tears and laughter

Los Angeles, we're coming

needless to say: The Hollywood sign

my favourite star - Johnny Cash

LA was really interesting to see because you hear about it so much, and due to the media, there's a certain expectation. The main streets are smaller than I thought they would be, but that's not necessarily a negative thing. To explore the city and walk on those famous stars was amazing; in the end they are just stars and belong to human beings, but they are still quite special and made us feel like teenagers again. The next point on our to do list was the tour around Hollywood, from Rodeo Drive to Sunset Strip to the Beverly Hills, we saw LA's highlights. The best part was obviously the Hollywood sign, which can only be seen from quite far away and under no circumstances be climbed upon like in all those romantic movies. Nevertheless it was impressive! Throughout the tour we got to see awesome villas of great celebrities and were constantly on the lookout for stars, hoping to make the most of LA.

We also visited Disneyland, which has been a big dream of me ever since I was little. It was the first time for me to see Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pluto live and the child inside me did a happy dance.  

After some great days in LA with awesome food, fun people and lots of sightseeing we had to say good bye to the city of Angels and picked up our car to drive to San Francisco.

It wasn't just any car though, we got ourselves a Ford Mustang!! I have to say, it looks awesome and it is a great car, but I'm not really into cars anyways, Vanessa is though and yes she found her one big love. She was obsessed with that car and so sad when we had to give it back in San Francisco. I've got to admit, the car made a difference to our road trip, it felt awesome cruising around Beverly Hills and on the streets along the beach in a convertible Mustang, wearing sunglasses and singing out loud to the Spice Girls, forgetting that others could hear and see us. The ultimate dream of road trippin' came true!

Road trippin' with my favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It's time to leave this town
It's time to steal away
Let's go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A.

After stopping at beautiful beaches along the way and 6 hours of driving we finally arrived to San Francisco, the place I fell in love with.

San Francisco is beautiful. It is not only a city where hippies feel at home; it is rich in food culture, has the most amazing sightseeing spots and makes people simply feel welcome. San Fran is the most European city I visited in the United States and maybe that's one of the many reasons why I was so excited about it, I felt more at home there than any other city we saw during our trip. But I know part of my excitement goes back to me listening to 50/60s music, believing in harmony and loving the image of San Francisco, it's time to admit that there may be a little hippie inside of me! One of the many highlights was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, listening to Scott McKenzie's San Francisco, I know it's so cliché but I don't care, it was a moment I will always remember. Another fun thing to do there is go down to the docks and look at the seals bathing in the sun, although they do smell a little. All in all San Fran was awesome: once again great food, fun people, shopping and lots of memories being made. By the way, if you ever go to San Fran I advise you not to drive if you're not a 100% confident driver, the up and downs of these streets are crazy!

 best Pizza in San Francisco (maybe in the whole wide world)      The Golden Gate Bridge and a beautiful view

Once again we found ourselves packing our (way too heavy) bags to go to New York, the last stop on my journey and the city I have wanted to see so badly since I was a 12 years old.
New York came very close to what I expected: big, loud, crowded and absolutely amazing!! I love big and busy cities anyways but New York and London are definitely in my top 3!

We did everything we planned on doing in New York and yet I could have stayed so much longer than 5 days and not be bored a minute, I actually already have a new list of things I want to see, experience and do in NYC the next time I go (Oh yes I'll definitely be back). The view from the Empire State Building was astonishing and the history really interesting. The Central Park is beautiful and I could imagine myself going for walks there or just sitting on a bench reading a book, I'm such a romantic, I admit. The One World Trade Center Memorial leaves you breathless and almost made me tear up; seeing all those names of innocent people who died on 9/11 is very emotional and a must see when going to the big Apple. The same goes for the Statue of Liberty, which is not only a must see but also one big story about NYC and its population. The best things about New York for me were Times Square, the buzz of the city, drinking cocktails on a rooftop bar and going to a broadway show. The great thing about the play was that James Franco was starring in it but most of all that it was telling a story of my favourite writer: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The play was beautiful and I even cried a little (a lot actually), meeting James Franco was pretty exciting too. The last day was well spent, we went shopping and I ended up spending my last money, I'm not kidding my credit card stopped working at some point... The ups and downs of a traveller.

On the 30th May and exactly 5 months of staying in the USA I was about to board a plane and go back to Europe. I was both sad and happy to leave my American life behind: I made so many great memories in those months, met the most beautiful people inside out, got to know different cultures and had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about myself and I grew from experiences and from what I saw. I had ups but also had quite a few downs and I was ready to go home for a reunion with family and friends. I found happiness abroad but most of all it made me realise how much happiness there is waiting for me at home, if you don't get out every once in a while and take a step back, you don't see what lies in front of you, you take for granted what makes you a lucky person but in fact you should be grateful for the love and joy that you carry in your heart.

Stepping out of the plane and walking into the arms of my mum and dad is a moment I will never forget because it felt right and I now know that wherever life will take me, I will always have a home where I can and will go back to.

A special thanks goes out to Andrea who made my semester at GVSU unforgettable. Our friendship is the best thing that happened to me in the United States. It is not about the places you see or the things you buy there, it is definitely about the people you meet that make a destination into a great memory! I know that Andrea and I will stay friends even if we'll be miles apart in the future, and I hope that goes for all the other amazing people I met along my journey! I love all of you and am proud to have met you!

My dear readers, that's it...that was my year abroad and I hoped you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it! Blogging became so much more than just a duty to keep you up to date and I will definitely keep on writing, one way or another!

I will keep you posted so don't abandon me just yet!

xx

Cath

(by the way I am so so so sorry for the delays of my posts but I had to end it, even if all of my adventures have finished long ago)

naughty new orleans & lively las vegas

If you think Las Vegas is the city of sins, you haven't been to New Orleans!

But let's start where I left off last time, happy to leave the city that brought me nothing but tears, I made my way to New Orleans and to a friendly face, I hoped would cheer me up! When I arrived in New Orleans, Vanessa was waiting for me with her arms wide open and I was never happier to see her than in that moment. I got to know her friends, we celebrated my birthday, had awesome wrap creations and enjoyed the beginning of our trip.

New Orleans is a beautiful city with lots of culture, happiness and strange stories. People from New Orleans are interesting, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just awesome to see their happiness and joy for life, knowing what the city has been through in previous years. The city is loud and yet mysterious, the people know how to celebrate, how to live to the fullest and they sure love food, so all in all a great mixture and I loved it!

enjoying the hot weather in New Orleans and experiencing their food culture

Next on our list was Las Vegas, Baby! We arrived quite late, got ready and immediately hit the bars, what else? After just one or two drinks fatigue hit us and we decided to go to sleep early and make most of the day to come. Next day, as planned, we woke up early, got us a car and drove to the Grand Canyon!! I was so excited to see the famousGrand Canyon, learn about native Americans and most of all just enjoy the beautiful view. It made me feel quite small standing there, looking at those rocks that have been there for hundreds of years and you can't imagine how big it all is. When I thought about the Grand Canyon before I honestly didn't know what the fuss was all about, but it is not just a rock, it is the whole surrounding and it's an unbelievable ambience because it's just amazing what nature can do. We took some great pictures, bought some souvenirs, had lunch just across the Grand Canyon and all in all had a fun first road trip day.

Afterwards, we drove back to the city of sin and got ready for an evening of great food and few drinks. Our initial plan to hit the clubs was cancelled because apparently Las Vegas does sleep sometimes! We were told that sundays isn't a good day to party, even in Las Vegas and so we just enjoyed a quiet last night in Nevada. Unfortunately I never had my big camera with me throughout the night so the pictures aren't high quality, nevertheless you can get the idea of Las Vegas and how beautiful it actually looks life in the dark because of all the lights. All in all, it may not have been what we expected but it's definitely worth a visit because of the lights, the buildings etc.

the best thing for me: dining at BURGR - Gordon Ramsay's restaurant (it was so good)

Next up: LA, San Francisco and New York

I'll keep you posted

xx

Cath

How not to start a roadtrip

After 4 months in cold Michigan and some super stressful weeks of studying and writing, the time was finally upon us: end of April, beginning of my fun filled summer.

After a great last night out with friends and lots of tears that were shed, I had to pack my bags and get ready for a new, or rather several, destinations. Packing sounds so easy, but after living 4 months in one place, things just add up and even if you think that you didn't even buy that much, somehow not even half of your stuff will fit into your backpack. IMPORTANT advice, and maybe the most important thing I have learned on my journey so far: travel light! You don't need all the things that you own, not even half of them, especially if you're a traveller! At first you may think that you're gonna miss stuff, that you will have nothing to wear or that you will be miserable without all of your make up, but that is so far from the truth. You will feel relieved because you won't be carrying unnecessary weight with you and because that way you won't to worry about doing some shopping abroad. Most of all if you travel with a backpack, like I did, your shoulders will thank you!

In the end, I threw half of my clothes and shoes away because there was no way I could carry over 18kgs on my shoulders without breaking my back and because nothing more could fit in anyways (I know if it would have, I would have tried to carry 40kgs just to get my stuff home). Although it broke my heart to leave my beloved UGG Boots and many other clothing items behind, I was ready for sunshine and the beach.

Unfortunately my bad luck continued and there were delays with my flight, so many in fact that I missed the next one in Chicago and had to sleep at the airport. Thankfully Chicago's airport is huge and prepared for delays and cancellations and so I got to sleep on a camp bed, hugging my valuable things and waking up every half hour just to check the time. That wasn't the worst part though, because I didn't really care about one more day, all I wanted to do is to arrive happily in Miami at some point, go to the beach and just enjoy! Unfortunately by the time I finally arrived there, my bag didn't, they forgot to put it on the airplane because of all the confusion and delays. At that point I couldn't take it anymore; the past days were filled with all-nighters at the library, my laptop crashed right before finals and all data was lost, I had to say good bye to all the friends I made during the past four months, I had to throw away half of my closet and now here I was ready for sunshine and happiness and what I got was tears and despair. I knew that it was only a bag and material things, but it was all I had left. I found myself in a foreign country, in a city where I knew nobody and all I had on me was a description of how to get to my hostel, my passport, my wallet, my phone and the clothes on me. Worst of all, I was wearing all of my warm stuff because I couldn't fit it in my bag and because I came from Michigan obviously. Covered in tears and sweat, I made my way to the hostel and when I finally got there I realised that the only way I could survive the heat was if I would buy me a completely new wardrobe. Needless to say that money doesn't just come to me as an international student. I won't bore you with all the details but in the end I bought some things to survive and that's what I did, I survived in Miami and waited until the very last day of my stay for my bag to arrive. When it got here all I could do was take it to the airport the next morning and hope that it wouldn't get lost on the way to my next destination. All in all, I did not enjoy Miami, I'm pretty sure that most of that comes from being in a bad mood, not having my bags and having to spend way too much money, but I have a feeling that Miami isn't my city anyways.

I was happy to leave Miami behind and go to New Orleans where a familiar face would welcome me and join me on my road trip through the United States. I will tell you all about it in the next post and believe me the journey did get better.

see you next time! xx

Cath