NoVa... and Long overdue

So. I’m not going to lie… I kinda forgot about this thing. But today, I was instructed by a certain individual “busy” at her new job to give her some new reading material. So here’s to you, KJ:

I currently live in Northern Virginia. Yep. I don’t live in DC. As hard as that was for me to swallow originally (mainly because a particular glover parker called my new neighborhood “guadajarlington”), I am loving it! It’s way more fiscally responsible, I can still walk to all the restaurants, I don’t pay for parking, and I’m a 4 minute walk to the metro. Everyone in this town (Clarendon if you wanted to know more specifically the hood) is about my age and works around there or in DC. It’s kinda funny. It’s like college extended. If you want a better picture of this phenom, please watch the Arlington rap (http://tinyurl.com/yehbdvt). I feel like most of this could be true for many a hood across this nation but it’s sooo spot on for here. It was a lot of DCism’s but you can get the gist even if you’ve never had the pleasure…

The best part of my new location however, is that my precious little 1940’s house has Rocklands BBQ in our backyard. Now for those of you unfamiliar with this little spot of heaven, Rocklands is a great little restaurant that smells like home- especially on crisp, cool evenings, has great drink specials, plays all the games, and has TO DIE FOR sweet tea. Let’s just say, they’re starting to know Carrie (my FL roommate) and I by name. Which is nice. Makes you feel wildly popular and cool. Which is better than pathetic. And since we’re too cheap to buy a tv and cable (a whole different story), we tend to migrate to Rocklands for game day.

Now for all of you who plan on visiting, (just so you know, if at some point in the last year you said in passing, “oh, Abianne, I’d love to come visit!” just know that was basically a binding contract, and I will hold it against you if you don’t follow through), there are some things you need to know about this little abode. For one thing, our smoke detector is possessed. Not kidding. Last night, it kept on going off so we spent 45 minutes trying to get it stop until Carrie figured out a way to unplug it. However, even unplugged and with the battery out, it would still beep. So as we speak, it is wrapped in a towel and in the dryer in the basement so we couldn’t hear it last night. Said basement is also quite a character itself. Every time I go down there to do laundry, I let either Emily or Carrie know… it’s that scary. Well not really, but it looks exactly like the Home Alone basement. Which is intimidating. Hmmm what else do you need to know… I guess just that you need to come NOW! The leaves are awesome. Vibrant yellow, red, orange… so gorgeous! I’m tempted to drive off into the countryside every day I go to work. And my coworkers don’t understand my excitement about the leaves. I tried to explain that in my previous falls, the pine needles turn brown and then fall. They didn’t understand. Though I did find a pine needle in my car when I got it cleaned the other day. I almost missed them!
Ok. This is way longer than I anticipated. You get a gold star for reading all of this. And next time I won’t wait 4 months to post so it won’t be a novel!!!!

New to the District

So I've decided to keep updating this guy even though I'm back in 'Merica (said in best Nascar voice) since I guess moving to DC is kinda still a bit of an adventure! I guess most of you have figured out I moved by now... and if I didn't tell you- I moved! An impulsive 3 day decision that allowed approximately 10 hours to pack up my life but it's been great! Right now I'm still technically homeless but I prefer the term nomad... sounds more like I chose the lifestyle! Thankfully, I have some super hospitable friends that have let me stay for weeks at a time with them. It's fun to get to learn the nuances and public transportation of all the different areas of the city! And really fun to spend time with different people. Right now, I'm finishing up my week in Georgetown which has been so fun- though it will probably be good for my figure and wallet to no longer be living on the same block as Thomas Sweets. This week has been good with a trip to the Spy Museum, out in Georgetown and Dupont (including Glamazon Diaries anniversary party which was fun), Caitlin's friendly encounter with the manager at saloun, a Southern-themed potluck dinner, and getting a job with J.Crew! I don't start till next week but it will be great to get a discount and have something to do with my days... so if you're in teh area with an urge to shop- stop by! Anyways... not much else to report! Just been doing a lot of future home searching!

Viva España!

So technically, I'm back in the States... but I still want to update this little sucker about Spain!

I started in Barcelona with Maggie & Stacy which was awesome because Stacy had studied there a couple years ago so she knew the ropes and booked the hostel and everything for me! It was Maggie's birthday so we did it up right with dinner at Carpe Diem where they serve you in bed, the ice bar, and some beach time! After they ditched me, I hung out in the city for a few days solo and nerded out at the Picasso museum and two Gaudi houses that were really neat.

I then flew off to Granada to meet up with the lil' sis who's been studying there! She loved her town and family so it was neat to see her stomping grounds. We then set off to the Southern tip of spain- Tarifa before spending a day in Morrocco. I really like Tanger but it's obviously not like the rest of the country... so I will just have to go back there and check it out in more detail.

Several hours (like at least 18) on buses and one day chilling in Cadiz later, we made it to Salamanca where Gracilynn will be studying for the rest of the summer. The town is really neat and out in the middle of the boonies but the University was founded in 1230- making it the 3rd oldest in the WORLD. So there's lots of old churches, buildings, things of that nature that give the town some great personality. There's also a really neat Plaza Mayor that they light up at night.

I then made my way to Madrid for a day or so where I checked out the Royal Palace, spent some quality time in the Prado (their incredible art museum), and ate some really romantic solo meals at outdoor cafes. Then I hopped on the plane to head back to these parts of the world!

Overall it was a really incredible trip. And I will just fairly warn anyone that asks to hear about it... I will launch into monologue complete with historical facts and photos. Consider yourself warned.

And I just realized that I never posted a detailed one about Israel which I really think I need to so even though that will make this chronologically inaccurate, I will supplement soon. So you can just wait on pins and needles :)

it's not all greek when you have a tour guide!

so yet another case of getting off the plane and having someone hold your hand throughout the entire country! i got to paige's late friday night and we left early saturday morning to go to Santorini... google image it right now. it's seriously heaven on earth. and i thought i uploaded some pics and posted this all already but apparently it did not load... o well.

we basically wandered around the island eating and drinking and just soaking in the beauty. with the occasional hitch-hiking and cliff jumping just to keep it interesting. then back to athens on sunday night!

athens was super fun and it was great to be in a big city. there is so much with the acropolis and the new museum... and it was cool to pretend to be paige and "work" and hit up her favorite spots. i really, really liked the city. i got some greek paraphernalia including these great sandals that were made by the poet sandal maker. he's been making these kicks and writing poetry for like 5 decades and the beatles and Jackie O have been to him. i definitely got the same ones as she did. just so you know.

ok well i'm actually in spain right now but my greece post didn't go through. so i'll add more later. right now i'm just killing time by myself in Barcelona. not a bad place!!!

Bulgaria... the truth

obviously did not poste the most recent one... more details and a more accurate account to come.

like how Billy is camped out on the beach. and not doing anything productive. but i like this country a lot!

Bulgaria...

Billy is the best.

The end.

So it's been a rather jampacked week and sometimes my brain feels like mush every night because I feel like I'm learning sooo much. I don't even know why the US bothers to teach history- we have like 300 years and this area has like 4,000 years. Kinda funny.

Anyways... I'm not gonna list everything I've seen or learned because just assume that if it's of importance and it was in Jordan or Israel, I've been there and learned a lot about it. And if you want to find out more, I'll gladly sit down and make you look through all my pics and listen to my shpiel (probably incorrect spelling. just use phonetics, folks).

Jordan was absolutely incredible! The country (arab and muslim if you were wondering) ranges from extreme desert to a coastal city on the Red Sea and everything in between. But my most favorite thing was Petra. Pictures and words will not do this 30,000 person ancient city justice. It is UNREAL!!! The buildings are beautiful and carved out of the side of the mountains. The entire city can be protected by 2 archers since the only entrance is through the main seek (a long, narrow path between steep cliffs that is about a mile in length). And they've only discovered a fraction of what is there- they are working on uncovering an olympic size pool and waterfalls-- remember, this is in the middle of the desert where annual rainfall is less than 2 inches... and we think our generation is sooo smart. We are idiots compared to these people!!

So I'm back in Israel and touring the holy sites and every body of water... the Dead Sea was really interesting since you literally float on top of the water because it's super saturated. And we're staying at this really neat old Scottish hospital on the Sea of Galilee (actually a lake if you were curious) for the next few days. I'll definitely add some Israeli pics soon since I know you're DYING for updates!

Shalom!

I'm in Isreal right now... sorry no pics to upload. For some reason the "smart net" kiosk in the lobby doesn't have a usb reader- not so smart are we!?!? Well I am back in Tel Aviv today; my mom and I have been in Jerusalem for the last two days. It's a really interesting city, and this country is unlike anywhere I have ever been! It's so nice in some areas and they're trying to build new shopping malls yet the highways are completely blocked on both sides and there are checkpoints everywhere to prevent attacks. There are kids in army garb bearing uzzis everywhere (like shopping, dancing, eating, everywhere). It's also ineresting because it's the center of so many religions and sects so you will see people decked out in the robes or religious uniforms of every variation... something tells me they have official names but I'll have to get back to you with those.

My brain is so full from trying to figure out all the differnet countries that have possessed and time periods present in Jerusalem's history. Everyone seemed to conquer, destroy/remodel, and build so there is ridiculous amounts of history and shmorgusbords of architecture. Really cool. We mainly just walked the ramparts of the wall (that means up on top of 'em for all you educationally challenged friends) and through some areas of the old and new city. We are meeting up with the rest of the people tonight for dinner in Tel Aviv and then we're doing the hardcore touring (all the holy sites, Petra, and such) from here on out.

So this will be a lot more educational and packed with random Israeli facts soon. One parting observation is the incredible passion that these people have for their country; every taxi driver, waiter, bell boy, etc is so stoked for their country and will tell you ANYTHING you want to know about it. Their pride is really impressive and somewhat contagious.

Oh and today I got to layout and swim in the Mediterranean Ocean... kinda puts Galveston and Port A to shame (sorry, Erin). Wish you all were here!

The public has spoken

So everyone (as in like 4 people) asked me if I was going to start a blog for my trip (which I am embarking on tomorrow) and when I move to DC. Although I told them no, I later saw the wisdom in this suggestion. This way, it's your fault if you don't know what's going on with me- not mine due to my lack of email or phone skills!

Please do not feel obligated to check it out or comment but I would love if you did! And I just wanted to let you know that this option is now available. I know we're kinda spread out all over, and this is an easy way for you to stalk me from the comfort of your own home. Goodness knows I do the same thing!

Don't worry- future posts will be a bit more interesting. And actually have something of substance!