We Have Lift Off!

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." --Steve Jobs

2013 has had an unexpectedly remarkable start. Personally I think it started New Years Eve as I FINALLY had a date. Ever since I was little New Years Eve either consisted of going to bed and missing it or being essentially a third wheel. I've had good times with the people I was with, but it's a couples' holiday and I was always dateless. This year however I went to Virginia Beach with my ex/best friend Will. I feel like it was the kick start to a new and exciting year. I never thought anything could top my year abroad, but this year is just as exciting for completely different reasons.

I've decided I'm slightly off my rocker this year with goals, but I'm aiming high and I've made myself a promise to always do that. I guess you could say that's my resolution for this year. Here is a little of what I've been up to and part of the reason why it's taken me FOREVER to post again.

Acting!

I've had auditions for local short films, a local feature, 2 musicals, 1 straight play, and landed a job in 3 of those movies and a job as a production assistant. Needless to say I felt like something was finally happening. I've never been more sure that it's what I want to do with my life and I've been trying to tackle it in every way possible. I'm still searching for an agent, but it's a work in progress! I haven't heard back about a few things, but I'm hopeful that I will get something. If not, then it's on to the next audition. No matter what though I am going to take this industry by storm. You can count on that. I've never been more determined in my life.

Adventure!

You can take the girl out of the adventure, but you can't take the adventure out of the girl. After spending the entirety of my time living abroad and pretty much living my dream life of exploring foreign countries and cultures I get to go on another adventure! Where am I plunking myself down this time? MALTA! For those of you who don't know it's an island in the Mediterranean near Sicily. Its culture is a mix of almost every Mediterranean culture as it has been invaded by most. It is also extremely colorful and has some of the best scuba diving sites in the world. I was accepted into a field school there for Anthropology and I will undertake a project there where I'm combining terrestrial and underwater photography to capture the culture of the island. I'll be spending 3 weeks there and I can't even wait.

(I do not own this photo)

I work at a dive shop called Atlantis Divers and they have planned an adventure scuba trip to Costa Rica. One of my best friends of all time, Ellie, has been scuba certified for 2 years and we haven't had a chance to dive together yet. Now we will in South America :) It is 4 days of diving supplemented with ATV trips in the jungle, a hike in the national forest, zip lining in the jungle, horseback riding, and white water rafting. Needless to say it is the perfect trip for me and I'm so happy Ellie is going to be sharing this adventure with me.

(I do not own this photo)

I've also been slightly obsessed with Ben Fogle's books. Particularly The Accidental Adventurer and The Accidental Naturalist. I know my parents will be horrified at my plans, but he's just inspired me to push myself to new limits and go out there and make a difference in the world. I've particularly developed a secret love for Africa and am dying to head out there on a conservation project of some kind, but that's for later on.

Fitness!

I'm probably one of the most active people I know, which is surprising since I used to be quite chubby and one of the laziest people I knew. I go to the gym every day and am always looking for something active and fun to try. This year I'm challenging myself with marathons. Not the ridiculous 28 mile ones. I'm nowhere near that level since I might be the world's slowest runner. Not even exaggerating. I get bored really easily with running. The memes online like this:

I've taken up a form of racing that people would probably think I'm even more insane for doing. It's obstacle marathon racing. I get extremely bored if I run the same boring routes over and over. Jogging in a straight line just seems boring to me. But throw in pits of doom and rock walls to climb and mud pits to slither through and I'm golden. I will tackle it like there's no tomorrow. SO that's what I'm going to do. That being said I am taking part in a regular ole 10K called the Monument Avenue 10k. I'm super excited and it's for charity. The next one I'm doing is called Color Me Rad, which is a 5k where color balloons are thrown at you every few minutes and you end up coming out of the race looking like Alice's Wonderland threw up on you. I can't wait. Someone clean is going to get a VERY big hug :)  I have also decided to compete in a Rugged Maniac, which is the obstacle course 5k. Training is so much more achievable in my opinion when you have crazy goals ahead of you. I've already started training and I'm loving it.

All in all this year has been ridiculously amazing. It hasn't even been an entire month and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the year. I feel like I've accomplished so much already in such a short time. My career finally seems like it has potential and I've got ideas in the works for how I can take on the world by storm. Watch out people. If you haven't heard of me already for one thing or another, I can promise you that you will soon :)

"Let us be about setting high standards for life, love, creativity, and wisdom. If our expectations in these areas are low, we are not likely to experience wellness. Setting high standards makes every day and every decade worth looking forward to." --Greg Anderson

Culture Shock

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."--Barack Obama

I have been back in the States for almost 2 weeks now. I haven't really had a chance to sit down and relax because I've been freakishly busy visiting ECU and seeing everyone I haven't seen in ages. BUT posts will be more regular now.

Here's some things I've realized and that have happened that seem noteworthy:

1. The American accent sounds slightly harsh to me and this is how I feel about it in a picture

That sums up how I feel when I hear a particularly twangy accent.

This sums up the thought of "Oh dear god did I sound like this to everyone? And why do the English think my accent is fancy?"

2.  Roosters, male turkeys, guinea fowl, and billy goats all find me attractive. Yes I was chased across a lawn by several in their full on mating mode complete with what I'm sure was their most attractive screech.  

There they are in all their glory...

I realized it might seem like I was just walking around where I live and all of a sudden a really random assortment of birds came around a corner, got aroused and ran after me. Not quite. My Dad wanted to look at a building to date it for a friend and we were on their property. I walked around a corner, saw tons of birds headed right at me and said "DAAAAAAAD we're about to get attacked." I'm pretty sure he was expecting something much more ferocious when he turned around to discover a puffed up turkey, rooster and a guinea fowl strutting their stuff at me. They weren't interested in my Dad. I was chased around the yard throwing my Dad god awful looks and ended up near a billy goat cage... turns out they like me too. When he started bleating my Dad about lost it and was bent over laughing at me and I made a bee lone for the front of the house and ultimately the car. As amusing as it was I was not amused at the time. 

3. We have a new kitten that I call the beast/terrorist. She likes to attack anything and everything in my room then looks cute while doing it. Last night I discovered she is a fan of zumba. I was trying to learn a new song for the classes I teach and I was practicing in my room while she was on the chair. Before this I couldn't get her to give me any attention unless I had some string in my hand. The second I started bopping around, as you do in zumba, she froze, stared at me, then starting rolling over in the chair, turning in circles and trying to swat me everytime I went by. She was pretty much doing the cat version of dancing until I came near and she had to at least keep up cat appearances by attacking my leg until I moved out of range. Sadly I do not have a picture of this, but I'll try again tonight and see if I can sneak one in of her awesome dance moves. 

4. I've had another one of my infamous "ideas". I've been obsessed with Cirque du Soleil ever since 2009 when I saw a show in Florida. I've still never seen something so creative, imaginative, and mind blowing ever since. I don't have delusions of grandeur that I can make it into that ridiculously amazing show, but I set a goal for myself that within the next year I'm going to submit an audition video. I've decided to aim high. Go big or go home right? Should be a challenging time, but I am really excited for it!

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened"--Dr. Seuss

Bring on 2012!

New Years! A time for resolutions! Although most people see a resolution as a plan for the first 2 weeks of the year, I plan on keeping mine. For once I actually have several resolutions that I put a lot of thought into.

I decided to send off 2011 with a bang. Laura and Derek were already in London and I made the journey there. How many Americans can say they spent New Years Eve in London watching fireworks on the banks of the Thames? This girl can! Laura and I spent the day people watching and just having a great time catching up since we hadn't seen each other in about 3 weeks. We met up with our friend Brittany for dinner and found an interesting place with god awful service. The English are definitely not renowned for their impeccable food service skills. They don't work for tips so I guess that plays a bigger part than I thought. We had a gourmet meal of microwaved cornish pastries and the driest cookie I have ever tasted in my life. Eat chocolate flavored chalk and you will have tasted the equivalent of my cookie.

Moving on. It's tradition for Laura and I to spend New Years Eve together and in the past 14 years we have only missed one year. We always watch the ball drop in Times Square. It always amazed me just how many people were crammed into Times Square and I always wondered what that would be like. I now know what it feels like to be a sardine in a can.

We attempted to move closer to the bank of the Thames, but moving 50 feet took 30 minutes so we decided that was a lost cause and went back to our spot on the bridge. Being as vertically challenged as I was I managed to not be able to find a spot to see over half of the London Eye, which was lit up and changed colors.

After 4 hours of playing word games, watching drunk people, buying over priced drinks and consequently giving up on drinking the countdown began!!  The countdown started at 30 seconds to midnight and the entire crowd yelled at the top of their lungs. Right at midnight the fireworks went off. London knows how to do a fireworks show. Fireworks were exploding everywhere and even coming out of the London Eye itself. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life.

It was a pretty odd feeling to know that I was celebrating 2012 while everyone I knew back home was probably eating dinner.

That was just a small taste of the fireworks. The real thing was so much better!

My New Years resolutions include the normal idealistic things, but also some goals I want to achieve:

1. Keep in touch with friends and family back home more than I have

2. Get closer with my family

3. Audition for plays in England

4. Graduate from the MA program

5. Run in the total warrior marathon

6. Travel to 3 countries

7. Start making the documentary I have planned

8. Make more new friends

9. Eat a more healthy diet

10. Be a better person.

As cheesy or odd as some of those may sound, I AM going to achieve them all. This year is going to be amazing. I'm living abroad and getting an opportunity most people only dream of. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me :)