breakin the promise

I swore to myself that I wouldn't ever write a sad/angry/un-comically whiny blog, but I'm breaking that vow today. I have to say. I just miss the South. I miss Wake. I even miss (am I really saying this?) Concord, NC.

The South: I miss the place where people can honestly be proud of taking a week off of work and going to camp out in an RV outside a car racing track. I miss walking into Bojangles, or driving up to Cookout, and (in English) ordering a tea, and knowing that it will be sweet even if I don't say it or biscuits, and not get crackers or something of the sort. I miss the place where ACC basketball is second only to church in devotion and Tobacco Road is the only way to get anywhere important. I miss the place where saying "Y'all" doesn't get you stared at. I miss knowing that I can get to church anytime and in any city and people will welcome me with open arms and a huge meal immediately following the service. I miss having girls expect me to open a door for them and at least OFFER to pay for their meal. I miss seersucker, madras, Rainbows, Croakies, tucked-in Polos, and South Carolina belts. I miss having friends who can point at the homes where their families have lived for more than 100 years. I miss hearing sayings that you've never used before in your life (I'm as full as a tick on a hound) but also knowing EXACTLY what they mean. I miss everything that Charleston, SC represents. I miss the place where the argument isnt Coke vs. soda vs. Pop, but where everyone knows it's Coke and the argument is which Coke is better, Pepsi or Coke. I miss the place where Carolina is UNC, USC is South Carolina, UT is Tennessee, State is NC State, and the biggest rivalries are undeniably USC-Clemson and UNC-Duke. I miss fried chicken, corn dogs, hush puppies, pecan pie, and chicken pot pie. And I honestly miss the Bible Belt.

Wake: I miss knowing that we are, overall, the best institution of higher learning in North Carolina, if not the South. I miss turning up our nose at those public school Carolina kids or the ugly, introverted Dookies and pretending like NC State doesn't even exist. I miss wearing yellow-and-black tie-dye like it's going out of style, and not being ashamed in the least. I miss tailgating for football games like we are about to win the national championship. I miss girls in Lily and guys in shirts and ties. I miss rolling the Quad. I miss staying up until 5am writing the paper that should have been finished before your 2:30am Cookout run. I MISS THE 106!!! I miss clapping and screaming "Oh here's to Wake Forest..." I miss hearing mumbling throughout the alma mater and being shaken by the sheer volume of "MOTHER SO DEAR!" I miss the fact that Winston Salem refuses to be a college town. I miss seeing the leaves fall on the Quad. I miss 24-hour rooms in Tribble. I miss camping out for basketball games. I miss the feeling inside the Joel that gives me goosebumps every time the student section starts to cheer. I miss complaining about the Pit while we eat ourselves into oblivion. I miss the Loop, Hero House, Rose's, Mi Pueblo, La Carretta, and every other slum we go eat at. I miss getting fratted out for Bell Brothers and being eye-molested by Peaches and slowly clogging my arteries with maccaroni juice. And I miss friends. That's all. Take me back there.

oh here's to WAKE FOREST!!!

Before I begin, let's take a moment to reflect on the awesomeness that is WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY. Of our fall sports:
1. Girl's field hockey finished #2 in the nation.
2. Men's soccer is in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.
3. Football is going to the ACC CHAMPIONSHIIIIIIIIIP!!!!!!
I frickin love my school.

Well, the last week, the family was here, which was, obviously, amazing. They got here last Monday night, and we went to my apartment to pick up some stuff. Chace and I walked to the apartment and everyone else waited on us. Well, when Chace and I went back to meet them, we walked to the wrong corner and, because my family didn't have a Spanish cell phone, we were lost for two hours. Clearly, my parents were freaking out and they didn't know what to do, so they went back to the house we rented 30 minutes outside of town, found my phone number, and called me almost in tears. Classic. They thought we had been murdered or kidnapped. I, however, thought they were lost or carjacked. It was awesome. But, after that, everything was great. We went to the house, which was amazing and beautiful. I got to stay there for the week, which I loved. My brother and sister came with me to class the first day, but Chace just fell asleep in the middle of the class while Caitlen observed and/or criticized the people around us. Haha. I have taught her so well. Tuesday, we went to the Plaza Ayuntamiento and looked around and shopped a little. Then we went to meet my madre and her son. We went to the apartment and there the awkwardness began. Clearly, my madre doesn't speak a word of English and my parents don't speak anywhere near enough Spanish to communicate. So, I was lucky enough to serve as translator for a few hours, which is awesome becuase I can't understand what the crap Maria says half the time. My mother noticed that when she speaks to me and I don't understand, she rolls her eyes and walks away. So caring. She took us to a porcelain store. Thrilling, huh? I got to translate words about porcelain figurines. I thought I was going to just pull my tongue out of my mouth and end the whole thing there. Then, we went to get some horchata, which is this weird ice-creamy drink thing in Valencia. It was cool, but there was much more interpreting to be done. Love it. The next day, while I was in class, they went to this museum all day, which they loved. Thanksgiving rolled around and IT. WAS. AMAZING. Julie Ann came in town and Evan and Bethany came over and we had turkey and pork and ham and corn and mashed potatoes and buttered toast and broccoli casserole and sangria and agua de Valencia and Bailey's and coffee and chocolates and cake. Ooooooooooh I want more. Let me just say, going back and having another plate of paella made me sooo unhappy. We also jerry-rigged the iPod and iTrip to work over the radio here, setting it on top of a pile of books and a lampshade. So don't worry, we had Christmas music throughout the house the whole time. Yessss. The next day, me, JA, and the fam went to El Saler, which is supposed to be this really nice town. Umm... it wasn't. It was kinda gross, actually. So... we left. Oh... this third world country. Julie Ann left on Saturday and we ended up going to this amazing village. Oops. Oh yeah, and the fam left on Sunday, but not before we found out that WAKE IS GOING TO THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!! I loooooooooove the Demon Deacons! Oh, and I'm coming home 4 days early. Yesssssssssss.

oh hey.

This is a long blog. It's about London and Paris. But, I think it's funny. Oh, and there are new pictures on Facebook and Webshots.

London

Ok, so I clearly have been neglecting the little blog. In the last few weeks, I have done some serious traveling… not to brag. I went to London two weeks ago and it was amazing. I got in on Friday around 1:30 pm London time and headed to my hostel, which took about two and a half hours, due to ridiculous transportation difficulties (i.e. my Tube train getting shut down half way through my journey and having to go back and start it all over again… awesome). I finally got there and got dropped off in the middle of South Kensington. Luckily, due to the fact that I was alone, it was a really nice, clean, rich area. So, I found my hostel and put my stuff down. Josh was already there and it was nice to see a friendly face. I put on some cooler clothes because it was frickin cold outside and we waited for Drew, Cassie, and Alex. The hostel was nice, but I was angry (weird, huh?) because the pound totally poops on the dollar. Ugh. Who do they think they are? Just get the Euro… jerks. So, we headed over to visit Emily Seawright and Elizabeth Johnson, then went and changed in preparation for the night. We went to dinner at this burger place and then went to see “Evita.” The show was great. The main girl’s voice was really on-and-off, but I liked the show overall. Sitting by Josh, as usual, was an exercise in vocal reactions to vocal performances. Hearing “mm-MM!” and “You betta SANG!” in the middle of a West End production came to seem commonplace to me by the end of the weekend. After “Evita,” we went and bought chips and drinks at the grocery store, went to Drew’s apartment, and watched “The Office.” Awesome. The next day, Josh and I met Elizabeth Johnson early and bought tickets to “Wicked.” We went to eat at Burger King and Josh left my camera on the table. When I realized it, he had the gall to say to me, “That’s what you get when you let me carry it.” Clearly, our friendship almost ended at that point. But, my camera was fine. After that, we did sightseeing, which was fun, but… I am an awful traveler, because not much impresses me anymore. I’m like, “Cathedral? Been there. Palace? Done that. Ugly teeth? Welcome to this continent.” Then, we saw the show. Idina Menzel and her incredible jaw rocked my life. I met her afterwards. She spoke to me, saying… “You’re welcome.” There was a definite connection, I just felt it. So, expect to hear about a divorce from Taye Diggs soon. Me and that jaw are going to spend a happy future together. After the show, I watched the Wake game with Ashley Eldridge as we destroyed the Seminoles 30-0. I hate Florida State. The next day, we went to church at Hillsong London, which was incredible. Then, I went to catch my flight that night, only to find that I had missed it by two hours. Long story short, I had to buy a new ticket, spend the night in the London airport ALONE, and I cried for three hours straight. Oh yeah, and I stood in line for 10 minutes to buy a ticket home to America. I was like, “I’ll just fly back with my family next week.” Great logic, right? Oh yeah, and I didn’t tell my mom until a week and a half later. Oops.

Paris

I don’t ever want to be quoted on this, but Paris may have been my favorite place I have visited. Don’t get me wrong. My distaste for the French is clearly still at a steady “A lot” and I think Jacque Chirac is a tool and a half, but the city was freakin incredible. Well, I didn’t think so from the beginning. When we got there, we went to our hostel. We stepped out of the metro station and looked around, bewildered and scared. There were neon flashing lights, illegal cigarette vendors, trash everywhere, and a smelly chill in the air (yeah… a smelly chill). I looked around and was ecstatic to be standing in what appeared to be the red light district. We later found out that the Moulin Rouge was close to our hostel. Go figure. We started looking around for our hostel and I jokingly pointed at a building with neon lights on it and was like, “We are staying in the porn shop.” Well, as luck would have it, that building was, in fact, not a porn shop. It was our hostel. Well, we entered the front door to see signs saying, “Please do not leave anything valuable in your room.” How comforting. We checked in after the guy went next door to get change (what an efficient operation) and headed up to our room. Luckily, we had a four person room and a nice, non-stealing German girl as our roommate. We went and got pizza and went to sleep. The next day, we totally dominated Paris, starting with the Arc d’Triumph. We went all over the city, seeing everything. We spent about three and a half hours just staring at the Eiffel Tower. That night we went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. It was so awesome seeing all that. Chrissie was a ridiculously good tour guide. That night for dinner, we walked around for a while looking for a place and eventually stumbled on this baked potato restaurant. Amazing, and vaguely American. The next day, we again dominated sightseeing, hollering at Notre Dame and other random famous places. We saw Sacre Cour and drank hot wine, which I was skeptical of, but enjoyed. We saw Andie and her mom, who looks and acts like Molly Shannon. We also stopped and took a picture with our waiter at the restaurant who looked like Little Richard. We told him that he looked like me and Evan’s best friend from America, and Evan repeatedly called him Little Richie. That night, we saw this amazing photo exhibit and then went to dinner at this Italian place, where we ate… steak. Normal, right? Then, we had plans to go out, but to no avail. We got tired… and tried to find a cab in the rain for 45 minutes. We thought we found one, but then a woman behind us pointed out that there was a long line of about 50 people. Evan turned around and slowly transforming from his normal voice to that of a large black woman, said, “Oh y’all are standing in a… a line? Y’all is crazy as anything? Y’alls crazy. What is wrong wich y’all muh’s? Das ridiculus.” The people who understood English either laughed or just stared while me, Chrissie, and Bethany cried laughing. We woke up the next morning at 5:25 with the intention of leaving at 5:45, only to find that the front door was locked and the man behind the desk was nowhere to be found. I pounded on the desk with an empty glass orange juice bottle and went behind the desk to search for keys, to no avail. We eventually decided to make as much noise as possible, in hopes of him coming out, which he finally did with a half-smile on his face. I almost punched him square in the throat. He let us out, and we returned to Valencia triumphantly.

yes. yes. yes.

Yes. It is over. Britney Spears is single again. I found out this morning, and it just made my day, especially since I was furious before that because I did not have hot water this morning for some unexplained reason. And after waiting for 20 minutes to no avail, I turn on the news to see that, thanks to unprecedented inadequacy, the Republicans have lost control of (most likely) both houses of Congress. Ugh. But... Britney. So, I'm a little happier. And... I have an extra story to add to my last post. I forgot this one. Julie Ann, Drew, and I were walking down a big street in Valencia this weekend, and a man stopped me. He asked me in Spanish if I speak English, so I said yes. Then he asked me if I liked cocaine. I thought I must have heard him wrong, so I said, "Umm, cocaine?" and he says, "Yes. A number of grams I don't remember and can't guess because I know nothing about cocaine prices for only 50 euros." And Drew, trying to be so incredibly helpful, starts laughing behind me and goes, "Yeah. That's a GREAT price. Do it, Shay." Then, I switched back to Spanish and told the guy, "I don't need anything. Thank you, though." Then we walked away, a little stunned. Yay for random drug offers.

Oh... and happy birthday to Evan. We are celebrating tonight. And in honor of his 21st birthday, Evan give an "I'm fully legal, ladies!!!" hollerback shoutout to:

1. the Spanish Siesta
2. Pepe at Plaza Redonda
and...
3. the homeless man in the Foot Locker jersey who begs outside of his window.
That is all.

que guay

I have realized that it's hard being this cool. I mean... I have a blog. Like, I keep an online journal and beg people to read it. You might have missed the memo, but that makes me pretty much awesome. Or sad. Regardless, this was a good weekend. A really good weekend. Julie Ann and Drew came to visit. And clearly, it was a mini-106 reunion. I mean, we pretty much talked about last year the entire weekend. It was great. Julie Ann got here on Thursday and I picked her up from the train station. We met her friend Leila, who is awesome and went to her place, where Julie Ann was staying. It was a really nice apartment and I was jealous. Because I live in a closet. No big deal. Julie Ann and I walked from Leila's apartment over to the center of the city, which is about an hour walk. No big deal. It was raining. We are cool. We didn't even need a freakin paraguas (umbrella... get it right). We are that cool. So, we met up with Evan at this place called VIPS, which we had eaten at before. But, apparently this time, they thought that they should take advantage of us because we are Americans. It was awesome. They lied to us about the cost of a second thing of chips and cheese, and then charged us full price. Evan, Julie Ann, and I were all yelling at the manager lady in Spanish, which I think surprised her. But not enough for her to change it. So we filled out a complaint form, made her bring us the chesse we didn't order but paid for, and then dumped it on a plate in protest. I know... we are so bad-a. I'm surprised we didn't just burn the building down to make a point. Well, I tried. Whatever. Friday, I skipped class and hung out with Julie Ann and wrote a paper. That evening, it was still raining, so she and I went to Leila's apartment to wait for Sweet Drew. We turned on the TV and... on MTV... in English... was "Date My Mom" and "Parental Control"!!!!!!!!! We almost peed our pants. I mean, what kind of a 106-type reunion is complete without trashy MTV reality shows? It was a-may-sing. Then, we went to meet Drew at his hostel, which was really nice. We all went to meet people from SPU to go out, but ended up leaving everyone else and going to get Italian food. Of course, I spilled olive oil and vinegar on my shirt. I was so excited, to say the least. Then, we walked around, met people, left them again, and essentially just walked in the rain for an hour talking. It was fun and wet. The next day, we met Drew at his hostel and took him around Valencia, showing him all the pretty places... and the music store. Then, of course, it started raining right when we met Evan and Dan Couch. So, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. They were rude to us. This seems to be a trend in my life. Then, we went down to the America's Cup port and saw overpriced clothing and model sailboats. Changed my life. That night, me, JA, Drew, and Leila went to that 14 euro place and hung out for like 2.5 hours there. It was sooooooo much fun. Then, we went to Castillo, the bar down the street and I drank 3 bottles of water. Not to brag, but I'm not a lightweight. Hahaha. And then, we went home. We met the next morning to take Julie Ann to the train station. And that afternoon, I took Drew to the airport shuttle. And now I'm alone again. I mean, Evan is here. So I'm not really alone. But... I miss those two kids. That's all.

yessssssss...

Apparently these troops "kept their grades up" enough to know how to make John Kerry look like even more of an idiot. Not that he needed much help. He did a good job himself.

i am going to be kidnapped... now.

Yes. I am feigning a kidnapping. That way, when I get back and don't have my 5 page or 1.5 page papers that are due on Friday, my teachers won't care. Instead, they will give me A's without the paper just to applaud my incredible bravery and strength that made themselves apparent in surviving such a tragic, traumatic ordeal. Dang, this is a good idea. Why haven't I been kidnapped before now? Clearly, I am not enjoying working. But things are about to get better as Julie Ann gets here in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Holler. I have to get back to work, but I do have a quick story from this morning. I get up to take a shower. Here in my shower, the shower head is not attached to the wall. It's one of those ones that's able to be removed from the wall. However, the little wall-attacher thing has been broken and Maria doesn't care to replace it, so showers are done with shower-head-in-hand. Mildly awkward, but whatever. Today, I turn on the water and begin showering, and all of a sudden, the thing where the water comes out with all the little holes FLIES OFF! It drops to the floor and makes a loud noise and I yell really loud. So, I am sure Maria woke up. Then, I spent the next 10 minutes trying to reattach it unsuccessfully. Of course, nothing works for me. So I finish my shower by literally just using the broken shower head to pour water on me. Yay for now water pressure. Then, I haphazardly reattach the shower head thingie and leave the bathroom. I have spent the last 6 hours praying that Maria will think it is her fault when she turns the shower on. That way, I will wake up tomorrow with all 10 toes. Cause I have this feeling that if she blames me, I can kiss my big toe goodbye. So... we shall see tomorrow. Ok, back to work.