Prequel To Europe

Let's play a quick game called guess where I am?

Hint 1: I took a plane here
Hint 2: It's part of my favourite continent
Hint 3: It's Norway's second largest city

Oh man how'd you guess Bergen Norway! Congrats you're smart!

So yes I am once again on the road. Does it seem like i was just in Europe? No. I had 7 long months of hard core work. Well not too hard core I am a full time nanny after all. The worst that I have to deal with is only children that try to make up rules in the middle of an intense Uno game... and really there are worse things in life. 

Outside of work life has been a bit stressful. I bought my tickets about a month ago and I almost didn't board the plane on Monday. Even though this trip has been in the workings since about Christmas. A family I babysit for are in Norway for 3 weeks. The father is Norwegian so they come every year and they invited me along. So I've been saving and planning on a mini Eurotrip since early January. Yet when my flight came up and I was at the airport boarding that plane was the hardest thing I've done in a while and the whole two hours I was waiting I was talking myself in and out of this trip.

Totally unlike me I know. But there are a lot of factors that play into that. 

Mainly the fact that life has sucked for two months. We found out our house is in foreclosure so that means we're losing the house. I had a lot of packing to do. I cleared out my room and packed it all up in a few weeks. Then I was helping my mum get off to Texas. Because of all the shit going down at home my parents have decided to separate. So before my mum left you can imagine how much fun (read not fun) it was to be home. My mum left for Texas 10 days before I left. It hit me then that I in fact had a whole house to pack up....

Which I did not. 

I packed a good portion emptied a lot furniture of all sorts of crap. Then left my room in a state of nearly packedness (read shit-hole). I should have done more and I feel guilty about that but I tried. Honestly. But shit was it stressful to think of all the things I had to do before leaving and the fact that I will never be going home to that house ever again. All that is just gone... Thinking about it just weighs me down....

And I'd met a guy before I left. We really only started seeing each other right before I left aka talking for almost a month but meeting up for barely over a week. But sometimes things just click even when you don't expect them too. And being a girl I over think a lot of things in the guy department for better or for worse. That over thinking still played into my thoughts as I waited for my plane. But I remembered something he said and did my best not to let thoughts of him weigh on the decisions to board on not to board....

I boarded that plane on Monday. I've got a whole bunch of mixed up feelings about it all. 

Did I run away? Of course. You'd think being 24 would make me a mature adult and I'd think about someone other then myself. But these last few months have really disillusioned me on a variety of topics. 

When I bought my ticket last month I was planning on just flip flopping around Europe for as long as my money lasted. I have no return ticket but I have plans for the next few months. But now that I'm actually here with a bit less money then I thought it all seems a bit (read REALLY) suffocating. So am I second guessing things? Fuck yeah I am. I'm rethinking a lot of things. 

Rethinking is a good brain exercise in some areas. Like the fact do I want to skip out of Europe in a few weeks and head to Thailand? Because the tickets are cheap from Oslo are $214 and home from Bangkok are only $645. See so cheap!!!!! 

But if I did I'd be skipping out on seeing another family that I babysit for. They're moving to Kinsale Ireland and I'd love to see them! But they don't know when they'll be over so that adds a bit to my hesitance to make plans. Because I totally want to see them. 

I know I thrive on no plans and crazyness and slapping last minute things together but some how this time is different. I can't put my finger on it.

 At the same time that I'm feeling confused and angsty I'm having a blast in Bergen. It's such a cute city. I hiked up Floyen yesterday. Tomorrow I'm doing a 6ish hour hike from Ulriken to Floyen then back down to city centre. It looks epic, fingers crossed I have good weather. I loved walking around city centre today and seeing the cathedral. 

So I legit have these two feelings of being happy that I'm traveling and enjoying it but also feeling like I've forgotten something really important. It puts me on edge and I can't quite shake it. 

Will I be home in a month? In Poland? I have a job offer at a hostel there, I have to confirm details next week. Or will I head to Ireland? Or will I fly across the world to Thailand? 

I have no clue and it's exciting and suffocating at the same time. I guess I have a lot of thinking and praying and soul searching to do. Gosh that sounds cliche but I always use travel for such things.

Till I decide I'm doing my best to live it up in Norway!



Hang tight a blog post on how much I actually love Bergen is coming soon (read an hour or two)! Pictures and all!!

Cheers,

12 Flights 7 Weeks: Merzouga

My next stop was one that I had actually been looking forward to. I had booked myself into a swanky Kasbah in Merzouga. It was actually the only destination that I had planned out for ahead of time.

In order to get to Merzouga I had to take the bus there. It was a 12 hour bus ride. Luckily I was prepared with my manuscript to edit and my journal to update. But damn was it tedious. Not to mention driving through the High Atlas mountains around hairpin turns..

Seriously we just drove that road. But there were some pretty cool things to be seen.

And we drove through the town where they filmed Lawrence of Arabia and Kingdom of Heaven.

And I was horrified to walk into the bathrooms at a rest stop only to find this…

But apparently it’s totally normal. It wouldn’t be my last run in with a Turkish toilet in Morocco.

All in all despite chucking out a whole day for travel it was worth it. 

I was picked up at the bus station by my Kasbah. If you’re looking for a fantastic Kasbah for not a ton of money check out KasbahMohayut. When I checked in I was like could I please have tea in my room, BAM tea in my room! And it was a very swanky room!!

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the bathroom. The shower was huge! I could stretch my arms out and not touch the sides! And the hot water!!!!

The first thing I did was throw a tiny fit of joy and jumped on the bed, looked out my window then took a shower. I had to throw on this song… 

It just seemed appropriate to rock out too.

It was a comfy night of going to sleep early and cuddling my pillows! 

The next morning I woke up earlyish (and did not make my bed!), after all I wanted to have breakfast! And damn was it a good breakfast. There was bread and jams and French toast and candied nuts and the best part… fresh orange juice!!

Next I walked around the Kasbah because I wanted to see how cool it actually was.

I walked up to the roof terrace and I was looking around…

I spotted some camels…

I was rather unimpressed…

Until holy shit it hit me! 

That was the Sahara desert! Like right there! I silently swooned at the fact that I was legitimately at the edge of the desert!

And even though it was the end of November it was pretty warm and I wanted to swim…. So I did!!

I mean come on I swam at the edge of the Sahara! And speaking of the Sahara the reason I had booked the Kasbah was because you have an option of spending the night in their desert camp and you get to ride a camel out there!! I’ll get to that in the next post. Because I’ll be posting tons of pictures and all sorts of fun shit.

So I spent the night in the desert and then I had to decide where I was going next. I had a warm shower, breakfast with my Canadian friends, then went back for a short nap before check out time.

After checking out I hopped on my phone to try and decide what was up. I had just heard back from a host in Azrou but getting there was going to be a trek and I didn’t want to spend 9 days in Fez and I was getting anxious and worked up so I took a deep breath and calmed down. I decided whatever happened was going to happen. So I called Zak, my host in Azrou and he told me how to get there. I was taking the 8pm bus from Merzouga to Fez but it stopped in Azrou at about 1am. 

Once that was all settled I decided to take a walk about in the dunes because come on I totally needed some kick ass pictures of me being epic in the desert. I found a nice warm spot to do some editing. I was going to journal but it was too damn hot, what did I expect though I was in the Sahara!

I was walking back from the dunes and the owner of the Kasbah was headed back on the four wheeler from the desert camp. He stopped and offered me a ride. It was pretty bad ass to zoom through the dunes!

Then I hung out in the common area where I could get wifi and talk to my parents and swoon over the fact that I had slept in the desert and climbed a dune and got a picture of a shooting star and it was amazing. I also got to hag out and talk to other guests. I met a newly wed couple from Newark, Delaware! And I was so psyched because I hadn’t met any Americans since leaving the states and it’s always a little bit fun to meet an American from a neighbor state while abroad. They were debating about not going to the desert camp and I was like you have to go. Your ass is going to be sore but it’s amazing, not to mention it has a western style bathroom with running water. That sold it to the wife. Then we swapped tips because they were going to Marrakech and I’d just left while they had just left Fez and I’d be there soon.

One last very funny thing about my stay was the fact that well apparently solo travelers in Morocco are rare. And the Kasbah was full of couples! Did I feel lonely? Nah, I had Geronimo. Plus it was really funny to see people’s faces when they’re like who are you here with and I’m like just me!

That night my Kasbah dropped me off at the bus station and had arranged for my ticket which was stellar and so damn easy! And it was time for my next adventure! But before we get to the crazy Azrou adventure it’s the Sahara post!

Just to tease...

Cheers,

Travler's Eve

On the eve of my departure for 22 days of European Adventure I’d like to reflect a bit. First off I’m so freaking excited about leaving. It’s like I’ve been let free from a cage. I’ve felt so listless in life since the summer. But when I got my job at Dunkin I felt better but still wanted to do something more. Then I decided to go to Europe and suddenly I had something worth looking forward too and I’ve been so excited about it.

Now my trip is upon me. I’m packed and my plans are made. Check out my map of fun!

I’m so excited to be striking out on my own again. And when I get home… well that’s another post for later. But I doubt I’ll be feeling listless when I get back, I’ll be too busy.

SO the moral of the story. I probably won’t be posting till I get back later in January. So Happy New Years to all!

This song popped in my head as I was writing this post so here it is. This is for my mum. Thanks for never holding me back in life!



 Cheers,

Life Creeps In

I once knew a wise girl. Everything that happened in her life, the good, the bad, the awkward and unseen were all “Part of the Plan.” It didn’t matter what happened to her she’d shrug it off and say that it was in the Plan. This inspired her friends and perhaps aggravated her parents. While she was alive and I knew her a bit I simply assumed she had a plan, some grand way paved through life. It made me a tad jealous as she was four years younger then me. Then last October she was in a fatal car crash. I heard the news while I was waiting for my plane in the Madrid airport, it hit me real hard for a few reasons. 1-I’d been praying for her since the accident had happened 2 days before. 2- it was the day before my friend Tucker’s third anniversary of his death. 3- she was real young. But maybe this was in her plan too. It was only after her passing and learning more about her through various channels that I realized the real Plan was to have no plan.


That’s the best kind of plan I could ever think of. If you have no plan there’s no disappointment if something falls through. And lately I’ve had a lot fall through in my life. First London and being deported. And most recently the Coast Guard. I found out last month my physical wasn’t up to their standards and I got declined. That sent me into my most recent funk of ruined dreams. Along with a pile of personal life fall throughs. So I’ve been sulking about the house for a while now not knowing what to do or where to go in my life. I’d made the mistake of having a Plan.


Having a plan seems to be my constant downfall. Because I think of all the doors that have been opened when I didn’t plan them too. Silly me though I kept making plans. I’ve been telling myself since I got deported that I don’t want to go back to school. Why? Quite frankly it was boring a hell. My mistake there though, I chose a majors I loved and knew a lot about so naturally I was relearning things I’ve known since high school. I’ve been entertaining going back to school for a week or so now on a pre-med track but all the majors were something I knew about and I didn’t fancy any of them. And just today it dawned on me that maybe I just needed  major I knew absolutely nothing about. So I started looking around at unis. I looked at places my friends had been too/are at. And low and behold I found something that was real cool sounding and I knew nothing about it. Neuroscience. Legitimate sounding right? All I know is what I read on the uni sights, it’s the study of the brain. So clearly if I know nothing about it I’m going to be motivated to attend class, learn and graduate. I’ll have to study since I’m clueless as to what it is. It’s going to be a challenge… something I’ve been dying for since… well years it seems. I left middle school assuming High School would be hard. It wasn’t. So I turned my sights to university and again I was let down to my flaw of planning and choosing something I could easily pass.


Now I’ve got a Life Non-Plan to apply to a few schools to be a Neuroscience Pre-health major. I’m not planning on graduating or getting in. I’m done planning. The Plan is to have no plan. So from now on everything is going to be a part of The Plan.. Confusing right? The Plan is no plan… but catchy and easily achieved. So wish me luck as I stumble toward the horizon and my Life Non-Plan… whatever it really is.






Cheers,

A Medley of Recent Events

What have I been up to lately? I’ve been up to a decent amount of this and that. So strap in and be ready for a nice long post of… everything really. Pictures, Music, and lots of words!


First things first I’d like to rant on and on about...

the Coast Guard. I got my ASVAB scores back. I scored an 87!! Turns out that means I can do any job in the Coast Guard that I want. I’m going to stick with Operation Specialist because I think I’d never get bored. Each case would be different and just as exciting as the last. What does an OS do? Well on my sheet it says “The primary duties range from search and rescue and law enforcement execution to combat information canter and intelligence operations.” Pretty cool right? My recruiter is also an OS so he’s been able to tell me a lot about the job. He also told me I get to go to Petaluma California for my OS A School. That’s super exciting for me, I’ve never been to the west coast. It gets even cooler, Petaluma is an hour north of San Francisco.  EPIC! And there’s a lot I’ll be able to explore out there when I have time off. Then after about 7 months of A School I get sent off to my first post! I can’t tell you how excited I am. And since my scores were really good and I don’t have medical issues it makes me pretty cool…. I think. Haha. But my recruiter wants me shipped by October which means I need to be done with basic before then sooooo since Basic Training is 8 week I’ll be leaving soon for that and oh man is that mind boggling. I’ll be done with this life style and moving onto a new path. Check out this video about basic… for some reason when I watch it it makes me inspired and even more excited about leaving.

An added bonus of going to see my recruiter is the fact that he’s in Manhattan aka New York City aka one of my most favorite places. This means when I go in to see him I get to spend that day in the city with my mum after I sign papers and what not. The first time we just did the normal wander around the city eat sushi and just enjoy our selves. Oh and take a lot of pictures

We also went to the native American Museum.

But I suppose that should be a blog of it’s own. It’d make this one way too excessively long. But I will tell you it was pretty interesting.


The second time we went in which was last Wednesday I got to sign lots and lots of papers. A tad boring but I’m a few steps closer to being off on a new adventure. After that we grabbed a cab to Sheridan Square found some lunch and hit up a metaphysical store. I got some nifty stones… hmm maybe I should blog about my stones… maybe. Any how after that we started walking up town.


Here’s where it gets epic. My mum has been say how she want to see Jesus Christ Superstar. So we looked up the matinee times. 2:00pm. We were at 28th street and I googled the theater… we had to get to 52nd street in about 23 minutes. I look at my mum and I’m like we going for it? And she obviously said yes. So we booked it to the theater. Got there at legitimately 1:59pm walked to the ticket window asked if they still had tickets for the show. We buy our last minute tickets for a total of $175 we go in to sit and this is what we see

EPICNESS!! We were in the first row of the mezzanine. We’d barely settled into our seats when the lights went down and it started. It was so amazing. Check out some of these videos. Josh Young who plays Judas has an amazing voice!



Hopefully I’ll be going back into the city this week!


And now onto some writing stuff. Remember I had my first book published by Publish America when I was a senior? Well…. About those royalties… I never got paid. So I’m getting my rights back. I’d really like to rant on about how angry I am at Publish America but that’s childish… so I’ll just leave you with the fact that I’m super angry with them. When I’ve signed all the paperwork and I officially own my novel rights again I plan on doing more edits (as it’s a rather bland book) and I’m going to release it again as an Ebook. So good news to people who have a hard copy… it’s the only hard copy ever. Cheers!


Also on the Ebook tangent. I’m reworking Entangled Fates a bit and that too is going to come out as an Ebook soon. So stay tuned! I’m really super excited about this all! And it’s nice to be back in the swing of writing and editing. I really got kicked out of the rhythm for a while.


Plus remember Crimson Clashed with Ivory? I’ve also been doing serious work on it. I’ve just been pounding through chapters. For me the part that makes it fun is the fact that the places I’m having them Hunt in are places I’ve been. Like Limerick, Ireland. Rome, Italy. And I’ve got a few of my friends playing roles… like my Spanish Sister has a leading role in Limerick. It makes it easy to write when I base parts of my characters off friends because I simply think “What would they say in this situation?” And at da hilarious monologues.


While I write I like to listen to music. Here are a few of the songs I’ve been listening too.


^Where I Belong by Building 429^  
^Little Eye covering Katy Perry's Part of Me^
^We Are Young by Fun.^
^Walk Off The Earth preforming Little Boxes^


Cheers,

Song Time

First off-- Happy New Year everyone! I hope you make all your dreams come true!


Second off-- I thought I’d share a few songs that I’ve been writing to lately.

Third off -- I leave for Ireland in 15 day! Whoot! So be prepared for an excessive amount of pictures and good tales. I pretty much finished my packing and I’ve moved out of my room. The only stuff left in it is going abroad with me! Yay!

So now onto the songs, enjoy!











 



Laters,

Pictures and music funness

Get ready for a fun blog of pictures and music!



First, a lovely picture of my current outline for the Quest Quartet…. Although it might not be a quartet much longer.

Spiffy right. I felt the need to tell my roommate what it was so she wouldn’t think I was crazy. And it is quite small since I have no intention of moving my posters that continue to fall off my wall… most of them are staying so I decided not to move them. But any way this is a lot nicer cause I can sit at my desk and work at it.

Now today I logged into my AIFS account to see if all of my application was received and low and behold…

The most rewarding sight I’ve seen in a while. Everything was received and a few hours after I checked I got an email saying I was accepted by AIFS to study abroad all I need to do now is wait while the University of Limerick decides on if they want me or not. But I’m pretty confident that I’ll get in.
Now I’ve had a bunch and a bunch of stuff happening lately. You know the whole scramble to apply to study abroad. Then a few mind-terms and now *drum roll* I’m applying to transfer to London Metropolitan University. Cool right? They have a forensics program and I can get a “joint-degree” aka a double major. Which I’ve just registered for at Kean, funny cause I’m leaving soon. And I have a job now. I’ll be babysitting about 15 minutes off campus for the same kids I do aver the summer. So this meant I needed a car so my brother brought home the car and I drove to school today. It was super weird driving myself cause normally my mum takes me back (I did have her write me directions). I knew what the route looked like I just didn’t know all of the exit names/numbers. But I got back and got pretty much the closet spot someone parking overnight can get. It’s right on the barrier that you’re supposed to park behind. So I was excited. When I got to my dorm I ended up reading a post by The Oatmeal (if you don’t know the site visit it NOW!). And this comic I totally get cause I wish it were true.

^Not mine! Just copied and pasted fromt The Oatmeal^
And now just for a few songs I’ve been addicted to lately. Enjoy!



And one last thing.... my new mug!!
Laters,