Paris

I think I mentioned before that I did not want to go to Paris.  This is based largely on stereotypes that exist in my own mind about French people.  Basically I feel VERY rude for going to Paris without any French-language fluency.  Also, yeah, I think those guys are angry and rude.  And don't like tourists.  I said it.

But hey.  My boyfriend told me he was going there, so I made it happen.  His parents were also with us.  So not quite as romantic as you might think.  Got a nice lecture on cultural differences from his father.

 February till August... finally got to see him again. Holding hands nearly killed me I think.  Overdose.

 Mona Lisa at the Louvre... biggest celebrity in Europe.

 LOUUUUVRE. (next three are Notre Dame Cathedral.)

 We're so cute. Put a lock on it.  (also cliche.)

 Arc de Triomphe.  Paris is just a big art gallery. head to toe.

cute, cute, we are cute.

Valencia

The good thing about the end of my trip was I only stayed with people I already knew.  This saved me from the burnout.

Hitched a ride on blablacar, (an amazing rideshare website mostly for Europe).  My driver accidentally picked up the wrong person.... asked her if she was Amy, she said yes.  Turns out she was a sex-worker.  whoo hooo. They realized that pretty quickly and came back to the bus station to get me.

Valencia.  Had to cut my time here in half because my boyfriend informed me that he'd be in Paris in four days.

Went to the "Bulls in Silla" festival.  Also spent a lot of time on the beach, and practiced Spanish.

My friend Isa, who I met in Thailand, hosted me.

 PAELLAAAA. Best Spanish food. Ever.

 View from our apartment. Ocean.

 (Conversation in Spanish)
"Come over here! She's English!"
"She's NOT English. She's American."
"Well... Same thing. She speaks English."

 Sunset on the lake.

 Sunrise the next morning on the Ocean.

 So basically the bulls just run through the town and everyone jumps behind the bars (in red here) when they get close.

 Except these idiots.

Barca

By the time Barcelona rolled around I was mostly burnt out.  It didn't help matters that my first night spent in the hostel there was interrupted at 3 AM by two people having EXTREMELY LOUD SEX.  

Something very important to remember.  If you can book a co-ed room in a hostel I def recommend it. If for instance someone is listening to music or talking on the phone, you can count on the dudes in the room to yell at them.

When I was in Barcelona I stayed in an all girls room, 16 beds.  Although the loud sex woke everyone up NO ONE except me told them to shut up.  They didn't shut up anyways.  

I still get angry when I think about it.  Drunk people who are also inconsiderate are the WORST.

Anyways! I laid around a lot in Barcelona but managed to drag myself out of bed for a walking tour which was really awesome.  Every bit as good as the Amsterdam walking tour.

(I love walking tours)

 Old school Gothic architecture!

 Where Picasso studied.  Also the heart of the red light district.

Liverpool/Cork

Aight I've been lazy.  It's been like three months since I left Europe and now I'm leaving for India soon SO. We gonna smush some destinations together.

LIVERPOOL.

The only thing you need to know is the walking tour is very boring.
AND.  If you want to meet some locals and dance, go to Bumper. One of my favorite nights of my whole trip was spent there.

The dude on the right was my couchsurf host.  Really awesome Desi, might meet up with him in India too.  The other two are scouses who enjoyed imitating my American accent to much hilarity.  Met lots of interesting characters here.

NOW...

Cork, Ireland.

I went here for the 2014 Salsa Bonanza.  It turned out to give me hope in European salsa dancers.  The setting was very small and low-key, so that I got to meet and talk with most of the people who were there.  Met this Reiki master who had the most energy of anyone I've ever seen.  He was an AMAZING dancer, but he had never had any lessons.

The dancing sessions were ten times better than the ones at the Croatian festival.  Probably because they were ten times smaller.

 European Sensual Bachata Champions...I took classes from them, learned a lot...

This couple taught Kizomba, and their adorable baby would squawk until they picked her up and danced with her in between them.

I am planning to go back to Ireland just for the next festival.  Amazing experience.

I did a walking tour of Cork, that mostly told me Irish people are very superstitious and they have beautiful college campuses.

teraaaaaaa hone laga hoooooooon

well I'm getting ready to leave for India... and I realized I still haven't fully blogged my Eurotrip.  Will do that this week (or try).


Going to be performing Salsa at the nursing home with my dance instructor (if all goes as planned! fingers crossed so hard...).  I've  been trying to get myself up enough to do that for about a year. FINALLY.

Today I'm buying my first set of luggage.  Figured its about time.


OH MY GAHHHH I'M GONNA BE FLUENT IN HINDI.   (Well one hopes).  Everything I've written today has an escape clause.  Man I'm bad at committing to things.

tu tu tu meri

Words are not enough.  How do  I convey this feeling, some people that I know are like jewels tossed in the mud.  Shocking color.  Is this love?

People who will dance barefoot in the rain with me, crowd of baffled onlookers.

People who aren't afraid to get messy, mentally, physically.  People who let themselves regress to grade school age.

My life has been full of those who deeply impress me.  So lucky.

haven't been able to write poetry in months and I think I've convinced myself that it doesn't matter.


Another Hindi song for you because it's still that time of year.

Whoops haven't finished my Euro-trip blogging

London is only awesome if you are rich, or don't care how much money you spend (which amounts to the same thing in my book).

London for me was a black hole, draining my cash at horrendous rates.  It was also pretty cool.  I need to learn to let go sometimes.t

 I love LOVE taking pictures of cops, but it also makes me nervous.  So many street performers in London.  And the greater Europe.

 My travel buddy being touristy :p

 I met people from Spain, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Nepal, France, Slovakia, Poland, India, etc.... and I think only ONE SINGLE BRITISHER.  Basically the whole world is slowly being funneled into London.  I was bargaining in Camden Market with the above dude for a shirt.  Got it for three pouinds (had to throw in an exitfest bracelet though)

 Practiced my Hindi with a Delhi-ite!  Also go to Brick Lane if you want AMAZING Indian Food.

Happy belated Diwaliiiiiii!

Wearing my only Indian dress, for NDSU's performance.

Miss my boyfriend.  Miss my Indian roommate.

Here's a nice song.

Yesterday is History

I went to Tomorrowland 2014 completely solo.  Best thing I could have possibly done in Europe.

On the first shuttle bus I met the two dudes who I would be hanging out with for the majority of the festival.  I was lucky, because there are three reasons to go to Tomorrowland:  Drugs, Sex, or Music.   They were there for the music, like I was.

Smuggle in some food if you can... the food there is horrendously expensive.  I took raw potatoes and carrots and just ate them like that rather than pay their nasty food prices all day.

you can bring a water bottle in.  Do that.  Make sure it's empty and hide the cap in your bra or whatever.  They don't pat you down, they just check backpacks/purses.

I paid more for my ticket because the hotel and flight packages don't sell out as fast as the cheaper ones that go on sale later.  I remember being poised above the mouse (should I get it? Should I wait?)  I clicked "confirm", and I have never regretted it.  Probably the best experience of my life.  I could pay twice that price and it would still be worth it.  Going solo was easy... at least as a woman, you will make friends easily.

The two dudes who I was hanging out with took SO many pictures and videos that I felt like I needed to be constantly documenting the experience as well.  The third night I lost them in the crowd and hung out with someone from Jordon who doesn't even bring his phone in to festivals.  He got me to put my phone away and just live it.  I gotta say that's the best way to do it.  It's too stressful to  be constantly looking around trying to get a good click.   He also offered me drugs, to which my standard "nah man" sufficed as a refusal.

 One of the dozen or so stages...

Love the information desk.

again.

sorry ripped this off tumblr and CANNOT figure out who the original poster was.

This hits me.  I was not taught this.  I was taught only one thing:

No sex before marriage.

Okay I thought teenage boys were just horny and it wasn't *really* their fault if they just pushed and pushed until you gave in.  I wish I wish I wish I would have known, when someone doesn't respect the word"No" kick him the hell out of your life.  Once I left for college I never had problems with this again.  No one pushed it, because....

I make a point of ridding my life of anyone who is not good for me.  I have made a business of leaving people behind.

I guess learning things the hard way is the best way to make the message stick.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was the beginning of finding my traveling groove.  I freaking like that city.  Also did my first walking tour here.

The thing about "free" walking tours is you don't really get a three hour tour for nothing.  They expect you to pay and if you don't tip you will (and should) feel like a terrible human being.  Plus this tour was SO informative that it was definitely worth the euros.   Our tour guide was intensely knowledgeable.  Amsterdam is full of History (I know that's a very American-in-Europe thing to say).


I love walking tours.  I try to do one in every city I go to now.  The best one was Amsterdam's, but I hear the one for Brussels is even better.  Liverpool's was the worst one, we left halfway through.

The bikes in Amsterdam are scary.  They don't care about pedestrians so be prepared to jump out of the way often.

 Hostel Life, a 12-bed room, one shower.  At 2 AM our first night Everyone was yelling at the guy in the bed next to me because he had music on and he wouldn't use headphones.  He got kicked out eventually.  I find if you are in a co-ed room, people (dudes) will say something if someone is being loud. But if you are in an all-girls room no one will say anything.  Two people banging in my Barcelona hostel literally woke EVERYONE up.  And they wouldn't stop even when I said "Could you NOT have LOUD SEX  right now!?!? Co-ed rooms are the way to go.

 Best place for a church... in the middle of the red light district.  Guess the sailors would go to church the morning after visiting the girls and try to buy their way back into heaven.  Priests were more than happy to accommodate.

 Amsterdam is very rich... was a huge port city where the East India Trading company was located.

Central Station.

why am I so angry today this is terrible.

I'm getting real fecking tired of feeling like a second class person because I don't have any aims to be successful.

I'm happy (most of the time) so for GAH sakes why is that not enough?  I'm tired of being embedded in the college part of town.

I don't like most of what a "successful" life entails.  Getting richer while those around you get poorer eff that.  Why yall's need so much money.

Why do I feel like I can't swear on this blog.  Because it's linked to my facebook. gahelkjr.

ldr

 It's like... okay:

So when my brother was very young my parents would give him crushed up ice-chips and tell him it was ice-cream, while they had their sundaes or whatever.  I'm actually not sure why. Cheapskateism? Sadism? Health concerns?

"Ice-cream!  Get ice-cream!" He loved that crap.  Didn't know the difference.  Until one day an uncle or grandmother or someone gave him REAL ice-cream.  And the jig was up.

Now he's never said he was mad about this.  I guess he just devoured the ice-cream with confusion?  Or unbridled joy?  Obviously he would never be satisfied with crushed up ice again.

Anyways what I'm trying to say is it's been 21 years of ice-chips before I met you.

I can't explain to anyone why I'm still with you through all this.  People think you were just my first longterm/serious relationship, and now I'm  trapped in that.  There is something you have that I can't label.  Something you have that other people just don't.  Almost no one.

And okay it's gonna be hard.  Explaining to my entire extended family that you aren't a Christian, (cue the horrified glances when I'm looking the other way) and that yes, I intend to kick it on the daily, forever, with you.

But I can't imagine it won't be worth it.

--------
Italian Music:

Serbia

The busses in Serbia don't have strings to pull (at least, the one's in Novi Sad don't... perhaps Belgrade is different.  Anyways you have to sort of make eye contact with the driver to get him to stop.

I went to Serbia for what is rated the best European music festival... Exitfest.  It's held in a fortress in Novi Sad.  My friend from University hosted me, although her parents didn't speak English.  I had read that Serbia uses the normal European outlets, but the one in my room looked a little funny.  I gamely tried to plug in my iphone charger anyways and this is what happened:

Basically there was  a loud comic book noise (BANG or POP something like that) and all the power went off.  My Serbian mom came running in yelling Serbian things.  I felt ridiculously stupid.  Apparently I could have died so it's a good thing that didn't happen.

Speaking of my Serbian mom, she was in the midst of trying to learn English. My favorite sentence of hers?

"My daugher... very.. lazy."

It's sort of crazy how you can get a feel for who someone is despite speaking almost none of the same language.  My host mom was really comical.  We bonded when she gave me a ride to the airport, by singing along to Avicii.

The music festival!  Very muddy.  Eat Sleep Rain Repeat.  Some of my host's friends actually snuck their way in through the tunnels under the fortress.  Which sounds freakin scary to me.  This was my first music festival.  I had never really liked edm before this, but when everyone is happy-dancing all over the place I guess you will too.  And I did.

 Yayyyyy Dance Arena!!!

 Fireworks, first night, main stage.

The sun is coming up.. still dancing.  This is during some Drum and Bass.

Favorite bits of the festival:  Stromae.  He comes out on stage wearing his Papaoutai outfit and the crowd just goes crazy for him.  Beautiful talented man. Here's that song.

(Other favorite bit) Second or third day of the festival my friend lent me some shoes for the rain. They were too small.  Fell apart.  She thought it was hilarious and nearly peed herself laughing.

Walking home, 7 AM ish.