it takes to shower and pack our stuff up so the latest I’d get home is around…” She looked up from her clipboard, tapping her feet on the floor. “Jackson! If you want to play in the next game you gotta beat your record! Pick up the speed!” She called out to a red haired girl.

God, I really hope I’m not sweating out my hair, she thought, brushing a few stray hairs back in her ponytail. Nora went back to muttering.

“Ok so that means I’ll be home by 8 at the latest, and if I lock myself in my room and pull an all nighter, I could probably get all my studying done by 6-ish? Maybe… I would have to stock up on coffee. I’ll stop by the store on the way ho–”

Nora’s quiet rambling was interrupted by a voice.

“Hey, Captain!” Nora didn’t turn around, already knowing who it was by the voice alone.

(Y/n) (L/n).

Ah, Nora’s feelings for you were…complicated, to say the least. But we’ll get to that later.

“Sorry I’m so late.” You rubbed the back of your neck with a sheepish smile.

“Fourth time this month, (Y/n).” Nora’s voice was stern, exasperated and a bit annoyed.

“I know. I know, but–”

“You know the drill. 10 extra laps and you have to beat your record or else you don’t play in the next game. Go.” Nora didn’t look up from her clipboard, but knew you were pouting anyways.

Your footsteps echoed in Nora’s ears as you ran to the field, smiling at your teammates as they passed you. She marked off your name on her clipboard and wrote “Late” next to it, again, with furrowed eyebrows and annoyance tickling the back of her brain.

When 4 o’clock came, the girls all filed out of the field and towards the locker room, feet tired and sore. You were still running, of course, doing the 10 (plus 10 extra) laps you were assigned. Although you weren’t, Nora felt like you were taking your time, acting as if you hadn’t a care in the world.

“God, I have to get home and study…” Nora whispered and rolled her eyes, even though only 5 minutes had passed. By 4:15, you were done, walking back to her while rubbing your left thigh.

“How’d I do, Captain?” You asked while wiping the sweat off of your forehead. You balanced yourself on the balls of your feet. Nora clicked the button on her timer once again and finally looked at you.

You had sweat stains on your blue shirt, and you picked at the edge of your shorts that rode up your thigh just a little bit.

“Two minutes under your last time. I guess you get to stay in this time around.” Nora said curtly, pursing her lips while doing so.

You smiled as if you already knew the answer. “Aw come on, Captain. Have a little faith in me, yeah? I’m not all bad.” Your nose scrunched you as you pouted.

God your lips were so cu–

“But I do stink though. Imma hit the showers real quick. You coming?” Nora gulped, mind going a little to the left as she snapped out of her thoughts.

“Yeah.” Was all Nora could say in response.

They walked into the locker rooms, all of the girls clean and gone. Nora placed her things on one of the benches, opening and looking into her locker for clean clothes. You did the same.

“Jeez, all that time I put into doing my hair only to sweat it out in less than 10 minutes. I don’t know how you do it, Captain.” You remarked, looking in the mirror of your locker. Nora hummed, but didn’t respond. She grabbed some fresh clothes from her gym bag and started stripping.

Nora peeked into the mirror in her locker at you. Yours was diagonal from hers. You were still looking at yourself, not at her. Part of her wanted you to be.

Once she was done, she wrapped a towel around herself and grabbed some soap and a rag. She showered in silence, only being interrupted by the pat pat of your footsteps on the floor as you hopped in the showers next to her. You tied your hair up and put a bandana around your head before starting the shower, and Nora looked away before she could see anything else.

She thanked whatever god there was that there was a wall between you two.

But what if there wasn’t?

Nora started to feel very self-conscious all of a sudden. She started to take note of the stretch marks and too thick hairs on her stomach and arms and legs.

Oh my god, is my hair presentable?

She went to smooth out her hair with a (thankfully) not soapy hand, but stopped herself. She wouldn’t want to ruin her hair now. She spent all morning getting it together.

Wait? Why am I worrying about my appearance? My body is fine.

After her little realization, Nora started scrubbing really hard at her arms and legs, preoccupying her mind with the upcoming test.

Nora finished before you did, wrapping a towel around herself and waiting until she was out of your sight to start drying herself. She put on some lotion and deodorant, got dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a green shirt and sneakers before grabbing her stuff and going to leave.

“Captain!” Your voice stopped her.

Dammit! She was almost free!

“Yeah?” Nora took a few steps back but didn’t look in your direction.

“Can you…um…stay?” Nora’s spit got caught in her throat. “I mean, until I’m done. I really don’t like being in the locker room by myself. My mom always told me don’t let myself be in a room alone.” You let out a laugh, albeit a bit nervous.

Nora nodded, spitting out a stuttered, “Sure.” She hopes she didn’t sound too excited. She leaned against the outside wall of the showers, facing away from you once more. Nora waited (im)patiently, suddenly remembering how she forgot her glasses at home and that’s why she hasn’t been able to see well all day. She also remembered the stain on the coffee table that she was too busy to clean up because she was rushing out of the house because she had slept through her–

The squeak of the shower faucet snapped Nora out of her thoughts as the rush of water stopped. Nora kept her eyes on her shoes as you passed her, suddenly very interested in the speck of dirt on the toe of her left shoe.

I should clean it later, Nora thought.

“Captain?” Nora’s head snapped up, looking towards you with large brown eyes. You brought a plump lip into your mouth before giving Nora a smile. You were done getting dressed, snatching the now-wet bandana off of your head.

God, is it hot in here? Nora feels like she’s been sweating oceans.

“Thank you for staying. I’m sorry if I bothered you.”

“No problem.” It’s not like she doesn’t have a test she has to study for or a meeting at 6 for a club that she really couldn’t remember the name of now which was really concerning, but Nora couldn’t bring herself to care because you were smiling at her and Nora’s heart was not working anymore.

Although part of her wanted to be mad at such a carefree attitude and your seemingly lack of schedule, she settled on scolding you instead.

“Practice is next Monday at 3. Try not to be late next time.” You nodded before grabbing your stuff from the bench behind you and walking out of the locker room in silence. Nora followed before you both split off in different directions.

Nora’s weekend was filled with nothing but meetings and studying and homework, with the constant repetition of “Game on a Saturday, test on a Monday” leaving her mouth. She started her mornings at 4 am, going for a 2 hour run around campus. At 6 she went back home and took a shower, answered a bunch of emails about things that Nora couldn’t bring herself to care about anymore, and then she spent a good 3 hours studying old material from her classes, read a book she was assigned for Lit, then she was back studying again.

Wait, did she eat anything?

She wouldn’t have if Abby hadn’t practically shoved a piece of turkey bacon down her throat because, “You literally haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon” which she should be grateful for her friend’s willingness to remember the important things for her when she forgot them. She had meetings for Spanish and French Honor Society, Creative Writing, the school’s green club, and she also had to tutor a bunch of kids who were failing their math classes.

And to top it all off, you were late to practice, again! God, Nora wanted to be mad at you. You were being selfish at this point. Didn’t you know that if you were late she had to stay with you until practice was over?

Well, technically, she didn’t. She could leave practice whenever she wants to but honestly she didn’t want to leave you to practice alone. Plus, you might slack off!

Nora’s eyebrows twitched at the thought. It’s like you didn’t have a care in the world! You just walked around wasting her time, your time even!

You arrived 15 minutes late, better than last time, but still late.

You were already preparing your excuses, but Nora shushed you, telling you to go and practice on your serves. You did just that. Nora had already completed her drills, now just waiting for you to show up. She wrote your name down and the word “late” next to it once again before she went back to observing her team.

Once 4 o’clock rolled around, the girls rolled out and into the locker rooms, while you stayed behind. Your serve was good, Nora thought, you were just a heavy hitter and would forget to try and get the ball into the court first.

After watching the ball fly past the court for the 3rd time, Nora sighed and made her way over to you. You spotted her and gave her a smile.

“Hey, Captain! You need something?” You asked as you threw the ball in the air. You hit it across the net and watched as it flew straight into the wall. You grabbed another ball from the basket next to you and went to do it again until Nora gently grabbed your wrist and pulled it back down.

“You hit too hard, (Y/n). Try it again, but with a little less force.” Nora stated, backing out of the court to watch you once more.

You tried again, only for the ball to land just outside of the court.

“That’s ok, (Y/n), just try again.” Nora encouraged you. You tried again and again, only for you to keep hitting it out of the court.

You let out a huff, frustrated. “Captain…” You whined, turning to her with dragged feet. “This seems pointless. I just keep hitting out of bounds.” Nora raised a brow, not taking you for the type to give up so easily.

“You know we can’t leave until you get it right.” You pouted at her answer before going to try again. Nora stopped you, walking up to you and grabbing the hand you were holding your racket in. “Here. Make your hand face the net. That always helped me serve better.” Nora turned your wrist. “Now plant your feet so they’re in line with your shoulders.” You listened. “Now breathe in, slowly, and as you breathe in, toss the ball into the air and as soon as you exhale, swing. Don’t focus on the force. Focus on how your hand moves to hit the ball.” Nora realized how close she was to you, how weird this must’ve looked to others and what they might think.

She was starting to get self-conscious again.

Nora cleared her throat and backed out of the court again. Once she was far enough, you served again, the ball just making it into the court. You jumped up in excitement, coily hair bouncing with you. Your eyes darted towards her, a wide smile on your brown face.

“Captain! Captain I did it! Did you see?” You spoke with the giddiness of a child with a new toy, and, suddenly, Nora’s anger at you disappeared. Nora nodded with a smile.

“I saw. Good job, (Y/n).” You smiled wider at her praise, going to pick up all of the balls you managed to drop. Nora helped.

After cleaning up the mess you made, you both walked to the locker rooms. You repeated your routine from Friday, with Nora finishing earlier than you once again. Nora remembered how you had asked her to stay, and decided not to leave you behind. She walked to her locker in silence, getting dressed in some jeans, a graphic tee, and her same pair of sneakers she always wore before leaning against the walls of the showers like she did once before.

She was still facing away from you.

“(Y/n)?” Nora called, despite the lump in her throat about having to talk to you while you were naked.

“Yeah, Captain?” You answered, stopping the humming you were previously doing.

“May I ask, um, why are you always so…late?” Nora tapped her fingers on the wall and hoped she didn’t offend you with the question.

You were silent for a moment before answering. “I just lose track of time, y’know?” Nora’s eyebrow twitched again. You spoke as if you knew what she was thinking. “Yeah, yeah. I know that’s not a good excuse. However, I get so caught up in the little things that I just forget to remember the big things.” Another twitch of the eyebrow.

God, was it gonna get stuck like that?

You turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around yourself as Nora moved to sit on the bench. She preoccupied herself with her shoes again and waited for you to get dressed. The buzz of your phone interrupted the silence between you two. You grabbed it from out of your locker and looked at the bright screen before scowling and placing it back in your bag.

“I wanna know, Captain.” You started, as you put underwear on. Nora cursed the human evolutionary habit of looking at anyone and anything that made noise, as she had turned her gaze towards you as you were putting on a dress and oh my goodness you weren’t wearing a bra. Nora’s face burned as she quickly turned back around to look at her shoes. “Have you ever had Mr. Lance before?” It took a few seconds for Nora to register your question, and once she did, she shook her head no.

“U-Um… no. No I haven’t, um… Why do you ask?” Preoccupy yourself with the test, Nora. Focus on the test.

Game on a Saturday. Test on a Monday.

“I wanted to thank you for once again putting up with me and helping me in practice. Other captains would’ve just left me there.” Now she felt bad for thinking about leaving. “You wanna go?” You turned to her with another smile, not caring that Nora wasn’t even facing you.

“You don’t have to. It’s really no problem.”

Game on a Saturday. Test on a Monday.

“Come on, Captain. Please. I promise you it’ll be worth your time!” Nora finally gained the courage to look at you, and you were pouting. Good god you were pouting and it was so adorable and Nora really has to learn how to focus again.

Game on Saturday. Test on Monday.

Nora was in a trance. Your eyes had caught her in a trance and she couldn’t get out but she had to. So she agreed to your little adventure. You jumped up again in excitement and Nora was once again reminded of the fact that you don’t have on a bra. You both walked out of the locker room and you led Nora down the street to one of the coffee shops about 7 minutes away.

“Mr. Lance is just a few minutes from here.” You started as you put your phone in your bag after checking it again. “And I know the name seems kinda boring, however, they serve the best ice cream there is.” You gave Nora another beaming smile to reassure her, even though Nora didn’t need any reassurance.

Once you both arrived at the little parlor, you opened the door for Nora and she was immediately hit by the cool air and the smell of mint. Nora scrunched up her nose a little bit and sat at one of the red chaired booths. You sat opposite of her and folded your hands on top of each other.

“What do you usually get here?” Nora asked you, pushing her glasses up to her face.

“I either get the triple chocolate milkshake or the extra cookies and cream ice blizzard. But that’s my personal preference. Get whatever you want.” You said nonchalantly, not even looking at the menu.

Would it be too embarrassing for Nora to admit that she didn’t know how to choose? Nora thought that yes, it would be. However she couldn’t just not order something after you had brought her all the way here. That would be rude! But it would also be rude to sit there and order something she wouldn’t want and then sit there and pick at it because she had never really had time to–

“And what about you, miss?” Nora jumped at the voice. She looked up from her death match with the colorful menu and at the waiter who was standing there with a notepad in her pale hands.

“Uh…oh! Oh! I would like a…” What the hell was that first thing you said? “A triple chocolate milkshake, please.” Nora’s face burned at her awkwardness. Maybe she didn’t leave that weird teenage phase at all.

“Coming right up! I’ll just take these off your hands.” The waiter grabbed the menus and walked off to the kitchen.

Nora tried to act like she didn’t feel your gaze on her while you waited, and felt grateful when your phone buzzed for the third time that afternoon.

“Guess I’m popular today, huh Captain?” You let out a chuckle as you turned your phone off.

Nora smiled back and she hoped it wasn’t crooked.

You pulled at a curl on your head and frowned. “I’m so glad tomorrow is wash day. My hair’s been so uncooperative lately.” You pulled at the same curl again and watched as it bounced back into place. “Captain.” You called her. Nora answered. “What do you think I should do with my hair? Twists or plaits? Ooh maybe I can do box braids instead.” You shot out ideas to her, hoping she would choose and make your life a bit easier.

“Um… I think you’d look good in–in twists.” Frankly you would look good in anything.

Wait, what?

“Don’t you have to set out the whole day for that? You have classes tomorrow, don’t you?”

“I have one class in the afternoon but it shouldn’t be a problem. I can catch up easily.” You said nonchalantly.

She looked at the clock on the wall to check the time. 5:45 p.m. She cursed how fast this day was going.

Their treats came a few minutes later and you popped open your straw and dug in. Nora did the same, eyebrows raising at the onslaught of very, very sweet chocolate attacking her taste buds.

“See. I told you it was good!” You said, licking a little bit of chocolate off of your lips. You swirled your straw around your glass. “I’m glad you decided to come with me, though.” You said offhandedly.

“Why did you decide to bring me here?” Nora didn’t mean for her voice to sound all nervous. She would roll with the punches.

“Hmm. I already told you earlier that I wanted to thank you for putting up with me.” You took another sip and stuck your tongue out a bit. “But also, and forgive me if I seem rude but, I thought this would relax you.” Nora raised an eyebrow. “You always seem so…pent up. Like a stiff. I just noticed that you might need some sort of release or something, Captain. That’s all.” Nora realized that you were the only one to address her as Captain after practice, and in that moment she started to feel very…different.

Was she uncomfortable?

No, Nora wouldn’t exactly describe it as that.

It was just that the heat creeping up her neck and the sudden realization that you were right and the idea of getting some sort of release, as you put it, was making her feel very, very weird.

It didn’t help that Nora’s gaze went back to your lips and eyes and hands and chest and the realization that you weren’t wearing a bra hit her again and–

Why the hell was she so focused on that? Of all the damn things to focus on? It’s not like the concept of not wearing a bra was foreign to her, she did it from time to time herself but what the fuck was so different when you did it?

Focus on something else, Nora. Focus on something else.

Like the test!

She had a game on a Saturday, and a test on a Monday.

Game on a Saturday, and a test on a Monday.

Game on Saturday, and boy were your eyes cute.

Game on Saturday, test on a Monday.

It’s not like she had a problem with it.

Game on Saturday, test on Monday.

She was fine. Nora was so fine. Nothing to worry about here.

Maybe she did need a release. A time for herself to relax.

Game Saturday, test Monday.

Oh god was she staring at you?

Game, test. Saturday, Monday.

Were you smiling at her? You look so sweet.

Monday. Saturday. Monday. Game. Test. Relax. Release. Relax. Relax. Game. Test. Saturday. Monday. Relax. Release.

Her glass was empty and you were smiling at her and UGH.

Nora stood up, her knees knocking into the booth as she did so.

“Is everything alright, Captain?” You expressed concern over her. Your eyebrows furrowed as your smile went away.

“I gotta go.” Nora managed to choke out. She reached into her back pocket for her wallet as you stared at her with confusion.

“What? Are you sure?” Nora threw $20 on the table and grabbed her bag from the floor.

“Yeah. I gotta… I gotta go…” Nora turned and sped out of the shop, leaving you alone.

She made it back to her apartment and unlocked the door with shaky hands. Abby greeted her from the couch, hair in a low ponytail instead of its usual braid.

“Hey, Nora you–“ Abby stopped herself when she finally looked at her roommate. “What’s wrong?” She turned to her and grabbed her before Nora could sped past the couch. “Come on. Around the couch you go.” Abby pulled Nora by her belt loop around the couch and made her sit down. “What’s up with you. And don’t say you have another test to study for because you’ve already studied enough.” Nora scrunched up her nose and looked away from Abby.

“There’s no such thing as too much studying.”

“Nora…” Abby’s voice was stern.

“Fine, fine… There’s this… this girl and she… she said I was a stiff and treated me to ice cream today and I can’t focus around her and also I can’t stop thinking about her and also–” Nora plopped herself face first into Abby’s lap, groaning loud enough for her roommate to hear.

“Does my Nora have a crush?” Abby teased at her, poking the back of her head. Nora sprung up.

“What! No! Of course not!” Abby didn’t believe her. “I just can’t focus around her, that’s all. And it’s frustrating me.” Nora defended herself, slumping against the couch.

“Hmm. Sounds like a crush to me.” Abby retorted, leaning her head on her hand.

Nora couldn’t have a crush! I mean, when has Nora ever had time to think about crushes? Or dating? Hell, with boys or girls!

“I don’t have time for crushes, Abby.” Nora slumped some more until she sat on the floor.

“You don’t have time for anything, Nora! All you do is work, work, work. And I know we’re in college but that doesn’t mean you have to give yourself to the seeds of capitalism just yet.” Abby kicked Nora in the thigh as a way of telling her to get off the floor.

Nora got up with a pout.

“All I’m saying, Nora,” She started, propping her feet on the coffee table, “is that maybe this could do you some good. You got to enjoy life, and you can’t enjoy it if you’re stuck hunched over a book all day.” Nora rolled her eyes before retreating to her room to take a cold shower.

The next morning, after her 4am run and a long shower, Nora got dressed for the day and sat down at her desk to study. She didn’t have any classes today, her professor for the day sending out an email to cancel class the night before. She opened the giant biology textbook that never left her desk and tried to remember where she had left off last.

I was writing notecards, she remembered as she searched her desk to find them.

Her search was interrupted by the loud ping of her cellphone. Nora chose to ignore it, thinking that it was probably just Abby trying to remind her to eat something. Her phone vibrated again and Nora rolled her eyes with a loud sigh and got up to check it out.

She walked over to her bed and picked the phone off the pillow, squinting her eyes at the sudden light hitting her face as another notification came.

“Hi, Captain!” It was you. You texted her.

Oh my god you texted her!

“I know you said only to use your number in case of emergencies but I guess this would qualify as an emergency because you kinda left in a hurry so!!!”

“Are you ok, Captain? I wanted to check up on you afterwards but I didn’t know whether you’d want me to use this number or not so I didn’t text you but I didn’t know what happened and I was getting nervous so I texted you.” God did you ramble.

“Sorry for rambling.” You sent a few seconds later. You added a crying emoji for effect.

It was then, in that moment, that Nora realized she didn’t know how to respond to you.

Why weren’t her fingers moving?

Why was she just staring at her phone with a stupid face?

Move, dammit! Move!

With a deep breath, Nora let out a big, long groan of, “ABBY!” Said friend was at her door within seconds, hair in a frenzy and protein bottle in her hands, ready to attack someone.

“Nora! Nora what is it? Is someone dying?” With wide eyes, Nora handed Abby her phone, to which Abby lowered her guard and grabbed it out of Nora’s hands. “Nora are you fucking kidding me?” Abby deadpanned after reading the messages, seeing it was only someone expressing concern over her friend and not like…cyberstalking her or some shit.

“I don’t know what to do please help me.” If Abby wasn’t so mad at her she'd tease her for her inexperience and compare her to a lamb. Abby flopped on the bed with a groan and started typing away.

“Wait, wait, wait! What are you doing?” Nora asked frantically as she tried to snatch the phone out of her hands.

“I’m replying. Duh!” She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No, but Abby! What are you saying to her?” Nora whined, attempting to grab it again only to fall on Abby’s lap.

“You know, for someone who denies that this is a crush you aren’t really helping your case all that much.” She continued typing, and Nora thought that whatever she was typing would be long and embarrassing and stressful.

“Abby!” Nora dragged out her name as she tried to reach for the phone again. “Come on! I know you’re gonna put something embarrassing!” Nora gave Abby a pout and made no move to move off of her friend.

“I’m not! I swear!”

“Then read it to me!”

“What?”

“Read what you wrote to her!”

“Ugh, you’re so childish.” She said as if she wasn’t the one typing something to Nora’s…Nora’s…well…Nora’s whatever. “Hey, (y/n).” Abby paused. “Such a cute name by the way. Good choice.” She continued. “I’m fine. Thanks for checking up on me. I was wondering if we could meet up later and–” Nora started to protest, reaching up for the phone. Abby held it away from her. “And I could, hey quit that–” Abby smacked her hand away. “I could explain why I’ve been acting so weird lately, if that’s alright with you–Nooooooo.” Abby whined like a child when Nora snatched the phone away and deleted the text message. “All my hard work! Wasted! Oh the inhumanity!” Abby fell on the bed, fake fainting.

“I don’t wanna meet her.” Nora muttered as she stared at the phone with a glare.

“And why not? I told you, this is good!” Nora looked at her in disbelief. “This is good! You need a break, Nora. If you don’t slow down now next time you have time for yourself you’ll be a bag of bones!”

“Not a bag of bones…”

“Yes, a bag of bones! So you are going to take this phone, text this girl back, and you are going to talk to her or by god I will throw your planners away. And I know where you keep them. All of them.” Abby pushed the phone up to Nora’s face.

“Even the Scooby Doo one?”

“Especially the Scooby Doo one. That goes first. Now type.” With a cry and a wail about how hard Abby was making her life, Nora started texting you back, giving the phone to Abby for approval.

“Hey, (y/n).” She started typing. “Abby please don’t make me do this.” Abby didn’t budge. “I’m fine. Thank you for checking up on me. I promise I’m ok and you don’t need to worry about me–”

“Don’t put that. You're invalidating her feelings.” Abby interjected.

“…I’m happy you checked up on me. If you want I’d like to meet–”

“Abby I’m nervous! Please can’t I just go back to studying?” Abby told her no.

“…up with you again. Maybe sometime this afternoon. Or whenever you want to it doesn’t have to be today it could be tomorrow or next week or–”

“You’re stalling.” Abby warned her, already reaching for her Scooby Doo planner hidden under her mattress.

“…Is this afternoon good?” Nora closed her eyes and hit send.

You replied within a minute.

“Sure! How about around 5. I should be done with my hair around then.” You sent a bunch of emojis afterwards and Nora plopped down in the bed with a groan after she agreed.

“See? You see how good things go when you listen to me?” Abby put the almost destroyed planner back in its place and patted Nora on the head. Nora groaned even louder. “Now. I want to know what time you’re going so you can have time to look nice.” Abby added emphasis on that last part. “And I mean it. No sweatpants or oversized jackets. I want you looking nice.” Nora’s face dropped at Abby’s constrictions.

“You’re already making me suffer by going outside but now you’re making me dress nice? You’re killing me, Abby!”

“No, I’m helping you. Now hold on for a second. I need to text the group chat about this historical moment.” Nora's eyes widened as she watched Abby get up and run back to her room before she could stop her.

When 4:30 rolled around, Nora patted herself down nervously and stared at Abby with a confused face.

“Come on, Nora. You look fine.” Nora stared at herself once more, her black jeans, light blue t-shirt and black shoes seeming too…boring for this.

“I-I don’t know, Abby. Maybe I should just cancel and say I got sick. Is it too late to hit myself with something?” Nora held her purse in shaky hands.

“No! You’re doing this. Now come on.” Abby dragged her from out her room and to the living room, where their friends, Manny, Owen, and Mel were hanging out and watching tv.

“You guys! Abby’s forcing me to go outside! Help me!” Nora tried to plead as she dragged her feet on the floor.

“Hmm… I don’t see a problem with that.” Manny spoked, looking at her with amusement clear on his features.

“Yeah, Nora. Owen and I for sure thought you were going to turn into a vampire or something if you stayed inside any longer.” Mel agreed while Owen nodded his head.

“That’s not how vampirism works and you know it!” Nora planted her feet into the ground and groaned. “Owen! Hide me! Help me! Save me!” Nora pleaded as Abby pushed her along to the door.

“Sorry, Nora. My expertise is animals not humans.” He said with a shrug and put his head on Mel’s shoulder.

“Traitors! Traitors! All of you!” Abby finally got her to the door and pushed her out with a huff.

“You be back no earlier than 6. Got it?” Abby ordered. Before Nora, could protest, Abby interrupted her. “If you wanna save the Scooby Doo planner you better start walking.” Nora closed her mouth and glared at her before calling her a muscle head and walking away. She heard the chorus of bye’s and have fun’s as she walked down the hall. You both had agreed to meet up at the campus park, and as Nora walked up, she saw you sitting on the bench with a book in your hands. Nora recognized it as Pride and Prejudice, something Abby had read a thousand times.

You looked up and spotted her. With a smile, you said, “Hi, Captain!” You placed the book beside you and waved at her. You had twists in your hair, and it went down to just below your shoulders.

“Hey, (Y/n).” Nora sat down next to you and placed her hands in her lap.

“I’m glad you decided to meet up! I was really worried about you yesterday.” You tried to keep the smile on your face despite the concern present.

Nora’s face burned as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Yeah, um, sorry about that I…um…” Nora couldn’t really explain herself in that moment.

“No need to explain yourself, Captain. I’m just glad you’re ok.” Your smile never faltered and Nora decided to smile back.

“But-But thank you! For, um, taking me to the ice cream place yesterday. I really appreciate it.” Nora didn’t know why she was stuttering so much. If the group were here they’d be laughing at her.

“No problem. I like going there a lot. Not just for the treats but…it’s calming. Gives me time to get away.” Your phone buzzed and you checked it with a frown.

“Is everything alright?” Nora felt kinda sad when your attention wasn’t on her.

“Yeah. It’s just my stupid ex.” EX? Ex as in ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend? Ex-partner? Oh my god what was Nora thinking? She didn’t have time for crushes! Let alone any time for exes or dating of feelings or–

“Hey, Captain.” Nora perked up.

“Y-Yeah?” She could run. Nora could run and hide and go back to the apartment Scooby Doo planner be DAMNED.

“You remember when I told you about getting caught up in the little things?” Nora remembered, yes. “This is one of those little things. Just relaxing in the park, or going to the ice cream parlor, or staying after practice with you.”

Wait, what? Nora must’ve misheard.

“I could never share those little things with anybody else. Not even a person I had thought I liked. But I can with you.” You turned to her with a smile, moving a stray twist from out of your face. “I’m glad I was able to show you the things that relax me. Hopefully, Captain, they can relax you too.”

“Nora.” She blurted out.

“Hmm?” You titled you head to the side.

“You can call me Nora. I-I don’t mind.” You smiled at her, and Nora started to feel her heart burst in her chest.

“Ok…Nora.” Oh.

Oh.

Nora liked you.

Holy shit. She liked you.

“I-I’m glad you thought about me so much.” Nora played with her fingers as she spoke.

“Well, Nora. How about we go see a movie? I hear there’s this new mystery movie that’s so intense that people lost their senses when they left the theater!”

Nora laughed at your giddiness.

“Sure. I’d like that.” You stood up and grabbed your book to place it in your bag. You held out your hand to Nora and she took it, although a bit hesitantly.

“Cool. Let’s go, then.”

Maybe, just maybe, Nora could learn how to handle a crush this time around.

#the last of us part 2 #Nora x reader #Nora Harris #Nora Harris x reader #black reader #tlou2 nora #Nora Harris DESERVED BETTER BLACK GIRLS RISE #This is for the black girls and gays ONLY #the last of us part ii #tlou fanfic #tlou2 #tlou2 fanfic #Abby Anderson #tlou #fluff #gay sap Nora #gaydies let’s GO #Black reader #Nora’s stressed and gay and stressed about that

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tinlizziedlinwa · 3 years

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Developing Sexuality, Discovering Kinks, a Spinal Injury, and Barely Beginning to Explore the Edges of the LGBTQ+ Community

Howdy, y’all. I’m just gonna put this out there - If it’s not for you, just keep on a’scrollin’!

Now, I’ve not really explicitly spoken about my sexuality and how it’s evolved over my almost five decades of life. So, I’m about to start, and believe me, your patience and kindness will be appreciated. If you choose to be a close-minded, conservative, cis-asshole then I strongly suggest you leave right the fuck now. Thank you :-)

If you want to get to know me a little bit more and talk of incontinence and sexuality doesn’t scare you, please continue!

Decade 01: Around four years old, I have my first memories of things related to my as yet totally undeveloped sexuality. No history of physical abuse - Don’t worry about that. It was finding my mother’s menstrual pads. I saw pictures of them in underwear, so I took one and put it into mine. It felt so right and so amazing! I don’t really know how to describe it, but it felt like I needed the whole package of them in my underwear all at once! I got in trouble for using up a package that my mom needed and I didn’t understand why she needed them yet. But I made my first “diaper” out of pads and tighty-whities when I was only four years old. Since I’m gonna be using a lot of numbers, I’m gonna cheat and sacrifice the “proper way” of spelling them out if they’re ten or less.

At 5, I knew I wasn’t built right. I had this thing I peed through that girls didn’t have. Boys had them. But I wasn’t supposed to be a boy! I didn’t like it and hated the feeling of it touching my legs (still do...). I started asking questions about things. Now, my parents are the stereotypical Boomers, “trapped” in a loveless marriage by dependent children and their own sense of “honor.” Dad was a Medical Corpsman who became a Physician’s Assistant (PA) after retiring, while Mom used to be a Wave (nurse) in the Navy, but became a stay-at-home Mom when she started having children. I’ve 2 brothers and 1 sister, the last of them born 10 years before me. So, when I questioned things, Dad’s response was usually to hand me a medical book and tell me to look it up. Mom’s response was usually, “go ask your father.” So, there I was, a 5-year old with a head full of partially-understood terminology (at best!) and a bunch of clinical photography in anatomy and physiology books. At least I learned the purely physical differences between boys and girls and why I was one and not the other. This made me mad. So. Very. Mad. I cried a lot for a while, finding out that I would never become what I feel I was supposed to be. But I kept reading....

When I was 6 years old, I wrote a letter to my parents explaining how I felt about my body and how it made me feel inside and how I wished I could change and be the girl I’m supposed to be and would they be ok with helping me do this some day?

It was not received well. Not well at all. I’ve spent the last 40 years trying to get over their reaction to it and I still hate them for their reactions with a passion. I feel like I was truly shattered, and the glue I’ve had to use over the years to put myself back together has never been the right type and pieces of me keep falling apart.

Entering Decade 02 (10 to 20 years old): Puberty, damn it! None of my “researches” had even hinted at ways to stop it, and my body started changing in ways that made me very uncomfortable, but there was also this attraction I kept feeling towards some people, and I started getting erections. Now, I knew what was happening and yes, it did feel good to play with myself, but it also felt wrong in that I should have someone entering me, not me entering them, so when I masturbated that’s what I dreamed of - being entered and feeling them expand inside me, them giving themselves up in me, losing control and exploding into me and feeling their satisfaction as my own at having been so desirable. Cockwarming them gently back to hardness and having my own way with their body as their hands stroked my breasts and hips.... Eventually I would orgasm in real life, while dreaming my dream.

I have never had a blow-job. Several girlfriends have attempted, but honestly that’s like the fastest way to shut me down. It instantly kills my dream between one heart-beat and the next, causing me to feel absolutely horrible about myself and this carcass I’m trapped in. I should be going down on you, tasting, caressing, nuzzling and lapping up your wetness as I get more and more achy and wet for you.... Sticking my dick in your mouth is absolutely the worst thing that can happen during any attempt at sexy-times for me. I’d rather have diarrhea on a crowded school-bus.

The problem was, I had been emotionally terrorized by my parents (and now I know how they controlled my access to information...) and the area I grew up in was populated by fairly conservative folks, so I had no exposure to other ways of living and had no idea I could express my sexuality in any way other than by being masculine with it. Ergo, I was very much in the closet, hiding my thoughts and feelings as best I knew how, and retreated from situations that might expose my inner workings. Hence, I’m an introvert who overshares o.0 Start unstacking the bricks from my walls and Watch Out! You might get more than you bargained for :-\

Decade 03 (20 to 30 years old): I was just positive I didn’t want kids. Also had no clue what to do with myself, so I landed in Alaska for about a decade. Isolated, small town, conservative folks (a church on every corner, attended at least twice a week). Repressive. No sex for 8 of those 10 years. Met my (now ex-) wife up there. Internet actually got off the ground and we bought a computer, modem, and had an AOL account! This was around 2002′ish or so. Yeah, I watched the twin towers fall on a tv in a bar in Alaska. But while in Fairbanks, I discovered the old Usenet Newsgroups... and that led me straight back into my diaper-fetish which I’d almost forgotten about... omg, seeing those first photos... I can’t describe the feelings that burned in me.

Decade 04 (30 to 40 years old): Left Alaska and moved to western Washington State. Worked as a Medical Assistant for about 5 years, then re-invented myself as a welder when I got a Federal job. Learning a whole new trade wasn’t easy. Shittons of practice later I was good at it and loving my career, until a toolbag fell on my head in 2008. It could have killed me had I been in any other position. As it was, it hit the top of my head while my spine was almost perfectly straight up’n’down, causing a couple of discs in my neck to blow out. One completely ruptured and the other bulged so badly it could never heal and restricted my movement (couldn’t look up or pull my chin in). To this day I still have a smallish “shadow” on my cervical spinal nerve where the disc exploded and a “dent” where the next one down bulged out. The doctors think that’s why I’m incontinent and really struggle to get hard-ons anymore.

Here’s the rub: I’ve hated this body of mine forever. I’m not supposed to get hard-ons in the first place! I’m supposed to have breasts, hips, hair, a flat front and a curvy bottom, and you should be making passes at me, not vice versa!

So, rather than pursue medical (surgical) options to deal with the urinary and occasional fecal incontinence, I choose to wear diapers and give myself regular enemas. This way I can kinda (mostly) control the #2 and keep it from happening in public, while I can let my bladder just run on it’s built-in autopilot (which is really random, btw). Wearing diapers also helps me with tucking! I can pull the dick out, pop the balls up inside where they belong, tuck the dick as far back as I can and put my diaper on tight. Bingo! A flat front! And a bit of a poofy bottom! YES!!

Decade 05 (40 to 47′ish years old): I’m beginning to feel slightly more confident in my sexuality, though I’m still not comfortable actually trying to seek out anyone special... but yeah - I’m an introvert by nature. Probably need to get adopted by someone because I’m not sure I’ll ever really be brave enough to really reach out first.... But now I’m able to afford nice diapers, I’m buying women’s jeans/pants/sweaters/onesies, and I’m feeling so much better about myself when I’m able to dress up. Keeping my chest and legs shaved helps, too. When I look down and see long, course, curly body-hair... ugh. Hair in the armpits and groin is what’s normal. Chest hair? Get it off! Looking at myself in the mirror, I still hate many aspects of my physical self, but when I’m freshly shaved, diapered and wearing women’s jeans and a lovely pink sweatshirt or just lounging around in a cute diaper and huge sweater, I’m much more able to ignore the things I don’t like.

Lately, as I’ve begun exploring my sexuality a little more, I’ve discovered the joys of dildos. Lemmie tell you what, guys. A traditional male orgasm doesn’t hold a candle to what I’ve felt while playing with a good dildo. After a good, thorough clean-out in the shower (I have a shower-attachment with multiple nozzles and use the long black rubber one), I’ve used a dildo that’s got a bit of a bend near the tip - it’s shaped like a real penis, normal size (not humongous), with a bit of a crook near the glans. By holding the balls & suction cup in hand, it can be inserted and moved in-n-out at that perfect angle to stimulate *all* the right spots inside... I can honestly say I’ve peed, cum, and blew that dildo across the room as my knees hit the floor and I forgot my name during the best, most intense, can’t-walk-for-a-minute whole-body orgasms I’ve ever experienced in my life. The area between the anus and scrotum feels so very hot and heavy, like it’s going to burst, it’s not truly painful but almost close? - It’s an amazingly satisfying feeling. I’d love to hear from you girls out there... Are my orgasms anything similar to yours?

Some day, my dream is to meet someone who can understand me, who can feel where I’m coming from, who can love me even when I’m having difficulty loving myself. Someone who is kind to my broken soul, and who’s idea of a hot date may involve a stop at the adult toy store!

Edited on 01OCT2021: I’m not looking for a Mommy or a Domme. I’m an adult with adult responsibilities and concerns. I’m looking for a partner who’s also fairly self-sufficient. I own my own home, work full time, and being an introvert I need lots of alone time.�� Someone who’s open and accepting of the fact that I’m diapered 24/7/365 and am perfectly capable of changing myself. And she’ll understand that I don’t just wanna get her out of her jeans for sexy-times, but I also wanna try them on.

Edited again on 02OCT2021: As I’ve just begun actually exploring my sexuality, I’m starting to think I seem to fit into the “enby” grouping (even as I don’t like being stuffed into a box, I find myself doing just that, to myself! Damn categories...). I don’t know all the lingo yet and it feels like the terminology is a living thing that is always changing. Even though I’ve always found women to be super attractive, and I also really enjoy wearing women’s clothes and have dreamed of being a woman for decades, every once in a blue moon a guy really turns me on. I’ve got fantasies about going down on her while he enters me, his hands on my hips pulling me in as he gently thrusts, speeding up slowly as I’m getting wetter, he’s sliding in and out of me faster and faster and I’m lapping up her juices, buried in her scent, the orgasm in all of us building until we simultaneously explode. Then, once we all have our breath back, each of us gently diapers one another. The idea of feeling my diaper sticking to my bum as his seed dribbles out of me is really turning me on again right now! Hearing our crinkles as we move, cuddling in a contented pile, patting bottoms all around.

Am I a “bottom?” Is there such a thing as an independent “bottom”? More research is needed!

#tinlizziedl #Info about me #30Sep2021 #personal #Sexuality

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jane-wei · 6 years

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3am bordem

1 Favorite place to be?

A quiet cinema with a massive screen

2 Something I can never live without?

Water

3 Hobbies that I’ll never give up?

baking

4 Three words to describe me?

Proffestional, day dreamer, loyal

5 My biggest fear?

ebaressment

6 What makes me angry?

ignorance towards others

7 My inspiration?

creativity and passion of others

8 Favorite wild animal? Why?

any big cats, because they literally are just big cats

9 Favorite food?

pizza, always

10 First memory of life?

probably playing with lego and having my dad make me spaceships out of lego

11 The best advice I got?

write every day

12 Where do I see myself in 10 years?

hopfully own my own flat or house, maybe running my own production company, maybe acting in some plays

13 Books reading these days?

im not a big reader, but when i read i read loads, i must read DUNE soon

14 The fictional character I want to be?

Luke Skywalker

15 My hidden talents?

quiet farts

16 Favorite type of music?

electronic or classical, if its both at the same time its magic

17 When do I feel happy?

when things are going right for collegues or loved ones

18 Which song would I like to hear to be happy?

duran duran ordinary world

19 My favourite word in English?

surety

20 My favorite word in Spanish?

da nada, that count as two?

21 Top 3 things on my bucket list?

visit hobbiton, sky diving, meet mark hamill

22 The most heard song in 2017?

redbone by childish gambino

23 Last book you’ve read?

probably a comic book or an excerpt from a book on how to direct actors

24 Favorite quote?

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien

25 If I had a superpower what would it be?

Creating objects, although that has a lot of responsibility, but it would end world hunger

26 Favorite sport?

rugby, its the only one id watch begining to end, but to play definatly badmington, brutal game

27 Biggest Dream?

be a jedi

28 Favorite Singer?

the chap who won x factor uk last year, Dalton Harris, that guy can create magic

29 Favourite Cusine?

italian

30 A positive quality about me?

I want to know what you have to say, i might get nervous at the answer or speaking other people in general but im interested

31 A negative quality about me?

push down my self confidence

32 Best place I’ve visited?

brecon beacons in wales

33 When do I laugh the most?

when something is funny, but also breaking through social conventions in a dark kinda way, nothing insulting just a little dark here and there

34 When do I get creative?

when travelling, trains and buses are great, but only when i can see a wide vista, so trains goign through the countryside are ideal, or in a creative soace with othe rlike minded creatives. enough of creativity for now eh?

35 Favorite lyrics?

nothing overlly specific, but i like Plan B’s stuff, Radiohead always do somethign interesting, A Tribe Called Quest are geniuses with words

36 The most scary thing I’ve done?

confront people, its tough, especially when you know something has to be resolved by words and talking

37 Biggest accomplished achievement?

going to film school, something i thought was impossible for a working class lad like me

38 What am I horrible at?

not keeping healthy

39 Favorite book genres?

sci fi and fantasy for sure

40 Any adventurous thing I want to do?

travel

41 Something I would like to try?

sports, i feel that if i was encouraged at school in sports id be a real jockey

42 Optimistic or pessimistic?

depends on the day, optimistic is the goal, that way your always looking up

43 Favorite TV show host?

Mel and Sue, old school bake off

44 A talent I want to acquire?

playing the violin and anoy other musical instrument i can egt my hands on

45 Something from my childhood that I still have?

1 teddy bear and 1 fluffy teddy style cat, those are going to be family heirlooms

46 If I had a chance to change something what would it be?

death of family members, but you cant dwell on such things, itll drive you mad

47 What would I do to calm myself?

music and cleaning

48 When do you find yourself singing?

while out walking or home alone

49 What do I consider unforgivable?

any attack on others, physical, psycological, verbal, insinuated

50 Have I ever sleepwalked?

as a kid yes but not since, if i did id definatly wear some kind of body camera and find out where id go

51 If I got a chance to go somewhere, where will it be?

everywhere, every continant at least 5 times

52 What is my dream career?

feature film writer/director

53 An impossible wish?

a real lightsaber

54 Who is my greatest role model?

i like elders who are accepting of others and those who take great joy in heling others

55 If I could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

does the U.S.S ENTERPRISE count?

56 Favorite song currently?

Tiny Dancer by Elton John

57 Advice to people?

try to be understanding of others, dont put yourself or your skills down, make every day count, give yourself some credit for what youve done so far, make sure you get a little tlc every now and again

58 How do you handle jetlag?

sleep

59 Describe your style?

nerd

60 Favorite makeup product?

i dont use any, but i do get asked if i use mascara, all natural

61 What’s a guilty pleasure you have?

early naughties action movies, Van Heling with Hugh Jackman the main culprit

62 Favorite Star Wars Character?

The crew of the Ghost, you could never pick one over the other

63 Any pet peeve?

laughs with high pitches

64 If you could die your hair, what color would it be?

red

65 What’s your schedule these days?

in need of a job so a lot of job hunting, school is 2 days a week(ish) got a few writing jobs so putting pen to paper, need to start learnig lines for a play in the summer

66 Have you ever cut your own hair?

only the fringe and i didnt think it was that bad but when i got into school EVERYONE laughed #embaressmentismykryptonite

67 Who’s your style icon?

my friend zach, simple gorgeous colors

68 Do you consider yourself a good liar?

if the lie is a simple one

69 Favorite movies as a child?

star wars, star trek, lord of the rings, predator which i watched way before i was supposed to, i was also in the spy kids generation

70 Last show you’ve binge watched?

star wars rebels and the eric andre show

71 First toy you’ve had?

probably my teddies, but i do remember having star wars actions figures and lego very early on

72 What can you see from your window?

a main road which many buses travel down, a bus stop, a residential row of houses leading to a park, a betting shop

73 What’s for dinner today?

my other half makes great tempe and gyoza

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discefeliciter · 6 years

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Florence Diaries 8: Munich

Last weekend, after a month spent travelling around Italy, I finally had the chance to explore a new country: Germany! Even though we only spent about fourteen hours total there, it was super cool, especially after taking all those years of German in middle and high school. Here’s what went down!

Getting a spot on this trip to Munich was actually kind of last-minute, after our original trip to both Prague and Munich was cancelled. We struggled for a few days trying to decide whether to spend all weekend in Munich or just a day, and to find a tour company whose trip was still scheduled to run, but luckily, this one worked out. Going with the day trip made for a pretty exhausting weekend, but it was definitely worth it!

My roommate Eliza and I left our apartment to catch the bus around 10:30 on Friday night, and the bus departed from Santa Maria Novella station at 11. The drive between Florence and Munich is about seven hours, so we slept on the bus all of Friday night, and woke up around 6:30 when we were about an hour outside Munich. We stopped at a McDonald’s for a quick break and then got back on the road, and we were in downtown Munich by 8.

First, the tour leaders took us to the Oktoberfest gates to show us the meeting point for later that night, and then they took those of us who were interested to a nearby store selling lederhosen and dirndls to the festival attendees. I tried on a dirndl, but it was way too expensive to justify wearing for one day, so I decided to just become part of the 5-ish percent of people who don’t dress up for Oktoberfest.

After checking out the store, Eliza and I headed into downtown Munich to explore for a bit - we had heard from the tour leaders that the masses of people waiting at the Oktoberfest gates effectively stampede in when the festival starts in the morning, so we decided to let things calm down a little before braving the craziness.

Munich was so nice - up until then, Cinque Terre had been the undisputed favorite of all my weekend trips, but Munich definitely gave it some competition! We wandered in and out of some of the shops and churches, stopped at one point for mid-morning pastries, checked out the Marienplatz (the main square) for a bit, and eventually stumbled across a farmer’s market with tons of fresh produce, prepared food, flowers, souvenirs, and more. It was such a nice day to explore the market, and the food was so great - over the course of the day, we tried weisswurst, pretzels, and much more, so it was an awesome way to spend part of the day.

And by mid-afternoon, we were ready to check out Oktoberfest (which is held a few blocks away from the center of the city). Oktoberfest is definitely not an event for the faint of heart - there are literally thousands of people and so much going on that it’s almost hard to process it all - but I’m still so glad I took advantage of the opportunity to go.

When we first got to the festival grounds, we wandered into one of the big beer tents to see what was going on inside, but ended up just doing a lap around the perimeter because we weren’t ready to sit down and eat yet. So we spent a while just exploring the fairgrounds, checking out the stands and some of the rides, and taking occasional breaks on a grassy hill overlooking the whole thing.

After a while we decided that we wanted to try to get into one of the beer tents, but we found out the hard way that people usually reserve tables far in advance, which we obviously hadn’t done. It’s still possible to get into the tents without a reservation, but seats are first come, first served and the tents close as soon as their tables fill up, so by evening, it was impossible to get into any of them. So in that sense, we didn’t have the “traditional” Oktoberfest experience, but it was still cool to see. (And it gives me a good reason to try to go back someday!)

Anyway, we needed to find food somewhere, so we walked all the way back to the farmer’s market we had visited earlier, only to find out that it had closed. So we stopped at a coffee shop nearby to kill some time, and then headed back to Oktoberfest to spend the remaining hour or so before we had to hook back up with our tour group. Oktoberfest by night was crazy - easily 50%, if not more, of the population there was well past drunk by then - but it was still cool (and sometimes comical) to see.

And soon enough, it was time to meet up with our tour group and get back on the bus. We were on the road shortly before 11, and we arrived back in Florence around 5:45 the next morning. Sleeping on a bus for two nights in a row made for a pretty exhausting few days, but in the end, seeing Munich and Oktoberfest was worth it for sure!

With midterms next week and fall break the week after that, we’re taking some time off from travelling this weekend and staying in and around Florence. And then we’re off to Paris next Saturday - so the adventures continue!

#munich #oktoberfest #germany #study abroad

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fungusfairgrounds · 7 years

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Filling [this] out for Moffy ! deleted some questions i didn’t care about....

1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

They’re not in his age group that doesn’t really make sense ?? Moth has two moms and a dad and a little sister. His parents are roughly 20-ish years older than him and his sister is 13 years younger. They’re all close but he might have spent a lot of time with one of his moms ? When something is wrong I feel like he might go to a friend first then his family after. Also his family isn’t super developed yet so its hard to say lmaO.

2. What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like? What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

He gets along well with his moms and his dad !! They’re a very happy family, I don’t think there’s much conflict between them. They obviously butt heads every now and then (they really wanted him to come home for a while after he got in an accident but he refused) but they get along.

3. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

Not so much witnessed but he experienced something that changed him. His family, they’re probably the only ones he currently wants to share that information with.

4. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

5. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Wallet, keys, phone, sometimes a piece of candy or a stick of gum, and paper scraps with a small pencil.

When something/someone is on his mind, yes. Like, if he misses someone they show up in his dreams a lot. Usually though, not really.

6. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

He might have altered “flashback” dreams to his accident or relating to his phobia. He might also have nightmares about being forgotten.

7. Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

Not a real gun just the splat stuff. Probably just a target in the testing range.

8. Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

Yes. His family probably didn’t have to worry about things too much but currently Moth is really poor and is very careful with spending money. He’s doing a tiny bit better than when he was in college but not much. He can at least eat his three meals a day now.

9. Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

He’s fine with both !! Very comfortable in either. However, if he’s around someone he doesn’t trust he’d rather wear more clothing. He has a lot of scars on his back and he wouldn’t want people he’s not comfortable being around to see them and ask about them.

10. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

In his accident where he almost died. Since it happened while there was fog, he associates fog with it so he’s pretty afraid in foggy weather as well.

11. In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

[Voiding lol idc]

12. Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

I don’t think so.

13. Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Faces ! He’s a very visual person.

14. Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Not really but also maybe cause he’s so damn poor ? There’s stuff he’d like, and he would like to have more money, but its mostly to support those around him. He probably was team love for that splatfest, but sees nothing wrong with wanting money too lmao.

15. Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

Happiness. He’s currently not very successful, but he is very happy. He would like to be successful as well someday, but not having that currently doesn’t drag him down.

16. What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

Probably some plush toy ! Maybe a sheepy.

17. Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

Ambition 100%

18. What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

Moff is probably very needy for validation and in return he would drop everything he’d doing to do something for his date- which probably would be kind of annoying if he’s hanging out with you but then drops you in a heartbeat to reply to his bf for a few minutes.

I don’t think its ruined his past relationships because he’s giving them so much attention...they just didn't work out.

19. In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

He might compare out of self-criticism ? Especially former classmates that he felt he was just as good as at the time who got jobs but he did not so it makes him kinda feel he’s falling behind in things...he’s still doing his best though. I don’t think he thinks about that too often,

20. If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

He’d blame himself, not others. He’s not one to throw others under the bus.

21. What does your character like in other people?

I think he likes people that don’t care what others think ? Just people who are fun and adventurous and can always make sure you have a good time, no matter if its going to a theme park or just going to the convenience store at 2 am because you’re craving junk food. He likes fun, kind people.

22. What does your character dislike in other people?

He doesn’t like it when people won’t listen or continue to do things when he lets them know he does not appreciate it.

23. How quick is your character to trust someone else?

He’s probably quick to open up and trust others if they’re good people, but not 100%.

24. How does your character behave around children?

25. How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

He tries to be a good example and not curse or anything around them minus his little sister...since she’s family so “she doesn’t count” lmaO.

Moth is a very honest person so usually he can avoid confrontations since there’s not much built up anger from avoiding certain things, but when arguments do happen he doesn’t handle them too well. He usually just takes time to himself for the rest of the day but later calls whoever he argued with and apologizes- even if it wasn’t his fault. He doesn’t like strife.

Never ever ever ever !! Moth is not violent at all. Even if he’s angry, he would never go out of his way to physically harm someone.

26. How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

27. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

Moff probably has always wanted to be a fashion designer. He’s still working on it !

28. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Onions ?? he can’t bring himself to swallow them they’re nasty, the texture probably makes him gag. I already said what he doesn’t like personality wise somewhere else here.

29. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

30. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

He finds comfort in those around him, not particularly the situation.

Anything dealing with fog.

I think I’ve answered this before, but he is open for criticism but it can be hard to deal with sometimes too for him. He would love to get better and when he asks for it he’s very willing to improve. When he made something he’s proud of and doesn’t ask for crit right away but gets it then he might feel a little upset since he was just trying to show something he really liked. He’ll eventually go back and look at it though and try to improve on the next thing.

31. In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

32. Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

He would try it again if it doesn’t work out the first time, but if it keeps failing its obvious to him his method isn’t working so he would try to approach it at another angle.

33. How does your character behave around people they like?

He’s very sweet and kind and bubbly !

34. How does your character behave around people they dislike?

He’s a little cold and makes it very obvious to the person that he doesn’t like that he does not like them at all. I can only think of one person he’d be like that too lmaO....

35. Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

He would remove himself from the situation rather than get rid of the problem itself, I feel.

36. How does your character treat people in service jobs?

Very well. He’s a kind boy and appreciates their service.

37. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Moff probably feels like he has to earn it ? He works very hard, and feels its a lot more rewarding to get something after hard work than just being given something. Nonetheless he still likes getting gifts of stuff he likes, though...

38. Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

39. Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

[Void]

40. How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

Its very easy he loves to let people he loves know he loves them !!!!! He won’t say it if he doesn’t mean it.

#squidos #moff

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nowhereboundd · 5 years

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Auchwitz Adventure

Hi again! Firstly, I apologize for my lack of posting. I promise you that I have a million good ideas running through my head, but I’ve learned that its easier said than done putting those ideas into actual words. In my last blog post I said that I’d write all about my UK visa, BUT thats pretty boring. I might get around to doing that at some point, but for today I wanted to do something a little different.

In this post I wanted to tell a story - a series of rather unfortunate events - about the time I went to (or attempted to go to) Auschwitz, in Poland. Now before you decide not to read further, no this is not a story about the actual camp -per sey- it is more a story about the trials and errors I went through attempting to get to the camp.

*disclaimer: although this story is pretty funny, I don’t want us to forget how unfortunate and upsetting the events that took place at Auschwitz were. This has been a subject that has interested me since I was younger (I was OBSESSED with Anne Frank) so visiting the camp for me, although extremely sad, was such an incredible learning experience*

So, it all began a few months ago, when we booked a tour to visit Auschwitz. *side note: the camp itself was about 1.5/ 2 hours from the hotel we were staying at* so this tour included transportation to and from the camp, and the entry ticket. Now just to give you an idea, an uber from our hotel to the camp would have cost $180 (one way) and the entry tickets were $30. So for 3 tickets, and a ride there and back, it would has cost $450 total, or $150 each. This tour we found was $32 each and included both transportation and the entrance ticket.

A couple days before the tour (which was supposed to start at 10am) I got an email saying the time has been changed to 8:45am, which was no issue for us. The morning of our tour, we took an uber from our hotel to the meeting place. We knew we were running late, as the email had advised us to arrive 15 minutes before our departure time, but we figured the bus wouldn’t leave without us. Don’t get me wrong- we weren’t THAT late. We ended up arriving at the meeting place at 8:38am, 7 minutes before our bus was supposed to leave.

When we got to the meeting place, there were no people there- which is strange because normally these tours have a few people waiting around. There was also no bus. Weird. We weren’t late? There was no way the bus could have left without us...right? I spent the next 15 minutes calling the tour company, and emailing the person who advised me on the new time. I also called the third party company which I booked these tickets through. I’ve used this site before (getyourguide.com) and I’ve never had any issues. Although the issue here is that our tour was booked for “10am” so we were just “early.” A rep from Getyourguide was now trying to contact the tour company with no success.

THEN, I got this text:

*note the time stamps are all an hour behind, because Poland is an hour ahead of where I am now*

So pretty much after recieving this text we called getyourguide and requested a refund, then started the search for another tour. After standing outside in the freezing cold for nearly an hour, we ended up finding another tour for $50 each which was still significantly less than we’d pay if we went on our own. This tour was leaving in 15 minutes and we were a 7 minute uber away. Cutting it close but at this point we were desperate.

WHO KNEW how much traffic there is in Krakow at 9am.... that uber ride was probably the most stressful uber ride I had ever taken.. the minutes were just going by and we were NOT moving. When we started getting closer, we decided it would be faster to RUN (yes RUN) to the meeting point rather than staying in the uber. So, here are 3 Canadians BOOKING it through the streets of Poland at 9am.

In the near distance, WE SEE A BUS!!! Our tour still hasn’t left! We were right on time!!

Or so we thought.

Here is where the story gets complicated, so try your best to follow and I’ll try my best to explain properly what happened next.

So we meet the tour guide outside the bus, tell him our names, show him our order confirmation, but he says we aren’t part of his tour. I tried explaining that we only booked the tour 15 minutes ago so maybe his system isnt updated? I called the tour company and asked if our bus had left yet. He said yes, we missed our bus by 3 minutes and our tour group was already on route. The tour guide, who was around our age, possibly a few years older, felt bad for all our mishaps of the day and offered to let us hop on his bus to go the camp, for 20zł which is around $6/$7. Of course we accepted the ride, because transportation was our main obstacle. If we got to the camp we could buy our own tickets, and go from there.

Fast foward 2 hours, (Strangest bus ride ever by the way. Words alone can’t explain how WEIRD this tour guide was. We learned his name was Peter, and of course English was not his first language so nothing he said made much sense. And he paused A LOT while he talked. “ummmmmmmm” was essentially the only thing we heard for the whole 2 hours)

We finally arrived at the camp. Peter said that he wasn’t allowed to drive us back or he’d lose his job, so this is where we said our goodbyes and thank yous. He jokingly whispered in Alex’s ear to “give him some muthafuckin money” if we wanted a ride back. Like I said, weird guy.

When we got to the camp, I texted the second tour that we booked (the one that the guy said we missed our bus by 3 minutes) and asked if we could meet up with our tour group and pick up our tickets. He didn’t answer my text, and wasn’t picking up his phone. Screw that. I again, called the third party company I booked through, explained everything, and got a refund.

LUCKILY at the first camp (where the ticket booth was) there were 3 English tickets left. I don’t know HOW we managed to pull it off, but we did! We were finally going to get to see Auschwitz!

Wrong, again.

After buying our tickets we had “secretly” hopped back in Peter’s bus, bus #19, to get a ride over to the second camp, because this camp was outside and it was suggested to do it first so we weren’t visiting in the dark as there was no outdoor lighting. As soon as we arrived at the second camp, we realized there was a certain time on the tickets that we had to enter the first camp, SO we had to take the free shuttle all the way back from the second camp to the first camp.

Now we start freaking out again because we are trying to “sneak” into the camp with expired tickets. We get past security then get pulled aside and have to wait for a manager to print us some valid tickets. After what feels like the longest wait, WE’RE FINALLLY IN!!!

About half an hour into our visit, I start to realize that we don’t have a way home. There is no public transportation, and as I said, ubers were SO expensive. All of a sudden, I got a text!

Feeling hopeful that we could meet up with our tour and get a ride home, I messaged “Piotr”. (I had since spoken with the manager on the phone, who knew we got a refund so he offered us a ride back with our tour, if we paid 20zł each. Fine by us. STILL cheaper than an uber.)

Bus 19. Piotr. PI-TOR.

Yup. Just let that sink in.

The bus that we saw in the distance that morning while running for our lives.. that was our bus ALL ALONG. The one that we paid 20zł for a ride to the camp. The one that the “manager” told me the bus had already left, WHILE WE WERE STANDING RIGHT BESIDE IT!! THAT WAS OUR BUS.

So after this unfortunate discovery, we met back up with Piotr/Peter at the first camp. He felt SO BAD for everything that had happened, and we couldn’t decide whether to be mad or just laugh. Its so unfortunate that its almost hilarious. Piotr took our ~muthafuckin~ money, we hopped on the bus, and got back safely. Another very STRANGE 2 hour ride though. Piotr was telling the group that he used to live on the streets so he knows places that are open late to party. The last thing we heard from Piotr was his wishes for us to have a relaxful evening. Relaxful.

So friends, that wraps up the very stressful story of the time we went to.. or.. tried to go to Auschwitz. We did end up seeing both camps, and in total we spent $30 on the entry ticket, and $15 ish on travel. So in the end we paid less than everyone else on Piotr’s tour.

If you read this far, THANK YOU!! Its super difficult to put a story with so many details and side notes into words. I tried my best to make a funny story out of it rather than a “you had to be there” moment. ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE ACTUALLY TRUE GUYS. THIS REALLY HAPPENED TO US!

Thanks for reading :) I will talk to you all in my next post, whatever and whenever that may be!

xxoo chels

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sightful-tangents · 5 years

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january 1, 2020

Hi friends. It’s been a while, hasn’t it. I usually try and write something once a month or so but obviously I dropped the ball last year.

Can you believe it’s 2020? I think each year I start taking my resolutions more and more seriously. It’s one of those long-term commitments that I’ve found deeply rewarding just because of the passage of time. Simply with setting goals and the year passing by (for like, 5 years now) makes me excited with each coming year to think about what I want to accomplish, and how I want to shape my life.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. My 2020 themes note has been living in my phone for months now, but we’re here for the 2019 retrospective (original post here). It’s been quite a year. Here we go, on how I did.

THE BIG ONE

1. Put down roots. This resolution was three-pronged: a sturdy mental foundation, a sense of belonging in a place, and a feeling of belonging with people. I think I mostly accomplished that - my mental health (minus a very very stressful 1.5 months at work) has been mostly good, bolstered by well-timed vacations that cleared my head SO well (ugh, I *need* these breaks , that’s what I learned). I’ve been living in my basement for a bit over a year now and my space is coming together. I’m starting to really like being at home and in my space and feeling comfortable and content there. And lastly, a feeling of belonging with people… I do think I depend my relationships this year. I let a few go (or more like, I no longer hold those as dearly) but I formed a few new ones and overall, especially with the holidays being a time when I always reflect and feel extremely grateful, thinking of those that I cared about and wanted to give gifts/cards to… I’m just very grateful for those people around me and how they make me feel. I read a Bill Gates/Warren Buffet interview once, where Warren Buffet said his measure of success was whether the people you care about you love you back. This year, I felt this. So I’m going to count this one as done.

WORK

2. Don’t get fired.

I didn’t!!

3. No major fuck-ups (that may lead to being fired and/or my supervisor seriously regretting his decision to hire me).

I think I’ve made mistakes but this year, no major fuck-ups I don’t think.

4. Get a professional certification.

I did! I got a professional cert in the field of privacy.

5. Learn to be a better supervisor.

I think I did this. I think I’m better, specifically, I’ve been very intentional with being open with the person I work with/supervise, not micro-managing, and trying to support her to do projects she’s interested in. I’m sure there’s still a ways to go, but I think I improved.

6. Be okay with being uncomfortable at work.

I’m never going to feel completely comfortable, I don’t think. But I’ve been better and taking on projects that I’m not sure how to handle, and trying my best. Also, I’ve never been more fucking uncomfortable organizing a work event in my life (this was the 1.5 months of hell) but it’s done and nobody died.

TANGIBLE-(ish) 7. Be smart with money.

I did a budget this year, breaking down my categories of spending. Pros: I kept within my vacation budget, kept mostly to my savings goal, didn’t spend too much on groceries, spent a reasonable amount on restaurants/bars and entertainment. Cons: I think I spent a bit too much on clothes. I saved a decent amount as well (an inheritance and a tax refund helped as well, but thankfully I didn’t spend those frivolously).

8. Read 35 books.

Nope, I only read 14. I’m gonna only aim for 30 next year. Sigh. It makes me sad that I don’t read as much anymore, but I also have a physical bookcase now (YAY!) which gives me more excuses to buy physical books (YAY?)

9. Cook at least 2 times a week.

By “cook”… what did I mean? I didn’t eat out for dinner often, but often my dinner would be a quickly assembled meal (I eat oatmeal for dinner more often than I would care to admit). I’ll say this is half done. I definitely TRIED to cook more (as in with the pay and all that) but definitely not consistently at twice a week.

10. Get an IUD.

I did this! I don’t know if my body likes it (ugh the side effects are a-nnoying!). But it’s done.

11. Volunteer.

I volunteered for 2 events in 2018, and last year (2019) I did 3. I enjoyed them all a lot!

12. Continue playing piano for fun.

Again, I’m so glad I bought that piano (keyboard). It’s been truly joyful to re-introduce music into my life.

13. Learn and keep a new hobby.

YES I DID THIS. My friends know that I constantly talk about wanting to pick up a new hobby (I actually also took 8 weeks of pottery classes earlier this year… which was totally not my jam). But I asked for a guitar from my mum for Christmas and she gave it to me early in November and learning to play it has been infinitely rewarding. I suck really bad but I suck a tiny bit less each time.

SPACE

14. Travel.

My travel goals were: Taiwan, the Rockies (Banff and Jasper), and either South America, Turkey, or Eastern Europe. Also, maybe Toronto over the holidays. And I was very very very tentatively thinking about going to New Zealand in 2020, so let’s cross our fingers.

In reality, I made it to: Taiwan, Rockies, Japan, and Toronto. Japan was a surprise trip of sorts since it wasn’t on my radar, but I went with my Japanese housemate and had an AMAZING time. I felt so so happy and calm there, it was incredible.

15. Settle into my living space.

I’m now stressed out that I own too much shit. I mean, I have two dressers, 2 bedside tables, a kitchen table, 2+ chairs, a couch, a TV, a piano, a guitar, a bookcase + books, a few organization things, and all this kitchen shit. The next move is gonna SUUUUCK. But… my living space feels like mine. I have a second room with my instruments and TV and wall decorations I love and honestly it makes me happy to just chill there around all of “my shit” and think to myself “this is me”. It’s taken like a year to slowly get my stuff (like, I bought a Dyson vacuum on Boxing Day…) but things do feel like they’ve come together in to a safe space.

16. Settle into my city.

This summer was sooo good, weather wise. I stayed in the city, went on lots of dates, and just hung out in the sunshine. It made me love living where I am, although the rainy months are gross. I’ve also grown to know the restaurants, bars, and grocery stores near me and downtown, all of which make me feel a bit more rooted. Yay for yearly themes, eh.

RELATIONSHIPS

17. Make 2 new friends.

I don’t know if they’re new friends since I met them before 2019, but I have formed stronger friendships with an old coworker, as well as re-building a friendship that I had kinda cut off early in the year. Both I’m going to count.

18. Date people!

I did this! I made a little mental note to myself that I’d accept any date someone asked if in person, in addition to a challenge with my friend to go on 3 online dates (w/ different people). This means I’ve went on “dates” (could be as casual as coffee) with someone who asked me out on the street, on a bus, through Instagram DMs, and through tinder. It’s been mostly good, I think.

19. See my mom at least once or twice a month.

I did this! Having a closer relationship with my mom is another one of those things that have built over the course of years, and that I look back and am thankful that past-me (when I was in Toronto) decided to call her once a week when I was pretty MIA in university. Now we’re a lot closer and she has helped me so much (like, she’s pretty much helped me completely furnish my place).

20. Be a better friend (support & generosity).

I think so. I cut my friend circle a little bit (especially high school friends that I realized I didn’t need to hold so closely. It’s funny because when I went away for university, I loved my HS friends so much and would eagerly see them every time I visited. Now that I’m back, I just feel like my HS friends know the old me, and that the current me has changed so much. Or just to say that I think while I’ll always be friendly and love them, I just don’t feel a pressure to be as active in those friendships as I did before. I dedicate myself to other ties.) I’ve deepened my friendships (that I care about) and I know I’m still learning how to be a better friend (always) but I’ve really put in the effort this year.

SELF

21. INTENTIONALITY.

This is a bit of a hit or miss. I mean, I regularly watch 40 minute Bon Appetit youtube videos (I would die for Claire) and read fewer books than I have in like 8 years. But I think I was kinda intentional with my time (making time to see friends, spending my vacation time traveling). I’ll give myself a half point for this.

22. Keep my mental health in check (and prioritize it).

I had 1.5 months of mental health hell, for real. I felt like I didn’t have any time to live my life, including buying groceries or eating dinner. It probably wasn’t that bad but my brain made it feel that way. However, that means I had 10.5 months of pretty decent mental health. If a work issue was the worst thing that happened to me this year, it must not have been that bad.

23. Figure out my finances.

Not really. I saved well, budgeted, but didn’t to the type of actual learning I was aiming for.

24. Fucking exercise.

No :(

25. Maintain my weight.

Yeah, I think so.

26. Be better than I currently am.

I…think so.

27. Take risks. Of all sorts. Because, why not. I had a really big(ish) decision this year and I was initially going to make a decision out of fear of risks. But part of my final thought process was that I think I’d be disappointed in myself that if when it all came down to the line, I decided not to make a potentially risky decision that was sitting in front of me. So even though the future is murky and unknown, I did take it. I also learned there are A LOT OF REASONS WHY NOT. I don’t like to describe anything I do as brave but a little part of me thought that by not doing the safe thing, I did the brave thing.

----

And.. that’s it. Final score (including the half points): 21.5 out of 27… I’m very pleased :) Who knew this year would turn out like this?

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travelsofablonde · 5 years

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Gooooooood Morning England!

Hey guys! So it's day TWO in England and I am just now getting around to doing a post, i'm terrible at keeping a blog haha I also have limited time because we're leaving at 10 to go tour Chester.

Let's see.. I have no idea where to start. Well I flew out of Houston at around 2:05, we had a late start because they oversold the flight and someone stole my friend Savannah's seat haha The flight SUCKED. ALOT. It was hot, I was all the way in the back by the bathrooms and there was ZERO leg or arm or any type of room. It was loud and bumpy and the flight attendants were less than amenable. We landed in Atlanta (HOTlanta is more like it) at around 5:00 pm, at which time our flight to Manchester was ALREADY boarding. Of course I was the next to last person off the plane and everyone who was flying to Manchester with me was blowing up my phone because they didn't want the plane to leave without me! I made it to my gate with 15 minutes to spare and was the last person on the plane before they closed the doors!

Needless to say I made it! This flight was MUUUUUUCCCCHHHH better. We flew on a Boeing 747 airbus with Virgin Atlantic and was BEAUTIFUL. I was in an Economy Classic seat which just means I paid $60 extra to pick where I could sit in economy (nowhere near the bathrooms). I only had one other person in my seat and the row across from us (like 8 seats) was totally empty so she moved over there and I had my entire 3 seat row to myself! The seats were soft and comfortable, the flight attendants were all very very kind (and very British) and the people seated around me were mostly quiet and polite. EXCEPT for the British youth wrestling team catty cornered from me. They made it so I got ZERO sleep on the flight. Oh well. I also spent the majority of the flight writing papers for my Roman/Medieval Britain class. (oops I procrastinated)

Anyway! Dinner was served not long into the flight and they gave you a menu with some good options. There was this roast beef type thing with garlic mashed potatoes (that's what I got) and it was delicious. They also offered a chicken curry that smelled lovely and a veggie/vegan option. Dinner was served with your choice of wine or a non alcoholic beverage such as wine. ONTOP of the free drink service included with the flight. They also gave us crackers with spreadable seasoned cheese (like those baby bell type ones at the store but BETTER) and a sharp cheddar cheese, a bottle of Scottish Spring water, a packet of BUTTERFLY shaped crackers, and a key lime pie cake in a bottle! I have to say everything was GREAT and their key lime is way better than ours because I actually ate the whole thing. I hate key lime and I ate it ALL.

The flight itself was quiet and uneventful, only a few bumps here and there as we flew over the ocean and into Ireland as the sun rose. The flight attendants came by frequently to offer us water or anything else we might need. We were woken for breakfast near 5 or 5:30-ish which was a delicious strawberry yogurt with a pomegranate/blueberry granola type pastry bar thing. We were offered tea or coffee with breakfast. The milk for the coffee came in theses little long bags like a sugar packet did lol It was super cute. Not long after breakfast the captain came on to let us know we had been offered a short cut into Manchester and would be landing an hour or so early. I have to say you guys... both the take off and the landing were so incredibly smooth in this plane. I almost didn't know we were landing! We taxi'd for a few minutes waiting for an open gate and then we de-planed rather quickly for such a full double decker air bus!

We spent considerable time in the airport with both Professor Mann and Professor Denton and her husband, Mark waiting for the other students to arrive. 2 of the students flights were cancelled and won't even be here until today or tomorrow! Eventually around 11 all but 1 of us was there (Hannah R's flight was WAY delayed) and we boarded a shuttle to take the 40 minutes drive into Chester. Professor Mann said if we planned to rest or "nap" we should do so on the shuttle, though he advised against it. Basically if we could manage to stay awake till 6 or 7 at night it would go a long way to setting our body on the correct clock for England. I didn't nap. It sucked.

We arrived in Chester and our dorms on the Chester University campus which are super old but do the trick. We each have our own rooms and bathrooms. We've also got 2 kitchen on the two floors were staying on and a commons room to hang out in. We got about a 2 hour window to relax (NOT SLEEP) and unpack while we waited on Hannah R to land and make it to the dorms. A few of the girls fell a sleep and were picked on a little in good fun.

Once we were all unpacked and Hannah R. arrived we began our trek around Chester. We walked onto the campus to view the different facilities and the laundry room where we were given our laundry cards. Basically we load them with money and scan them into the washer and/or dryer. It's around $2/$2.50 US to wash clothes and $1.50 US to dry them. So several of us are sharing cards and split the cost of laundry detergent (literally only $2 for a good sized amount).

After the small tour of the lovely campus we began walking into the city proper. We walked along Liverpool Lane up to the old Roman gate arches. Not the originals, it was rebuilt in the Georgian period. BUT some of the original walls are still standing from Roman times! Liverpool lane runs right under the archway! We turned and walked up a stone stair case that takes you up to the city walls which were also built in Roman times and over look the original moat turned canal in the 16th century or so. We followed the city walls further into the city proper, disembarked the wall onto the lane along the Church Yard. Very very gorgeous church btw! At this location is a door that is closed every night at 9pm and has been since the reign of Edward I to prevent the Welsh from being in the city after dark lmao! It used to be legal to shoot any Welsh man or woman with a crossbow if they were found in the city walls after dark (until 1963)!

We went through the door, outside the walls and began walking through the shop lanes along the outer walls to the big Tesco (grocery store). We purchased supplies (only spent $35 US) on food and some toiletries) and walked back. We got caught in a rain burst which I found refreshing!

Once back we were free to do whatever we wanted to: make dinner, or go out, play games, or go to bed.

I took a hot bath (literally HOT, they have signs warning about the water temps) and made a cup of noodles, and PASSED THE EFFFFFF OUT.

I slept restlessly though and tonight i'll be sleeping with the window OPEN regardless of my allergies.

We're about to head out to tour the city properly so I'll post more later!

#travel flight England Atlanta Houston Overseas UK StudyAbroad

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thecajuniverse · 5 years

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Exploring Indochina: How to Travel on a Budget

Want to travel to multiple countries but short on time and money? Here’s how I did it! 6 days, 4 cities, 3 countries, ONE EPIC ADVENTURE.

Okay. I know I’ve only been posting photos about my trip and writing cheesy captions to go with it, but here it is: the complete braindump on everything I did in Indochina aka my feelings.

I guess it’d be hard to understand how this trip came to be without me explaining how the idea was planted in Dani and Chelle’s heads but it’s pretty simple. One summer day, I was watching I Fine, Thank You, Love you for the nth time in 2018, when a great NEED to go to Bangkok right at the moment hit me like a freight train. Within minutes, I chatted our groupchat and exclaimed about said need and by pure psychic connection, Chelle felt the same way and before we knew it, we were looking up flights on Cebu Pacific’s website. However, roundtrip tickets to BKK were quite expensive so, we kinda abandoned the idea for a while.

See, when you’re looking up flights, you can play around with the destination and the city you’ll be coming from and all that, to find the best prices. My nerd ass knew that Vietnam was around the same area so I tried to search if there was a way to get to Vietnam from Thailand. Lo and behold, Cambodia was between them and it was completely possible to travel in between these countries. Bonus! It’s a famous route among backpackers. Armed with good faith and a seemingly bright idea, I told them that maybe we could try MNL-BKK then SGN-MNL route.

Cebu Pacific must have been stalking me (or the prices were that cheap, I’m just being weird) and we found out tickets for those routes combined were so much cheaper than a round trip to BKK. 3 countries for less than the price of one? Sounds like a plan! And a plan it really was.

It took us months to plan the whole trip, from accommodation to bus transfers to plane tickets to itinerary to budgeting and more Our trip was perfectly scheduled right after the end of our semesters and just in time for the holidays.

December 19, D-Day. Our first stop was Bangkok. When we stepped off the plane, it didn’t feel that real yet but once the Thai announcements came in, that’s when it really sunk: I’M IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY WITHOUT MY PARENTS OR FAMILY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE.

A lot of people say that Thailand feels a lot like the Philippines and they’re not wrong but first of all, they drive on the left side so everything felt weird (you wouldn’t feel like that at first but later on your brain will sense as if something’s wrong); second, it’s so much cleaner (we stayed near Khaosan road, and it was crowded but the sidewalks were relatively clean); and third, the people are less friendly but still nice nonetheless.

We stayed in a millennial-y hostel and had the dorm all by ourselves, at first. We had a lot of itinerary planned so we set out for lunch and the temples early. My nerd ass looked up the nearest pier so we could ride the Chao Praya river boat to the Grand Palace and let me tell you, NEVER TRUST THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL ON GOOGLE MAPS. I thought it was near but it turned out to be QUITE a walk to the port but it was cool the boat was a little expensive but it was cool. And we still had to walk to the Grand Palace from the port so that was, um, exciting. Thought I would survive the rest of the day with no sleep but I DID NOT (Tip: always get a full 8 hours of sleep before you travel, you will cry at 11am).

The Grand Palace, with its walls so high and land so big you think you’d get a nice stroll; WRONG. The place is literally buzzing with tourists and it will give you a headache. To be fair, even if the place was teeming with people, it still wasn’t that full so, imagine how big it had to be. Taking pictures was the hardest part because of course, everyone wants the best shot so we had to pick the most secluded parts just to get a decent picture.

And by 3pm, my feet were aching and we were all sweaty and red and basically, exhausted so, we abandoned the rest of the itinerary and instead, got ourselves a cup of ice cold Thai milktea. Verdict: CRAZY GOOD. After that, we got take out Pad Thai from the streets for dinner and of course, it’s nothing like the ones in Manila.

The second day, we booked a tour through Klook to the infamous Floating market. It’s a few hours away from Bangkok so if you’re planning to go, first of all, don’t, because it’s not worth it; second, if you really wanna go, book through Klook to avoid the following: scams, expensive prices, activities you’re unwilling to pay for but are still magically billed to you. The only good thing that came from the trip was the van that we rode on the way to the market because it’s the one that hallyu stars use to travel around (and yes, I felt like one). The rest of the day we were at Khaosan, mingling, eating, spending money we didn’t have. Yada yada yada.

Next day was our transfer to Siem Reap and I just want to say that Giant Ibis is the best transport you can ever get in Indochina. Free meals, reclining seats, they got you. Passing through the Thai and Cambodian borders was really easy, just stick with your group. And before we know it, we were in the city I like to call frozen in time, Siem Reap.

My first impression of Siem Reap was, it looked a LOT like the remote provinces of the Philippines. Everything was covered in dust, lotsa old houses, and even the cars were of old models. The adjacent big hotel resort thing and the huge Sofitel plaza looked awfully misplaced in a city seemingly forgotten by time. If poverty was painted as a city, Siem Reap surely looked like it. It was natural to feel a little bit scared, but the people proved to be nice and helpful. Our tuktuk drivers to the Angkor Wat complex were relatively nice and took us to lotsa temples to the point that we voluntarily gave up because we were so exhausted.

The Angkor Wat tour deserves a paragraph for itself because like I said in my instagram captions, you have to see it before you die. The sunrise, however, was kinda underwhelming but (note: not trying to be an architectural expert) I appreciated why we had to be dragged at 4am to see the famous Cambodian sunrise. Never underestimate these temples because they are crazy big! The sheer largeness of the temples will strike you and the fact that there are DOZENS of them in the complex… Don’t even think about it; it’ll just give you a headache.

A sidenote: like I said, Siem Reap is basically the image of utmost rural-ness and normally, tuktuk drivers would try to entice you to go to some place else that isn’t included in your Temple Run map requiring you to shell out some extra cash, but don’t fret because they’re nice people (a little persistent, perhaps?) and if you politely say no, they’ll back out.

Pub Street is a gastronomic adventure and is by far, the cheapest market I’ve ever been to. If you want to buy your pasalubongs, this is the place; not the airport (I made that mistake in Vietnam).

We literally spent a day and a half in Cambodia and by 11pm we were on our way to their capital city, Phnomn Penh (was only there for 3 hours but guessing from the tuktuk ride from the bus station to Café Amazon, aka the best SEA café ever, and back, the city is BOMB), to transfer and eventually go to our last stop: HO CHI MINH CITY.

Vietnam. Yes. Sometimes I like to call it, a french BGC. Other days, I call it budget Korea (Dude, K-pop is everywhere and every other K-pop dance cover I see on Youtube is set in Saigon). But I have to say, it’s been my favorite city out of the 4 we explored. Sure, my legs almost gave out when we were trying to look for famed Pho place in the city, but the beef broth was worth it and so was the vietnamese coffee we had right after. Walking in a foreign country late at night should have been scary but it wasn’t. It was exhausting, yes, but it gave you plenty of time to stop and appreciate the place you’re in. It got pretty existential, to say the least. I was grateful.

The trip to Mekong Delta the next day was pretty meh to say the least but we were in a large tour group and we met another Filipina traveler (who we immediately became super acquainted with because DUH, nothing like seeing a kababayan in a foreign country), which made it pretty fun.

But it was Christmas Eve then and when we got back to the hostel, all I wanted was to go home. And by December 25, 5:30 am, my feet were once again back in Manila’s arms.

Okay, I promise this is the last paragraph… ish? All in all, I had loads and loads of fun. The idea stemmed from a very very stupid reason, in my opinion, but resulted to a trip I will never forget. Shoutout again to my friends, Chelle and Dani, for being onboard on such a crazy and half-baked idea. Here’s to more adventures!

On backpacking: DO IT. Backpacking isn’t exactly mountain trekking and all that crap. It’s mostly about hopping from place to place and seeing as much as you can, in such a small timeframe. Skip the fancy boutique hotels and opt for the more practical hostels, where you’ll meet half naked Europeans walking around in their dorms which is pretty creepy lots of people, from different backgrounds, with different stories. That alone is reason enough to go backpacking and I really think everyone should try it at least once in their lives.

And if you’re looking for a sign on whether you should go on that trip or not, local or international, this is it. My motto in life now is (which will subsequently leave me broke): just book it!

#personal

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cosmosogler · 7 years

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hnnng i’m in trouble. reading textbooks takes four times as long as reading anything else.

today i got up on time. snoopy went in the litter box again. i left a little early to get to my lab. ioannus was still teaching when i got there so i teased him for going over time. then i tried to teach my own section and that went a lot of nowhere real fast. i feel... dumb. not because i don’t understand physics (intro courses are fine to teach), but because i had a thing planned and then i got up in the front by the board and forgot every last bit of it. i feel like i wasted everyone’s time. i feel like i made my favorite subject boring and obtuse.

thursday i’ll have to do better. twice in a row. tuesday i’ll take that first section and give a quick review of what exactly we’re hoping to teach them through lab work.

after that i worked for, hmm, about three and a half hours more or less straight through. i mean yeah i was chitchatting some of the time about teaching and about the homework. i finished studying my old notes and got started on the homework due tomorrow. the first problem i’d made a lot harder than it needed to be and i felt dumb but also kind of relieved that the assignment was simpler than i thought. until i got to the second question.

the question used a notation i was not familiar with and i realized i would have to read through the textbook to find some context for the weird requirements for my work. so i got to that. i super underestimated the amount of time it would take to read 30 pages. i didn’t finish.

i spent my breaks running around and trying to stretch a little bit since i was getting really antsy and staticky again two hours in. i didn’t have much appetite for lunch. i called the psychiatrist and set up an appointment. then at 3:15 a bunch of us went upstairs to get some cookies. the cookies were not ready, we had to wait 30 minutes. i kind of lost track of time and was up there for 40 minutes total. but i also was really, really tired.

right before 4 i hopped right back in. i think i did one more 45-minute period, and lost track of time after that since i didn’t have time to fit another one in comfortably before 6.

at 6 we went to the make-up class for e&m. i suddenly completely understood why people were confused by the lecture (and not just the board notes). i got nothing out of it. and since it wasn’t technically a 50 minute period he just kind of went on for however long he wanted. so we were there 57 minutes.

7 minutes isn’t a lot by itself but after a hard period where you’re just completely lost at all times because nobody can read the professor’s handwriting and he hops around between topics, AND you are starving because it’s an hour past your dinnertime, it is an excruciatingly long wait.

i looked around the classroom after the professor lost me. i didn’t see a single person who didn’t look dead inside. it would have been really funny if i wasn’t already so upset and bone tired.

i don’t understand how the bus schedule works at all any more. the bus running today at 7 pm was the same route that i had caught the “last” bus on on monday at 6:10-ish.

i got home at 7:25. i made myself a quick dinner and settled down at my computer at 7:50, completely forgetting to brush snoopy. i took a 15 minute breather and then got back to reading. i tried looking up the problem from before on google, and on wolfram, and i sent suzanne a message but she hasn’t looked at it, and i asked some random internet friends. google gave me, like, a british pediatrician, and wolfram spat out the periodic table.

so i decided to read ahead and when i got the answer to the previous problem figured out, i would have the reading done and be able to get right to the next two questions! after an hour and a half of that i realized i had forgotten to brush snoopy so i fussed over her for about 5 or 6 minutes. she doesn’t look like she’s feeling too well today. i haven’t given her enough pets maybe. i finished reading through all the sections we had work from at 9:50-ish and then i started writing here and now it’s 10:10.

so now i’m like 6 hours of work down and i only have a quarter of my assignment, which is due tomorrow, finished. i’m going to need to get up at 6:20 and try to get to campus by 8 so i can try to work on it with classmates or any graduate student at all.

i was less irritable today in general, but now i just kind of feel like hot garbage and also nauseous. i’m going to be in trouble if i come in when the first assignment of my whole grad career is due and i don’t have it finished. my face is also a little bruised where i scratched it up this morning...

tomorrow i’ve got my appointment with the group therapist. i’ve got nothing on my schedule after 4, and i really want to rest, but i don’t think i will have time for that, so i will probably have to stay until i get too hungry to keep working.

i’m not complaining about the workload here. i have some complaints about the professor deciding to nab all of us after the office is closed to rant about legendre transforms for over a full class period’s time. and i have complaints about the textbook (and professors) throwing random curveballs that i have literally never seen before and give no explanation for. i feel like if everyone was playing fair i could put in 6 hours of work and maybe get one assignment done.

life’s not fair.

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the-v-gan · 7 years

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☆…SHOULD WE KNOW US A LITTLE BETTER TAG…☆

Tagged by @marksonislovely (thanksssss mommmm ♡)

RULES: you must answer these 92 statements and tag 20ppl… THE LAST: 1. Drink: water 2. Phonecall: Home 3. Text message: my friendu @blurguppy 4. Song you listened to: GOT7 ‘Go higher’ (you can imagine me turning up on the bus as i travel to school) 5. Time you cried: the two nights before (I watched Fly in Seoul Final and the boys was just so emotional and my heart just) 6. Dated someone twice: nope (i am a virgin at dating, so don’t even ask) 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: no (i am also a virgin at this) 8. Been cheated on: ehhhhhh if friends are considered, yes. (I SWEAR) 9. Lost someone special: yes 10. Been depressed: ?? (what is this even) 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: nope (also virgin at this omg i need a life)

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14: Red, white, blue

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: yeahhhhhhh

16. Fallen out of love: Fell in love instead (with 7 boys) (where all my ahgases at)

17. Laughed until you cried: always

18. Found out someone was talking about you: nope (no shade pls)- WAIT THERE WAS

19. Met someone who changed you: yessie ♡

20. Found out who your friends are: yes, in a good way

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: nope (i am a child ok someone teach me on how to live a life) (and my facebook is prolly ded)

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: ehhhhh idk haaaaaaaaa once again what facebook

23. Do you have any pets: no (I want a golden retriever and all the types of dogs omg♡)

24. Do you want to change your name: nope nope nope (even though my friend has brought back that spongebob joke)

25. What did you do for your last Birthday: dinner with my fam; received gifts from friends omg they are the sweetest

26. What time did you wake up: what is wake up, more like wake me up inside (i cant wake up)

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: drawing mark’s ceci photos until my eyes felt like it was falling out

28. Name something you can’t wait for: graduation (??) (i want my diploma)

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: an hour agoooooooo

30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: hmmmmm maybe my sweat glands (am i answering this right) because my skin is raining 24/7 i swear its hot all the time out here.

31. What are you listening right now: listening to the sound of the air conditioner in the quiet lab (and i heard footsteps in here) (this place isnt haunted right)

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: no, but I have talked to someone called Jerry (tom holland talk to me pls)

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: when someone gets butthurt so easily and is gets salty about it like what even

34. Most visited Website: tumblr is bae

35. i don’t know what the question was haha + 36. same + 37. same -no idea what this is but anyway+38 same (i’ll just go in order by number ha) what?😂 (what is this what is this what is this ok i should move on)

38. Haircolor: brown black-ish (i have been on this earth for 18 years and i still dk what color is my hair)

39. Long or short hair: medium (ah ha not even in the options of this question)

40. Do you have a crush on someone: yes (always, on all the hot boys) (in kpop) (ok srsly, yes)

41. What do you like about yourself: i love that i love food and I can draw (does that count ok idk lalalalala) (draw all my baes wooohooooooooo)

42. Piercings: one on each ear

43. Bloodtype: A

44. Nickname: Squrriel (i freaking swear this bobsponge joke)

45. Relationship status: single ladies all the single ladies

46. Zodiac: LEO LEO LEO LEO

47. Pronouns: he, she

48. Favorite TV Show: 13 reasons why and if anime counts, attack on titan (s3 next year yayyyyyy) and if kdrama counts, Weight-lifting fairy Kim Bokju (i ship)

49. Tattoos: nope nope

50. Right or left hand: rightie ♡

51. Surgery: nope nope (unless my birth was counted) (ok maybe not, natural birth babyyyyyyyyy)

52. Piercing: errrrrrr my ears (?) (i answered that?) refer to 42

53. Sport: i am an unhealthy artist who sits on her ass all day

55. Vacation: been to hongkong, malaysia, thailand and taiwannnnnn (i wanna go to oppa-land aka S.Korea aka where my baes are at)

56. Pair of trainers: what does this question mean ok someone help

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: I love home cooked food, preserved foods, outside food (i love food)

58. Drinking: water is bae

59. I’m about to: go buy food (after i answering everything) (when will this end)

61. Waiting for: this to end (my stomach is screaming at me)

62. Want: happiness to the world and health to my fam and friends

63. Get married: waiting for one of my 7 husbands to accept my proposal ok but srsly, yes i hope.

64. Career: unemployed; futurn intern who needs cash now (hire me pls)

WHICH IS BETTER

65. Hugs or kisses: hugs (i havent done this kissing thing omg)

66. Lips or eyes: eyes

67. Shorter or taller: taller for bae but anything fits

68. Older or younger: age is just a number (its actually a word haaaaaa)

70. Nice arms or nice stomach: nice arms (btw have yall seen mark tuan’s arms omg i died and revive and died again)

71. Sensetive or loud: loudddddd (no sensitive omg i cant take that)

72. Hook up or relationship: relationship (duh)

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: no no no (why)

75. Drank hard liquor: nope (i am alrdy going to be 19 and i havent done shit)

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: i have been wearing them (my glasses) for more than a decade, i would slap myself if i lost them

77. Turned someone down: i got no one to turn down (cries into the abyss)

78. Sex in the first date: nooooooooo what this even i havent even kissed anyone whatttttt

79. Broken someones heart: errrrrrr idk (maybe that boy in preschool) (he was shorter than me and was butthurt) (but it was just tru)

80. Had your heart broken: yes (irl and also by all the korean boys who are snatching my hearts ok stahp yall)

81. Been arrested: um not arrested but got arrested into the got7 fandom haaaaaaaaaa guilty

82. Cried when someone died: yup

83. Fallen for a friend: hmmmmmmm no yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: errrrrrrr most times

85. Miracles: YES

86. Love at first sight: yes (still waiting for this to happen irl)

87. Santa Claus: I believed in santa because i thought my dad was santa

88. Kiss in the first date: no (once again i have never tried this)

89. Angels: yes

OTHER:

90. Current best friends name: grace

91. Eyecolor: dark-brown

92. Favorite movie: i am a trash for good movies esp horror (even tho i get scared all the time and ask myself why all the time)

Tagging: @umma-jy @wang7gae @marksseunie @bxmbxmn @blurguppy @emiipopo @the-assgoblin (i need more tumblr friends omg help)

do it if you wanttttttt (so that i can readdddd)

#tagged #♡

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yourworldmyworldourworld-blog1 · 6 years

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Chile - a land I fell in love with

CHILE - a country I thought I was going to spent 1 week but ended up staying almost a month. Land of deserts, of cities, of volcanoes and of Patagonia. Land of beauty, of Nobel prize winners, of culture and much more.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

Day 1. (23.10). After border control it was a 45 minute drive to San Pedro de Atacama. The views were stunning. Chile is an hour ahead of Bolivia so we arrived at 12ish noon. I headed to Laskar hostal. After check in we headed into town to get money and exchange money. The town only has a few ATMs and all charge so take out a bit of money at once instead of a bit at a time. Then we rented bikes from Rutas Atacama that is on Caracoles street inside Licher - its like a stand. They do 3,000 pesos for 6 hours and double for 12hours. We then headed at 3pm to the Vale de la Luna. It's stunning but I would not recommend cycling as it's all uphill and it's quite a bit of a way. Either give yourself a lot of time and take a lot of good and water or take a tour. The entry is 3,000 pesos. At night I decided to cook and by the hostel there is a cheap supermarket and Vicents supermarket on Licancabur street is also a cheap option. For fruit and veg the agro market is a good option.

Vale de la Luna, San Pedro de Atacama

Day 2. (24.10). Wake up at 8am and went to get bikes at 10am. I headed towards Pukara del Quitor but first I headed further into the Catarpe National Park on the other side of the river. Inside the park I cycled to Los Túneles, the Quebrada del Diablo and a white church at the end. Do the Túneles first then the Quebrada then the church. I got there for just before 10:30 and left around 1pm. It will take you around 3 hours to do the whole park comfortably. It costs 3,000 pesos to get in. Then Pukara de Quitor; the ruins of a fortress over 2,000 years old from the atacama civilisation. Here you will find the ruins, various miradores (1.7km walking to the furthest out) and a face sculpted into the rocks. It is also an awesome place. I had lunch around 2pm at the top of the mirador and was done for around 2:30pm and back in town for just after 3pm. The whole day took me just over 5 hours. Again make sure you take plenty of water and potentially consider doing the two places on separate days for a more chilled day.

At the last mirador of Pukara de Quitor

Day 3. (25.10). Today I booked a tour through Desert Adventures - based on one of the corners of Caracoles street in San Pedro. First stop is the Chaxa lake (2,500 pesos). Here you can find the salar of Atacama which unlike the Uyuni salar it was made during glacial times by the minerals dragged off the volcanoes. It hosts three flamingo types- the Chilean flamingo (pink and dances to displace ground for food in a step step motion), the Andean flamingo (black tail) and the James flamingo (yellower beaks). Then to the red stones (iron minerals) and it's lagoons and lastly a little town called Socaire and Toconao.

San Pedro Salt Flats

Day 4. (26.10). On my last full day at San Pedro de Atacama I went off to the Puritama springs (Los Termales de Puritana). The trip started at 8am and I was back at 13:00. Super amazing and relaxing!

Puritana Spring

——————————

CRIBSHEET OF SAN PEDRO:

Hostal: there are many hostels in San Pedro. I stayed at Laskar.

What to do:

Vale de la luna - by bike: 1 day; with a tour: half day. If you do this by yourself take at least 2lt of water per person, a head torch (which you can get when you rent a bike); a bike; sunscream.

Pukara de Quitor Ruinas - I would recommend you do this with a bike as its so close to town. Make sure you take cash with you, water and sunscreen. You will have to leave bike behind and walk around the archeological site but that’s super doable in 1-2 hours.

Valle de cantarpe. If you decide to do this do it before Pukara as its further out and more tiring. Make sure you set out a good 4 hours and bring plenty of water, food, sunscream.

Tour de las estrellas. Book a tour to do this. I did not manage to do this as during my time there it was full moon so make sure you check the moon as a full moon won’t allow you to see the stars.

Alicancabur. This is the name of the volcanoes that borders Chile and Bolivia. You can do tour to the laguna verde y carácter.

Hot springs - Terma de Puritana tour. Either rent a car and go or go with a tour. I did it with a tour and its either in the afternoon or morning. So half a day.

Tebichinki

Laguna artiplanas y piedras rojas. This is a full day’s tour where you stop at the San Pedro salt flats and another two lagoons

Salt Flats. You can also to do the salt flats from San Pedro either dropping you off at Uyuni or coming back to San Pedro.

Rental bikes: Rutas Atacama

Tour company: Desert adventure ——————————

SANTIAGO

Day 5. (27.10) Today was a chilled day. Waking up breakfast and going round town for a bit before lunch and heading to Calama airport. I flew with Sky airlines. Landed and headed to the exit. You can get taxis or you can get colectivos for a bit less that leave you outside your hotel/hostel. These are outside the duty free before you exit the baggage area. Super easy and range between 6,000 and 8,000 pesos compared to an Uber at 14,000 and taxis a bit more. I got one named Delfor that dropped me off in front of the hostel. I stayed at Providencia hostel in Santiago.

Day 6. (28.10). On Sundays many streets are closed for the cyclists and runners. So its quite pleasant to walk around. I headed in the morning to the Santiago teleférico and went all the way up had this Santiago drink with durazno and maiz and lunch at belas artes followed by some yummy ice cream called Rosa nearer to the hotel.

View from the top of Cerro San Cristobal

Day 7. (29/10). I used this day for planning. You could look into heading to the Maipo maintains. I ended up not doing it. At the Providencia hostal you can find someone selling these tour.

Day 8. (30/10). I headed very early to Valparaiso. I would recommend waking up at 6am and being out by 7 ish. I left around 7:30/7:45 and made the 8:20am bus with Turbus to valparaiso. I bought the ticket at the station. Buses leave from station Pajaritos (line1/redline). Price varies but I paid 5,600 chilean return. The way back is an open return so you can show up and get any return and they leave every 15 mins. When you get to Pajaritos metro just get out of the metro and the booths to buy the bus tickets to Valparaiso are right there. Just ask around for the cheapest. They have two main bus companies: Pullman and Turbus. The trip to Valparaiso is around 1.2 hours. I got there around 9:40am and just made it for the 10am walking tour that leaves from Plaza Sotomayor. The guides of the walking tour are dressed in “where’s wally” like tops (red and white stripes) so its fairly easy to locate them. From the terminal de buses to the centre is a good 30 min walk. You can privately get a bus or taxi in. The am walking tour takes you up to the old prison and cemetery so it's an alternative route and I quite liked it. I then did the old town int he afternoon by myself but you can also get the same walking tour in the afternoon.

Streets of Valparaiso (Calle Uriola)

The afternoon tour goes to the German church luterana, and several viewpoints. I did it my myself starting at calle Uriola where you will find a bar and cafe called Al Alba that is super sweet. Walking up you get awesome street art. At plaza Sotomayor there is also a good café called 504. And for food near the port there is Buenos Aires restaurant that does good menu del dia. Other restaurants are Lupita, Pizzeria Ecuador - all at calle Ecuador. Be aware that Calle Ecuador is no longer the historical centre but according to my guide the area is still known as the bohemian side of town but its not too safe so be careful.

Rooftop space at Cafe Al Alba (Calle Uriola)

Day 9. (31/01). I quickly headed to the Universidad de Santiago station (red line) to buy tickets to Pucon with Turbus. I then headed back to the city centre - first to the Moeda station and the museum of lá moeda which is free until 12 noon. Then walk to the Precolombiano Art Museum and Plaza Mayor, up to el mercado and back down. Then I headed back to the hostel through Lastaria area and stopped at the park with the fortress at the top. I read a book there for 4 hours and then back for dinner and Halloween night out.

Day 10. (1/11) day of rest, home comfort and cinema. A family friend took me for coffee lunch and the cinema as well as dinner. Blessed to have been taken care of like that and enjoyed a nice family rest. You can also chose to go to the many wineries around Santiago on this day. You just get the underground a couple of stops and you can arrive in one of the many wine houses one of which being Concha y Torro.

Day 11. (2/11). After breakfast and a rest we headed for an early coffee at Lastaria. I then headed out on the red line to the Santiago Artesan Market further out round the corner. It was a pretty market and we had some food there. I was back at the hostel for my last night in Santiago.

Day 12. (3/11). I woke up and did the check out before heading to breakfast. We headed into the city and walked to Lastaria to get a coffee and then decided to walk to the Human rights museum. The walk was far - about one hour but there was always the green like tube straight back near the hostel. Later we did a trail up Cerro San Cristobal to watch the sunset. It took us over an hour to climb as we took the road instead of gravel route by mistake. We took the gravel route on the way back. We were at the bus station for 10pm as our bus was 11pm. Ways to Pucon: flight or bus. The flight is to Temuco or Calama and bus from Univesidad Santiago (10hrs).

Sunset at Cierro San Cristobal

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SANTIAGO CRIBSHEET

Hostel: Providencia Hostel

Things to do:

Lastaria area

Walking tour either by yourself or with one of those free walking tours (get info at the hostal)

National Museum

Precolombian Art Museum

Cerro de San Cristobal

Maipo treking

Wine tour at Concha y Toro

Mercado central

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar (get there with Turbus or Pullam from Universidad Santiago station)

Bellavista (especially during the night cool bars)

Restaurants:

Mercado central

Chipe Libre

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PUCON & PUERTO VARAS/MONTT

Day 12. (4/11) after arriving in Pucon and finding the hostel we had a nice chilled morning. The hostel (Chilli Kiwi) by the Poza was easy to get to. From the bus terminal (right out and on the main road right) or the city centre just follow O’Higgins road all the way down until you hit the lake (they call this part of the lake the Poza; in Spanish it means the puddle). Then when you hit the lake turn right and the hostel is right there. It has a beautiful view of the lake. Unfortunately, in November, the time we were there, it meant that the sunset was behind the buildings on the left and not straight across from the hostel. Apparently a couple of weeks back (so more October time) it was more central. The weather was very rainy so bought food and chilled at the hostel kitchens. Staying at Chilli Kiwi was an awesome choice as its by the lake. The rooms are clean and good and your rent can range from 9, 6 or 4 bed dorms. They also have a 2 bed dorm for walk ins as well as a 3 bed Harry Potter room, the caravans (20-22,000chl) and the tree house (32,000chl).

Day 13. (5/11). Woke up and headed out around 10:30am to Salte del Claro. Make sure you ask the route at Chilli Kiwi as they have a pretty comprehensive map. Here you walk towards a waterfall. Its beautiful and it will take you around 4 hours round trip. We got to the waterfall just after 12. Its stunning and even better due to the strong rains the day before. The path is fairly well signposted but if in doubt bear right when going through the forest at the end and have the river to your right. On the way back we got a ride back which sped up the trip.

Salte del Claro

Day 14. (6/11). Chilled in the am at the hostel and kayaked the lake from 1-3pm. It's 5,000chl per person and 4 hrs on the lake max time. Then back for my last night. During the am day bought tickets at JAC terminal, just off O’Higgins road, to Puerto Varas. As a rule, stay at Puerto Varas (at Maguoy Patagonia) and not Puerto Montt. Buses leave frequently from Puerto Varas to Puerto Montt.

Day 15. (7/11). Bus at 9am (9,500 chl) to Puerto Varas. I found out that Juan was also heading the same way as me so I glued onto him. Funnily enough we were to trek the next day together and meet again in Buenos Aires for some typical Colombian food - and who said you can’t be international in every sense of the word?!?! The trip took 4/5hrs. I then headed to the hostel (Margouya Patagonia (see leaflet below)). Then I went for a wonder round the town and bought food.

Day 16. (8/11). Wake up early and headed to Petrohue Park. The bus left from town (if you are at Margouya turn right out of the hostel, then right again at the main road as if you are headed into town and then left at the bottom of the hill by the fish restaurant; its just down there) and final stop was the park. The bus fare cost us 2,500chl each way and took 1.5 hrs. The trek was 4 hours all the way round. The full round trip is quite exhausting as quite a bit of it was volcanic sand which is not a joke to walk on. We were back for 5ish. Early night as I had bought a boat fare down the Fjords to Puerto Natalie’s (southbound only leaves on Fridays and Northbound only leaves on Mondays).

Petrohue park (me and our not so trustworthy but loyal guide - Rix!)

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PUCON & PUERTO VARAS / MONTT CRIBSHEET

Hostels:

Pucon: Chilli Kiwi

Puerto Varas: Maguoy Patagonia

**If you are by any chance going to: Valdivia, stay at Kauai central lodge; or Cochamo, stay at La Bicicleta Hostel; or Ancud stay at 13 Lunas Hostel; or Castro stay at La Minga Hostel or Palafito Waiwen (Chiloe).**

Things to do:

Pucon: climb the volcanoe; canoe on the lake; Salte del Claro other national marks/waterfalls. Make sure you ask at the reception at Chilli Kiwi and be around for the intro talk they do daily.

Puerto Varas: Petrohue Park; waterfalls. Just ask at the reception at Maguoy Patagonia.

Restaurants: to be fair I cooked a fair bit in Chile so just ask at the hostel the closes supermarkets which in all had one a max 10 min walk and enjoy the very cheap and good selection of wines.

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PATAGONIA

**Just a quick note here. You have a few options to travel down to Patagonia. You can either fly from Santiago or another airport near Pucon to Punta Arenas and then get a bus up from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales; or you can rent a car around Puerto Varas/Montt (there are a few caravan companies around or if you rather bike it there are a few options too); or you can do what I did and get on a boat (called NAVIMAG at Puerto Montt which will drop you off four days later at Puerto Natales). Of course, if you want to stop more often you also have a few other options like getting a boat with TABSA that takes you from Puerto Natales to Caleta Tortel and other destinations. Equally if you are travelling northbound these options are still the same. However, please note that NAVIMAG boats only leave from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales on Fridays and from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt on Mondays.**

Day 17. (9/11). Woke up at 7 and got everything ready. Headed out around 9 ish and got the bus at the end of the road (Calle Imperial). The fare is chl900 and it takes 20 mins to get to Puerto Montt. So I got in for 10am . From the station I got another bus (just ask around for the Costanera Shopping Centre/Holiday Inn) or you can walk (its probably 20/30 mins) where the check in was which is just down the road meaning I got in for 10:30 ish (this second bus cost me chl400). It's also where the Costanera Shopping Centre was. The boat left at 3:30pm so I could have arrived a bit later. But still. We were on the boat for 4pm and only left the port around 8pm. The whole trip cost me USD350 for four days/three nights all inclusive.

Sunset leaving Puerto Montt

Day 18. (10/11). I wake up on this boat and am surprised how well I slept. It's an interesting life on the boat but the bed, the showers and the amenities are very good. There are about 100 passengers and it feels full but not too crazy. Breakfast at 8am. Very well served the meals. The views are stunning. During the day there were talks of the route we were to take, a yoga class and materials around to colour in, knitt etc. The day went fast. There were talks about the route we were taking. The day ended going into the golf with a stunning sunset. The stars were even better.

Sunset on Day 2

Day 19. (11/11). Second full day on the boat. At dawn we had just crossed the golf and were back in the Fjords. The golf was quite calm and I only felt the boat rock twice. We stopped around 3pm at the Eden village with 3,000 people where only four people of pure blood of previous native people of this area. There was a talk about Torres del Paine - three entrances, bus in and a few options for day treks. We went through quite a few narrow straits. We went through the Cotopaxi shallow where the Leonides ship sunk (legend says there is another ship below it as it lies quite high above the water). We went through 89 wide straights with meter tall granite rocks. The day ended quite cold and the night was overcast so no stars.

Clear day through the Fjords

Day 20. (12/11). Last day on the boat. We woke up to an overcast day. We had breakfast and I did a bit of exercise and headed to the bar to write. The day eventually cleared. We docked at 4pm and it took close to two hours to get out. I then headed to my hostal: We Are Patagonia. The hostal was really good! Super comfy beds although a bit more expensive than the usual. Included breakfast which was very good. I arranged as well a rental car and shared it with two other people. Ask at the desk at the hostal for more information as they have the numbers for the cars. It also depends if you want to do day trips to Torres del Paine or whether you will be doing one of the treks (3-day or 8-day).

Leaving the boat (Navimag) at Puerto Natales

Day 21. (13/11). We woke up at 5am and headed out at 5:30am to Torres del Paine. The park is quite big and you can do the O in 8 days, the W trek in 3-5 and all of these need planning and booking if you want to stay overnight at the park. Although I was with some people who just winged it and did the towers one day, then the second drove to the middle to do the Britannia climb. The campsites have more flexibility as they may have last minute spots and you can rent tents at Puerto Natale’s from 2,000 to 5,000 for a 4 person and 3,000 for sleeping bags.

Getting to Torres del Paine National Park

What we did was rent a car and go very early to the Serrano entrance (there are three entrances). The Serrano is the most scenic route (the buses don’t use this route) with lakes. This road is not tarmacked but quite good. The entry to the park is 21,000chl and you can come in and out of the park up to three days. The parking is free. The day walks you can do are Torres (entrance on the east); the French valley and grey glacier (both entrances closer to Serrano). The last two start in the same spot so the guys I went to did grey and I did the French valley. For these two the Serrano entrance is the closest. You then park by Pahoe lake and get the ferry for 9am. Which gets in for 9:30am on the other side of the lake.

River running next to the treck to Vale Frances and Britannico

The trek

As the boat got in at 9:30am on the other side I started treking at around 9:40am. The map says that the first section of the trail up to the bridge is 2.5hrs but in brisk pace I made it in 1.5hrs. The views were stunning. Crossing the bridge you are by the French and Italian camps. Here is where the W joins. Across this very wobbly bridge to the other side I went. From there through the forest I got to the French mirador within one hour. From the mirador Frances to the británico I took about an hour as well but that's because a lady told me that the top closed at 13:00. But when I got there there was no gate. Asking around I heard that CONAF could have a guide shutting the trail if weather was bad maybe. The views at the top were absolutely stunning. Breathtakingly beautiful and no picture does it justice. So I got up there for 13:00, lunch for one hour and headed down at 14:00 to get back before 6pm for the 18:35 boat. We got to PN at 10pm. It’s a long day so take plenty of water and food. Make sure you take clothes for hot and cold/windy weathers and be ready to sweat.

The view at the top

Day 22. (14/11). Today I decided not to head out and do Torres del Paine as the Vale Frances was quite heavy and a full day. That's why I would recommend staying four day or three full days min in Puerto Natales so you can do Vale Frances one day and then do Torres on the third having a rest day in between. I then headed out for some food and chocolate. I was also recommended Patagonia Dulce (apparently best hot choc in PN) and La Gregario for coffee and chill. Also Pampa and Baguales as good bars. The afternoon went super fast catching up with people and resting. In the evening we sat round a table and chatted for hours. It was the best way of closing my Chile chapter. Thanks Chile!

Just an awesome group of people I met (two faces missing)

Day 23. (15/11). I was getting the bus to el Calafate at 7:45am. The bus ticket came to 20,000chl and the terminal was not crazy far. I travelled with Bus Sur and they were good.

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USEFUL INFORMATION:

Money: Chilean pesos

Hostels:

San Pedro de Atacama: Laskar Hostel

Santiago: Providencia Hostal

Pucon: Chilli Kiwi

Puerto Varas: Maguoy Patagonia

Puerto Natales: We Are Patagonia

Torres del Paine: book your stays with Fantastico tours or Vertice.

Info on Torres del Paine trekking options: -1 day - advise renting a car which goes at 40-45,000chl per day instead of getting the bus as with the car you can then get early for the first boat. You can then do Valle Frances one day have a rest the second day and on the third do Torres. I tried to do one after the other and it did not work.

- the W : 3-4 days. You must plan this in advance and book the campsites. In this case you will get in on your first day and do Torres or stay overnight at base and wake up early to see the sunrise and on that same day walk to the second campsite between Torres and the French/Britanico. On the second full day you will do French and Britannico to get to the third campsite by the boat. Your third full day you will do grey and come back on the 6pm boat, then bus back to Puerto Natales.

- the O: 8 days: Day 1 Get there in central camp at 11am and get there at 3pm. Stay at camp seron. Day 2. Set off at 9 am to camp Dickson. Day 3. Take easy morning. Short day and stay at perros. Day 4. From perros to grey. Start at 6am. Don't do Paso as with Conaf and need not book with three. Day 5. Walk down to grande or Frances and camp - Frances. Day 6 from Frances walk The Valley and come back pick up stuff and stay in cuernos. Day 7 walked to chileno or central - chileno no cooking. Day 8 do Torres for sunrise and go back get your bag and head down for the bus. Book in June for November and book meals throughout and for later stops so as not to carry too much food.

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#chile #sanpedro #desert #santiago #pucon #puertovaras #puertomontt #puertonatales #patagonia #torresdelpaine #thingstosee #thingstodo #journey #travel #visionworld #vision #yourworld #myworld #ourworld

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travelbugsteph · 6 years

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Day 1: Quito Where to stay: Community Hostel

The Community Hostel was one of the best hostels I’ve stayed in. My partner and I got a private room with a shared bathroom. The room was very nice, comfortable, and clean. The hostel itself was friendly and had all the right amenities needed to make a trip excellent. They offered a wide range of tours, specialty discounts, free breakfasts and $5 dinners. The food there was exceptional and the dinners were well worth the $5! I don’t normally write huge reviews for hostels on these itinerary posts but I really feel like staying at this hostel would significantly improve your time in Quito (and Ecuador) because of it’s location, service and access to amazing adventures and tours.

What to do:

We arrived late the night before so our first day we spent adjusting to the altitude and exploring Quito. Our bodies had adjusted fairly well overnight so we decided we would go take the TeleferiQo in Quito which is a gondala up the Pinchincha volcano. At the top there’s an incredible view of the city, and lots of hiking trails you can take to climb the volcano further.

We were still adjusting to the altitude in Quito, and the TeleferiQo is even higher up at 3945 m or 12,942 ft above sea level so we were in no shape to be hiking very far. We just wandered around for about an hour or so taking in the views and making friends with the locals.

Day 2: Quito – Banos Where to stay: Community Hostel Banos

What to do:

We wanted to see and do as much as possible in the short period of time we had in Ecuador, which meant that we needed to splurge in certain areas and not just rely on public transit. We ended up booking a Wanderbus tour from Quito-Banos that would stop in both Cotopaxi & Quilotoa. Overall, this tour was great in that we were able to see a lot in a days worth. I think everyone on the tour was surprised by how long it ended up taking us, and many of the random stops we made along the way. The tour company I’m sure has some adjustments to make to these tours but overall I would recommend, especially if you want to be able to visit these places! We never actually hiked up Cotopaxi but just spend some time hiking at the bottom of the volcano.

In Quilotoa, our group hiked to the bottom of the crater and we were given some time to explore the area.

We had started the tour around 6 am, and by the time we were done exploring Quilotoa at about 5 pm everyone was ready to get to Banos. There were some issues with the tour and we ended up sitting and waiting on the bus for an hour before starting the 3ish hour journey to Banos from Quilotoa. I’m sure if I wasn’t with my boyfriend it would have been a more frustrating experience than it was funny. Luckily we just made the most of our time, eating milk, jam and avocado ice cream for dinner and laughing off all the awkward situations that happened.

Day 3: Banos Where to stay: Community Hostel Banos

The community hostel in Banos was also amazing. This hostel is a bit more party-ish and there were often people drinking and going out at night causing some late night music and loud noise throughout the hostel. It had a great vibe though, again delicious food and really friendly staff.

What to do:

There are about a million and 1 things to do in Banos, especially for those adventure seekers. We chose to start our day by walking around Banos and getting acquainted to this cool rainforest town. After grabbing some coffee and food we caught a taxi to Pailon Del Diablo. Here we did the short hike down to the waterfalls. The area was absolutely breathtaking, but it was a little overwhelming by how many people there were, especially on the swinging bridge!

After surviving the bridge and waterfall, we hitchhiked back with a “party bus” – not sure why but this bus had strobe lights and club music while everyone sat in silence. We managed through our very limited Spanish speaking skills to get a ride back with them, and still don’t know what the purpose of this very eccentric bus was.

It was a beautiful clear day so we decided that we would try to catch the public bus to go to the “swing at the end of the world.” I had read almost everywhere that you should go here in the morning before fog gets too thick, but we were gifted with this beautiful clear day so we decided to change our plans and head there right away. The public bus runs every hour…. I think… maybe ever two hours… I should write this stuff down (SORRY). So we waited for the bus, paid the dollar or so to get on and made our way up the mountain. It took about 40 minutes to get up there but totally worth it.

Don’t be fooled by the first swing you see when you arrive. Although it does look cool, just keep walking and follow the trail to the other side of the trees. There you’ll see the real swings – and a much more magical view. It costs $1 to enter and then you can swing as much as you’d like. There are people to push you and organize the line/how long you get on the swing. There’s also a little restaurant if you need a cerveca or two afterwards!

Day 4: Banos Where to stay: Community Hostel Banos

What to do:

Neither of us had been white water rafting before, but were super keen on trying. Banos is known for it’s white water rafter so we signed up for a mere $30 USD.

There are a ton of tour companies throughout the city, and I’m sure many are linked to one another somehow. The start of our tour was a bit confusing and there was no clear direction as to what was going on. We just went with the flow though (pun intended), and by the time we arrived, the staff started setting us up and getting us ready to go.

Because we were newbies we went on the boat with the most experienced guide (hallelujah) and a Korean family with 2 little kiddies (again hallelujah). We all had a great time fighting the rapids together… well all of us except our youngest friend on the boat who was pretty unhappy by the cold water splashing him over and over again. He just sat at the back of the boat and cried for a solid hour, but that didn’t stop him from joining in the pics when we took them!

After rafting we were properly exhausted and looking forward to some food and hot springs. We first divulged this low calorie drink…

and then got our suits on to try out some Ecuadorian hot springs. I wish I had some pictures of these hot springs because they were not at all what I had expected, and it was a very cool experience. The pools are set up in stages so you start in the least hot one and then work your way to the most hot – which was unbelievable that some people were even able to dip a toe in there it was that hot. We would play games seeing how many seconds we could have a foot in it before taking it out while the locals laughed at us and just told us to get in. We managed to get about max 10 seconds. They had these two little pools with freezing cold water on either side of the scorching hot pool and if you went in the cold water first and acclimatized to it, then went in the hot water apparently it was easier. I think it really just numbed you enough that it would be bearable. Anyways, we had fun trying out best to get into the water with our mandatory shower caps on – clearly looking like outsiders.

I tried to find some more pics on the internet of these hot springs but this is all I could find. Looks busy here but when we were there the second pool in the distance was closed… so everyone was crammed like sardines into that first one.

Day 5: Banos – Montanita Where to stay: Hostel Casa Del Sol

What to do:

Today wasn’t as exciting as the rest of the days. We had to take several public buses, over the course of almost 10 hours to get from Banos to Montanita, stopping in many cities along the way. It was New Years Eve, and we were excited to get to Montanita, have some drinks and finally be on a beach in sunny weather. But because it was New Years Eve, a lot of the buses were full, and we couldn’t pre-book them as there is no way to book them online. We had our first bus booked but it was a bit of a gamble along the way.

In summary our day went like this: buses on buses on buses…..

until we gave up and took an $80 USD taxi from Guyaquil to Montanita….

got to our hostel, ate dinner, drank a pitcher of sangria….

bought some more wine…

drank that on the beach watching the sunset….

aaaaand then fell asleep by 10:30 pm after watching an episode of Parks and Rec. Yet another New Years Eve where we did not make it to midnight, wooooops.

Day 6: Montanita Where to stay: Hostel Casa Del Sol

What to do:

As soon as we got to the beach our motivation to go out and do new stuff just completely died. Instead we grabbed our books and spent the next two days just laying on the beach reading. Well, I read on the beach while Tony played in the waves. We ate at some really great restaurants, and just laid back and enjoyed life.

Day 7: Montanita Where to stay: Hostel Casa Del Sol

What to do: eat, sleep, tan, repeat!

Day 8: Montanita-Quito Where to stay: Community Hostel

What to do:

Despite our short visit we were ready to be leaving the beach. After spending the last 6 or so days in Banos and Montanita we were sick of being wet all the time and were looking forward to Quito again. We took the public bus from Montanita to Quiyaquil and then walked from the bus station in Guyaquil to the airport, and flew back to Quito. We went to the same hostel and ended up spending the night chatting and drinking with some other travellers at the hostel.

Day 9: Quito

What to do:

On our last day in Quito, we wanted to go do the most touristy thing possible and see the Mitad Del Mundo – or the Equator that’s not even on the right spot. There’s this nice museum and statue, and big yellow Equator sign yet a few years after it was built someone figured out that it was actually build on the wrong spot! Knowing this, we still went. The area itself had lots to explore, so you could easily spend a few hours here.

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Afterwards, we got our taxi to drop us off in the modern side of Quito to go to the market. This area was totally different than the old town we had been staying in. While we didn’t explore it extensively, we did notice there was a lot more modern coffee shops, restaurants and shopping in general. I even saw my favourite store, Pull & Bear! We sticked to just buying some chocolate and llama key chains and then walked back to our hostel.

Then it was already time for our flight home that night 😦

There’s so much more to explore in Ecuador that we didn’t get to do. Next time definitely to the Galapagos!

xx, S

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Best of Ecuadors Andes & Beaches: 9 Day Itinerary Day 1: Quito Where to stay: Community Hostel The Community Hostel was one of the best hostels I've stayed in.

#banos #community hostel #Cotopaxi volcano #Ecuador #montanita #Quilotoa #quito #south america #travel blog #travel bug Steph #travel ecuador #wanderbus

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