Just got back from a month long adventure in a few different countries. I've got to sort out how I plan on writing about them and what to say. Or if I even want to do it because I'm fairly certain no one reads this.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Disney is way cooler when you're 21.
So I know I've been to Disney before, but I'm pretty sure the last time I was there I hadn't quite hit puberty yet. I don't remember especially liking it, it was a family trip to Orlando, and I was way more jazzed about going to Islands of Adventure and going on the roller coasters. In fact, when I hear about people my age going out of their way to go to Disney, I kind of judge them a little bit. My friend Loraine, however, had two free tickets to go to Disney Paris, and invited me along. Considering I rarely say no to free things, we made plans to go together on Sunday!
We got to the park and it took me all of 30 seconds to ditch my "big girl" attitude and get really, embarrassingly excited. We got in around 12:30 and made a game plan for the day: First go to Disney Studios park, then over to Disneyland park (I could very easily have the names totally and completely wrong here) Loraine is a bit of a Disney expert, having grown up right near the park in LA, so we checked out the wait times for the rides, got a "fast pass" for the one with the longest wait (Aerosmiths Rock n roller coaster), then jumped in line for Tower of Terror.
I won't give a minute-by-minute breakdown of the day, but we got really lucky the whole time. We somehow managed to wait a maximum of about 40 minutes for a ride, and during that wait we talked to this adorable German girl who was celebrating her 9th birthday (oh and she spoke three languages... way to make us feel inadequate) Also there was the Stunt Show, for which they asked us to make some noise, and the loudest person/people were going to get to come down and drive a stunt car. Big surprise when the two loudest people in a crowd of EASILY 1,000 people was the two American girls, right? So we went down and they tricked me into thinking I was driving a car with a remote control (they had another driver hiding on the side of the car)
As the night got late and the final firework show was about to being, we rushed toward the front of the castle and waited only a few minutes in the rain. The show lasted about half an hour and was (and I hate to be this cliche) magical. It was such an amazing display that brought back a lot of fond memories of my childhood, as well as a lot of critical thinking from my adult life about Disney as a corporation. It was a weird feeling I had throughout the day of the juxtaposition of the way Disney played such a vital role in my childhood, and it has such fairy-tale qualities behind it... and knowing that the people who work for Disney as princes or princesses are expendable humans who are under some of the most strenuous contracts in the world.
All in all, it was a really awesome day with easily my favorite person I've met thus far in Paris.
We got to the park and it took me all of 30 seconds to ditch my "big girl" attitude and get really, embarrassingly excited. We got in around 12:30 and made a game plan for the day: First go to Disney Studios park, then over to Disneyland park (I could very easily have the names totally and completely wrong here) Loraine is a bit of a Disney expert, having grown up right near the park in LA, so we checked out the wait times for the rides, got a "fast pass" for the one with the longest wait (Aerosmiths Rock n roller coaster), then jumped in line for Tower of Terror.
I won't give a minute-by-minute breakdown of the day, but we got really lucky the whole time. We somehow managed to wait a maximum of about 40 minutes for a ride, and during that wait we talked to this adorable German girl who was celebrating her 9th birthday (oh and she spoke three languages... way to make us feel inadequate) Also there was the Stunt Show, for which they asked us to make some noise, and the loudest person/people were going to get to come down and drive a stunt car. Big surprise when the two loudest people in a crowd of EASILY 1,000 people was the two American girls, right? So we went down and they tricked me into thinking I was driving a car with a remote control (they had another driver hiding on the side of the car)
As the night got late and the final firework show was about to being, we rushed toward the front of the castle and waited only a few minutes in the rain. The show lasted about half an hour and was (and I hate to be this cliche) magical. It was such an amazing display that brought back a lot of fond memories of my childhood, as well as a lot of critical thinking from my adult life about Disney as a corporation. It was a weird feeling I had throughout the day of the juxtaposition of the way Disney played such a vital role in my childhood, and it has such fairy-tale qualities behind it... and knowing that the people who work for Disney as princes or princesses are expendable humans who are under some of the most strenuous contracts in the world.
All in all, it was a really awesome day with easily my favorite person I've met thus far in Paris.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
half and half
As of today, I've been in Paris just over one month, and I've got just under one month left. I'm planning the next few trips I've got lined up, although I'm doing them in a rather silly order. I've got all of my focus and attention going toward my January 2013 flight to Australia, and I haven't really booked anything for my eastern-European adventure I'm doing one month from now. I guess logic isn't really one of those things I like to use when I travel. Some things are very go-with-the-flow.
One such adventure happened after I met Loraine, a Los Angeles native who is here studying at the American School in Paris. We met while we were sitting next to each other at the play "How to Be Parisian in one hour" and we hung out the next day. She invited me to this club called "Mix", where foreigners enter free before midnight. So we went, threw on American flag stickers, and danced. We also met three Canadian gentlemen and talked to them a bit at the start of the night, then found our way back to them at the end of the night. For me the best part was convincing the DJ to play Bohemian Rhapsody and sharing an epic moment with dozens of strangers singing the power ballad. Around 4 AM, we decided we wanted to leave, so we headed to Loraines apartment with the Canadians. We spent the remainder of the night singing showtunes and talking about clouds. We then walked to the eiffel tower to watch the sunrise, and said our goodbyes around 7:30 AM.
Another go-with-the-flow thing about Paris is the goddamn weather. It's currently 1 PM, and since waking up around 11 this morning, it was sunny, cloudy, a bit rainy, sunny, torrential sideway downpour, cloudy, and it's now sunny again. Getting dressed for a day out is one of the most frustrating things to do, because the weather is almost never the same for more than 30 minutes or so.
I'm going to take a nap now because I've got the flu and my head feels like a balloon.
One such adventure happened after I met Loraine, a Los Angeles native who is here studying at the American School in Paris. We met while we were sitting next to each other at the play "How to Be Parisian in one hour" and we hung out the next day. She invited me to this club called "Mix", where foreigners enter free before midnight. So we went, threw on American flag stickers, and danced. We also met three Canadian gentlemen and talked to them a bit at the start of the night, then found our way back to them at the end of the night. For me the best part was convincing the DJ to play Bohemian Rhapsody and sharing an epic moment with dozens of strangers singing the power ballad. Around 4 AM, we decided we wanted to leave, so we headed to Loraines apartment with the Canadians. We spent the remainder of the night singing showtunes and talking about clouds. We then walked to the eiffel tower to watch the sunrise, and said our goodbyes around 7:30 AM.
Another go-with-the-flow thing about Paris is the goddamn weather. It's currently 1 PM, and since waking up around 11 this morning, it was sunny, cloudy, a bit rainy, sunny, torrential sideway downpour, cloudy, and it's now sunny again. Getting dressed for a day out is one of the most frustrating things to do, because the weather is almost never the same for more than 30 minutes or so.
I'm going to take a nap now because I've got the flu and my head feels like a balloon.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
The first Nikki in Paris
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Malta!
So I was given a week long break because the family I nanny for was heading to the Canary Islands for a bit of sunshine. My original goal was to get to Greece, but flights were about 230 euros and there was just no way I was paying that much. So I checked out ryanair.com, looked at where flights went from venice, and saw they went to a place called Malta I had only heard of once on an episode of Degrassi. I did a quick wikitravel search, liked the sound of it, and booked a flight.
Malta was an interesting experience. It was my first time in a country staying solely with couch surfers, which is something I was a bit nervous and mostly excited to try. I stayed with three people; Matt, Tony, and Chris, and they were all very different. Matt is a quiet computer programmer who enjoyed cooking with lots of spices and flavors and watching television. Tony is a vegan security guard at the airport who enjoys trekking across the country and helping to save wild cats. Chris is a fun-loving guy who introduced me to other Maltese friends and cooked me steak because he knew it was my favorite meal. Each experience was new and interesting and made me love couch surfing even more.
It was also interesting because it was my first country to explore completely solo. Everywhere else I've been I had a friend with me, and if I was alone it wasn't for more than a day. Being alone got really, well, lonely at times. I found myself unsure of what to be doing or exploring, so I would just hop on a bus and ride it in circles until I sorted something out. Doing this I met a really cool bus driver named Sam who ranted a bit about the government of Malta and the difference between how the treat locals and how they treat immigrants. I spent about 3 hours riding his bus line back and forth, and he gave me a few suggestions of places to go and see.
Malta is essentially a really small island that is filled with calm, laid-back individuals who work incredibly hard at everything they do but do NOT take fun and relaxation for granted. It was definitely a "break", and by the end I found myself itching to get back to seeing Carlo and playing with him and seeing all of the friends I've made so far here in Padova.
Next up is my move to Paris! Stay tuned.
Malta was an interesting experience. It was my first time in a country staying solely with couch surfers, which is something I was a bit nervous and mostly excited to try. I stayed with three people; Matt, Tony, and Chris, and they were all very different. Matt is a quiet computer programmer who enjoyed cooking with lots of spices and flavors and watching television. Tony is a vegan security guard at the airport who enjoys trekking across the country and helping to save wild cats. Chris is a fun-loving guy who introduced me to other Maltese friends and cooked me steak because he knew it was my favorite meal. Each experience was new and interesting and made me love couch surfing even more.
It was also interesting because it was my first country to explore completely solo. Everywhere else I've been I had a friend with me, and if I was alone it wasn't for more than a day. Being alone got really, well, lonely at times. I found myself unsure of what to be doing or exploring, so I would just hop on a bus and ride it in circles until I sorted something out. Doing this I met a really cool bus driver named Sam who ranted a bit about the government of Malta and the difference between how the treat locals and how they treat immigrants. I spent about 3 hours riding his bus line back and forth, and he gave me a few suggestions of places to go and see.
Malta is essentially a really small island that is filled with calm, laid-back individuals who work incredibly hard at everything they do but do NOT take fun and relaxation for granted. It was definitely a "break", and by the end I found myself itching to get back to seeing Carlo and playing with him and seeing all of the friends I've made so far here in Padova.
Next up is my move to Paris! Stay tuned.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Simon Keene
I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this blog, which is good because otherwise I'd feel pressure to actually write in it more than once every month or so now that SAS is done and I've morphed into a bit of a lazy twat.
I've been thinking a lot lately about things that have let me down thus far in life. Not because I'm emo or feel the need to be sad, but because I'm wondering why these things have let me down, and wether it's going to come in handy in the long run. Obviously everything that happens happens for a reason, but what reason? For example...
CAMP. People who know me know that camp is, has been, will be a massive part of my life. I started going when I was about 10 and went every single summer, growing from child, to teen, to adult; camper, to staff wanabee, to counselor. I literally BREATHED (brothe?) camp. It was everything to me. Unfortunately, this summer was really rough for me. I wasn't 100% focused on being there for the kids because I was trying to graduate college and plan for my trip around the world, and the 23 hour days started to take a toll on me. Also the fact that certain staff members were just absurdly political, disrespectful, rude, and hypocritical... and it all just became too much. So I decided I was going to leave between sessions 2 and 3. The plan was to bow out after the kids left, leave quietly so no one really knew I was gone until in service began. But that's not the way things went. The powers that be forced me to make a choice- leave before lunch and never come back, or stay. Um... I'm sorry... what? Naturally I was shocked, hurt, and pretty fucking offended. You'd think that after 11 years somewhere you'd have earned a bit of respect. So I sat and thought about it, and I realized that camp was never going to love me the way I loved it, so I left. And I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my entire life. I know there are a very small group of people who can relate to the decision I made, but I don't know if anyone was essentially told to "fuck off" quite as hard as I was. For a while, I was pretty pissed off. And honestly, I still am a bit pissed off, because I feel like I deserve a lot more respect for the work I did there. Since leaving, I've lost touch with some of the people who meant the absolute world to me. People that I grew up with, who I felt I could turn to for any trouble I had in the world. People who really knew me. And now, half of them wouldn't go so far as to write on my facebook wall to see how I'm doing.
And it's not just the adults that I'm struggling with, it's knowing that this summer I won't be there for the kids who I know care about and respect me. Kids that need a constant adult figure in their life. I can't be that anymore, I can't be the person they turn to when they're upset and need to cry or the one they look to to jump up and dance on the chairs in the dining hall. I've let them down, and in turn I've let myself down. And it just fucking sucks because all that I want is to be there for the kids and help them in the ways they've helped me.
Other than camp, I guess I'm just let down by various people in various different capacities. There are groups of people who have let me down in ways I've gotten over, people who let me down on a daily basis and then fix it, and people who let me down in small ways that don't really matter. But once you dig through all those people, you find the people who heal your wounds, the people who you actually talk to about this stuff, the people who matter. And the fact is, I've got a few of those people, which, in retrospect, is all that really matters.
I've been thinking a lot lately about things that have let me down thus far in life. Not because I'm emo or feel the need to be sad, but because I'm wondering why these things have let me down, and wether it's going to come in handy in the long run. Obviously everything that happens happens for a reason, but what reason? For example...
CAMP. People who know me know that camp is, has been, will be a massive part of my life. I started going when I was about 10 and went every single summer, growing from child, to teen, to adult; camper, to staff wanabee, to counselor. I literally BREATHED (brothe?) camp. It was everything to me. Unfortunately, this summer was really rough for me. I wasn't 100% focused on being there for the kids because I was trying to graduate college and plan for my trip around the world, and the 23 hour days started to take a toll on me. Also the fact that certain staff members were just absurdly political, disrespectful, rude, and hypocritical... and it all just became too much. So I decided I was going to leave between sessions 2 and 3. The plan was to bow out after the kids left, leave quietly so no one really knew I was gone until in service began. But that's not the way things went. The powers that be forced me to make a choice- leave before lunch and never come back, or stay. Um... I'm sorry... what? Naturally I was shocked, hurt, and pretty fucking offended. You'd think that after 11 years somewhere you'd have earned a bit of respect. So I sat and thought about it, and I realized that camp was never going to love me the way I loved it, so I left. And I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my entire life. I know there are a very small group of people who can relate to the decision I made, but I don't know if anyone was essentially told to "fuck off" quite as hard as I was. For a while, I was pretty pissed off. And honestly, I still am a bit pissed off, because I feel like I deserve a lot more respect for the work I did there. Since leaving, I've lost touch with some of the people who meant the absolute world to me. People that I grew up with, who I felt I could turn to for any trouble I had in the world. People who really knew me. And now, half of them wouldn't go so far as to write on my facebook wall to see how I'm doing.
And it's not just the adults that I'm struggling with, it's knowing that this summer I won't be there for the kids who I know care about and respect me. Kids that need a constant adult figure in their life. I can't be that anymore, I can't be the person they turn to when they're upset and need to cry or the one they look to to jump up and dance on the chairs in the dining hall. I've let them down, and in turn I've let myself down. And it just fucking sucks because all that I want is to be there for the kids and help them in the ways they've helped me.
Other than camp, I guess I'm just let down by various people in various different capacities. There are groups of people who have let me down in ways I've gotten over, people who let me down on a daily basis and then fix it, and people who let me down in small ways that don't really matter. But once you dig through all those people, you find the people who heal your wounds, the people who you actually talk to about this stuff, the people who matter. And the fact is, I've got a few of those people, which, in retrospect, is all that really matters.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Semi charmed life?
So it's been a long fucking time since I last wrote. And a bunch of shit has happened since then. I:
- Had an amazing time in Florida
- Have seen the most random assortment of people while at home, friends I haven't seen in YEARS who I haven't even really talked to... but it was great!
- Have gone through serious SAS withdrawals
- Watched wayyyy to much Criminal Minds... and How I met you mother
- Flew to California to see some old friends and spend time with newer ones.
- Partied with Russel Brand
- Went to Philadelphia for the first time and had one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while with some hot bitches
- Said way too many goodbyes
- Moved to Italy
So, yeah. It's been a pretty fucking busy month. And I've been happy, generally. I find it really hard to complain about life in general these days... but there are still some things I'm struggling with. Moving 4,000 miles away from home and being even further away from people you really, really care for is hard. Living in a country where you don't speak any of the language is really, really hard. Going from always having someone sleeping in your room or right across the hall to sleeping in an empty house is REALLY fucking difficult, especially if you're like me and get all sad and shit at night. Not knowing if you're making the best or worst decision of your life is really hard.
So, I don't know. Although so far I'm loving my time in Italy and Carlo is really cute and Silvia is really sweet and my work load is crazy easy... I guess don't be jealous of me or tell me you wish it was you. Because you don't know that, you don't know what it's like to be no where near anyone you can truly call a friend. You don't know what it's like to try to maintain friendships from thousands of miles away. You may struggle with these things if you were in my shoes.
Game plan? Make some awesome friends and harass more people into being on skype when I am. Fucking time zones, man. They fuck shit up.
- Had an amazing time in Florida
- Have seen the most random assortment of people while at home, friends I haven't seen in YEARS who I haven't even really talked to... but it was great!
- Have gone through serious SAS withdrawals
- Watched wayyyy to much Criminal Minds... and How I met you mother
- Flew to California to see some old friends and spend time with newer ones.
- Partied with Russel Brand
- Went to Philadelphia for the first time and had one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while with some hot bitches
- Said way too many goodbyes
- Moved to Italy
So, yeah. It's been a pretty fucking busy month. And I've been happy, generally. I find it really hard to complain about life in general these days... but there are still some things I'm struggling with. Moving 4,000 miles away from home and being even further away from people you really, really care for is hard. Living in a country where you don't speak any of the language is really, really hard. Going from always having someone sleeping in your room or right across the hall to sleeping in an empty house is REALLY fucking difficult, especially if you're like me and get all sad and shit at night. Not knowing if you're making the best or worst decision of your life is really hard.
So, I don't know. Although so far I'm loving my time in Italy and Carlo is really cute and Silvia is really sweet and my work load is crazy easy... I guess don't be jealous of me or tell me you wish it was you. Because you don't know that, you don't know what it's like to be no where near anyone you can truly call a friend. You don't know what it's like to try to maintain friendships from thousands of miles away. You may struggle with these things if you were in my shoes.
Game plan? Make some awesome friends and harass more people into being on skype when I am. Fucking time zones, man. They fuck shit up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)