Last days in the US (Post blog)

I may have been putting off this blog because I keep thinking I Have to write it in French.

Voila! I do not!

So I must post a little more about Georgia and Nashville.

One more thing about Georgia..

Megan took me to a huge forest that was a botanical garden right around the corner from her house.  This very same garden captured Megan for several hours in her first couple weeks in Georgia.. that’s how large it is, one can seriously get lost. It was bloody hot so I didn’t get great pictures, but I did get a nice one of myself in the bathroom mirror with my super cute lima bean dress on that CJ said I would never wear. Point, Asia. 

Also, I’m pretty sure I picked up some Southern twang when I was down there. I am almost positive if I were there for more than a week or so I would definitely have a drawl.

Now Nashvile..

Well, starts off more about Georgia. I’ve only taken the Greyhound in Australia where it’s actually quite nice. So when I was warned about the Greyhound here I didn’t think anything of it.. oh but NOW I KNOW. All stations stink like urine, smoke and BO. The lady behind me in line asked me where I was going, nice friendly chit chat.. only gawked at the huge scar across her face for like four seconds.. I asked her where sh was going.. to Indiana, for a funeral. Her cousin, who was 17. I asked, only in hopes and wishes, if he was sick. But he was gunned down. I told her I didn’t know Indiana was so violent. She said it’s like that everywhere these days. Am I naïve to think that that’s actually not the case? It took me a while to recover from realizing that her world and my world are so very different.

The man behind me talked on his phone the entire time (although the  bus driver explicitly said after every stop, don’t talk on your cell phone so the whole bus can hear and NO CURSING. Like they said it a zillion times as if this were a serious concern on Greyhound buses.). Maybe the phone conversation wouldn’t have been so attention grabbing had it not been like this.

“No, Carly think that she gon’ keep me from my child just cause my baby girl in prison?! But she be getting out in Six months! We gon’ be a family.. I know, shoot I just got out in December, and I been doin a real good job with my life, ain’t no way she gon’ keep me from my child just cause I got my baby girl Stephanie around..”

Don’t get me wrong, this is not the funniest prisoner encounter I’ve ever had (Per request, I shall post some stories about a sublessor I had last summer who was not only engaged to a convict in prison, but was impregnated by two and dating another on the side... more to come)

Anyway, I survived the Greyhound. I read the entire book called Sarah’s Key, about a Jewish-French girl during the Holocaust.. there was a huge round up of Jews that they call Vel D’Hiv, which took place at a velodrome where races were held. The author makes sure to ntoe that although the plot is fictional, the events surrounding were not. Many people haven’t heven heard of this round up in Paris- I hadn’t but that doesn’t say much about the rest of the educated world- and it appalled me. 4000 Jews were taken from Paris, from French police- not Nazis, and never returned. Although sad, it was a great book.

.

Thank God for the Kindle.

In Nashville, I was blessed enough to stay with a family-friend of Dave’s. Husband, wife and ten-year-old son. Not only did they pick me up at the bus station, house me, AND take me to the air port, but they fed me in between! They took me to Cracker Barrel, a very southern restaurant that was carb filled and superb. And the lady of the house made biscuits and gravy for breakfast! I got to laugh and tell jokes and was very at home with them. Very thankful that was my last night in the US!

Dirrtty South

Actually, I just liked that as a title, but it's not that dirty.

I have arrived in Atlanta/Athens Georgia!! Here's a quick run down!

Packing for a year proved to be challenging.. but thankfully I am small and can pack lots of things ON my body..

And the airport lady let me have seven extra pounds :D

I had to say goodbye to my mom, which sucked, but thank the Lord for iPhones so we can Skype all we want :)

A few delays/packing issues later (by delays, I mean weather delays as well as Asia having to unpack her entire carry on on the plane so that it will fit in the overhead container while the rest of the plane is seated and staring..), I arrived! Let me tell you that arriving in the 82 degree, pouring rain weather of Atlanta, Georgia was not so fun with sweats, Uggs, a sun hat, sweat shirt, and a Snuggie. Interessttingg.



Megan and I went to Cheesecake Factory, succumed to the temptation of Hersheys chocolate cheesecake..
And were VERY tempted to try some walk-in weaves.
That.is.funny.

Mostly I was here to hang out with Megan, but we did get to do some down south things..  Like the Waffle House!
And of course, the waiter gave us free tickets to a band called Stryper (Megan likes to tell people we got stripper tickets..) because we were "cute".
He definitely had to ask us how old we were before giving us the tickets.
One day I will look my age.
That day is not today.

Needless to say, we didn't go. But it was very sweet of the waiter to give us free tickets. Maybe we would have gone if we didn't have other plans..

 Like making chocolate bowls from balloons!!

Found this on a blog during my Stumbling, I knew Megan would try it with me. I may or may not make a mini blog post about how we did that!

Got to play volleyball with a bunch of the neighbors, have ice cream in chocolate bowls and play
Catch phrase.

 It was like my perfect night!!

The night before, we went out in Athens.. and I don't know if anybody knew this, but there are black people here.
IT WAS AWESOMMMEE!
SLO has about .. seven.
Athens has about seven million.

I definitely miss that diversity.
Athens is also the #2 party school in the nation.. and their downtown is amazing, like SLO but bigger.. more people, more bars.. More danccinngg.
Love it!

I also love that the world is so small! I got a Facebook message from a girlfriend from high school I call Grandma, and she all of the sudden was on the drive to see me in Athens! I heard my name at the door "Hi, is Asia here?" and was soo confused- I like having visitors in different states :)

It was great to catch up with her,hear about how life has changed in all sorts of ways in the last 5 years.
But I love that some things have stayed the same :)

On my way to the Greyhound, post soon!

C'est La Vie!

So I have been trying to blog about my last few weeks in the US, but they were so amazing, it may take some more time..
I am so awful at this blogging thing.


If there is one word that could describe my life it would be CHANGE.
All the time.
So, surprise surprise, day before I leave to France, big changes!
.. Change and BLESSED.


I have been debating on whether or not to live in the smaller city I'm working in (Beziers) or in the big city (Montpellier) which is 30 minutes away.. THEN the director emailed with an opportunity to switch and I JUMPED on it.

So "A" is where I was, "B" is where I am, and "C" is the big city! 5 km away!

SO NOowwww, I will be working/living IN Montpellier- WITH accomodation! 


And the new place comes with a lot more: information about when I'll be working (Tuesdays and Fridays), information about what schools I'll be working in (une école de Castries et deux écoles du Crès) and a ride to work! 


Whether or not the accommodation is free, I'm not sure quite yet.. I will be staying in une chambre chez l'habitant.. so living with a family, free rent maybe in exchange for services? We'll see!! Free or cheap, good with me!


My only stipulation: I must be able to have visitors. 



So that lifts my mood quite a bit.. a little freaked out recently about dragging my 200 lb luggage all around Paris trying to find the train station, but it will be juustt fine. 
Sitting in Starbucks in Athens, waiting for the Greyhound bus, then to Nashville for the night, then Paris.

Highway to... :)

Definitely not hell! 

More like highway to Californian bliss.. 

Fun fact: The Highway To Hell is in Australia! Who knew AC/DC is Australian? Besides Australians? Not me!

More fun facts: The Pacific Coast Highway aka Highway 1 (or "The One" as us, ahem, locals call it) continuously pops up in "Things to do before you die" lists everywhere. In fact, BIKE the Pacific Coast Highway is a specific Must Do on bucket lists. And voila, this I have now done! I need to start slowing down on shrinking my bucket list.. I'm only 22 for Pete's sake, I can't be doing this many cool things already.. 

My uncle Dave and I met up at 10 in Paso Robles and hopped on his super fancy Honda Goldwing motorcycle.. 

He had it equipped with mics for us to chit chat the whole way and a cup holder for my beverage! It's like motorcycle first class.

Amazing drive all the way up the coast of California..ah what a DRAG. My life TOTALLY SUCKS. I am sure that I could have thought of WAY BETTER ways to spend my last week in California..

As much as I travel, I forget that we have such cool things right in front of our doorstep.. Speaking of that, Alston & I saw that in Sydney somewhere.. Lesson learned. I don't have to travel to Sydney to see cool things.. but I will anyway!

The best part of the road trip is I could stop WHEREVER I WANTED to take pictures!

                                                

I always wonder where I would go if I were a tourist here on the central coast, and I would definitely want to go see these elephant seals that are always on the shore somewhere up by Hearst Castle. I'm pretty sure they are here all year round.

They're HUMUNGOUS, and sometimes I panic that I am going to hurl myself over the ledge and try to play with them but get eaten by one of them. And then I remember I'm not dumb or impulsive or athletic enough to hurl myself over a ledge anyway.

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

  I love California. And I can't believe I am going to be doing this exact thing (kind of?) IN EUROPE. Like this trip is in California, a place I've lived since I was 8, and I'm still amazed by its beauty. Europe will be possibly even more beautiful AND novel. Sometimes I feel like life just doesn't ever stop getting better.

The day was pretty overcast, but I noted several times that is much better than sweating on the road. The clouds hung heavy the higher we climbed, but didn't make the scene any less majestic. How blue is that water?!

We had lunch in a ritzy town named Carmel, just north of Big Sur and just south of Monterey. Clint Eastwood used to be their mayor! Should've stayed there and stalked him. Because he's going to die pretty soon so better get that celeb sighting in while I can.. Ate at the Rio Grill, which was delicioso.. and also had a PB&J on the menu for TWELVE dollars. Half of me wants to live there if everyone who lives there can afford that, and half of me wants to never go back if everyone who lives there can afford that.

Dave is a wealth of knowledge about all things history, so I learned some fun facts today about California. For example, tuna wasn't known as an edible fish until the late 1800s. A cannery in San Pedro Bay (down by LA) decided to start randomly canning tuna instead of the dwindling sardines, basically out of necessity for filling the empty cans. Why I was so interested tuna history I couldn't tell you, but cool to know that it originated in California. Maybe because tuna is the only fish I actually like.. canned, with mayonnaise, shredded pickles, and cheese. Nummyyy.

Another fun fact: John Steinbeck is from Monterey. I'm not going to lie, the only reason I know who he is is because his face pops up on my Kindle when my Kindle is "sleeping", and he Totally Looks Like Paul Walker.. and Paul Walker is beautiful. So, sorry Mr. Steinbeck, I'm sure your novels were great, but you will have to just face it, you probably made it because of your looks :p

We headed back right around sunset and had a delicious dinner at Margie's Cafe in Paso- I love eating there because my Grandma Dusty's name was Marjory.. Marjory, Margie, close enough.

The sunset was beautiful and made me appreciate being a photographer and an American and a God lover. 

What a great freaking day.

Remember when I'm moving to France?

Too busy reading France books to make a post about anything France-related.

Coming soon.

On This Day In 2010.. Why I Will Actually Start Blogging

Disclaimer: My Grandma doesn't have Facebook (hence the title), so all definitions of Facebook terms may have to be defined and/or explained.


Confession: I don't really know what a disclaimer is.

Facebook is currently doing this amazing flashback aspect where it shows you the status (or statuses for the real FB fans) you had On This Day in 2010. Every time it shows up, it makes me laugh out loud. Because one- I'm funny. And because two- I love remembering those times! I am so thankful that I am addicted to FB so that I don't feel as bad about keeping a diary. But now I feel bad about not keeping a diary for all the things that I didn't/couldn't post on FB.


   Confession: StumbleUpon! has changed my life.


So I have been Stumbling for the past few days, and a recent Stumble was the Top 10 Studies of 2010. #4 is a study that showed that a great way to be happier is to start savoring. Savoring the moments. And not just IN the moment, but AFTER the moment. And for many moments later. (I will note that I'm guessing probably just the good ones). Sitting around and reminiscing IS fun. I used to think that taking pictures was the only way to do that.  And now I realize that blogging can be in ADDITION to pictures. But okayyy, I have these pictures and this blog..

I used to battle with
                              What
                                       Does
                                                It All MEAANNNN???????


Like if I go travel the world, come home in a year and sit down and have dinner with someone who has never been out of California, aren't we at the same place at the same time doing the same thing? So why does it matter what I did last year?

Confession: It matters to me.


Because the things I am going to do this year are going to teach me lessons, open my eyes, and make me happy for the rest.of.my.life.
Or at least as long as I can remember them.

So from now on I will start remembering!

Confession: I suck at routine.


Please help! What if I forget that I want to remember things? And savor them? And be happy all over again for no reason other than I did something cool last year? I feel like I've done so many cool things I can't remember. And I am MOVING TO FRANCE FOR PETE'S SAKE. I am going to do sooo many cool things!! What if I feel like I don't have time to blog every day? (Okay I WON'T have time to blog every day, maybe a few times a week?) I need to think of future Asia, who will hopefully thank the past Asia for making her remember the moments.

Sigh. Blog of the day.

Confession: 22 is more than one year older than 21.


Lauren (I asked PERMISSION this time to put someone's name in here!) and I tried to go downtown tonight. Walked into one of the three bars we go to, 10:32. Nobody there. Like literally. Said hello to bouncers and bartenders. Left out of embarrassment. Walked to used-to-be-favorite-bar-now-Mexican-restaurant-pretending-to-be-nightclub-but-not-really-at-all. Nobody there either. Got a water. Went back to car, went to favorite coffee shop, got a hot cocoa. PLAY YAHTZEE. One hour later, return to the first bar we tried. See five people inside. Walk to car.

Laugh about days when we used to go out at 10 o'clock like 3 nights a week, having been ready for an hour, when downtown was popping right away, and we were sweating by 10:30. Now we get hot freaking cocoa until 11:30. Reminisce about being 21 and how being 22 for some reason feels a lot different. Decide to make blog so we can remember this random night in the future. Lay in bed at random hotel and do just that.

Blossom Where You Are Planted

And I am doing just that. Sort of. No blossoming in Australia. Not enough sun for this flower. Now I am back in California and lovving the sunshine. (Read: Loving the inside of my office, loving my big bed, loving Kreuzberg cafe, loving watching the Kardashians just KNOWING that there is sunshine outside)
I have been so worried about getting back to California and taking advantage of California that I haven't really put my head into France.. yes, yes I will blossom there, but I need to get the plot and soil and seed ready!

After G decided not to go to France- which is heartbreaking but easy to understand- I decided to ask my Montpellier group if anyone wanted a travel buddy. And voila, insert Audrey, beautiful dame from Chicago, a few Skype dates later, and we're friends and planning fabulous trips around Europe. First trip..

Uh yeah. Can you see all those places we are going? Milano, Venezia, Budapest, Auschwitz, Prague, Munich, Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Geneva, Lyon.. ahh. I really wanted to see Auschwitz, and look how perfectly that fits in. I am really excited to be diving into the places that aren't super typical Europe (i.e. Paris, London, etc) although I will definitely be doing that too. We only have about a week and a half to do it but it will happen. In the planning stages now, and Audrey is spearheading the whole thing which is AMAZING because usually that's my job. At this point I am totally okay with being delegated jobs like finding out traffic laws in different countries. My uncle was just telling me that in Italy if you pass a car, you have the right of way opposed to the cars in the oncoming lane. Whhaaaa? Can you imagine seeing a car coming toward you at like a zillion miles an hour and YOU have to pull over? So we really have to look into that. Hostels, parking, car rentals, etc. All gotta be handled. With plenty of time to pull over for some photog opportunities.

ANNDDD. The road trip isn't even the best part! (Okay well maybe it is) My mom and dad bought me and Audrey BRITNEY SPEARS TICKETS for her concert in Montpellier. Happpyyy biirrthdayy too mee! (Birthday is on Thursday. Twenty freaking two. Gross.) How lucky am I that Britney Spears would come to the town I am living in? She just knew, I know it.

Things I need to do before I go:
Find a place to live
Plan lessons
-purchase items for lessons
Brush up on my French
Figure out the transportation system
Pray that God will give me five thousand dollars so I can rent a car all year :D

Man, oh man those will be no small feats.

But for now I will blossom where I am planted, which is in CM's fabulous house, with some E! News and folding some KK letters. Life is gizzood.