from listening to the radio in europe

I ended up hearing the radio way more in europe than in the states. and these 2 songs were my favorites. don't laugh at the Alanis Morissette... it's catchy ok.

"It is not exciting."

so this is something I've been thinking about for a while. and it might end up being long and boring but I just wanted to get it out.

I have 2 more quarters of school left (that is, if I pass these 7 classes...) and then I'm done. and then there's the question: what am I going to do after I graduate. for me, I have a vague idea. I'm really lucky in the fact that my bachelor's in computer science (fingers crossed) is good enough by itself to get a job without further schooling. so I will most likely get a job. not sure if this will be right away but sooner than later. 

maybe this is the problem but I have the kind of personality where I like to structure my life so it is at least somewhat interesting/exciting. graduating and getting a full-time job doesn't really agree with the last sentence so over the last year I started thinking of ways to change this. I randomly ran into an old neighbor of mine last winter and after talking for a while we were talking about jobs and she suggested working overseas. apparently she worked in switzerland for a couple years and it was amazing (being there and even making more money because of how much stronger their currency is). Before I was just thinking of the east coast or something but this sounded super sick. but am I just trying to make my life exciting for excitement's sake?

While I was in Europe I read Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger and it was amazing (thanks sis!). this isn't my absolute favorite quote from the book but it's really interesting.

"Did you know I may go to France this summer to make a picture?" he asked, irritably. "Did I tell you?"

Franny looked over at his back with interest. "No, you didn't!" she said. "Are you serious? What picture?"

Zooey, looking out over the macadamized school roof across the street, said, "Oh, it's a long story. Some French joker's over here, and he heard the album I did with Philippe. I had lunch with him one day a couple of weeks ago. A real schnorrer, but sort of likable, and apparently he's hot over there right now." He put one foot up on the window seat. "Nothing's final-- nothing's ever final with these guys--but I think I've got him half snowed into the idea of making a picture out of that Lenormand novel. The one I sent you."

"Yes! Oh, that's exciting, Zooey. If you go, when do you think you'd go?"

"It is not exciting. That's exactly the point. I'd enjoy doing it, yes. God, yes. But I'd hate like hell to leave New York. If you must know, I hate any kind of so-called creative type who gets on any kind of ship. I don't give a goddam what his reasons are. I was born here. I went to school here. I've been run over here--twice, and on the same damn street. I have no business acting in Europe, for God's sake."

maybe I don't have any business getting a job in London or wherever. maybe I should just get a job in the bay area and commute the hill or live there. I have no idea at this point.

But one thing that I'm sure of is how much better whatever I end up doing would be with friends. this is super corny but whatever. I love the tv show Friends. It is for sure at or near the top of my list. and the thing that makes the show great is obvious: Friends. they all live together, go to the same coffee shop, and basically do almost everything together. and I guess it helps that they are all ridiculously funny. it's beside the point that they live in new york city. I mean i guess it wouldn't have worked the same if the show was set in some small town in the midwest but you get the idea. I want to live in a situation where I'm daily interacting with friends and people I love wherever it is. Working in a great new city would be cool but if I'm there by myself with no friends maybe thats not so great. I mean obviously there's something to be said about making new friends but I just feel like that would be easier said than done with a full time job. 

maybe i'm rambling at this point. hopefully this kind of makes sense. 

the fact that I'm realizing this personality trait doesn't mean I'm going to try and block it out or something. (so if you have some exciting ideas and need a partner in crime...hit me up...haha...but seriously).

4 day weekends!

so i know everyone (all my roommates) has already had this many times but one of my fall classes' time got switched and now I have a tues/thurs schedule for the first time in my ucsd career. this means 11 weeks of 4 day weekends. this makes me happy so lets go on some weekend trips!

europe!

so i just got back from europe and I know that you're dying to hear about my travels. haha.

I was going to try and blog while I was over there but didn't for two reasons:

1) it costs money and I didn't want to pay to blog

2) i felt lame sitting on the computer when I could be seeing europe/my sister HATED it when i checked my e-mail 

anyways, here we go.

GETTING THERE

getting there was less than trivial. our flight with US Airways had a connection in Philadelphia. there were thunderstorms in philadelphia that prevented us from landing for a while and we ended up missing our connecting flight. when we finally landed (around 9pm) they told us we had to get a flight at 8:40pm the next day! this was not great news to us. we found out that there was a flight to london at 11pm that night and got on it. the woman who printed the boarding passes told us our luggage would most likely make it on the plane.

LONDON

we landed in london and were pretty stoked. we weren't that stoked when our luggage didn't show though. we talked to baggage services and they assured us that they would send the luggage to the europe address we gave them within a day or two. no problem. on with our journey to paris.

PARIS 

here are some highlights:

- luxembourg gardens

- sacre coeur cathedral 

- jim morrison's grave (pere-lachaise cemetery. pretty epic cemetery though.)

- tour eiffel

- eating at Le Temps des Cerises. so we got this local tip to eat at this restaurant in this hip, non-touristy area La Butte aux Cailles. our waiter spoke no english and the menu included zero english. my sister was able to pick off saumon (salmon) but I hate copying people's orders so I was just like whatever I'll just pick something random. boudin noir. i got it and recognized some mashed potatoes but the main thing I couldn't figure out. it was kinda like sausage but not exactly. i was later informed that it was a pig intestines filled with blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudin). nice.

THE LUGGAGE

the not so great part of paris was our luggage not being delivered. we spent lots of time on the phone and eventually made the trip to charles de gaulle airport where our luggage was. I could write a lot on this whole thing but basically we were informed that we would be without our sick backpacks (that were so kindly loaned to us), clothes, and camping equipment for our time in europe. ouch. thanks US Airways! we went to the mall right before our train to belgium and bought a tent for 31 euros, sleeping bags for 10 euros (what a steal!), some clothes, and a bag to put this stuff in. wow. off to belgium and rock werchter.

BELGIUM

this part of the trip was epic. 4 days of music from R.E.M., Neil Young, Radiohead, Beck, Lenny Kravitz (yes!), Jay-Z (yes! again), My Morning Jacket, Sigur Ros, Ben Harper, Donovan Frankenreiter, MGMT, Band of Horses, Raconteurs, Justice, etc. you can check the complete lineup here. 

- my favorite performances were Radiohead, Neil Young, and My Morning Jacket. 

- Radiohead was seriously ridiculous and I would highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance. 

- MGMT, Band of Horses, Raconteurs, R.E.M., the National, Beck, and Justice were also really sick. 

but besides just the music, the festival was so fun

- we met and camped by this really great group mostly from Barcelona

- the food was really good. french fries with mayo. soooo good.

- Kriek beer

- so many people! it took us an hour to get into the festival on the first day.

- it rained. maybe this wasn't that fun but it made things interesting...

basically I would go back for sure. so if anyone is down next summer..............

ITALY

we spent the first two days with friends of my sister's who lived in a small town outside of Milan. this time was amazing. both nights were amazing. the first night we had the pizza of my life and the gelato of my life. not a bad combo. it was really great not being a tourist for these days. the second night we had a HUGE dinner at the house. i love the way italians eat. i came to the table with my game face on and everything they brought my way I grabbed a big portion. there were two tables, the parents and their friends at one and my sister and I and her friends at one. the parents and friends didn't speak english but through my sister's friend I was informed that they were pretty down with me. they said that I could sit at their table because I ate and drank like them! this was possibly my highlight of the trip for me.

next was florence.

- climbed the duomo and scored some epic views of the city

- the duomo was hands down the best cathedral I saw

- bomb gelato

- stayed at a sweet hostel and met some cool people

and then cinque terre.

- wow.

- beach day!

- some very unfortunate food poisoning from a 60 euro dinner. ouch.

- an amazing hike between the villages on the last day.

LONDON

we lost some time along the way and were left with 1 day and 2 nights in London. so I have an excuse to go back! anyways we did a whirlwind tour of london in a day.

- Green Park was very nice 

- Big Ben

- the British Museum

- houses of parliament 

and now i'm back!

and here are the pictures.