Travel Tuesday: Prague, Czech Republic

     Due to the fact that I am hopelessly swamped in papers and midterms (I stayed up until 3AM last night; don't look at me), all I can offer you today are pictures from my trip abroad. Though I know I will not be going into details of the adventures at this point, I thought it would be cool to give the cliffnotes of the trip via pictures. Today's city is Prague, Czech Republic! This idea is largely inspired by the glorious ceedling (Celia Edell). 

 Happy Travel Tuesday :) 

Travel Post #2: Berlin, Germany! (July 25th)

Outside of my sister's door, leftover from her American / 4th of July party.

July 25th, 2013

     After a wonderful 10 hours of sleep, the four of us had a "Big French Breakfast" at a restaurant called Rocco. If only all of our European meals were that lovely... Afterwards, this day became dedicated to running errands. I picked up tape at a grocery store for my travel journal (which was originally a horrid composition book, in which I had to literally tape every single page back in at the end of the day), and got two hand towels for 1,50€ each at a giant super department store called (I think?) Galerie. In addition, on this day we met up with my cousin's internet friend, Thilo! He lives in Berlin, and took us to an outdoor Italian restaurant for lunch. I had an interesting fusion of carbonated soda and lemonade known as Lemonsoda.

     In the midst of eating among the trees and aging buildings, I realized that it is okay to take things slowly when it comes to traveling. Though it cost an arm and a leg to get to Europe, and though I naturally wanted to see EVERYTHING that Berlin had to offer, I also had to be honest with myself. I was tired. It was hot outside. I was beyond thirsty, no matter how much water I drank. Most importantly, I had to let myself accept that despite everything, I was on vacation. This trip was not only a means of seeing the world, but an escape from my everyday and the stress that comes with it.  What was the point if I spent the entire trip working myself up over the things I missed? No matter how much there is to experience, there will always be more that you missed out on. So don't stress yourself out. Relax if needed. Make sure you're enjoying whatever it is that you are doing, whether that is seeing a famous landmark or eating a quiet lunch. Especially because most of the family groups on "vacation" that I encountered seemed nothing but time-restrained, stressed, miserable, and argumentative. But more on that when we get to Paris ;) Basically, LIVE YOUR DREAMS. But don't letting living your dreams get in the way of your mental wellness.

      The evening began with a heavenly visit to Schlachtensee, a lake outside of the city's center. It was a godsend in the form of cold water! Especially considering Berlin was experiencing a heat wave. Beyond that, everything about the experience was pure summer fun. People were rowing canoes on the water or balancing on a giant log or drinking wine from the bottle. It was so different from California, for the waterfront didn't even have a beach. There was only a small strip dirt in between the trees and the lake. I swam to the other end of our alcove, and there was only underwater grass and tree roots as the water got more shallow. Here, I met my sister's American friends, all studying abroad from schools in the United States. They were kind enough, immediately welcoming us into their group, and shared their lovely cherry wine with me. I'm thankful they were the talkative types. Now that I'm in training for my new job, I've realized it still takes a great deal of effort for me to meet new people. But Natalie's friends were outspoken, so I didn't have to be! Afterwards, we all walked to a friend's house in a lovely suburban neighborhood for a BBQ. The street was full of old houses and tall trees; it was very reminiscent of the East Coast. I feel like it could have been a setting for one of those ghost/haunting/horror movies. But we all hung out in the backyard, listened to good music, and I got to try both BACON STRIPS ON A STICK and A SLAB OF CHEESE GRILLED ON THE BARBEQUE. Delicious! A+, 10/10, would highly recommend. Especially the bacon on a stick!! BACON ON A STICK.

     At around 11pm, the four of us walked back to the S-Bahn and traveled on home. Despite what I thought, and it's a bit illogical that I used to think this, jet lag doesn't disappear after the first day. I wish we could have been true Berliners, staying up until 5AM with not a care in the world, but we were nowhere near that level. But that's alright- we needed the rest. Tomorrow, we were off to Sachsenhausen!

♥ To be continued... ♥

Travel Post #1: Berlin, Germany! (July 24th)

     Hello and Happy Thursday! :) Today, I am finally forcing myself to buckle down and begin blogging about my travels through Europe this summer. These posts will be going up throughout the next month or so, because unfortunately, breaking them up by day is the only way I can keep these entries from getting too long and unsightly. On top of that, I have just begun training for my new job, which is over eight hours per day. Plus I have 200ish pages of reading to get done before September 19th. Basically, doling these travel logs in small increments makes this process much less of a struggle. I'm sorry if it makes for tedious reading, but I hope you enjoy regardless!

July 24th, 2013

     After three connection flights and around 17 hours of travel, my two cousins, Kyle and Kenna, (You will be seeing a lot of them, so might as well give a proper introduction) and I arrived in the Berlin airport at about noon. Customs was practically nonexistent as we snaked our way to baggage claim, and luckily my sister, Natalie, was there to receive us on the other side. It was the first time I'd seen her in almost a year! As she'd been living in Berlin for 11 months, she showed us how to use the S-Bahn and refused to let us nap for more than an hour because she feared our sleeping schedule would be off for the duration of our trip. Though incredibly considerate of her, it meant we weren't allowed to go to bed until 9pm. Or, in our accustomed time zone, 12pm.

     The time awake was not too dreadful, however, because Natalie took us to East Side Gallery! It is this gorgeous collection of graffiti art on what still remains of the Berlin Wall. It's quite insane to think about the fact that 30 years ago, people could be murdered for attempting to climb over it. But I love that its dark past has been transformed into something beautiful, and something in constant fluctuation. Which I suppose could be extended into a metaphor about Germany itself. My sister claims the reason she loves Berlin so much is because it was weighed down by communism and war, but the city is now coming back alive! That must be fascinating to watch. I also became increasingly interested by the people in Berlin because, at least some of them, were walking pieces of history. Anyone over the age of 40 or so could potentially remember what it was like when the Wall was up. It was just a thought that struck me whenever I saw older folks. This is a bit of a ramble, but it's quite cool to think about. 

     I also really liked something fairly new on the Wall (my sister said she didn't recognize it from the last time she visited), which was a photography display of different walls keeping people fenced in and out throughout the world. There are a lot more than I knew about?! That's a quite frightening thought.... And the exhibition included the wall on the border of Mexico and California, which resonated with me for obvious reasons.

Anyway, here are some photos from the East Side Gallery :)

     For lunch, my cousins and I had Döner for the first time, which is a popular Turkish fast food item. Though I'm sure it is wonderful most of the time, this particular time there was a GIANT, BEIGE, HALF-MYTHICAL MOTH FLY THING desperately trying to escape from the glass compartment where the red onions were kept. It was just staring at me and desperately ramming into the glass after I'd finished ordering. But I had been in Germany for less than 24 hours, and I didn't want to be that entitled tourist, so I didn't say anything. In the end, I'm glad I didn't speak up because Natalie casually mentioned while we were eating outside that Europeans don't care as much about bugs landing in their food. Unfortunately, I'm a spoiled and picky Californian, so I was plagued by mothish-horror-filled thoughts, and could not finish my meal. But my sister loves Döner, so don't steer away from trying it simply because of this story! Haha. I'm just haunted by it... casually... I tried to eat a Döner sandwich in Vienna and literally couldn't get my mind over the matter. That was when I finally confessed a much less disturbing version of this story, in the hopes of explaining my point of view without ruining their lives as well.   

     Afterward, we also went to this airport-turned-public-park called Tempelhof to hang out with one of my sister's Spanish friends and just chill out for a bit. They drank beer. Kyle took a light snooze on the grass. We saw people dancing interpretively. It was nice.

      After a long day of walking and experimenting with new things, I made a bed on my sister's floor out of a single sheet with two puffy, winter coats underneath for padding. Needless to say, it took less than a half hour to fall asleep.

♥ To be continued... ♥

Back Home.

     Hello, friends! As can be deduced from the title and the current date, I've been home for a few days. Europe was amazing, and though leaving the Berlin airport saddened me, I experienced a near-equal level of happiness as we landed in Washington D.C. Seeing a Wendy's in the airport made me far more excited than it probably should have. And sleeping in my own bed on the night of August 19th was such a relief.

     Over the next few weeks (I haven't decided exactly how I will space out my traveling posts), I will tell the stories of my journey through Europe this summer. First, I feel some film and music-related updates are in order. 

 On planes to Houston, Texas and to Frankfurt, Germany

1) Our plane to Houston was super swanky, and their selection of films was beyond compare. Though it'd never appealed to the animation-lover in me before, I decided to watch Wreck-It Ralph for a good portion of the flight. My first instincts were completely off on this one; IT WAS AMAZING. While it is true that it's been a month since seeing the film and I do not exactly remember why I loved it so much, I do feel this intense, lingering sense of adoration. It was adorable and heart-wrenching at some scenes. I highly recommend a watch! 

2) During the nine-hour flight from Houston to Frankfurt, I decided to watch Side Effects. I'd wanted to see this film for a long while, and ended up having a reverse-Wreck-It-Ralph experience. I was disappointed and almost angry about the ending. To avoid any spoilers (because it is a bit of a thriller), let's just say the person I was rooting for ended up being the villain. Which isn't always a bad thing. But in this case... the ending just made me roll my eyes a bit. And by a bit, I mean I finally know what the inside of my skull looks like.

3) Seeing as I had a lot of time to kill, I then flipped through the music catalog.
 All that is written in my travel journal is "Bjork - All Neon Like," so I'd gander it was a favorite. Listening now, I do quite like the song. Lend an ear for yourself:

     At some point, while most everyone was asleep and the plane was in near-complete darkness, I listened to the entirety of the Les Miserablés (2012 version) soundtrack and mouthed along to the few lyrics I knew haha. Watching people sleep on a plane while listening to a very emotional musical is quite the humorous contrast.

4) The last film I watched was Identity Thief, because my options were far more limited than the flight to Houston. The movie was much better than I expected, actually! And I'm especially grateful that it ended up being a story of friendship rather than romance. True, it'd be cool to have a comedy in which a traditionally good-looking guy falls in love with a woman who is what modern society considers "fat," but romance in this case would have been too predictable for my liking. It was refreshing to see a film where falling in friendship is just as important as falling in love. So I give it points for that. But on another note, the only two People of Color in the film were villains... which made me a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. Just things to consider. My verdict: I wouldn't watch it again, but Identity Thief is not the worst movie you'll see in your life.

5) Lastly, as we flew over Germany in the morning, the plane allowed me to tune into a German radio station. It played a lot of American music, but there were a couple of songs that I'd never heard before.

I particularly liked (oh my god, looking up the lyrics now, it is so weird to discover that this song is by The Script. I used to hear them sometimes in middle school, when I listened to "VH1 Jumpstart" every morning as I got ready for school.) If You Could See Me Now by The Script:



...and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS SONG!! I totally jammed out in my seat at 6AM on a plane.
Liebe Ist Meine Rebellion by Frida Gold:



Gallivanting across Europe : 
     Before leaving, I put a bunch of random music on my phone, not knowing what I would want to listen to while spending a month away from my laptop. I went through two notable phases during my trip: the two-country-long Katy Perry phase, and the two-week-long Lights phase. And my Lights phase was extensive-- when possible, I just sat and watched interviews, becoming ever more fascinated with the way she speaks, or I flipped through dozens of acoustic performances to hear her development as a singer. For whatever reason, she captured my attention (hurhurhur, if you listen to Lights: get the reference?) on this vacation.   

     I also developed a habit of listening to music in museums when I could not handle tourists' constant buzzing. On my 8Tracks, I'm planning on putting up all of the beautiful, slow songs I listened to while watching the sunset from the top of the Eiffel Tower, and making a separate playlist of rockabilly songs Cathy gave me, which I ended up listening to (and literally dancing around to) in the Musée d'Orsay. Keep an eye out for those!

      So this post doesn't get horrifically long, I'll simply leave here the song I was infatuated with for the majority of my trip. I would get so elated when the Wifi in our hostels was cooperating, simply because I felt a constant NEED to listen to this. Here is a cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for" by Lights. 

 

On the plane back to Washington D.C.
      I only had the ability to watch movies on my eight-hour flight from Frankfurt to Washington D.C. (though I'm lucky I got movie options during the longest chunk of airtime), and the journey seemed to take forever! This time around, films didn't make the hours go any faster. 

1) The first movie I chose was Admission. I have a deep love for Tina Fey, which is why I was surprised when my main complaints about this film were on the basis of feminism. The mother in the film, who was actually a total fucking badass, was not treated as a feminist queen, but a constant joke. I couldn't shake thoughts of The Straw Feminist trope, as addressed by Feminist Frequency, while watching. In addition, the resolution left a strange aftertaste because the main character basically trades in her career for motherhood. This isn't inherently bad, but media is notorious for making women choose between one or the other! I know her arc was about not staying in the same place out of fear, but couldn't they have thrown in some kind of new and exciting job for her at the end, rather than having her new-found happiness defined by her boyfriend and the possibility of motherhood? In the end, this movie didn't just feel like a sub-par romantic comedy, it felt borderline offensive.

2) While I was watching Admission, the woman next to me was watching Safe Haven. While I had no interest in checking it out before, catching glimpses of a few scenes (especially discovering that Cobie Smulders plays a minor character) peeked my interest. My viewing experience was simply lukewarm. I'm not sure how I feel about the film's portrayal of domestic violence; I liked the scene where Katie talks about her depression in relation to the abuse, but I felt a slight lack of continuity when she shows no signs of fear or nervousness when her new beau yells at her during their first fight. I've fortunately never experienced domestic violence, so I suppose I'm not in any position to talk on the subject. But the movie felt a little bit like "abuse is a one-time thing and then you meet your new boyfriend and he fixes you and it's totally fine," which seems wildly inaccurate to me. In summary, I won't be watching the film again. But, side notes: Julianne Hough looks gorgeous with that haircut. Live your dreams, girl. Also, I found it beyond amusing that Cobie Smulders and Julianne Hough had WAY more sexual tension and chemistry than the two main characters.

3) A favorite of my parent's, I decided to watch When Harry Met Sally..., circa 1989. I am obsessed with Meg Ryan's fashion over the course of the movie! Her post-high school 70s outfit is definitely my top pick. As said by my cousin, her fashion arc is crazy similar to that of our mothers', making it all the more enjoyable. I also really adored Carrie Fisher's presence! When her name appeared in the opening credits, I thought maybe she would be in a few scenes and blend in with the wallpaper, but she played a significant character! The Star Wars kid in me was rather excited. But I digress. To the important stuff: this movie was my favorite of the three I watched by far. It was such a great romance film, and Meg Ryan's character was so relatable and entertaining. It was quite elevating to have her high-maintenance qualities not be seen as crazy and in need of fixing, but aspects of her personality to be loved and appreciated. She had opinions, but some of them changed with her personal development. And when she faked an orgasm loudly in a restaurant to prove a point... flawless. Much love. Just... YES!!

     And that is a pretty comprehensive round-up of the media I consumed during the end of July and first half of August. I will be posting more about the films (most of which have been documentaries) I've watched and the music I've listened to since returning to California soon! I will also been working on travel posts as much as possible before starting training for my new job on September 4th. Feels good to be back at the keyboard! :) 

♥ Happy Watching / Listening ♥

July 23rd - August 20th

Hello! If you are reading this, it could very well mean that I am in Europe!

     Please excuse the thumbnail... It was the lesser of three evils. This blog is not as inactive as it looks; I am simply without the proper resources to update it at the moment. But in a month or so, I will be back with a wealth of travel posts! I plan to write down what we do at the end of each day, take plenty of pictures, and do a bit of vlogging when convenient. Hopefully, I will see a lot of amazing things and learn through much trial and traveling error. And surely I will have a lot to share at the end of my 4 weeks.

And here is a link to my Twitter. It's also available in the right-side column of this blog.

     Also, I did try to write a review on The Purge before heading out, but I've been unable to finish with the amount of time I gave myself. But I'm still planning on completing it! It's been over a month since I originally saw the film, and unless our entire American social and economic system dismantles in my absence, it will still be relevant when I get back. I'm sorry I'm so slow. I just know it's going to be a long one, and that makes it too intimidating to start. But most of the difficult work is done. Expect it before September hahah ;)

In the meantime,  ♥ Happy Living ♥

Planning a Trip to Europe

     Today I met with my cousins to discuss our trip to Europe this summer! I've never been very far from the U.S., much less across the Atlantic Ocean, so I'm pretty excited. I was quite nervous when I texted my cousin, McKenna, about booking plane tickets, and then the next morning I was over $1,000 dollars poorer. But now I'm just stoked. And according to McKenna, the master traveler, we've completed the most difficult part of the process: figuring out our plane and train tickets around Europe. And so ends Phase I.

We've decided our route for 25 days: July 23rd to August 19th

1. Berlin with my sister for a few days, and then we're all off!
2. Prague, Czech Republic
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Paris, France
5. Madrid, Spain 
6. Rome, Italy
7. Vienna, Austria 
8. Back to Berlin for a few last days
9. Then a flight back to the United States 

 I obviously cannot be active on this blog for about a month, and so I thought that I would try to film a good portion of my trip, take a lot of pictures, write down some thoughts at the end of each day, and then create individual posts about each location when I get back! I'll write a little bit, put a little video up... it'll be cool. And considering I will be bored in my hometown for the rest of August and most of September, it will be something to keep me occupied. Get excited!

♥ Happy Living ♥