to BAHSTIN and back

being FUNemployed has its perks, i suppose. it definitely allows me to get a fair amount of traveling in--and last week i traipsed across the awesome city of boston, massachusetts with two of my dearest friends. from dc, we took a nine hour megabus ride up route 95 and arrived in the land of red sox and chowdah.

i was surprisingly sprightly as we pulled into boston south station around 7am. we took the t to the world trade center stop (which consisted of a strange underground electric bussy thingy that i wouldn't shut up about) and checked our bags into our hotel. we got a wonderful breakfast recommendation from the concierge, and i noshed on one of the best bacon, egg and cheese muffins ever. we stocked up on red sox gear and chatted up the manager of the shop. the bostonians so far were so sweet, funny and hospitable. after breakfast i got a call that we could check into the hotel, so we freshened up in our room (which had a breathtaking view of boston harbor from seventeen (!) floors up) before we took on the city for the day.

FIRST we hit up boston common and the public gardens, which was awesome in the bright, crisp sunlight. we took pictures with the ducklings from the book "make way for ducklings," which erin introduced to us. i felt so carefree just hanging with my buds and experiencing a place i've never been. NEXT UP was the KENMOAR t station...home of fenway park (!) for a red sox game against the toronto blue jays. we were truly at baseball mecca. i'm not a huge baseball fan, but i know the importance of fenway to the game...i def became a red sox fan that day. we indulged in a veritable smorgasbord of ballpark food--corndogs, fried dough, pretzels and MONSTER NACHOS. and guess what...the sox WON 4-1! everyone was so excited and in high spirits as we headed towards the t stop, but the crowds (and cold, windy weather) led us to detour to dunkin donuts where i got a tasty hazelnut hot chocolate. warmed up, we walked around town before heading back to the hotel to scout out places for dinner.

somewhere along the way, we decided that picking up a couple cases of beer would be a GREAT idea. as we were waltzing back into the hotel with our bags o' booze, a man standing near the elevators stopped us and said that we weren't allowed to bring liquor into the hotels rooms, and that we had to check it :/ we were kinda pissed, to say the least. we also wasted an hour trying to come up with oceans eleven style plans to smuggle it back into the room. to no avail haha. we're such goodie two shoes :) dinner was next, at the legal sea foods test kitchen. my chowdah was just aight, and when i realized that i was falling asleep in my dessert, i knew it was time to call it a night. after a night cap of teenage girly quizzes we all passed out.

our SECOND DAY consisted of eating everything in sight at quincy market and lurching the freedom trail. we rode the t some more, quietly giggling at the quintessentially boston accents of the train conductors and trying not to look too touristy. we visited the finish line of the boston marathon (which was kicking off the next day) and got ice cream cones from an ice cream truck parked on the side of the street. we lurched chinatown before dinner at beehive, this TOTAL hipster joint that my mom thought looked interesting. the food was delicious, and just what the doctor ordered before another nine hour ride back to dc.

SUCH A FUN WEEKEND with my girlies and i can't wait to conquer another locale with them!

oh atlanta, baby

hotlanta is legit. last week i accompanied my wonderful wife on her business trip to the durrrty souf. even though my nose was deeply buried in my pop-out map a few times, i felt like i learned the city pretty well. we stayed in olympic centennial park in the heart of downtown, and i explored nonstop. equipped with my atlanta citypass (entry into FIVE attractions) and marta 3 day pass (unlimited train and bus!) i zoomed around town, pretending to be a local. in fact, i was asked more than once for directions *slightly smug smile*

DAY ONE consisted of trekking the humongous hartsfield–jackson atlanta international airport. finally we made it to the marta station and to our stop, peachtree center. after a fifteen minute walk lugging our bags, we arrived at our hotel and i vegged out for the night. my first ROOM SERVICE experience was crazycakes. it felt weird having my dinner delivered to me on a silver platter :/

DAY TWO was beautiful and sunny. after hiking buckhead to get to the atlanta history center, i got to tour swan house, this 19th century revival mansion (breathtaking!) and i saw exhibits on eudora wealty, folk art and the centennial olympics in atlanta. i then decided to hit up "little five points" or "L5P" (as the locals supposedly call it). guidebooks call it atlanta's premier "bohemian" neighborhood...so i knew i'd find lots o' thrifting and skinny jeans clad/rayban wearing hipsters. CHECK and CHECK. i loved it. it was so nice just walking around in the sun--people watching, stopping into shops and listening to the street musicians. IWANNAGOBACKNOW.

DAY THREE was pretty much nonstop sightseeing. first was my tour of the cnn headquarters where i was amused by this guy and his lurchiness of robin meade; NEXT was the aquarium where i got an ABOVE the scenes tour of all the exhibits. it was awesome. i love sea creatures. FINALLY was the high art museum, where i was completely immersed in the henri cartier-bresson exhibit that stretched an entire floor of the museum. his street photography was legit. it made me long for my old pentax k1000. i stopped by the gift shop and bought a book called "50 photographers you should know" and a really bizarre postcard of leo dicaprio cradling a swan bjork-style. hmm. after these marathons of sights, my feet felt like they were about to fall off, so i schlepped back to the hotel and ate onion rings. my night was spent almost falling out of a taxi cab (thanks to a RUDEASS cabbie) eating delish chicken and waffles at gladys knight's/ron winan's chicken and waffles and catching up on all the charlie sheen crazy tour 2k11.

DAY FOUR was slightly more relaxed. i spent the morning/early afternoon at the martin luther king historic site. the exhibit of his life story was incredibly moving and can't imagine how life would be today if he hadn't lived and made such an impact. i am his dream and i'm so appreciative of who he was. late afternoon consisted of WORLD OF COCA COLA. it was awesome sauce and erin and i got to learn the history of coke, take a picture with the coke POLAR BEAR and taste test SIXTY FOUR different flavors of the coke family. insanity. THAT NIGHT we finally made it to ludacris' restaurant STRAITS. it was raining cats and dogs, but the trek was worth it. we gorged ourselves with samosas, garlic noodles, sweet potato hush puppies, kung pao lollipops and a "french kiss" chocolate cake. all that, PLUS a sexyass justin timberlake sexyback era waiter. EPIC day.

our LAST DAY was spent souvenir shopping and our getting last glimpses of atlanta this time around. it was both an exhausting and awesome and i can't wait to go back and drink sweet tea in the sun and walk the streets again.

eastern market is for lovers.

so a few weeks back i visited eastern market with my friend alex. we had a great time, even though i felt guilty about living in dc my whole life and never experiencing this gem. it was a beautiful day, and i loved weaving through the stalls, sampling treats and helping alex pick out a basil plant. i bought a friendship anklet and this FIERCE owl ring, and alexface modeled these beautiful peacock feather hair clips.

i was completely mesmerized by capitol hill books, this little two floor shop crammed ceiling to floor with books. it was fun inching around the tight corners of stacked literature. uhhh paradise. the day was topped off by two delicious cookies i bought for my mom at marvelous market. next time i'm coming for brunch. eastern market, ftw.

god bless the bayou

hey. so i haven't posted here in over two years (i can't believe oxford was that long ago!) but i never wanted to abandon this blog. i needed to find a new use for it, because i knew using it as a "my day to day life" blog would turn out disastrously. but really, this started off as a travel blog, so i should keep it that way, no? whenever i stumble onto new territory ("near and far!" lol) i'll try to post. what happens in between posts--well i don't know. but this should be cool to look back at in the future.

my semi-obsession with new orleans, louisiana started when i was 12. the summer after seventh grade was kind of a blur...i was outside a lot, but balanced all that outdoorsy activity with my education in pop culture--which spewed generously out of my television. there were so many cool music videos and i loved "survivor" and "young americans." but my favorite thing was the ninth season of mtv's "the real world" set in new orleans. my 12 year old self somehow lived vicariously through those seven people...feelings of joy during mardi gras, laughing at melissa's craziness, connecting with julie's naivete, drooling over danny, and singing along with david. i loved the growth of the cast by the end of the season, and the gorgeous city was a character of its own. i just had to visit there one day.

and it seems pretty silly now to think that a tv show about "seven strangers picked to live in a mansion" would partly inspire a trip to the bayou ten years later, but i'm glad it did. i am completely, hopelessly, crazily in love with new orleans. my birthday trip there was nothing short of fantastic. i'll try my best to recount the moments that made this visit as amazing as it was.

1. pocahontas and hurricanes - my first trip to "mangos" on bourbon street involved the best bartender ever. she was crass. the eff word was a-flying. she told us lots of stories, but one in particular i had to jot down. she told us about how one night some "bros" started giving her shit. two quotes come to mind from this story: "i ain't white, but I AM a ghetto bitch!" (her response to the bros) and "we gotchyo back pocahontas!" (from a supportive mob of black men surrounding the bar). classic. every time we passed that mangos i checked to see if she was in. we never saw pocahontas again, but i'll never forget her.

2. mac the black cowboy - after pocahontas's delicious hurricane, we stumbled into "the saloon" and met the emcee, a REAL black cowboy. they exist jose! somehow we ended up singing karaoke...i KILLED "everybody" by backstreet boys and we also sang "smooth" by santana and rob thomas. we met up with mac a few times over the next days, and he was a perfect gentleman :)

3. boobies and beads and booze and alligator sausage po'boys.

4. creole tomato/seafood/zydeco-cajun festival - i heart fried green tomatoes and joaquin phoenix lookalikes and dancing in the heat and exhibits about drogas. i love cafe du monde and powdered sugar and sitting next to the mississippi while watching boats go by.

5. it's okay to frequent fast food restaurants while on vacation, but don't miss out on the hole-in-the-walls.

6. break the rules sometimes...running away from the aquarium guard was seriously the most fun i've had in a while.

7. streetcars are awesome. we rode the st. charles streetcar from canal all the way through the garden district to the end, rode it back halfway, got dranks at rally's (!) and met sean the gravedigger. he gave us a tour of lafayette cemetery even though it was closed, and left us with valuable gems...quote mementos, if you will. he told us about evacuating from katrina, and he was funny as hell. sean, you made our trip. we'll try not to be gnarrrly critters!

8. 2618 st. charles ave. - "the real world" house! i geeked out to say the least. the garden district is beautiful and i want to live in a mansion there.

9. magazine street - we walked. we met tattoo artists and ate mexican food and a birthday cupcake at juan's flying burrito. we walked 3/4 of the way across my map. it was hot. and humid. and we were deliciously tuckered by the time we arrived back to the hotel.

10. preservation hall - never seen anything like it in my life. i relished sitting so close together in that small room, sweat beads forming, listening to that passionate jazz coming from those soulful men. i was a jazz music lover before, but preservation hall made me appreciate the genre and the history a hell of a lot more. i wish we had something like that here. i'm glad i went.

new orleans, lousiana is such a beautiful and resilient city. it has faced so much adversity--katrina, the oil spill--yet it does not bow down. the party continues. the people never failed to impress me with their friendliness and excitement for life. they were so helpful and sweet and funny and all around wonderful. my friends and i are in love with every single thing about the bayou and we're thinking of moving there. true story! at the very least, i'll visit many, many more times.

new orleans, you have my heart.

i officially suck...

at posting. gosh. i haven't posted in over a month! i completely got swept up in this europe business, and updating this blog seemed to be pushed to the back of my to-do list. things have been pretty intense over the last month--we finished tutorials and seminars and are now into the integral period of our semester. just a bunch of lectures, then a paper and test at the end...THE END, by the way = 16 days and i'm freaking out! i'm in love with europe, and i don't really wanna leave. being here has opened my eyes up to just how much of a bubble the states is in. i mean...even watching bbc news shows that american media is terribly censored and biased. blah. so basically...someone's gonna have to snatch me out of my bed on april 12th because it'll be a pretty depressing day.

while writing my seminar term paper, we experienced an EARTHQUAKE! (this was about a month ago...and i definitely should have written about it when it happened) so i was just sitting...talking on the phone and attempting to write about appearance vs. reality in shakespeare, when the ceiling started to shake. i thought i was going completely NUTTER so i just sat there staring at the walls, telling myself to chill out. but apparently there was an earthquake registering 4.2 on the richter scale in southeastern england that was felt in oxford. we were all freaking out though. no one died; but i think a piece of a chimney fell on someone...somewhere. my first earthquake happened in england. how sweet.

oxford quirks and when in wales...

i meant to update this blog a little more. i'll really try to...instead of writing, i tend to take photos, but i should have some words down too...let's see. since january 20th, i've mostly been doing school work and exploring the streets of oxford. i think i basically know my way around now. i really love the quirky culture around here, just a different vibe from back home. i'm beginning to crave tea and kebabs all the time, and people watching is a pretty fun (creeps?) interest. the girls love their boots and the boys love their scarves. i need to make sure i look the other way when crossing streets. there are no vending machines here...or paper towels/napkins! the bathrooms are called "toilets" and we stand in"queue" instead of line. those cute little red phone booths are called "phone boxes" and when i'm feeling a cold coming on, i'll take a lemsip and a paracetamol (haha). just add "fockin'" before every word you say, and you'll have an automatic british accent. it's true! i love the bells that ring every fifteen minutes. i track my time that way. i love gazing out the window at the beautiful oxford skyline. i'm starting to feel very comfy here. there are so many things i still need to see in oxford. as i see them, i promise to write. sometimes i feel a little isolated from the english people (just because our program is so secluded) so i'll try to do more "oxfordian" activities, just to meet some locals. like going to the ROCK PUB. it was insane, and i wish i brought my camera. we met these cute locals, who were so friendly and welcoming. they told us all about the best clubs and places the chill. we even got their digits haha. maybe we should call them sometime soon? i hearts le rock pub. that friday we made it to this local nightclub called FILTH (lol). it's located above our grocery store, sainsbury's. my friends and i were a little skeptical, but it turned out to be a great time. we danced all night--the music was great. here's a photo of the crew:

i love them! anyway...we're totally going back. we also went to christ church (the college, the actual church, and the dining hall where they filmed harry potter!) it was crazy..here are some photossssss:

i'm so glad we got to see this, and i'll definitely try to visit once more. i also saw a theatre production of "closer" (which is totally one of my favorite movies!) and it was pretty cool to see it acted out right in front of me. i couldn't help saying the lines along with them, and noticing little differences like...the guy playing dan looked a little like jude, the guy playing larry wasn't clive owen-y enough, the girl playing anna needed a bigger mouth, and the girl playing alice wasn't charmingly american like natalie haha. nevertheless, they all did a GREAT job, and i'm glad i was able to go. we went to the "cinema" that weekend too, and saw "penelope" with christina ricci. it was really cute, and james mcavoy is a new crush of mine lol. note to self: movie theatres in the uk have a very different nacho cheese than in the states. and are even more expensive.

so this past saturday we took a day trip to wales (!). 'r brydferthed caer chan caerdydd, cymru (the beautiful city of cardiff) to be exact. we had to be at the train station by 5:45am so i was a little panicky when i overslept...but it was all good, i went turbo speed and got ready in time. it took three trains and a bus before we made it to cardiff around 9:30am. little did we know, we decided to visit cardiff on the day of a HUGE rugby match: wales vs. scotland. rugby is the national sport of wales...and they are intense about it! there's a lot of pride in wales...and you can see it especially in rugby. as soon as we arrived, we were greeted by these rugger fans who were so "terribly friendly" according to courtney. i agree! check out the kilts! they were reppin' scotland...

so awesome. next we made it to cardiff castle. the tour was informative, and really neat. the castle was a remake of an older castle during the norman occupation of wales. it was remade in the 18th century and was lived in until the 1930s...it has themed rooms of different periods in history...like victorian and georgian...it was pretty cool.


after a really steep, twisty-turny climb, i made it to the top of that keep...it was pretty sweet, and we got a nice view of the cardiff skyline.

okay, so after the castle, we decided to go for lunch. everything was super crowded (because of the game), and we ended up in pizza hut. which is crazy classy in the uk haha. it was sooo nuts outside when i went to find an atm...i felt like i was being swallowed in a sea of red. scalpers were out scalping...people were wrapped in welsh flags, i had never seen anything like it. it seemed like the whole country was out in support of their rugby team. and they were really friendly to the scots too! after lunch when we were standing outside of pizza hut, we saw a troop of horses...supposedly princess anne was coming through to see the game! i didn't see her, but my friend sean did, and he was so excited! after this we shopped a little, first a gift shop where i bought a little welsh dragon. i named him idris--after a valiant giant in welsh mythology. then we went to the covered market (though no where as cute as the one in oxford) but still pretty sweet.

next we were off to the national museum cardiff. it was nice...everything was in welsh and english as usual...there was a lot of natural history there, and i liked it. but by this time, all the exploring had caught up to us--we were definitely falling asleep haha. after leaving the museum, we decided to find cardiff bay. while walking, we came across this merry-go-round, it felt so surreal:

after walking for a while, we got really confused as to where to catch the bus to the bay. we walked in circles and started to freak because we wanted to get to the bay before sunset. so paige found this chartered bus man to ask for directions. he tried to explain how to get to the bay, but gave in and decided to give us a ride there! he had an hour free, so he took us there out of the kindness of his heart. we tried to pay him, but he told us to buy a drink on him. what a niceass. wales is a country full of niceasses! so the bay was beautiful...the sun was just setting as we arrived.
there was a really neat church there where roald dahl was baptized, so they named the plaza 'roald dahl plaza' in honor of him. we basically just walked around...took pictures...chilled. it was really beautiful there, and i have to go back again. after the bay, we were ready for dinner, but the game had just ended (wales won!) and everywhere was crowded again. we were looking for some traditional welsh cuisine, but because everywhere was PACKED we had to settle for fast food. we circled st. mary's (!) street what felt like a thousand and billion times finding suitable places to eat. everyone was out on the streets...completely drunk and still excited from the big win. even the scottish fans were having fun. one thing about the streets of cardiff...NO TRASH CANS! haha, everyone was just throwing their trash around...piling them up in corners...a river of beer flowed down the streets while everyone stood in queue for chips or crowded into clubs. it was so overwhelming yet completely amazing feeling. i would trade that feeling for anything.

now here's the tricky part. our group of nine split into two groups: me, rashelle, sean, kristen and courtney...and then laura, kathryn, paige and angela were the other group. we separated cause our group needed to find food, while the other group wanted to get to the train station to wait for our train home. when my group got back to the station...the other group was no where to be found! we were really worried because we had no form of communication with them--we wanted to make sure they were safe. after searching, we concluded that they took an earlier train home, so we got on the train to bristol. OMG so, we were on a "quiet car" but not on this night...the train was full of drunken rugger fans, coming home from the game. this really nice family started talking to us...richard was the dad, and tom was the son. there were englishmen, welshmen, scotsmen...all together having a really fun time. they absolutely loved us, made us tell jokes...we even sang the american national anthem together! they were so obsessed with me and rashelle's matching hats...they even tried it on!

haha amazing. everyone was so nice...we all felt very welcome. the crew invited us to a pub in bristol since we had an hour layover there...but they seemed to skip out on us. it was fine...we decided to walk around the streets of bristol until we had to be back at the station to catch our next train. we ran right into bristol cathedral and took some photos...being in a new place is sort of like being born again, everything is completely new and fresh. your mind just snaps a billion photos a minute just to take everything in (and to keep it with you). we couldn't get a good view of bristol in the dark, and the streets were pretty empty. we ran into this guy asking for a light (which we didn't have) so he asked for a picture with us instead! so he got all of his friends together for a photo with us. turns out he was at the game too! was everyone there? here's the photo: (he was amazing)

we made it back to the station for the last train out to swindon (which would take us to two more transferring buses that we would catch back to oxford). as we're sitting on the train (for what feels like an hour) a voice says over the intercom that the train we were on had been canceled...because they couldn't find a driver! so of course we were freaking out...we got directed to a different track where there was an information booth we went to in order to tell our problem. so the guy takes a look at our tickets, gives us a sheet of paper, and tells us to go in front of the station to get a FREE cab back to oxford. AMAZING. so we skipped all the transferring buses and everything. straight ride home. the driver played a lot of hip-hop and bob marley interviews...and i felt so fulfilled haha. no other word to explain it really...i like this whole country hopping idea. so we got back around 12:30am...a full half hour earlier than we expected to be back. the other group had made it back safely, so we were glad about that. supposedly when they got into the station, it was so full of drunken rugger fans, the station people told them to get on the very next train.

so wales = one of the best days of my life! it really was a treat to see. the people were über sweet, so passionate, just...amazingly cool. if you stuck around to read all this, i commend you. this was a giant post! i'll def try and update more frequently to avoid these overwhelming posts!

how i got here...

i guess i've always been a bit obsessed with england. from watching mr. bean as a child and loving spice girls as a tween, england has always seemed like some kind of wonderfantasyland to me, complete with fish and chips, double decker buses and amazing accents. and i knew one day i'd visit. freshman year, i heard about a study abroad program my school does, the centre for medieval and renaissance studies in oxford, england. yeah, i was pretty hyped about it...so last semester i applied, and got accepted, and here i am. there were a few bumps in the road, and i didn't think i'd be able to come...but alas, fate stepped in...leading me here. i promised myself i'd start a blog once i got all settled in...and this is it!

i've been in oxford two weeks now (i can't believe it!) a few of my good friends from st. mary's are doing the program with me. i'm really glad they're here. i've met some very cool people here, friends i know i'll keep around. so far i've been to london twice--first to see the tower of london, and the second time just to sightsee. i was sort of in awe...i mean, it was something i dreamed of my whole life, and to be standing directly under big ben (!) i felt so complete.

here are a few photos:

at the tower oh london

the tower bridge

double phone boxes

just over the thames

the city of oxford is so quaint and cozy, but it's still a city, so it has many of the quirks of back home. when we arrived, there was a protest around the corner from our dorm because the city was planning on cutting down this really old tree (to build something there i guess). these people were living in the tree; they seriously decorated it and called it their home. last week, the cops swarmed it and removed the people...the tree got cut down the next day. just a little taste of oxford...i was pissed though. it was a very interesting situation, and i wonder what might have happened if it continued any longer. it made me miss st. mary's a little. gotta love social activism.

i live right in the city center...between two malls! my building is awesome...it's so oddly shaped and the colors are pretty spazzy...bright yellow and red all over. i've been to some pubs so far, and they're really neat. i love walking around here...there's so much history and culture and you can never be bored, really. the british people seem to be nice...kind of shy, but i am too...so that's something we already have in common. our program is affiliated with st. peter's college of oxford uni, so we get all the perks of an oxford student...even the *great* food!

so this is my first post! i hope to post frequently on many topics from culture shock to....british boys? haha...so look out for photos and musings and stuff. peace.