Never a Dull Moment: Kansas City

If any of you out there actually expect a new post from me at least once a week, I apologize.  I've been waiting to blog about my trip to Kansas City, and now I finally have time to do so!  So here it goes.

On Friday afternoon, I left for Kansas City, Missouri, with 21 other students and two faculty members.  We could only stay until early Sunday morning, but we sure did pack a lot into the time we spent there!  This is what our trip looked like:

Friday
3:51 PM: Two white, unmarked vans pull out of my school's parking lot.  In the back seat of one of them sit my roommate, our friend and me.  It's Kansas City or bust.
5:30ish: We stop at a rest area.  This is the only reason I will remove my headphones from my ears during a road trip.
8:30: We arrive at the hotel we made reservations at.  Unfortunately, the hotel forgot to save enough rooms for us, so we had to relocate to its sister hotel down the street.  Luckily, there was room for us there, so we didn't have to sleep in the vans.
9:00ish: We're finally allowed to get out of the van, set up in the hotel dining room, eat some pizza, and start a game of Apples to Apples.  Sleep follows soon after.

Saturday
8:15 AM: My alarm goes off so I can get up and go to breakfast.  I neglect to wake up my roommate, who later questions my motives.  My bad.
9:30: We hop in the vans and head off to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  There we see The Thinker, the world's four largest badminton birdies (my personal favorite), and more than enough nudity.
12:15 PM: We sit in the outdoor part of of the museum and enjoy Kansas City's best barbecue.  This is a beautiful moment for a carnivore like myself, but more of a side-salad-and-bread moment for my vegetarian roommate.
2:00: We arrive at the World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial.  After walking through the first half of the war, my friend and I decide that the second half is probably not any more cheerful, so we head off to the tower of the Liberty Memorial.  We make it to the top.  Mission accomplished.
4:45: We finally make it to Grinders, our dinner destination.  Here I find the best Philly cheesesteak west of the Mississipi...and a pink toilet.  I'm not sure which fascinates me more.
6:56: We arrive at Legends, which is by far the coolest outlet mall I've ever seen.  Sadly, we only have 24 minutes to shop.  Good thing I'm a professional power shopper.
7:45: This is the beginning of the show we are seeing at a comedy club in Legends.  I am not pleased with the acts, but hey.  When in Rome, right?
10:00ish: After a long, tiring day, we are back at the hotel.  Do we go to bed?
11:30ish:  No, we do not go to bed!  Since my friend (and hotel roommate) is from Kansas City, her awesome mom stops by the hotel to bring us two shopping bags full of snacks.  Instead of sleeping, we play with Twizzlers and make jokes that would not be funny, or even comprehensive, if we weren't so incredibly tired.

Sunday
7:00 AM: All 24 of us are in the vans.  Adios, Kansas City.  You've been a lovely little break from reality.  :)

If that doesn't give you enough of a taste of what my weekend in Kansas City was like, check out these pictures from my trip.

The Thinker.  Apparently there are several "original" versions of this guy,
so it's probably not as big of a deal as I though it was.  Oh well.

One of the four giant birdies that graced the art museum's
lawn.  My high school gym teacher would be proud of me, not
only for taking this picture, but for remembering that back in the
olden days, birdies used to be called "shuttlecocks."

The Liberty Memorial.  You bet I climbed to the top of that thing!
(Ok, technically, I took an elevator.  But hey.  It was a long ride.)

The pink toilet at Grinders.
"No, I'm definitely not taking my camera to the
bathroom or anything..."

Shout-out to my best friends back home.  I'll see you soon.  :)

Don't Kiss me...I'm Not Irish.

I've never been quite sure what to do with St. Patrick's Day.  It's always been a very awkward holiday for me.  First of all, I'm not even sure if it should be a real holiday.  By origin, it's the feast day of St. Patrick, and having grown up at multiple Catholic schools, I appreciate that.  But man, we really go all out for this guy, don't we?  People all over Sioux City (and the rest of the country, for that matter) will deck themselves out in green, make lousy attempts to say "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" with Irish accents, and hit up local bars (where they will continue to work on those Irish accents...hopelessly).
Now, I have to admit, while the idea of these festivities seems a little bit loco (I might as well use my Spanish major for something, right?), it does sound pretty fun.  Unfortunately, after years of wondering how, exactly, I should celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I've come to the conclusion that I'm at a major disadvantage.  Here's why.

Why I Can't Celebrate St. Patrick's Day Like a Normal Person

1. My high school's main color was green.  So I can't truthfully say that I don't own any green clothing.  But in all honesty...I'm not going to wear an old, gross t-shirt that says "Homecoming 2010: In it to Win it!" unless I'm going for a jog or changing a tire or milking a cow or something. Thus, I am lacking in green for this emerald-coated day.  Strike one!
2. Not only do I have a terrible Irish accent (the only accent I really shine at is an Indian one, oddly enough), but I'm not even Irish.  I'm 25% Italian, and the rest of me comes from a bunch of other random places in Europe...but NOT Ireland.  So if anyone tries to plant one on me today, too bad for them!!!  They'll have to wait until tomorrow.  Don't kiss me...I'm not Irish.
3. I'm sure hanging out at a bar tonight would be absolutely a blast.  You don't even have to be Irish there!  The bartender doesn't judge.  However, you do have to be at least 21 (in America, anyway), and that is where I fall just two years short.  So instead, I'll probably stay on campus tonight and drink some tea.  I don't like green tea, though, so even my warm beverage won't be festive.  How unfortunate.

So there you have it.  March 17th is just destined to be weird for me.  While everyone else is embracing their inner leprechauns, I'll be sitting here, making faces at my fish.
So if you plan on going out and celebrating St. Patrick's Day tonight, enjoy it!  This day only comes once a year (luckily for me), so make the most of it.  And if you have the time, raise your glass to the lonely people all over the world who are unable to join in the festivities today.
But mostly to me.  :)

Warmer Days :)

Ok.  I don't want to be one of those cliché people who like to talk about the weather.  But...that's what I'm going to do.
Friends, it's the middle of March and it's 80 degrees and sunny!  Welcome to Iowa.  After spending spring break at a hockey rink, I definitely can't complain about this weather.  I just went on a walk wearing a t-shirt and shorts!  In all honesty, I don't miss winter one bit.
I think my fish are even excited about the sunshine.  They keep looking out the window and doing this fish-like dance move.  I think that means they want me to take them on a walk.  So if anyone has a spare fish leash or two, let me know.  


In other news, we are in the homestretch here!  I only have one quarter left of my freshman year of college.  Isn't that exciting?!  It's not that I don't love being here, because I really do.  But isn't it crazy how fast time flies?  It seems like just yesterday, I was graduating from preschool!  Alright, maybe not quite that far back.  But I have to admit, 8th grade doesn't seem like it was that long ago.  Yeah, time definitely is flying.  I don't know about you, but I'm going to make the most of the rest of this year.  Life is too short to be taken seriously, anyway.  :)


Shout-out to my best friend, who turned 19 on Saturday, and is quite possibly the coolest nerd I know.  ;)

Spring Cleaning

It's almost spring break here in Sioux City!  And while most of my friends are getting excited, I'm just getting frantic.  And not without reason!  Let's think this out logically.  I have to pack up and move out of my dorm room for the summer right after commencement on May 12th.  Before then, I'm only going home for spring break and Easter.  And, realistically, I have a lot more stuff in my room than I brought here in August.  There's no way I'm going to be able to fit it all in my parents' van in May.  So clearly, I have to start bringing things home now!  Too bad I just realized this...oh...today.  Can you say frantic?  I think so.

Thinking that I probably had a bunch of stuff to bring home sitting in my desk drawers, I decided to clean them out first.  I ended up almost finding more trash than real things that I could take home, but it was a fun adventure nonetheless.  What did I find in my drawers?  Let me tell you!

• A lot of stickers, given to me by my roommate on my birthday, which was almost three months ago.
• EVERYTHING that I was given during orientation week, including random coupons, Command strips...and my room assignment.  Why did I find it necessary to keep that?!  Isn't it obvious what room I live in?  Apparently brand-new-freshman-me thought I might forget where my room was and have to rifle through my desk drawer--in my room--to figure it out.
• A featherless feather duster thing that my mom thought I would need.  Sorry, Mom.  Apparently dorm rooms don't acquire dust.
• My class schedule from first semester.  In fact, I found two of those.  Note that I've already recycled my second semester schedule.
• Several empty notebooks that I thought I would easily fill up with all my rigorous college courses. Little did I know!

If I learned one thing from this endeavor, it's that I can pack light and get rid of most of the pointless paperwork I'm given at the beginning of the year.  Maybe if I do that, I won't have to panic and start tearing apart my room before spring break next year!  Good thing I've got three more shots at this.  ;)

In other news, two of my fishies, John and Paul, will be journeying home with me on our 6-hour road trip tomorrow!  Not only will this be their first time venturing out of Sioux City, but they'll be the very first pets to ever live with my family, even for just a week.  I'll probably keep them on my lap for a large portion of the ride.  Fingers crossed that they don't get carsick!

And now I'm off to pack up more of my room!  Have a great week, and I'll see you back in Sioux City after my lovely spring break in the 651.  

Wherever the Sun Shines

Bad days.  We all have them.  And, if you've got luck like mine, you've had a series of one bad day after another.  These days don't last forever, but they're definitely not enjoyable.  For example, let me share with you a few of the unfortunate things that made my week not so lovely.

• I had to take three history quizzes in four days.
• The Internet has been failing at random and extremely inconvenient times.
• The snow has returned.  Not only are the streets and sidewalks disgusting, but the sun is not shining.
• Wednesday was National Let's-All-Be-Abnormally-Mean Day.  But no one informed me in advance.
• My split ends are nasty.  I really need a haircut.

I hate to admit it, but those events, on top of a couple others that really aren't even worthy of this blog, had been putting me in a pretty bad mood.  So I thought to myself, "Self, how can you blog about your spectacular life when you're not even feeling remotely spectacular?"  And then it hit me like one of those "could've had a V8" moments.  All these little things don't even compare to the awesome things that I have to look forward to!  So I started thinking of all those things.  Now, it's not that I don't love living in Sioux City.  I really do.  But it's pretty gloomy here right now, so I've got some shinier places on my mind.  For instance...

• The Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw Concert on July 8th in the Twin Cities.
• Merida, Mexico, where I'm going for a whole semester my junior year.
• St. Louis, where some of my favorite cousins live!
• London.  I have no plans to go there any time in the near future, but it seems like an absolutely fabulous place!  Maybe someday.
• My friend's pool, which I will (hopefully) spend quite a bit of time at over the summer.  We'll get tan, and our friend from China will do everything in her power to stay as pale as possible.
• Any place where the sun is shining.  :)

It's true: bad days really don't last forever.  So let's get our thoughts somewhere brighter, somewhere warmer, somewhere happier.  Wherever the sun shines.

Oh!  And here's the song that inspired this post and my positive thinking.  Kenny fans, enjoy.  :)

Ciao, Football!

Is it just me, or is football season over?  Oh wait...yes it is!  Now, I'm not a hater.  I respect everyone's interests, and I don't mind if you enjoy watching football.  Feel free to spend your time however you like.  But the sport has never really appealed to me.  Not only am I not at all interested in playing it, but I don't even understand it.  So, as you can imagine, I'm very excited that the rest of the country has moved on past football season and can start focusing on, well, pretty much anything else.
But if you're like some people I know, you may have issues trying to come up with topics of conversation that don't involve football.  Have no fear, though!  I've come up with a brilliant bullet-pointed list for you.  You're welcome.  :)

Things to Talk About that Don't Involve Football

• Baseball.  Preferably the Minnesota Twins.
• The Queen of England.
• The life and times of your goldfish: John, Paul and George.
• How awesome it is that Betty White is still alive and kickin' (and sassy as ever) at age 90.
• Corn.
• The difference between crocodiles and alligators.
• Washed up child stars.
• Italian government.
• Halloween costumes for dogs.
• How unfortunate it is that people who were born on February 29th only get to celebrate their birthday once every four years.
• More corn.

You can really add anything you want to this list, just as long as it doesn't involve football in any way, shape or form.

And that's all I've got for today.  Have a spectacular week, and stay shiny.  :)

Every Semester has its Soundtrack.

Happy Valentine's Day, readers!  I'm not one of those people who's totally into all the mushy-gushy stuff this day has to offer.  But I'm also not one of those people who posts depressing statuses about how terrible it is being single today, either.  To me, I guess, today is just...Tuesday.
That being said, I'd like to do something now that I've been wanting to do for a long time.  In fact, I probably should've done this towards the end of first semester.  But hey, better late than never, right?
So as my Valentine's Day gift to everyone who faithfully reads my blog, I'd like to share with you the top five songs that will forever remind me of the first semester of my freshman year of college.  I should point out that all the songs you're about to see are songs that were constantly playing in the bathroom in my hall last semester.  So without further ado...

Top 5 Songs that will Always Remind Me of First Semester


5. Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5

I had heard this song before I came to Sioux City, but it never got stuck in my head every other day until I heard it every two hours in my dorm.  If you've never seen this video, don't expect it to be very "normal."  Consider yourself warned.

4. Good Life by OneRepublic

The first time I heard this song in my hall bathroom, I felt like I could really relate to it!  Basically, the lyrics talk about a guy who ends up in a foreign city he's never been to.  All his friends wonder where the heck he is while he's living the "good life"  in this spectacular city.  If only he were talking about Sioux City, not London, this could be my anthem.

3. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People

I have to admit, I didn't realize what this song was about until, well, just a couple weeks ago.  When you figure it out, I wouldn't advise advocating the message to young children.  Or anyone, for that matter.  Nevertheless, I'm sure my neighbors heard me humming this tune on a regular basis.  

2. Hello by Martin Solveig and Dragonette

I had never heard of Martin Solveig or Dragonette before I heard this song.  In fact, I didn't know who sang this until I searched for it on YouTube to put in this post!  But it's definitely a catchy song, thus making it easy to get stuck in my head and forever remind me of semester one of college.

1. You and I by Lady Gaga

WARNING: This is a typical Lady Gaga video.  It's very strange.  That being said, I absolutely love this song.  I'm a big Gaga fan (there's a giant poster of her hanging above my desk), and I think the lyrics and story to this song are brilliant.  Feel free to disagree, just keep it to yourself, please.

Well, that's about it!  Perhaps I've inspired a new playlist for you...or not.  Either way, have a great day, my dear friends.  Spread the love.  :)