#so they would have had to like. take an Uber to campus. Caught a bus from North Campus to Central

[spoonstrek]

Lol, the movie The Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt was largely filmed and set in my college town (Ann Arbor, Michigan, US) and came out when I was in college. So I watched it in a theater in town surrounded by people who are familiar with the town. People were stoked to see Ann Arbor in a movie.

There was a lot that was incorrect or moderately offensive about how the town was presented, including the time they have sex on the kitchen counter of a beloved local deli and townies being presented as backwoods, conservative, and simple folk instead of generally overeducated and hyperliberal.

When the scene cut to them walking west away from campus, neither away from the area they were coming from nor towards a place they could live, there was general murmuring. Then they have an intense conversation on the corner near the homeless encampment and there was tittering about how awkward that spot would be to have that conversation. Then they resolve their conversation by romantically tumbling into a snowbank, that at the time I watched was a spot immediately behind a lime green tent. A friend and I locked eyes and went "oh no, not by hobo park!"

when a film or tv show takes place somewhere where you have been, it is your sacred duty as viewer to say “i’ve been there” every time you recognize a place

[ramp-it-up]

Request:

Y/N is for one year in America and try to learn the language More (she is from Germany ).

Chris saw her at target and realized that she was kind of lost and was loved to help her 👀

Okayyyy Nonnie! How's this for a challenge?

At first I didn't know how I was going to get there from here, but I cruised IG for some German inspiration. As a result, instead of Y/N, reader is named Maëlle. I also struggled with the knowledge that most Germans know more English than Americans know of any other language, but this is all in fun. 😛

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader (Maëlle)

Word Count: Around 2K

Warnings: 18+, RPF, MINORS DNI, CURATE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE, not proofread, Google Translate for the German, verry limited American knowledge of Germans and German culture, not full on Smut, but smutty thots, thoughts of oral sex, fingering, degradation kink, allusions to Dom! behavior, disregarding of stranger danger, the Red Sox, and an age gap.

Maëlle

**********************************

One of your goals when you got settled was to go to Target, Ziel when you arrived in Boston for your graduate exchange year at Boston University.

You understood a great deal of English and could speak many phrases, but you’d hoped your year in America would make you fluent.

You were proud that you were able to get from the BU Student Union to the store. You surprised yourself with the ease that you used your phone to help you translate for what you needed.

Now, you were standing in front of the doors, almost in tears, trying to find where your Uber was to pick you up.

You didn’t pay attention to which way you entered and you needed to find VanNess street. It was about to leave. You suddenly felt helpless, hilflos.

—-

Chris needed to pick up some sunscreen before the game, he couldn't afford a burn right before filming. Even though he had his Red Sox cap on, he still needed some high grade sunblock.

He hurried through the doors of the Target near Fenway Park, head down, trying not to get recognized.

He passed by some beautiful long bronze legs and followed them up a smoking hot body clothed in a scarlet Boston University t-shirt tied up tight and short blue jean skirt.

Your face was framed by waist length blonde braids and your eyes were the most beautiful he’d ever seen.

Your lips deserved ten minutes all on their own, but he kept it moving, not wanting to seem creepy.

You were gorgeous, although you looked flustered. Chris didn’t slow his roll, because you were probably waiting on someone.

When he came back through, five minutes later, he heard your voice and slowed down. He was surprised, but shouldn’t have been. There were black people all over the world.

Even in Germany.

��Kannst du mir zeigen, wo die Van Ness Street ist? Can you tell me? Where is Van Ness Street?”

Your accent was heavy, but passersby just assumed you were crazy or joking with them and ignored you.

Chris was ashamed. That wasn’t what he wanted Boston to be. Even though he was close to being late for the first pitch, he stopped for you. He summoned some German from filming in Europe.

“Kann ich Ihnen helfen?” It was one thing he knew how to say with perfect inflection.

You perked up and smiled at him. “Ach bist du Deutscher? You’re German?”

You looked into the face of the handsome stranger. His eyes. Verdammt!

Chris melted a little bit. When you smiled, you were even more beautiful. Chris smiled back at you, smitten. He laughed.

“No. Italian.”

You understood, but you were confused. Why was this handsome American saying he was Italian and speaking to you in German? And why was he so familiar?

“Oh, Ich entschuldige mich. Sorry.” You smiled again, and Chris forgot all about the game. He wanted to try to talk to you for hours.

“No worries, he said. “Bitte?”

This handsome man’s German was indeed poor. He’d fooled you. He was a good actor. Something pinged in the back of your mind, but you overlooked it. Somehow, he’d made you feel better.

“Ich habe meinen Uber vermisst. Uber, gone!” You made a motion with your hand. “Kannst du mir zeigen, wo die VanNess Street ist?”

“Ohhhh! VanNess is this way,” he pointed toward the other side of the store, and he started leading you through.

You breathed a sigh of relief as you followed him.

You neared the electronics department and there was a giant movie display with dvds. The man saw it, pulled up, stopped, grabbed your hand and quickly led you back the other way.

You were confused.

“Come to think of it, I’ll give you a ride, my car is back out this way. Druben?”

Chris was not going to ruin his afternoon and a chance to talk to you by getting caught signing autographs in Target. He loved his fans, but he already liked you.

You followed him back out of the sliding doors to the parking lot and a blank Range Rover. You just went along with him, your hand feeling at home in his.

Then the panic set in.

You didn’t know this man from Adam.

Your mother had warned you about getting kidnapped by an American serial killer. This was it. You hated it when she was right.

“Wait!”

You said it perfectly, and the man caught your anxiety.

Chris stopped as he tried to open the door for you. He looked into your worried eyes. Shit, he’d gotten carried away. He looked down to where your hands were still locked.

He couldn’t help but smile at them. You smiled, too. Then he looked at you, blue eyes looking like the sea. You smiled back, somehow knowing that you were safe. You leaned back on the car.

“I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Christopher, what is yours?”

“Maëlle.”

Your smile was brightening his entire life. He was into you.

“That’s beautiful. Das ist schön?”

You smiled wider at his compliment. Then you bit your lip. Chris' knees got weak and he took a step closer to you to regain balance.

You were in each other’s space, Chris looking down at you and you at him. You were both getting warm even though it was a cool September day.

Chris pulled your hand instinctively, and you were even closer, your fingers entwined in his close to his thigh, which you could sense flexing through his jeans.

You were staring at his lips and he was doing the same as the butterflies flew around your stomach.

Were you really considering kissing someone you’d just met in Target? What would your mother think?

That thought made you smirk.

“What are you thinking?”

He was leaning over you, his voice in a lower register now. His breath tickled your ear and made you moan slightly.

Chris wanted to know what was going on in that mind of yours, if you were as crazy as he was feeling this kind of connection so fast.

You understood exactly what he was saying, but you just cocked your head and smiled as if you didn’t. You didn’t want him to think that you were thinking of his hands all over you, in your most intimate places.

Chris took a deep breath, trying to clear his head and regain blood flow to his brain. His cock was hard being this close to you and he had to regain composure.

He wasn’t that reckless kid he used to be, but man he wanted to do some depraved things to you. Like drag his tongue up your…

He had to stop. Chris took a step back.

You watched as his tongue peeled out to lick his bottom perfect pink lip. It was strange, but you felt like you knew him. And you wanted him to know you. Intimately.

And now those perfect lips were moving, but you weren’t paying close enough attention to translate what he was saying.

“Can I give you a lift to campus?”

You cocked your head in that pretty way again. He wondered what it would be like to feel your lips. On his lips. On his tattoos, around his…

Chris cleared his throat and tried to think of the words.

“Kann ich mitnehmen?”

He was so cute. You smiled brighter and nodded, “Yes, Christopher.”

Then you gestured to your bra-less breasts in your thin t-shirt. Chris could tell your nipples were hard. He licked his lips and looked around. This was a development.

Then he got your message. He shook his head, chuckling that his thoughts were in the gutter.

“Ooooooh! Boston University! You’re on campus. Yeah, that’s right near here. I’ll take you.”

“Danke. Thanks you, Christopher.”

Your smile would be the end of him. He had to think of a creative way to get your number.

“Hey! Let’s take a picture!” He had his phone out.

You were confused, but maybe this is what Americans did to get to know each other. Take pictures with strangers.

He took a couple of pics and then opened the door for you.

You brushed past him to get in, and Chris allowed his eyes to take in your form, especially your shapely legs.

You noticed him checking you out, and immediately got goosebumps, your nipples hardening again. Your panties were a little moist.

“Let’s just get you… “

Chris reached across you for the seatbelt with his right hand, face coming near yours as he leaned into the car.

“Buckled in…”

Now you were sure your panties were soaked.

Chris allowed his mind to go places, like your pussy, which he was sure was sweet, wet, hot and…

“….Tight.”

Chris gulped, trying not to drool all over you, although he would love to spit in your mouth and make you swallow as he fucked you raw.

“Danke.”

You whispered behind a breathy moan. You wanted not only to ride in this man’s car. You wanted to ride this man in his car.

Your eyes flickered down to his jeans and that’s when Chris realized that he had a raging hard on. He quickly put his hand in his pocket, trying to play it off, flashed a smile and closed the door quickly.

You giggled at how huge what you thought you saw was. You fanned yourself while you waited for him to get in trying to remember your decorum.

Chris stood outside the back of the car for a minute, trying to catch his breath and think. He had to be at least 15 year older than you, he just met you, and you didn’t speak English. None of this made sense.

He was going to drop you off at campus and try to be at the game for the second inning. And act his age.

Christopher got back in the car, much more formal, and started driving.

He looked over to see your legs open and started to wonder how easy it would be to reach over and under your skirt, pull your panties to the side, if you were wearing any, and…

Chris cleared his throat and focused on the road.

You could tell the air had changed. He was different. You wondered what happened.

You looked at his profile and decided that he was turned off by you being so forward. You decided to straighten up, so you did so, literally and figuratively.

You sat up straight and crossed your legs, like prim and proper young ladies do.

The curve of your spine and the crossing of your legs made Chris irrationally angry. It was like you were closing yourself off to him. Then he remembered.

You didn’t know each other.

You pointed out where to go as you neared your apartment. Chris pulled up in front of your unit and you both started talking.

“Danke, Christopher.”

“Hey, Maëlle…”

You both chuckled. Chris continued.

“Let me send you that photo. What’s your number?” He was fiddling with his phone. Then handed it to you. “Type it in for me.”

You grinned wide and his sly smile answered you. Now you understood. You entered your number and handed it back to him, your fingers sparking as you touched.

You were breathless.

“Well…”

“Christopher…”

You two interrupted each other again.

This time you continued.

“Thank you.”

You leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Chris closed his eyes. Your lips felt as soft as he imagined. He wanted to do the whole turn his head trick but he wasn’t 23 anymore. But you sure made him feel like it.

He did turn to look at you as you got out of the car and waved after you closed it. You swung your bag in one hand as you walked toward the building, also swinging your hips, watching him as he drove away.

Chris watched you too, as far as he could in the rearview. When you disappeared from sight, he said, “Fuck it,” did a uturn and peeled rubber back to your apartments. He rolled down the window.

“Maëlle! Maëlle!” You stopped just before you reached your door. Chris grinned at you. “You ever been to an American baseball game before?”

You skipped back down the walk happily, grinning back as you leaned in the open window. You cocked your head in that way.

“No, but I like playing wit the balls.”

Chris groaned. He couldn’t tell if you were talking about sports or something else. But he’d figure it out later. You climbed in the car, winked at him and crossed your legs.

Chris licked his lips as he drove back toward Fenway Park, thinking about how he would teach you about keeping your legs open that night.

——

Hope it’s okay Nonnie! ❤️

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[ifwallscouldtalkkkk]

"Look, I'm not gonna kidnap you" - Michael Clifford Oneshot (COLLEGE)

Female reader × Michael Clifford

Mentions of alcohol, slightly tipsy (consensual) interactions, swearing, SMUT.

____________________________________

You miss your bus home after a night partying with friends. Luckily, you meet a guy willing to give you a ride home, and his playful pinky promise to not kidnap you somehow convinces you to accept.

The smut in this story is fairly short. This was my first ever attempt at writing fanfic back in 2018, and I was a bit scared of sounding stupid

____________________________________

Your shoes clacked as you ran on the cobblestones. You were so close to the bus station that you could see the bus driver flicking a cigarette butt onto the ground and leaving the embers glowing on the dark cobblestones, before taking his seat behind the wheel. You picked up your pace even more and frantically waved a hand in the air, hoping that you could cut ahead as the bus made its turn around the station back and onto the road. You cursed under your breath, mentally labeling yourself an idiot for staying at the party a couple of extra minutes to say your goodbyes to a friend who was too preoccupied with shouting random answers to the ongoing pictionary game to even hear you.

You skipped every other step on the small set of stairs to reach the platform, and when you reached the corner where the bus would turn, you started jumping up and down and waving in a feeble attempt to get the driver to stop and pick you up even though you weren't technically in the pick up zone. You could see him seeing you, it was a clear summer night and thus barely even dark! But the near empty bus didn't stop. The driver probably saw you as an entitled child who was too drunk to be on time, and maybe he was at least 25% right.

”Fucking bastard” you squeezed out through clenched teeth as you stomped around in a little circle with your head thrown back in frustration. Calling your parents to drive an hour in the middle of the night to come pick you up and let you off at your dorm was not ideal. You knew that they would do it for you, not wanting you to walk the 6 miles home. No, this was definitely not your plan, but maybe it was a bit irresponsible to plan to take the very last bus for the night. You stomped one last time and breathed out deeply.

”What the fuck are you doing, girl?”, someone called out in a humored undertone.

You swiveled around and your eyes landed on a car parked a short distance away, at the designated pick up- drop off parking area. The boy whom the voice belonged to leaned out the open window of the driver’s seat, with his arms folded and propped up on the edge of the window. His smug smirk felt hurtful in your frustrated state, but it brought you back to reality somewhat. You could admit that you probably looked like a child who didn't get a pony for christmas – and to be honest, you felt the same amount of betrayal.

”What a fucking jerk!”, the guy in the car yelled when you didn't answer. ”Where ya heading to?”

You donned a tortured expression, brushed out your skirt, picked your bag off the ground, and started walking home.

You heard the lone car start and you put a bit more speed in your step. It soon pulled up mere inches from you anyways.

”Come on, you're not seriously walking home? You obviously live a ways away since you were supposed to take the bus”, he said with the same amused tone in his voice.

”I'll be ok, and you're probably wanting to get home yourself”, you said, trying to politely reinforce the idea of him leaving you alone

”Look, I’m not gonna kidnap you, I pinky promise”, he chuckled at his own words but continued when you kept your eyes locked straight ahead. ”Girl, I’m guessing that you live on campus, and that's like a billion miles away. I’ll drop you off all gentlemanly at your doorstep and tip my imaginary top hat at you as I drive away, never to be seen again.” You stopped walking and he had to jerk his car to a stop along with you.

”The fact that you know that I live on campus is not very reassuring”, you replied.

He rolled his eyes and let out a little laugh. ”That bus-” he pointed down the road that your planned ride home had disappeared along a few minutes earlier ”-goes straight to campus. I just dropped my pal off here to avoid driving him all the way to the uni, but looks like I’ll have to go there now anyways.” You looked him in the eyes. The way he spoke elicited a strange amount of trust, and although a couple of piercings and a questionable hair color for an adult could be spotted under his beanie, he didn't seem like bad news. ”Look, the door doesn't even lock properly, I wouldn't even be able to kidnap you!” he demonstrated the faulty lock on the passenger door. You had to smile at the enthusiastic way he presented it.

”You promise you won't leave serial killer notes in my mailbox?” He lit up even more at your reply.

”Promise”, he said. You swung your bag up on your shoulder and reached for the door. This was in no way the wisest thing to do in the situation, but you were already overwon by his goofy charm.

You climbed in and kept your gaze forward, feeling the boy's eyes on you, and you caught yourself subconsciously holding your breath. You caved and looked at him when it became clear he wasn't going to drive forward before you gave in.

”Seatbelt.” he said with a parental tone. ”Can't have such a pretty girl making unsafe choices!” It wasn't as funny of a comment as his facial expression suggested, but he really knew how to lighten the mood. ”Michael.” He stretched his hand out to shake yours formally. You replied with your name and a firm handshake. ”Oh girl, with that grip, no one could even dream of succeeding in kidnapping you" he said, laughing at your overly stern behavior.

”I just hate limp handshakes", you smiled, rummaging around in your bag after a snack. ”Damn it I left my granola bar at home”, you muttered under your breath.

”Oh uh, I've got a bag of peanuts somewhere…” Michael trailed off, reaching over to the glove department to rummage through his own stuff. His warm hand grazed your bare knee while reaching and you tensed up at his accidental touch.

”Dude, eyes on the road!” you exclaimed and he chuckled in response.

”I thought risk taking was a theme tonight – oh wait, here they are!” He plopped a bag of salted peanuts in your lap.

”Wait, you're not allergic, are you?” he asked. ”Some risks are not worth taking.”

”No, I love peanuts, no worries”, you poured a handful out and put a few in your mouth. After a night consisting mostly of liquor and dancing around, something to eat felt heavenly.

Michael asked you a couple of standard questions about your studies, and you gave all the standard answers.

”I kinda miss studying. Never thought I'd say that." Michael smiled. His hand dipped down into the bag in your lap to get some peanuts, getting dangerously close to between your thighs. You stumbled for a few seconds.

”Um oh, ok really?” His behavior was so unlike anyone else you knew. He was so daring and sure of himself, but he felt so warm and fuzzy in contrast. Maybe the previously ingested alcohol skewed your judgement, but you couldn't help but find this stranger utterly charming.

”Yeah… I'm on the road a lot nowadays for work", came his reply.

”Oh, what do you do? Uber driver for college girls who can't keep track of time?” You saw one corner of his mouth pulling smugly upwards at your joke.

”Uh no, I'm in the music producing business.”

”Huh, that's fun. I wasn-" you didn't finish your sentence as a deer jumped out onto the otherwise vacant road from between a few bushes on the side of the long stretch of asphalt nearing the campus grounds.

”Oh shit", you heard Michael exclaim while swerving a bit and stepping hard on the brakes. The deer stared confused at the headlights before scurrying off towards the other side of the road. ”You ok?!” the boy asked between quick breaths. Your breath was labored too, but your eyes and mind were mostly focused on the male hand that had instinctively been placed protectively on your thigh while braking. Michael unfastened his seatbelt and leaned closer when he didn't get an answer.

”Uh, yeah…” your eyes now focused on his light, green, worried eyes.

You just stared. You didn't mean to, but you didn't make an effort to look away either. He had gotten so close. His left hand was on your upper arm in a protective manner, and his face was just inches away from yours. You didn't mean to stare, and you most definitely didn't mean for your eyes to briefly flicker down to look at his lips. He noticed. He must have noticed given the way you were both so focused on each other.

”Wa-", you began, but didn't finish the sentence. To be honest, you couldn't even remember what you were about to say. Your eyes flickered down again, when your vocal cords failed you.

‘Shit!’ Your mind blasted out inside your own head, but Michael didn’t pull away, or look alarmed. If anything, his brow furrowed deeper, all the while he was trying to calm his own breath. After a couple more sharp exhales his grip on your arm tightened, and he pressed his lips to yours quickly, as if he was taking a running start. You kissed back automatically before you even registered what was happening. You tensed up and felt Michael’s grip loosen as if to retreat. 'No no no', you were not gonna lose this moment. No way. To signal that you were on board with what was happening you brought your hand up to his neck. ‘He can't stop now’, you were aching for him to continue touching you.

He got more involved in the kiss in response, and your other hand found its way up to the back of his neck too. The hand that had previously resided firmly on your arm now fell to your thigh and snaked its way to the back of your knees, pulling you closer still. Your voice had given up any sort of attempt of self control, and a short moan escaped your lips. The man reacted to your premature excitement and his right hand fumbled to find your seat belt button. In a surprisingly smooth motion for the situation being, he simultaneously pushed his own seat back from the steering wheel, and pulled you onto his lap as soon as the belt let go of you. Both your hands braced against Michael's chest, while his own hands pressed into your sides. Your fingers curled to grip his shirt, and his fingers mimicked yours by curling too, his nails digging into you. You could feel your pulse going crazy. Michael's heartbeat was probably also going off the rails, because he lifted you off of him a couple of inches so that he could grow more comfortably in his pants. He looked you deep in your eyes the entire time and let out a lengthy exhale.

“Girl, I don't even know what to do with you.”

He grabbed your ass to grind you into him. You let yourself angle your head back in reaction to your core finally being stimulated, and Michael straightened up his upper body to nibble at your neck. You helped him by moving your own hips along with the rhythm, but his hands still stayed firmly on your ass. When you couldn't take it anymore, you reached down to unclasp his belt, but your fingers fumbled more than you intended. You hadn't noticed how much you were shaking in excitement before now.

The stranger turned lover stared into your eyes patiently while you unbuttoned his jeans, but as soon as you managed to slide them down his thighs he pressed you hard against him, almost as hard as he pressed your lips together. Your underwear starting to become soaked from the thought of what was to come. Michael shifted his underwear down to meet his jeans. His hands couldn't decide where to rest, alternating between your hips, your chest, and your neck.

When focusing on your hips, his fingers on one hand slid up ever so slightly underneath the hem of your underwear, and his touch left you grinding harder into his thigh. You could tell that Michael knew how wet you were, your panties practically gliding around. His fingers found your hemline once more, and he slowly let his fingers follow the leg seam downwards. He let two fingers slip between you and the fabric to rest right outside your entrance for what felt like several minutes, but then inserted them forcefully when your whimpers became more desperate. He groaned too, from getting to feel you from the inside and knowing what pleasures it gave you. As if this didn't feel explosive enough already, his thumb joined his other fingers and circled your clit carefully.

You felt your cheeks turn red from the blood rushing fast through your body. Feeling sparks in your lower stomach already was not something you anticipated. Michael seemed to understand though, because he stilled you from assisting his fingers’ movement. He had stopped his movements too to make sure you would focus on his face. The look of his eyes as he kept them locked on yours was piercing and the icy-ness of it felt amazing on your hot cheeks. He held one hand deep inside of you, and the other on his own throbbing organ. He slowly replaced his two fingers with his cock, letting you get used to him gradually. You sank down, and the pain of stretching was miniscule compared to all the pleasure in the air. Once Michael was sure that you were comfortable with him, he elevated his hips just enough to push your limits. He finally let out a well kept-in moan. The subtle hip movements turned more and more intense until the point where you could tell you would end up with leg cramps in a few hours. The car wasn’t gigantic by any means, but you found ways to make do. With your hands behind your back, you could hold onto the steering wheel for support, with the added benefit of letting Michael’s hands roam over your torso freely.

Eyes watering, heart pumping, and legs trembling, you could feel your orgasm coming closer. Both your moans blended together into an audible mess as the electric pulses took over your body. After your release, your body relaxed heavy against the steering wheel.

A long, loud honk sounded out before you could get the chance to lift yourself off in horror. ‘Oh shit.’ The motion of lifting yourself off and plopping down in the passenger seat again wasn’t graceful, but it was at least fairly quick. You sat paralyzed holding onto your seat as a dog barked loudly at the sudden interruption of the usual peace and quiet. A lamp lit up in a house a few hundred yards away. It took a minute, but Michael finally chuckled - his hands rubbing his face. You cracked a smile too, but your stiffened posture would take a few minutes to get rid of. Michael clearly had a more easily relaxed personality than you.

The back of his head lay on the head rest, and he let it fall to one side to turn towards you. The same all-too-humored look that he had when you missed the bus was painted over his face. He didn't say anything, and neither did you. Words didn't really help in this predicament. He just pulled his pants up to waist level again and turned the car keys. You two drove in silence the few minutes left to reach campus grounds.

He crawled to a stop outside of the main dorms, and turned his head lazily again. You had quickly gathered your stuff in your hands as he pulled in, and you got out the second the car stopped.

“Well, uh… Thanks for the ride”, you said politely.

“You’re welcome”, he replied just as politely, and with a rare sincerity.

You raised your palm up in a subdued goodbye as you took a few steps backwards, and then turned around to walk away. Your shoes on the asphalt click-clacked loudly in the silent summer night. You reached for the door handle, the cool metal feeling sobering in your grip.

“HEY!” a word sliced through the silence.

You spun around on your toes quickly.

“Hey girl!” Michael continued when he knew he had your attention. He was leaning out the rolled down window again.

“I know where you live!” The grin on his face almost bursting by the seams.

A huge smile immediately spread across your face too.

ifwallscouldtalkkkk MASTERLIST

[cagestark]

Winterspider prompt if you're game! There's a meme about a poor college student being robbed; the robber, upon learning just h o w poor, stopping and giving the (empty) wallet back and being sincerely concerned. "You... you live like this?" What if the winter soldier/bucky barnes breaks into struggling college student Peter parker's apt and all his pre-serum steve instincts are triggered by the state of the place and how /tiny/ Peter is (abo/soulmates/soulmarks/werewolf au for spice up to you)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five

This prompt came into my house and stole my money. This is CHAPTER ONE. Because I was so inspired that I’m officially making this my first multichap fic. I hope this will appease you for now…And I hope you can forgive me for making it winterironspider (I’m a sucker for starker/winteriron so it all just clicked together nicely). Please come back into my inbox and let me know what you think so far.

Warnings in this chapter: graphic descriptions of being poor. Bucky says fuck A LOT. Peter is 24 but Bucky keeps calling him “kid” because he’s so small. Sickness. 4.1k

-

Bucky can pick a lock in ten seconds flat.

It’s a science: tension wrench goes into the keyhole, the slightest torque is applied, then his favorite pick—the Bogota with three rakes, as of late—goes in and he scrubs the hell out of it until the plug turns. Easy as fucking pie.

The hard part (and he’s not counting the guilt, the horror he would feel if Tony ever discovered how Bucky makes the money he uses to buy his lover trinkets) is scoping out the right apartments. He sticks to NYU residence halls, early mornings and late at nights because the security is usually lax enough to let him through without even checking his ID—if they ask? Oh fuck, I left my wallet in my Uber. Maybe he hasn’t left yet, one sec—and then he’s out of there.

Today, it’s the Lafayette Hall between China Town and TriBeCa, reserved for graduate students seeking their Master’s Degrees in science fields.

It should be empty. On campus is an expo featuring innovators from Sphere Fluidics, Fasmatech, AcouSort, and NanoTemper Technologies which—according to the flier Bucky read online—are huge names in the science industry, all displaying their scientific discoveries from the last business year and scouting for fresh blood.

Any science major worth a shit will be there, he imagines. But it’s mandatory for NYU grad students. Score.  

Content that the apartments will more than likely be empty, Bucky chooses the first hit at random after taking the elevator up: apartment 2B. It’s furthest away from the security camera at the other end of the hall—not that Bucky has ever left behind a reason for those cameras to be checked. It’s the principle of the thing, really. He keeps his back turned, hair in his face, both hands gloved (thank God it’s always cold and dreary in NYC, so his gloved hands don’t draw any attention) while he scrubs the lock. It takes him no longer than it might for anyone with a legitimate key, and then the door is open and he is in.

Bucky can see decently in the dark, the light from the hallway disappearing as the door is carefully closed behind him. Holding his breath, he stills himself, calls upon his enhanced senses, and listens: but there are no sounds coming from the apartment. Empty.

Then he actually takes in the place, and he realizes that that word fits in multiple ways.

The apartment is vacant, he thinks at first. There is the basic furniture all the NYU apartments come with: a refrigerator, a couch, a coffee table. But there is no television, no end tables. There are no curtains on the window across the room—and wow, what a lovely view of the brick building across the alley. The entire place smells musty and unused. Maybe it really is empty—

But no. Little signs of life appear. There are shoes by the door, ones that saw better days many, many days ago. On the wall, a photograph is tacked there, unframed, of two boys on either side of a pretty, dark skinned girl. A plastic grocery sack is dangling off of the drawer handle of one kitchen cabinet, sagging with contents that he can’t make out through the opaque plastic.

Someone does live here, they’re just terrible at decorating.

With careful, silent steps, Bucky moves deeper into the apartment. He doesn’t bother looking for a wallet—that will be with the owner—but usually there is money somewhere else. If he’s really lucky, he’ll find whatever he’s looking for.

Today, he wants blank CD’s. Last night, Tony showed him a movie where the teenage love interest burned—(“why’s it called that, Tony? You don’t burn the thing, do you?”)—a CD with love songs. It was real romantic shit; something Bucky never got to do. Something that he longs to do with this amazing man in his life. He can imagine the look on Tony’s face when he listens to a compilation of all the awesome music he’s introduced Bucky to, and it makes his heart race.

The Best Buy downtown sells a pack of five CD’s for $6.99 plus tax which brings the total to $7.61. That’s all that he needs. He could probably take that and more from any one of these apartments and the occupants would never notice. He isn’t hurting anyone. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

Then—jackpot. On the counter is a line of change: neat stacks of quarters and dimes, taller piles of nickels and pennies. Palming it, he cups one hand under the counter and slides the coins home into his hand. A quick count tells him that it’s just $2.30. It’s probably change for the vending machines downstairs, maybe fare for the bus. Nothing that will break this grad student’s bank.

For a moment he contemplates leaving the apartment. He’s almost got a third of what he needs for the CD’s. But breaking into another apartment just escalates the risks he takes, unnecessarily so when the rest of the money could very well be in the bedroom or even in the pocket of some jeans resting on the bathroom floor. No. He’ll press on.

Walking silently, he brings up the floorplan of the apartments in his mind (NYU had all that shit online; didn’t they know how unsafe it was? This world made information so available). The bedroom is on the left, past the kitchen. In the dim light through the window, he can see the door, open, a dark gaping mouth that he slips through soundlessly. It is even darker here, and he stands still waiting for his eyes to adjust further. It’d be no good to go fumbling around in the dark, knocking into furniture.

It only took moments, but as soon as he could make out dim shapes, he heard it. A little whimper. The rustling of sheets. Everything in him went still except for the blood in his veins, propelled by his furiously pounding heart. Someone is here. Bucky broke into an occupied apartment. He is standing in the doorway to a bedroom and there is someone sleeping in the bed.

He gets a glimpse before he can slink back into the living room, and what he sees stops him in his tracks. It is a boy—or a very small man, perhaps, considering these apartments are for graduate students only. The boy is wearing just a pair of boxers, some dark color—red or navy or even black, perhaps, since colors are distorted in this low light—but there is no hiding or distorting how thin he is. The shadows between his ribs are little valleys to the pale, jutting mountains of bone, rising with his fast, shallow breaths. The collarbones protrude, limbs fine-boned and so skinny that Bucky could probably wrap his fingers around an entire ankle or bicep. His face is smushed against one pillow so features are indistinguishable, but the mop of messy curls on top is unmistakable.

There is no bed. There is no bedframe, no mattress, no box spring. A pile of threadbare blankets and sheets are entwined into a makeshift nest, like the kid is some little bird.

After taking in the sights, he takes in the smell. It’s strong—damp and musty, like the windows have never been opened. The pungent scent of sweat. The overly sweet scent of cough syrup, though the two bottles on the nightstand are upended and empty.

Mostly, the acrid smell of sickness. A bucket is beside the bed, and the smell of vomit gets stronger the closer he comes—why is Bucky walking forward? He should be walking away, far, far away.

The boy whimpers again, rolling onto his back more. Sweat coats his skin, and the rapid rise and fall of his chest is even more pronounced in this position, tummy a hollow little thing. This boy is sick, very sick from the smell and the heat that Bucky can feel when he places his hand above the boy’s head, hovering over the skin.

“Ben!” The boy shrieks. Bucky jerks away and nearly topples the trash bin of vomit. His heart is pounding, thinking I’m so sorry Tony, so sorry that I’m going to get caught and get arrested and that you’re the only person in the world I’ll have to call, and if you don’t want to bail me out I’ll understand, I really will—but the boy sleeps on, lips moving. He is dreaming the feverish dreams of the sick.

Carefully, Bucky stands. He backs from the room. On his way out, he takes in more details even if he doesn’t want to: a name-badge for the building and NYU campus (which he takes, which he should have seen on his way in and known that it would be wherever the student was—complacent, he’s gotten too fucking complacent), the silver duct tape on the bottom of the kid’s shoes which holds them together. The past-due notices on the refrigerator. The paper plate resting in the sink, plastic cutlery that has been washed and re-used countless times. The kid is poor. So fucking poor.

And he can’t help that it reminds him of another sickly poor boy from nearly a hundred years ago. He remembers it like it was yesterday, fuzzy memories that Princess Shuri helped turn clear: a thin pale Captain America, the chest-deep coughs that would rattle his whole frame when he was sick, sitting by his best friend’s side through the night just to mop his brow and make sure he didn’t choke on his own sick. His stomach aches, twisting inside out with phantom hunger pains. Stepping into that apartment made him feel like he’d entered a time machine back to the Great Fucking Depression.

Another thought comes: what if the kid needs a fucking ambulance? What if he’s in there, brain frying from his fever? What if he throws up and aspirates? That will be on Bucky. There’s no way that he can walk away from this—not if it could add an(other) life, like a notch, to his murderous bedpost.

Palms sweating, he looks down at the badge he left with. Peter B. Parker. It’s a cute name—Bucky’s always had sort of a thing for alliteration. The picture of the kid is shy with the closed-lip smile and the rampant curls falling onto his forehead. He was skinny to begin with, but not malnourished like he is now. The badge will let him come in through the back doors. Because apparently he is planning on coming back.

Bucky pulls out his cellphone, mostly unused, and makes a call. While he talks, he takes the stairs down so that he doesn’t lose the call in the elevator.

Tony picks up on the second ring. “Hey Bucky, everything alright?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” In the background he can hear the sound of a door closing, and Tony’s voice grows more familiar, softer and more comfortable. He must have been around company but left.

“You only ever call if you’re about to break the law,” Tony says fondly.

Is he really so predictable? Well, in this case, he’s already broken the law, though that’s hardly a point that he wants to make. “No. it’s—nothing like that. I was just wondering about the credit card you gave me.”

“Oh? Thinking about blowing the dust off it?”

“Yeah,” Bucky mutters. He hates it—hates being like the other million people in Tony’s life who just take his money. The fear that this man who has helped Bucky salvage himself, salvage the will to live life, to carve out a life he wants to live…the fear that he’ll think Bucky is just with him for the money is unconquerable. Tony gave him the leather wallet and the credit card years ago, and Bucky has never once used it. “Just a bit. Twenty dollars. Thirty at the most, Tony, and I swear I’ll pay you back—”

“Hey, hey, no need for the freaking out. Mi dinero es su dinero, polar bear. Buy whatever you need.” He pauses. “Are you in any trouble? I don’t know if you need me to emphasize this, but there’s probably no trouble you can imagine that I can’t get a person out of.”

“I’m not in trouble,” he says, hoping Tony doesn’t notice the unconscious inflection on the word I’m. “But I’ll remember that. I promise.”

“Okay. Great. That’s all I need to hear. Thai, tonight?”

Bucky can’t help but smile. He pushes open the back door to the building and steps out into the street, angling his face away from the security camera at the alley entrance on instinct. The wind is blistery, whipping his hair around his face. “I’ll be there.”

Tony hums. “I can hardly wait.”

They exchange declarations of love and say goodbye. Bucky feels a little choked up, how he always feels after hearing Tony say that he loves him. His eyes sting—but that’s just the wind. Honest. Down the street is a pharmacy and Bucky ducks in, head down. There’s an entire aisle for cold medicines, and he takes far too long examining all the bottles. Thank God there are ones that seem to treat everything: headaches, fever, nausea, cough. Everything except for the kid’s destitution.

He sees the chicken noodle soup and he grabs some of that as well.

Checking out is awkward; Bucky slides the card upside down at first. Then he’s unsure: credit or debit? He clicks credit since it’s first, but then he has to sign and he has a new dilemma. Should he forge Tony’s signature or put down his own? The card has his name on it, but it’s Tony’s money. In the end, he writes his own name. Forging feels too…familiar.

With less than twenty dollars spent, he trudges back down the block to the apartment building, and it isn’t until he’s swiping the key to get into the back door that he realizes he has no fucking idea what he’s going to do. Knock on the kid’s door? Hey, I broke in earlier and saw you were sick and out of medicine, here’s some. I’ll put the change I stole back on the counter. Sorry to fucking bother you?

Bucky Barnes, former assassin for Hydra, absolute dumbass.

Absolute persistent dumbass. Because he knocks on the door. He really fucking does. And when no one answers, he knocks again and again until he hears movement on the other side of the door (a chest-rattling cough that makes him shudder) then the door is cracked open and a bloodshot, honey-brown eye is staring out at him.

“Hi,” Peter croaks. His voice is wrecked, and it immediately does things to Bucky. Things that are wrong, especially considering that his voice isn’t croaky because of a cock nudging too persistently at the back of his throat, but because he is fucking sick. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to help you,” Bucky says. Peter’s eyebrows furrow. It’s cute. He’s wearing a shirt that is far too large for him, and pajama pants so long they slip down past the backs of his heels. “I’m—visiting one of your neighbors down the hall. You’re keeping everyone up with your cough, kid. I brought you some medicine.”

Peter opens the door wider, so that Bucky is seeing all of him instead of just a two-inch section. He rests against the doorframe because he’s swaying, struggling to keep on his feet, and he is so tiny, so, so tiny. The smell of him is foul, but Bucky would never mention it. “Gosh,” Peter says, and Bucky is horrified to see tears, real fucking tears fill his eyes. “I didn’t know I was keepin’ everybody up.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Bucky says. People say that, sometimes, to horses that are likely to buck off their rider or men who pull out guns in gas stations. Bucky figures that he should probably use either of those situations as reference for what to do now, because how to comfort a crying kid was not in the Winter Soldier’s repertoire. “Don’t shoot.” Fuck. Try again. “I mean—it’s not your fault. You’re sick. Obviously.”

Fat tears roll down Peter’s cheeks. It impedes his breathing even more, until Bucky is afraid that he’s going to choke on his own phlegm. When he speaks, he tries to keep his voice even and clear through his hitching breaths. The shirt slips off his shoulder, bones protruding. “I-I-I know. It hit m-me a-all of the sudden. But now it won’t go away.”

“Have you tried going to the doctor?”

Peter’s smile is downright tragic. He looks like he wants to reach out and pat Bucky on the cheek, call him a sweet summer child, ask him what pipe he smoked to have such a dream. “I d-don’t have insurance. I’m still trying to p-pay off my debt from last year when I had my tonsils removed.”

“And they—what—they won’t treat you? Just because you needed treating once before? They’re fucking doctors!”

“I know,” Peter whines, rubbing a wrist at his leaking nose. The door opens even wider. “Would you like to come in?”

Bucky sees the irony. He really does. A half hour ago, he was in this apartment robbing the kid. Now he’s standing at the kitchen counter watching Peter make ramen noodles (“my aunt always said that when someone is in your house, you should treat them like they live there”). He nearly burns his hand on the pan, and that’s when Bucky moves to take over, stirring when appropriate, adding a packet of flavoring. Peter pulls one bowl down from the cabinet—the cabinet that is unbearably empty from the quick glimpse Bucky gets of it.

“I only have one bowl, I’m sorry,” Peter says, face red, eyes downcast. His hands shake while he ladles the soup and noodles in. He gives Bucky one of the plastic spoons—it’s clean, he knows—but the whole thing is so fucking sad. When Peter glances over the counter, muttering something about some missing rent money, that’s it. That’s it for Bucky.

I’m taking him home with me, he thinks, nudging his spoon against the noodles in his bowl.

“I’m Peter, by the way,” the kid introduces himself. Then his face goes white, shaking intensifies. “Excuse me.”

Bucky hears him vomiting even through the walls between them. There isn’t much to come up, but the retching lasts forever it seems, the boy dissolving back into tears. Instinct says to go to him, but Bucky doesn’t want to be anymore of a fucking creep than he already is. When the vomiting turns to coughing and then to gasping, Bucky decides fuck it. He is a fucking creep. But he’s not going to let the kid pass out and crack open his head.

Peter is in the bathroom, bowed over the toilet, curls matting to his forehead with his fever. Bucky goes through drawers until he finds a washcloth and wets it from the sink, the water stinking of iron, to at least dab at the back of the kid’s neck. He shivers, but sighs into it, his wheezing breaths slowing.

When at last he leans back, his cheeks are red and wet. “Thanks,” he croaks. Bucky just mops at his forehead, avoiding the comical look of relief and pleasure on his face.

“You need a doctor.”

“Can’t afford it,” Peter mutters, reaching out to flush the toilet. Bucky practically carries him back to the kitchen-living room combo, setting him down on the threadbare couch.

“I’ll pay,” Bucky says. Then he winces—because it isn’t really his money. It’s Tony’s money. How can he just promise Tony’s money to this kid? But he can pay Tony back. No matter how long it takes or how hard he has to work. He’s got decades and decades left to live. He’ll spend them all trying to repay Tony’s kindness and love as it is. What is this one extra debt?

“What?” Peter asks, his eyes glassy with fever. “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“A trip to the doctor costs hundreds of dollars, not to mention if I’m really sick, I’ll need medicine which will cost even more. I’m not taking that kind of money from you.”

“I’m rich,” he half-lies.

Peter looks him up and down, the worn boots, the soft but unremarkable jeans, the gloves that he’s still wearing even though they are indoors. While he doesn’t look destitute, the idea comes across loud and clear: Bucky sure doesn’t fucking look rich.

He sighs. “Fine. It’s my boyfriend. He’s rich.”

“You want me to take your boyfriend’s money? I’m—what? I don’t know you. I don’t even know your name.”

“My name is Bucky,” says Bucky. “And my boyfriend is Tony Stark.”

Peter’s mouth clicks shut. His eyes clear a little, the name cutting through the sickness. “Tony Stark.”

“Yeah.”

“The billionaire.”

Bucky can feel himself smile against his will. “Genius, billionaire, philanthropist, superhero. Yeah, he’s the one.”

Peter reaches out and puts his burning hand against Bucky’s forehead. “Maybe you’re the one who is sick,” he teases weakly.

“I’m serious,” Bucky says. He pulls out his phone and Googles it—hopes the kid doesn’t see the tab of Lafayette Hall dorm room floor plans that was previously open. Then he brings up the tabloids. He and Tony aren’t in the news as often as they were years ago when they first started leaving the Tower together to do couple-things, but the articles last forever. There’s a nice one detailing all about Tony’s promiscuous love life, how everyone thought the bisexual ways of his youth were just a phase. Until Bucky.

The pictures are clear. Peter’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. “You’re dating Tony Stark. Oh my god. I’m—I’m his biggest fan. Oh my god. I think I’m going to pass out. I’ve—” the kid goes red as a beet, “I’ve had a crush on him since I was like, like this tall.”

Judging by the height of his hand when he holds it up, Peter’s been harboring his crush on Tony since ever. And yeah, Bucky gets it. His lips can’t help but quirk upwards—Peter is so fucking cute, even with he way his cheeks are hollow, eyes sunken. He lights up when he talks about Tony. Bucky is the same way. Tony inspires that in people.

“I’ll pay for you to go to the doctor. See? I can afford it.”

Peter gnaws at his lower lip. “But why? I don’t get it. Because I’m keeping everyone on the floor up? That doesn’t—this is weird.”

“Because you remind me of someone I used to know. My best friend, from when I was a kid. He’s—he’s not around now. But you two would have gotten along well, I think. And he would’ve kicked me in the ass if he knew I just walked away when I knew you need help.” He can see the indecision on the kid’s face, the wavering teeter-totter of what he wants to say (yes yes yes) versus what he thinks he should say (no, but thank you). Bucky has an ace up his sleeve: “Why don’t you come back to the Tower with me? Meet Tony. He’ll tell you all this himself.”

“I couldn’t!” Peter nearly shrieks. He coughs, and Bucky waits patiently for him to finish.

“You could. You totally could. You will. I’ll call a car—”

“Oh my god,” Peter whispers under his breath, his whole tiny body going lax and weak like a woman from Victorian times, likely to swoon at any moment. Where are Bucky’s smelling salts? “Oh my god,” he says, soft and to himself. “I’m going to meet Tony Stark.”

Bucky can’t help it. He grins, pats awkwardly at the kid’s shoulder—and Jesus, he’s a tiny little thing, still burning up under Bucky’s grip. “He’s going to be thrilled to meet you.”

-

Peter insists on showering and changing his clothes. Bucky steps out into the hallway to call Tony back and warn him—and ask him to send Happy or one of the self-driving cars. Anything to avoid taking a cab or the subway.

“Twice in one day,” Tony says when he picks up the phone, forgoing a greeting. “Aren’t I a lucky man?”

“I’m the lucky man, ‘s far as I can tell,” Bucky says lowly. If he closes his eyes, he can imagine Tony’s expression, the ridiculous fond face he makes when he looks at Bucky. “I had a favor to ask of you, though. A big one.”

“Anything for you, frosted flake.”

“Send a car to the address that I text you? And—order Thai for three?”

[onenightstandsdontsharesweaters]

One Night Stands Don’t Give You Their Sweaters When It’s Cold

Frat parties are great places for mistakes and I guess that’s where he comes in. I attract crazy like a magnet, whatever it is about me that brings situations like this towards me, I wish I could tell you. Sometimes I wish I could stop it. It feels like everyone else’s world keeps on turning and I get stuck, upside down, with no gravity.

It started like how a lot of things start for me, a boring day and my impulsiveness to say yes. 

Three hours, I was in a three hour night class. I was absolutely fine with rapidly scribbling down notes as the prof flipped through slides just a little too fast. Nothing bothered me until an opportunity popped up on my phone. 

This has happened before, two of my roommates text me, telling me about how Travis, a guy across the hall, needs to bring a girl to some fraternity party. It’s always for some requirement of whatever weird pledge thing they’re putting him through and they sacrifice me for it every time. 

It’s understandable though, my one roommate, Emily, has varsity skating at six in the morning, so partying is definitely out of the question. While for Shikha, she kind of had a thing with Travis the first week, we don’t talk about it, they’re still good friends, but she would never want to go to a party alone with him because of it. So that just leaves me, excluding our fourth roommate, but that’s a tale for another time.

Anyways, immediately the texts awakens me from my note-taking trance. It’s the two of them and once again Travis needs a girl and apparently, I’m that girl. I, of course, agree to it, I have no oppositions in the first place, plus Travis is my friend and I want to support him. I text him and receive a surprising lack of response considering they told me this was an emergency.

It throws off my groove, but whatever, if it wasn’t meant to be. 

It was quite cold outside for it being only late September, but I still found myself sweating in jeans and a long sleeve. The streetlights lead me down the sidewalk back to my dorm, one of the few things I love about that night class, an excuse to put some headphones in and stroll back home under the moonlight as if I was in an old movie.

Any sereneness I might have felt quickly dissipated when I made it to the third floor of my dorm and stopped by Travis’ room, just to see what was happening with this thing.

If you’ve ever had a six foot four, deaf, Polish guy wearing a full suit grab you by the shoulders, yelling, “You have five minutes before the bus comes, go!” Then I don’t have to describe how offputting it is, because I couldn’t even if I tried. My head was spinning, he was in a full suit, I was trying to ask him what I should wear, but he was too distracted to answer, and for some odd reason someone was screaming in the background, which I learned later on in the year that that’s a common thing for their room.

In the end, the two us, plus a girl he knew from high school, managed to get across the street to the bus stop, only to decide to take an Uber. I was pretty happy I already had mascara on from class, I had just enough time to put on some concealer and change into my token party outfit, high-waisted shorts, and the plunging top with the criss-cross that makes my boobs look really good (obviously important). The whole ride there Travis was lecturing me that shorts weren’t enough since it’s cold outside and my only protest was that I was sweating and at least I brought a flannel.

Needless to say, Travis ditched me and his high school friend the second we stepped out of the car and her and I spent most of the party awkwardly moving to different corners of the room, trying to find something to wash away the taste of the shitty, watered-down beer they provided us with. 

Okay, so this is the part of the story I’ve been gradually getting to. Now, there is something at parties I do that you need to know. Whenever I go to a party for the first little while I’m there when I haven’t started dancing yet and am still drinking, I scope out the crowd for cute guys. I usually pick out a handful that stick out to me and make really crappy attempts to get next to them whenever I get bored. 

This tradition continues on at this party as well and there’s this one guy with really cute hair, who I’m into the most out of all the ones I chose. Throughout the night he keeps coming into my field of vision and obviously I have nothing else to do, especially once Travis’ friend leaves to Buffalo the frat guys (if you don’ t know what that is, urban dictionary it, it’s the drinking game one, not the sexual definition), so I make a few shit attempts to stand next to him to get him to notice me. But I was way too sober for this event so I end up perched on the arm of the couch trying to charge my phone enough to call my friend Anthony to come and pick me up. 

When for the love of God my phone dies before Anthony has a chance to answer me and at the time I didn’t know what a blessing and a curse that’d be because the guy with the cute hair comes over and needs a partner for beer pong. Everything kind of goes downhill from there. 

From foosball to beer pong I was better than him every time, so of course when he invited me back to his place how could I refuse kicking his ass one more time and if I didn’t know any better I would’ve been naïve to what games he really wanted to play. 

One of the saddest parts of this story is I lost at Mario Kart, he whooped my ass hard, in more ways than one ;) Okay that was an awful joke, but if you’ve made it this far in the story then you gotta put up with my shitty humor. 

So, I’m usually not inclined to stay the night anywhere since I prefer my own bed and as much as I love the crude way of removing my eye makeup with hand soap and toilet paper, I like to shower at my own place. But when its three in the morning and someone’s offering to drive me back home the next morning, fuck it, pass me that Bath and Body Works. 

Needless to say, we both barely slept that night, tossing and turning and him letting me keep the window open despite the fact that he wanted it closed. So when seven a.m. rolled around I was ecstatic when he left to go pick up his car from the frat. So there I am, in this plush robe and t-shirt that isn’t mine fucking around on my phone because it’s too bright to go back to bed, like who the hell doesn’t have curtains? One of his roommates already left before he got up, leaving one left.

Now I should mention all night whenever we were both in his room he would lock the door, so I figured it was habit and did it too, but when he left I thought it’d be if I did weird since he’d have to get back in and I didn’t want to get up etc.

So here I am, in this guy’s robe, lying Paint Me Like One of Your French Girls style across the bed, I hear the other roommate get up since the floorboards were really creaky whatever. But from growing up in an old house I have a knack for telling where someone is in a house by the creaks and I swore I was hearing them come closer to the bedroom. Which was weird, since the bathroom and roommate’s room was on the other side of the open area, there was nothing to be over here for, so I just dismissed it. 

Then my head pops up as the door slightly cracks open our eyes locking, between bubblegum lips a soft voice says “hi”, the two of us looking like a deer caught in headlights, both unsure which one of us was the deer and which one was the car. After a hot second, obviously not being the person she was looking for she closes the door and I go back to my games.

Whenever I tell this story a lot of people freak out thinking I just met his girlfriend, now if I did, well fuck that sucks, but after explaining a few details like the separate room situation and that the house wasn’t the frat house, people usually chill out especially since the reality is a lot weirder for a university student with their own house. 

“So, I see you met my sister.” Was the first thing he said when he came back.

“Oh yeah, she seems nice.” You know if I can’t be sarcastic what else can I be?

“Yeah, I was gonna get us coffee, but after she texted me that, I wasn’t sure if you’d still be here, figured you either be asleep or gone.”

Well sorry to disappoint dude. 

To be honest, the morning could have gone worse, I got dressed in the shorts and flannel not wanting to squeeze my body back into that black shirt like butter in a tube sock, so I tied it around my purse and threw up hair up in a bun. The lucky son of a bitch got to put on sweatpants and a sweater, sliding on these wire owl glasses that I did not he wore, reminding me of my step-grandpa. Thank God he didn’t put those on before otherwise, I wouldn’t have stopped thinking about him. Breakfast was crepés made from batter that was in the fridge with peanut butter on them since those were the only two breakfast items he had.

But to be honest it almost felt cold, we didn’t really speak, from the little kisses and snuggles he gave me last night it seemed like a complete flip of a card. Going from hearing about his depressing breakup with his ex ‘cause she slept with the president of his frat and having him hold me so close even if I turned away to barely exchanging a few words besides some dry sarcasm was a little like a slap in the face. 

You would think the rest of the morning would be fine, whatever I met his sister, shit happens. Well, I guess he didn’t think that he’d be too tired to drive, so we took the bus. Yes, we took the bus back together to campus. Which wouldn’t have been so bad except I’ve never used this city’s bus system, a lot dicier than the GO bus back home and because it was colder in the morning so I had to hear him patronizing me.

“Why are you wearing shorts? It’s cold out.”

Well, I didn’t exactly have a catwalk collection to pick out from this morning.

“Who the hell wears shorts to a party?” 

Those who are going to a house party in September, that’s just obvious.

“I would give you my sweater, but I don’t think I would be getting it back and I kind of need it.”

Wasn’t gonna ask, but I was dumb to think you might’ve. Because as much as I didn’t admit to myself, I wanted and imagined he would.

The asshole put on headphones, leaving me to stand awkwardly facing him for about a twenty-minute bus ride and I’m pretty sure everyone knew what happened to me. Who else ties their shirt to their bag at 8:30 in the morning? The only reassuring part of the bus ride was he told me when my stop was leaving with him wishing me luck in my Spanish class. Which didn’t help.

I take no more than three steps before familiar laughter explodes behind me and I turn around to see two girls from my floor absolutely dying. They ask for details, what happened, who I slept with, etc. When I jab my thumb to the still open bus doors and say, “him.” Which erupts in another explosion of laughter.

When I finally make it back inside my dorm, I am relieved to see my roommate still waiting for me in the cafe as she slowly claps for my catwalk of shame to which I have to dramatically bow back, getting some pretty confusing looks from others.

Now I guess there is no point to this story, there was one originally when I started writing this all the way back in September when I felt the irritation of the guy’s comments and the lack of kindness when he spoke to me in the morning, the awkwardness of the bus ride back and the slight embarrassment of the story being passed around my floor.

But so much has changed now, I’m even less inclined to stay over at a hookups place anymore, I’ve never had to ride the bus back from a one-night-stand again and the strangers who once playfully teased me for my elaborate hookup story (which is better in person, since it would be too much to include all the details in writing) has become my family. 

I guess a part of me hookups with guys not only for the sex, but for the moment where you almost feel loved and cared for, and during my first university one-night-stand, I was a little more naïve and maybe deep down, hoped someone would love me. But a hookup doesn’t love you, no matter how much it may feel like it and I guess I had to get the mirror shattered for me because no matter what, one-night-stands don’t share their sweaters when it gets cold.

- Stella V

[sunkissis]

Bonjour mes amis,

It has already been two months since our arrival in Paris! I cannot tell you how fast this time has flown by. We exchanged our house in LA with a sweet French couple in Nation (12th arrondissement) for the first two months so we could have time to apartment hunt. I am so happy we were able to live in Nation mostly because we were able to experience a new part of the city we have never seen before.

I feel like I have finally mastered taking Liv to school on the Metro. I used to be confused about which direction the train would go and call myself out as an obvious tourist during the ride by watching for every stop. Now, we know all the lines and have the cool, I can’t be bothered look while on the train. Although once on a crowded train I got my skirt caught in the door.

    My hair is huge here. I spend hours flat ironing it and yet the second I go outside it turns into an instant pouf. Must be the humidity, there is so much moisture in the air.

Liv and I usually discuss our plans for the week and how we are adjusting to life in France during the ride. I ask her about the differences between LA and Paris. She makes statements like France is so much more cultural and historic than California. She told me, “In Paris everyone takes public transportation but hardly anyone in LA does. Most people at the grocery store are grumpy but here they care about helping you.” She also said the food here is much better than LA. She’s doing well in school. I have met some of the parents of her classmates (although very few speak English). Her curriculum is very similar to her French school in LA but they go off the campus for PE (which is called sports) and I feel terrible because I can’t help her with most of her homework (only math and English).

After I drop her off, I usually take the bus home because the Metro is very crowded and grab my luggy to pick up the day’s groceries. I still can’t get over how frequently I have to shop here. We go through groceries like crazy!

So far we absolutely love living in Paris. I still cannot believe we are here after dreaming of this for so many years. However, there are some downsides to life in France. Please don’t think I’m some entitled brat complaining about my great life, I just want to keep it real and show both sides of our life.

It is very expensive! So far we have plunked down quite a bit of euros for household items (new towels, shopping at Ikea for our new apartment, basic toiletries). It’s harder to stick to a budget because we had to stock up on basic items. Our first week here I bought Liv a scooter, new clothes and had to replace a pair of shoes she outgrew. This month Antz and I needed some new clothes because we (happily) lost weight! I spend €225 every month on our Metro/bus passes but sometimes in a pinch, we need to use Uber and depending on how far we are from home, it can be expensive. We needed to rush home from Versailles to make it to a birthday party on time and it ended up costing €65 for a 30 minute ride.

Liv really enjoyed her €9 smoothie.

Then Monoprix had to come out with this rad limited-time collab with Maison Chateau Rouge. Just take all my money!

The romper was for Liv but if they had my size I would totally rock it. I pretty much cleared out their home decor display.

However, groceries seem less expensive here than in LA. Like cheese, meat and beverages are super cheap. But let me tell you about the most magical, delicious item in all of France… la beurre!

Back home I buy insignificant Land of Lakes salted butter for like $3.99 on sale. Here, I only buy Sel de Mer de Noirmoutier and it is so delicious. I use it on everything, you could tell me it has crystal meth in it and I would still be like “Pass the butter.” I must say, America is missing out on this fucking amazing butter. It costs €2.35!

However dining out is still costing a fortune. We stopped ordering cocktails and are sticking to drinking water but we can’t seem to keep our bill under €75. Recently, while out on a stroll around the neighborhood we found the famous rue Montorgueil. The heavens parted and angels sang as we discovered the most intoxicating smells of baked bread, meats and fresh fruit. The oldest bakery in Paris is located here. It’s now my favorite place to buy fruit and we fell in love with all the restaurants.

We brought home the best BBQ ribs and a half a kilo of cherries for lunch. Liv gobbled them the whole tray in five minutes! Oh, and I am now a basket lady. I have bought three baskets since I got here. This is who I am now. Note: The fluffy hair.

We found this incredible living wall called L’oasis d’Aboukir. It rains almost once a week so I guess that is why this garden is so insanely green.

There are a few other annoyances here that I can’t seem to figure out. Like getting mail delivered. It seemed to be easier to get our mail when we were staying in Nation but that could be due to our sweet neighbors helping us out by accepting our packages. In our new apartment, we have a mailbox that we put our names on but nothing has been delivered so far. It took many attempts to find which of the local post offices our address belonged to. My French is not as great as I thought it was. I was able to pick up one package (I ordered five weeks ago!) yet three more are in mail limbo because we were told if our building has a locked gate, they can’t deliver packages. Uh, like every single building in Paris has a passcode door so why wouldn’t they at least email me or leave a note so I know where to pick up my stuff? Today I am going to Fed Ex for the third time to pick up a package that was delivered nine days ago! My Mom sent me a huge care package and it took me two weeks to figure out how to track it down.

  Another thing I will never get used to is the military presence here. I mean, they all seem like nice soldiers but it’s jarring to walk down the street and then boom, there’s five or six fully uniformed army folks casually carrying guns that look like they belong in a video game. I don’t dare take photos of them but they do say bonjour without a smile as I walk by. Oh, and they wear berets. I suppose I am lucky to live in a relatively safe neighborhood because there have been random knife attacks since we have arrived and sadly, I am always cautious when we are in large crowds.

I also seemed to have a hyper-sensitive aversion to noise. I was equally annoyed by the nonsense noise caused by our hillbilly neighbors (they had the world’s lamest garage band) in LA. Here, the sounds are subtle but torturous. For example, we noticed the first night while in bed, the upstairs neighbor’s toilet must be directly above our heads. Imagine the sounds we heard. They also had some type of saloon door that swings shut. This door produced a boom, bump, bump, bump sound all day long, just about every 30 seconds. I was very close to paying them a friendly visit to offer some felt pads but we moved into a new apartment. Just as we arrived at our new home we were welcomed by the constant cooing of les pigeons. They nest outside of our kitchen window and their incessant cooing sounds make me want to murder.

My final (first-World) problem is our new apartment doesn’t have a separate dryer. They consider this country sophisticated? I was warned about the hard, scratchy towels of Paris so I’ve always traveled with my own towel. The night before we left LA, I took a shower and used my soft, brand new bath towel that I packed in my carry-on. Then as we were re-packing our stuff I realized I only had enough room for either my winter coat or my towel. I was already wearing my camel year-round coat on the plane so I had to make a Sophie’s Choice. I decided it won’t be so terrible to buy new towels in Paris once we arrived. Guess what? Soft, plush towels do not exist here! I was stuck using my face towel for the first week. Monoprix does sell towels but they have a scratchy texture and cost $32.99 each. So, lesson learned, travel with your own pillowcases and towels. I did bring my allergy-free pillowcase covers with me. So, I’m living in 1925 y’all!

I adore freshly dried linen sheets or hand-washed pajamas but putting on stiff as cardboard undies sucks! Now I understand why everyone has to iron clothes here.

In other fun news, it’s peony season! My favorite flower is in bloom and you can buy four stems for 20 euros. Well, that’s how much they were at the marche however Antz found a sweet bouquet for me for Mother’s day for just ten euros.

  This is how they look three days later, swoon.

May 1st is May Day. According to Wikipedia, on 1 May 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime, on 1 May. Nowadays, people may present loved ones either with bunches of lily of the valley.

Liv has been a crafting machine since most of her toys couldn’t fit in her suitcase. She has decided she needs a handmade sword and shield.

  I took her to La Droguerie to buy a pom pom making kit. This colorful place is located on

9-11 Rue du Jour, 75001 Paris, France

She was able to customize her own glitter! This kid and I were in rainbow craft supplies heaven.

We try to go to visit a new arrondissement every weekend. The parks here are absolutely gorgeous. Just don’t ever step on the grass. When the sky turns blue here, you grab a picnic basket and run outside!

Jardin de Luxembourg Rue de Vaugirard, Boulevard St. Michel, Rue Auguste-Comte and Rue Guynemer 75006 Paris, France

The boat rentals are €4 for 30 minutes. Liv chose Mexico to rep her Grandma Maria.

I think the pony ride was €8. Sweetest pony but our seven year old child is a giant.

Parc Floral 4 route de la Pyramide | Bois de Vincennes, 12th, 75012 Paris, France

We also love strolling our new neighborhood to hunt for Invaders.

Liv pointed out the heart shapes in the window panes.

One evening we took a stroll and ended up on Île de la Cité just at sunset. I swear I am never going back to the US!! Life here is tres beau.

Ask me anything about living in Paris.

Life in Paris: Month Deux Bonjour mes amis, It has already been two months since our arrival in Paris! I cannot tell you how fast this time has flown by.

[umichenginabroad]

El Último Viaje

For our last full three-day weekend, we decided to go to Mendoza which is known for its view of the Andes Mountains and for being a very popular wine region for Malbec.

All of these trips have been taking their hits on all of their wallets so we tried to keep the costs down as much as we could for this trip and one way of doing that is by traveling by bus.

Buenos Aires has many overnight buses that travel across Argentina and are way cheaper than planes would be. They leave from the Retiro Bus Station which is a lot closer to where we live in Recoleta compared to the airports which was nice. However as it is with everything, the bus does have its ups and downs.

The bus ride out left at 7:45pm and was supposed to arrive at 10:45am — a whopping 15 hours. This meant stocking up on food for the ride and making sure we had enough entertainment for the entire ride.

Generally I find it easier to sleep in cars than planes but I’ve never been on a bus ride this long before. The longest buses I ever rode were to school and back and around campus. However with long rides like this I find it hard since obviously it’s not as comfortable as sleeping in a bed. On the way out I probably slept for about 6 hours total—I woke up around 2am to go to the bathroom and then I was awake enough to work on my final essay for our culture class that was due on Monday. I woke up around 8:30am again and noticed how beautiful the scenery was outside and again found it hard to go back to sleep so I moved to a seat with a better view and worked on my oral presentation for our culture class as well (both are due on Monday).

Not a bad background for some work!

After our bus arrived (an hour late) we walked from the bus terminal in Mendoza to our airbnb. Despite being tired from the long ride, we planned for that day to go hiking! Mendoza is located right next to the Andes and we wanted to get active in nature after living in a city for so long.

The group split up since some of us wanted to get started on the hike while others wanted to get food and we ubered to what we thought was the start of the Cerro Aspero trail. Our research online found that that would be a 6-7 hour trail to take, but we would see how far we would get since we were losing daylight. We got to the head of the trail around 2 and sun was set to set around 6:30 which gave us about 4.5 hours.

Per usual, things don’t always go as planned and we couldn’t find our trail but that didn’t stop us! Instead we walked the Cerro Arco trail which was a steep road to the top of a hill with electrical towers on top.

View of the city from the top of the trail

Getting to the top of the mountain took around an hour and a half and a few other hikers informed us that we could continue on another path from the top, so having the time, we did.

Finally a path that wasn’t paved!

As we continued on the path, we knew we were racing daylight for how far we could go before turning back—after all we didn’t want to get caught walking down a mountain in the dark. I’m happy we kept walking because if we didn’t we wouldn’t have seen alpacas!!

I wasn’t expecting to see any wildlife on these hills of small bushes and no trees so it was a nice surprise to stumble along this pack

We walked to a further lookout point before taking a break and taking some pictures before our walk back down.

On top of the world!

We started our walk back down and found that no uber’s were around to pick us up and not being sure exactly how the bus system worked, we started the two hour walk back to the city, but don’t worry we only had to walk for about a half hour before we were able to get a ride.

The view was nice though!

The next day brought a lot less walking and different kind of view. One cannot simply visit Mendoza and not see the different kinds of wineries they are famous for. So we had a full day tour that took us to four different wineries to see the differences in size and production.

Group pic at the Kaiken vineyards

This winery had three different kinds of vineyards to create three different kinds of wines. We arrived there early in the morning so the fields had a nice golden glow to see in front of the mountains. This winery was called Kaiken and they used many concrete tanks to store their wine before aging them in barrels. Down in their wine cellar there was even music playing for the vibrations of the barrels—and it was like hymns always playing (just a tad horror movie-ish).

The next winery we went to was called Terrazas de los Andes which was a much more modern winery and larger winery than the last.

They stored a lot of their wine in stainless steel tanks but also had some large concrete ones underground.

This winery was different in the fact that all of their grapes were imported and they didn’t have any actual vineyards on its property. They produced a lot more wine than the previous winery.

Balcony with a view

For our third winery, Susana Balbo, we didn’t go on a tour, but instead we had lunch included with the day. It was a five course meal at a fancy restaurant (if you go to my last post you can see what we had). We had a great view and our table looked out over the vineyards while we ate and relaxed before visiting our last winery.

A much smaller winery than the rest, this was the entire building

For our final winery, it was a very small one called Trez Wines. They only produced the red Malbec wine at this place but were surrounded by vineyards on all sides which made for some pretty nice views.

After a long day of touring we went back to the house and hung out while playing card games (we’re BIG card game people now—euchre, hearts, pres) which is a change of pace from what I usually do when hanging out with friends in college or back home.

Sunday morning brought chilly weather and clouds so some of us walked around for a bit and some of us stayed in to do homework before we left for our bus leaving at 4.

But returning to Buenos Aires means finals season—essays, presentations, exams—so wish us luck!

See ya later!

———

Larissa Wermers

Mechanical Engineering

Engineering in Buenos Aires, Argentina

[daisysaulls]

I’m thrilled that Elizabeth asked me to photograph her wedding! Especially after spending 15 of the most difficult months together in nursing school. She’s smart, determined, and kind. It was no surprise that Connor is just as amazing! I’m beyond excited to celebrate this beautiful couple later this year in N.C.! 

Check out their love story below!

How did you meet?

In 2013, Elizabeth was a freshman and Connor was a junior at Wake Forest. They were in choir together, but only said hello to each other when it was more awkward to not say hello. Elizabeth thought Connor was too cool, and Connor thought Elizabeth was cute, and fully remembers her introducing herself... Elizabeth has no recollection of this! They even went on the same choir trip to Ireland... where they did not have a single conversation! Fall of 2014 rolled around and Elizabeth was very excited to have been chosen to be a leader of the pre-orientation program she had attended the year before and loved so much. Connor was glad he had been chosen again (as he had every year!) as a leader after being an inaugural attendee three years before. They were paired together to be in charge of ten freshmen- from teamwork games that would decide the "draft order" for choosing their campers, to cheering on their wonderful group through the week-long competition, to late-night talks where they attempted to explain Wake Forest to these freshmen. On the first day in between welcoming campers, they grabbed lunch- where Elizabeth was super worried that people would think they were on a date- and got to know one another as quickly and easily as only two people who'd one day get married would (over the first of maaaany bowls of queso)! The next day, on a trip to the Old Campus, Connor was taken aback because Elizabeth did not sit with him on the bus, thinking she was rebuffing his advances in an attempt to get to know her. Elizabeth would like to say for the record this was not true! However, on the way back to campus, they did sit next to each other (finally!) and talked about everything under the sun from what they did on the weekends, to which classes they loved and their plans for their careers, to being the successful products of public schools and what this meant at Wake Forest. Connor made a mental note of how much he enjoyed Elizabeth's company and couldn't wait to spend more time with her. Elizabeth thought she had made a brand-new best friend! Over the next few days, Elizabeth found herself always checking to see if Connor was paying attention to her, and putting a lot of effort into her appearance. This struck her as surprising, until she discovered she, in fact, had a giant crush on her co-leader. Connor realized that he really liked spending time with Elizabeth, and then decided he wanted to hang out with her a lot more. After a fun get-together with all the Deacon Camp leaders, Connor walked Elizabeth home, where she attempted to play it cool and told him not to be a stranger. The next day, she texted him right away. The day after that, they decided it was weird not hanging out after having spent so much time together, and Connor asked her to go for a drive (which he still holds was a lame date, but Elizabeth loved every second of it)! From there, they spent every single day together until they went home for Thanksgiving, including the days of their first date, first kiss, and the day Connor swears he broached the "are we boyfriend/girlfriend" topic first. And the rest, as they say, is history!

When did you know he was the one?

I knew Connor was the one very early on. He was unlike any guy I had ever met. He's crazy smart, so witty and can make me laugh (and he thought I was funny too!), he has this big heart for everyone he knows, he can talk to anyone, anytime, any where (my opposite, and what I need!), and most importantly because he has always been exactly who he is, no matter what. That confidence in himself, his quick confidence in me, deep and authentic love for me, and the fact that he was everything else I ever thought I would want in a partner made me realize he was the one.

When did you know she was the one?

I knew very quickly that Elizabeth was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I met Elizabeth as I was going into my senior year at Wake Forest, and to be honest I wasn't really seeking out a relationship. Despite this, as I got to know Elizabeth more, I realized just how perfect she was for me! Somehow love has a way of finding you when you least expect it. I vividly remember laying in bed one night not too long after we met and going through in my head all of the different things that I loved about Elizabeth. I realized then that I had never met someone who had checked all of the "boxes" before and really hoped that she felt the same about me. Luckily, she did and the rest is history as they say!

What do you love most about him?

I love Connor's authenticity! I always know what he's thinking, how he feels, what he likes and dislikes. He's not afraid to speak up, to have a debate, or show his perfect true colors. This also means he makes me feel loved, even (and especially) when I feel like I don't deserve it, in only a way a person who means it from the bottom of his heart can! I mean he's also incredibly handsome too... :)

What do you love most about her?

Elizabeth has so many great qualities but if I had to pick just one it would be her compassion for others. She has such a big heart and loves everyone around her so well. I have seen this so clearly in our relationship with how she loves me unconditionally, and also see it every single day in her work as an oncology nurse. Elizabeth knows everything about me and is always there to love and support me, whether it is listening after a frustrating day or laughing at a bad pun I make. I am so lucky to have met someone who loves me like Elizabeth does and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together!

Share your engagement story!

As so many of you know, I am a new grad nurse, graduated in December. For the first half of my last semester, I had my senior practicum- where I shadow a nurse for their schedule in addition to class for 5 weeks. Because Wake Forest Homecoming was after practicum was done, I was CONVINCED Connor was going to pop the question in the place we met and that was home for so long for us both.

As it turns out, my constant night shifts really came in handy to plan a proposal that was NOT during Homecoming at all! I was working the Friday night before he proposed, and my sleeping all day and being out of the way at night gave the perfect cover for bringing two sets of parents and two brothers into Washington, DC without my notice!

The week before, Connor had couple friends of ours from out of town text us  to set up dinner plans for when "they were going to be in town"- the only Saturday I wasn't working. Having not seen them in months, I obviously agreed! They were in on it- even snapchatting me from the airport that they were headed our way, and texting that their uber was running late to our "meeting point!"

When this occurred, Connor asked me if I would like to take a walk along the waterfront in Georgetown since it was conveniently located near where we were "meeting our friends." I agreed, having not one single clue what was going to happen! Soon, Connor started telling me the story of how we met and started dating... and I thought he was trying to be funny and fake me out for the first few sentences, until he was telling me about the point in our relationship he realized I was the one. Finally, I had caught on! I tried so hard to keep my cool and not cry that the rest of his speech was a blur! He just kept saying wonderfully heartfelt things until we came to a river overlook. Even though I knew by now, when he reached into his jacket pocket for a box and got down on one knee, my hands flew to my mouth, saying "Oh my gosh, you're doing this! You're actually doing this!" and I started crying.

Obviously, I said yes! I had never been so excited in my life! I had been dreaming about this for a long time, and it had finally happened- I get to marry the love of my life and my best friend! After I said yes, Connor pointed across the street to where our families had been hiding out to watch the whole thing- cue more tears! They were so happy for us! After taking some pictures, we got to sit down to dinner with our families at Cafe Milano-a big spot in DC- where the table was decorated with flowers and pictures of us throughout our relationship. Champagne was popped, dinner was eaten, tears were shed. It was the perfect end to the best day yet... until I get to marry him, of course!

ELIZABETH & CONNOR┃website:www.saulls.com┃Instagram: www.instagram.com/daisysaulls

[realtalk-princeton]

@sulpicia I got accepted to chicago internship and saw your post about interning in chicago. Which part of town did you stay (and the rent??)? Is it dangerous to walk around alone at like 9 or 10 at night even in relatively safe areas (not south)? Is it better to take uber than public transportation at night? How much did you spend for eating out weekly, and is the price similar to nyc's? What did you do when you got bored? Sorry for all these questions xD

PiResponse from Sulpicia:

I lived in Rogers Park which always seemed very safe, but I recently learned that there was a masked murderer who killed two people around there two years ago and was never caught which was kind of a yike. I think that area is generally fine though (as is like Edgewater and stuff). I found the place I sublet on a Loyola University sublet group and I think you could probably find similar stuff on groups for Northwestern, DePaul, UIC, etc. as a lot of people rent and will be gone for the summer. I think I paid like $650/month including utilities and then paid less because I was only there for 1/2 of August. The apartment was two bedrooms and the other renter wasn’t there for almost all the time I was living there, so I had the kitchen/bathroom/living area to myself. I think rent is usually more expensive especially in other areas, as is to be expected in a big city, which was why I looked to rent from places where people were living on a student budget.

I tended to not go out alone at night, but when I was working late I was fine talking the ~20 minute walk home from the Metra station. The Loop area is also so populated that you’d probably be fine walking around later, but it’s always good to stay on guard. I think if I had more familiarity with the area I would have been more confident walking around, but I had never been there before so I usually played it safe and tried not to stay out. I did actually go to a lot of plays so I was on public transit fairly late; I actually don’t think I took an Uber the entire time I was there. I rode the Metra and the El regularly and took the bus occasionally and didn’t find them hard to use at all. I needed to take the Metra to work so I bought a monthly pass (and two week passes for the partial month I worked); I would buy single rides on the El for the most part unless I had a day when I knew I would be riding a lot, in which case I did a day pass.

I basically only ate out on weekends, when I would spend the day in the city/surrounding area. I think prices are similar to NYC and maybe a little cheaper, though it depends on the neighborhood. I shopped exclusively at Aldi and the supermarket around the corner from where I lived (plus sometimes going to a nearby farmer’s market, where I would sometimes get vegetables/fruit), so I tried to save on my “normal” food. I ate a lot of ramen, rice, beans, and eggs, plus sandwiches for lunch. I definitely wanted to eat “Chicago” food like deep dish and hot dogs, so I made sure to budget time/money for that.

I spent a LOT of time reading, both at home and on my commute (I got through all of War & Peace, which was my big accomplishment). I lived super close to the beach, so I did sometimes go hang out at the beach either after work or on weekends. I did a lot of stuff, actually, and tried to plan my weekends around seeing as much of Chicago as possible. In addition to just walking around my neighborhood, I did the following things: walked to Evanson/Northwestern, walked around the UChicago campus (they have multiple free museums!), went to the free botanical garden in Glencoe, went to the free botanical garden in Garfield Park, went to the free botanical garden near the Lincoln Park Zoo, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, went to the Art Institute (expensive but worth it), went to the city center museum (forget the name), went to a UCB show, went to an ImprovOlympic show, walked around the Cubs stadium and along the lake back to Rogers Park (too long; do not do this), walked around the mall, went to the DePaul modern art museum, went to a flea market, went to Millennium Park (and the Bean!), went to Navy Pier, saw plays at Steppenwolf/Chicago Shakespeare Company/a random storefront theater west of the city/elsewhere (definitely check Groupon for discounted tickets and many places also have a student discount), went to Chinatown, went to Wicker Park (next level hipster), went to Pilsen (which has a very cool and free museum of Mexican-American history), went to the Field Museum, went to the farmer’s market near me, watched the Pride parade in Boystown, went to a food festival in the Loop, went to a giant annual book fair, went to the movies (there was a really great small movie theater near where I lived), and really just walked around the city--I definitely discovered a lot of cool stuff and also bummed around a lot of Targets.

I had also wanted to go to more museums, but that added up really quickly; would highly recommend the Art Institute even though it costs $$$ because it has such an amazing collection of super-famous art and is huge. Even if you don’t like theater usually, Chicago has a HUGE theater scene and tickets can be very cheap, so you should try to see at least one show. Also it’s cool to go to places like UCB and IO; I am not usually a huge improv fan, but they’re really famous and definitely fun. Also of course the zoo, botanical gardens, and spending time on the lake are all free, as are a lot of the museums I mentioned.

Readers chime in though; I am not a Chicago native and honestly feel like I kind of took the “basic” route of entertaining myself in the city but those are some experiences I was able to have on the PICS stipend.

[teacherkmd]

QuFu Week 3: Starting to get the hang of things

Time for the weekly update from QuFu!

Last week ended with a bit of slump mentally/emotionally. I was stressed out waiting for news about my family and friends in North Carolina with the hurricane’s landfall (they’re all fine). In order to combat the blues and distract me from my endless anxiety, Kim and I decided to go for an “American” dinner at Pizza Hut and to see a movie. 

We walked to Pizza Hut (about 2km) and were the first customers there. However, it quickly filled up with families and crazy children. The family that sat down next to us had 5 (read: five despite the new two child policy). The two older girls were very eager to try and ask us where we were from multiple times (they didn’t understand our response) and then preceded to ask if we knew Chinese. 

I ordered a margarita pizza and was very happy with the amount of cheese on it. Kim ordered the pepperoni. For dessert, she, despite my warnings, ordered durian ice-cream cake. Her assessment of the flavor: fart and cream. I stuck with chocolate ice-cream for dessert.

(My glorious pizza)

(Kim’s dessert mistake).

Afterwards, we attempted to use Didi (China’s Uber) for the first time. This was only half successful. For some reason, it wouldn’t let me order a didi, but let me use the app to call a taxi? Whatever. We successfully got ourselves to the movie theater in time for the movie to start 2 minutes early with no previews. Craziness. We watched a move about the Brazilian soccer player Pelé. It was very dramatic but exactly what we needed. 

We decided to start walking home and see if we saw a taxi on the side of the road or driving by. Fortunately, we got to cross off another QuFu must do: ride in a little electric enclosed rickshaw/bangbang/ tuk tuk!  It was a lot of fun. 

(In the Tuktuk)

The next day, Sharlyn (another Fellow), Kim, and I decided to go on a walk. We walked all the way to where I had hung out with the two Chinese girls the previous week. We had just enough time to get a snack before it started to rain. It was just drizzling but seemed like it was picking up. We walked towards the exit of the shopping street, and agreed to let this tuk-tuk driver take us back to the university. As soon as we stepped in and shut the door, it started torrentially down pouring. There had to be up to 5 inches of standing water on the road; in some places there was more. We walked from north gate of campus and very quickly saw that there was enough rain that the freshmen had been released early from military training. They were equally soaked. I should have just taken my shoes off to walk back from where the tuk tuk dropped us off. I really don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. I tried to dry my shoes by hanging them from the AC unit so they’d get some air flow… but that didn’t really work. 

The roads are no longer flooded, but it hasn’t really stopped raining since the weekend. Come Tuesday night, I had agreed to meet with the teacher whose class I observed last week. She had asked me to help prepare a student for a teaching competition. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it turned into me sharing some communicative ideas for teaching middle schoolers (games, etc.) and then giving a demo-lesson for which I was completely unprepared. Probably the worst demo-lesson I’ve ever given. Nevertheless they loved it and seemed really inspired. I also got to talk to the two teachers there about more activities I could hold like this on campus (workshops etc). Slowly building the connections and rapport I need on campus to set up secondary projects!

This week we also had to go to the “police station”-> more like giant administrative building to start our residency permits… did I think I would have this process started sooner, yes… anyhow, in theory I’ll have my passport back on or before October 9th. We all know how trapped I feel without my passport. In the mean time, we have this little nifty piece of paper that apparently vouches for my legality in the country and can be used to purchase bus, train, and plane tickets. 

I also had my first Chinese class this week. We did the listening section of a mock HSK (Chinese proficiency exam). Apparently, even after missing 10 out of 45, that is good enough to pass. We ran out of time before moving on to the reading section. So, now that is homework. I was also assigned the task of looking up all the words I didn’t know on the listening section’s answer sheet and asking native speakers to use them in sentences for me. I also have to do the reading section as homework so we can go over it in class next week. The teacher is really nice and works with all the international students here on campus. 

Wednesday night also consisted of the welcome banquet for the foreign faculty on campus. This included all the English teachers (me, Sharlyn (fellow Fellow), and Kim), the visiting Canadian physics professor Karen, the French teacher Jordan (from France), and mystery Russian lady who no one caught her name. We were organized around the table with a Chinese representative from our departments so we would all have someone with a mutual language to talk with. The food… I should have taken pictures of. I am sorry. The vice president of the university joined us for dinner and many speeches were given. And we were gifted mooncakes! But I am saving those for Mid-autumn moon festival. 

In other news: I had a giant delivery of popcorn kernels today and that was super exciting. I’m planning my first conference trip in October to Changchun! I’m very excited about it. I’ll also be going to Beijing in November to do a Roundtable (small Group) at the Beijing American Center at the embassy and a larger presentation the next day. Lots of presentations to plan! Oh, and I successfully baked bread. 

Upcoming: this weekend QuFu opening ceremony for Freshmen, Confucius Temple, Mid-autumn moon festival, and first classes of the semester next week!

[sheentravels]

Fresher’s Week

It has officially been one week (or a little more) since we’ve arrived here in the U.K. and I currently feel so drained, but in a good way. You see, a tradition they have here in London is Fresher’s Week (roefreshers.com), which is a week of fun-filled activities to get socializing with all the other Fresher’s (new freshman, like us) or ReFresher’s (2nd/3rd year students) right before the week school starts. To participate in all the events they had planned, we had to purchase wristbands at 55 quid (quid is slang for pounds) which is equivalent to about $75 dollars? Kinda pricey, but they had some really cool events going on. Here’s how my week went:

Monday: I <3 Bop Night. Those who bought wristbands were given “I <3 Bop” shirts to wear to this student club on campus called I <3 Bop. They were plain white icebreaker shirts and we were encouraged to have other students sign our shirts with their names. Usually I <3 Bop happens on Friday nights and it’s 5 quid to get in, but they moved it to Monday night and let us in for free. We didn’t need to be at the actual place until 11, so our flat had started their own party for the time being. It was insane. Our entire kitchen was filled with people from the other flats next door. There were people dancing on our counter tops and some even punched a hole into our ceiling fist bumping to the music LOL. We were hanging out at our flat til 11, then once it was time to go everyone was outta there! It was definitely a freezing walk across campus to the club (one that me and my flatmates ran instead to keep warm). Once we got into the Bop, the fun continued. The music was amazing, the people were so friendly (a girl ran across the dance floor to meet me because I was Filipino), and everyone was just having a good time.

Tuesday: After a tiring but really good night, I woke up early on a Tuesday because our UH Professor, Jonna, was taking us to see the movie “Dunkirk” at the Odeon. It was for her AMST 340 War and Media class, which consisted of me, Dominique and Max. The other 6 UH kids took her other class, which was something cinema related. Anyway, we met up early with her to catch the bus to the Odeon. It was a really good movie actually, depicting the WWII evacuation of allied soldiers in France, Dunkirk. The movie upset me of course because it was definitely no happy ending, but then again it was based on what actually happened in history. Once we got back to campus, the Fresher’s event for the night was called “Love London” where we had to choose between 3 different venues in London. First was FlipOut, which is basically like iTrampoline in O’ahu. The second was a mini golf venue called Junkyard Golf, where you play minigolf in a wacky junkyard, then finally Flight Club, which was a bar where you compete against other teams in darts. Me and my flatmates went to FlipOut and we had an hour filled with bouncing and jumping into foam pits. We caught an uber there and back (the uni gave us 15 quid off coupons).

Wednesday: This day’s event was another dance party at a more higher up club off campus called “The Grand.” However, it didn’t start until 10PM. While most of us were already starting to get tired and sleep in by Wednesday, there was still a tea party we Hawai’i kids had to attend. It was a Hawai’i students’ treat, but the University took us to get afternoon tea at this hotel called SoHo and then treated us to watch a play called “An American in Paris.” To be honest, this was the first time we Hawai’i kids got together as a group again because it felt like it had been so long, so it was a really fun gathering. We were accompanied by Prof. Jonna and a study abroad advisor, Gwen. We got to the hotel and were seated at a long, elegant table. I’ll admit, having british tea was fun. It was my first time drinking tea with milk, and I ordered a tea called Bourbon Vanilla, so it tasted very milky but so good. We then got this 3-tiered platter full of sweet and savory treats, and the waiter told us that there was a certain way to eat them. We were to start from the top (sweet) then work our way towards the bottom (savory). I should have listened, because I started off with savory (there were mini sandwiches and sausage rolls and they were delicious!). I don’t really consider myself into sweets, so I just took a bite of each dessert and enjoyed the rest of my tea.

 Afterwards, we all had to walk a good 6 minutes to get to the Theater to watch the play. It was an interesting play, about an American in Paris of course, but to sum it all up 3 different guys were falling for the same girl and in the end she ended up with the American man. (Sorry to have spoiled it for you). The play ran for 2 hours, then we headed back to campus by 5. The next 5 hours before The Grand were dedicated to eating dinner with my flatmates, getting ready and dressed up, then heading towards the busses that would take us to the club. Again, it was an amazing venue. There was a big disco ball inside and the DJ was just playing throwback booty pumping music left and right. Truthfully, I was tired. So me, Eskil, and Erin left early and made it back home in an uber.

Thursday: Tried to sleep in again, but I was getting my nails done with Gwen somewhere in Putney in the morning (which is a bus ride to the town over). Afterwards around 12, me and a couple of the flatmates took a bus to Asda to stock up on another couple week’s worth of groceries. We got back in time a little before we had to load the busses up for today’s adventure: Thorpe Park. The university rented out an entire amusement park for us to enjoy for the night. It was an hour drive there, but the park was massive! There were so many types of roller coasters that me and my friends tried! I’ll admit I was super hungry in the beginning but just seeing the rides made me excited to get on. My favorite would have to be a ride called the “Saw” ride, which is based off the movies of the Jigsaw murders. There was a part where we were going up a completely lateral slope, only to be dropped quickly down afterwards. My stomach was filled with butterflies all night. There was also this ride called “Tidal Wave,” where the drop leads you into a massive cold lake and you guessed it...the water splashed and a huge waterfall of water basically fell onto us. Not to mention, it was a really cold night. Me, Xenia, Selma, and Angelika had to share one of those machines that you put coins into to dry you off afterwards, and we were still damp afterwards. But it was so fun. We tried to ride all the coasters but sadly got too tired and hungry to finish the remaining two. So we went to eat at KFC (which is really popular here) and warmed up with tea and a chicken sandwich. We felt icky and wet and a hot shower sounded so nice at that moment. After we finished eating, we ran (literally ran in hopes of warming ourselves up) to the buses and got shuttled back to university. I took a hot shower, popped some NyQuil pills so I wouldn’t get sick the next day, and knocked out.

Friday: I keep telling myself I’ll give myself a day to sleep in, but today wasn’t going to be that day. The event they had planned for us on Friday was Fresher’s Fair, which was a fair consisting all the kinds of activities, sports, clubs, or organizations that we could join on campus! I myself had actually already joined a society known as R.A.G. (Raising and Giving), which was a student led organization that helps raise money for local charities through really fun and cool events! They once hosted an event called “JAILBREAK,” where you have to pretend you’re an escaped prisoner and try to get as far away from campus as you can without spending ANY MONEY! Insane right? Someone got as far as Poland last year. You definitely have to raise a certain amount of money to participate in the event, but during the actual thing you’re basically asking other people to donate funds to help you get as far away as you can! This year in November however, they’re doing an event that’s the opposite of JAILBREAK, known as LOST. You get blindfolded and dropped off somewhere random and far in the U.K., and then you have to find your way back to campus without spending any money. Crazy right? Crazy but fun. Anyway, I joined this organization and actually got on the committee, so my job this morning at the fair was to encourage other students to join and ask them to vote for the charity we’ll be donating to for the year! It was a ton of fun  (there was a Domino’s Pizza booth and I got free pizza). After my 11-1 shift was over, I did some laundry, cooked my food for the week, and now I’m blogging about my week :) There’s actually a dodgeball event happening tonight, but your girl needs a break from all the events. Haha!

Saturday: Even though Saturday’s tomorrow, the event for Saturday to finish up Fresher’s Week is FRESHER’S FEST! It’s a grand finale filled with music and it’s also Toga themed haha! I’m not too sure if it’s on campus or off, but I’ve been hearing it’s going to be SICK so I am just trying to save up the last of my energy for tomorrow night.

Thank you for reading, I’ll try to keep you guys updated once school starts but all I can say is London is growing on me. :)

Cheers, Sheena

P.S., I’m still adjusting to the cold. Send sweaters.

[jeantparks]

Annapolis for Memorial Day; and DC side trip by bus

Memorial Weekend is anticipated as the start of the summer boating season. Having been on our boat for almost a year, we still look forward to “spring boating” ! An advance reservation was made earlier at Annapolis Landing marina anticipating a crowd.    Good plan as a few other friends found marinas were filling up.

Leaving Solomon’s Island on Saturday May 27th, we crossed our fingers for smooth waters to cover the 55 miles to Annapolis.

Our group enjoyed dinner at an Irish Pub- O’Brien’s.  Voted one of the best meals on the loop!

ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY CHAPEL

We attended Sunday service at the Naval Academy.  The beautiful chapel was filled with music and the parishioners were so friendly.

We took a self guided walking tour around the campus before heading into downtown Annapolis.

Side Trip to Washington dc

Experiencing Washington DC in a day took some prior planning.  The suggestions we received from Sanctuary crew was valuable in getting an idea of what to include.

Cathy and Colleen spent time browsing the internet and reading guidebooks to come up with a bus schedule and top picks at Washington DC.

Here is our itinerary :  Note, we have passed this itinerary on to several other boaters so if you have any feedback or suggestions please send them my way!

Commuter bus from Annapolis (about $4.00 each way)

1.Bus stops near Library of Congress- visit Jefferson library, courtroom artist gallery)

note- Tips- the commuter bus dropped us near Library of Congress. Later I was told a Dunkin’ Donuts is in lower level of the Madison building.  You can then access the tunnel system over to the Jefferson building. And go from Jefferson over to capital building.  Wish we had checked out the tunnel. Also self guided tour of Jefferson library building PDF is on line had good info.  I missed the Gutenberg bible display!   Here are a couple links.

www.loc.gov/portals/ static/visit/documents/ QuickGuide.pdf

untappedcities.com/ 2014/07/25/the-underground- city-beneath-the-u-s-capitol- and-library-of-congress/

2. Cross street to US Capitol. ( Take turns going into visitor center if you have food or beverage in backpacks- no food allowed). Be prepared for Security checks

(-option,  rent a bike and ride to far end then work back-would be less traffic to ride in morning. We did not do this, it seemed a good idea by the end of the day of walking) 3.  Walk past FBI, CIA towards Trump building. (It is oldest post office) and interesting tour to top is offered  on certain days We ate at a food court, others tried POV or Ebert’s. 4.  White House visitor center then photos at Whitehouse

5.  Smithsonian  American history ( Archie bunker chair, original USA flag display) 6. Washington monument- 7.  WW 2, Vietnam Memorial, nurses memorial 8. Lincoln Monument and reflecting pool (Take elevator to displays on lower level) Walked toward bus stops about 5.

5.  Arlington cemetery- Uber  optional, we were not able to fit this in on the same day.

Board the bus at various stops. note that alternate buses go downtown Annapolis (some end at the park and ride) note- we found it filled up and we were glad we caught it early in the route- ).

First challenge of the day was to arrange  a ride for six people to the bus stop at 5:30 am.  Thanks to Steve for driving, and to Annapolis Landing Marina for letting us borrow the courtesy van!    We are all aboard the Commuter bus by 7am and arrive at DC by 8:30.

The pictures tell the story; so I wont get into details about the history…     of course there are many more Smithsonian museums, monuments and interesting architecture to see- but we are on a one day tour so this is the highlights: Capitol Building

Good spot to practice a selfie!   White House

The perfect photo op with the White House in the background was  a very popular spot.  Our group spent a bit of time here! To add some variety to our history filled day, a stop at the History Smithsonian was in order.    A couple featured exhibits included Archie Bunkers Chair, Apollo Ono’s ice skates, and early Muppets puppets.   A few exhibits were cycled out- including Seinfeld’s puffy shirt and the Wizard of Oz Ruby slippers !   Monuments are awe inspiring, reverent, memorials .   A steady flow of people pass by the Vietnam memorial with its reflective granite and lists of names. 

The statistics represented by various war memorials is such an eye opener , appreciation the sacrifices of so many.

Being in the presence of the iconic monuments is breathtaking.

  There were so many more memories from this day, and we could have spent several days here.    Will return again.

To finish off the day, we hop on the bus,   Steve picks us up at the bus stop (with the courtesy van); and we arrive at the marina just in time for a birthday dinner!    Teresa serves up soup and bread with a few extra fixings to celebrate Steve’s birthday with a gathering of about a dozen boaters from various AGLCA  looping boats.

When I started this blog, my intent was to refrain from focusing on restaurants and eating.  Both topics are an integral part of our travels, so must be included from time to time!!

Annapolis is another must see town- ride the water taxi, explore the hilly streets, shop and eat in historical Annapolis.    We haven’t even touched the other neighborhoods as we were so intent on getting to Washington DC and now its time to say goodbye and move across the bay to check out the east side.   For instance , we got a photo but did not get a chance to experience this restaurant.  They open each day with a pledge of allegiance!

Thanks to everyone who sent a suggestion for what to see and do; it really helps as there are so many choices .  You might say we have a lot of time, and we like to say there is no schedule, yet we plan to get to back to the Minnesota by Fall, and must keep moving!   Thanks for reading.

Filed under: A year on a boat, Monuments and Side trips, Moon Shadow Log Tagged: aglca, Annapolis, Bus, travel, Washington DC Read More Here ….

The post Annapolis for Memorial Day; and DC side trip by bus appeared first on YachtAweigh.

source http://yachtaweigh.com/annapolis-for-memorial-day-and-dc-side-trip-by-bus/ from http://yatchaweigh.blogspot.com/2017/06/annapolis-for-memorial-day-and-dc-side.html

[janetgannon]

Annapolis for Memorial Day; and DC side trip by bus

Memorial Weekend is anticipated as the start of the summer boating season. Having been on our boat for almost a year, we still look forward to “spring boating” ! An advance reservation was made earlier at Annapolis Landing marina anticipating a crowd.    Good plan as a few other friends found marinas were filling up.

Leaving Solomon’s Island on Saturday May 27th, we crossed our fingers for smooth waters to cover the 55 miles to Annapolis.

Our group enjoyed dinner at an Irish Pub- O’Brien’s.  Voted one of the best meals on the loop!

ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY CHAPEL

We attended Sunday service at the Naval Academy.  The beautiful chapel was filled with music and the parishioners were so friendly.

We took a self guided walking tour around the campus before heading into downtown Annapolis.

Side Trip to Washington dc

Experiencing Washington DC in a day took some prior planning.  The suggestions we received from Sanctuary crew was valuable in getting an idea of what to include.

Cathy and Colleen spent time browsing the internet and reading guidebooks to come up with a bus schedule and top picks at Washington DC.

Here is our itinerary :  Note, we have passed this itinerary on to several other boaters so if you have any feedback or suggestions please send them my way!

Commuter bus from Annapolis (about $4.00 each way)

1.Bus stops near Library of Congress- visit Jefferson library, courtroom artist gallery)

note- Tips- the commuter bus dropped us near Library of Congress. Later I was told a Dunkin’ Donuts is in lower level of the Madison building.  You can then access the tunnel system over to the Jefferson building. And go from Jefferson over to capital building.  Wish we had checked out the tunnel. Also self guided tour of Jefferson library building PDF is on line had good info.  I missed the Gutenberg bible display!   Here are a couple links.

www.loc.gov/portals/ static/visit/documents/ QuickGuide.pdf

untappedcities.com/ 2014/07/25/the-underground- city-beneath-the-u-s-capitol- and-library-of-congress/

2. Cross street to US Capitol. ( Take turns going into visitor center if you have food or beverage in backpacks- no food allowed). Be prepared for Security checks

(-option,  rent a bike and ride to far end then work back-would be less traffic to ride in morning. We did not do this, it seemed a good idea by the end of the day of walking) 3.  Walk past FBI, CIA towards Trump building. (It is oldest post office) and interesting tour to top is offered  on certain days We ate at a food court, others tried POV or Ebert’s. 4.  White House visitor center then photos at Whitehouse

5.  Smithsonian  American history ( Archie bunker chair, original USA flag display) 6. Washington monument- 7.  WW 2, Vietnam Memorial, nurses memorial 8. Lincoln Monument and reflecting pool (Take elevator to displays on lower level) Walked toward bus stops about 5.

5.  Arlington cemetery- Uber  optional, we were not able to fit this in on the same day.

Board the bus at various stops. note that alternate buses go downtown Annapolis (some end at the park and ride) note- we found it filled up and we were glad we caught it early in the route- ).

First challenge of the day was to arrange  a ride for six people to the bus stop at 5:30 am.  Thanks to Steve for driving, and to Annapolis Landing Marina for letting us borrow the courtesy van!    We are all aboard the Commuter bus by 7am and arrive at DC by 8:30.

The pictures tell the story; so I wont get into details about the history…     of course there are many more Smithsonian museums, monuments and interesting architecture to see- but we are on a one day tour so this is the highlights: Capitol Building

Good spot to practice a selfie!   White House

The perfect photo op with the White House in the background was  a very popular spot.  Our group spent a bit of time here! To add some variety to our history filled day, a stop at the History Smithsonian was in order.    A couple featured exhibits included Archie Bunkers Chair, Apollo Ono’s ice skates, and early Muppets puppets.   A few exhibits were cycled out- including Seinfeld’s puffy shirt and the Wizard of Oz Ruby slippers !   Monuments are awe inspiring, reverent, memorials .   A steady flow of people pass by the Vietnam memorial with its reflective granite and lists of names. 

The statistics represented by various war memorials is such an eye opener , appreciation the sacrifices of so many.

Being in the presence of the iconic monuments is breathtaking.

   There were so many more memories from this day, and we could have spent several days here.    Will return again.

To finish off the day, we hop on the bus,   Steve picks us up at the bus stop (with the courtesy van); and we arrive at the marina just in time for a birthday dinner!    Teresa serves up soup and bread with a few extra fixings to celebrate Steve’s birthday with a gathering of about a dozen boaters from various AGLCA  looping boats.

When I started this blog, my intent was to refrain from focusing on restaurants and eating.  Both topics are an integral part of our travels, so must be included from time to time!!

Annapolis is another must see town- ride the water taxi, explore the hilly streets, shop and eat in historical Annapolis.    We haven’t even touched the other neighborhoods as we were so intent on getting to Washington DC and now its time to say goodbye and move across the bay to check out the east side.   For instance , we got a photo but did not get a chance to experience this restaurant.  They open each day with a pledge of allegiance!

Thanks to everyone who sent a suggestion for what to see and do; it really helps as there are so many choices .  You might say we have a lot of time, and we like to say there is no schedule, yet we plan to get to back to the Minnesota by Fall, and must keep moving!   Thanks for reading.

Filed under: A year on a boat, Monuments and Side trips, Moon Shadow Log Tagged: aglca, Annapolis, Bus, travel, Washington DC Read More Here ….

The post Annapolis for Memorial Day; and DC side trip by bus appeared first on YachtAweigh.

from http://yachtaweigh.com/annapolis-for-memorial-day-and-dc-side-trip-by-bus/ from https://yachtaweigh.tumblr.com/post/161940216581

[yachtaweigh]

Annapolis for Memorial Day; and DC side trip by bus

Memorial Weekend is anticipated as the start of the summer boating season. Having been on our boat for almost a year, we still look forward to “spring boating” ! An advance reservation was made earlier at Annapolis Landing marina anticipating a crowd.    Good plan as a few other friends found marinas were filling up.

Leaving Solomon’s Island on Saturday May 27th, we crossed our fingers for smooth waters to cover the 55 miles to Annapolis.

Our group enjoyed dinner at an Irish Pub- O’Brien’s.  Voted one of the best meals on the loop!

ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY CHAPEL

We attended Sunday service at the Naval Academy.  The beautiful chapel was filled with music and the parishioners were so friendly.

We took a self guided walking tour around the campus before heading into downtown Annapolis.

Side Trip to Washington dc

Experiencing Washington DC in a day took some prior planning.  The suggestions we received from Sanctuary crew was valuable in getting an idea of what to include.

Cathy and Colleen spent time browsing the internet and reading guidebooks to come up with a bus schedule and top picks at Washington DC.

Here is our itinerary :  Note, we have passed this itinerary on to several other boaters so if you have any feedback or suggestions please send them my way!

Commuter bus from Annapolis (about $4.00 each way)

1.Bus stops near Library of Congress- visit Jefferson library, courtroom artist gallery)

note- Tips- the commuter bus dropped us near Library of Congress. Later I was told a Dunkin’ Donuts is in lower level of the Madison building.  You can then access the tunnel system over to the Jefferson building. And go from Jefferson over to capital building.  Wish we had checked out the tunnel. Also self guided tour of Jefferson library building PDF is on line had good info.  I missed the Gutenberg bible display!   Here are a couple links.

www.loc.gov/portals/ static/visit/documents/ QuickGuide.pdf

untappedcities.com/ 2014/07/25/the-underground- city-beneath-the-u-s-capitol- and-library-of-congress/

2. Cross street to US Capitol. ( Take turns going into visitor center if you have food or beverage in backpacks- no food allowed). Be prepared for Security checks

(-option,  rent a bike and ride to far end then work back-would be less traffic to ride in morning. We did not do this, it seemed a good idea by the end of the day of walking) 3.  Walk past FBI, CIA towards Trump building. (It is oldest post office) and interesting tour to top is offered  on certain days We ate at a food court, others tried POV or Ebert’s. 4.  White House visitor center then photos at Whitehouse

5.  Smithsonian  American history ( Archie bunker chair, original USA flag display) 6. Washington monument- 7.  WW 2, Vietnam Memorial, nurses memorial 8. Lincoln Monument and reflecting pool (Take elevator to displays on lower level) Walked toward bus stops about 5.

5.  Arlington cemetery- Uber  optional, we were not able to fit this in on the same day.

Board the bus at various stops. note that alternate buses go downtown Annapolis (some end at the park and ride) note- we found it filled up and we were glad we caught it early in the route- ).

First challenge of the day was to arrange  a ride for six people to the bus stop at 5:30 am.  Thanks to Steve for driving, and to Annapolis Landing Marina for letting us borrow the courtesy van!    We are all aboard the Commuter bus by 7am and arrive at DC by 8:30.

The pictures tell the story; so I wont get into details about the history…     of course there are many more Smithsonian museums, monuments and interesting architecture to see- but we are on a one day tour so this is the highlights: Capitol Building

Good spot to practice a selfie!   White House

The perfect photo op with the White House in the background was  a very popular spot.  Our group spent a bit of time here! To add some variety to our history filled day, a stop at the History Smithsonian was in order.    A couple featured exhibits included Archie Bunkers Chair, Apollo Ono’s ice skates, and early Muppets puppets.   A few exhibits were cycled out- including Seinfeld’s puffy shirt and the Wizard of Oz Ruby slippers !   Monuments are awe inspiring, reverent, memorials .   A steady flow of people pass by the Vietnam memorial with its reflective granite and lists of names. 

The statistics represented by various war memorials is such an eye opener , appreciation the sacrifices of so many.

Being in the presence of the iconic monuments is breathtaking.

   There were so many more memories from this day, and we could have spent several days here.    Will return again.

To finish off the day, we hop on the bus,   Steve picks us up at the bus stop (with the courtesy van); and we arrive at the marina just in time for a birthday dinner!    Teresa serves up soup and bread with a few extra fixings to celebrate Steve’s birthday with a gathering of about a dozen boaters from various AGLCA  looping boats.

When I started this blog, my intent was to refrain from focusing on restaurants and eating.  Both topics are an integral part of our travels, so must be included from time to time!!

Annapolis is another must see town- ride the water taxi, explore the hilly streets, shop and eat in historical Annapolis.    We haven’t even touched the other neighborhoods as we were so intent on getting to Washington DC and now its time to say goodbye and move across the bay to check out the east side.   For instance , we got a photo but did not get a chance to experience this restaurant.  They open each day with a pledge of allegiance!

Thanks to everyone who sent a suggestion for what to see and do; it really helps as there are so many choices .  You might say we have a lot of time, and we like to say there is no schedule, yet we plan to get to back to the Minnesota by Fall, and must keep moving!   Thanks for reading.

Filed under: A year on a boat, Monuments and Side trips, Moon Shadow Log Tagged: aglca, Annapolis, Bus, travel, Washington DC Read More Here ….

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[simonestudyabroad]

5/28/2017

On Monday, I worked with Holly and Sara in the TV studio for a few hours to finish an assignment for our class. We messed something up and will have to go back later in the week to work on it. I spent the rest of the day recovering from the previous night’s long drive and the crazy weekend.

On Tuesday, I finished filming and editing my Trump video (https://youtu.be/xXKIKn2lRv0) and got a lot of work done before accompanying Daniel to the Crawley boat shed for sun set. We were supposed to meet them at the bus stop but the bus came early and we saw them sprint to catch it. We missed it. We met them at the station a bit later and rode the train into Perth. This guy approached Daniel and had a very awkward conversation about him with his tripod. Daniel was using this boat shed as the subject for his photography project and was required to photograph it at different parts of the day. The boat shed was fairly crowded with people at sunset and I flew my drone around it, definitely freaking some people out. It was now dark and we went to Elizabeth Quey, wanting to fly the drone over the large steel bridge and get shots of the skyline. Unfortunately, there was too much metal around and the drone remote kept saying there was too much interference, so we went back to campus. I then helped Holly film her video. I had an important role as the vase puller. She needed her vase to fall over but the vase was too thick for it to happen naturally. Important job, I know.

On Wednesday, Isabel and I suffered through lecture but we couldn’t make it through the tutorial, so we left during the break. He definitely saw us. Brian came over with his homemade sweet potato fries and we worked on bio together. For about an hour, we got work done until Tim and Daniel came over too and it quickly turned unproductive. Unproductive but entertaining.

Thursday started off at 5:30am. Brian, Daniel and I all woke up to catch the sunrise over the boat shed. The morning was a frigid 45 degrees before the sun came up. To our surprise, there were two other people already there when we arrived. Brian and I flew my drone as the sun started to come up and Daniel took his pictures. The sky was clear of clouds and the morning was beautiful. We were slowly warming up and decided to get some breakfast at Macca’s. The boys had gone to watch an European League championship game the night before at 2:00am and had decided to stay up the entire night. So they were starving. We devoured our food and Brian wanted to go to this croissant place nearby for more food. His google maps kept taking us to the wrong place and it took us forever to find it. I got my glasses fixed (just straightened) as he ran around, in search for croissants. He did eventually find the place and after more food, we headed back to campus. All of us were exhausted when we got back and took naps. I woke up an hour later to make it to class. My video was reviewed in class and the teacher approved it, giving it two corrections. I fell back asleep, still exhausted from the morning.

On Friday, Daniel and Brian joined us as we went into Fremantle. We went into a tattoo shop so Brian and Daniel could get quotes on their tattoos. They immediately decided against it once they heard the tattoo would cost $300-400 dollars. The guy was really nice and told them it would be cheaper if they waited until they got back to the states to get a tattoo. We then went into a few stores to find Daniel an acceptable shirt to wear to tomorrow’s party. He found one in Cotton On and Brian got a matching one. We shopped a bit more before heading back to campus, making a quick stop at the bottle shop for some goon. Tim met us on campus and we all headed to the rec room for the International Food Festival the village was having. We met Holly and Hannah there and this event was easily the village’s most popular event. Tons of people stood around as we waited for the go ahead to start getting food. There wasn’t much vegetarian options but I was able to find a delicious lasagne and a veggie burger. We sat on the couches and ate as a live band played music. The band was good and they played until we had finished eating our desert. It then got a bit weird and the hip hop team came out and put on a show. And then a different band came on and it turned into a middle school dance. So we ditched. The guys came back to our room and we played round after round of asshole until kicking the boys out.

On Saturday, Isabel went on her first AIFS group event. So proud! They toured the tunnels underneath the Fremantle Prison. I slept in. Later on that night, we were going to a party at Hannah’s apartment. They had nicknamed it ‘Tying the Knot’ and had planned to do a fake ceremony to marry Hannah to Barry. The ‘reception’ would then take place at the Aviary - a rooftop bar in Perth. Holly came over due to boredom and as we got ready to go out, she refused to let me wear the sweater I had chosen. And then we realized there was a rip in the back of my pants. So Holly went and got me a new shirt and a sewing kit and proceeded to sew up my jeans and my jacket that also had a huge rip. This is the third pair of jeans I’ve ripped here and we’re convinced the washers here are ruining our jeans. Holly had an early morning Sunday and hadn’t planned on coming out with us, but we convinced her to join. Daniel and Brian came over with their matching shirts, followed by Tim and Kosuke. We loaded up our water bottles with goon and headed over to Hannah’s. The party was fun. We played games of rage cage and flip cup before Tim and Stiv walked down the aisle and Kosuke gave away Hannah to Barry. Courtney officiated the fake marriage, making sure they vowed to love each other through fat and skinny, through A’s and D’s, through single digit likes and double digit likes, and through stylish or not. They kissed and we all headed to the bus stop to make our way into Perth. As we waited for the train, Brian was a little too drunk and falling over in his chair. Hannah slapped him to wake him up and Daniel was in charge of making sure he wasn't on the ground. He got it together on the train ride and was fine as we walked towards the Aviary. The Aviary was adorable and I loved being outside as we danced the night away. The music they played was great and we got to witness Tim slay on the dance floor. We caught the midnight train back and stopped at Macca’s along the way to satisfy the need for fries. We took an Uber back to village and said goodbye to everyone as we retreated to our beds.

Sunday was filled with work. I woke up early and headed to the library to study with Brian. We grinded through most of our Bio questions and took a break for lunch. I met Sara and Holly again to finish out TV studio assignment but we ran into problem after problem in the studio. By some miracle, we were able to finish the assignment. It wasn’t our best work, but we’d given up after hours of trying to figure it out. We then headed to the rec room for free pizza and a showing of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. The pizza was good and the bean bags we were sitting on were insanely comfortable. So much so, Isabel and I almost fell asleep. Brian and Daniel played on the piano in the rec room after the movie and Brian was actually fairly good. We left them after realizing they were gonna stay awhile. This was quite the week.

P.S. For anyone wondering about the card mystery, THEY’RE STILL MISSING