I'm Still Here :)

Whoa!! My last post was in September? I am horrible! I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but I didn't realize it had been so long. To my defense, though, I have since published several posts on SocialChange.is and I've been doing a lot of journaling. In fact, I've been told to write a book, which I started, but I just really don't have time right now. I hate, excuse my French, half-assing things, and that's where I am at this point. I half-ass my modeling, half-ass my writing, and even sometimes half-ass my work with MODEL26. I have given myself a huge guilt trip because at least I recognize that I'm spreading myself too thin, which I didn't know was possible without a school :-P

So what have I decided? I've decided to focus. I can't do everything right now, and something has got to give. I chose modeling and MODEL26. Both are risky. There's no telling how much money I'll be able to make as a model, or if I'll even be able to pay my bills. And there's certainly no salary in the near future to be made from my nonprofit. And my love of traveling won't die out any time soon, so that will have to remain funded :-) Solution? Keep costs minimal. If I keep my living costs minimal I can still do everything I want to do. In fact, come December 31, 2012 I will officially be homeless. Not homeless in the sense of not having a home (which I guess is what being homeless is), but I won't have a home to call my own. For the past 3 months I haven't spent more than 3 weeks in one city, and it doesn't look like that's going to change any time soon, so there's really no sense in paying rent for an apartment I won't be in for more than 2 weeks at a time. Since I won't have rent or a car to pay for, this, in theory, should keep costs down. Less things to pay for means less stress.

So what about Chris the Amazing? Remember him? He's great. He's still around :-) We went to Brazil and Amsterdam for three and a half weeks. It was dope. :-P I'll be spreading my life between his place in Germany, my mom's place on the east coast, and my dad's place out west, something that I haven't fully discussed with them yet :-P In the meantime, I'll be taking January off to take an intense German course and improve my speaking abilities a bit. Come January's end, I'll be back Stateside. We'll see where my life goes from there. I really can't plan any further than 60 days out. It's really too stressful.

D

The most ignorant educated man I've ever met...

I am normally a very diplomatic person. I allow people to speak their mind without judging them. We don't all have to agree. I understand that... But today I was on the verge of losing it on the little regional Sky West plane from El Paso to Denver. 

I sat next to this guy on the plane that made the hour and 20 minute ride from Texas to Colorado the world's worst plane ride. He seemed educated enough. We talked about his work with USAID and the USDA. Seemed like a pretty knowledgeable guy. Thought we'd have a lot in common. Until he told me, "You know, you've got three things working for you, you're a woman, you're American, and you're colored." .... Excuse me I'm what? Is it 1925? Colored? Really? .... And it was all downhill from there.

"Do you ever call your boyfriend Adolf because I do that a lot of my German colleagues. It really pisses them off." ... 0_o No actually. I tend to refrain from offensive remarks about Nazis and WWII. I can't ever imagine why one would anger at being called Adolf Hitler.

 "... or maybe jokes about the Poles because those are normally better anyway...." OK. This is a joke right? This is a test from God, because I am about to lose.my.mind. ...up in here ... up in here...

"...and people shouldn't complain about Americans acting like we own everything because we do own 25% of everything. ..." ... So now 25% is everything? OK. Got it. Good to know.

"Wait...so your boyfriend doesn't want to live in America? Everyone wants to be American. American citizenship is the best thing you can have. I mean, I know people that marry folks in other countries and then give up their citizenship because they don't want to pay taxes to two countries. Well I say let them sell all their stuff here and never come back. If I were the president I'd make sure anyone who gave up their citizenship could never come back to this country."  NO! EVERYONE DOESN'T WANT TO LIVE IN AMERICA BECAUSE THEY WANT TO AVOID IGNORANT BAFOONS LIKE YOU!!

*I pull out my book at an attempt to demonstrate that I would rather disengage any further conversation.* "Oh, reading a love novel huh?" ... (Since that's the only thing a 23-year-old woman woudl possibly read on a plane.) No. I'm reading Tears of the Desert. It's a memoir about survival in Darfur. "Oh. Who wrote that?" Halima Bashir. She's a refugee living in England. "I bet it's about how much she loves England." ... -____- No. Ignaramus. It's about survival in Darfur...like I said. 

Needless to say, I didn't lose my mind. I kept my cool. There weren't enough seats on the plane and I would have been stuck in my little seat the remainder of the flight. However, after telling me he had just interviewed for a faculty position at NMSU I snuck a peak at the full name on his boarding pass. Upon deplaining, I promptly called the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences to recommend that they absolutely NOT hire this man. The hiring manager was very appreciative of my call, shocked at his statements, and apologized that I was subjected to his ignorance for so long.

Hopefully this guys never gets another job in his life! 

Was I wrong for not saying something? Should I have put him in place? Was I coward? These are serious questions. Please feel free to answer.

Take (Calculated) Risks: You'll love yourself for it

It's 4:48am. I'm awake -____- (obviously since I'm writing). I'm pretty sure I'm awake because I ate pasta before bed. I'm not sure how true it is, but the woman I worked for in Milan told me you're not supposed to eat carbs before bed because you don't sleep well because it gives your body too much energy. Whether or not that is true, I am awake, soooo ...

So, before I begin with my late night thoughts ...

ANNOUNCEMENT
Several people have asked me about my MODEL26 journey, ie the steps I took to create a nonprofit organization, any tips I have, etc etc. Well, I am now a contributing writer for SocialChange.is, "a story-sharing platform for social entrepreneurs to share new ideas, diverse experiences, and lessons learned from their journeys in creating innovative forms of social impact." You can find my story there (plus those of others), as well as tips and tricks of the trade that I've learned thus far. This blog is dedicated to my random dealings and thoughts, especially the 5am ones :-P

My random thoughts for this post are dedicated to taking risks, but only calculated ones. There are a few risks I've taken/am taking that have gotten me where I am today. They were/are decisions that definitely could have left/leave me out in the cold broke and homeless ... ok, that's certainly untrue, but I'm a drama queen, so I need the 'extraness.'

In the past:
My senior year of high school I applied to 4 schools (not like 889378 like some of my peers. That seemed pointless since I really only wanted to go to 2 different schools, neither of which was the school I attended :-P). I received a scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC. I turned it down and went to THE University of Georgia

, a school I only applied to because my mom made me choose at least one in-state institution. It was a calculated risk. I had HOPE, so at least my tuition would be paid for. I had enough scholarship money to cover living for the first year, but what would I do sophomore year? At the time I didn't know, but, if you know me personally, you know that attending UGA was one of the best decisions I've ever made. The scholarship money came in. I received government grants. Full scholarships to study in Belize and Argentina and a scholarship for study/work in DC. It all worked out.

I went into college as an Emma Bowen intern. I had a paid corporate internship with Comcast Communications in Atlanta and every summer I would attend at least 2 professional development conferences, and the money I made over the summer was matched as a scholarship during the school year. I interned at Comcast for 2 summers before I had to give up the money. I hated it and the money wasn't worth being misreable. I remember telling my mom I wouldn't finish the full program and she was quick to remind me that I was financially dependent on the program. My second semester of sophomore year I put my foot down and decided to resign from the program. When I called my mom and told her she was very supportive and told me we'd figure it out ... SIKE! That's a boldfaced lie. She hung up on me when I told her. She probably won't admit it, but she did. "Ma, I'm definitely not doing Emma Bowen next summer" - "OK. I'll talk to you later." *click* ... She called back a little later though and said she would support me :) The internship committment was 8-10 weeks per summer, which was basically my entire summer. So the 2 summers I didn't intern I studied in Argentina and went to Finland as a CISV leader. It all worked out. 

My senior year of college I received plenty of scholarship money, but I started my nonprofit organization the year before, and it needed money. It was too young for grants, so I used my scholarship money for second semester to travel to do some work for my organization and took out loans to cover my school and living costs. I won't lie; I'm not sure if that will pay off, but I am certainly optimistic because my organization has got me a few thousand dollars in debt, and I hate oweing people (well, except my mom. I always owe her something... conditioner, a garage door opener, something :-P) I'll keep you updated about the progress of this risk ... but it will work out.

Current risks:
I'm not getting a job when I move to Germany. I can get a visa as a freelancer. Because I am a certified English teacher and am multilingual I can prove that I am able to find freelance positions without having a company sponsor me. As long as I pay into the system, I can get a visa for about a year or two, which is enough time before I decide if I want to go to law school in Munich or Vienna. I have 3 part-time nanny/babysitting offers, so I'll pick up some extra money there, but I can't get a job now. I've been spending 30-40 hours per week doing stuff for my nonprofit and it's paying off. Things are progressing and I can't lose momentun right now. How will I live and eat? Well I am hoping the few extra dollars I make as a babysitter will at least cover my rent and bills. Everything else is optional, but, ultimately, I don't know. Things are going so well with my organization that I have to take it as a sign to keep going and wait for everything to work out. It will all work out.

Well, the greatest risk of all right now is probably my move to Munich. For a few weeks in June I tried to convince myself that I wasn't moving to Munich for a boy (partly for me, but also partly for him because he didn't want the pressure of being the reason for my bitterness if things didn't work out), but I am. I pride myself on being able to be completely honest with myself, to recognize my mistakes and my flaws. My biggest calculated risk thus far. It will all work out. :)

Moral of the story? Follow your heart.

D

Hollis is right. You shouldn't let a 23-year-old run your social media

I recently read a post by Hollis Thomases where she lists 11 reasons why you shouldn't allow a new grad to manage your social media accounts. Of course, as a 23-year-old I was immediately drawn to the title. My initial thoughts were, "Hey now! I'm 23 and I'm good at my job!" But, honestly, Hollis makes a lot of good points. These are the ones that really stood out to me:

"They may not have the same etiquette--or experience. Your recent college grad may have experience with Facebook and Instagram, but make sure you check out the substance of his or her updates and posts..."

 Hollis is right. Knowing how to use social media doesn't mean someone really knows how to use social media. The social media norms that govern business/professional use is completely different from those that govern the personal use of social media. If you do decide to work with a 20-something you need to be sure that the person you hire has experience and has even made a few mistakes to learn from.

"No class can replace on-the-job training.  Social media for business is really so many things wrapped into one: marketing, customer service, public relations, crisis management, branding. How deep is the experience of a young person in delivering any of these things?"

Again, true. In 2010, as an intern at the Center for American Progress, I went through a Twitter training with social media guru Allen Rosenblatt. He even told me, "I know you think you probably already know all this. But you don't." However, this class/training is certainly not what made me the qualified professional I am today. 2 years of learning and doing, and even messing up is what got me here. I am literally contstantly learning. Reading new posts. Analyzing new infographics. Bookmarking new sites.

"They may not understand your business.  You are handing the keys to your social-media kingdom to a newcomer, but there's plenty that he or she needs to understand beyond the social tools themselves. What are the nuances of your products or services?..."

Social media is only an extension of what you already do with branding. In order for a person to successfully manage your social media accounts they need to understand your business, your brand. If you wouldn't trust a new grad to manage your marketing department as a whole, or even effectively contribute to new campaigns and brand management, I'd say you probably don't want them at the helm of your social media

"Communication skills are critical. Communication is critical to solid social-media execution. Before you let a young hire take over your company blog posts, take stock of his or her writing skills. Also: Many young people have not yet learned the "art" of communicating..."

Now this one is very true. I didn't realize how good my communication/writing skills were until I realized how bad everyone else's was. I received resumes for the communications/social media position that was available at my nonprofit and I was, well let's say, underwhelmed at the skill level most young people had. The bad part isn't that they had bad communication and writing skills, it's that they thought they had really good comunication and writing skills.

From my experience, most 20-somethings don't have the skills to effectively manage social media accounts the way they should be done. I have to say that Hollis's post is right. You shouldn't let a 23-year-old run your social media. Unless, of course, that 23-year-old is me. :)


If you have some extra time, I definitely suggest taking a look at the full post here.

People work for people, not companies

That might seem obvious. Yes, people work for people, and not companies. Furthermore, people donate to people, not organizations. On some level, you can even argue that people purchase products from people, not from companies.

OK. So I don't really have much evidence to support the last statement LOL, but, on a superficial level, how many people actually buy Apple products because they like Apple? Personally, I don't think Apple is such a super, amazing, awesometastic company. I, do, however, think Steve Jobs was a cool guy. And considering how many people were absolutely devastated when he died (not because he actually died, but because Apple might go under), other folks liked Steve Jobs too. And do people reealllyy like Microsoft? Or do they like Bill Gates (and maybe even Melinda)? They're humanitarians, they seem like cool people. Last time I saw Melinda in person she wasn't wearing an obnoxious look-at-me-I'm-so-rich-Kim-Kardashian wedding band. They just seem like cool, down-to-earth kinda folks. And since we're talking about Bill Gates, I'd even venture to say that people don't go to schools for education. People go to schools for people. People to go Harvard because of who else went there. Not because they truly, in their heart hearts, expect to get this extraordinary education that they can't find elsewhere.

Why is this even a topic on my mind? Why am I even thinking about people to people vs people to products/companies/organizations? Well, as the founder and Executive Director of MODEL26, I've been having this "identity crisis" with my organization. MODEL26 is always associated with Dyci Manns. I am the face of the organization. Most people probably assume that other people help out, but they aren't 100% sure because they've never actually seen them. And if they have, it was only once or twice in a photo or two. That used to really bother me. I didn't want people to think about me when they thought about the organization. I wanted them to think about the organization and the people we are helping. But I recently came to terms with the fact that that just won't happen (and that may even be a good thing). Even if, and when, I ever leave MODEL26, people will always associate my face and/or name with it.

Now how did I come to this conclusion? Well we're currently raising money for some new projects (donate here ;), and I've been doing some grassroots fundraising. Literally just sending everyone who has ever been interested in what we do an email or a Facebook message and asking for money. But people haven't been donating to MODEL26. People have been donating to ME. People donate to MODEL26 because they know me. Or they support me. Or they know that I'll do the right thing with the money. When people donate to organizations they don't donate to the organization itself. They donate to a family they saw, or a child that was in a photo. Good businesses/organizations keep things personal. Keeping it personal is muy importante.

But how is this concept applied to businesses? Well it's easy to see how this is relevant to small business owners and 'mom and pop' stores, but what about large companies? Obviously, if I want to to work at Apple I don't think I'm actually directly working for Steve Jobs. You're right. But a good manager/boss can retain and recruit good talent, and a bad one can do the opposite. I left my first corporate internship because I absolutely could not stand the woman I worked for. I met lots of nice people. Lunch was catered a lot. The office was nice. Good pay. It was a good gig for an 18 year old. But this woman really made me loathe the job. So I quit after two summers. On the other hand, my boyfriend is a consultant for Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and he works more than any single person should. I've never (not ONE time) heard him say, "Babe, I work this much because I absolutely love this company and everything it stands for. It is the best company ever and I am so honored to be here." Instead, he always talks about his boss. His boss is a great boss. He likes her. And he likes his team. They work together. They all suffer together is basically what I hear LOL. But the point is that my boyfriend is working for his boss. Not for PwC.

So the point of this post: Bosses be good to your employees. Executives, make sure your bosses are good to your employees. NPOs, keep it personal when fundraising. People want to donate to the people you help. They don't donate because of what you DO.

Even as a consultant I'm more likely to want to work with a client that is fun to talk to, easy to work with, (let's me do my job :-P), even if I don't 100% believe in their idea and/or their product is completely useless to me and most of the people I know. 

Food for thought for the week. :)

What if nobody gave a shit about Honey Boo Boo?

Yes, what if everybody in this country, and I will not "excuse my French," couldn't give two shits about Honey Boo Boo child? Or Love and Hip Hop or who Evelyn L. is sleeping with, or the siliconed, botoxed moms from Real Housewives? What if we actually watched news in this country??? What if nobody wasted 30 seconds of their time posting about Gabby Douglas' hair and actually focused on the fact that she is, essentially, now immortal at the age of 16. Seriously, what have you done lately? Maybe if you were more focused on accomplishing something in life and not on what your hair looked like, this entire country would be better off. ...

 Now, I don't mean to sound like a high and mighty elitist because I am far from it. I have wasted hours of my life watching Erica and ol' girl on Love and Hip Hop fight. Unfortunately, I know the source of the statement, "You are a non-motherf****** factor." And Nene Leakes. I mean who doesn't love that woman right? The worst part, is that, at some point I actually justified wasting hours of my life that I will never get back watching trash tv. And what was my rationale? ... Ah, ya know, I just need to unwind my brain at the end of the day ... Watching these people reminds me how absolutely blessed I am to have a brain ... These women make me feel better about myself. ... Really? Really? No, seriously? That's the best I could do? So, in reality, I had absolutely no reason for watching the garbage on television. 1. I was always told that small people talk about others. That people who spend time laughing at other people are so insecure with themselves that that is the only way they can feel better about who they are. Is that you? It sure wasn't me. 2. I could "unwind" at the end of the day with music and meditation. I could unwind with some conversation with my family. I could spend an hour watching TED talks and documentaries; all of which I currently do. And why do I do that? Because, at some point while living in Europe and not finding anything "good" on tv, I decided I should do something like, uh, well, productive. I like, started to read these things called um books again! O_O One of my fondest childhood memories is going to the library with my mom and picking out books. Boy did my mom and I read when I was little. I even remember when I started to read the books she was reading! James Patterson. That was our guy. We would read books and talk about books. Then one day she kept reading and I started watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta, or some equally pointless show whose name I don't remember. And I started becoming a less productive human being overall LOL

And don't say, "Well there's nothing else on tv. That's what the producers keep making." ... YES, DUMB ASS, BECAUSE YOU KEEP WATCHING IT! If everyone was to turn their televisions off (or simply turn to something else), stop tweeting/facebooking and talking about these shows, producers would create something else. I promise. I bet my entire existence on it. And if you don't believe me, why don't we all try it??Whether or not a series returns to television, or even gets past the first 3 episodes, is determined by these things called ratings. So the producers are only giving what you want people. Don't you think you should demand something more from your television networks??

And what if all the American people even showed the "news" media that we didn't care about the garbage they were selling us either? What if we actually cared about stuff that was happening in the world? What if we demanded that the they stop feeding us negativity all day, everyday? What if CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC didn't talk about the same 5 stories all day??? What if the one story that dominated the news for days wasn't whether or not a Christian-based company opposed gay marriage?? (BTW: WHAT A SURPRISE?!!! O_O OMG! HOW ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! ... -____-) And while we're questioning things that might make this country a better place ... What if the American people actually used their constitutional rights to tell our politicians that we aren't going to stand for anymore F***ING BULLSHIT! What if we told politicians, "Look you can either drop this birth certificate issue and start talking about REAL problems, or get your ass out of office." ....

Ok, now I'm just being an idealist ...

How I got a (mostly) free train ride from Milan to Munich

Since this post is being published so late, you might want to go back and read the previous just to make sure you are keeping up with the story. At this rate, I'll finish the entire anecdote of this 2 week ordeal by the end of the year haha. The problem is that I expected to have much more free time here in Atlanta (I always expect to have a ton of free time for some reason), but today is the only day I've been able to truly sleep-in/relax without having to do anything during the day. I don't have to work till 5, but I've been here since July 12th and this is the first day I can do that. I can't complain though. I've taken about 6.5 weeks of vacation since the beginning of the year and it's only July :-P

I digress. Back to the story.

So in order to get from Milan to Munich you have to catch a train from Milan to Verona for about 10euros. I ended up paying I think about 22eu for my ticket because I bought it same day and there were no more 10eu tickets left for the train I needed to catch. Anywho, the train ride from Milan to Verona was normal. I had Marco help me put all my crap ... I shouldn't call it crap, it's pretty much anything important in life that I own other than all my ZTA paraphernalia and books, which my mom guards daily with her life (ok, that's an exaggeration, but all that stuff stays at her house). OK, again. I digress. Back on topic. So I naively assumed getting my bags from the train platform in Verona to the train that would take me to Munich wouldn't be difficult. Boy was I wrong. Because I had 4 bags and 2 arms I had to make 2 trips about every 10-15 meters. I would take 3 bags and leave them and return to get the last one. What a headache! It took me about 15 long, hard minutes just to get from the platform to the information desk. Why was I going to the information desk instead of the train platform for Munich? Well, that's a good question. Let me tell you.

When I got off the train and asked the Tren Italia representative where the train was for Munich informs me, "Non c'e un treno."
0_o ... "Um yes there is sir. It leaves everyday from this station." 
"No. Oggi c'e un pullman."
O_O A bus form Verona to Munich??? This is a joke right? "Well where do I find the bus"
"Non lo so. Deve chiedere qualcuno dove si vendono i biglietti."
Of course you don't know anything. Why did I even ask?

When I arrived at the information desk there was another family who appears to be American, but I'm really bad at mistaking Canadians for Americans so there was really no telling.  I eavesdropped a bit on their conversation to see where I should be transporting my life next (with only 15 minutes to spare until the scheduled train/bus was supposed to leave). The dad told me we would have to go outside and ask a representative from the other company because, as I had also overheard, Tren Italia has nothing to do with what happens with these trips. The company is Austrian and the drivers are German (or vise versa. Either way Italy had nothing to do with it, which of course means they didn't know $h!+) The dad offered to take my extra bag and told him son to take one of my other bags. At that point I became a part of their family. :-)

I don't think any of us was expecting what we saw when we walked outside: A mob of people with all of their luggage and one bus. Not several buses prepared to take a train of people to Munich, but one tiny bus. And one very frustrated person answering questions, who didn't seem to speak German or good English, which I imagine made all the German passengers even more irate than the 90 degree Italian heat was making them. The dad (yes I have to call him the dad because I can't, for the life of me, remember his name) was proactive and in command. We all followed him to make our way through the crowd and get our bags on the bus. Now the hard part. Actually getting ON the bus. It was chaos. There were dozens of passengers crowding the tiny bus door, one man on the bus counting empty seats and talking on the phone with another man in the crowd to tell him how many passengers to allow on the bus, and, to my surprise (and advantage) nobody checking tickets. The dad got the whole family on the bus, including me. In fact, he stood behind me and made sure I got on the bus as a part of his family. The world is generally good. Regardless of what the American military teaches new soldiers.

Now, before you start to think I was trying to cheat the system, I wasn't. The woman in Milan told me I could buy a full-fare ticket (79 instead of 39 or 49) for the Verona to Munich train when I was on the train. I had my money ready and thought I would buy a ticket on the bus. So let's just get that out there. :-P Back to the story:

The bus was cramped. Hot. Bags that were supposed to fit in the overhead compartments of a train were strewn through the aisle and sat in people's laps, making it even hotter. The air conditioned blew out the vents full strength, but the sun coming through the large windows made it pretty much obsolete. Fortunately, passengers had left their attitudes at the train station in Verona and everyone was relieved to even be on the bus, not knowing when the company would be sending a second bus to collect more passengers, or IF they would be sending one at all. I sat next to Emily, the coolest 14-year-old girl in North Carolina. She told me about all her travels from the time she was about two, which were just retellings of things her parents had told her of course. We talked about CISV , her private school that has a ton of cool non-academic opportunities for learning, the farmhouse her parents had just bought, her best friend, the Hunger Games, and a host of other things. Karin sat in front of us. I quickly learned that she runs an NGO called LEAP in Guatemala that is searching for student volunteers to do teacher training and professional development for teachers. What a coinkydink since MODEL26 is looking for new sites to send student volunteers to do just that. Karin and I talked a lot about how teachers are overlooked in many charitable efforts. Lots of people build schools and provide resources for students, and not the teachers that have to teach the students. The whole fact that this happens is completely counter-intuitive and counterproductive, but, hey, such is life.

About an hour into the bus ride we had gathered that we'd be getting on a train in Innsbruck and taking that train to Munich, so the bus ride wasn't going to be 6 hours long. We made a quick bus change at the Austrian-Italian border where I expected to be asked for a ticket again, but wasn't. I boarded the train in Innsbruck after asking if I would be able to purchase a ticket on the train. Karin made a good point, "Do you really want to pay a full fare ticket for this horrible 'train' ride?? If nobody asks you, don't offer to pay. Save your money." So that's what I did. The train ride from Innsbruck to Munich was only about an hour and 45 minutes anyway. So how did I do it with ticket checkers walking through the train cars the entire trip?

When we first got on the train I spent a few minutes trying to organize my bags. BTW, there's not compartment for oversized luggage. You just find a space for it. My two big bags found a home between two cars and I kept my little bags with me. After Karin, Emily, Boden, and the dad (lol) got settled in they sent Boden and Emily to tell me there was an empty seat in their car and I should come sit with them. We got settled in and about 5 minutes later decided to go to the dining car while the dad stayed behind to get all the tickets punched. We assumed that the ticket enforcer saw the cute, young black girl with a white family and decided I was the nanny. When he checked the family's tickets he punched them all at once, assuming mine was in there too ;-) For the remainder of the ride, whenever he  checked tickets he said, "Oh yes, I already checked yours." Karin told me to keep my mouth shut and go with it. So I did!

We spent most of the time in the dining car because the person's whose seat I was occupying got on at a later stop and the other passenger in their car was a little strange. Not serial killer strange, just "in my culture it's ok to say these kinds of things to strangers" kind of strange. Anywho, we all ate in the dining car. I had some soup and an OJ because I didn't want to eat much. I knew I'd be eating with Chris the Amazing in just a few hours. The tables were set up in fours so I had to sit at the table next to the family, where I met Hans. A German teacher in Guatemala, who, by chance, happened to teach German to the parents of one of the students that attends the school Karin built in the small village. Hans's wife is Guatemalan and he followed her back to her home after meeting her in Germany. It's a small world after all :-)

I told Hans I had to get off at the Munich East station and I would have to listen out for the stops so that I could make the journey back to the train car where my bags were so I wouldn't miss my stop. The second those words left my mouth Hans said, "This is your stop." ... But the train was slowing down too fast! Way too fast. I was going to have to run. Literally run through the other cars in order to get all my stuff off the train before it pulled off. So I ran through 3 cars and pulled my small bags out of the car where all of our stuff was. The kids were close on my heels to make sure I could get my big bags off and the dad not too far behind them. I jumped over a lot of very angry people and just said sorry as much as I could haha.  I hopped off the train with my first bag and Boden passed me my other small bag. The dad literally through my two big bags off the train, gave me a hug, and just like that, the train was pulling off again. I had made it. I would later see that my entire right leg was destroyed by this little adventure and I would have three large, green and purple bruises for days. What can I say? I'm fragile.

I gathered my stuff into one neat pile and called Chris. He was only a few stations away and when he arrived at Munich East I saw him across the tracks. He signaled that he would meet me at my platform to help me with my bags and I ran to the staircase to look over the banister where I thought he would come up. To my surprise, he showed up behind me, grabbing me around the waist with his right arm and his suitcase handle in his left hand. Only a split second passed before his left arm forgot about the suitcase and we were in a full embrace. His arms are long, and I always forget how tiny my torso is until they are wrapped around my waist. We looked into each other's eyes and cherished the moment of being together. His eyes were gentle, as they always are, but excited. I love that about him. His eyes really are the gateway to his soul. I haven't decided if he doesn't try to conceal his emotions, or if he is literally unable to because his eyes speak so much. Either way, I can always tell what he's feeling and thinking. And, at that moment, I knew we were thinking the same thing: When I left Munich on June 21 neither of us expected to see the other until September. It was nice being together again, so soon, even if for only what we thought would be a few days. What we didn't know is that those few days would quickly turn to 10. :-) But for now we weren't concerned about the past, nor the future, just this moment. For me, there was no noise. I wasn't worried about my bags. There were no other people. Just us. And then his lips met mine at a nice halfway point between a peck and a full blown kiss. Just enough for me to feel wanted, but nothing too inappropriate for the train platform. We stayed there in each others arms for what seemed like forever. But not forever in the way where you look at your watch waiting for the time to pass. Forever in the way that you wish forever would never end. ...

And that's how I began my 10 days stuck on a buddy pass in Germany ...

Day 1

OK. Here goes ... Since it's 5:30a on Saturday morning and I have nothing to do till 730, I figure I'll start this little story. I have been reprimanded for not giving any details in my last post, so I'm thinking it's better to get some new stuff up sooner rather than later ... It also gives me an excuse not to clean my room.

Let's begin with the fact that my bags are still in Stuttgart, Germany. Well, at least I hope that's where they are. Because, if they are there, they will arrive eventually. However, if they actually did leave Germany but never showed up in Atlanta, well, Houston, we may have a problem. For now, there isn't anything in my bags that I NEED, so let's just stay positive :-) I also don't have any locks on my luggage because, for some reason, I think you can't have locks on luggage anymore for security reasons, which means everything in my bag is fair game ... including my super cool transparent umbrella that I paid a whole 2.50 for!! Eh, I think there are other important things in there that I want ... like this one pair of jeans ... and uhhh ... I think that's it. Nothing else is actually irreplaceable lol. Anywho, I digress.

So my first day of this buddy pass journey was June 29. I originally booked my flight for June 30, but after checking out the flights, the 30th nor the 1st were looking too great, so my mom suggested I change it to the 29th. So I did. Besides, the new girl was taking over my apartment on the 29th and I didn't have any more reason to be in Milan. Better to get back to America and relax and work a bit before my course started (TESOL Certification at Oglethorpe Univ). So I packed up all my stuff, left for the airport about 615 or 630 (can't remember exactly). Luckily, I had a ride (because I had a lot of stuff!). So I wait in line for about 45 minutes with all my stuff and I get to the counter and the man tells me, "You can't fly today. No buddy passes ... There's an embargo ... the person that issued this should have told you that ..." ... So I don't know if my face looked like this:

                       -_______- Are you kidding me?

or like this:

O_O ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!! O_O

 Either way, I was NOT a happy camper. Oh well, no sense in being angry. Wasn't gonna make me be on the plane. But you meet the nicest people ... this guy saw that I was a pass rider and let me look in his system to try to figure out which day would be better. I left 2 bags at the baggage deposit (4 euros per day per bag. Not bad. I'll leave 2. I won't have my stuff here longer than 24 hours). So my friend Amanda came to the rescue and told me to go to her flat and get the extra key from the doorman and crash there for the night. Nothing special happened. Paid for a RT ticket on the airport bus, went to Amanda's, got some less than desirable, overpriced pizza, watched Pretty Little Liars in Italian, talked to Chris the Amazing, and slept. Un día normal.

Day 2: Arrive to the airport for the baggage man to tell me I owe him 16euros instead of 8 because my bags were there the 29th and the 30th...although they were only there for 22 hours and they didn't actually stay the 30th because it was 8 in the morning and they hadn't even finished. Again, can't remember if I was -______- or O_O ... again, doesn't matter. Wasn't gonna make my bags NOT cost 16 euros. I had already decided that I would go to the airport and be happy because I didn't know who I might meet. If I was stuck in Milan it was for a reason. God wanted me to meet somebody. So I was determined not to let the 16 euros ruin my day. I had also decided that if I didn't get on the plane I would catch an afternoon train from Milan and go to Munich to try this buddy pass thing from Germany. Chris the Amazing lives there and he lives much closer to the airport in Munich than anyone I knew in Milan. Plus, I knew it would be impossible to overstay my welcome there :-P 

After they did all the passes for the flight to ATL the girl I was sitting next to looked very distraught. Just super let down. I, on the other hand, was not because I was going to see my booooyyyyfrrreeeennnn again!!! 2 months earlier than we had originally planned!! I told Chris (not the Amazing. Already over typing that. It's too long lol) about the girl (whose name is Jodi and I still talk to today! Actually she says she lives really close to my mom) and he told me I should give her a hug. Because that's the kind of person he is. He's the person that gives free hugs to random people. So I asked if she had a place to stay. We ended up hanging out the whole day, her friend took us back to the city (So I didn't have to pay the 10 euros for a bus ticket although I paid an extra 8 for my bags. I was still winning), we ate lunch with my friend Marco (who became like a dad to me while I lived in Milan). I decided I'd stay in Milan an extra night to make sure she had a place to stay and then I'd head to Munich in the afternoon. 

That night I started to talk myself out of going to Munich. It was stupid. We just started dating. I am literally taking my entire life to his apartment. Bad idea. But Jodi, who has made herself my official enabler told me that was NOT an option. I was going to Munich. End of story. It wasn't a discussion ... Anywho, Chris was in Hamburg and wouldn't be home till Monday night, so there was no rush... until I received a 5a call on July 1 telling me he was going back to Munich by car and would be there in the afternoon. So I packed up all my stuff and went to Central Station with Jodi, where we parted ways. She took the bus to the airport, where she made the flight home ... and I caught a train to Verona ... where the REAL adventure began ...

I'm Baaaccckkkk

I am back in Atlanta, as some of you may or may not know. As most of you don’t know. I am sure that a few of my readers have been following my adventure in Europe for the past two weeks. I’ve been keeping a journal because a close friend suggested I write a book one day. Of course, not only about my 2 weeks in Italy/Germany, but just about my completely, absolutely random life. I originally decided to save my anecdote about this journey for said book, but I think the people deserve to know what I’ve been doing!!! :-P  I’m going to break this little “story” into several blog posts. Mostly because I have no desire to sit and write one extraordinarily long post, and I imagine most people don’t want to sit and read one post. Gotta keep the people guessing ya know?

I will, however, promise that the story you may or may not be about to begin following is a good one. You will not be disappointed. I could not have written this myself. I could not have planned the past 14 days of my life. Hollywood couldn’t have written story better than this. … maybe Shonda Rhymes could because she’s the s**t, but Hollywood couldn’t :-P This series will include a few excerpts from my personal journal (only on good days though because most of my journal for the past 50 days has been absolutely boring entries about how amazing my boyfriend is. I’ll probably just refer to him as ‘Chris the Amazing’ until I tire of typing such a long name every time I want to talk about him, then he’ll just be Chris, naturally.)

This series will detail why I did not return to Atlanta on June 29 as originally planned, and have instead arrived on July 12. I’ll tell you about all of the amazing people I’ve met along the way including Jodi in Milan, Wendell Moore in Munich, the Pauls in Stuttgart, the nice family from North Carolina whose surname escapes me right now, and many more. Perhaps I should ask if I can write about them? Is it legal to write about them without their permission?? I only have good things to say J SN: I just said ‘surname’ … dear God, I was in Europe too long (and I can’t wait to get back!!!) Unfortunately, I have no desire to write this in Italian and Spanish also, so I apologize in advance to my foreign friends whose English isn’t so great (who probably haven’t read this far anyway haha).

Soooo … get excited!!! This is gonna be fun. I can’t tell you how often these posts will appear. I can’t put myself under the pressure of a schedule J

D

What I haven't told you just yet

First off, since there are 5 Italians in the entire city of Milan that actually know what guacamole is and nowhere in this city to buy it (that actually tastes good) for less than 10 euros, I decided to make some myself. It buss. Eating it right now. Since I managed to move to the neighborhood where every single Latino lives in Milan there are 3 international/Latino food stores nearby where I bought all the ingredients. I also made some salsa. It buss too. The salsa here in Milan is mostly mediocre and is a strange breed between tomato sauce and...well something else. Italians should stick with pasta and soup. They do those very very well.

 OK. Back on topic...I have pretty much decided (after a series of events undeniably designed by God himself, of which I will go into more detail later) to relocate to Milan for at least the next 2 to 2.5 years unless something miraculous decides to happen in my life and take me away...which after the past 3 weeks I wouldn't be surprised about at all. ... SN: Just to update those that aren't super close to me:
 1. I was fired from my au pair job...well I suppose technically I quit, but it was one of those situations where you want to break up with someone but you feel like crap doing it so you treat them like the dog shit on your shoe until they finally decide to break up with. So, yes, technically I did do the breaking up.

2. I found a super cute, new studio apartment and am now making it through this world living on my own, taking bubble baths every night...no, really. Literally. Every. Night. I'm never home so I opted to buy some dvd's instead of getting a tv. And let me tell you...watching X-Men when you haven't seen it in like 5 years is uh-may-zing.

3. Started teaching private English lessons for all of 5 days before I was offered a full-time job doing communications and external relations...working for the coolest boss in the city.

4. Managed to survive a chronic (chronic=12 days) stomach ache, which I later told was not caused by an allergy, but was more likely caused by the fact that I ate pasta for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday (yes I was only eating pasta. It's like the easiest thing to make!)

5. I also had to go shopping for 1. business clothes, and 2. new jeans because I was so stressed out that I wasn't eating or sleeping so I lost a lot of weight, and, as a result, my jeans sagged so low in the butt that it looked like I didn't make it to the restroom. ... if you know what I mean ;)

6. I also, in some divine way, managed to land an audition and a callback (still waiting for the final results...or no results lol) for a Hershey kisses commercial. We can all talk about how completely random my life is at another date. Since I've never actually gone to a commercial audition before I literally had no idea what I was doing. A friend told me to show up so I did LOL

 And that's the last 30 days of my life in 6 points.

The most fascinating thing about all of this is the fact that now that I am living on my own I am more obedient to my mom than I ever was when I was living with her. Whenever I leave the house I hear her say, "Dee, lock the door." ... and whenever I come in I hear her say, "How many times do I have to tell you to lock the door when you come in. It should become a habit!"...I have yet, even when I am in the biggest of hurries, to forget to lock the door. ... Dee why do you have all these lights on??! ... Dee, cut that big light off and turn the lamp on!...You need to be more aware of your surroundings when you are alone...Always have your keys out ready to hit someone because you're going to break all your fingers if you try to bunch someone with them thangs! :) ... It doesn't have to match Dyci. It's in the family (in reference to clothing colors) ... You don't have to answer to people. You have to answer to God ... It's like she is following me around all the time LOL The one thing I hear her say every night (and continue to ignore) is, "Dee, don't go to bed with these dishes in the sink"...that's just one thing I don't care enough about right now: cleaning the kitchen everyday. Maybe because my kitchen is so small LOL I might also feel like I talk to her everyday because I do talk to her everyday. Whether it's via e-mail, BBM, whatsapp, or Skype I talk to my mom everyday without fail.

Random Thoughts About Milan

1. When I'm on the metro sometimes I cross my legs really tight and hold my breath for a bit so i don't take up so much space.

2. I think I should start pretending I don't speak Italian...or maybe I should just be deaf...because something about me must say, "Please come talk to me for half an hour even after I just told you I have an appointment to get to.

3. You can do anything in this city if you are "molto simpatica" and "bella." It is the most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed in my life. People have literally told me, "Don't worry about it. You have a beautiful smile and you are really nice. I like you. I trust you." Ma scusami! What does that have to do with anything??? LOL It would be so easy to be a con artist in this city. Seriously.

4. Everything is so much closer than it looks on the map...and the ATM site is almost always wrong. Stick with Google maps.

This is for my momma

This is a short(ish) post. :)

So as I'm sitting here looking for apartments online and scheduling appointments to go see them (in a language that I've been speaking for only 3 months) I start to think about my mom.

Some days I thought my mom was b***h, with a capital B at that! But when I was a teenager and being punished of course I would think that LOL. What teenage girl hasn't said that about their mother?? ... But now that I am living in Italy and looking for apartments and some supplemental income since I have so much free time I am so grateful to have her. Words cannot express how much I appreciate her. She would always tell me, "You'll thank me later."...But who actually believes that when you're walking a mile to the bus stop in the middle of Georgia summer to go to work to pay for your car repair from a crash (yup...y'all remember the blue door on Sunshine, may she R.I.P.). My mom would let me call a friend to drop me off every once in a while, and she would be pick me up after work because it was dark. But I remember her saying, "You can't always depend on other folks. You have to be independent and figure things out yourself...get online and find the bus schedule..." And before I hit my teenage years it was, "If I go there and find whatever you're looking for I'm going to bust your knuckles." THAT will motivate you to look a little harder! Eventually I stopped asking my mom how to spell things because "The first three letters are _ _ _, go find it in the dictionary." was NOT the response I wanted to hear. LOL

Part of the reason I wasn't scared to move to Milan alone is because I knew I had a solid foundation. My mom raised me to be strong and independent, and even when I failed (even when she KNEW I would fail) she wasn't there to put the pieces back together for me, she was there to show me how to put the pieces back together myself. As I prepare myself to back out into a city that I have quickly realized I barely know, I'm not scared. And before not being scared the biggest point is that I even know how to do it. At 22 I am fully capable of searching the internet, setting appointments in my third language, and setting up a financial plan/budget for how I'm going to live alone thousands of miles from home and make it work. The best part about all of this is that if everything falls through in 60 days, I can get on a plane and be welcomed home with open arms. She'll give me a few months to get back on my feet, then she'll start charging me rent till I find my own place :P

Thank God, Allah, Buddah, and anyone else for Sharon Lardyce Moore.

My Take: KONY 2012, Visible Children

So a friend sent me a link to the Visible Children Tumblr site and asked what I thought about. At first I thought, "Ugh! This is so long. I don't want to read it!!" LOL But it didn't take that long to read. It just looks long because of the formatting...but that's neither here nor there. Anywho, since I haven't blogged in a while, I figured I'd tell everyone what I think :) And those who care will actually read. I've posted quotes from the Visible Children site in bold and my response/thoughts below:

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They’ve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don’t think that’s a good thing, and I’m not alone.

Agreed: I have criticized organizations for doing this for years. I, quite frankly, think it's a waste of time and money. The fact that you, teenager in America, Australia, Canada, or whatever developed nation you're from, is spending money on a whistle or colored (without the 'u' ;) bracelet and wearing it to "raise awareness" about a war means absolutely nothing. Your bracelet won't stop anything. Let's be honest; it makes you feel good about yourself because you can show all your friends your cute little bracelet and you sound really compassionate (and even worldly) because you actually KNOW there is a war in Uganda. You are even a step ahead because you know Uganda isn't next to Egypt. Keeping it 100, as they say, you're wasting your money. Needless to say, I won't be wearing a KONY 2012 bracelet.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production.

Eeek. As a nonprofit organization founder and director I am a little more sensitive to this topic, BUT 32% going to direct services does seem a bit low. However, I'd do my own research first too see what exactly are being considered as "direct services" before I criticize IC. I've always looked at Invisible Children as an awareness organization. To me, they make movies and spread the word (which they do very well). In order to do that they have to spend money on salaries, office buildings, travel, etc. Most people don't realize that you can't just give $10 to an organization and in turn $10 will go to building a school, feeding someone, etc. That's not the way it works. Nonprofits need money for travel, salaries, phone bills, power bills, etc etc. I was actually surprised when I found out Invisible Children also builds schools and has "direct services." It actually makes me like them a little less. My personal opinion is that nonprofit organizations try to do too much. If you are good at making movies, make movies. If you are good at building schools, build schools. If you are good at feeding programs, feed people. It's as if the nonprofit world doesn't understand the idea of comparative advantage. Everyone is trying to do everything. Pick one thing. Be good at it, and partner with other organizations to do the rest.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces.

Well do you have another proposal? Perhaps we should just call Kony on his cell and ask him to stop? Or maybe just get a group of girl scouts to go out? I'm not one to support useless military action, violence, etc., but you just can't talk to some people.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

Ok. If they are manipulating facts and figures then yeah, that's bad, especially in a situation like this where you don't actually NEED to. People are going to care and be outraged if there are 10,000 child soldiers or 30,000. You don't need to lie. People care about dead, sick, poor children. Period.

As Chris Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC’s programming, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”

Eh. Have to disagree here. I don't get that whole "We are white people here to save the world and relieve our guilt" feeling from Invisible Children. I do agree that many people (at least Americans because I can't speak for other citizens of developed nations because I haven't talked to them) do have that naive-let's-save-the-world motivation and it's quite annoying. I mean people ask me all the time what I'm "up to" and I, more often than not, say, "You know. Saving the world and what not"... but I don't ACTUALLY think that what I'm doing is going to save the world. Some people, on the other hand, do think they can actually save the entire world, or at least an entire poverty-stricken village. However, I don't think Invisible Children sends a, "Stop Kony, Save Africa" message. I don't get that savior deal from them.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem.

Agreed. Do your research folks. Know the issues.

Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn’t helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.

Well I personally think that if you don't have a better solution you shouldn't criticize what others are doing. At least they're doing SOMETHING. I don't think that not doing anything is a viable, or respectable, alternative. We didn't stop "fighting terrorism" (I put that in quotes because I'm still not sold on the fact that that's indeed what we were fighting) because terrorists might make more bombs. You don't choose not to fight Kony because he might abduct more children. He's going to abduct children anyway!

Overall, I'm quite proud of Invisible Children. As I said, I don't usually jump on the awareness bandwagon, but this movement actually has a goal. The point is to tell people who Kony is and motivate people to pressure the government to do something. The goal is simple: find Kony and arrest him. I will say that when I saw people posting KONY 2012 profile pictures I thought, "Whoa! Is this guy running for office?? Let me do some research." The method is ingenious honestly, especially since it's election season in the States. Will arresting Kony stop everything immediately? Of course not. Kony isn't going around to every village solo dolo kidnapping children. He has a team of supporters. Did killing Osama bin Laden stop terrorism?? No. But it was a step in the right direction. Will new programs to help integrate children back into society be needed? Most definitely. Will new funds be needed for counseling and housing and education? Of course. But it's almost impossible, and also ineffective for Invisible Children's mission to explain that to everyone. They've done a good job of keeping it simple, informative, and emotionally appealing. Unfortunately, the average person is about as smart as Gavin. Show them a picture, some facts, and get to the point. People don't have the capacity to soak in everything else. Overall, I applaud IC for this new campaign. I'm not going to buy a bracelet because I don't want to waste my money, but I will share the video and contact my reps.

Not over Milan just yet.

So it is yet again almost 1am and I am not sleeping. I promised myself that I would wake up before noon tomorrow, but that only works if I go to sleep at a decent hour. Maybe I need to try what my mom would tell me when I was little and not ready for bed time, "I don't care if you're sleepy or not. Close your eyes long enough. You'll fall asleep." I got home about 45 minutes ago and I am still in my coat and scarf. SMH at myself. Yet another day has passed that I didn't get my eyebrows done :-/ Tomorrow is THE day. NO EXCUSES! I'm walking around Milan looking entirely too ratchett for my own good. My friends would be so embarrassed if they saw me right now. I did finish my personal statement for Bocconi though, so at least I did SOMETHING productive.

In other news, I am pretty sure that I am the most fickle person I know. This morning I was over Italy...time for the next country. But now that the day is over I'm not over it anymore LOL I am, however, finding it hard to adjust to this whole adult man living with mom deal. I knew it was acceptable for grown men (and I mean real grown, like 30) to live at home with mom, but come on! This is just too much. Living at home with mom as an adult because the economy is crappy and it's expensive to get your own place is slightly acceptable. OR living at home with mom at 24 or 25 because you just finished your Master's and you're looking for work. I will also accept reluctantly living and home and wishing you didn't. But "I don't know I have to ask my mom because that's dinner time" is unacceptable. Dude, you're 30, not 16. If I am being culturally insensitive I do sincerely apologize, but this whole mammone issue might be my breaking point with Italian men...yes even after the cigarettes! I can actually deal with the smoking if you are considerate enough not to do it around me and not to smell like smoke when we are together. I've even lowered my height restrictions because men are just, generally, made shorter here lol But adult men whose mothers still do their laundry and cut the ends off their sandwiches might just be a deal breaker for me.

Is it possible to pull a butt muscle? I'm pretty sure I did today trying to play in Benni's castello. If I move to far to the right my butt REALLY hurts! I was trying to explain to him that I am "troppo grande" for his castello, but he wasn't having it. I am now suffering the consequences of not standing my ground. He also successfully coughed his 3 year old flu germs in my face several times today, so I am likely to be sick again by Friday. Yay me!

Saturday

Well it's Saturday afternoon, which means I'm not working :-) I also didn't have to work this morning (Toni needs me to work 5-8:30, which is shorter than 8-1 so no complaints). Last night I went to a lounge/club thingy (Just Cavalli or Cavalli Hollywood, something like that) with a friend (despite being exhausted and already bailing on another friend because I'd been declining an invitation for weeks :-/). It reminded me a lot of Vanquish in Atlanta, if you have ever been there. I'm satisfied with Milan nightlife. I am, however, unsatisfied with the metro, which stops running at 12:30. It could at least run until 2:30 or 3 on Friday and Saturday because taxis here are not cheap, not that I pay for them all the time, but if I did I would be annoyed.

In other news, the youngest boy in the house is sick. This is just great since my immune system is pretty much nonexistent and I'm out of Airborne (which I honestly don't think works anyway. I don't even know why I bought it). It's only a matter of time before I'm sick (again). I also found out that Toni doesn't think I can load a dishwasher or fold clothes. I offered to fold the laundry since Benni is sick and she has a headache and she goes, "No no no. I'll do it!" But I insisted on helping, so she said, "Just wait for me and I'll help you." I thought, "I don't need help folding clothes." LOL Last night after I loaded the dishwasher she came in and laughed and started taking things out. I said, "I guess I'm not good at loading the dishwasher." "Yes, I've seen that. But I appreciate the gesture." haha Needless to say I'm not asked to do laundry or dishes, which works in my favor lol.

So the day after I bought a new coat the temperature jumps 20 degrees. I am trying to convince myself that I'm not upset because I needed a good coat anyway. We are going to the mountains the last week of February and it will be much colder there anyway. The sun has been out 2 days in a row, which is a big deal in my opinion. Ok, I need to wrap this up. I have to teach in an hour and I'm still in my PJ's!

Artist in a Box

I didn't write this...I haven't been blessed to be so creative :-/ But you should still read it!

I imagine when God is feeling a bit creative, He paints orange streaks across the sky. I think He just might light a fire behind the sun, and maybe even pierce new diamonds into the night. I imagine that when He is ESPECIALLY inspired, He runs His fingers through His palette, and leaves traces of every color floating in the air. How else can you explain the ever-changing colors of the daylight sky, the burning glow of the sun? What else could cause the night air to twinkle or rainbows to appear? And what is an earthquake if not the mighty stroke of God’s eraser when He feels the need to go back and make CHANGES?

I imagine that our lives are much the same- only we do more erasing than CREATING- more stealing than INVENTING. I imagine that the world was supposed to be our canvas, our purpose serving as a paintbrush- our individual gifts providing our MUSE. But somewhere along the way, our vision became skewed. Somewhere along the way, we became more interested in taking away from the bigger picture than building upon it. The result-BLANK PAGES.



As I sit here painting words upon this page, there is a tugging at my heart, a nagging at my soul. As I struggle to find the words to adequately explain this feeling inside of me, there is a voice struggling to emerge. This, I have come to know as my “ARTIST IN A BOX”. You see, I believe that inside each of us is the ability to create anything that we can imagine. Anything that we can dream up can become reality in our world. But we ignore our inner artist and stuff it back into its heart shaped box. There it lives, struggling to breathe. STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE.

BOXED IN.

While we exist in the world, we conform to its harsh realities. We become consumed in the negativity- transfixed by the UGLY. All the while, our true selves TUG at our heart strings while our creativity is enslaved. Instead of adding to the warm shades of the daylight, instead of lighting up the night- we SNATCH the rainbows out of the sky. Little by little, we ERASE the masterpieces that have been created for us.

But WHY?

Because it has become a system of belief that EXISTING is LIVING. It is common practice to BE PRACTICAL instead of INSPIRATIONAL. We have fallen under the impression that work comes before pleasure, and that our minds are more competent than our hearts.

BOXED IN.

But I beg you to unleash the STORY inside of you, release the PAINTING within. Share your MUSIC…DANCE to your own beat. Imagine how it would feel to LET GO. Maybe it would feel like watching the sky change from blue to orange. Or maybe like watching the stars twinkle across the heavens. Perhaps it will have the calming effect of a rainbow. But maybe…just maybe…it will shake up the earth…maybe you possess the mighty stroke of a most powerful CHANGE. A change that this world is in desperate NEED of.

There is no way to guess what creative power you possess, but I know that it’s worth finding. If you want to know what you can create in the world, ask yourself. Ask your artist…inside your box.

Source: http://tilesha.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/artist-in-a-box/

I live in Italy...

Today is Sunday...which means I don't have to work...winning...but it's also hair wash day, which means I spent my entire afternoon doing my hair...losing. Today I discovered the secret to get a straightening is a good blow dry, and the secret to a good blow dry is a good brush. I discovered that I have this little awkward patch of breakage, but I'm sure it's my fault and it will be okay if I keep my hands out of my head (something I've struggled with for about 6 years now and it is quite annoying).

Anywho, tomorrow starts my 4th week here in Milan and I'm starting to get settled in. Studying in the mornings, working in the evenings, and going out on the weekends. Learning a lot of Italian and actually holding small conversations in Italian. Last night I went to the movies to see that new movie with George C and Ryan G. Honestly, I only wanted to see it because I actually knew the actors. It legitimately sucked, and not because it was in Italian. I am sure everyone in the theater was as confused about the storyline as I (and my date) was. The most interesting part about the movie was the "Intervallo." Since I'm not an idiot I was able to deduce that intervallo means intermission. So I turn to my date and ask "What is this for?"...you know if you need to go pee or get something to eat. No. I don't know lol because the movie is only 2 hours and I don't understand why you would need an intermission lol Oh, the Italians.

Sidenote: I learned this week that Italy is younger than America...by almost 100 years. Definitely didn't know that. Definitely changes the way I think about the country...not in a bad way. Mostly not in a bad way because, at this point, nothing can make me think bad about Italy (at least not Milan lol). I love this city. I love the people. I love the language. I love the food. I love my job. I love how things are inefficient and a little disorderly but people know it and don't care lol I think that's what I love most. There is a store across the street from out flat and I never know when they will be open. The daily schedule on the door is completely irrelevant. haha Actually, I love Milan so much that I am going to apply for a Master's program here. At least today I've seriously considered it. We'll see if I still want to apply tomorrow, or next week for that matter. The degree is in English of course, International Management, which is a little change from the other programs I've considered/applied for. At this point, I don't know what I want to do with my life. Sometimes I forget I'll be 23 this year lol. I feel like I'm still 20 sometimes. I don't why 20. Just seems like a good, even number.

A Blog Post

So today is my 14th day in Milan, and this is my second blog post. I've been very lazy about writing. Actually, I've been lazy about everything except the stuff I REALLY want to do lol. Now that I'm done studying for the day and I do not work for another 2 hours, more or less, I have decided to compose a list of my favorite things about Milan.

1. The food. Duh. It's Italy.
2. My job. Although my boss thinks my name is Dissy my job is pretty dope. Outside of the job I got hired to do here I'll be teaching private lessons for English in the evenings and on weekends. Lesson planning sucks but actual teaching is great.
3. The food.
4. Cultural diversity. I have been pleasantly surprised to find so many types of people from all over here in Milan. Being culturally ambiguous is pretty cool. I've been asked if I'm Cuban, Domin ican, French,Italian, Ethiopian....never American lol
5. Plane tickets to other countries for 35euros or less.
6. Sleeping in every morning if I want to.