How it feels to be on the other side.

Barcelona was out of this world. The alleyways in the Gothic district where we stayed never seemed to end. There were countless businesses and restaurants, as well as many locked up storefronts due to owners on holiday. Our street was a mostly pedestrian walkway with a few scattered mopeds and rental bikes. And the view from our modest Air BnB-rented place was beautiful. The first night in Barcelona was an interesting experience to say the least. Due to an Ambien induced airplane coma earlier in the day, I woke up at 3 AM Barcelona time and could not fall back to sleep. So I sat on the ledge of our window and stared down onto our street. It was almost eerily silent. For a place so lively and boisterous only hours before, the stillness of the late night was undisturbed by even the slightest movement or noise. I sat there for nearly an hour without experiencing a single soul's presence. It was a nice time to ponder the upcoming adventures I was about to embark upon. Peaceful, calming, even though anticipation of exhaustion for the day to come was causing a lingering anxious feeling somewhere in the back of my mind. That night was the first time I sat down and wrote a short piece of fiction in over 7 years. It felt liberating to reexplore my somewhat stifled imagination. It's only been four days since we touched down in Europe, and I already feel like the creative juices that once used to flow so smoothly and effervescently through my soul are returning to their maximum potential.

Thank you Gaudi, thank you Kitty Olympics, thank you history, thank you point and shoot cameras, thank you Catalan, and most of all thank you Sangria. Mmmmm.

By the way how awesome is it that I had two friends in Barcelona at the same time? I ran into one by chance, and met up with the other. So fun to see some familiar faces in a land where EVERYone knew I wasn't a familiar face! (Am I really that pale??)

We are finally checked in to our apartment in Paris, and the set part about this place is that we have a free show directly below us. Ladies of the oldest profession, all day every day, at your service. Meeeeow.

Going To The MothaLand!

I am leaving on a jet plane, tomorrow morning. I know when I will be back again, but who knows if I will actually fulfill that destiny. Maybe I will stay in Europe and never begin my college afterlife?

All I know is, I am so thankful to have so many great friends that have already studied/traveled abroad to give me awesome tips and fun adventures for our trip. Can't wait to see/eat/drink it all in. See you all when I see you all. <3

My Big Girl Goals

So, this is only my third blog, and I started this adventure almost two months ago. Ruh-Roh. I need to get on top of my bloggin' game if anyone is going to take me seriously and finally give me my own Tila Tequila-inspired reality dating show...

I feel like I haven't graduated into the real world yet. And that is because I really haven't. This summer has been a vacation from facing the "Big Girl World" ahead of me. House sitting in Portland, OR for a month? Yes please! And what and adventure that was. I just got home yesterday from a whirlwind month of microbrews, waterfall hiking, food carts and of course the elusive (not) hipster. Thanks to my brother and fellow blogger at Drug Youth, Chris, and some college friends that lived in the area, I have officially ducked out of any Big Girl responsibilities thus far in my adventure through the college afterlife. And the fun doesn't stop there. I am leaving for a three week vacation galavanting through Europe in one. Day. When am I ever going to accomplish any of my Big Girl Goals??

Big Girl Goals:

Drink alcohol once a week
           (I drank good beer in Portland for what seems like two weeks straight, helloooo beer belly)

Fix my sailor mouth
          (My $43,000/year tuition needs to be expressed through my vocabulary, not my many variables of Fornication Under Consent of the King...)
Never wear sweats out in public
         (yoga pants do not count IF going to yoga/working out)

Go to bed at a "Big Girl Bedtime"
        (for those of you who don't know, college/college partying can really set your sleep clock on crazy mode)

Find a job!!!
        -This last one is obviously the most important. And this is the hardest to accomplish, especially with all of this traveling. How am I supposed to interview for a job when I am thousands of miles away eating cheese and drinking wine with some French man with a handle bar mustache? Not to say I am not thrilled with my life right now, I am blessed to have the opportunities in front of me. But, I want a job. Oh, hey recession.

I guess I haven't really graduated yet. Europe is the final stage in entering in to the College Afterlife.

So, What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life?

Which way should I go? With that one guy who directs movies just so he can say racist things to filipinos? Or the dashing young gentleman with the ginger beard?

Well, this decision is just one of the many obstacles I must face in the real world. But, the first obstacle us graduates (or almost graduates in this case) seem to always face is the dreaded question, "So what are you gonna do next?" There are of course many variations of this question, such as, "Do you have a job lined up?", "What is your next move?", "Are you gonna sell yourself on the corner to pay off your student loans?", etc. Our younger friends ask us, our extended family asks us, our professors ask us, and even those oblivious graduating peers ask us on occasion. We are bombarded on all sides with this anxiety provoking poke and prod, sometimes multiple times within a social gathering. And, it is exhausting to answer, to say the least. 

As the weeks turned to days before my graduation, the questions of future plans began to blend together into one big, ugly gremlin jumping up and down on my chest. I might have an idea of what I want to do, but I do not in any sense have a set plan. A lot of graduates do have their next step set in stone, but a lot of us still don't. For those of us who chose to play it by ear, those questions can sometimes make us feel like slackers, a bit unsuccessful, or just a big lame. I can say with confidence that it weighed on me a little, but I never let that question dictate my feelings towards graduating. I had a rough go at it in college, and there was no way that some Nosey Nancies were going to get in the way of that feeling of pure joy as I walked across the stage.

So, my first obstacle in this new adventure I call the college afterlife, was round-house kicked to the face with joy. Not only joy, though, pride, excitement, and a kind of ecstasy that one can only feel after holding in a breath for a little too long, while punching a unicorn in the face (relief + doing the impossible). Erin -1, Afterlife- 0.

What The Hell Am I Doing?

Uhhhh... ya! Of course Tila is my online celebrity idol. This blog is my destiny. The only goal I have for my life after college is to become an online celebrity train-wreck with my own bi-sexual "reality" show on VH1... either that or I am getting casted for the Bad Girls Club. (Oh hey Psychology BA hanging on my wall...)

But really, what the HELL am I doing? I mean, I have always enjoyed my writing, but I think that might be because I can read my sarcasm well through text. Well of course, I wrote it. But, I do enjoy throwing my sarcasm-challenged friends for a loop every now and then, so let's get this train-wreck, uh I mean adventure, started.