Last post of the year!

... Unless you guys decide randomly to blog today or tomorrow.

Stephanie, I so understand you, I'm back with my parents too now.
I can't believe you're in Santiago, Karena, that's so cool!

I'm back in Iceland, there has never been so much snow at tihis time of year here. I hate it, I don't want to drive in snow and public transport here isn't too comfortable or quick (especially not when everything is white and slippery!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9-vuXwBb_MI

I have news! I'm moving to Amsterdam in January for a few months.
That's going to be interesting.

Happy new year, girls! Read you in 2012!

Quick Update

Buenas Tardes chicas. Greetings from Santiago. Just wanted to let you know that I haven't been posting because my internet access has been limited. I should be able to post next Monday though.

'Till then, Ciao!

So, life back home with my parents is so...boring.

It's not like I even do anything different here than I do in Tampa. During breaks, I just sleep in past noon, eat everything in sight, and play Minecraft (more on that in a bit). But for some reason, it's more boring when I'm at my parents' house than my own.

It's a curse. Maybe?

Anyway. I've done two things this week, for the most part. I bought some lime green felt to make my ex-boyfriend-turned-best-friend a plush shiny Espeon, which is his favorite Pokemon. I've actually been planning to make this for the better part of the last year, but it was delayed because we didn't speak for nine months. I'm trying to get him to get coffee with me before I go back hom e to Tampa on Jan. 2nd, but he's actually staying with me before the semester begins on the 9th, so maybe I can just wait to see him.

The other thing I've been doing? Minecraft. It's horribly addicting, and I've been having so much fun playing it. It doesn't seem too appealing at first, with its 16-bit graphics and simple design, but it's a fantastic game. Best $25 I spent all year, and that's saying A LOT. :D

Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm doing some last minute shopping tomorrow and Saturday. We're having Christmas a day late this year, on the 26th, because my cousins are coming down from New Jersey and won't be here until then. I'm so excited to see them! It's been seven or eight years since I've seen Laurin, the younger of the two of them. I saw her sister, Danielle, about two years ago when her university played the University of Central Florida in a bowl game (football, if you girls don't follow sports as adamantly as I do). It was a surprise trip from my then-boyfriend. Same guy I'm making the plushie for, actually.

Merry Christmas, girls! Err...again. :)

Just dropping by

To say: Happy Birthday, Karena! :D It sucks you have to spend all day traveling, but you'll be in Chile!

Also, hello again, Marwa!

hi, back from the grave and all that

I'm just gonna leave these here.

#145

Hello, girls!
This is my last post from Germany.

Just to update on the hamburger talk: I had a hamburger yesterday, it was delicious. Problem solved.

This night I slept.. a lot. I fell asleep at 9, mainly because I was too lazy to pack my bags, which I should've finished by now. I will probably not do it untill tomorrow or Sunday evening (I go home Monday). I've just been watching Friends and Grey's Anatomy.

The cute cafe barista gave me an extra good coffee today, it's flavored with some kind of syrup which I didn't ask for but he knows I like it! Or he brought the wrong order... Which I don't think, because I've been flirting with him for weeks (just a bit). Ich mag.

I'm going to finish this with one of my favorite Christmas songs,
and if I forget to post next week/am too busy to, merry christmas! :)
xx

I'm really bad at titles.

Karena, you're making me want hamburgers! I haven't eaten fast food in months, and I seem to be seeing them everywhere this week. I'm really craving something extremely unhealthy now. It's too bad I'm completely broke, though. :| However! I hope you passed your classes. This semester was stressful, and I ended it with 1 A, 2 B's, and 2 C's. Both C's were in my chemistry courses, so I need to study them more carefully next semester.

Well, it's been a week since my roommates left. It barely feels like it's been that long already, and this break is going by so fast, and yet it's only just begun. I've spent most of it sleeping and cleaning, though. There were maintenance guys that showed up this morning to check out my fire alarms and they complimented me on how clean my apartment was compared to some of the others in my building. I find it kind of sad that it's the best compliment I've gotten in a while.

Other than that, I've been watching a lot of Netflix. Lots of Doctor Who and The Tudors. I'm a big fan of historical fiction, so The Tudors has been really entertaining for me. Lots of sex, though. And death, but it's common knowledge that a lot of people were killed during the reign of King Henry VIII. I'm almost done with the show, and he's on his sixth wife, Catherine Parr. However, the use of the phrase "carnal knowledge" for sex is a bit strange to me, even after watching about 30 episodes.

Now I'm just waiting to head home for Christmas before next semester begins on January 9. My friend Corey just had his last final today, and I think he's stopping in to see me on his way home to Ft. Myers. I hope so, since I'll probably convince him to come to the movies tonight. We're going to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. :D

Hope all is well with you guys. I'm so excited for you to be in Santiago, Karena! Christmas is also just ten days away, so in case I don't update next week, I want to wish an early Merry Christmas. :) I hope it's great!

Hamburger

I'm back . Sorry, finals got to me. Well done on passing all of your classes Stephanie! \o/ I hope that I passed all of my classes *knocks on wood*. My last final is tomorrow. Wish me luck! If all goes well (anditwillanditwillanditwill) with my classes then I'll be graduating on Friday. I'll be done with my University undergraduate study forever. From this point on, whenever I get a job I'll be degreed professional. I can hardly believe it.

Hamburgers are totally American, but they came from Germany immigrants so it's possible they come from Hamburg as well. German hamburgers weren't sandwhiches like the American version, though. It was basically just the ground meat patty, hopefully seasoned. Here's a helpful chart. German hambureger --> American Hamburger. And that's about all I know about hamburgers. LOL.

This time next week I will be in Santiago and I'm freaking out a bit. It's the longest I've been away from home. But I know that I'll be OK. I have to be. I need to be on my own eventually and I'm an adult. I'll be 23 on that Monday as well (It's muh birthday :\/ ). As much as I hate that I'll spend my birthday traveling/jet lagged, one of my least favorite things ever, I have a great hope for my life after 23. I'm hopping that this internship will lead to good job oppertunities and put me in a place where I have some idea of where I want my life to go. I haven't been a kid in a long time and I'm still young, but I think that I'm ready to be an adult. I can do this. I will do this.

This blog is so random. It went: Contemplative -> derp, hamburgers ->Contemplative. It's like a hamburger (the far superior sandwich kind/is biased) with a Contemplative bun. What would this be? The plate I guess. :P See read you gals later. Ciao.

Alda, we seem to have switched days. :)

So, finals week is a success! I barely passed Chemistry with a C+, but a pass is a pass in my book. Biology went well, and I got my European History paper done an hour before it was due. I passed all of my classes this semester and I'm so thankful for this month long break I have until Spring semester begins.

I'm rewarding my hard work by not getting out of bed today except to get more hot chocolate.

Alda, you made me crave burgers...again! I've been doing really well lately with not eating fast food because I'm trying to lose weight, but it's left me with this really annoying craving for a burger. Or really anything from a fast food restaurant. The closest I usually get is Subway or Moe's.

Hope everything is well, Karena!

Have a great week, girls. :D I've got about two weeks until I drive home for Christmas, and my roommates have left already, so I have no idea how to entertain myself until the 20th. Ideas are welcome. :)

the one with the dozen

Stephanie, I've had Bohemian Rhapsody stuck in my head for days. This song is so... I don't even have words that begin to describe it.

I don't know where I'll live next, but that place probably won't have as good kebab as they have here (I have no idea where I'll live in 3 weeks, I don't know if I should be excited or scared!). Unless I move to Turkey. I lo-lo-love kebab. On the other hand I'm craving for a HAMBURGER! I wonder if hamburgers have anything to do with Hamburg? Aren't hamburgers american? What do I know! Apparently nothing. It at least hasn't got anything to do with ham... No?

I have had a headache for almost two weeks now, it's getting tired. I was told it might be because the climate is changing now, it was really cold, then it got warm but now theres a bit of cold, wind and rain. First rain in three months, also first wind. Pretty nice.

I have too long nails to type more, I should cut them.
I'm babysitting now and I don't know how busy I'll be tomorrow so I'm just posting this now.

Have a "party" with my class tomorrow at 10 o clock, NICE.

I'm singing Bohemian Rhapsody as I type this.

It's been an...interesting week. My last full week of class before finals, and I'm so glad this semester is nearly over. It's been a hell of semester because Chemistry has been giving me so much trouble, but after Tuesday, I'll be done for a month! :D

My precious Tigers lost their game against Alabama last Saturday, too. I'm really into college football, if I haven't mentioned this before. I really love Auburn and my own school. But then again, USF's team sucked this year. Last night was our last game, and we lost by a field goal. It was horrible. :/

But I may add in more tomorrow, but I have to get back to studying. Have a great week, girls!

early

A day early.

Things are good. Didn't finish NaNo, but I had a good time meeting other people that were writing with me here in Deutschland.

Just chilling at a café with a latte (milchkaffee) right now, enjoying my last weeks of Germany, only got 2 weeks (on Monday) left now! I love my course. I had Glühwein (portwine?) for breakfast and was drunk for my German class, best idea ever. Maybe not the best, but a good one.

I have to go look at schools right now, I'm thinking of studying abroad since you can't study illustration in the University of Art in Iceland, unfortunately. I might start with Fine Arts in Iceland, but I want to study illustration.

The German is getting to me, I'm startiing to write big letters in the beginning of nominatives and putting German into every sentense I say in English/Icelandic, accidentally.

Saving a Space

I'm saving this space for when I have time to right something. Will edit later. Apparently today is Cyber Monday. Missed it.

Here's a poem to hold you over:

New World
By Shel Silverstein

Upside-down trees swingin' free,
Buses float and Buildings dangle:
Now and then it's nice to see
The world-from a different angle

fridaiia

I'm going to have to make this short, since someone might turn the internet off.
And if I post this on Saturday somebody DID turn it off.

Everything's good in Germany! I went to Berlin last weekend, I've made a few friends (and reconnected with old ones), I'm  taking German classes, forgetting to blog et cetera. Life is treating me pretty well.

I can't wait to go home though. I miss my family and friends so much. I honestly didn't think I'd miss them so much but being away and doing what I'm doing here makes you really think about what matters and what doesn't, and you realize exacly who are the most important people in your life. The ones that are still contacting you and the ones that you just think that it's easy to be away from, it really doesn't make a difference. - Only three weeks!

NaNo count: a bit more than 10.000 words, I quit!
I still show up to the group I'm meeting to write with, lovely group of a few German girls I really like.

The christmas markets here in Mainz just opened yesterday, I went and it's beautiful! I promise I'll post pictures when I get home and find the camera cable, before christmas.

Have to go!
x

Thanksgiving always makes me sleepy.

And we didn't even have turkey this year, since there's a scientific reason for why you feel sleepy after eating turkey.

Anyway. I drove home from Tampa yesterday, and it HAD to rain as soon as I left my apartment. It happens to me every time I have to drive on the interstate, I swear. Midday Tampa traffic + thunderstorms = horrible driving experience. But I made it home to Ft. Myers in one piece, luckily.

I spent all day yesterday and today cooking. It was excellent, and my house still smells amazing hours later. I made two pies and a few loaves of pumpkin bread and a cake for my brother's birthday yesterday. He's 18 now. It's odd how all of my siblings are adults now (except for my little sister, since she's 10). It feels like yesterday that we were just little kids.

I'm not going Black Friday shopping tomorrow. I feel like I'm the one 19-year-old in the country that doesn't. I hate crowds and I remember the horror of having to work at Wal-Mart on Black Friday last year, so I feel everyone's pain that has to work tomorrow. However, I do have to go out at some point to get new glasses. I'm just replacing my lenses, but I still have to venture to the evil world known as the mall. God help me.

Hope you girls are having a great week!

Behind in the Times

Hey guys, missed my day again. I've been sick all weekend and haven't felt like doing much of anything. Don't want to go to class today, but I should. My medicine isn't helping my motivation at all. I feel like there's a cloud betwixt my ears.

I don't think I mentioned this, but I've always been a fan of comic book Super Heroes. When I was a kid I used to watch all of the super hero cartoons that came on. I admit that Marvel was my favorite, but DC wormed its way into my favor with the Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titan cartoons. I don't think that I've ever read a DC comic, but I have read some of the revamp Marvel ones.

I've been watching the Young Justice cartoon lately, and I like it. But it gets me back to thinking about the DC universe. Now I'm a little bit more caught up on the Batman universe in which the large amount of people Batman has trained/adopted become known as the Bat Family in fanon and it's crazy, like everything in Gotham.

The DC universe is interesting because it has evolved in a creative way. Let me take the character Robin, sidekick to Batman, as an example. The first Robin was Dick Grayson and was created in order for boys to connect with a character in the Batman comics with some success. Years later the Robin character fell out of favor and they wanted to add freshness to the character so they changed his personality a bit and gave the Robin the name Jason Todd. Fans hated the new Robin so the creators were forced to kill him off. Later, when they decided to bring the Robin character back in the franchise they named him Tim Drake. Because of his past popularity Dick Grayson's Robin was brought back in the spin off Teen Titans and eventually Tim Drake was given the spin off Young Justice. That is what really happened.

This is the modern revisionist history of the Robins: The first Robin was Dick Grayson who decided split from Batman when he got older and joined the Teen Titans. He later went solo and became Nightwing and temporarily Batman. Jason Todd was killed by The Joker, or at least that's what Batman was lead to believe. Jason comes back as the Red Hood, a "superhero" that kills and becomes this great critic to Batman's policy of never killing. Tim was taken by the Joker once and it drove him insane. He seemed to have gotten past it and, like the Robins before him, he left Batman and joined Young Justice. Decades in the future his insanity takes the best of him and he becomes the new Joker.

In the end they all become this twisted family, which fits in with the modern trend of grim storylines in comics. Batman has always been dark, but never this convoluted with pessimism, which is why I prefer the cartoons to the comics right now.

As you can probably tell, I love the Robin story and I didn't even mention Damien Wayne who is all kinds of psychotic and Stephanie, the only girl Robin. Dick Grayson is favorite Robin ♥

In case you were wondering, the people in that picture to the left are this, from left to right: Red Robin/Robin #3/Tim Drake, Batwoman, Robin #4 or 5/Damien Wayne, Batman/Bruce Wayne, Nightwing/Robin #1/Dick Grayson, Batgirl/Barbara Gordan, Red Hood/Robin #2/Jason Todd. They're the Bat family. Yes, I'm a loser who knew that off the top of my head.

Stephanie, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Your shedule is nuts. I hope you know what you're doing. A common mistake many college students make is taking on too much and then ending up quitting. But if you believe you can handle it (and I've seen people handle impossible schedules before) I trust you'll do fine.

Alda, hope all is well with you in Germany.

Ciao!

It's weird that it still said Thursday, since I posted around 2am on Friday morning here. Oh well. I think Blogger keeps the date the same until it's the next day everywhere. But it's just a theory.

Alda, your idea sounds pretty interesting. I know a lot of people that don't really like to talk about what they write, so you're not alone. Also, I hope you have fun in Berlin! I wish I could go to Germany. I have family all over, and my Uroma lives in Stuttgart. My German is absolutely terrible, though.

Karena, posting late is fine. :) But I hope we can find a new blogger soon. I like having updates every day. I think we did for all of two weeks, though. It's unfortunate you didn't really feel too much of a connection with this guy. But maybe it's just a sign that someone better is out there. I met a guy last weekend that really seems to like me, but I'm not attracted to him (like...at all), and I'm still trying to figure out how to tell him without sounding too harsh.

Also! Firefly is an amazing show. I watched it while I was living in Alabama and I immediately fell in love with it. But then again, I'm a huge fan of both Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon. So I may be a bit biased.

So, my week.

It's class registration week, and I officially have a spring semester from hell. My classes are as follows:

Biology II: Tues, Thurs 11:00-12:15

Biology II Lab: Thurs 2:00-4:45

General Chemistry II: Mon, Wed, Fri 12:55-1:45 (Exams are Fridays at 2)

General Chemistry II Lab: Thurs 2:00-4:50

General Physics I: Mon, Wed 4:35-5:50

General Physics I Lab: Mon 6:05-7:55

Modern European History II: Mon, Wed, Fri 10:45-11:35

Yeah, that's my schedule. Sometimes I doubt my sanity when I look at the amount of science classes I have to take, but I'm passionate about it. I also need all of these classes for veterinary school, so I have to take them at some point or another. Hopefully I don't have a mental breakdown at some point.

Thanksgiving is next week, so I have another week without my labs. And then after that comes finals, so I'm super super busy right now. Winter break is approaching really quickly, though, and I'm so excited. I'll be making a friend a Pokemon plushie over break, so I'll be keeping busy.

Hope you guys have a great week!

A Day Late, a buck short

So I missed my day. At least I have two extra days open since we still haven't found anyone to replace our missing blogger. Looking on the bright side!


Stephanie, it says Thursday for me as well, which makes no sense considering that Alda lives in the future and I'm several hours behind you. I don't think that it's possible to stick out in my town's All Souls procession. There were all kinds of people in different kinds of dress. If you happen to be in Arizona for the weekend of November 1st then you should come by. LOL.


Alda, a twisted love story you say? Sounds interesting. Hope you have fun with your friend in Berlin this weekend!


I've decided not to continue seeing the guy I was dating. There wasn't an emotional connection for me, but he was super into me so it was hard to tell him that I didn't want to pursue a relationship with him. He was understanding. Hope I didn't make the wrong choice. It's a good thing I'm really too busy to really dwell on it.


I'm busybusybusy! Trying to pass my classes, preparing for the holidays (Thanksgiving! Woo!), and planning to live in a foreign country is all wearing on me.


I've been watching TV seasons again. I finished Firefly a couple of weeks ago and really liked it. I know that it was canceled, but I think that it sort of works as a mini-series even though it was meant for "six seasons and a movie." The way they talked was particularly comforting to me, with their old west dialects. It's the way people used to talk in the region I'm from before urbanization and national value in education. You can hear it in the way people talk when they're around friends and don't know how to phrase a thought using the vocabulary taught in school.


Linguistics is interesting and in honor of the Linguistics MBA I just broke up with, I'll tell you something my geekness finds interesting. As far as linguistic diversity, Europe is one of, if not the, least linguistically diverse continents, dispute having great language diversity. That is because European languages are all almost in the Indo-European category, which follows similar structural rules. Also, speaking in terms of English dialects the US has several based on region and culture, but the UK has far more despite having less land area.


OK, I'm done boring you.


The other series I'm watching is Friday Night Lights. I'm tired of people telling me how good it is and decided to watch it for myself. So far I haven't been disappointed. The people seem so real, it's incredible. The acting is terrific, the photography is beautiful and, most importantly, the writing very good. I don't think that I would like it as much if I had never experienced a high school football game. Understanding the weight of a high school football game, how little there should be and how much there is, is a careful nuance that I enjoy. Haven't finished the first season yet. I was going to finish it this week, but I gave up television this week to get things done more efficiently.


I got invited to a African diaspora potluck on Thursday, and that's all the socialization I have planned for the weekend. I have a big paper due on Friday, and that's my weekend. :P

11.11 - schnappstag

NaNoWriMo count: ca 7000 words.
I'll probably not finish, but I'll go as far as I can (as long as I dont die from laziness).
I've gone to a meeting with other people who were doing NaNo too, I'm meeting them next week too, it was nice but they spoke awfully much in German and I have really basic German knowledge - and it's way harder when people aren't even talking to you, I can't just jump into a conversation because I don't really have enough German to do that. Except maybe in my class when they're speaking, because the people there know about as much as I do!

Karena, nice make-up, I'm impressed! Some day I'll go to Mexico to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos because it's so cool and I love the thoughts behind it.

Stephanie, on the top of your blog it says "Thursday," you posted it at 22.39 in German time, so I guess it was the right time. At least here.

As of my NaNo novel, it's about a girl with huge daddy issues and it's a love story too in some kind of twisted way. I'm kind of shy talking about what I write, I'm also like that with my art, I don't really like talking much about it for some reasons.

I've read way more than usual since I came here, I finished my 3rd book now and I'm starting to read Ian McEwan's Atonement. It starts good, hope it will continue that way.
Next weekend I go to Berlin to meet a friend, it's going to be awesome.
Tonight I'm just babysitting, it's nice, I think I'll have to go buy tons of chocolate because I'm craving it more than a pregnant woman.

So I'm almost 2 hours late, but it's still Thursday somewhere on Earth.

So, I was sick for most of this week with who knows what. I spent most of the week either sleeping or reading Eragon, which I just started. I've wanted to read the Inheritance series for a while, and I guess since the last book came out this week, I'd get a start on it. It's good so far. I'm almost done with Book 1 already, and I just started it 2 days ago.

I read books way too quickly for my own liking.

Other than that, my labs were cancelled this week, and I don't have to wake up tomorrow morning to go to Chemistry since it's Veteran's Day. :D Not going to Chemistry is always a good thing. However, I have exams next week, so we'll see how those go. I feel pretty good about them, for once.

This month so far has had such a weird feeling for me, but I haven't figured out what it is yet. November and I have always had a sort of love/hate relationship. It's my favorite month of the year (if for no other reason than Movember/No-Shave November...because I'm really attracted to facial hair), but it's also the one that usually causes me the most trouble. I hope it's good to me this year. It certainly wasn't last year (though October was worse).

Karena! Your pictures are amazing, and that looked like so much fun. I've always wanted to go to a Dia de los Muertos celebration of some sorts, but I've always felt like I would stick out too badly. The one in your town sounds like a great time, too. And I love your face makeup. It looks fantastic.

I also look forward to hearing more about this guy. I feel like "liking him well enough" is a good start. It's a nice change from the immaturity I'm still seeing on my Facebook from girls who went on one date with a guy and they're convinced that they're in love. It's a wonder some of these people are the same age as me. I always feel like I'm so much older than my friends because I was forced to grow up faster than they were.

Alda, I think John did do a video like that when he was in The Netherlands. I can't remember when it was, but it wasn't too long ago. I love his Thoughts From Places videos. They're a nice change of pace. Good luck with your writing, though! What is your Nano novel about? I can't remember if you mentioned it or not.

And with that, I should probably head to sleep, even though I don't have class in the morning. I'm still battling this cold, so I hope it goes away by the weekend. I don't need to get my roommates sick.

Have a lovely week, ladies! Have fun writing. :D

I almost missed it again!

It's 11:57 PM here. I almost missed Monday.

Nano Count: 0 (I'm waaaaaaay behind). I think I really will do a poem a day.

Hello gals, my date went well. I'm seeing him again tomorrow. Not really sure how I feel about him yet, but I like him well enough.


Yesterday was the All Souls Procession in my hometown. Tens of thousands of people show up for it. It's a self-made parade, more or less, of people marching in remembrance of people who have died. People paint their faces to look like skeletons. I marched with my dog's leash in memorial. There were many personal alters and large memorials to groups that have died such as transgender murder victims, People who died from AIDS, and wolves killed. Some people made giant puppets too. There were musicians and dance groups who brightened up the procession, which felt appropriate because I don't believe that the dead are gloomy nor do I believe that the living should forget to have fun. In the end it felt like I was invited to the biggest, coolest party in my city. Here are some pictures my friend took. The one to the right is me with my face makeup.



I think that the procession started as an observance of All Souls Day, which is a holiday in Mexico, by Mexican-Americans. It's evolved into it's own event and has a lot of Pagan influence. It's still an event that is meant for communion with the dead. It's not the same All Souls that is celebrated in Mexico, much to many people's chagrin, but not mine. :)

Time for sleep! Goodnight ladies.

no photoss

It's kinda funny that we all took the week off at the same time. And by all I mean us three (and sometimes two) that are still here.

NaNo word count today: 2880 words.
Can't believe I'm behind, it's only the third day and I'm feeling all lazy. But... I think if I'm behind I'll catch up on the 18th of November (in two weeks!), because then I'm going to Berlin to visit a friend and that's a 5 hour train trip for me - woohoo! I'm doing it John Green style. I think. Didn't he have a video where he was in the Netherlands and took a train to be able to write? Think so. Maybe it was a dream. Anyhow, that's what I'm going to do!

I'm sitting here with an Icelandic wool blanket, drinking red wine and eating chocolate here. Later in life, when I move out, I'm definitely going to be the girl/woman with the glass of red wine every evening. My head's so light. I'm such a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

Stephanie, nice costume! I want to dress up as cheshire cat when I get the chance. There was some kind of halloween here in Germany but it wasn't very big. I got one group of kids asking for sweets but that was about it. And my 6 year old host-child (haha, sounds serious! The kid I'm babysitting, I mean) went to a halloween birthday party and came home with a cape and a bag full of candy. Verrryyynice.

I'm going to write down all the series I've been watching. No internet = TV series!! And 3 books. Which is kind of much if I compare it to the amount of books I've read for fun for the past years. Huge progress.
I've watched
seasons 2-5 of How I Met Your Mother
season 1 of True Blood
seasons 1 and 2 of Blue Mountain State
seasons 1, 3 and 4 of Big Bang Theory
seasons 1 and 2 of Modern Family
and also episodes of Glee, Secret Diary of a London Callgirl, Fóstbræður and too many movies.

That's a lot for 5 weeks, and I'm probably definitely forgetting something there.

On the other hand I'm almost finished with my Sketchbook Project book. It looks awesome I must say. I'm super proud of it, I must say. I'll probably finish that one on my flight home to Iceland, 19. December or when I'm back home.



Karena! NICE, how did the date go?
and more importantly... Congratulations on your internship! It's amazing!
And in Chile. That's awesome too. I'm probably going there sometime in the next 10 years, just saying!

Both your hair and broccoli look good.

Germany fact of the day: Germans aren't good in English, even though they think they are.

Is it Thursday yet?

No? Well, I'm updating early, since I haven't in a while. I also have a paper that I'll be working on all day tomorrow, so I won't have any time to post.

So, I think I last updated two weeks ago. Let's seeee, that was homecoming week, I believe. So we'll start there.

First of all, we lost our homecoming game. It's a sad day when that happens, but homecoming week itself was so much fun. There were random events all week, and Thursday & Friday night there was a carnival across the street from my apartment. I went early on Friday with my friend Melissa, and there were no lines at all. We rode all of the typical carnival rides, and then went to watch the homecoming parade. I think I acquired 34 strands of beaded necklaces from that parade. We also accumulated large amounts of candy, and I ate funnel cake for the first time in about six years.

Oh, and I was wearing a Pikachu beanie and everyone kept yelling "Hey, Pikachu!" at me. Sadly, I do not have photo evidence.

Halloween was this weekend, guys! And I do have photo evidence of that! That's a picture of my friend Sam and I, with Bridget in the background. I was dressed up as some version of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, and she came as the Mad Hatter. We didn't even plan it, so I was so excited to see that she dressed up that way. :D

There were two parties I went to. The first was Sam's on Friday night, and then my roommates and I threw a party on Saturday night. I think I went to sleep sometime around 6:30 AM on Sunday morning after having a rather eventful night. I haven't had a Halloween this fun in YEARS, so I was so happy that this year turned out so great. It's my favorite holiday, so spending it with friends and generally making fools of ourselves was something I really needed.

I should probably get a start on my European History paper, so I think I'll end this now. I'll leave you guys with a picture of my ex-boyfriend turned close friend, Corey, dressed up as the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who. Somehow guys, he isn't a nerdfighter. Yet. Though his level of nerdiness never ceases to amaze me.

Best Wishes!

Happy Halloween!

So...we all took the week off last week. At least we're organized in our inconsistency. :)

It's Halloween today and...I am doing nothing to celebrate. I went to one Halloween/birthday party, but I've retold the story of the party to so many people in explanation as to why I was so tired that it's just not worth mentioning.

I'm not a fan of Halloween, but I did watch the Youtube channel BlackboxTV to see some horror stories. The La Llorona one is done by one of my favorite Youtube directors. You should check it out if you have time.

I got my hair relaxed (permanently straightened) yesterday. Mira. (Also, broccoli).

I was accepted for the internship in Santiago, Chile and I have a pretty good chance that I can go, but haven't heard back from the State Department yet for anything concrete. I'm just waiting for an email. I also have coffee date with a guy tomorrow that I met online dating site. I don't know which one I'm more nervous about.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow! I'm not ready at all! /fail

mm

Oh hi!
I'm just sitting here, doing absolutely nothing and enjoying every minute of it.

Agreed, we need more pictures to this blog.
I love True Blood. Finished the first season, might start reading the books. Mom, please give me a kindle for Christmas!
Dear First Aid course, please don't make me wake up at 6.30 am, it's too early.

My bag of chips says hi and my white chocolate bar too.
#toolazy.

Was Gonna...

There is so much going on that I could talk about.

I went to Tucson Meet Yourself, my favorite local festival, and I could wax poetic about it and culture and American duality, but I'm not right now. I have a picture that I'll post later. I look forward to the festival every year and it makes me so happy, I can't even...

I could talk about the Occupy Wall Street protest, and how holy cow! it inexplicably spread across the world despite the 99% having nothing to do with anything outside of the country and how I have mixed feelings about it and friends who are so passionate about it and how funny I think it is that my favorite source of news, The Wall Street Journal, is pretending that it doesn't exist and how it is not a revolution, it's a protest and agh, it's a mess. But I'm not going to talk about that today either.

I could talk about the Euro Zone crisis or Iran or something in the news that interests me, and I'm not going to.

I could talk about how I was drinking a glass of water, watching the tiny bubbles at the bottom of the glass disappear forever when the water stops touching them and thinking "maybe I will write a novel for NaNo instead of poems," and I just did (tell you that, I mean).

No, instead I will tell you that I am in a midterm exam week and all I want to do right now is get to bed early. I have a long day tomorrow, so I'll hopefully write something better next week. DFTBA. :)

Freitag

Hi!

Happy Friday. I think I'll just spend it reading and watching movies. I have way too much time here, I have already watched 3 series of The Big Bang Theory, two series of Modern Family, Blue Mountain State and a few more episodes and movies.

I think I'm learning a lot from this experience, it's nice. I had an art course this week, which was a nice change.

I spent 3 hours in a café yesterday just organizing my life and next few months, including making an outline for my NaNoWriMo this year - wooh, kind of excited! I'll also start a German course next month, which will be good because my life is kind of boring and I'm always with the same people here doing the same thing. Fortunately I've met one girl here, she lives across the street and is an au pair too here in Mainz.

Good luck with everything!

Karena: That song gets stuck in my head every time I watch Tangled. That's actually one of my favorite Disney movies, along with Mulan. Also, good luck on that internship possibility, and I hope you find a job soon! I'm looking for one myself, and I'm trying to find any veterinary clinics around here that are hiring. So far, nothing.

Alda: I agree, that cover is amazing. I've actually never heard the original, but this cover is simply perfect. And I have that same problem here in Florida with the weather. People here think 70 F is cold. It's nothing.

My reunion was...sort of interesting, to say the least. We didn't really do much other than watch copious amounts of Doctor Who. And we watched our football teams lose their games. That wasn't so great. But we talked a lot, and it felt completely natural. I just like how we can not talk for months (and not see each other for nearly a year), and yet pick back up right where we left off, like nothing had ever happened. I have hope for this friendship.

However, it was a little awkward for a while, since we had to share his tiny twin-sized bed so I didn't have to sleep on the floor. :)

Other than that, this week's been eventful. I had my second chem exam last night, and probably failed it. This subject is not my favorite. But I have a biology exam next Tuesday, so I hope that goes well.

Have a great week, everyone! Mine will be spent studying.

Monday

I just watched Tangled for the first time. Now I have this song (<--tis a link) stuck in my head.

Alda, that was an incredible cover! Haha 15 degrees C is cold for me too. :P The breeze and nights just started getting cold here. Last time I did NaNo I just wrote one poem a day. I may do that instead of the novel.

Stephanie, how was your reunion? Hopefully not too awkward.

I really need to find a job. I think that I'll try to teach English in another country, but I actually need to sign up and get that going. The only problem is that I never wanted to go back to school after I graduated, as a student or a teacher, but I want to travel and I need to make money doing it. Maybe I'll work on a farm instead...My parents won't like that I'm using my perfectly respectable degree to do that. If I'm honest with myself, I really don't want to use my perfectly respectable degree for that either. A part of me just wants to move to a big city and work with local governments. A job with the State Department would be the perfect solution to that problem, but I missed the qualification exam. :( The next one won't be until February. I really want to study Spanish in Chile, but that costs money, not makes me money. lol.

I'm still waiting to hear back on an internship possibility, but I can't rely on that.

I think we need more pictures on here. So for next week I propose a photo assignment! Take a picture of your favorite place in the city you're in or do a Thoughts From Places. What do you guys think?

good morning

I accidentally remembered that it's Friday, woo for me!

What I've been doing recently: mixing languages! When I arrived here my Spanish was pretty good and my German sucked, now my German is okay and my Spanish is one mess. I thought coming to a home where they speak both languages would help me but honestly, it's really confusing at times. SheiBe.
I've also tried to explain to the people here that 15° outside in October isn't cold at all, they don't agree...

Still have no idea what to write in November, but I want to write, it would keep my mind off things and since I don't have unlimited internet time I have a lot of spare time (didn't really realize how much time I spent on the internet before).

The finding the title thing is a good way to start, but I really suck with titles.
Last year I wrote a semi-biographical story, so it wasn't that hard. And I killed the protagonist, that was fun (and a little part of me died at that time).

I might start with "building" a main character, it sounds like a good start. Since I don't have anything writable (is that even a word?) in my head I highly doubt that I'll get past 10.000 words, but we'll see, we'll see. I'll probably write a romance, I don't have the imagination for a fantasy novel, unfortunately!

I want to share with you guys an AMAZING cover of Adele's "Someone like you"
http://youtu.be/nAHyGbOXoF4  goosebumps. CHECKIT!

But now I think I'm going outside a bit, when I don't feel very well I sometimes go downtown and watch the river, it's very relaxing.

BYEEE xx

I'm really bad at updating when I should.

I don't do NaNoWriMo, so I don't really have any ideas on what to write about. I'm a horrible writer, which is one of the many many reasons I chose a science major. I don't need an imagination. But I look forward to hearing what you guys what about.

My week hasn't been eventful. Not really. I've watched about...20ish hours of Doctor Who this week, and that's about it. I got 100% on a bio lab quiz, too, and my TA drew a smiley face on my paper. My trip to Gainesville has also been pushed back a week...again. It's like the universe doesn't want this reunion to happen.

I don't have much else to write about this week. I have midterms next week, so I should get back to studying. And by studying, I mean watching Doctor Who.

Edit: I lied. Or, well, was mistaken. I am heading to Gainesville in about 4 hours. :D I hope this reunion isn't a disaster.

Have a great week girls!

Brainstorm!

Please forgive me if this post comes out trite or erratic. I just found out that I was accepted for an internship that I had given up on getting. It looks like I can not go and I want to badly. This could be my "in" for getting a job in the Federal Government, a job market that is highly competitive and occupied majorly by Ivy League graduates with connections and not state school students like me. But I'll stay positive. I will get to go, I will get accepted, I will get the job I want after graduation.

OK, now NaNoWriMo. I read somewhere that one way to come up with story idea is to to pick the title first. You write down every title that comes to mind and write a story off of the most interesting one. So here's my try:

Little Dubstep
Time For More Gum
Guns, Buns, and Toasted Nuts
Over There Somewhere
Today's Step
Above the Glowing Iguana
The Silent 40
Be Mine Darth Vader
For Today, Another Run
Painting My Life
Muse in Sepia
Twenty 2 Four
Another Battery Bites the Dust
Goodbye Marshmallow Man
Above the Sky

I don't know which one I like the best yet. I'll have to look at the list tomorrow. But when I wrote it I got the idea of writing about the different musical cultures that I've found beautiful in my life, particularly Jazz and Tejano. Pictures are forming in my head. I need to figure my main character.

hungry

I'm sorry, girls, but I don't know anything about banned books!

But I googled a list of banned book and realized that probably everything I've read has been at some point banned, at least in some places. The ones we read in school too, which is kinda funny to me.

I'm keeping it short this time because I have other things to do and not too much internet time.


But yeah, nanowrimo-themed blog next week? My head's empty but I want to write something + I have nothing better to do here (except for my german course which starts in november)!

Lots of love!
Alda

Banned Books Week

I love discussing banned books, especially because I think the banning of books is ridiculous, and that it's counter-productive. Banning a book is the best way to ensure that millions of people will read that book. Funny how most of the books that have been banned and/or challenged throughout history are now required reading in many high schools. The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbord, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and many, many more have been challenged, and yet they're books that most people know of.

I will never understand why people lobby to ban books. Many that are challenged are books that help us understand our society or the society of the past. Sure, there's racist terminology in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but people were racist back then. They used those kinds of words, and there's no use trying to change it. Is it that hard to face the truth?

As for my favorite banned books, I really loved Go Ask Alice, which has been frequently challenged for its graphic portrayals of drug use, and for its language. I've also noticed that in the recent years, Looking for Alaska has been challenged a lot by high schools because of the sex scenes, teenage drinking/smoking, and language. Both of these books are amazing and well written, and people just need to get over themselves.

As for my life outside of books, I wrote a 5-page paper this morning on minimal sleep. It's my punishment for procrastinating, I guess. I'm also heading to Gainesville next weekend to hang out with my aforementioned ex-boyfriend, Corey, and to see my friend Sarah and catch up, since I haven't seen her since our high school graduation. So I should have an interesting blog post in two weeks. I'm also moving into my apartment this weekend! (And by "moving in" I mean moving my clothes upstairs into my new bedroom)

Hope everyone's week is awesome!

Banned Books and Beatty

OK, opinion time. I know that I wanted to keep this blog light, and I still do, but the occasional opinionated spree on some issue is healthy I think. Especially since Marwa has come back to us and suggested it. ~♥

Banned Book Week. I haven't been interested in banned books since I was a kid, the sexy nature of a book that some one thought was "dangerous" was appealing to my adolescent self. But now I see more people talking out against banned books than I see books banned and I can't help feeling, at the most distaste and at the least disinterest in the whole event. It feels more like people looking for a cause to speak out about to create a stir and flaunt their indignation, and not people who believe in a cause in order to change their circumstance. That is just my experience, however.

My favorite banned book has always been Fahrenheit 451. It's one of my all time favorite books. Every time I see a new edition of it I have to read it, for one reason and on reason only: Captain Beatty, my favorite character in the book (and possibly out of any book). Every new edition has a different forward and afterward, in which there is often insight into the character Beatty that confirms what I thought about his character.

What I love about Beatty is the uniqueness of his character in the world he lives in. In case you have never read Fahrenheit 451, it is a novel that takes place in a world where books are illegal and firemen burn books instead of putting out fires. Captain Beatty is the fire chief and a loyal book burner, but it is also implied that he is the most well read character in the book. In one of the afterwards Ray Bradbury, the author, mentions a scene that he imagined years after writing the book of the protagonist going to Beatty's house and finding it full of books.

There are only a few characters that seem to break the status quo. The protagonist, the young woman he meets, and the men who are forming an human library are amongst them. And despite believing in the order of his world, Beatty isn't in the status quo either. That beatty believes in the book burning and not just accepts it sets him apart. He has been in a world of books, has read them, enjoyed them well enough to memorized passages, and still decided that book burning was OK. He is the true opponent to the idea that book burning is detrimental to society,one of the central themes of the books.

Which is why I find him so fascinating. He challenges my ideas and is wonderfully complex. He reminds us that those who think differently than us are not as dumb or thick headed or cold hearted as we want them to be. It is just that their experiences have brought them to different conclusions. Everyone's reality is different, but it is reality. And when two opposing realities cross there is no right and wrong; only a winner, a loser, triumph and bitterness.

Which is why I have trouble with absolutes and witch hunts claiming to be the righteous, when they are only trying to enforce their reality over someone elses. So, Banned Book Week, we've had some good times. I'm not a fan of censorship, you're not a fan of censorship and we'll always have that. Thank you for encouraging Fahrenheit 451 to be required reading in schools across the entire country. But in the foreseeable future, we just don't see eye to eye.

I could go on about my distaste of censorship, but I'll spare you (my state is trying to ban Ethnic Studies classes, just FYI, so it's a hot topic here).

Also: I have no idea what I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo! We can make "ideas for NaNoWriMo" the theme for next weeks blogs.

Not an actual post, just a question

It's banned books week, so do you want to make our posts this week literary themed? I'm going to talk about my favorite books that have been banned, and what I think about book censorship, I hope you guys will at least make a mention of your favorite frequently banned book. Also, this year's most frequently banned book was Tango Makes Three.

germany pt. II

My first days were really hard, but after the 4th day everything got better. I've been here for 8 days now and things are getting easier, but we started off on the wrong foot. 

Today was easy, but my host-dad's mom is here so I didn't even have to take the kids to school/pick them up and they were with here. I just took the older one to a birthday party down town but nothing more (and a bit cleaning, but that didn't take long). Because his mom is here we speak more spanish than usually, because they're from Chile. It's so weird, when I came here I could speak a bit spanish and no german, now I can speak a bit german but I don't know where my spanish is hiding. Annoying? Yes.

I'm even thinking a bit about leaving this christmas, going home and then head to Spain to study spanish for a couple of months. School is more me than this au pair thing, but this is okay, it's not bad and it's really nice to get away from everything.

Speaking of ex-boyfriends... I think it's always going to be on a grey-area to befriend them, even though they were að huge part of your life. Now I'm speaking to my ex, we have each other blocked on facebook so we can't look at each other's profiles but two weeks ago we met up (we broke up 2 years ago, we were each others "first love") just to clarify things before I went to Germany because we kind of left things in the air and the last time we met we had this HUGE fight, that was last September I think. I checked his facebook profile (I can't, but I can do it on another account) and saw a pic of him and his girlfriend together and I wanted to cry. I don't really like him that way, but I care for him a lot and it's so hard seeing him sharing what we shared with someone else.

But I think you can't compare two loves, like if I ever find someone else that I "love" I won't compare it to the other one. I hope he doesn't see this new girlfriend as someone better (she probably is, I was depressed and kind of weird/crazy the whole relationship so at that time I didn't make a very good gf) but someone new, it's not the same love, it's a whole different love.


I'm sorry that my writing now is such a mess, it's kind of without a context and back-and-forth speaking! :(

PS. NaNoWriMo coming up! What are you guys going to write about (those who'll take part)? I have no idea what to write, but I want to take part anyways.

I almost forgot that it was Thursday

Well, to start off: MARWA! You've returned! We've missed you.

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, this week has been...eh, interesting. Quarter exams were today, and I did less than stellar on my two most important ones. I got a 65% on my Bio exam, and a 50% on chemistry. I can blame this on the fact that I didn't study as well as I should have, though. Especially when it comes to chemistry. I didn't take my time on the test because I wanted to get out of there and go eat some pizza.

I have learned from my mistakes. Hopefully.

Also, I may or may not be going to Gainesville on Saturday to visit my ex-boyfriend that I mentioned last week. He's having a party and asked if I wanted to go along, and I'm still iffy about the idea but will probably end up going anyway. My roommate suggested asking him to come to Tampa instead of me going to see him, since we're apparently having a party for our friend's birthday. But we'll see how that goes after this weekend is over. Also, all of the parties. I'm such a stereotypical college kid now.

Other than that, life is pretty normal. I found an apartment, guys! It just so happens to be the one I've been crashing at for the past month. The third girl who lives here, Chloe, is moving out at the end of the month and I'll be moving into her room. So now I actually have to pay rent.

I hope you all have had more awesome weeks than I have. :)

I FORGOT! Also, Hetalia

Hello Wednesday, how do you do? Soooo, I forgot to blog on Monday. :/ I feel crappy about it. I have been busy with school, government mandated deadlines, and getting back into two fandoms (True Blood and Hetalia).

Holy crap, it's Marwa! Now that you bring it up, I could really use a donut maker in my life too. Mmm, freshly made donuts.I just thought of Homer Simpson. Mmmm, donuts~

So, lately I have been getting back into old fandoms. I've decided to get back into True Blood. I'm only on the beginning of the third season, so if you watch it don't spoil it for me please. I know that the third season just ended.

The other fandom (really the only fandom, because just watching a show isn't fandom) I've been getting back into is Axis Powers Hetalia. Now, you gals know that I am all about Television shows, but there was a time when I was really into web comics. Hetalia came later. Hetalia is a Japanese web comic that got an English language following when it was translated by a Livejournal community, of which I was a reader. It's a comic about personified nations and it's good for a laugh and a brief history lesson.

For example, these characters are (from top to bottom) Germany, Iceland, and the USA. The Iceland one is just a character design, so it's different from the others, but it's official art.

I was really into Hetalia around two to three years ago. Since then it has grown to from a web comic to a short animations that you could see on your phone to a full anime production with seasons and an English dub done by a professional studio. I've never disliked the comics or the animations, it's the fandom that made me lose taste for it.

Now, if you don't know what a fandom is, let me tell you (it is suitably nerdy). A fandom consists of fan works and discussion done by fans of a franchise. For instance, the Harry Potter fandom is over a decade old, with it's on fanfiction tropes, fanart depictions of the characters, cosplayers, bands, etc.

Hetalia's fandom consisted of an international community and some very talented and educated people. I once read part of a very long fanfiction about the relationship between Russia and the US (it was a love story) that used primary documents to determine the events. It was impressive, like Master Thesis impressive. But since the comic deals with personified countries, there was a fair share of wank. To be fair, some of authors were downright insulting to read. When a teenager is channeling their troubles into characters that personify countries of which people who occupy said countries read the story, some people are going to be offended. But when the fandom started to be about neither history nor laughs, it was just pseudo enlightened fans full of bitterness. It started affecting me and the way I saw people in certain countries so I stopped. Suggestion is a powerful thing sometimes.

Though recently I have started watching the anime version of it. I even read a few fanfics, but I'm still cautious. I love the fanart slide shows and RPG's on Youtube. I just finished Hetaoni and it is great stuff. I'm glad that I can enjoy Hetalia again. I guess with enough time, anything can be likable again.

OHAI DER or AVAST!

Why hello! Long time no blog and all that. Yes, I know it isn't Wednesday, but we all know how bad I am at remembering to post on Wednesdays, so I decided to post now before I remembered. Let's all just pretend it's Wednesday for like 5 minutes, K? Alrighty then.

First of all, an apology. I haven't posted in... a long time, sorry about that. I've had some things going on. School starting, autoimmune disease, the usual. But still, not a really good excuse considering this takes about 5 minutes a week. Anyway, my life is pretty boring on the whole, so rather than talk about me, I'm going to talk about awesome things.

Let's start out with a 6 year old being awesome. Am I the only one who totally wanted to be an archaeologist when I was 6? My inner 6 year old is SO INCREDIBLY JEALOUS. I don't really know what more to say about that, it speaks for itself. That 6 year old is doing her thing, being a total badass, enough said.

On another topic, I've been feeling like there's something missing in my life for a while. I'd lie awake wondering what it is that could fill this gaping abyss in my soul. Finally, today, it came to me. I saw this, and immediately knew. MY LIFE HAS BEEN LACKING IN SO MANY WAYS. Why yes, I do enjoy the liberal use of the caps lock key, why do you ask? But really, I can't think of a good reason why I don't have a donut maker. It's a travesty really.

I just realized there is another travesty occurring, and I have no good excuse for it. Today is apparently Talk Like a Pirate Day, and this whole post is completely bereft of peg legs, talking parrots, and has entirely too many landlubbers. I am ashamed. Wait! There we go. The title of this post is now sufficiently pirate-themed. In other words, my work here is done, so I'll talk to you all again next week. If I remember.

PS: I can totally give you a bunch of really good reasons why "I forgot" is totally a legitimate excuse in this case. Really, I swear.

GERMANIO

First (of hopefully many) blogs from Germany! Everything's fine.

Yesterday I arrived, after a almost 4 hour flight, having had to wake up at 4.30 in the morning I was exhausted. I went with Roberto (who's from Chile) to Frankfurt to check some store and then "home" to Mainz, which is about half an hour from Frankfurt.

My emotional journey the first 12 hour was... crazy. Honestly, I thought about getting a ticket back to Iceland already, I was terrified. Mostly because of the language - I don't speak German and frankly I don't even understand it that well, I get the context but not much more than that.  They spoke a lot of German to me and the only thing I said was "ja" and "okay." Honestly felt like the biggest idiot of all time.

After I got my sleep and woke up this morning I already felt relieved. I went down and Roberto was there, he's amazing. Dagmar is too and the kids are lovely so far. He showed me around and spoke Spanish to me the whole time, which is very good for me because I understand Spanish and I can make myself understandable, unlike German which I know one and one word and basic sentence making.

I've got the feeling that it's going to be a hard few weeks, just adapting and getting to know everything but after that it's going to be a good year! Looking forward to it.

Reconnecting, and why it's best to forgive and move on.

If we can't find any bloggers on the ning, we can always check Tumblr. Effyeahnerdfighters may post something for us. Maybe. But there's a few useful ways of finding nerdfighters on Tumblr, so we can use that if we can't find any on the Ning. It's too bad YourPants is down again.
So, going into the fourth week of classes, already. I have my first chemistry exam next week, and my first paper for English Composition is due next week. I'm so glad this is the only intensive writing course I have to take, because I hate writing. I'm a biomedical science major, so if I do anything, it's a lab report. And those are easy to write.

So. This weekend I decided to attempt a friendship with my ex-boyfriend, Corey. I messaged him over Facebook, and we actually started talking again. Once I assured him that I was completely over him (or at least over him enough to not want to date him ever again), he lightened up and it almost feels like we never stopped talking. This happens every time, though, so I don't know how long this will last, if it does at all. Though he added me back as a friend on Facebook, so I guess that's a good sign. It's been a horrible 11 months since our break up, but he's one of those people I just want in my life because of what we've been through together and because of the bond we share, even though we aren't dating anymore. He can read me like an open book, and he's the only person I can't lie to. I just didn't know how to go on without him in my life to some degree.

I hope this works out. He's a great friend, and he's one of the few guys I know that I can be really, really nerdy around. We may not be best friends, and we'll never be lovers again unless we're both really, really drunk, but there's room for us to grow and heal. And I think we need that. It's like we're finally writing the final chapter of our relationship and beginning a new one for our friendship.

Also, he inspires metaphors. All the time.

Karena: 9/11 always brings back horrible memories for me. I lived about 20 miles from NYC when it happened, and I didn't learn about what happened until I got home from school that day, since the administration was afraid that some of the students had relatives working in the towers. I was so afraid that year. I was nine years old, and I had no idea what was happening and, to this day, 9/11 is still a source of nightmares.

Alda: I look forward to your first blog post from Germany! My grandparents are from Stuttgart and Hamburg. Also, I may have found a place. The third roommate in my best friend's apartment is looking to move out and offered to sublease her room to me, so I may have a place! I've been staying here for a month already, anyway, and I do love this apartment, so fingers crossed that this works out.

Storms, 9/11, and Fashion Week

YourPants is still down. Maybe we can ask for new bloggers on the Ning.

So today I was awoken by thunder, a dull thud that stretched like an airplane flying above. There is nothing strange about thunder storms, tis the season after all, but for the last couple of weeks the storms only happened in the evenings. Never the mornings.

Now, I'm not afraid of thunder, lightning, or storms in general. But this morning I wanted nothing to do with either. The night before I had watched so much coverage of 9/11 for the ten year anniversary, reliving the experience to my fascinated horror, and was freshly reminded of my own mortality. With that still lingering in my mind, combined with the freak and deadly weather that has happened this year, I was scared. Shaking under the covers, eyes closed shut, teeth grinding scared.

I did not want to drive to class. I did not want to leave my house. I did not want to leave my bed. Luckily the storm passed and I was back to normal. The sky is still overcast so there will probably be a storm tonight, the norm.

I...just want to say...I just need to say that in the event of my sudden death that I love my family to an unbearable degree and I love my friends with fierce loyalty. You meant the world to me. And blog on my G-bloggers. DFTBA.

Sooooooo New York Fashion Week is happening right now. I'm such a girl sometimes and I love it. :D The Mercedes-Benz tent is doing a live stream on Youtube and much awesome was had. My favorite collection so far has been Charlotte Ronson.

Alda: Good luck on your new life! You must tell us how Germany is. In my planning class I found out that there are a lot of German tourists in my State. Turns out they like the whole "wild west" thing. I've never met a German that I didn't like (though admittedly few) so I'm sure that you will meet some great friends!

Stephanie: Awww, what a cute kitty. Your classes have such simple names which is totally convenient. When a friend asks what class I just came from I have to say something like "Economics of information and the Internet". UGH. At least I have two "Intro to..." classes. What are you majoring in? Also, sorry to say, but TA's don't get much better.

last blog in Iceland

I agree with Karena, lets find new bloggers who will actually blog. Your Pants is down now (or at least I can't access it on my computer), sooo solutions? I think we're only three left here.

Last days have been busy and I have too many plans for next 6 days. I hate having too many plans and no space to do nothing. I also have a cold that isn't going anywhere unless I rest. But I also want to meet my friends and I can't seem to balance those two things. My eyes are watery, I don't want to eat and I have a headache. I don't have time for this, I have so many things to do before I leave (which is in 6 days, my next blog will be from Mainz, Germany!).




Anyways, Karena, I've always wanted a calligraphy pen and learn how to use it, it's so cool.
Stephanie, your parents' kitten looks super cute. I want a cat, they're so funny. I hope you'll find a place to stay soon :).

It's nice to finally have some free time (and not have a dead laptop).

I've been slacking lately about blogging, I know.

So, life at USF has been amazing! I'm taking four classes this semester (six if you count the labs as separate classes), and it doesn't seem like it's that much work. It's the third week of school, and I hope it stays this way. I'm enjoying my classes (except for my chemistry lab, but my teacher's aide is horrible.) I've been staying with my friend, Ashley, though I may move in with another friend for a while until I find my own place, which could take a couple more weeks. :/

I don't really know what else to say. My life doesn't really change week to week here. On Thursdays, I have Composition 2 in the morning, and then Biology and European History in the afternoon. I'm just sort of sitting around right now, waiting for 2:00 to come around so I can go to biology.

Also, the doors to the Interdisciplinary Science building on campus make the TARDIS sound when they're opened. (I figured I'd share).

I shall leave you with a picture of me and my parents' new kitten.

Lost Track of Time

I almost missed it! But I'm determined to post today! Hopefully we'll have more posts this week. I think that we seriously need to find a replacement for Sarah and probably Marwa too. I don't know where to look though. Is YourPants still down?

My life seems so much slower than both of yours right now, what with Stephanie starting University in a new city and Alda moving to freakin' Germany in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday I got a calligraphy pen. I got a gift certificate for the pen from my boss from my summer internship. I was planning on using my certificate on Thursday when I went downtown for the ribbon cutting of a new parking garage, but the store was moving to a new city and the day I found out was their last day! Luckily the store was locally owned and I was able to call the owner to set up an appointment to buy the pen. I love good service! ^_^

I got three new CDs today from a closing Borders (a large bookstore chain). And they were dirt cheap because my friend had a gift certificate and she paid for most of it (I bought her sweets to make up for it). One of them is a jazz version of Disney songs. The version of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" is hypnotic and "Gaston" is crazy!

Now, one thing about me is that I grew up listening to jazz, and it is because of that that I have never liked it. A lot of my dislike for jazz has to do with association to bitter sibling rivalry, but I care not at all. Sometimes I really do like jazz songs and it's always difficult for me to admit it. So I won't say that I like my new CD, but it's not exactly terrible. ;)

BTW Stephanie, have you found an apartment yet?

monday, friday, monday, friday..

The weirdest thing ever: Saying goodbye to everybody. Meeting people downtown and saying "yeah, I probably won't see you for another year or so!"

I have a nervous feeling in my stomach that's bugging me. I kind of feel like I'm running away... Which is true, in a way. I feel like I'm leaving my best friend alone, I don't think she approves (but of course, she's happy for me) - I'll miss her.

Arghh...

On the other hand, I went to lunch with my a friend of mine who's also going to Germany to be an Au Pair, but in different city.

Yesterday I took my last (or maybe...) Thursday-partying, which is very popular in Iceland (is it in USA too?). My friends and I went to dinner and we got coctails and beer afterwards on the restaurant, three of us ordered shots and we accidentally got wrong shots and the waitress was about to spill them in the sink and she just said "well.. it's Thursday, you can just have them free and I'll get you the right shots" so we got free shots, which was amazing! Then my friends who bought 2,8 liters of beer and there were actually 2 flies (no kidding, we didn't stop the 'waiter, there's a fly in my soup' jokes) in the beer, so we got free another *insert word* of beer! Which was amazing. Then we asked for a specific song because I'm leaving for Germany in 2 weeks and they brought me ice cream and said "have a nice trip" which was so lovely! I had amazing time. Then we went downtown to dance our asses off (still don't know how that works, my ass is still in it's right place).

Next time I'll write it will be my last Friday in Iceland for a while, jikes.
Until next time! Hope I'll read more than one blog post next week :))
Alda

Nothing to say

I've got nothing to say right now. My brain is so full of the things I need to get done that I hardly have room for anything else. I'd been invited to birthday celebrations everyday since Thursday. Today was my last birthday, my brother's, and I didn't even see him. Too much worrying for nothing.

I've got a whole slew of assignments that I need to get done and a job prospect that I want to prepare for. I need to sleep now.

I know, I'm boring this week. Here's a video of a pillow fight to make up for being lame. Video!

101

100 (and one) blog posts, that's a lot!

I'm super excited about Germany! I'm going as an Au-Pair to a lovely family in Mainz, a city close to Frankfurt. I have already bought a one-way ticket on the 15th of September. I'm taking care of two girls, Luna and Felicia, and from what I hear they're just lovely. I just hope that I'll be quick to learn the language.

Yesterday was my last day of work, my job at the cemetary is only a summer job and I got to work one week more than the others. We were two girls yesterday working, we spent the whole afternoon cleaning the house we eat and take pauses, including the refrigerator... which was disgusting. Fifty people on the age 17-26, nobody really noticing all the moldy disgusting shit going on there. We found an unopened fruit juice, which had all swollen up and we opened it (or well, my friend, Ríkey) and it literally blew up on her clothes and allover the walls with a loud BOOM.

All my stuff smells like cinnamon.

I can't believe I'm saying goodbye for 9 or 10 months to my friends and family (well, most of them!). I don't even feel a little bad about it, I'm just super excited. I know I'll miss them but I'm looking forward to a new life, not having to worry about the stuff I do here.

Till next time!
kisses ;) x

100th Blog Post!

Good morning G bloggers, it's Monday. :) And this is our 100th blog post! Well done ladies.

Sorry about not posting last week. I honestly forgot and the funny thing is that week was the only week that I had completely off. I must have been too excited to have some down time.

Alda: That's so exciting! What will you be doing in Germany?

Stephanie: Jaeda is so adorable! And good luck with school. I thought that my 1/2 hour commute was terrible, but yours is way worse. I would die if I didn't have air conditioning in Florida. I've been there (I have family in Tampa) and the air is so humid I feel like I breathing half water, half oxygen. And when you go to Vegas remember that everything on the strip is further that it looks. Your feet will thank me.

Speaking of The Vegas. I may never post about it, but maybe next time I won't post when I have to go be somewhere else in the next ten minutes and have time to do it. Why the hell am I always busy?

These last couple of week have been busy. I finished up my internship (note to self: email Pam), moved out of my apartment and back into my parents' house, went to one 21st birthday party, went to one going away party, went to my brother's fist gig with his new band, and today is my first day of classes.

So today is my last first day of school, maybe ever. I'm graduating from my university in December if all goes well. I'll be busy this year trying to find a job so wish me luck. I'll update you guys on it.

This weekend is my bestie's 21st birthday party and we're going to a drag show! My mother's birthday is in three days and my brother's birthday is in a week, so busy weekends ahead.

Have a great week. Ciao.

Siberian Breaks

I can't believe I'm not going to school this year - I've been in school my whole life! It will be a nice break, not going to University, especially since I haven't really deceided what I want to study.

I'm moving in 4 or 5 weeks... To Germany (7, 9, 13). Shit, that's gonna be different! Now I regret not listening in German classes in my last year of college. I don't like German, really, at least not learning it. But hey, in one year I should be able to speak it!

*writer's block*

I always seem to forget Fridays, that it's my blogging day, sorry about that.
Maybe it's because I'm hungover, but I really have nothing to say..

But I'm alive and going to make a good post next Friday.

I'm all aloneeeeee. There's no one here beside meeee.

I watched Shrek the other day, and I felt the song would be appropriate for a title. Where are you guys? I hope everyone's week has been going well and that you're just too busy to blog.

Anyway. My air conditioning went out yesterday, and my house got to 90 degrees before it was fixed. It was horrible, but now it's fixed and it's working better. I like when my house is a comfortable 76 degrees. It's necessary here in South Florida.

Speaking of South Florida, I start classes on Monday. I have chemistry bright and early at 9:40 am. It's my only Monday class (and only Friday class, for that matter) and since I don't have an apartment yet, I'm driving 2 hours just to go to class. And that should be fun on Tuesdays/Thursdays when I have my 8am Composition 2 class. So, fingers crossed that I find an apartment soon. I've e-mailed a few girls about some places, but I won't be moving in for another week or two. I also need a job.

Oh, and I finally got a picture of the girl I babysit. Isn't she just adorable? This is Jaeda, and she'll be 5 months old on the 27th. She's so much fun, even though she's a bit fussy at times. She loves that worm right there, too. It was mine when I was a kid, so whenever her parents bring her to my house, I let her play with it.

I hope everyone has an awesome week. I'll update you all next Thursday amidst my classes. Hopefully my professors don't suck. DFTBA!

Blogging Late...Again

Sorry I missed last week! Life's been a little hectic lately, since my classes start in just over a week. I've been busy trying to get everything worked out with financial aid (because apparently they didn't get all of my paperwork yet), so...yeah. I'm also still apartment-less, which is causing more problems, but I don't want to complain.

Karena, I'm planning to go to Las Vegas for my 21st, actually. My best friend goes to school in Reno, and her 21st is just before our spring semester ends so we'll be heading out to Vegas to celebrate and generally cause mayhem or something. It's still in the early stages of planning, though, because we're not 21 until 2013.

However, I do hope to hear about that dessert. It looks amazing, and kind of intriguing.

I don't really have much to say, despite not having updated in two weeks. My sleeping schedule is back to being messed up (like...sleeping from 8am-4pm messed up) and I'm not quite sure how to fix it. My chemistry class is at 9:40am on Monday mornings, so I guess I sort of need to.

Happy Super Belated Esther Day, girls! I've actually been enjoying our short time blogging together and getting to know people I would never have known otherwise. I love you! :D

Las Vegas

The reason I went to Las Vegas was to just get out of town. I've been to Vegas many times in my lifetime. We used to go whenever my grandmother visited because she loves to gamble. . I went there last year for my 21st birthday.It's only an hour flight. Fun Fact: it takes 6 hours to get there by car and it also takes 6 hours to get to Los Angeles by car, but it takes at least 2 hours to get to LA by plane! What's up with that?) Anyway, point is that going there was nothing new.

Long story short, The above dessert was my favorite part of the trip. I'll tell you about it later because I really need a good nights sleep.

Also, in honor of [belated] Ester Day I feel that as a fellow nerdfighter and collaborator of this blog that I must say that I love you guys. OK, so it is a bit early to say that, but I really do enjoy your virtual company. I look forward to the small corner of the future that I will share with you. :)

LATEX2

Reykjavík doesn't feel so tiny to me untill I go to something way bigger, like London. I even used to think that Reykjavík was big, hahah.
In the last photo we we're at an icebar, in which everything was made of ice, even the glasses, which was so cool!

I just bought a shiny, new, red computer. It looks awesome, although I miss using my MacBook - it suits me better than microsoft.

Today is Gay Pride in Reykjavík, we had great weather and it was really crowded downtown, so amazing! I think the gay pride parade is the only parade I like, I usually don't like so many people in one place but gay pride is such an amazing cause. It's not only about the gays, it's about basic human rights - we're all equal, gender, race or religion.

hungoveeeeerrr I am, ergo having problem writing.

Btw, better late than never. girls *evil stare*

LATE

Karena here! Whoops, two days late. That's not like me. Las Vegas was many things. I'll do a thoughts form places when I'm not blogging from work (The entire office has disappeared and I have nothing to do /intern)

London sounds wonderful Alda! I'd love to visit some day, even if it's not in the stars right now. I never realized how small a place you lived. The city I live in has about 1 million people. I can't imagine being from a country with 320,000 people. Amazing stuff. BTW, what is happening in that last picture?

Stephanie- I'm waiting for all of the Vidcon videos to go up on Youtube, especially the Vlogbrothers one. I want to see what happened! All I've seen is the Wheezy Waiter one where he showed the audience at the Driftless Ponyclub show. :(

So all that I have going on with me right now is that I'm moving out of my apartment. I've been dreading it for months now, but the time has finally come. By Friday I'll be back in the house I grew up in to finish my last semester of school. It feels like a step back, but it's not really. Really, I'm just not looking forward to the half-hour commute. One thing has convinced me to be positive about the change.

As I was cleaning my messy room, I came across an envelope with a note written on the back. It said, "Don't look back, the era is changing." It's from the anime One Piece. I wrote it because I wanted to commit it to memory. I needed the reminder that I want to live toward the future and never dwell in the past. I want to be part of the new era. I never want to be left behind again. And unlike when I was younger, I don't need anyone to pull me forward. I can stand on my own two feet and meet them stride for stride. I will move forward into the new era and never look back. Even if it's to my parents' house. ;)

Thoughts from places: London

Last week I didn't post anything because I was in London.

London, where can I start. This is one of my favorite cities, I've already been there twice before but I was 16 when I went there last time and I was too overwhelmed then to enjoy it. Last two times I went it was with my mom and stepdad but this time I went with two of my best friends, Sandra and Svenni.

It felt different than last two times. I walked out of the airplane ready to feel overwhelmed by the big airport, big buildings (that, by the way, don't exist in Iceland) and way too many people. I didn't feel that, it felt nice, it felt beautiful - almost like home.

For the last few months, maybe years, I've felt like I didn't have a home. My home hasn't felt right in a very long time, I don't even feel welcome. I know my parents love me and my brother is absolutely my favorite person in the world but somehow I feel like I don't belong here - it's been even worse since I finished college - I feel kind of lost and insecure.

The hostel in London - it felt more safe than "home" in Iceland. The people were oh-so-wonderful, I had a crush on a boy (my heart still feels a little warmer thinking of him) just because he was cute - we kissed (and more, maybe). This feeling I haven't really let myself feel for so long, flirting like I haven't been doing since I was attacked last year. I let myself out there, it was really awesome, it was the old me coming back, not the one who has been hiding away just because of some jerk who screwed with me - who I thought had ruined a part of me. Regaining that part of me gave me a lot of confidence, especially in the boy-field. Let's just say I came back with new emails (pl.), phonenumber and experience.

Enough of this.

The hostel! When leaving we spoke of the lack of privacy - that we'd be so happy to sleep in our own beds when we'd get back. Honestly, I miss sharing a room with 8 people. I have always been a very private person, but I really miss crawling to bed at 3 in the morning when everybody's asleep, trying not to make a noise.

Shit. I miss London.

Just being there, everything way bigger than everything I know, the shops are way bigger. In Iceland the total population is about 320.000 people, that is probably the amount of people that I could see in a few minutes standing in Oxford street. People just looking straight ahead, walking - me just smiling at everything and everyone hoping for a smile back. I guess that's one difference, people just walk and don't notice the people around them - me shouting "hello!" "good morning" at everyone that looks cute and to everyone that I see gives me a glance.

One day I'll move there, maybe for one summer - maybe longer.
I miss the London summer, the feeling of warmth at the hostel, all the partying and cuddling.