glamerdork

back from my trip. saw a lot, to the point of being pleasantly overwhelmed. am at a point of confusion and yet a higher connection to the world, some odd feeling that i just might be part of the whole of things, and this is a feeling i like.

prague was amazing. budapest i didn't like at first, but due to a flight leaving before my bf and i arrived at the airport, i had an extra day and a half to allow it to grow on me, and soon i showed signs of falling in love. then there was croatia-- and although dubrovnik was incredibly touristy, the history speckled its way through-- and in croatia i decided to start eating seafood again. i figured there was no better place than dubrovnik than to turn back to the dark side. but i feel okay about it because i've come up with a new logic behind my quasi vegetarianism-- i only eat animals that eat other animals. i figure in the chain of things, i'm dead meat if an animal stronger than me wants to eat me anyway, so those animals smaller than me who eat other animals deserve to be eaten. an eye for an eye, you know?

well, the protein rush was surely enjoyable, as was the wider selection of dishes made available to me once i opened my mouth to those little fishes. hmm... i'm hungry.

anyway. the day i went to the beach in croatia it rained. but that was okay. my bf and i were caught in a lightening storm admist an accidental hike (in search for the beach on the other side of the island Lopud). we did get to the beach that morning, but it was cold and rainy. i went in anyway. heck if i'm going to hike all the way to a beautiful (yet grey and cloudy) cove and not go for a swim. Matt, the beau, was bitchy about being wet and dirty and cold the whole way back. i understood because i too was wet and dirty and cold... although for some reason it all didn't seem to irk me as much. but we got some great lunch (yum fish) and then as soon as we finished with our meal the sun came out. And then we went to the nearby beach which was not as beautiful as the secluded one, but just as refreshing. unfortunately there we got ripped off by this guy who pretended to be in charge of taking money for lawn chair usage, but that's another story.

after croatia we took a ferry to italy. on the ferry, i think we were the only non-italians. well there were 3 other english people but everyone else was loud and italian and somewhat crazy. i felt proud to have the 1/8ths of italian in my blood until the entire group began to preach in song to the whole boat. i think they all knew each other beforehand, but it got kinda out of control. one guy had a shirt on that said (in english) "prayer isn't enough." man. that's some scary shit right there.

italy... italy was absolutely marvelous for the 24 hours I happened to be in the country. one of my aunt's coworkers from southern italy played host for matt and I, and what a good host he was. That night we went to this amazing, delicious resturaunt in a cute old town called Ostuni (or something like that)... it was just... incredible. In the center of the town there was live music and people dancing to the heavy beats. Everyone was smiling and looked to be having the time of their lives. The resturaunt itself allowed me to have the time of my life. Oooh, I start salivating just thinking about that dinner. wooooooweee.

After italy we flew to paris. Paris kind of sucked. the only great thing about paris was ... (okay there were two great things)... the crepes (egg and cheese... ooooooh myyyyy goooodd.) and the one night stay at the hyatt I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to partake in. How on earth did a girl like me get to stay in a 4 star Hyatt for the evening you ask? My lovely boyfriend, after finishing his undergrad in computer sci got a job in Germany for the summer working for a computer security company-- and the client apparently paid for him to stay in a Hyatt all summer long, which therefore entitled him to lots of points... which therefore eventually entitled him to a free night at any four star hyatt he wanted to stay in. And please let me stress how lucky I am to have been able to partake in this free night. Not that I'm a girl of superficial pleasing, but i think anyone who walked into that room would have thought they had died and gone to heaven. The only thing the room could have used that it didn't have was a view. But oh well, what more can you ask for when it's free?

And then Paris sucked... the Louve was quite boring, and the wing with the interesting items was closed for the evening. The good news was I ended up going on a day when after 6pm anyone under 26 got in free. Matt had to pay 6 euros, but at least it wasn't the double 8.50 we thought we were going to have to spend. and again, when things are free, i really can't complain too much, now can I?

As for the infamous mona lisa- i was not impressed. it was quite amusing what a frenzy it caused amongst everyone. since the louve allows picture taking, the cameras shoved in front of one another to get a visual capture of that tiny painting looked to be violent if not possibly deadly in intention. Anyway, I was much more exicted to see Klimt's work in Vienna. But art seems to bore me nowadays anyway. Except I was not bored by art at the Tate Modern. But I'm coming to that...

Matt and I tried to visit the Musee Orsay, the one in paris that houses all the impressionistic works. but, sadly, we had to check out of our hostel in the morning (we stayed at a cheapy place the night after the hyatt, where showers were downstairs and cost 2 euro a piece) and since they were giving us a hard time when we checked out we decided not to ask them to watch our bags for the day. I figured we could check them at the museum... but of course i figured wrong. after matt stood on line for nearly 45 minutes (and i went searching for crepes) we found out we couldn't get inside. so i ran down the street w/ the luggage to ask the one nearby hotel if they'd hold it for us for a small fee. no such luck. and instead of being told no nicely, i was ultimately flattered when i was nearly laughed out of the lobby and told some half inaudiable joke about the world trade center. so i did not get to see impressionist paintings in france, and this made me sad. and the mean french people made me sadder. bah on them.

but then i had a nutella and banana crepe and life was good again.

London was beautiful and I wish I had more time to explore the city. Besides only having two days there both Matt and I were pretty exhausted and didn't have much energy to really do much of anything. Of course we did do... quite a bit... and Matt was stressing out which wasn't good at all. the last thing I want to do on matt's intra bar/clerkship vacation is to make him stressed out, but apparently i did a good job at it. I just felt like i wasn't doing enough, and he's the type who would be happy sitting at home and watching tv, even in london or any other city. and i surprised myself by falling in love with him on this trip. go figure. well, it's only a matter of time now before i get hurt. so exciting.

but.

london was great. from the tate modern (which I adored, yeay for non pretentious art museums that are really in it for the art and not for the "we have x number of picasso's here." ) and i even got my theatre fix-- one show at the Globe and one free open air performance of GBS's Ancrocles and the Lion-- all in one day too. and that was before the dinner at Preem on brick lane-- the city was just divine, and the food delicious- from Sailsbury grocery to the fish and chips matt and I shared to the absolutely amazing Indian food we had on Bricklane, London won my heart over all too easily and someday in the future i will be returning for a more thorough examination. grad school, perhaps.

so today (well, yesterday) I flew home alone from heathrow to newark (matt left on an earlier flight to DC). Funny thing is, I actually "missed my flight." My flight was at 4 o'clock on virgin atlantic and I arrived at the airport at 3:15 after a long morning of last minute independant shopping and sightseeing. At this time I was informed that the "gates were closed" and I could not get on my flight. I do understand that one is supposed to be at the airport 2 hours before an international flight, but I still had 45 minutes before they were scheduled to leave, why on earth couldn't i make it to the gate?

Well, they refused to let me go on that flight, so I had to reschedule for a later flight. I booked the 8:00 to newark and breathed a sigh of relief knowing I'd have time to unwind before having to board the aircraft. I checked in and found that heathrow airport terminal 3 is one big shopping mall. What a wonderful distraction when one has 4 hours to waste. I actually was out of clean jeans and i was very uncomfortable in my shorts so i went in search for a pair. a cute one at french connection was on sale, so i figured what the heck- even though i could get them in the states, they were tax free and on sale. and i was cold. --

anyway, as i'm wandering around the airport, nibbling on samples of swiss chocolates and very suavely dissappearing from the saleslady's sight, i notice that the 4:00 flight to newark is still marked as "gate closing". And the flight remains as such up to when I board my own flight at 7:15pm. Whatever could that mean, I wondered, cozy in my warm jeans, with a full stomach after my little bite to eat at the airport, fully ready to board the plane. And my plane took off on time and landed on time without a hitch. I didn't get bothered at customs either. I think it was the pink cowgirl hat with big opalesent sequins I bought today that I was wearing that made me look innocent. I mean, who is a sequined cowboy hat would try to sneak anything into the US? Man, I could have got away with anything. Funny thing is, I didn't try it. ah well. in three months i'll be legal anyway. crazy, huh. i'm finally gonna be 21. what is the world coming to?

so. here's the funny bit to this whole story, i do reckon. my 4:00 flight, for some reason, didn't take off. It's not taking off until 11am tomorrow morning. And I, obviously, am home. Funny how things work out sometimes, when bad luck turns good.

and now i'm home, seriously confused in terms of jet lag and lack of sunlight at this hour, feeling a bit sick, thinking maybe i should go lie down, but not really wanting to. Hmm. maybe i need chocolate. nah. well. it's already august 14th. i guess i still have a while till school starts up again, and i'm certainly ready to go back. I can't believe this is my last year in college. What on earth am I going to do *after* my last year in college? ah.

nonetheless, i'm super-duper excited about my fall sched lineup. figure drawing, anthropology of gender, soc of celeb, soc 101, anthro colonialism-global, philosophy 100, n'd screenwriting. fuck theatre. i'm sick of it and the bullshit that's involved. i don't care if i'm not good enough to be in advanced directing, or not even good enough to recieve a reply after 3 e-mails requesting to be considered for the class. fuck that. maybe i'm not meant to be a director. eh. i don't care. i'm thinking magazine publishing. at least there i've got connections. and we all know connections are (sadly) most everything. bah. talent... eh. if i had some, perhaps i'd have more faith in my self connection-less. but as of now, i need all the help i can get. and yet i think i'm ready for the world. i really needed this summer. it forced me to put myself places i wouldn't have otherwise. yea I got drunk and high and did stupid shit and nearly molested a really hot boy who would never be remotely willing to kiss me when sober. and so, i had my fun- if you could call it that-- and then i got sick of it. well. not sick of it. just-- i think i grew up a lot in the past 6 weeks. i think i got all that "turning 21" crap out of my system without having to deal with doing it during the school year (or the winter. bah on the cold.) but with growing up, i still managed to act like a child... in my relationship, that is. its funny... with my ex bf, he complained i wasn't... well... clingy enough. and now i'm too clingy. yes. clingy. i don't know what's come over me. i like the guy a lot. he's not perfect, but he's wonderful. down to his obessive compulsive quirks. and although i know i don't inspire the same sort of feelings in him, i only hope that his attraction to me is more than just novelty and will grow if i learn how to act like a decent human being around him. ah. he's going to meet other women and see what's out there. we've agreed that's fine. i am fine with that. what i'm not fine with is knowing that he's going to find someone more mature than i am and never look back. and then i guess i've got to move on, and of course i will, but i've never felt so comfortable with another person in my life-- i'm afraid i won't be able to find that again. no, i don't believe in soul mates, and i don't think he's my soul mate, that's for sure. but i think we work together. and that's all i can ask for.