#i slept 4 hrs before writing this ok | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis · 4 years

Text

Big Break

Request: Can I request a Luke x reader with like 1995 Luke and Y/N where reader has a concert and invites her friends and boyfriend (not Luke as BF yet 😪😂) and she’s really nervous and looks for her boyfriend before hand but doesn’t see him and learns he didn’t want to come so Luke (who is her BFF and completely in love with her and her him) supports her and calms her down and after the concert she breaks up with her boy and dates Luke ~ @im-a-writer-right

Word Count: 3.5k

P.S. Sorry for the fic spam today. My TVD and 100 fics were scheduled for today. and I just really wanted to get this one out.

Tonight is the biggest night of your life. You booked a gig that could give you your big break. You were opening up for one of your friend’s band, Twisted Island, who has a contract with one of the biggest record labels, Sub Pop Records. You were so nervous you practically didn’t sleep the night before. Luckily, one of your friends gave you some melatonin to make you practically pass out.

You look to your computer to find a message on AOL from your boyfriend, Tyler.

Tyler: Morning

You: Morning

Tyler: Meet @ Moonshine Cafe in1 hr. I want to spend time with you before work

You: Ok, love. See you soon

Tyler: See you soon <3

Your boyfriend wasn’t only one of your oldest friends from LA but also an emerging music artist. He was the one who helped you land the gig, on top of your friends who you were opening for. He knew some other big record labels and invited them to your show. In case you didn’t land a deal with Sub Pop Records you had the other labels you could possibly sign with.

You get up to shower and get ready to meet your boyfriend. You hop in your car and head to the cafe. Not long after your boyfriend arrived. You gave him a big kiss and head to get seated. Of course, Tyler pulled some strings so you two could be seated at their private table.

“These are for you, for good luck,” Tyler says and hands you some flowers.

“Awe, thank you,” You smile.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you prep more for tonight. I just can’t miss out on this collaboration with Madonna,” Tyler says.

“It’s ok. It’s an amazing opportunity, I’m excited for you. But you can make it for soundcheck right? It’s at five and I got you a backstage pass,” You say pulling out a lanyard.

“Yes. We should be done between 3:30-4,” Tyler says taking the pass from your hands.

“So how many songs are you gonna record with Madonna?” You ask.

“Not sure. Today we’re just writing some. I’m hoping for at least two or three,” Tyler says.

“Well, no matter how many you write together. I bet they’re going to be amazing. I can’t wait to hear them,” You say as your food arrives. The two of you spend the rest of the time talking about his collab and your gig before you receive a call.

Luke: Y/N I just woke up. The guys and I are gonna meet at the garage soon.

You: I’ll meet you guys there in 30.

“Who was that?” Tyler asks

“My friend in Sunset Curve, Luke. The guys told me they’d help me prep for tonight so I gotta go soon,” You tell Tyler.

“Those guys are great. I have to go soon too anyways. I need to be at the studio in like an hour. But I wanted to get there a bit early,” Tyler says.

“You always like to please people,” You laugh.

“You know me too well,” Tyler laughs as a waiter brings boxes over. You pack your leftovers in the box as Tyler pays.

“Thanks again for breakfast,” You say.

“You’re welcome. The best way to start off the day. I’ll see you later tonight,” Tyler says.

“See you tonight. 5 O’clock at The Los Angeles Theatre, don’t forget,” You say.

“I promise, I won’t,” Tyler says and kisses you goodbye.

You get into your car and head to the Sunset Curve garage. Once you made your way into the garage you find that only Alex and Reggie were there.

“Hey guys,” You say.

“Hey,” The boys say in almost unison.

“Where’s Luke and Bobby?” You question.

“Bobby is supposed to pick Luke up. He probably slept in,” Alex says.

“I thought Bobby was the punctual and responsible one?” You ask.

“Who says we’re not responsible?” Reggie asks, clearly feeling hurt.

“Me, but you guys did have that gig last night right? How’d that go?” You ask.

“It was great. Reggie even--” Alex starts before he gets slapped in the chest by Reggie.

You raise your eyebrow, “Reggie even what?” You question.

“Dude, just tell her. She’s not gonna give up, you know that,” Alex says.

“I may have had a special night with this girl,” Reggie says quietly.

“Oh yeah? Is this someone you’re gonna see again? Or more like a one-time thing?” You ask.

“I-I don’t know,” Regie says.

“Either way I’m happy for you,” You say. You then hear the doors open and turn to find Luke and Bobby walk in.

“There’s our big shot!” Luke yells before tackling you with a hug.

“Not quite yet. I still gotta play tonight,” You say pulling away.

“Either way. My best friend is getting her big break AKA our big shot,” Luke says.

“What about us?” Reggie asks furrowing his eyebrows.

“We’ll get our shot, but today is about Y/N,” Luke says.

“Aw shucks,” You chuckle. “So I’m playing like five songs and if I’m being completely honest...I haven’t picked them out yet,” You say.

“Well I know ‘Rose’ and ‘Shadows’ are two of my favs,” Luke says.

“‘Constellations’ is also a great one,” Alex adds.

“Those three are at the top of my list,” You say and pull out your music journal.

“What about the song you and Luke wrote together?” Bobby asks.

“‘Red Hearts’? That’s a duet song. I can’t really play that one,” You say.

“Y/N’s right. It’s meant to be sung by two people,” Luke smiles at you.

“I think ‘Bracing for impact’ and ‘Devil’, will fit in with the others then,” Bobby suggests.

“Yeh, but I haven’t played ‘Devil’ more than twice and one of those times was in front of you guys,” You say.

“You are an amazing artist, Y/N,” Luke grasps your arms. “You barely need any practice. Remember when I threw you on stage with us to sing one of our songs?” Luke says.

“That doesn’t count, Luke. I watch you guys practice all the time,” You point out.

“But you memorized the lyrics,” Alex says.

“Ok...I guess that was impressive. Fine, I’ll do these five. Thanks, guys,” You say.

“Great! I can’t wait to hear them,” Luke says as the other nod in agreement.

“Oh! Also, I pulled some strings and got you all backstage and sound check passes,” You say pulling four lanyards out.

“Backstage passes to the Los Angeles Theatre?!?” Reggie exclaims taking all four passes from your hand.

“You know the three other passes are for your bandmates right?” You ask.

“Oh. Yeah. I just can’t believe we get to go backstage at the Los Angeles Theatre,” Reggie says handing his bandmates the remaining passes.

“Soundcheck is at five,” You say.

“You know we’ll be there,” Luke says and smiles at you. You and the boys hang out as they practice.

“Y/N, who are you opening up for again?” Bobby asks.

“Really? My friend whose in Twisted Island. They’re signed with Sub Pop,” You respond.

“Seriously? How did you get this gig exactly,” Alex asks.

“Well, my friend. But Tyler also invited a couple of other labels to see my show,” You say.

“Don’t forget us when you get big,” Luke says.

“How could I? You guys are the ones who told me I should play gigs in the first place,” You say.

“You and Luke have known each other for however long. Why didn’t we invite her to sing with us again?” Reggie asks as everyone in the room gives him blank looks. “What?” He asks.

“Reggie...do you really think that an amazing singer like Y/N would ever want to join Sunset Curve?” Luke says putting his hand on Reggie’s shoulder.

“In my defense, none of you asked me,” You respond.

“So is that a yes?” Reggie asks.

“I didn’t know that was an invite,” You say.

“Ok. Hypothetically if we offered...would you like to join?” Reggie asks.

“Uhh...we didn’t have a band meeting about this,” Bobby adds.

“It’s a hypothetical question, but I know I wouldn’t mind,” Luke says.

“I mean she’d be a great addition,” Alex says.

“And she can play a mean guitar. But she might steal your lead singer role, Luke,” Bobby says.

“Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated?” You ask.

“Just answer the question,” Reggie says.

“Ok, ok. Let’s say you offered me today. My answer is, let’s see how tonight goes,” You respond as the boys seem pleased with your answer. “Speaking of tonight, it’s like 3. I need to get ready and then head to the theatre,” You say and get up.

“Alright we’ll see you there,” Luke says as you hug each of the boys.

“5 O’clock. Don’t be late,” You say walking out of the garage.

“We won’t!” Reggie yells.

You head back to your apartment and get ready to head to the Los Angeles theatre. You grabbed your guitar and your accessories and head to the theatre. Once you got there you already heard Twisted Island doing their soundcheck.

“There she is,” Adam, your friend, says as you walk in.

“Hey,” You say setting your stuff down.

“Ready for tonight?” He asks.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but I don’t have any choice,” You respond hugging him.

“You’ll do great. You remember Jessie, Shawn, and my brother Mike,” Adam says pointing to the respective band members.

“Yeh, I’m Y/N Y/L/N,” You awkwardly say.

“We’re almost done with our soundcheck. Miles, there, will show you to your dressing room,” Adam says pointing to the man with a headset on.

“Thanks,” You smile as you’re lead to your room. You make your way in and set your stuff down. You first make a call to Tyler, but no answer. A few minutes later you hear a knock at your door.

“You’re up for soundcheck,” Miles says. You grab your guitar and other things and head to the stage. As you were setting up you see the Sunset Curve boys walk in. You stop and go to greet them.

“Hey, guys. I was just setting up,” You say as you hug them.

“This is amazing!” Reggie says excitedly as the others look around in awe.

“This is Adam the lead singer and guitarist in Twisted Island,” You say noticing him and his bandmates walk up. They introduce each other.

“Hey, where’s Tyler?” Luke asks.

“I don’t know. I told him to be here at 5 for soundcheck. I called him but he didn’t pick up. I’m sure his meeting with Madonna is going late,” You say before heading to finish setting up. You play the five songs out while the two band watch. Tyler still hadn’t shown up.

As you finish your soundcheck, you set your stuff down and go to your dressing room to try and call Tyler again. He didn’t pick up so you decided to leave a voicemail, “ Hey, Ty. I just finished soundcheck. The show starts in 30, hope you’ll be here before I go on,” You say before hanging up.

You hear a knock at your door, “Yes?” You say. The door opens to the four Sunset Curve boys walking in.

“That was amazing,” Luke says.

“And Twisted Island is a cool band,” Reggie adds.

“Not as cool as you,” You say half excitedly.

“You good Y/N?” Luke asks as you look at your phone.

“Yeah. Just uh, waiting for Tyler to get here and a little pre-show jitters. You know, the usual,” You say. Luke notices the sadness in your voice and looks at you with sad eyes, but you don’t notice.

“If your soundcheck sounded that good. Then your show is gonna sound twice as good,” Alex says.

“Thanks,” You say when you get another knock on your door. You open it to find Adam there.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know the theatre is filling and you’re going on in 15,” Adam says.

“Thanks,” You say. “Hey, guys, I’ll be right back,” You tell the boys. You follow Adam to the stage, hoping to see Tyler in the audience.

“Hey, I know you’re gonna do great, and our agent is gonna be impressed. You’ll get some offers tonight,” Adam says.

“Thanks again for this gig. It really means a lot to me,” You say while hugging Adam.

“You’re welcome. Anything for one of my oldest friends. See you in 15,” Adam says and walks away. You make your way to the edge of the wings and look out to see if you can see Tyler. Yet the reserved seat you had Adam set out was empty.

You made your way back to the dressing room and check your phone. You find a missed call from Tyler along with a voicemail. You head out of the dressing room to listen since the boys were being quite loud. “Hey, Y/N. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for soundcheck. Madonna and I just went a bit over with the writing. And then she invited me to a party. I can’t miss out on this opportunity, but I know you’ll do great tonight. Love,” The message said.

This wasn’t the first time Tyler had missed one of your gigs due to an opportunity he had himself, but this was the first time that it was just for a party. He had always supported you when you needed it, but on a big night like this, where lots of labels were looking at you, was not the night to ditch you. Especially since he personally invited a few himself, they were here but he wasn’t.

You took a few moments to take a hold of yourself before walking back into the dressing room, but as soon as you walked in you felt the mood change as all of the boy’s eyes landed on you. “You alright?” Luke asks again.

“Yeh, yeh,” You say looking at your phone.

“Hey, guys. Can I talk with Y/N alone?” Luke asks the boys and they quickly made their way out of the room.

Luke walked up to you and took your hands in his, “It’s just us now. Tell me, are you ok?” Luke asks once more.

You take a moment before responding, wishing you could lie but you knew he’d catch it, “N--no. Tyler promised he’d be here. And I was calling him to make sure he’d be here on time. But I just listened to a voicemail saying that he’s going to a party with Madonna instead,” You explain.

“You know I always thought he was a jerk right?” Luke says.

“Luke…” You sigh.

“Seriously. I don’t care what connections he has or if he really got labels to see you play tonight. He never supported you like I have, like the guys have,” Luke says.

“He has though. He’s come to my gigs before,” You say.

“Can you count the number of your gigs he’s attended on both hands? I know you’ve been to way more of his. Look, Y/N. Forget him, he never really cared for your dreams and career. If he really loves you he’d be here tonight instead of going off with Madonna,” Luke says.

“Yo--you’re right. He’s only been to three of my gigs and I’ve been the millions of his. It just makes me nervous with all these big people looking at me,” You say.

“Here,” Luke says letting go of your hands. “I’m gonna give you my bracelet. It’s my lucky bracelet. All your nerves will go away and you’ll kill it tonight. I know it,” Luke says slipping his bead bracelet on your wrist.

“You’re on in 2,” You hear someone outside of the door say. Luke kisses your forehead. You take a big sigh and head to the stage.

You wait for your cue as you see all of the people in the audience chatting away and the people from the labels scattered through the crowd. Not a moment later you’re told to make your way on stage. You walk on stage and pick up your guitar, you take a big sigh and rub your fingers across the beads on Luke’s bracelet. Once you felt calm enough and your heart started to beat a bit slower you start to strum the chords to your song “Shadows”.

Claps filled the air as you finished,” Thank you. My name is Y/N Y/L/N. That song was called Shadows, it was about me fighting my demons and getting over my stage freight. This next one is called Rose,” You say and start to play your guitar again. You play the last four songs in your set while cheers and claps filled the air.

“Thank you! My name is Y/N Y/L/N. Here is Twisted Island!” You say after you finish your set. The band members made their way onto the stage.

“Give it up for my good friend Y/N,” Adam says before you head off stage. You watched their show from backstage cheering and clapping with the audience.

As soon as the show ended you see Twisted Island’s agent walk up to you, “My name is Ashley. That was some great music. I’m glad Adam had you open for them tonight. We’ll be in touch,” She says before walking off. A few more agents had talked to you and offered you some deals or told you they’d also be in contact.

“You killed it!” Luke yells as he and the boys run up to you.

“Thanks guys,” You say with a big smile.

“Honestly I think you played better than Twisted Island,” Reggie whispers to you.

“You’re only saying that because you’re my friend,” You say.

“It’s true!” Reggie says as you head to the dressing room.

You and the boys make your way into the dressing room and you find some flowers on the table. You pick up the card and read “Heard you did a great job. Congrats -Tyler” You quickly pick the flowers out and throw them in the trash, right as the boy walked in, they all looked at you confused.

“They’re from Tyler,” You say nonchalantly. Everyone but Luke looked at you confused. The rest of the boys left, but Luke stayed behind to help you pack up.

“Thanks for the bracelet. It really helped,” You say starting to take it off.

“Keep it,” Luke says stopping you from pulling it off completely. He then goes to puck your guitar case up and the two of you head to your car. You pack your car up, drop Luke off, and head to your apartment.

~The next morning~

You wake up to hear a knock at your door. You get up and look in the peephole to find Tyler standing there.

“Hey sweetheart,” Tyler says. “What?” He asks noticing the pissed look you had plastered on your face.

“You missed the biggest night of my life. You’re lucky that a lot of labels are interested in me,” You say monotone.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t--” He starts.

“No. I sick and tired you not supporting me,” You say.

“I’ve been to your gigs,” He says.

“You’ve been to three of the 10 of my gigs. I’ve been to all of yours,” You protest.

“Ok. I’m sorry, how can I make it up to you,” Tyler says trying to step into your apartment, but you stop him.

“I think you’re letting your fame get to your head. And if you can’t support me and be there for me while dealing with your growing fame at the same time. I don’t want to be with you,” You say sternly.

“Babe,” Tyler says.

“Look. I just landed some of the best offers I could get in life and I can’t have your lack of presence distracting me. So, I’m not really sorry. But we’re done,” You say before shutting the door in Tyler’s face. You didn’t know what to do with yourself after that but you did feel like a big weight lifted from your chest.

A few minutes later someone knocked on your door, “Tyler I told---Oh. Luke,” You say realizing it was someone completely different.

“Hey,” Luke says.

“Hey,” You say quietly while letting him inside.

“You look like you had an eventful morning,” Luke points out.

“You could say that. I...uh, just broke up with Tyler,” You say.

“Really?” Luke questions as you notice his eyes light up and you nod.

The next thing you know you feel Luke’s hands cup your face and his lips against your own. He quickly pulls away, “ Sorry….I shouldn’t have done that,” Luke says quietly.

“It’s ok. Can I be honest for a second?” You ask.

“Always,” He says.

“I’ve always known you liked me. Don’t rat him out but Alex told me like a year ago,” You say.

“And I’m guessin…” Luke says rubbing the back of his head.

“That you are my best friend and I couldn’t ask for a better guy in my life,” You say before kissing him again.

“So I take it the break up really wasn’t that bad,” Luke says after pulling away.

“Better now that you’re here,” You chuckle. Luke gives you a big smile as you return the same.

A/N: I’m sorry if there are any 1995 inaccuracies. I did my research and tried my best, please don’t hurt me haha. Anyways, I loved writing this and had ideas coursing through my brain the last 2 days. Please let me know what you think and if you would maybe like a part 2, maybe? Thanks again to Ria for requesting and thanks for reading.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms fic #jatp #jatp imagine #reggie peters #alex mercer #sunset curve #luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson fanfiction

169 notes · View notes

dolphin-enthusiast · 4 years

Note

hello my lovely morgy 💌🍄✨ ahhhh i apologize for my lateness today, it was busy and quite stressful in the end, but i'm ok!! sadly this is going to be shorter because i'm exhausted after some events from a few hours ago (plus it's 0:19 here hehe) how are you?? i hope well, oh, and i hope you enjoyed the time at your nonna's house, and if not, at least you're back home!! 🌺💫 (1/4)

"i got checked out and the nice doctors gave me medicines for my illness, so i'm feeling much much better physically!! and i'm so happy that i didn't get stuck in the hospital again!! my lovely neighbor, who was a farmer in his homeland, has a quite sizable vegetable garden that he built last year, and he gave me some of the produce from his first harvest!! i thought that it was such a sweet gesture! (2/4)

i plan on writing a "thank you" letter and making some lovely buccellati for cookies for him!! ahhh i feel that you would love them, since everyone who has tried them always asks for more hehe!! 🌟 oh, and i got to practice my dancing because i haven't since i was last in the hospital,, so i was a teensy bit rusty at first but i soon got back into it 💗 plus, my cats came to cheer me on ☀ (3/4)

i also watched a film with my sis and papa,, it was some action movie about an invasion and it reminded me that for a short time when i was younger, i wanted to join the military!! it sounds really funny to me now since all my health issues would actually exempt me,, i was an ambitious child 🌛 (4/ 4̶ 5)

well, i hope you get enough rest, and take care of yourself!! i'll be back tomorrow with longer writings and lots of love as always 💞 mamma mia,, i almost forgot!!! thanks for looking out for me like always ❤❤❤ - lots and lots and lots and lots and LOTS of love, your adoring waifu 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘 ps: oh, we could maybe play minecraft sometime?? 😳😳💓 (5/5)"

Do not fret darling for i myself am once again late at answering ur letter since yesterday evening after i came back from my grandma's (it did go well btw👁️👁️) for the first time in Y E A R S i crashed out of exhaustion like i deadass sleeped from 10 pm to almost 2 fucking pm today which is like a rarity for my insomniac ass fndhdnns but the excessive heat and the fact that i slept like 1 hr and 30 min before i visited my grandma got to me ig🤡👌(fun fact i havent properly slept a full night since i was in 4th grade)

Rant aside, im very happy to hear ur all well and have been able to practice dancing and stuff...i myself was very into learning choreos for some reason when i was little and h o l y s h i t I TOO WANTED TO JOIN THE MILITARY? I ALMOST ENDED UP APPLYING TO A MILITARY SCHOOL 2 YEARS AGO JDUCHDDFBDH we t w i n n i n g darling😳😳😳😳

Im also amazed once again at how ppl always give u stuff but then again why wouldnt they 😩😩😩 im p sure ur cookies r marvelous as well👀👁️👀👁️👀👁️

And one last thing: the final paragraph of ur letter made me w o k e ahdjsjs what if i put my mc bed next to urs...haha jk...u n l e s s?👀

#also once again ur cursed wholesome memes were god tier darlin😳😳#the confessional #i was acc between schleep and woke when i replied to u then dkdhshsj

7 notes · View notes

the-recusants-sigil · 5 years

Photo

Hello, hello! Thank you for the warm welcome!! <3

OK so I absolutely ADORE this idea and I love writing for these four so so much!! I couldn’t write just a couple of sentences and these turned into novel chapters, so I’m splitting your request into 4 parts. That way, I’m not just dropping a 10K word document on you asfhsfshfhsf

Here is Part 1 of your request- going numerically, that’d be Xigbar!

Thanks again for stopping by, I hope you like this one and the others to come!!

Xigbar

Words: 2388

-The mission started out simply enough. It definitely wasn't anything outlandishly difficult: just track down an overgrown Heartless, eliminate it, and report back. Absolutely no big deal.

-Except it WAS a big fuckin deal. There he was, wandering the Land of Dragons in the dead of winter, on the edge of hypothermia and certainly not thinking straight. Perhaps he was no longer capable of feeling emotions, but frostbite was another story entirely. He knew better than to RTC without finishing a mission, so here he was,in the dark, trudging through waist-deep dnowdrifts on a fucking mountain to find this stupid thing.

-Xigbar had been walking since he arrived that morning. In fact, he'd started out in a slightly warmer climate miles away at this point, and he'd briefly pondered taking off his jacket to cool off a bit despite the risks. Now, his teeth chattered violently and he wished with every fiber of his being for a fire. Just a small one, to warm his toes and keep his fingers firmly attached.

-In the faint light of the half-moon, he caught sight of something that stopped him dead in his tracks: a single, enormous footprint.

-Squinting into the darkness, he peered ahead and made out another, and another, heading up the mountain towards a small cluster of coniferous trees up ahead. Ah, shit. More walking.

-Before he could take a single step, a low, rumbling growl came from behind him. The Freeshooter turned, slowly, to face the biggest fucking Heartless he'd ever seen in his life.

-Glistening fangs, beady yellow eyes, twisted horns and inky black scales covered the thing. If he had to guess, Xigbar figured the thing was at least twelve feet tall and built like a tank.

-As he discovered, it was fast, too- even its eyes, glowing bright in the darkness, were impossible to track as the thing closed the distance between the two. It swiped at him with claws like kitchen knives and put him on the defensive immediately. No doubt, the beast had his number; at every point he warped to, it was waiting with jaws wide open, ready to crunch down. It batted him around, tossing him in the air and catching him in its jaws once it had its fun.

-Between the cold and the brutal sneak-attack, Xigbar found his energy fading fast. He raised his only free hand and squeezed his eye shut, focusing the last of his energy on getting somewhere, anywhere, safe.

-......

-....................

-Look, all you were trying to do was keep your head down and out of trouble. There were a lot of vibrant characters in San Fransisco, but all you cared about was doing well at your job and enjoying your ground floor studio apartment. Affordable housing of any kind was a rare luxury in the city, and you'd struck gold with a landlady who just wanted a good, responsible, quiet tenant. For her, you checked all the boxes.

-You certainly weren't looking to get involved with anyone else. Not platonically, not romantically, not even as roommates.

-And yet, here was this man leaned against your trashcan in the alley, bleeding everywhere and groaning. Despite the summer heat, he was dressed way up in a long black trenchcoat (torn to tatters though it was), trousers, knee length boots, and gloves.

-What was his deal?

-You'd never seen a dying person before. OK, so maybe he wasn’t dying. But as it was, if anyone else were to witness him in the alley, in front of your place, bleeding out with only you around, they might assume it was you who did it. Your brain short-circuited and, unable to fully think through the situation, you dragged the man inside your apartment and slid the patio door closed.

-So there you were, panicking inside your studio with an unconscious dying dude bleeding out on the floor. What would your landlord say? Would you ever get your deposit back for damaging the green shag carpet?

-At the very least, you figured you could ask him some questions when he woke up and help him contact the cops, in case he'd lost his phone. In the meantime, you put on a pot of coffee and watched the man sleep, contemplating his features. He was handsome, with nicely tanned skin and long, dark hair shot through with streaks of brown. A deep scar ran the length of one cheek, and the opposite eye was covered with an eyepatch. He sort of looked like an anime convention escapee, you thought, but then again, folks in the city proper were often just like this.

-”Ugghhh....” the man stirred gently, and you jumped. The single remaining eye fluttered open, and you were struck by the color: bright yellow, like your little Volkswagen Beetle parked outside. He glanced around slowly at first before sitting bolt-upright and grimacing. Perhaps he forgot about his injuries.

-”Uh... are you okay?” you asked dumbly. His head whipped around to meet you, and the intensity of his glare instantly made you feel... small.

-”Yeah, definitely, just dandy,” he grunted and waved flippantly in your direction. Steadying himself against the wall, he tried and failed to rise to his feet. The man raised a mangled hand into the air in front of him, ever so briefly, then sighed and let it drop to his side. “Can you... can you maybe tell me where exactly I am?”

-”Uh, I mean- it's, uh. My apartment. San Fransisco? California? Planet Earth?” You licked your lips and sighed. “I found you in the alley. Did you get hit by a car?”

-”Car? What are you talking about? I don’t know what any of that means. I need to get home. I need to get out of here and report back- OWWWW!” Xigbar yelped as his second failed attempt at standing brought him closer to the ground.

-”No. I don't think so, Mister. You might have a concussion.”At that point, you'd already folded the spare futon down from its hiding spot in the wall and tossed down some spare pillows and blankets.

-“That means lots of rest. I thought they were worse, but your cuts don't actually look horrible. Let's get you cleaned up and laying down, then maybe we can get you an urgent care appointment to look at your head.”

-”No. No doctors.”

-”You religious, or scared or something?”

-”Er- yeah. Somethin' like that.”

-.............

-Xigbar really knew he should have RTC'd as soon as he was able to stand. He should have reported back a week ago. Yet here he was, truly a stranger in a strange land, crashing on this good Samaritan's couch, eating good food, and- for the first time in a really long time- relaxing.

-For him, some peroxide, butterfly bandages and ibuprofen were the trifecta- his wounds cleaned up nicely and the pain was definitely more bearable.

-You called out of work for the week shortly after he woke up, feeding them a line about your brother-in-law dying or some shit; you didn't have one, of course, but nobody had to know that. He told you his name was Xigbar, and that's really all you knew. The dude was tight-lipped to say the least.

-Xigbar went with you on every trip you took. At first, he was pretty wary of your little yellow Bug, but he warmed up to it pretty quickly- at least, until you dumped the clutch and stalled on a hill for the first time. He jumped like he thought the thing was trying to kill him, and you couldn't help but laugh.

-He went with you on trips to the grocery store. You showed him your favorite restaurant (and taught him how to talk to the server like a person rather than a barmaid). He sat next to you on the sofa as you pointed angrily at the TV and complained about some goings-on in your world. He helped you uncork a cheap bottle of Trader Joe's wine, then another, and another, and you ended up talking shit about your coworkers. For you, it was the guy who followed you all over the office and wouldn't leave you alone for anything. Xigbar offered to punch him as a show of gratitude, but you assured him that no, it was really okay, the guy was just a little weird.

-On the other hand, Xigbar's work stories were different. You surmised that his office was comprised entirely of... er, vibrant characters. Like, for instance, the one that ditched work every single day by hanging out in the break room right next to his manager. There was also the “gambling addict in denial”- according to Xigbar- who had, just a few weeks ago, literally swindled the pants off of a man in a bar. And there was the one who could, and would, electrocute and stab anyone and everyone for the slightest of infractions.

-”Uh, dude. Have you talked to HR?”

-”...What's an 'HR'?”

-”Human Resources, duh!” you sighed dramatically.

-The loud, barking laugh that followed told you that he had not, in fact, talked to HR.

-.........................

-Six days had passed since you'd found Xigbar bleeding all over everything in your alley. Since then he'd improved dramatically, and when you could tell he was feeling well enough to stand on his feet, you decided that his seventh day with you would be devoted to seeing as many tourist attractions as possible together. The guy didn't have any memories, he told you, so you wanted to help him “start fresh” with as many happy ones as possible.

-This was, of course, a total lie: Xigbar remembered everything in his life, he liked to think, with the exception of how he got here. He was totally content to live the lie and continue following you around.

-In just a few days, something about you had grown on him. He couldn't quite place it, but it was something about your smile, your ripostes after his witty comments, the way your hair fell over your face when you slept, your tendency to rant and rave and scream at the endless city traffic... he didn't know what to do. For the first time in a long time, he was at a loss.

-You took him absolutely everywhere you could think of: a boat tour of the bay, a cable car ride up Telegraph Hill, a brief stop for brunch at a local bistro, gift store browsing, and finally a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge to watch the sun set. The roads were more peaceful than they normally were, even for a Sunday evening. Perfect, you thought.

-If Xigbar had a heart it would have been racing: being near him made his mind do backflips and twist itself into knots. He enjoyed being there, but more than he liked the sight of the setting sun, he loved the wind in your hair and the glimmer of joy in your eyes. Those beautiful eyes.... God dammit.

-”Hey, let's take a picture!”

-”Huh??”

-Before he could stop you, you'd produced your phone from your pocket and turned on the camera.

-You held the phone in front of the two of you, snapping a seies of pictures, and drew it close to examine. In all of them, Xigbar smiled even wider than you had- genuinely, not his usual, wolfish grin.

-He has such a nice smile, you thought.

-He peeked over your shoulder at the picture, too, and felt his chest tighten in a way he'd nearly forgotten.

-.......

-After that, Xigbar knew it was time for him to head back. Xemnas would surely drill him about his whereabouts. Xigbar thought it odd that he hadn't seen so much as a single Shadow in his time here. Even if the world was really as bad as you said it was, he supposed that a world yet untouched by darkness must have some kind of hope.

-The minute you got home, you printed out two copies of the picture of the two of you on glossy photo paper, each picture small enough to fit inside a wallet. He took it gratefully from you and turned it over in his hands, the tightness in his chest creeping back.

-”This has been a really great time. Thanks for takin' such great care of me. You really got a knack for it,” he started. Suddenly your chest, too, felt heavy. “But I really oughta get back to my life. Boss Man's gotta be wonderin' about me by now, ya know? Same with yours.”

-”Yeah... I guess so,” you sighed. It had been nice having him around, despite the rocky beginning. Your eyes swept over his lithe figure and settled on his face- angular, ruggedly handsome, and watching you intently for a follow-up to your response.

-”I'm actually going to miss you,” you admitted. “Who's gonna sass me for running stop signs and stalling on hills? Or talk shit about my coworkers with me? I hope I get to see you again. Please don't be a stranger.”

-He reached forward, fingertips brushing over your face, and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. You didn't brush him off when he laced his fingers through your hair, and when he pulled you in for a kiss, you grabbed his coat and pulled him in as close as you could.

-He drew away sooner than you would have liked. Than you would have both liked, really.

-”I'll make a point to stop back by, 'kay?” he assured you. With a sad smile, he lifted a hand and was surrounded by wisps of inky black and purple smoke. Just like that, he was gone.

-”W-what?” Wide-eyed, heart racing, you glanced around your apartment and resisted the urge to scream.

-”What the FUCK was that?!”

-.................

-As soon as Xigbar was back within the walls of the castle, he realized he'd fucked up.

-”Aww, shit!” There was no way she hadn’t seen the corridor of darkness, and there wasn’t really a good way to explain it, either.

-Mortified, and more than a little tired, he reached into his pocket and checked to make sure the picture was still there. Xemnas could wait until tomorrow; he'd sleep on his little snafu and figure out what to say the next time he visited you.

#considermeafriend #kh imagine #xigbar x reader #xigbar #organization xiii #kh x reader #i accidentally posted this on my main and had to reformat it all asfkasfhs

89 notes · View notes

kimberley2021 · 3 years

Text

Day 3 9th August

We now have 13 on the tour from today(max is 21) plus driver and hostess. 3 are from the tour I was part of in the past 2 days and rest joined today. The group joining are a group of 7 people all friends or related and about 30ish age group. Remainder are in the 50- late 60’s ,1 81yr old and a daughter of one in her early 40’s. A very nice group so far so should be a happy trip. Today we left at 0630 and dove to about 2+hrs to a famous Road House on the way to Derby and had breakfast. It was all set up on a lovely shady lawn area and very pleasant. Even able to buy a real coffee at the road house and of course a toilet. Toilets become a real focus when you are driving distance and don’t have control on stops. However of course there is the Bush wee option if desperate😂. The Roadhouse was very busy with road trains and horse carriers,caravans, cars and tourist buses. Took your life in Your hands to cross from where we had breakfast at one side to the roadhouse door! Apparently the horse transport numbers are due to a big Rodeo and Broome races all occurring the weekend we are away.

Seen lots Boab trees and then the Derby Prison Tree and big trough. Here we also filled in our census online as we are out of reception for several days once we leave derby. There is also very little to no access to power for those days so couldn’t charge if we did have acces😂. Then depends on you provider after that.To do it on the night we would have had to travel 30kms do it by paper and drive back and access to the paper versions closed before we got anywhere close🤔.

We then drove to Derby to Norval Aboriginal Gallery. Beautiful paintings and even had someone sitting outside painting. I didn’t succumb to pearls bu did to a beautiful vibrant painting from the gallery! Fortunately I had it shipped home so no extra luggage. Then as I am told everyone who passes through Derby does we went out to the Jetty.

Now on the Gibb River Road with our destination Windjana Gorge where we’re camping.

Just saw some Brolgas which are apparently harder to see in the dry. Then stopped on the side of the road to collect wood for tonight’s fire (no power at the site). Discovered that collection of wood is another task we do every few days. We all went into the Bush dragged it in and then helped pass it up to Sean (Doc) our driver who was storing it on the roof. We turned out to be pretty fast and good collectors.

We went to Windjana Gorge and camped. Very remote and unpowered site again. Your headlamp is definitely your friend on this trip🤣. There were showers and toilets all set out individually but only about 6. This night we had swags and our sleeping bags and could put up our own little tent if we wished. However it was recommended to sleep in the swag under the stars which I did. An unreal experience. Even had a wallaby sniff around me and the swag next to me. We had a bit of a laugh when one of the younger men complained of being cold overnight and turns out he slept directly in his swag, no sleeping bag! We also had a drama when both men lost their mobiles, everyone mobilized and found one still in the pocket of the stored tent and one had been put in his wife’s bag for safety but he forgot to tell his wife🤣. Has become a bit of a joke all trip.

The stars that night were spectacular because no light pollution.

In the late afternoon we went for a walk into the gorge which is incredibly pretty with lots of water and lots fresh water crocs! One pool is ok so we had a swim in that.

We of course had a fire pit fire that night which was lovely as we all sat around had dinner and chatted.

We couldn’t do Tunnel Creek due to a rock fall a few days earlier.

Notes 10th

Notes Bells Gorge

Very rough nearly 3 hr drive there, stopped twice for photos and included a Bush wee,King Leopold Ranges magnificent. Once arrived it is a km walk downhill over rocks and pebbles, very rough and includes a slight water crossing. When you get there a number of smallish pools or upper pools greet you and a big view down to the bottom of the gorge where there is the lower pool and a waterfall. The upper pools are cold but the lower ones are freezing! After all that work to get here all I wanted was a swim! Pragmatism won and I decided to stay at the lower pools, one person went straight back after the walk and the rest went on to the lower pool. The lower pools are freezing, the access into the water is mossy and slippery which is fine getting in but I noted they had some problems getting out. They now need to walk 20mins to get back to me and then we walk the km out. We both got a swim. I have had a lovely time dipping into the water then walking and now under the shade where my back pack is I am sitting on a rock seat I made for myself with available suitable rocks so I don’t have to sit in the sand writing this waiting for them to get back.

More scrambling over rocks and swimming! Very rough roads at time in after dark at Manning River site. Tents fixed but showers and toilets as usual distance away and hot water turned off 8pm along with lights! They turn the generator off! Will see how I go getting to the toilet my usual 4 times. Another 5.30am up breakfast at 6 and walking to Manning falls which included swimming a river and climbing over more rocks! Will see how far I go! Then another walk and swim after lunch!

Wednesday 11th

Freezing this morning and the usual 0530 wake up. Decided not to go to Manning Falls. Not keen on the cross river swim in the cold plus a rocky walk for. Km to arrive at the steep decent to the falls and swim pool and I can’t do those steep rocky descents so would have done all the hard work and no swim! . Also seen gorges and swim holes and another (easier to get to one that doesn’t require rock climbing skills 🤣) this afternoon.

The area of the Manning river here at this campsite is just a few hundred yards walk and is stunning. Wonderful to have a gentle swim and explore and even has sandy white beach! Spent a wonderful morning in the water chatting to people crossing the river to start the Walk to the Manning falls. Probably the most relaxing start to a day yet. We have been going from early to sundown every day and apparently will do for the whole trip! Whole trip is physical activity heavy and along with setting up and taking down camps, helping with meals, firewood and any other jobs. We are up before 0530 every day and finish and to bed between 2000-2100. We have had a fire pit last 2 nights and last night had roast lamb and Veges cooked in The camp oven on the fire. After dinner we usually sit around the fire for a while and get tomorrow update. We also sit around the fire in the period while dinner is cooking and have a drink. Yes we were able to order alcohol at Broome(we paid for it) and it was loaded into the truck in big eskies which we keep iced during the trip! Restriction is that drinks need to be in tin or plastic as the vibration would break glass in the sky and has been known to cause tins to break! We also went to Adcock Gorge (ok but not exciting but a truly terrible road to get into it!) and Galvins Gorge which is spectacular and I got photos of that!

Thursday 12th

Longest drive of the trip from Manning River (Mt Barnett) to el Questro over about 8hrs all bone rattling on the Gibb!

We have done a lot of driving on the Gibb river road and rough in places with some bitumen some graded and some not. The closer you get to El Questro end the rougher it got. It is bone rattling especially after a couple of hour! On the way to El Questro we stopped including at Ellenbrae Station whose claim to fame is its scones and cream! The part of the Gibb going this way was surprisingly winding in parts and the whole area is mountainous so you are going up and then down. EllenBrae is Real oasis and also does a small campsite. Apparently all the stations make their money on the tourism but are Obliged according to the lease arrangements with the state to run at least 2,000 head of cattle all the time. They all do it but just let the cattle run free with pretty much no fences or care unless the cattle prices go up (every few years) then they get them herded by helicopter and employ the bull grabbers(or some such name) who drive fast with a contraption on the vehicle which somehow grabs the bull. Sounds dangerous! The station manager and his wife are friends of Doc’s so they gave us a bit of an over view of life on the isolated stations. We had some drama when we went to leave to discover we had a flat! Doc was laying in the dust getting it done and the wood he had under the lifter thing kept sinking into the soft earth so he had to borrow more from his mate. Then when the spare was being lowered it didn’t come right down and some judicious application of WD 40 was needed. All round quite an effort but at least it was in relative civilisation with shade for us and a toilet! Again we were very fortunate. We then kept on rattling along the Gibb including a side trip the actual Gibb River, photos at Durack River and crossing and photos at the Pentecost. Earlier we had been able to see some recent rock paintings. Also unfortunately we saw quite a few dead cane toads☹️. Also went to Telstra Hill overlooking the Pentecost River. Then I to El Questro which is a pretty slick operation. The company has tents set up here and camp kitchen and the ablutions are very good and prolific relative to other sites and has hot water and power plus our first phone reception for 3 days! I up graded to a bigger tent with power (read lead with power board fed into the tent and into which are plugged a fan and a bedside light! ) It was 38 and stinking hot in the tent but the fan helped as the evening wore on. Real beds as well and a treat after camp beds and sleeping bags. We went out this morning to Zebedee springs which is a hot water spring of 3 pools, rocky and in tropical setting and easy walk in for a change😂. Spent hour or so there and it was idyllic. The off to Emma Gorge which also has Resort facility’s including a pool, restaurant shop and excellent facilities. I decided not to do the hour walk to yet another waterfall and pool when Doc said it is an ankle breaker of a walk. We have clambered over more than our fair share of rocks on the tour to the extent we are becoming part mountain goat🤣🤣. Anyway I opted for a big mug capacino and a wander through the lush gardens, shop and then laying by the pool waiting for the walkers. It was another 38 day and they were hot and exhausted! Felt I had made the right choice. We have since come back to our ElQuestro which is still hot so sitting by the river pool in the shade doing this blog since after lunch. Coolest place to be at present. 5pm we need to order our dinner as it is the cooks night off, so just pay for yourself pub food, then shower, pack for an early start again to leave for Kununurra and on to Lake Argyle which is our next overnight and to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy start as we are leaving so it is a full camp pack up not just for the day so up about 5am to achieve that! Dinner at the pub and pack. The donkey that lives here and roams free was right outside my tent about 11pm!the pub here has live music every night but thankfully stops at 8.30pm.

0 notes

shytiff · 4 years

Text

Small August Wins

1 - DL, did my part for PKP, read a bit about leprosy reaction (PKP related), watched a cute movie tune in for love, ara stayed over at my home, edited 1 pld article

2 - exercised a bit, edited 3 pld articles, DL, finished ppt tinpus PKP, walked to the nearby lake with ara, ate nasgor smoked chicken (been a while!) and jco donuts and my tummy is happy, felt afraid with DV exam huft. I hope I can prepare myself properly

3 - DL, edited 1 article, went to school together w ara, deep fried by dr adhi for my minicex (but i am grateful for the opportunity), emir took a while to pick me up (he left home 1530 and arrived 1715) so i did some status work, arrived at home super hungry but moms food is delicious and wow glucose is finally in (after previously supported by nasi uduk and 1 jco donut) and the pain from today sort of fades away.

4 - DL, tried to study as much as i could (the panic is real), went to kencana to get dr adhis signature at 12 but he replied my chat at about 1330 🙃 , finished self reflection, group called with my group for exam prep

5 - did not DL bcs i fell asleep!! Thank god for streak freeze, met up with dr adhi in poli regarding minicex bcs turns out he brought my status etc, hes very kind 🥺 dr yudo kindly took his time to answer questions via wa voicenote even though he had a tiring day 🥺 bless all the kind people in this world

6 - DL, alhamdulillah passed the exam with dr sondang and dr larissa even though i was being a dumb ass student (thankfully theyre patient enough). Honestly panicked during the morning, i was super afraid. Searched some drug dosage for renata. I hope she passes the remed!!

7 - slept and lazed all day :( edited 1 article, dv closing. Managed to say thanks to dr yudo even though i was lowkey near tears bcs i cant for the life of me say something even mildy emotional, DL at like 15 mins before midnight

8 - finally at lvl 3 DL by cheating with my notes lmaoo, ate burgers and half pizza by dcheese pizza but had mencret2 the next day lmaooo, watched bosscha virtual sky sightseeing

9 - DL, watched Summer Vacation, edited 2 articles, put some sheet mask on (the numbers surely diminished since my cousin took some 🙂 ), pretty much watched youtube all day. At night i dreamed going to a villa that kinda looks like matamori, and the villa near it was also booked by other groups of friend, and i was recording snow falling from the sky and snow on the cliffs, but there was also a snake under the bed, and writing patients resume -_-(?)

10 - DL, read pem psikiatri cbt batch 1 optima, 25 CBT PADI, a fruitful 2,5 hr discussion with dr Heriani, SpKJ

11 - DL, poli with mendel hari and dr Khamelia, SpKJ, mustered some courage to do the ppt, phoned the patient to ask a little bit more, fell asleep and thank god i’ve prayed isya

12 - DL, lazied and played get rich, felt sick and was sick, nose congested, head starting to hurt, i dont know what is it that triggered my emotions but when my dad asked "tiff kok bersin2?" i felt like i have no privacy and they were too intruding and i wept silently in my room (bcs ppl outside can hear) and yall my nose just goes 100% blocked. aint accepting air today. Massaged my face around the sinus area until i can somehow breathe nicely and fall asleep. (took about half and hour of snot cleaning, drinking and mulling around)

13 - since i felt bad abt lazying i started my day early. Woke up at 5. Put on tretinoin, 15 CBT PADI, DL, naskah psikiatri WIP (Work in progress). It rained today. The sky was grey half of the day, which I LOVE. I felt better and more cheery, especially at abt 4-5 pm when it was raining hard and im snuggled in bed. The laptop stand arrived and bitch it was fucking amazing. My back and neck muscles felt less awkward and/or sore working at my ergonomically-awful table and chair combo turned ok thanks to laptop stand!!

14 - DL, poli with dr cika, crashed aras place (drank thai tea, ate flip burger and sausages), it felt refreshing to be in a different place rather than seeing my room all day everyday. Afterwards ara indah and i ate po noodle bar, the taste was kind of herbal (not brothy) in a good way. Tried some sort of gyoza, it was good too. Juan got accepted at USU civic engineering. Went to atikahs place, passed a red light and i got ppl a bit annoyed lmao sorry :(((, talked with atikah until 1-2ish pm

15 - richeese and fried rice for brunch time, went back home (felt socially refreshed!) to see 2 bottles of sbux coffee i ordered, claras nastar and vit d supplement from tokped. Did RPS and ikhtisar for naskah. DL. Sbux' coffee still upsets my stomach lmao but it did keep me awake and focused enough til 11 pm

16 - DL, after staying over at friends place i feel.suer content to be just at home. Ate while watching erna limdaughs vids, sleeeept

17 - DL, naskah WIP, whipped myself to go do naskah by drinking caramel macchiato and playing coffee - bts. It tasted better when i hear jks soothing voice

18 - DL, finally panicked a bit and did ppt, read a bit abt bipolar, chugged hazelnut dolce latte and somehow its not bitter anymore it actually tasted good. Talked w mendel and hari a bit abt the patient

19 - the dr actually showed up to zoom while i was opening other screen and i didnt realize (ultra embarrassing!!!) basically my diagnosis for axis I and II were wrong. She was kindly explaining and i was more dissapointed with myself but at least its all over? Talked w hansel a bit. Revised a bit of naskah. Submitted hardcopy of naskah and refleksi to mbak Asma. Went to ara. DL, ate gwen's dimsum (quite good and fulfilling). Planned to go to kashiwa but we ended up getting bakmi akiaw. Went back "home" to DM, took only 35 mins.

20 - DL, slept half of the day since im on my period (what even is daily structure), woke up in the evening, decided to start “the folk of the air” series. Binged the first book in one go, from 8 pm to 1 am lmaoo

21 - DL, finished the series at night. it’s nice but not as good as six of crows duology. bts comeback with dynamite!! :) i love them. its scary to think they are still progressing and going up and getting better stats. When will it all stop?

22 - discussion with dr natalia spKJ at 7.30 am, DL, drank matcha latte at starbucks airport hub (been a while! It doesnt taste quite good as i remembered) while backing up HD data at drive and some padi CBT (finished TO 3. After all this time, only to 3?!), felt a bit better after i went out, read a falling cohabitation again

23 - DL, danced to baepsae, slept in the afternoon (my body is too weak nowadays)

24 - DL, psychiatry closing, 1 pamela reif vid, 2P (CBT PADI)

25 - DL, made latar belakang for propeks nemo

26 - DL, 4P, rapat nemo

27 - DL, met up with atikah pupuy @ toska, tried yogurt and fruit, mac and cheese, vegan mentai rice and had dinner @ bakmi gm. mom somehow told (and allowed) me to go back home (it was 9 am and i was abt to stay over at atikah’s)

28 - DL, i dont feel like doing anything helppp, i know there’s stuff that im supposed to do but i cant bring myself to do it. a week will pass by, a month, and before you know it exam will arrive

29 - DL, ordered burgushi, i literally have no strength to go at static bike (can only do for a couple of mins), didnt rly do anything else bcs im in a slump nowadays

30 - its scary that the month is almost over again. my life just goes away like that but i still dont feel like doing anything, DL, tried to follow some dances on youtube to move my body

31 - DL, 2A, 4P

0 notes

cicinicole-14 · 7 years

Text

coco’s college story

I just need to vent and get things off my chest. this is going to be quite long, and I’m going to add more to this, but we’re starting a new segment on this blog called #coco’s college story. I’m going to get personal and real and you don’t have to read, but I just need to write it all out. feel free to come talk if you feel inclined to. and since this will be long, I’ll put it under the cut. lets hope everything is spelled right...

college really sucks sometimes. I’m really stressed out from it and I have no idea what to do or what I am doing.

I’m going to start at the beginning, or try to at least. which, brings me to grade 11. I think this is really where it started. everyone was starting to take the ACT/SAT (American standardized tests required for most college admittance) and I hadn’t even begun to think where I truly wanted to go for college. yet some kids in my class had already started applying wtf. all I thought I knew was that a. I wanted to go out of state and b. I wanted to go far from home and c. I wanted to be a doctor.

summer of 2016 (summer after I finished 11th grade) I was in Virginia visiting my best friend Autumn (she plays a huge role in this). Autumn is 6 months older than me and would be at this time starting her first semester at GMU in the fall of 2016. so she asked me where I wanted to go to school. my reply? “haha that’s a great question!!! I have no fucking clue.” (literally word for word) and she was like “apply to GMU!!!” and I was like, “dude, Noah fence but you’re going there to be a hISTORY major and I literally slept thru that class for all of middle and high school. nah fam” and she’s like “yeah, but they have a great science program and then you can go to Hopkins after.” so I was like ok maybe. so I did what everyone does best: listed my pros and cons

pros:

going to school w/ bff since age 3

1,025 miles from home and from my mother*

good science program so I can be a dr??

location wise: gr8 bc autumn’s fam lived 2hrs north and my stepsister (who I’m close with) lived 2hrs NE and its a 2hr plane ride home to florida

cons:

is hella expensive**

1,025 miles from home

current number of people I know going to this school: 1 (and pls note: I hate doing things alone even tho I love to be alone. idk how to explain this but like like I enjoy being alone but I don’t like being alone. I know some of y’all understand this?)

leaving friends I have in florida

tbh, the pros outweighed the cons and I applied to GMU and I was accepted. (I applied to other schools and got accepted to one and denied at another because they closed the program I was applying for but I can assure u had they not, I would’ve gotten accepted)anyway, I took my ACT in October of 2016 and got accepted to gmu in December of 2016. I think that’s really when the stress started kicking in, because while I was happy to be accepted to my dream school, I had a lot of emotions I wasn’t ready for and then later on experienced them.

2017 started off decently. I went into the second semester of senior year knowing I was accepted and 100% planning on going to my dream school, ready for a new future, ready to leave Florida, excited about going to Italy that march with my class etc…

but it also brought hard times because I ended my friendship with one of my best friends in the whole world: olivia. we were inseparable and had been for 8 years and knew each other for 13 years. it was seriously really hard, especially because not only was I close to her, I was close with her mom, little brother, big sister, niece and nephews. it really sucked.

and, I had the daunting task of telling my mother I was going to Virginia for college.

now, as some of you may know, my relationship with my mother is very strained. and whenever I refer to my “parents” on Tumblr, I’m talking about my dad and stepmom, because I always refer to my mom (as mother) separately. and add to the fact, my mother flipped out on autumn’s mom a few years ago and told them to never speak to me again. so, since I was 12 years old, my mom has had no idea I’ve kept in touch with autumn and still has no idea I go to school with autumn. (my dad and stepmom love her family and her and see no problem with them same as me and she’s my best friend and my mother has issues we will not be addressing rn) anyway, so I didn’t tell my mother I got accepted to GMU until April of 2017. (mind you, I found out mid-december and my dad found out when I got the email because I made Claudia stop the car before we headed to a Christmas party lol) and so I told my mom in April that I was going to GMU and she asked me if autumn went there and I lied right thru my teeth and told her I had no fucking clue because we weren’t friends, remember? and that was one big thing that really started the stressing because a. I didn’t have olivia there as my bff to help me thru the stressful time, and b. I so badly wanted my mother to be happy for me but I knew deep down she really wasn’t because she also flipped out a bit and was like “wtf ur going to college? u leave in august?” and I was like yeah, what did you expect me to do?” and honestly, she was angry about it, but I was an adult, its my life and she had no say in where or whether or not I was going to college.

so, fast forward to college. idk how chronological this will be so we’re just going to list some stressors I’ve had with college.

it’s 1,025 miles away from home

I grew up in a town in Florida, in the same neighborhood I was brought home from the hospital in (I almost said same house, but I moved down the street long story…) I went to a preschool from ages 2-4 and then started elementary and middle school ages 5-13 at one school and then half of my eight grade class went to my high school. and I was there for four years. these people were family. out of the 7 people who went to high school with me, 4 I knew since kindergarten, one I knew since fifth grade and the other since sixth and the last one was me. and I made two friends (chelsey and Claudia) in ninth grade who are my sisters. I love them both so much. I would talk thru fire for them (and autumn, Robyn and belle ofc but we’re talking about my friends at home) anyway, I grew up there. Florida is my home. I like small places. I lived in a kinda small city in my two bedroom condo with my parents and doggo and I had neighbors who I’d known most of my life. my whole family was in Florida basically, minus my aunt (dad’s sister who we visit in NY or she’d visit us).

I was leaving my friends

I went from seeing Claudia every day in school, and once every two weeks during the summer or a few times a week because of our movie dates lol, and chelsey who graduated the year before me and lived an hour away from me at home, made it a point to still come to my school to see me and sleep over at my house, and then during the summer she came over once a week and stayed over. I saw them all the time. we’re three peas in a pod. I saw them a lot. and I only have 5 really close friends. friends I would walk thru fire for, and trust with my life. mentioned above: Claudia, chelsey, autumn, Robyn and belle. and we all have different relationships. autumn moved away when I was 11 and I coped with that in middle school (another dark time in my life) and I learned to live with that. Robyn and belle I met over Tumblr, so I’d never entertained the prospect of seeing them regularly. (tho Robyn and I have kinda made a pact of visiting each other during the summer and thus every other summer I get to see belle when Its my turn to visit Canada) but chelsey and claudia? I saw them a lot, and I hadn’t had to cope with a friend, who I saw a lot and was inseparable with, be away from me for a huge long period of time in a long time (age 11). and to add to the fact, both chelsey and Claude go to school at home and they became close with my family too so like idk it all just kinda fell apart

I get really homesick/leaving my parents and dog

this one wasn’t as bad solely because, I left home august 2nd. I was traveling by myself most of this month. I saw my parents at the end of the month when they held me move in for college. then, I got a surprise visit from them and my doggo in September because they drove up to my sister’s house 2 hrs from my school to escape the hurricane that was to hit Florida (bless, my house was fine). then I saw them again in October, because my sister got married!!! and thanksgiving I saw them again, November, because ofc its thanksgiving ill see them, even though it flew by. and now here, its December and I’m going home for a month. so I’ll see them thru January. and then lbr, because my dad works in Maryland a lot, he’s probably gong to be up north most of 2018 too and he vowed to visit me when he could because he’s a mush and misses his kid even if he denies it. also, the homesickness; I don’t like being away from people/be by myself in a house for an extended period of time, but I kinda built up my tolerance because my dad travels a lot and I have speration anxiety from it (he travelled all my life and I was left with my mother for a lot of it so stress but I built up a tolerance for it when I was like 15 and my homesickness started getting better from then on out) and like I did really well when I spent 8 days in Italy without my parents etc which I only had 1 tiny little freak out and Claudia helped me thru it and was proud at the fact that I only had one like 2 days in to the trip and was fine after that.

my life plan

holy f u c k. ever hear the saying like “you plan and god laughs”? well, holy fuck, it can’t be more true. I don’t care what god or thing you believe in, its fucking true. I’m a planner. not a detailed one, but its a rough outline, I have a plan of my life, roughly outlined; its got a few bullet points mainly looking like this:

my life:

go to college out of state

make money

be a doctor in the nicu

be a mom/foster/adopt kids

own lotsa pets

have enough money to build my own house

were going to focus on the “be a doctor” point. because this is where everything got fucked.

since I was five years old, five. I wanted to be a doctor. since that age, I narrowed down the specifics and specialty etc. I picked out what school I wanted to go to for medical school and whatnot. I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was five fucking years old.

college has since changed that plan...

about a month into school this semester, I changed my major of–––biology degree> medical school> be a doctor to uh, now I’m currently in the pre-nursing (BsN) program at my college (and I’m minoring in photography, but that I knew about and hasn’t changed). I remember this day very clearly when I decided. it was a Monday. idk the date, but it was Monday and I was sitting in the JC (the main campus building) with autumn eating food and I was like “I’m having a crisis and I want to change my major to nursing” and so then I called my dad and told him I was going to do it. thankfully my while family was very supportive (minus my mother I have not talked to her since September[?]***)

so that happened, and threw me for a loop.

college is just extremely different in general.

I really don’t even know how else to categorize this. so here are just random things.

professors are weird. all of them. no matter their age: which this ranges too because I have some that are like two coughs away from dying and others who are literally only like 5 years older than me… fucking weird.

your syllabus is your fucking roadmap. don’t fucking lose it.

nothing ever gets graded at a decent time. I literally got two papers back without grades on them and they aren’t online either but the prof said that they’re recorded in the gradebook he has so like????

I grew up going to private christian schools since I was 2… which means no cussing in class and wearing a uniform and your parents drive you to school, we don’t have busses.

college: no dress code. I wore pj’s (with jack skellington on them) to class and Christmas and halloween printed leggings and hoodies with just a bra underneath and fucking whatever the hell I wanted to class, strapless/sleeveless dresses, whatever. my professors cusses in classes/lectures. I was taken back by this at first. but thoroughly loved the chillness and laid-backness that classes had tho because I could say whatever I wanted (vulgarity wise). and I now blame my worsening swearing habit on college because I’m not in christian private school or nannying 3x a week anymore so I haven’t needed to curb my language… walking…everywhere… I live on campus in a dorm without a car (autumn has one but we really only use it to run errands on Fridays) and damn that was a shock. because while yes, I lived in a smallish city and there was a Walmart and dollar store close to my house to walk to if I was bored, I didnt really walk much, we drove a lot. because my school was 15 miles away. and like idk nothing wasn’t super close. and now here that I live on campus, my whole life is here. I eat sleep and breathe campus, so I walk everywhere. to all my classes, to get food, well thats basically it because thats all college leaves you time for…

college is stressful.

and finally, here are more things that I wasn’t expecting.

I didn’t realize it was going to be this difficult. Im currently taking 6 classes (16 credits altogether) and out of those 6 classes, I’m currently passing 2 I think? college is fucking hard. it didn’t help that I had a few major major major anxiety attacks and literally disassociated with everything for a week, two different times, plus I got sick with a nasty ass cold, and like idk, just it sucked. I moved 1,025 miles from home and then homesickness an that reality of “I’m living a thousand miles from home by myself” hit me. and I literally know no one here except autumn who I see once a week on Fridays. (because we both have off) and like it killed me. I left my only home I’ve ever known. I moved my whole life here. and I had a shocking realization that yeah, I’m going to Florida during breaks and whatnot, but I left Florida August 2, 2017 and I knew it was for good. I packed up my whole room last summer and knew that when I got on the plane, I wasn’t going to ever be coming back home home for good. I left my keys on the kitchen counter and said goodbye to my room. and yes, its still my room, but it’s been a guest room for the past few months and its not my room anymore. I did move out. and so that hit me too.

and I’m alone here. I had a mental breakdown one day when I was texting chelsey and Claudia and all I really wanted was a hug from them but they’re a thousand miles away and couldn’t give me one, so I was stuck crying in the middle of our campus chick-fil-a. and so I texted autumn at 9am on a Thursday and she came in her pj’s and walked across campus to give me a hug so I could hug her, cry on her shoulder and breathe a little easier.

and while I know this decision to move states away and leave everything I’ve ever known was hard, I know it was the right decision and the best decision I ever made, and the scariest.

I know that because if I went to school at home, I would Never have ended up moving out. I know I needed to experience college dorm life, and living by myself more, and being independent. I know for my health––mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally––it was for the better. mentally: I am able to escape my mother being here where she can’t visit me or I won’t run into her here. physically: I walk everywhere and I’m attempting to eat healthier etc… spiritually: I’ve had a rough time with my faith, but I’m a christian and like autumn helps me a lot with this in strengthening my faith etc etc, (I’m more spiritual than religious) and emotionally: I’ve been able to heal and accept who I am, and I came out as bi to my friends, currently 4/5 of them and all of you guys. its a new zone here and I can live and be free and be me. I don’t have to worry about the people I knew from high school judging me because I’m bi and we went to a christian school etc. I’m who I am here and my decision to move here has helped me grow.

and also, yeah, I’m stressing currently about my future, but I’m going to take it a day at a time. I’m failing classes right now, but I’ve realized thats because I haven’t been on my A-game. I went thru a major life change, I’ve had a bit of family health issues, I’ve had to deal with a lot of issues and stress surrounding my mother and my relationship with her since starting college, and like a lot more, and so I have decided that while I had a mental breakdown about not making it into the nursing program, I’m going to take it slowly. fuck doing this all “fast and in four years and yada yada”. Its only been one semester, this is a whole new ballgame for me. college is so different from high school. so, I’m going to be better next semester, focus more on my passions, maybe take summer classes, and not pressure myself to be in the nursing program in my 3rd year, take my time. there’s no rush.

notes:

*– mother and I have a very strained relationship due to her years of mental abuse (and very little but still prevalent physical abuse) towards me. I’ve been trying to get out from under her thumb since I was 10. moved in with my dad when I was 12 but since he travelled for work a lot, I stayed with mother etc until I was about 15 when I stayed with friends or by myself. and so being away from her like this has only brought peace and less fights because I don’t have to see her or talk to her

**– college out of state tuition is hella fucking expensive, but thankfully, my granddad had set aside money for his grandkids (there’s only 2 of us, me and my cousin Kiersten who is out of college now) and has put us thru school (private school) our whole lives. we have been blessed so very graciously with being able to go to any school we chose debt free because our grandpa has it covered no questions asked and truly its the best thing ever because while I grew up not worrying about tuition, I still grew up with a tight family income because mom had a fixed income and then when I moved in with dad, he worked for himself, so he has seasonal work… some months its great, other months were scrounging for the last few dollars to put food on the table…

***–since moving to college and being out from under my mother’s thumb, I’ve been talking with my parents (again remind u this means dad and stepmom) about me needing to learn to heal and forgive and just live my life and I can’t do that if I keep having my mother call or text me or expect me to visit her etc… I’m an adult. I’m going home this Christmas to tell her that if she wants to be my mother in the long run, she needs to play by my rules, and this is now going to happen my way. I need to cut contact with her for however long. and she’s not to reach out to me. I need to be the one to do it because if she pushes it, our relationship is so strained right now because of her actions, if she attempts anymore, she’s going to lose me forever as her daughter and deep down, we both don’t want that. so I need space and need to learn how to forgive her. and she needs to get help and learn to be a better person herself. she needs to do a lot of things I’m not going to get into here but yeah, basically.

so that’s it. this was really long and I’m sorry about that. if y’all feel inclined to talk to me about any of this, feel free to do so. I needed to talk through this. I’m probably going to talk about #coco’s college story a bit as my life goes on. I will keep everyone updated. college is stressful, and crazy, and scary and wild and fun and terrifying and a lot of emotions mixed in one

xx cici

#coco’s college story #personal

1 note · View note

hey-look-im-doing-it-blog · 5 years

Text

Checklist for Saturday, May 8, 2019

I'm going to have a discipline problem for this day. My usual study areas will be inaccessible for me, and the areas where I CAN study are areas where I play video games and loaf around, so I'll need to be really strict on myself, with the urgency of a life at stake. With my lack of progress in math, and the alluring environment the distractions, I can't afford to have myself in a relaxed state. I have to take this checklist seriously.

(FAIL) Wake up early. Walk the dogs. End in one hour. (Woke up late due to procrastinating yesterday.

(FAIL) Sit on a table and start solving the math homework by 7:59PM with 1) math workbook, 2) Symbolab on full screen to avoid internet distractions, 3) pomodoro timer. No excuse.

(Woke up late and ate breakfast. Started an hour later due to finding out a friend has been waiting for me to answer his survey for his project. I said “No excuse” but this is a valid excuse.)

(FAIL) Aim for 10 pomodoros today. Try to time each of them. (Only did 4, aka 2 hrs)

(FAIL) Aim to submit homework by 5:00PM. If not, 7:40PM. Second worst deadline is 9:45PM. (Coffee won’t prevent me from procrastinating, so I slept early. There’s no real deadline anyway since the homework was always late.)

(FAIL) If possible, start flashcards. (Write a detailed time-efficient plan for creating them)

Rules

Especially to prevent procrastination

(OK) Eye breaks from screen (Sometimes didn’t follow)

(MEDIOCRE) TIME EVERYTHING. At least check watch. (Didn’t usually)

(SUCCESS) Ban yourself from social media (except to post task statuses, since it helps alleviate the desire of chasing internet distractions).

(SUCCESS) If you need to use social media, report every instance of "visits" before logging in and after leaving, with [1] purpose of visit [2] detailed plan on how you will approach it, what you will click [3] period of time spent on it. Have a timer with you.

#day's list #checklist #this list took way too long to type on a stupid screen #am done

0 notes

avasmommy1815 · 7 years

Text

It's been a long time coming.

So from my moving post fast toward to finally having a very much larger, very much nicer house to rent. However our old “slumlord” made our move very difficult. We had everything set with the new house and help with the loading/unloading the truck. And the date we were going to move on was agreed upon in writing. A week before we moved he said we had to be out 2 days earlier. Otherwise he wanted to prorate us for the 2 days and charge us for the time the house sat empty. Bullshit right? So we lost our helpers and had to work the new move date out with the new house. Oh and just if you thought that was no too bad. Both hubby and I had to pack the truck twice by ourselves. My parents are much older and can’t help. We have no friends down here all our friends are in other states. So we pack, and pack and unload the truck once then go back and do it again. Mind you this is a 2 hour drive there and 2 hrs back. Ok, back to complaning.

So slumlord of the year 2017 decided that the day we finally left was the perfect day to start work on the house. The same work he was suppose to do in the 3 FUCKING YEARS WE WASTED THERE! So not only was my daughter scared of the power grinder ( he grinded off the broken window ledges on the exterior of the house) so were my poor pets. And he was using electric that we were still paying for. Not to mention he was making fun of us for moving to a small town saying there’s nothing out there. That’s what we were going for dickwad! Then this comment followed from him. “ I thought you guys wanted a lower rent?” NOPE! We just didn’t want to pay you for a piece of shit house! And because I’m just a nice girl, I still thanked you for renting to us. However in my mind I was throwing daggers at your eyeballs!

So it took us 4 days to finish with the truck. And that first night unloading and driving back we all were so tired we slept in the few random chairs we had left that we couldn’t even take with us. Little slept on her mini baby mattress. We still have it because she likes to pretend it’s a boat. So we packed up what we wanted to take and left only like 10 things that we would have taken if there was room. I miss my rocking chair, and the recliner. Well either way we are free of horror house and it’s current demons. Buh bye!

The new house is big like garden tub in the master bathroom/bedroom big. Little loves bathtime! We also have a porch out back and guess what it’s got screens. That aren’t missing or cut up. Wow! What wonders. It’s only one floor but it’s the biggest house I have ever lived in. Now I really hate having to leave furniture behind. I hope someone picked them up. We did have to camp out in the house for like 5 days. The water came on in 4 days because we had to wait for money to turn it on and the electric the next day. So yeah it was hot and yes we had to use the bathroom as an outhouse. You bet I was excited to get that water on lol. The morning after we moved in we were so tired and the full truck was still outside. I had hurt my elbow and could not lift anymore and hubby count even think straight. We cried that morning thinking of the work ahead. Hubby had an idea, there is a community church next to the house. It’s a sunday. Hubby went to talk to the pastor. And less than 15 min after he got back there’s a knock on the door. The pastor brought 8 people with him to help us unload the truck. Good things do happen if you wait long enough. I thank God that they were awesome enough to help us out. So today we have most of our stuff in order and little has a bedroom and her very own playroom. It’s good now. Hubby still has to drive an hour and a half to work almost everyday. But he’s looking for something more local. We got our library cards and have enjoyed the area so far. It’s cute here and very quiet. We love it. So until next time.

1 note · View note

jchichibu · 8 years

Text

Everything about my exchange in Europe/Sweden.

Hej!!! (is it too long never hej someone already)

It’s been almost 4 months since I have been back from my exchange at Umeå University in Sweden and everything has been moving so quickly ever since I was back. Firstly, I was back on 16 January 2016, which means school in NTU has actually already started. My last exam in Sweden was 15 Jan :( Secondly, transitioning back to $tre$$fuLyf3 Singapore education isn't the easiest thing to do right after a 7.5-month break from NTU. Thirdly, having cleared very little/very lame AUs during exchange, I wanted to focus a lil more this sem. Hence I had to chuck the idea of wanting to blog something about my exchange till when I've got more time.

And now that finals are ended, LAO NIANG CAN SIT DOWN AND SAY WHAT I WANT 'CUZ EXCHANGE WAS THE DAMN BIG THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!!!!!!!

Ok that being said, I'm not going to make this like a travelogue/tips on how to travel on a budget because I really am not the best person travelling (but i do have a friend, buttergoesbudget) because I have literally forgotten many places that I'd been to and eaten at, and I wasn't the biggest/best saver.

However having made quite a lot of mistakes during exchange, what I've got here are my experiences from exchange and I hope to share to whoever who wants to read, and hopefully will be useful for those heading to Europe/Sweden for exchange :) Also pardon my limited vocab and simple compo writing, I shall just pen my thoughts as if I'm talking to someone irl ok LOL

Some background story...

current major | Mathematics and Economics (NTU SPMS) year of exchange | Year 3 Semester 1, Autumn semester place of exchange | Umeå, Sweden host university | Umeå University (I took economics mods there, they do not offer many math mods) duration of exchange | 3 Aug 2015 to 15 Jan 2016

I shall skip the preliminaries such as how to go on an exchange, course matching etc 'cuz I've forgotten LOL and jump into my 10 things I think will be useful for those going exchange! Ok here we go.

1) Air tickets (from and to Singapore)

Vanessa and I actually got our deal from STA Travel, which mainly includes:

Qatar Airlines

Stopover at Dubai

Ticket from Singapore to Rome

Ticket from Stockholm to Singapore

1 change of date back to Singapore FREE

40KG baggage limit

Max stopover was maybe at most 2 hours, wasn't long at all

We also got our ISIC (International Student Identity Card) done for FREE as a complementary (usual cost about sgd 25 I think). I thought owning this card was definitely not an essential but it was nice to have it as I did receive some good deals via ISIC card (you can check their discounts at different countries in their website).

I got my 2-way tickets for SGD 1440. I am quite sure this isn't the cheapest. But the 1 change of date and 40kg baggage limit were useful because I did change my flight back once and my baggage was freakin' on-the-dot 40kg. So don't underestimate these benefits included!

2) Pre-trip planning

I'm typing more for pre-trip because the time period is kinda more predictable than the trips in between school. Maybe some ideas to help you kickstart planning for your pre-trip! After your pretrip, I'm pretty damn sure your other trips will be much easier to plan (or even last min!)

Travel mates:Initially the pre-trip only consisted of Van and I, but Hui Cheng and Yi Jin joined in :)

It was just 4 girls and I think it was a good number because too many people sibei mafan, but too little people quite dangerous. My parents had concerns about only 4 girls travelling but I guess they were ok after a while. But of course, always nice to have some guys around!

Choosing where to visit: We all did not have any preferences to places to go as everyone haven't been to Europe before. Hence we simply followed the common route most people do, we planned on: Rome → Venice → Florence → Pisa → Cinque Terre → Milan → Paris → Amsterdam So basically there was no particular reason how we chose our route, but for those who are as new to Europe as us, I must say it was a doable and fun route. And for suaku me, being able to witness The Colosseum, Vatican City, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower, Green light district of Amsterdam and Anne Frank House within 2.5 weeks was definitely sth familiar yet Europey to me! And can haolian to people you've been there seen those *flips hair*

However, the only bad part was probably the weather. On our first few days, it was super hot like 37°C during the daytime (early Aug) when we arrived at Rome (Singapore felt incomparable) (or was it) and I legit had a heatstroke-feeling-moment when I was in the Colosseum. But the nights are pretty chilly which was good. And then, within like 2 weeks or so, it was starting to get really cold by the time we were in Amsterdam (mid August). Cinque Terre vs Amsterdam within 2 weeks: From wearing like this...

to wearing like this.

So the weather changes up pretty quickly due to the how the seasons change, something not every Singaporean will understand (ie, me before exchange) and it gets quite unpredictable. Which means, you need to pack your summer and slightly warming clothing. But I managed through lower temperatures in Paris and Amsterdam with my baseball jacket and beanie (which I bought there). One note is that perhaps starting from lower parts of Europe (Spain, Portugal etc) can be a good alternative pre-trip route too, so as to get used to the temperatures in Europe and also the temperatures do not flactuate too much.

Duration of trip: We travelled from 3 August 2015 to 21 August 2015 (about 18 days). It was a good duration for me, not too long, not too short. But can I say I got a little sick of moving from place to place every few days :( Remember you are new to travelling for a relatively long time and travelling is not always rainbows and unicorns, it really gets tiring.

This was the days spent in each city and my comments wrt the duration:

Rome- 5D4N: Had to adjust body clock, set aside time to settle my luggage matters and a full day in Vatican city. There were many things to see in Rome so duration was ok

Venice- 3D2N: duration was sufficient

Florence- 4D3N: too long LOL for me. I thought Florence was pretty normal only haha

Pisa- 3+HRS: too short LOL could have spent a lil longer but definitely less than a day. Although we only wanted to see the Leaning Tower in Pisa, taking the perfect shot of it took a loOooooOoong time and the distance by foot from Tower to train station was about 20min

Cinque Terre- 3D2N: loooove this place, wouldn't mind an extra day or 2 to properly visit all the islands! And even chill in the beaches

Milan- 8HRS: was a stopover so we did not do much actually besides eating and shopping at train station haha

Paris- 4D3N: would have liked an extra day to visit Disneyland!!! :( (which is quite a distance from the central Paris)

Amsterdam- 4D3N: duration was ok

Modes of transportation: For the route we took specifically, we took trains all the way. We used Raileurope to find the cheapest timings for each city. It is like a skyscanner for trains. And the trains were really great tbh!!!

So definitely take trains, takes about 2 to 4 hours between cities and they were ok priced I guess.

One of the perks will definitely be that the trains bring you to the city centre, which is always useful.

Also, trains have no limits on baggage weight!!!!

We also got adventurous and tried the overnight sleeper train (Thello) from Milan to Paris. Comfort-wise, I was sleeping at the bottom deck in a 6-couchette, closest to the tracks, slept the entire night lol. I think they had blankets too! Price-wise, it wasn't the cheapest but definitely an experience! Safety wise, we were 4 friends in a 6-people cabin, and the other 2 being a mother and a young daughter. So we were lucky as they looked pretty harmless. I just placed my luggage filled with clothes in the unlocked storage area in the cabin and kept my belongings close to me like near my boobs when I slept. Also, the cabin door could be locked from inside. I advise to always have more of your own people than strangers in the couchette if possible, always safer this way! Initially we were wondering to try the eurail pass but I think we did not as it was only more worth it if we were taking the 1 month pass. But do compare the prices!

Another useful website to find out where are the best routes to take from a city to another is rome2rio.

Accommodations: We booked through airbnb. We mostly got a whole apartment to ourselves as we had 4 people, which was easier to find airbnbs for. Sometimes the airbnbs were for 3 people but had extra charge for extra person and worked out fine for us. So do consider that. We were looking for somewhere convenient, affordable and had good reviews. Tbh we just tried our luck with the area of the airbnb and basically was ok as long as the airbnb is near a subway or near some place of interest. It helps that airbnb now has the feature where the airbnbs are geotagged on a map with their pricing.

Some better airbnbs/hostel that we stayed and were pretty decent in terms of location and airbnb itself were: Venice: link Florence: link Paris: link Amsterdam: link

In all, we basically we booked our train tickets, flight tickets and accommodation prior to the trip a few months before! Train ticket prices shouldn't change too much so tbh no need book so fast, same for airbnbs. But book earlier if you already have plans, try not to do last minute bookings as good airbnbs/train timings may not be available.

Administration: As there are travel mates with u and everyone may be paying/booking different things, do set up Googledocs with your travel mates for all the important documents, like train tickets, airbnb receipts and itinerary. This keeps accounting easier and ensures no tickets/receipts are lost. To be honest, it gets quite messy trying to split costs etc so it's always nice to write down who paid for what for future references when everyone needs to start paying! Don't care if your friends think you damn lame, IT JUST MAKES EVERYTHING NEATER because there will be so many tickets and receipts to remember. They will thank you next time lol. Another advise is to divide the workload if possible, so everyone in charge of finding accommodation/transport for different cities respectively. Divide the workload, lessen the mistakes, eliminate the possibility that one person has to tank all the errors LOL.

One mistake I made was to book the wrong month for our Paris airbnb, and to only realise after that and the cancellation policy was strict :( SO PLEASE CHECK AND CHECK TO ENSURE EVERYTHING IS CORRECT FOR YOUR TICKET, ACCOMMODATION EVERYTHING! DON'T TAKE CHANCES.

3) Packing list for exchange

I waited till the super last minute to pack my luggage as I returned from Japan just less than a week before flying off for exchange. And I was lazy (so Claria had to help me overnight haha <3). But really hor, I think if can pack earlier. Just start throwing stuff you think you need during exchange into your luggage as and when. You don't want to be rushing and be anxious about forgetting something important.

Something I forgotten to bring was, MY FREAKING GRAPHIC CALCULATOR. And I am a Math and Econs student. *come I clap for you* So yes, just please remember to bring, you don't want to buy one there.

I basically followed this checklist for advise on what to bring. I thought it was useful to help me get started.

And after experiencing exchange myself,

These are what I think you SHOULD NOT bring:

Maggie mee/ cup noodles: It is damn ding dey (occupy a lot of space, esp the bowl cup noodles) The asians shops have it. And bringing 5 packets over wouldn't last you entire exchange lolol. For Sweden, ICA sells them!!!! So don't worry if you really craving for it.

Too much milo packets: tbh I wasn't craving milo too much, mostly gave milo away for my international friends to try. I mean, milo is really yummy (milo fan 5eva) everyone should try it. However, that being said, one big packet will do for your friends to share. I brought 2 packets and it was SUPER HEAVY. I carried all my food around during pretrip it was extremely troublesome. Will explain why below.

Too many Singaporean-y food: I know you miss your food but just bring some to cook for your international friends! Go enjoy the food over there since you're in Europe! And also, if you really need some oyster sauce or whatever, just buy it from Asian supermarkets. You definitely have one nearby you.

New winter wear just for exchange: I did not have any winter wear prior to exchange, and I bought myself some Uniqlo fleece hoodie and 2 turtlenecks. Think those were neccessary, sufficient and pretty affordable. But if you do not have winter jackets and will hardly experience winter anytime soon after exchange like me, just buy them from thrift stores when you reach your city! There are usually a large variety and muuuuuch cheaper for a substantial one. Scored myself a reasonably warm black jacket. But also, thrift shopping is possible only if you are ok with wearing used stuff! :)

Boots: If you do not have those Timberland boots or whatever, no need to buy just to walk on snow. Because when the snow comes and it gets all slippery and shit, these boots still make you fall. If you have them already, bring them as they definitely are better than normal sneakers. But if you do not own them already, don't bother buying them. Get the detachable spikes when you are at a snowy place!

These are what I think you SHOULD bring:

Running shoes: You need to exercise in exchange. Lol

Wifi router: I stayed in a school dormitory hence I was glad I brought my router so I had access to wifi the first day there. It is cheaper to bring it from Singapore!

Coffee packets from Singapore: I'm speaking for people going to Sweden for exchange. Swedish enjoy coffee, so bringing some good kopi packets for them to try may actually be very useful and nice.

Party wear: Not chao clubber but there are parties and parties to go when you are on exchange, so you may consider bringing some dresses/skirts that will keep you warm for the girls so you look presentable and ready to party!

Extra credit card: My parents got me another UOB Lady's Mastercard, on top of my existing POSB card which I usually draw my money with. I put my POSB card in my wallet and my UOB card somewhere else in my bag. The POSB card is for normal usage while the UOB serves as a backup in the case when I lose my wallet/card. This will kinda of save all the trouble of your parents having to send you money from Singapore and you will never be penniless/have insufficient money. This UOB Mastercard merely serves as a backup financially, it's always good to have extra "capabilities" to pay up. lol

Body pouch: Yes, those lao kok kok one that your parents may force you to use. Surprisingly 3 out of 4 of us actually wore it throughout our pretrip. I kept some extra cash and my passport in it and strap it close to my body.

Sling bag: I carried my crossbody bag throughout my trip and put it in front of me ALWAYS. I kept my wallet, handphone and iPad in this bag and constantly checked to ensure these 3 things are in it. Do not put too many junk in your bag, so you can just touch your bag to know that these 3 things are inside. I check my bag like 10 times or more a day not even kidding, better be safe than sorry because some European countries can be really unsafe! Even when we were travelling in trains, this crossbody is always with me. I do not put my valuables in my luggage. I mean if people want to steal my luggage they can la, they can have my clothes lo. Do remind each other about checking your belongings too, am thankful no one I travelled with lost anything.

Wide angle lens/fisheye lens: Good for taking photos with your friends and the whatever chio thing y'all trying to take with, that is if you do not own a DSLR like me!

Some nice things that represent Singapore that you want to share with your international pals: For example, chicken rice paste, chilli crab paste, NTU shirt, NTU file, etc

This list is definitely not exhaustive. Refer to the post above for a more detailed one (I used that checklist to prepare for my trip!).

4) Transporting your hugeass luggage from Singapore to host university

I'm talking about the luggage with 6 months worth of supplies. As my university was in the northern parts (read: ulu) of Sweden, it was quite expensive just to get a flight ticket, fly there, leave my luggage, then proceed for my pre-trip. Furthermore, my room was not ready yet and I would not have a room to store my luggage. And I did not have a friend living in Sweden or whatsoever. What Van and I did was, we brought our luggage (we had 40KG baggage limit for our flight from Singapore to Rome) to Rome and from Rome, we hired a door-to-door bagagge delivery service, sendmybag.com. It was definitely cheaper to send it from Rome to Umea, than from Singapore to Umea. We liased with our host uni prior to flying off and they agreed to collect our luggage for us and safekeep it for us in the general office. We had to print this tag and paste it in on our luggage, so do bring some tape! We also managed to find a printing shop nearby to print our tags. One bad thing is that they do not deliver food items, which explains why I had to carry all my cup noodles and milo packets around, throughout my entire pretrip TMD. Ended up eating all my Hello Panda even before I reached Sweden LOL. And also, gels, liquids etc are not allowed. You can read more on their website! Another bad part is that they did not tell us when they were coming to our Rome airbnb to collect our luggage, but instead gave us a time range, which was pretty much the whole day. That was why we actually allocated more time in Rome. So we have decided to wait in our airbnb for the delivery man to come collect our luggages. And thankfully (I still rmb we shrieked) the man came to collect at about 12pm so this means more time to explore Rome!!! Apparently, our luggage got delivered safely to our host uni and to Yi Jin's and Hui Cheng's apartment. Do remember to lias properly with the person in charge of collecting your luggage, don't cock up! But once our luggage was delivered and received, ALL WAS GOOD FROM THEN!!! I think I paid about 160SGD for the service.

Other alternatives is to place it in a friend's house first then fly for your trip, place it in your apartment if it's ready then fly for your trip or send it straight from Singapore a few days before you get your room. Please don't think of carrying your bigass luggage around please, IT'S REALLY DAMN TURN OFF TO CARRY SUCH HEAVY THINGS AROUND.

5) Packing list for pre-trip

For pretrip, just pack what is required because heavy luggages really makes travelling very sian. I expect a pretrip to be around July to end August, which is the season of transition from summer to autumn and sometimes the weather change is drastic. You don't need your winter coat yet, a hoodie and thermal should be enough. For a rough idea, what I suggest is: Thermals, 1 jeans, 1 shorts, 1 long pants, 2 cooling tops, a dress, 2 warm clothes, slipper, sneakers, socks, a good hoodie/jacket, beanie, AND SCARF if you want. I swear a scarf keeps u sooooo damnnnnnnn warm. This was about what I brought for my pretrip of 18 days. I kept my clothes highly matchable with one another. HAHA and I think I was pretty ok dressed for photos ;)

6) Phone services and banking services abroad

Different countries have different SIM cards, so if you were to travel so many places it would be expensive to get SIM cards for every country you visit. I mean you can also la. For me, I did not buy any SIM card for any country/city I visited. I just relied on wifi and I did not have any problem. Wifi are usually available in food places you visit, Macs and sometimes even the public transport. So this makes marking out on Googlemaps where you want to go before leaving your house very important. I kept my Singapore number and phone service so I am always contactable by my family. For my solo trip, I constantly kept in touch with my family via SMS. My dad decided to keep the line too, so that if I ever need to call them or anyone, I can do so. And I also did not get a Swedish number. LOL. But my city was really tiny without metro whatsoever so I wasn't actually very bored travelling from one place to another that I needed to use my phone. The prepaid card wasn't that expensive but it only limited me to call within Sweden, which apparently is quite useless for me because I don't have anyone to call to. The data plan was slightly pricier and not so worth it.

I relied solely on wifi throughout my entire exchange and travelling.

With regards to how I got cash, I did not open a Swedish bank account because it was just for 6 months. Instead, I withdrew money (5000SEK was maximum, about 840SGD) each time using my POSB bank account from their ATM. This can last me for quite long if I did not travel. Sweden is also a highly cashless country, so you can just use Mastercard for the cheapest thing in the supermarket. I understand that I lose out in the exchange rate and all, but ya, just sharing with you guys how I did banking while on exchange. Of course, I do have many friends who open bank accounts in other cities/countries.

7) While travelling

This is just some (read: MANY MANY) random tips I have for travelling in general, like anytime you travel!!! They may be very random/small/common-sensical as I'm just typing out whatever pops up from my head.

1. Always keep your train tickets/air tickets/airbnb itinerary/impt documents in your ipad or phone before leaving your house. You do not know if you have wifi outside so please save everything before leaving home. 2. Some airlines allow for digital tickets (ie, just show your airticket from phone can already) but some strictly only allows for hard copy air tickets. 3. Train tickets are basically ok if in soft copies. And you can buy your train tickets on the spot for city to city. So don't worry if last minute you missed your train etc! Still same price I think. But buy beforehand if possible. 4. RYANAIR requires Singaporeans to do a visa check before boarding. So you need to get a stamp at the ryanair booth before going to the boarding gate. Leave some time for that! They will state you need to check your visa in the ticket, read carefully! 5. Always keep your bags in front of you. Don't ever put it behind you. 6. Always put minimal valuables with you, and always check for them. Remind your friends too whenever leaving a place. It's the time to be naggy and paranoid. Chances are, if you lose sth you will never find it back. 7. Do not be too kind and help other people. I think everyone has heard enough pickpocketing stories. Don't go dark alleys in the night, be smart! 8. Try to collect all dem geotags on Snapchat. I mean, why not since you there already! 9. TAKE MANY PHOTOS AND VIDEOS!!!! The photos of my travelling still brings back fond memories and You Are A Tourist Just Do Your Thang!!! Chances are, you will not come back anymore so just take photos. But do be mindful of the time you take to get that perfect shot la ok, I mean those who I travelled with were really just looking to take nice touristy step shots with our samsung or iphone. But if you are those into professional photography and wouldn't mind spending half a day to take that one perfect shot, do see if your friends are on the same page with u! 10. Don't be specially on a hunt to buy soveniers for your family and friends. You can buy some along the way but don't be like on a full force hunt for them. To be honest I could not find many good soveniers that I feel were useful and worthy of the price. If something looks nice and affordable for a large bunch of people back home, just get them. So at least you solved your sovenier issue because trust me, there isn't many good soveniers la LOL. For me, I got 1 thing from some cities I went to, which were mostly small and not too pricey. Then I put them into goodiebags for my friends, so they get a range of soveniers from different places. Some ideas are, chocolates from Belgium, Eiffel Tower keychain from Paris, chio keychains from London, teabags from London and Ikea meatball sauce from Sweden. 11. Try sandermans free walking tours. Book in advance although you can just show up at their meeting point if you did not book (however at Prague they only allowed people who book to join because the crowd was overwhelming). The tours usually give me insights and interesting facts about the city and most of the time I'm not disappointed!! They are free tours and you pay how much the tour guide deserves after the tour has ended. We usually each give 5 euros or more each, don't be cheapskate and pay nothing la!!! 12. Googlemaps is da bombz. Prior to the trip I did not really use googlemaps. So for those who do not know what it is, lemme tell you the greatness of this feature. Save all your locations that you want to go before you start the day (you need wifi for this) and you get all the pins to plan your day. Most of the places of interests are really walkable, so once you get a rough gauge of what you are doing for the day, head out. To know how to walk from point A to B, switch on your gps (no wifi needed) and follow the route. TADA. Ok you may think this is stupid but I really did not know about it till I was there. I hardly got lost with googlemaps. 13. Be flexible with the itinerary. Don't tire everyone out with a full day pack plan. Enjoy the company and the places, that's more important. 14. If you need wifi, go to MacDonalds!!!! You may need to buy something to get the wifi password but ok, worth it. Saved my life many times. 15. Pay an entrance fee for something only if you want to. Some entrance fees may be pricey, so only go in if you want. Then again, don't sting on it if most of your friends want to visit. I mean, you are already there so just go in! Do take note if there are discounts using your ISIC card. I elaborate if you should or not visit some attractions below! 16. Try not to break the rules. I sound damn toot for saying this but sometimes, just pay for the bus or train if you need to. My friends and I paid for most of our trips ('cept in Prague, you really do not need to pay for the trains LOL nobody pays and nobody cares) like any good citizen would and I think it makes me less paranoid about train attendants coming to spot check on us and whatnot. In Cinque Terre, we did not pay for our bus and I swear the bus attendant came in one stop before we had to alight. I forgot what happened but I rather play on the safe side so I don't get hurt~~~ 17. Allocate more time to travel to the airport. DON'T DO LAST MINUTE BOARDING OF THE PLANES. You do not want to miss your flight because of security checks man. Don't try to think you have a lot of time, go about 1.5 hours before the flight. Some airports really do have extremely looOoooOong wait for security checks, like London. And rmb for Ryanair we need to get our visa checked. 18. Be a good travel buddy. It may feel like a fun getaway with your pals but sometimes when you are to spend 24/7 with them, their habits may not be in sync with what you like. This may be worst travelling with people you do not really know. Learn to be more accomodating, but voice out your opinions and preferences if needed. Know each other's spending habits, level of cleanliness, dietary preferences, whether they are on the more careless side or more laid back side, or even come to a consensus on what time you guys want to wake up... And try to work things out. It does help to have a bigger heart, yet rmb to be firm when it comes to serious matters like safety and train and flight timings. But then again, I had not much problem with those whom I travelled with HAHA. I think maybe I was the good travel buddy then *flips hair 19. Be adventurous and try new things, like new food, talk to new people, experience new activities but always be safe. I regretted not going skydiving before it colder, but I did not regret trying rabbit meat (sorry) in Prague, dressing up as Snow White in London, solo-trippin' in Helsinki and Tallin, cliff-jumping in Cinque Terre, random talking to some Korean and Chinese people under the Colosseum in Rome, 2eur cheap sexy thrill and smokin' in Amsterdam, iceskating in a Christmas market in Berlin and many more! 20. Be accountable to your parents because while you are having fun in Europe, trust me, your parents are worried sick back in Singapore. Even if you are a guy. Just ensure you always tell them which city you are at and let them know when you leave and return to your airbnb. Don't go mia because you are just making your parents more worried! This is the least you can do for them. 21. Try to be safe. I haven't couchsurfed or hitched a hike because mostly I travelled with girls and my parents are not that fond of the idea. I mean, I did not mind not having this experience too because my parents always tell me scary stories la. But if you ever do, I just want you to rmb to be safe and do these with caution. I mean if you alone one girl, try not to couchsurf or hitch a hike if got nothing la. Am I too naggy? 22. Be mindful of the luggage limits when you are taking a plane. It's damn expensive to pay extra baggage in the airport. Try not to bring too many unnecessary things, and wear your thickest clothings on your body to save space. I remember sweating like dog but had to wear my winter jacket on my body LOL. I did my travelling without any extra baggage, so everything handcarry (I didn't even own those bagpacking dk how many litres kind of bag). So really travel light, and try not to buy unneccesary things. I resisted myself so much at London :( 23. Get a good thick scarf!!! In extremely cold places I give credit to my scarf for protecting my coldass face. 24. Always bring a charged extra battery or portable charger to remain contactable by your parents, for directions purposes and to take photos. 25. Spend when you need, scrimp when you can. Don't go all budgety for every single thing you do there, spend on an entrance ticket for a place of interest you want to, splurge on a good meal if your friends want to. Rmb, since you are already in Europe, just enjoy yourself. Of course, don't spend money like it's free. Scrimp by going to the nearby grocery store to get breakfast and snacks for when you are hungry. Or take a walk instead of taking the metro or bus, anything within 5km of walking is definitely manageable. 26. Collect something from every city if you want! For me, I collected Snapchat geotags and postcards. 27. Be aware of the bus/flight/train timings! Just a personal experience. I was waiting for my overnight bus from Stockholm to Umea alone and was actually 1 hour early for my bus at 9pm. However, I was waiting and was so engrossed on my phone that I just missed the timing of my bus. Apparently the bus has left without me and I had to stayover at Macs, waited till 8am the next day for a 9-hr bus ride back. Waste money, wasted time and made my parents worry. Just be mindful that buses and trains are actually pretty damn accurate SO DON'T MAKE STUPID MISTAKES. 28. Singaporeans are really not that uncommon in Europe, you sorta can recognise that they are Singaporeans. Always nice to seek help from them if you need. I mean, always nice to talk to Singaporeans when you are so far away from home! 29. Document your exchange life on instagram, fb or even a blog. I'm glad I posted my feelings/things I did on exchange on Instagram because reading them now just gives me all the good vibes, and it reminds of things that I may have forgotten. 30. Check-in online beforehand. Different airlines have different days prior to flight to check in, some 3 days, some 24 hours.

8) Next trip after school started

When I first started school I did not travel much because I want to fully integrate myself into life in Umea. Our uni had a buddy programme and I kinda joined and attended most of the activities. I studied too HAHA. I think it's quite important to familiarise and enjoy yourself in your city since you are already there! Then when you see a break you can try to plan for your first adventure :) As my area predominantly required a plane to travel out, I used skyscanner to search for the cheapest places to fly to from Stockholm. Skyscanner has this feature that allows you to fly "Everywhere". Then you plan from there lol I also asked my Swedish friends what is the best ways to travel out and sometimes they do have good tips to share, like how SAS Airlines has a youth discount.

Then once you are ready just BOOK IT, don't think too much. I actually booked my Iceland trip assuming to go all myself because I really wanted to visit Iceland. Think I got cheaper tickets because I booked several months in advance.

As for itinerary, you can do it on the day itself when you start your day of travelling hahahaha. That's what I usually do, but it's normally not as detailed and well-planned as your pre-trip would have been.

One stupid mistake I made while booking my flights was to suaku-ly assume that every country has only one freaking airport. I had to take a flight from Umea to Stockholm, then Stockholm to London. However, there are 2 airports in Stockholm but I was so blur, so I booked one from Umea to Aranda Airport and the other from Skavsta Airport to London. And yes, Aranda to Skavsta airport is like super far. But I had to suck it up and buy an additional bus ticket to travel that distance, alone. And had some little adventure which made me take a taxi instead...... moral of the story, be alert!

Also, try not to think that you can skip all the lessons. I had trouble catching up and had to dabao one mod, not the best scenario. So do travel during school time mindfully! Exchange really need to study one!!!!!!

9) Being on exchange in campus

Umea uni is one of the best rated universities for exchange students and I do agree with it. We have a buddy programme whereby it's similar to a OG system in Singapore context, with group leaders and activities planned out. Always be active on Facebook because events are usually posted there. Parties invitations are also posted on Fb so really remember to check on Facebook to avoid missing out fun activities. It may be quite intimidating talking to a bunch of angmohs at first but don't worry because we are brought up with English as our first language, so communication is not a barrier. In fact, other Europeans don't even speak English as well as we do. Even if you speak some (for me, a lot) of Singlish in your conversations with them, just try to teach them some Singaporean culture! But of course, try to speak proper English and we all can if we want to really. I think it is also nice to talk to Asians first, if that is within your comfort zone. My first few friends and closest friends are actually Koreans! It's also always fun to speak Mandarin to Hongkongers and Taiwanese for a start :) Speaking of first day of class, I was petrified as hell because I really hate to go meet new people all by myself. I was srsly feeling left out when I entered the classs because I was late lol and most of them have already begun talking to each other. And worst still, I was the only Asian. I rmb going to the toilet to sit down during break because I was just so not used to being friendless LOL. But in the end I did try to introduce myself to my classmates and as days passed by, it got waaayyyyy better. Thankfully my class was small of about 7 people, we even had parties together and even go for gym classes tgt. Another thing is to always be willing to join activities. I was pretty enthu to join any activity and attended any party I was invited to, and it got me exposed to many fun and interesting things. Sometimes you may be so lazy to go out but trust me, it's going to be better than you think! I also try to be myself, and be as outspoken as I can be. You now have a buffet of international exchange students from all over the world in front of you, why not just take the time to know their culture better? And maybe teach some hokkien bad words to your international friends lol.

For my school, we have a ebay on Facebook so people can sell and buy things. Do check those places out if you are interested to buy something but do not want to spend a lot.

Living by yourself in exchange also means lots of cooking. In Sweden, food is so expensive outside so I cooked almost every meal. I do not cook much in Singapore so it was actually pretty damn exciting to start making my own meals. I was more on the lazy side but you can be a masterchef here in exchange!

I also think exchange is a good time to set some personal goals. You are finally left to live by yourself without your family or any Singaporean friends, so it's just you and your discipline. I am regretful that I did not achieve my goal of losing weight LOL, because I drifted off so badly after my gym membership ended with my terrible eating habits. But I did exercise at least 4 times a week which was applaudable I suppose. Take this golden time of your life to make some changes, whether is it to eat better, exercise more, get that 6packs, lose weight, learn how to bake, learn how to knit, learn a new language... whatever it is. Exchange is actually a good time.

Lastly, stay in touch with your friends and family in Singapore. I was homesick for the first week and then never ever again LOL. But it always feels damn nice to skype/call/text those back home so that you stay in touch with their lives. Like really, seeing their faces just WARMS MY HEARTTTTT they have no idea.

10) Places I have visited throughout my exchange

This is just a summary of the places I've visited and my thoughts about them! I try to be as consized as possible, highlighting mainly the places YOU NEED TO GO, places YOU CAN DON'T NEED GO, duration at the city, accomodations I recommend and food to eat. ALSO I WENT ON THE SANDERMANS FREE WALKING TOUR WHENEVER I HAD TIME TO ON THE FIRST DAY WHEN I REACHED A CITY. They usually bring you to the highlights of the city and introduce the best things to do there.

Rome, Italy

3 August 2015 - 6 August 2015 Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were side by side and there's a ticket that covers all 3 entrances. PAY FOR TICKET! Vatican City visit is a must!!! I'm not the most historical person but this place blew me away. Go get cheaper tickets from the stand outside and go there earlier because we reached late and the tickets were sold out. Paid for those seemingly scamming tours but oh wells, pretty worth it. You can also choose to queue up (crazy queue) at the St. Peter's Square to enter for free, but I think just pay la, THE SUN AND QUEUE WAS CRAZY. St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, etc.... Beautiful. PAY FOR TICKET! Pantheon was not bad but pales in comparison imo after I saw the churches in Vatican city lol. Spanish Steps is just steps... lor Trevi Fountain was renovating when we were there :( One famous gelato to try is Giolitti Gerlateria. It is walkable distance from the Pantheon! Not bad, just don't try g.nutella. HC and I chose it and totally regret 'cuz it was too damn dui (g stands for GAO, GAO NUTELLA)

Venice, Italy

7 August 2015- 8 August 2015 The only mode of transport in Venice is WATER TAXIS, ie they don't have cars/metro/buses. When you first reach Venice, buy their water taxi card depending on the number of days you are there for. It's quite pricey but no choice. I did not sit on a Gondola and think it is ok la, because really damn ex! There are 2 major islands in Venice, Burano and Murano. Murano is famous for its glass craftwork while Burano is the one with the colorful buildings. If you are short of time, give Murano a skip and just go to Burano. Murano got nothing much really unless you are into glass craftmanship! But can get a nice glass jewellery as a gift for your friends back though. Burano, on the other hand is super photogenic, just snap all your want and allocate more time here for some awesome shots. We had some time on hand so we went to Lido Beach too, which is awesome to see sunset. However, slightly out of way as it is the last stop of the water taxis. Nice spot to visit and chill if you've got some time. Food-wise, I Tre Mercanti is the place for yummy tiramisu. PISTACHIO ONE OMG. It's near to St Mark's Square, so just drop by for a taste!

Florence, Italy

9 August 2015 - 11 August 2015 Climb up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the beautiful sunset. Many people will already be there so be sure to reach early to grab a good spot and CAMP THERE. We reached pretty early but sat down and nua, to find out when the sun was setting, everyone freaking chiong and needed to squeeze a lil to get a good spot. Visit The Mall for outlet shops such as Gucci, MK, Prada etc. I got myself a MK bag and watch for a pretty decent price so yay! But take note it's quite a bus ride away from the city centre, and the price of the shuttle bus xiao ex. But since you are already on your way to getting yourself some luxury brands, don't hiam on the bus ticket LoL. Pointe Vecchio was pretty normal (right outside the airbnb I lived in!). Florence Cathedral was pretty unique and pretty to me! Florentine steak place to go is La Fettunta. It was my first time eating steak (lol) and it was yummy!!! And affordable too. Gelato choice is the famous Carapina!

Pisa, Italy

12 August 2016 We dropped by Pisa on our way to Cinque Terre to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa :) Think of cool creative poses because everyone is doing the same ones. Also, be patient to take a nice photo because everyone gna photobomb you like every other famous attraction.

Cinque Terre, Italy

12 August 2015 - 13 August 2015 Can I say I super love this place?! It can easily be one of my favourite places throughout my entire exchange. I think I really liked the clear blue waters and the seafood and the sun and the swimming. However, it's quite hard to find airbnb there that was near to the islands. So book very early!! Ours was pretty damn faraway from all the beaches :( Cinque Terre consisted of 5 lands/islands and each land has a different feel to it. Wished I had more time to visit all of them. Only visited 3 (Manarola, Riomaggiore and Monterosso al Mare) in the end, and decided to stay at Riomaggiore 'cuz lesser people. It can get really crowded!!! Siao right, so crowded. Swim if you can! And cliffdive! And wear chio swimsuit! I got many scratches though because the rocks are super sharp but YOLOOOOOO.

Milan, Italy

14 August 2015 Nothing much happened as it was a stopover :(

Paris, France

15 August 2015 - 17 August 2015 Besides the Eiffel Tower, visit the Palace of Versailles! You need to take a more ex train because it's further away. The Palace was sadly closed when we were there :( But I heard it's really beautiful, at least the Gardens of Versailles which was opened gave me a good impression! One of my fav Sandermans walking tour was in Paris too! So definitely go for it. We then got tickets to Montparnasse, which is the highest point in Paris to view the Eiffel Tower and the city landscape at night. This was what we saw, and the ticket from Sandermans. I think can don't go up if wanna save! Just view it from below under the Eiffel Tower for free :) Near Mountparnasse though, there is a street filled with yummy pancake cafes. We wanted to visit La Crêperie de Josselin but it was closed the two times we were there. So we randomly visited one and it was still good. Just google for Josselin and you will find that street filled with all the pancake shops. I visited The Louvre museum too and got the tickets at 18euro to skip the line. Sadly, I was bored as hell and it was stuffy inside. Really no need to go in unless you really sibei artsy fartsy. I guess at least I can haolian that I saw the real Mona Lisa painting. But really quite bohua if you dk how to appreciate. A regret is not visiting the Disneyland Paris. It's a bit far away and we did not have time for it. Would totally wna visit it if I had a chance!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

18 August 2015 - 20 August 2015 I went for the Red Light District free tour by Sandermans again and it was interesting! I mean, the whole rld is really eye-opening because you finally get to see the fishtanks people talk about. NO PHOTOGRAPHY THOUGH!!! Don't be a ccb and stick to the rules ok, 'cuz I really saw one lady scolding a tourist who took photos super fiercely. Not fun. There's also a 2euro cheap thrill shop, where you see people do stuff in a container for a few minutes for just 2 Euro. Ok la yolo And for weed... try but rmb weed stays in your system for 4 days la I heard. Don't kena caught in airport. Visited the Anne Frank museum too! Read it in school before and it's just really cool to visit it myself. The ticket is 9.50 euro and it is really quite small. But if you have cash to spare, go because it's like whatever you learnt in school come to life!!! It is about same as what you read from the book, just that you really see it real life I guess. Vondelpark was great to chill and watch how the Danish people cycle and enjoy life. I took a 2 hr nap on the grasspatch too, shiiiiiiiiiok Albert Cuyp Market is da bomb 'cuz food haven. It's not the cheapest but ok priced la if you share share. Please try this if you like fish!!! It's called Herring. I love the taste of it though my friends hate it :( Also, not sure it will still be there but there is a Birkenstock shop that sells reasonably cheap Birks!!! Some good beer place recommended by Van (who is beer expert) is Brouwerij 't IJ. I got damn tipsy I don't even know why, like I almost blacked out while I went to the toilet. LOL.

Helsinki, Finland

25 October 2015 - 28 October 2015 (duration was ok, since there was a day trip to Tallinn) This was my solo trip and I took a ferry to Helsinki. It's a pretty calm and safe place to visit. I visited Suomenlinna, which is a UNESCO heritage site. was ok LOL hahahaha I visited the Temppeliaukio Church, which is really cool church made from a rock! I do not know if the Market Square was just like that but there weren't many many stalls as I expected, so I was pretty sad. I walked everywhere and did not spend on transport. I suppose when you are alone you have more time to do what you want haha I stayed at Eurohostel and got a single room. The location is damn good, near the Market Square, Helsinki Cathedral and the ferry port. Helsinki in general is pretty boring (maybe I did not explore enough) but I did enjoy myself some alone time and did not feel lonely at all. Definitely do a solo trip if possible!

Tallinn, Estonia

27 October 2015 (1 day is sufficient) Took a 2-hr ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, which is an old town. I spent less than a day there and went back to Helsinki. Simply roamed around Tallinn, enjoyed the architecture and ate some Estonian food too! From Helsinki you can take a ferry to Russia too, wished I had time to visit a little of Russia too!

London, United Kingdom

30 October 2015 - 3 November 2015 (Could have added one more day to visit the Emirates Stadium (and get sth for YH), and for shopping if you want) Was pretty honored to be brought around by Yvette HAHA so Peizi and I basically followed her and did not do much thinking. We visited Borough Market and Camden Food Market for fooOooOooOood. Gosh there were so much variety and I WANTED TO EAT EVERYTHING. Just something to make you excited about food markets in general. Pz and I also queued up early (we reached about 9ish am) on the day of the musical, at the ticket office at Apollo Victoria Theatre to buy discounted tickets for Wicked. Surprisingly, we were the only ones there LOL so hennnng ah, got our front row tickets (I mean like right smack in centre, front row, so good u feel a bit paiseh) seats for only 29.50 pounds. It's a huge discount considering the seats we are getting. So definitely worth considering! And can I say I super loved it!??!?! If I were to start London again, I would definitely watch a musical a day. Watched Wicked on our last night, so no more musicals! 10/10 WORTH THE PRICE! Visited the Harry Potter Studios and had to chiong all my Harry Potter movies. I thought pounds as euros so I got the tickets wtffff end up it was 33 pounds. Oh wells, but definitely eye opening. We went on the 6pm tour and we did not really visit the entire thing fully (it closes at 10pm). So try to book the earlier tours to really see everything, it is a free and easy tour :) Lucky for me, I chionged my HP movies and was able to understand what was happening. Pz didn't HAHAHA. Only go if you are a Harry Potter fan!!! Because the ticket is really quite ex. You need to book the tickets in advance and the timeslots avail do run out fast. Also note that the HP studio is a lil out of London so we had to take a train which costs almost 20sgd to the studios. Other awesome things to do in London is go for the walking tour where they bring you to see the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben etc. And eat Lobster and Burgers!!!! GOSHHHH Just to pre-empt you, London Bridge is really underwhelming. Tower Bridge on the other hand, is pretty!! And go shopping if you can, OXFORD STREET. I had to restrict myself because London was my first stop and I had to watch my baggage restrictions. Maybe can make London your last stop so you can shop enough, buy additional baggage space and go back to your uni. Wanted to watch a soccer match but there weren't matches while we were there. Some London people can be quite racist, just saying.

Lisbon, Portugal

3 November 2015 - 5 November 2015 (duration is sufficient!) I loved Lisbon!! Look at all the beautiful tiles everywhereeee. Although the streets here are all pretty steep. On the places that I don't think you need to pay for, just visit can already: Belém Tower, Santa Justa lift and Jerónimos Monastery. I got the Lisboa card, hence these attractions were free. However, if you are not getting the Lisboa card then no need buy tickets for them. The famous Portugese egg tarts were heavenly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pasteis de Belem OMG. Haven't eaten dan tats like theirs. Also try the hot chocolate, yumzzzz. Another place I enjoyed was the Time Out Mercado da Ribeira. It is actually quite modern and slightly pricey, but serves awesome food. Like a higher end food court. Try the seafood risotto! Also, there is a Best Chocolate Cake ever from O Melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo. But it was realllllly normal lol. We had time and visited a town Cascais for its beaches but it was very underwhelming. Was quite sure we were at the right place, but we caught a very beautiful sunset :) I wanted to find the airbnb I stayed in but I can't. However, the address is: Rua da Esperança 8 Lisboa, Lisboa 1200 Portugal (nearest Metro station: Cais do Sodre) Anywhere around this area is good!

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

6 November 2015 - 7 November 2015 (sufficient duration to roam around and shop) Basically visited Rotterdam because pz stays there and I get free accomodation hehe. I did not do much there except shop at Primark. I visited the Blaak Markt too and there were many things sold there such as food, flowers, clothes etc. My kind of thing! I did visit the Kinderdijk, a windmill area in Rotterdam myself. It was quite out of the way but definitely pretty. Wished I had cycled there if I had more time!!

Brussels, Belgium

7 November 2015 - 8 November 2015 (sufficient for me) This was a solo trip again and I took a bus from Rotterdam to Belgium cheap. Was expecting the chocolates to be damn heavenly but sadly idk if it's just me, but the chocolates are pretty underwhelming. Was googling for the best chocolate around, went there but the chocos were meh and pricey. Visited a flea market, Jeu de Balle, and I really liked it. They sell everything and anything! My kind of shopping. I stayed at Hôtel de Ville de Bruxelles which was walkable to all the normal touristy places. And the hotel was not bad too.

Stockholm, Sweden

13 November 2015 - 16 November 2015 (sufficient for me) Finally visited where I always stopover at. The best takeaway was prolly finally meeting Mandy and watching my first ice-hockey match! Although I did not understand a single thing about ice-hockey prior to the match, the atmosphere is just awesome! Visited the Vaasa museum which was pretty much an eyeopener. I really liked it, so go visit if you can! However, Skansen (a zoo and museum) and the museum I visited in Gamla Stan (I don't even rmb the name) was mehhhh. I followed the tour around Gamla Stan and it was interesting to know the history and background of Sweden.

Barcelona, Spain

15 December 2015 - 17 December 2015 (sufficient duration) Thank goodness the weather was so much more bearable than in Sweden. We did not pay for La Sagrada Familia but the exterior is so pretty, except for the ongoing construction LOL. However, we paid for entrance of Casa Batlló..... gosh not worth it. Visited Casa Milà (lame), Park Güell (think it have been beautiful if it was in the morning) and Magic Fountain of Montjuïc (however it was closed during winter T_T). Nonetheless the food made up for it. Churros, paella, tapas, llao llao (they taste the same as Singapore's). Food market: Mercado de La Boqueria Paella to try: As long as it is a paella. Ok where I went was La Tertulia but it was xiao ex Tapas: La Flauta We also visited Camp Nou but I did not enter due to time constraint. Not a soccer fan so not too much a loss for me! We walked everywhere without public transport. Also, from the airport to city centre you needed to take the shuttle bus, at 10.50eur if I did not remember wrongly. I reached at midnight alone at Barcelona but many mama shops were still open, and our airbnb was walkable from the city centre. Decent airbnb and the host was super friendly: link

Cologne, Germany

18 December 2015 - 19 December 2015 (sufficient for me) Welcomed Christmas season with all dem Germany's Christmas markets. Definitely up a notch for the xmas atmosphere this year. Very very crowded but 'tis a season to be jolly! I didn't do much in Cologne 'cept shopped at Primark HAHA. Just take note that during xmas times, it's very hard to find accomodations because hosts usually do not host you during xmas so book hostels earlier!

Hamburg, Germany

20 December 2015 - 21 December 2015 (sufficient for me) Another Xmas market by the Town hall! Took the time to go on the walking tour. Hostel we stayed was Generator Hostel Hamburg, super convenient and pretty.

Dresden, Germany

22 December 2015 - 23 December 2015 (sufficient for me) Bussed via Flixbus to Dresden and the buses were really comfy!! Xmas markets again and did some shopping since there was shopping streets near us. Tried Glühwein, a common xmas wine and I HATE IT. You can keep the cup or get a refund for the cups. But it's really heavy to collect mugs, so only collect if you rly like the design. The food in xmas markets are usually rather overpriced. And of course how can I not try some wurst (German hotdog)! Quite normal but just try la since already in Germany and they are everywhere!

Berlin, Germany

24 December 2015 - 25 December 2015 (could have one more day to visit more since there is soooo much history!) My favourite city out of the 4 I've visited in Germany, so much history and super interesting city. We visited Berlin on Christmas Day so basically everywhere was closed. And so I went on a concentration camp tour at Sachsenhausen Memorial for almost the entire day and it was mindblowing. This is a paid tour (14eur) by Sandermans and WORTH IT. Just remember to get your train tickets beforehand! Cheaper if you have 4 people to share with. Took quite a while to find out where the Berlin wall was LOL... it was pretty far from where we stayed gosh, but HAVE. TO. GO! Even if you live in West Germany (which I did). Do allocate more time if you want to take photos and walk through the entire wall... I didn't have sufficient time to walk everything. Food-wise, we wanted to try pork knuckles before we left Germany. Food-wise, we visited the famous Hofbrau Munchen Berlin for our xmas dinner. The food was yummy but the service SUXXXXXXXXX. Not sure if it's because it's xmas so everyone is damn angsty or what.

Prague, Czech Republic

26 December 2015 - 28 December 2015 (can shorten a bit!) This was the only city we took the transportation for free. The old town square has no fountain/wishing well LOL. Jolin was lying :( And the Charles Bridge is so crowded, walked it several times. But the Prague Astronomical Clock was just nearby so worthy to take photos there, though it is just a clock, but still a cool clock. I liked the Prague Castle too, really pretty. A place to oversee Prague's landscape is Petřín. A place for traditional Prague dishes at affordable price is U Parlamentu, it's nearby the Old Town Square. Dancing House was pretty underwhelming, no need go if no time. Our airbnb was great, shared with other strangers but we even made friends with the other Chinese girls pretty cool. Almost everywhere I wanted to go to in Prague was walkable from the Old Town Square, so it was quite convenient. Airbnb: link

Copenhagen, Denmark

29 December 2015 - 1 January 2016 (can shorten a bit, or probably just hated the weather LOL) Not sure if it's just me, but I really HATED the weather in CPH. The winds were so strong and the sky is constantly gloomy :( And it was very very cold, like it felt even colder than in Sweden. Little Mermaid statue was pretty out of the way and very underwhelming, as you can expect. The trip was pretty sian because I really hated the weather and we had to walk about 5km or so out to the city centre everyday. But my highlight gotta be visiting Freetown Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood. They call it the Green Light Zone because there are so much weed. But rmb no photography! So interesting though the smell of weed was literally everywhere. Definitely an interesting place to visit.

Malmo, Sweden

30 December 2015 (a day trip is sufficient) Took a day trip to Sweden on a bus from CPH, wasn't very expensive. Malmö didn't have many things to do but my main aim was to visit Ikea and try meatballs. So I did. Not sure if it's a psychological thing but Ikea meatballs just feel more legit when eaten in Sweden ;)

Reykjavik, Iceland

2 January 2016 - 6 January 2016 (can extend, there are still many amazing things I could have done/ places to visit in Iceland) Instead of driving around as I was the only driver, we booked everything under tour packages. I recce all the tour packages and found out these were the cheapest (although nothing is really cheap here LOL). Northern lights tour: We flew wowair so there were some promotions for the tours, which was organised by Reykjavik Excursions, and we paid SGD63.24/pax. Southern Iceland Tour: Consisted of to and fro from Blue Lagoon (entrance fee not included), Southern Iceland tour and Golden Circle tour. The company we hired was bustravel, and we paid SGD273.40/pax. For the Northern lights tour, you check the Reyjavik Excursions Facebook page to keep updated if the tour is on as it is subject to weather conditions. As the appearance of aurora is unpredictable, we went on the first night we reached to maximise our chances of seeing aurora. You can keep rebooking the tours, whether you see the aurora or not, and it's valid for 1 year. So no worries! For the Southern Iceland tour, I really enjoyed myself. Had a terribly hard time walking on slippery glaciers LOL bring better shoes if can because I literally felt I would slip and die anytime. But the view was worth it. Blue lagoon was pretty overpriced though it is definitely a must go. The tour only included the transportation so we had to book the entrance ticket ourselves. Book early because if you book when you are there, chances are you will not get it. We paid for the 55eur COMFORT package and it was certainly comfortable. You get a drink and some trial mud mask thing, beer by Blue Lagoon is quite shiok experience. To take photos, do bring along those transparent handphone holders from Singapore yourself! They sell it there but really expensive. This makes taking photos with your phone easier, you don't want to get your phone wet. Another favourite view of mine is the Gullfoss. We decided to do Icelandic horseriding at the last minute at Laxnes Horse Farm. It wasn't a bad experience, but I was feeling extremely cold and sorry for the horses lol. Got boring after a while as the horses weren't galloping all the time. Definitely can skip this if you are not into horseriding, wasn't cheap either! But at least, my first horseriding experience checked! Food-wise, we tried some Icelandic food and didn't like it, wasn't cheap too:( So maybe just buy one dish for everyone to try. We stayed at Baldursbra Guesthouse Reykjavik which is avail for pickup for the tours we did, and there is free breakfast! Everything was nice about the place :) Once you sign with the tour, the bus will state a time to pick you up so you just wait at your guesthouse for pickup and start your day! It's pretty convenient this way. Also, they send u back to your guesthouse at the end of the tour. *** This is all and hope it has helped a little! Enjoy yourself because exchange is really a privilege and stay safe! Signing off, Jasmine

3 notes · View notes

sosmomlife · 4 years

Text

Hudson’s Journey

Hey all!!! It’s Andrea here. I’m sure many of you are trying to figure out how to navigate this crazy change in our world. Some of you have children at home and are trying to juggle “home schooling” amongst other things, like your own work, a new baby, a partner who has been laid off, etc. This week our school board officially rolled out distance learning so this meant my husband Andy and I were going to implement more structure to the day. I’m a teacher and he is off of work right now so this should be easy, right? 100% WRONG!!!! Here’s a little story of our oldest who has been through a lot and battles with his emotions and abilities every day of his life.

That cutie (ya ya I may be biased) in the picture above is Hudson. He will be 8 in June. Just before he turned 4 I took him to watch a baseball game and as we were walking beside 3rd base (outside of the diamond) a ball came hurdling across the field, hit the top of the fence and smacked Hudson right in the head. He dropped so fast and I was terrified. I will never forget the "clunk" sound; like a coconut cracking open. I was terrified but he was conscious and settled down after about 10 minutes. He was very clingy so we called EMS just to check him over and make sure he was ok. They came, did a quick assessment and left it up to me to decide if I wanted him to go to the hospital. By that point he was acting himself so I figured I would just monitor him and if anything got worse I would take him to the ER. I did question why he didn't have a goose egg (I always heard that no goose egg could be a bad sign, but the EMS responded with "ya that's weird." They pretty much made me feel like I wasted their time so off I sent them not wanting to be “that crazy mom.” As the day progressed Hudson went from playing hard outside to wanting to lie down every couple of hours. I thought it was the heat or that he didn't sleep great the night before. That night I had him sleep with me and he was very restless. He kept waking up and saying that his head hurt a lot where he got hit but then he would go back to sleep. The next morning he seemed pretty good other than not wanting breakfast (which isn't normal) because his tummy hurt (which is normal for my dairy sensitive boy). He went to his first t-ball game (I know I know...what were we thinking taking him to play baseball) in the morning but came home and crashed hard on the couch. He was off and on all day and we questioned taking him to the ER but then he would get up and play like he was totally ok. At 6 pm after noticing his entire left side of his head was swollen I decided to call Telehealth to get their opinion and they said to take him to the ER immediately. They always say that so I still wasn't too worried. Hudson slept the whole car ride to Stratford General and when we arrived he was happy and hyper. The waiting room was so busy that I contemplated leaving. Hudson was putting on a show for all the other "patients" Re-enacting how he got hit in the head by the ball. I definitely thought we would be sent home because he seemed totally fine.

We got called into a room before a lot of people who arrived before us. We didn't wait long before the doctor came in to do an assessment. Right away the doctor felt the swelling and said it's a boggy hematoma meaning he has a break in his skull. I was shocked and terrified but the doctor assured me that most of the time its small and no big deal. It will heal on its own she said. She sent him for a CT scan and I was told I could be in the room to watch the images of his little skull and brain..or as Hudson says his "big" brain. The first images started coming up and all of a sudden I was asked if I wanted water and taken out of the room. I instantly knew something was wrong but tried to wait calmly for Hudson to come out. They had previously told me it would be about an hour before the radiologist looked over the scans but within 5 minutes the doctor came to see us. The scans showed a significant break in his skull and a small bleed on the outside of his skull. I started imagining the worst and stupid scenes from Grey’s Anatomy started rushing through my head. I was so scared and upset but I knew I had to calm down so I could call Andy and give him the news. The neuro team in London was going over the scans and transportation was being arranged to take us to Victoria University Hospital in London. Hudson in all of this was still happy and entertaining anyone who came to see him. Before we left I was assured that Hudson would be fine because we made it past the crucial first 24 hours. We spent 48 hrs in London for observation and had the greatest healthcare team supporting us throughout the entire ordeal. The next month we were on high alert and Hudson had a couple of seizures (which is common after a concussion). We spent the next year going for check ups every few months with the Neurologist in London. Everything went great so Hudson was released at the one year mark. We thought we were in the clear, but don't let that fool you, the paranoia of our kids getting hit in the head or falling and hitting their head is extremely high to this day. Ugh!

Fast forward to a year and a half ago when Hudson started grade 1. Since the "accident" Hudson's behaviour had definitely changed, he could barely remember anything that happened the day before, let alone a week before. He was super fidgety, always touching his face and wiggling around on chairs. We would ask him to do 3 things and he would forget everything we asked him after he walked away. We were often annoyed and frustrated and we were struggling with managing his "lazy-like" behaviour. I knew there was something else up but people kept assuring me he was acting like a “typical” boy.

After a couple of months in class I had a meeting with Hudson's teacher to discuss his progress and behaviour. I mentioned the head injury he had sustained and the thought of possible ADHD and she thought it might be a good idea to have him psychologically assessed. We went through the lengthy process of a psychological educational assessment and received a thorough analysis of him. Everything the psychologist explained made so much sense: low executive functioning skills, low average working memory, low average processing speed, extremely low visual perception and fine motor coordination, broadly average academic skills, high average oral skills and finally anxiety due to the need he feels to please everybody. It was a huge eye opener for Andy, but wasn't as surprising to me, being in the educational world has exposed me to a number of students with these exceptionalities. It did however make me feel like an ass for thinking my child was not listening and being a lazy jerk whenever I asked him to do a list of things (ie. get ready for school).

Since Hudson was 6 at the time of the assessment the psychologist would only provide a provisional diagnosis of ADHD as his brain is still developing as well as due to the uncertainty of the impact he might have from the brain injury. We spoke to a neurological psychologist about doing a neurological assessment but he said at Hudson's age the results and recommendations would be the same as his previous assessment so to just wait until his next assessment at 10 when he can better communicate his thoughts and feelings.

With the current assessment report we received we were able to get an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) created for Hudson at his school. This IEP will stay with him throughout his educational journey as it is needed. The staff at Hudson's school have been so amazingly supportive. They have been following his psych ed assessment recommendations which includes things like, more breaks, strategic seating (close proximity to teacher and good choice of friends), more time to complete work, chunking of work, more oral testing and no repetitive tasks if he already shows he can do something.

I wish I could say that knowing his limitations has made us better at parenting him but in all honesty it hasn't. Sure we check ourselves more but the frustration and annoyance is still there. Some days more than others. I have actually just put a reminder in my phone for the start of each month to re-read Hudsons psych ed assessment and Occupational Therapist report. Just reading it again to write this blog post reminded me of so many things I had forgotten and was treating Hudson unfairly with: "you just have to do 20 min of work...why can't you just do 20 min and then be done....if you spent all the time that you have been sulking typing you would be done by now...." and so on and so on. Sigh. It's a learning process for all of us and I just need to keep telling myself the way I tell him that practicing what is hard is the only way it will get easier. So I will practice my patience as I help him practice working through his challenges and in between we'll go play some sports because we're friggin’ awesome at that.

~Andrea

#adhd #braininjury #parenting #boymom #momofboys

0 notes

storytimewithtina-blog · 6 years

Text

MY FIRST TREK (MANANG)

This past weekend we took a trip to Manang and it was AMAZING. I have a bad memory and will forget everything soon so I’m writing down every last detail, in case anyone wants to go to Manang (or read about it from the safety of not being on the edge of a cliff haha). Here goes:

Season: We went mid June (June 15-19) which is the off-season because it is so close to the monsoon season. We didn’t have any rain because Manang is in the “mountain desert” region that doesn’t get much rain, but it did mean that we had a lot of clouds (nice white fluffy ones) but the views of the Annapurnas are much more clear between November and April. Wouldn’t recommend during monsoon, simply because the roads to get there might have landslides and the small waterfalls that you have to drive through get more dangerous.

Length: 5 days (starting and ending in Kathmandu)

Altitude: Kathmandu (~1,500m) Besisahar (~700m) Tal (around ~1,800 <— couldn’t find official altitude, so this is an estimate) Chame (~2,600m) Pisang (~3,200m) Manang (~3,500m)

Cost: Total cost for me was about 15,000NPR (~$180-190CAD) but I’ve highlighted prices for individual things along the way

Prices: The prices are tricky to estimate, there were 5 of us (3 foreigners, 2 locals) and we split the price on a lot of things. The prices I’ve outlined are for me alone.

^ The prices for hotels tend to be very cheap, around 300NPR-800NPR (~$4-12CAD), and then the price for food is more expensive than Kathmandu, because its hard to bring food up to the locations, but most meals are anywhere between 400NPR-800NPR (~$6-16CAD)

Day 0: Getting permits

We went to the Tourist Information Office in Kathmandu next to Ratna Park to get our permits. You need a permit for the Annapurna Conservation Area and a TIMS card (Tourist Information Management System). You need to fill out a form for each and you need two passport photos for each (4 photos total) as well as your passport. The offices close at 3pm or 4pm (punctuality isn’t really a thing, so I would recommend going in the morning or around lunch just in case)

Cost: Annapurna Conservation Area Permit: 2,260NPR (~$28CAD) TIMS card: 2,000NPR (~$25CAD)

Day 1: 7hr bus from Kathmandu to Besisahar, 4hr Jeep from Besisahar to Tal

(The photo above is our 6am wake up in Tal)

We went to the Balaju bus stop in north Kathmandu and caught a bus to Besisahar at 6:45am. We just showed up and asked at the ticket counter for bus tickets, we didn’t buy them in advance.

The bus goes along the same route as the bus to Pokhara, we reached Besisahar around 2pm. In Besisahar there are a bunch of jeeps near the bus stop, and you negotiate a price and location with them.

We were trying to reach Chame, and then we were going to trek from Chame to Manang. It’s a long Jeep ride, so we drove 4 hours from Besisahar to Tal, stayed the night there, and then continued with the drivers to Chame the next day.

Costs: Taxi to bus station: 500NPR (~$7CAD) Bus from Kathmandu to Besisahar: 360NPR (~$5CAD) You can buy snacks/water along the way but it is cheaper to bring your own

Transportation sidenote: You CAN fly to the Manang airport but it isn’t a regular route and the plane is small and it’s a very risky trip, so despite the bumpy roads, it is MUCH safer to drive. The jeep, however, is EXTREMELY bumpy the ENTIRE WAY. There are no sections of smooth paved road. It is like those Jeep Wrangler commercials where the car is off roading with its 4-wheel drive over rocks except these jeeps have little to no suspension so you enjoy every single bump (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYiqk6J2uuo). As much as I highly recommend this trip to anyone and everyone because of the amazing experience, you spend a total of ~16hours (there and back) in a jeep on these roads, so just plan for that and take it with a sense of humour :)

Day 2: 2.5hr Jeep from Tal to Chame, 4hr Trek from Chame to Pisang

(The photo above us our trek from Chame to Pisang)

We woke up bright and early and left at 7am for the drive to Chame (about 2.5hrs) with the same drivers. We got off in Chame around 11:30 and hiked for about 3 hours, stopped for lunch, then hiked another 1.5hrs to Pisang.

The first day of trekking was the hardest, for me, because of the change in altitude from Chame at 2,600m to Pisang at 3,200m. I did take altitude medication that I had brought with me and I know it was doing something because I had the tingly face and hands (common side effects) but I had a lot of trouble breathing. There is also a lot of uphill walking on this stretch, and me and one of my other friends had backpacks of about 12kg each (around 28lb). I wasn’t the best at packing, but I will mention later what you think you might need but really don’t haha

Costs: Dinner, Hotel, Breakfast: ~1,000NPR (~$13CAD) Jeep ride: 1,400NPR (~$18CAD) Lunch: 500NPR (~$7CAD) You can also buy snacks along the way

^The jeep ride was a total of 7,000NPR and it is customary to tip - the drivers slept at a hotel as well and were great company- and that was for the whole jeep (we were 5 people with the 2 drivers so we filled up the whole car). If you are travelling alone or in a pair, you will pay for yourself and will most likely travel with other people, or locals. It is also common for locals to ride in the trunk for part/all of the way.

Day 3: 6 hrs trekking from Pisang to Manang (with a stop for lunch)

(The photo above is of a small part of the beautiful Annapurna mountain range)

The second day of trekking was much easier, I think my body gave up on trying to convince me to stop and nap every 5 minutes. This was also the most beautiful stretch of the hike. The entire trip was breathtaking and I did cry here and there at how beautiful it was. It honestly felt surreal to be there and so close to the mountains. We did have white fluffy clouds, but it was so cool to see the clouds move in and out and the peaks of the Annapurna range came in and out of view. It was absolutely beautiful.

On the way back, we drove this stretch, and it is so much more beautiful on foot, I would highly recommend hiking this stretch either on the way there or on the way back. I’m glad we didn’t end up driving the whole way to Manang.

When we reached Manang, there is an option to continue straight to the town, or take a road that goes left and down to the stream, if you take this path, it is about a 20min walk to a beautiful lake with an amazing view of the mountains, would highly recommend. We made it there after a really long day of hiking and it was so worth it

Costs: Dinner, Hotel, Breakfast: ~1,000NPR (~$13CAD) Lunch: 500NPR (~$7CAD)

Hotel and food sidenote: the accommodations are very cheap to stay the night and the food is a bit pricier than in cities like Kathmandu. So it is customary to eat dinner and breakfast at the place where you are staying, so that the room and the food even themselves out. No matter where you stay, all you will be eating is dhal bhat so eat your dhal bhat at your hotel :) As we were told by an American trekker before we left; “If you don’t like dhal bhat, don’t go trekking”.

Day 4: Mountain Sunrise in Manang, 7.5hr Jeep to Besisahar

(The photo above is the cloudy mountain sunrise that we woke up for, and it was amazing)

You can have a mountain sunrise in any of the places you stay, you just need to be up at 5, and pray that there are no clouds. We had quite a lot of clouds but the mornings were beautiful nonetheless. Some of our group went for a short walk to the temple in the morning, some of stayed behind to catch up on some sleep before heading back.

We had arranged for a jeep the day before (this is where planning ahead is actually necessary haha) to leave at 11:30 and arrived in Besisahar at 7pm. Our local friend had the contact for a driver, but what you can also do is on your way through Besisahar the first time, get the phone numbers of some drivers, or ask the drivers that are taking you there if they are going back from Manang to Besisahar on the day that you are leaving, or ask around, the locals are very helpful.

We stayed in Besisahar for dinner and hotel for the night and set alarms to catch the 7am bus back to Kathmandu the next morning.

Costs: Dinner, Hotel, Breakfast: ~1,400NPR (~$18CAD) Stop for food and dinner: ~700NPR (~$10CAD) Jeep: 2,000NPR (~$25CAD)

Jeep sidenote: If you are going the entire way from Manang to Besisahar or vice versa, the typical price is 1,500NPR for a local or 3,000NPR for a foreigner, so keep that in mind if you are negotiating prices and tip your drivers!!!

Bathroom/Shower/Hotel Sidenote: Ok so don’t let this discourage you because it is quite the amazing and humbling experience; most hotels will have common showers instead of showers in each room, but you should have your own toilet/latrine in your room. Bring your own toilet paper, a lot of places won’t have it. And there should be hotels with hot water (all of ours did) and you will NEED hot showers after all the trekking. Sometimes you might have to stand in the communal shower with just a towel on while the hotel lady comes in to show you how to turn on the water, but it all adds to the experience :P

Day 5: Bus from Besisahar to Kathmandu

Nothing too exciting, just a 7hour bus that didn’t have A/C for the first 5 hours, but open windows and fans are available! They also played some Bollywood movies for everyone, which I unfortunately couldn’t follow along with because there weren’t subtitles but it was something about a woman being artificially inseminated and then a gang trying to kidnap her or something.

We got back to Kathmandu around 2pm but actually got off the bus at 2:30 because of the traffic on Ring Road, and took a taxi home the rest of the way and were home safely by 3pm.

Costs: Hotel, Breakfast: ~1000 NPR (~$13CAD) Bus from Besisahar to Kathmandu: 500NPR (~$7CAD)

Overall: 20/10, would definitely do this trip again :)

More pictures are on their way, just haven’t gone through them properly yet :)

PACKING - I was really bad at this so here are some tips I learned the hard way:

What you definitely need:

- Clothing - It is quite doable to use the same outfit for the whole trek with a pair of PJs, you can rinse and dry your clothes at your accommodation. I, however, brought an outfit for everyday which maybe wasn’t the smartest idea but it wasn’t really the clothes that were taking up space in my bag. I would recommend one warm sweater (if you are coming from a place like Canada where you are used to cold winters, a regular sweater should do, if not, bring a really thick warm sweater). Also try your best to pack lightweight clothing, and something that is good for sweating (moisture wicking material, stay away from cotton) - your trekking gear doesn’t need to be top notch brands; I have knock off trekking pants that worked just fine, but I would also recommend the Nike Dri-FIT leggings (you are paying for quality, but it won’t break the bank)

- Toiletries - very SMALL shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, sunscreen and aloe gel (I got sunburn on my forearms haha), face moisturizer, lip balm

- Swiss Army Knife (or something like that) - not really something you will die without but comes in pretty handy

- Baby wipes and hand sanitizer

- Towel - Hotels don’t always provide towels, I highly recommend a microfibre towel because they are lightweight, super absorbent and dry fast

- First aid things: we didn’t need them (thank God) but it is always good to have some bandages and alcohol wipes just in case

- Reusable water bottle

- Cameras (I brought my go pro and DSLR camera because my phone is awful)

- Bug Spray - The closer you get to Manang, the colder it is and so less bugs, but you will definitely want some for Besisahar and the lower altitude regions, I would recommend a small travel size bottle

- Medication - this depends on the person, I brought tylenol with me just in case and some of us used it for headaches and I took altitude medication just in case, not making any recommendations here except just do whatever the travel nurse says hahaha

What you think you need but probably really don’t:

- 20 Cliff Bars for 5 people - I mean this depends on who you’re with I guess but we ate maybe 7 over the entire trip. I thought we would need a lot of snacks, but we only really stopped for lunch and dinner and didn’t eat much in between

- Unnecessary snacks - if you’re going to pack snacks, pack a few healthy snacks (like trail mix and stuff) and if you are still hungry between lunch and dinner you can buy snacks at the little shops along the way, it’s really not worth carrying a bunch of stuff with you

- Water filtration bottles/tablets: you can buy water along the way (I feel guilty saying that because of all the plastic waste) and you can also fill up your reusable bottle in taps at most places which I would highly recommend if you have been able to adjust to Nepal food. We have been here a month and a half and our bodies are used to the food and water here. The mountain water is clean, so if you ask to fill up your bottle, the water should be good, but if you’ve just arrived, maybe go for the bottled water just in case (and carry your trash back down with you)

#Manang #trek #nepal #travel #blog #pisang #tal #annapurna #trekking #himalayas #chame #hike #travelnepal #kathmandu

0 notes

hellosophrosyne · 6 years

Text

2017 recap

6/2/2018

Fun fact: I used to be very active and present with myself in the sense that I would journal quite often on a blog. My form of therapy. And one of my absolute faaavorite things to do in the beginning of each year was to recap each month of the year that had just past just so I would always remember what the heck I got myself into someday when I’m old and trying to remember my life.

I haven’t done a recap in YEARS, but I still kept my makeshift calendar/planner that I used in 2017, even though it’s already halfway through 2018 already. I think I kept it so I could try and recap it on here sometime when I could... & I guess that time is now, so...

(it’s currently 2AM, I just said goodnight to you on ftime, so here i gooo)

JANUARY

January looks like it was a boring month by the look of how little I wrote on here. I think I was depressed still. From failing my boards in October 2016. I had rescheduled my retake for the NCLEX on February 8, 2017. All I have written down is checkboxes of “150″ as a reminder that I should do at least 150 practice questions before going to sleep. But whoa, looks like I happened to go to my little’s installs this month too. Feels like that was ages ago. I can’t believe my old ass actually crossed a little sis even though it was years later. It’s too bad the chapter died, and I wish we were closer. Our age gap plays a big factor, but I’m glad I met someone like her.

FEBRUARY

February 8th- I retook the NCLEX. Most stressful day ever. Thank god I actually have a youtube video commemorating that entire day. I remember eating lunch with Sarah after and just crying because I did the hack into the site to see if I could get the results early and it looked as if I actually passed. Even though it was still uncertain, I had some peace of mind.. and found out I officially passed 2 days later at 6AM when my mom came barging in to show me my name on the official boards website. I remember I was sooo into yoga during this month. I thought it really helped. I was gaining all this flexibility, finding a sense of peace within my body partnered with daily practicing of meditation. Like damn, I need to incorporate that kinda stuff in my life right NOW. I went to Bear Valley to check out the snow. Got to ride in my first snow mobile kinda thing... I would totally do it again. I tried AcroYoga with Jessy, first and only time. I kinda wanna try another class again. I got invited by an old high school friend to go see the FIreFall at Yosemite. Such a crazy experience, getting to wait around with hundreds of photographers just for one opportune moment where the waterfall looked like it caught fire just for 3 minutes. At this time too, I was heading to SF a lot to have dinner with everyone I could. Still working at the job that I hated, training to be supervisor. I think this was the month they tried to screw me over too, trying to make me do things I was never trained to do.

MARCH

My 23rd birthday month. This month felt freeing. I started applying to anywhere and everywhere. Had dinner with Freda (my therapist friend) (i have to document whenever I see her because i feel like i never see her), started planning my Havasupai trip with the girls (Jessy, Veronica, Britney, Sherry, Amanda). Getting fitted for backpacking backpacks, buying backpacking gear... SHIT BE EXPEEENSIVE. For my birthday weekend, me, Jessy and Veronica headed to LA and got to spend the entire time just being gluttonous, going to disneyland, being housed by Johnny Ta. Never felt so carefreee and wreckless with my money. and whoa, I just remembered now.. i was STILL vegan at this time! We went to this $$$ vegan sushi place.. had vegan take out.. dude my friends are so cool to have gone through 2 years of dealing with my lifestyle choices hahaha.

APRIL

I started my BSN online school this month. Had 2 interviews and got both jobs. Got the job at DMC and right after I got the OK that I got accepted, I QUIT THAT B-ass job and vowed to go a little bit crazy and treat myself to 4 months of doing whatever the F I wanted (they told me my start date would be in July). It was Tien’s birthday, and he wanted to go to Pismo so we did. He rented out this hugeass house and we had a house full of 20 people but somehow we all still had beds. Me and veronica sand dune buggied for the first time and stayed safe while everyone else was being wreckless AF. Went to Fresno for my baby niece’s birthday. Hiked mission peak. Went to Hometown heroes for the first time. Went to the outlets with Jayne. And wtf.. it says here on my calendar I went to Vegas??? Wuuut. With who LOL.

---- ok so i had to reupload snapchat to my phone just to see if I had documented it in any way. AND I DID. This vegas trip was supposed to be celebrating one of the newer girls’ birthdays, but me, kat, and tiahs flight got delayed for days so we ended up going to that club. The club where I saw YOU for the first time in 5ever and realized that hey, you are one cutie. But I didn’t think much of it then, just that I remembered you were the first guy I recognized as cute for the first time in what seemed like forever at that time. So long since I had found anyone cute that it was something I HAD to document and tell my girlfriends about because it had felt like such a huge milestone. That I was finding some attraction to someone physically for the first time in years. Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to you in the first place, when I saw your snapchat pop up just a few weeks later. (but too bad you didn’t feel the same about meeee that night lololol)

MAY

What a fun month. My big bro took me to True food Kitchen where we had the BEST vegan flan, it was insane. We have to try it if we ever go. I went to Utah/Arizona with my parents for 2 weeks. Saw the ‘seven magic mtns’ in vegas, went to see a LOT of red rock, hiked my first water hike into a canyon (kanarraville falls), went 4wheel driving into a desolute absolute no service area to a place called White Pocket which was absolutely beautiful. Saw horseshoe bend, went to grand staircase-escalante for the coolest canyon hike I’ve ever attempted where you have to squeeze through the small canyon walls (remind me to show my snap story from this day to you someday), hiked to see waterfalls. Damn looking back.. I was pretty active this month. In just one week after coming back from Utah, only had to head out again to Havasupai with the girls. We flew into vegas, got our rental van, drove it to Arizona, slept in the van (but i couldn’t). Woke up at 3-4am to start our hike into the Indian reservation. Made it to the campsite at noon (after taking a faaatass 3 hr break at the village). Saw the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen in my life. Hiked back, drove to horse shoe bend, saw antelope canyon, then trekked it back to vegas to have the most amazing “last hoorah” if you may call it that. Because not only was it my last trip in vegas to document to this day, but it was the best because it was 100% free and we had complimentary tables and bottle service the entire damn weekend. It was also the time your name finally popped up on my snap. I added you, but you never got to see my last day in vegas snaps go through LOL. Good thing though, you woulda just seen a bunch of bad singing to loud alesso songs. Straight after this weekend, I had Lemonade for the first time with Arielle (what an expensive ass place LOL). Jeez what a jam packed month. I can’t believe that was literally just a year ago.

JUNE

~~~~ exciting things start to happen

June was the month when we started texting. I planned my whole solo LA trip to see the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra, and I remember I was texting you the entire time. JUNE 17 [i marked it in my calender] was our first lunch/ idk date at the korean place. Ugh so crazy, it’s SO SO crazy that here I am writing this post on June 2, 2018, when our first real interaction was just 11 months and 2 weeks ago. Time flies. What a successful first meal together. I remember being so nervous because I didn’t want to scare you off by the fact that I didn’t eat meat and that I was barely starting to eat fish again (in preparation for Hawaii). We had the most amazing lunch partnered with no phones, just plain conversation. It was seriously just so nice. and so innocent. I knew at that moment that I was in dangerous waters, feeling so attracted to you and not knowing how to deal with these new emotions I haven’t felt in so long. But I was accepting and ready for whatever was to come.

I ended up going to Hawaii for 2 weeks (Kauai|Oahu). We were playing loads of phone tag here. I feel like both of us were drinking, trying to build up liquid courage and give us a reason to talk late at night on the phone. I remember you texted me once this month too something like “so why doesn’t someone like you have a boyfriend?” :p Ugh, it makes me smile just thinking of how we were when we were just barely starting.

JULY

I went to my classmate Sarah’s wedding. I think at this time I was already smitten by you and our random phone calls here and there. JULY 11 ~~ (again written on my planner) was our ICHI date. I personally didn’t know what to expect from this, if it was a date or not. When you put your arm around me when walking to that ice cream place (smitten?), to us awkwardly trying to cozy up at your house watching those movies. Me being an alcoholic just tryna BRING SOME LIQUID COURAGE into our lives. HAHA do you remember how you wouldn’t kiss me after I *ahem*? Ohhhhh how times have changed.

Because of how well this date went, (and how we both knew you were leaving so soon already to socal), we halfhazardly made a new date on July 15, to go to Land’s End. I remember all I wanted to do was just see you again. Confirm if that night was just a fluke or if there really was something there. I didn’t plan to stay that night..... but I did. And there we went, kissing for hours and hours until I had to go. (can you believe I went to 6flags the following day, i was fucking crazy man). You officially moved to Anaheim shortly after this... I wasn’t sure when the next time I would see you next (IF I would even see you again). But I’m so sosooo happy we remained in contact, probably even stronger than ever, with late night calls, constant texting. I went to the John Mayer concert with my big bro at the end of this month and I remember I just could not stop talking about you or to Johnny Ta about you (since he came up for the concert as well). I was soooooo sprung (i still am soooo sprung babe). Talking with you was so exciting. I feel like my personality had been brightening up with each passing day we got to know each other more.

AUGUST

I don’t know how it happened, but I decided I was going to drive to see you that one fateful weekend (August 12-15). I had already started my job just 2 weeks prior, but already I wanted to drive down to see this guy I went on 3 dates with? Ugh. I am SO glad I did. I remember feeling so uncertain if things were gonna pick up from where they left off.. if things were going to be awkward.. if we were going to be “fuckbuddies” or something more. I needed moral support, so I made plans to see Veronica that first day I came. We ate at EMC, went to the OC fair, then headed to the packing house to drink a little at kettle bar. Met up with Blake and then you finally showed up and man, what. a. whirlwind. of a night. Headsup, drinking, lots of snowboarding, you attacking my neck/face while I was trying to brush my teeth... I remember specificially at THIS moment, I felt like we were already SO comfortable with each other. Everything just flowed so easily. From the way we kissed, to the way we brushed teeth next to each other, from the way we slept together (for the first time), to the way we cuddled in bed. It felt SO natural for me. (I wonder how it felt for you). I felt like it was such a big deal too... everyoneeee knew my business at this time. I feel like every single one of my friends became such huge supporters of me “putting myself out there” after I had been solitary and avoiding all men for so long. I had created such a persona for myself that even blake and veronica the following morning thought that we didn’t even do it. Which was fine with me (although down there I was a little bit dying already. felt like I had lost my vcard all over again tbh). Waited for you to get off, and you took me to Tanakaya for the first time. Then we headed to the 626 night market. Went home and drank whooo knows what that night that we had to go get pho the following morning and brodards to top it all off. Remember waiting in line for hours for that .86 cent coffee? We ended up taking a nap then going to Laguna Beach before deciding to go to Kang Hodong for the vurry first time. Damn, all these lowkey traditions were formed just from this first weekend together, now that I’m reflecting on it all. The next day was when I had to leave... we had tanakaya (AGAIN), then I had to head back home :’(. And I remember feeling so... sad. I realized I felt so so excited and full of happiness being with you.

But crazy enough, you came to visit me in Modesto literally less than a week later. I was wearing my Burgundy scrubs, we went to get Crown Royal.. I’m sure you remember how the rest of night goes. Damn we were all up on that yayyy this whole beginning of our relationship LOL.

Then literally 5 days later on August 25, I came to see you in SJ, got hyped up on too much black coffee, watched HIMYM, met your parents, ate at sushi confidential.. We already seemed to have done so much in so little time, but I wasn’t complaining. Even though we werent official, or even had the talk of wondering what we were, all I knew is that I just needed to keep seeing you, and I didn’t care how.

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 3 ~~ aka labor day weekend, another 4 days I had off work. I had Guads for the first time! Chilaquiles. I think this weekend was when I literally had to study for my EKG test. I tried 1/2 of my first sweetbird sandwich. Went to that one vietnamese place MY’s kitchen with Hieu, David, and Michael. Had my first Michelada and was like whoooa, this beer is meant for my taste buds.

I tried out the wine bar here in modesto based off Yosemite with Cassandra. Such a cute place, I would totally take you here someday.

This was a pretty jam packed month at work for me. I had tons of tests going on and all I wanted to do was be finished with it because I wanted to see you again.

SEPTEMBER 29 ~ I flew down to SD to get picked up by veronica to head to LA. We were housed again by Johnny Ta after we hiked up this “wisdom tree trail” and saw the psychic who told me that me and you are soulmates. Even though I knew I was taking this time to bond with my friends, you were the only thing that consumed my mind. I just wanted to talk to you, be with you, call you to hear your voice.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER 1-3 ~~ Veronica drove me to fatty tuna and you ENTRUSTED ME WITH YOUR CAR for the first time. The next day, we tried Meiji Seimen before going to the Botanical Gardens and going to Newport Beach. Interesting enough, I don’t have many pictures of this weekend... so I can’t remember much of what we did. But this trend of us drinking a lot LOL jeeeezzuhs. This was a very very short trip, but I was so happy I got to see you. EVEN THOUGH I already made plans to see you just a week later.

OCTOBER 8-12 ~ we went to Sun Non Dang with Drew and Wonnie(?) for that galbi jim that i wanna try ohhhh so bad again. After, we went to Puzzle Bar where I met Kevin. This was a weekend where you were starting to work a lot a lot at sweetbird so we really didn’t have too much time together. It was also when that huge fire happened in the hills that caused that apocolyptic looking sky when I went to have orange roll sushi during one of your lunch breaks. (we went to try out that indian place the next day too and tanakaya for dinner). Although we didn’t get to spend a real day together this trip, it really was everything to be there for you to come home to. We WERENT EVEN OFFICIAL HERE YET, but I felt like we had something real.

OCTOBER 20 <33333 ~ was our planned staycation in san mateo. the time where you slept in through your alarms and missed your morning flight :p. We had brunch with your mom, headed to burlingame, went to eat at b street & vine, and i asked you out with a card I made. #makinmoves

This day was fulll of wonddderrrrful lovemakin, ugh. The couch...the table..the king sized bed... the blackout curtains. We had shabu before I had to say goodbye :(

NOVEMBER

My calender says I visited you Nov 1-6, but I don’t have any recollection of what we did :c. Maybe someday I’ll go through my harddrive and try to find out...

I went to Napa with Jessy this mid November! We had the BEST pasta I’ve ever had in my life (MUST TAKE YOU), so much wine. i trimmed my hair for the first time in 3 years. I randomly got my car November 17 out of necessity from my truck tires being unreliable.

I went to visit you Nov 19-22 (again another trip I don’t have any pics from rn...) and we flew back together Wednesday morning! I think this is when I watched stranger things season 2 at your parents house, we went out with the guys, and the next morning was thanksgiving (when I had to work) and we had that amaaazing *** in the bathroom hehe. Right before eating at that vietnamese hotpot place. I had to say goodbye to you yet again... i sang to you that eric bellinger song (what you want). I knew I was going to see you literally a week later, so I was excited. Just had to work 5 days and I knew I would be with you again.

DECEMBER

This was my first 8 day trip visiting you and it was JAM. PACKED. This was when we made an LA trip to go see Museum of Ice cream, LACMA, went to the counter for the beyond burger. The fail to see the sunset at griffith observatory. Disneyland with Jayne/JJ, Anny and her boo. The day after disneyland, you had work until dinnertime where we went to NANA SAN, and had omakase with jj and jayne. Again, I think Im gonna have to go through my harddrive and see what other pictures I may possibly have to remind me more about this weekend, but it’s all a little bit hazy for me right now.

Jessy’s bday was this month. Ate at her workplace Kokkari, saw the christmas tree at union square.

I went to visit you Dec 17-20, you gifted me the calpak that I use now everyyyyytime I travel thank you baby. We also ate at sushi confidential with Vanessa. (THIS WAS ALSO THE TIME I WAS STARTING TO GET SICK AND I WAS SICK THAT ENTIRE DAY CUS OF THOSE HOT CHEETO CURDS)

I worked for days in a row but had christmas off, which was when I came to visit you and your family. Had dinner at your aunt/uncles place. The next day you made ratatouile and we had taco night at your house. And boy was I sick.... This was probably the fastest sickness I had ever experienced surprisingly. Typically, I will cough for weeks... but idk, maybe you just took care of me well :)

I then had to say bye to you just for a couple more days before getting to visit you just in time for our first NEW YEARS EVE!

AND THAT, is my 2017 recap. Going through it now, I can only see how much of an impact you have had in my life right from the very very start when we first “met.” I am so happy to have met you and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be cared for and loved by somebody so amazing as you.

I have so much more to say, and so much more love to give, but i started writing this at 2, and it is now 350AM, T__T.

I am gonna try to head to sleep now, I can’t wait to hear your voice in the morning. I LOVE YOU OTTER. You’re seriously the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

0 notes