Blogs from United States, North America - page 6876

I’m at the end of this six-week trip. The cash funds are low… and I start school in just three days… but… I couldn’t be happier. On a closing note to this whole travel blog, I thought I try to recount some of the most memorable moments and random thoughts over the past six weeks. Scariest Moment: When our Ryan Airlines pilot overshot the runway on our way to Paris and banked the 737-ish plane about a 100 feet off the ground… I thought for sure we’d crash… or at least hit a telephone pole. Everyone clapped when he finally got it right. Most Embarrasing Moment: In Brussels, I woke up at roughly 3 am one night to use the bathroom. I was surprised to see the men’s bathroom occupied so I took a risk and ... read more

It's all gone! I was on the phone with Mahesh from customer service for two hours but there's nothing that can be done. It's all gone! All of my college papers, all of my music, every cartoon that I drew at Tulane --- it's all been permanently deleted. Continuing to live life on the brink of an aneurysm can be stressful. Before my computer eliminated my college history and before I realized that I had no flight itinerary my week back in Greensboro was already pretty intense. But I had a breather this summer, a little time to slow down and relax. I didn't have time to study for the GRE, let alone take it, but I did have time to fall back in love with New Orleans. I was morbidly depressed to leave and ... read more

California was great. I'm such a fan of northern California. It's incredibly laid back and oh so very quaint. We both began and ended our trip in San Francisco, a city that I would go back and visit today if I could. After a long, but enjoyable flight, we got to California late at night; that in itself was spectacular. All I could see for the longest time were dots of light in the hills from all the surrounding homes and whatnot and black water below. It was like landing in outerspace where all you could see were stars. Once we landed, we waited in line for what seemed like an eternity to get our rental car. By time we got the car, all of us were extremely tired and just went to our first ... read more

We woke up in the hot, dry, Napa Valley and fell asleep in the cool, coastal Mendocino area (more specifically Fort Bragg). It was pretty uneventful, but undoubtably beautiful. It's like you're in the quaint California countryside, and then all of a sudden you're in the mountains. And I don't mind at all. Mendocino's a real hippie town - it's full of intertwining gardens that boast plants not readily found in the great state of Illinois and little shops. I love the fog that surrounds the area from the Pacific. We pretty much just walked around all day, taking lunch in a home deli and getting coffee in little standing room only cafes. So quaint! We ate in Fort Bragg, which is definitely more fisherman town than Mendocino. We also took a stop at what is ... read more

Where the hell am I? Well that's a question I seem to be asking myself more and more these days, of course from a purly literal level I am still in lovely California, although I've switched locations and moved a little further up the coast to Santa Monica where I have been staying in the Doubletree Hotel on 4th street. 3 blocks from the beach and just a short hop from the 3rd street promenade. My current partners in crime are J. (john) Reed, former roommate from USC campus housing, and one Andrew Stevens, a fellow USC film pupil from the good state of North Carolina where he operated as a professional fraternity brother which as far as I can tell involved a lot of drinking and um...fratrinizing with associated sororities. Anyway here I am wittling ... read more