I’m back and better than ever. July 3, 2009

Well I went on my first dive as an official certified diver!  Drift diving is highly popular in Florida.  They drop you off a boat in the ocean, and you kind of follow the current along the reefs, ooooohing and awwwwing at the reefs and fish, and then you come up when your tank is empty, and the boat picks you up!  It’s great fun.  I got 3 of my friends to come with me to West Palm.  Seth was certified when he was younger, and hasn’t been since he was 14, Paul was certified last year, and then Eric was certified with me!  We had tons of fun, and got to swim in Shark Canyon with real sharks!  No, they don’t think humans are tasty, I promise!

Our second dive was a wreck dive!  It was called the Corridors.  We went down to 85 feet deep, and saw 2 sunken ships!  It was awesome!  I saw a huge sea turtle up close, and a goliath grouper (or Jew Fish).  I really enjoyed the morning.  We left Melbourne at 5:15 am, were diving by 9am, and were back home, safe, sound, and wet by 2pm.  What fun!

Here’s some pictures of the dive

Worst Blogger Ever. October 30, 2008

I’m sorry for not keeping up with this.  I hate it when my friends tell me they want to see what I’ve been doing in Florida and I can’t show them pictures immediately.  So here goes…. my next goal in Florida is to update my blog once a week.  Maybe then I can still keep my mom off facebook… and I know she reads this… Love you mom!

New updates.

1.  I ran a 5k in 33 minutes… no stopping (this is good)

2.  I went to Atlanta for homecoming

3. I bought rainboots to keep my feet dry (when it rains in FL, it floods)

4.  I bought a surfboard (woah!!!)

5.  My birthday is this weekend.

Pictures of the previous announcements…

update… September 24, 2008

Sorry I haven’t updated recently.  I seriously want to update every weekend at the least.  Everything is going really well.  I joined a gym that I can walk to from my house, and I signed up for a 5k with a work friend!  My weekends are spent shopping, going out with friends, and running the causeway in melbourne!  I’m having a really great time, and I’ve met some unexpectedly awesome people!  I was worried about working in an engineering environment, but Harris really looks for new grads and awesome personalities.  I’m thrilled with everything I’ve found here.

Last weekend I went to the Space Coast GA Tech alumni “football viewing” so I could watch the Mississippi St. game with some fellow fans.  I ended up meeting a group of 3 gatech alums who invited me surfing afterwards!  I had alot of fun, and walked away with a huge bruise on my arm, and no recollection of actually getting hit by my surfboard…hmmm

Disney World is a great way to spend a Saturday!  I went to Epcot when David came to visit.  We had a great time exploring Melbourne too.  Friday night we met up with some of my friends from work and went to a classy wine bar.  Sunday we spent the morning at the beach before heading to the airport.  It was a perfect Sunday morning at the beach, complete with surfers and tourists.  For some reason the fish were flying…into my head and ankles.  I’ve never experienced something like that at a beach before.

I guess that’s all I’m up to right now.. work…gym…eat…sleep.  Don’t worry, I’m enjoying myself.

My new apartment and first “real” weekend! September 4, 2008

Here’s a couple of pictures of my new furniture in my apartment! I also wanted to post a few pictures of me before I tried out surfing on the Melbourne beaches. I met a new friend at Harris orientation; he used to live here before high school, and then he moved. He went to college at N.C. State, and after he got his masters he decided to come back to Melbourne where he grew up, and work for Harris! He took me surfing, and then showed me around town. He took me out to this spot near Palm Bay Rd. where he says manatees go all the time! He sure was right! We saw a huge manatee up close! I used to love these things when I was little, the whole “endangered species” stage. They are so incredibly cute, kind of in a way like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I think I like this new place… there are lots of things to do, if you go out and do them. I’ll have to make a list of everything I want to try out in the next year. First thing I can cross of my list is Walt Disney World. Hopefully, if Hurricane or Tropical Storm (they can’t make up their minds) Hanna stays out of our way, one of my best friends is flying in from Saratoga Springs, New York this weekend. If he makes it, we’ll make it out to Epcot on Saturday! Please, please, please…

and from my Saturday beach outing…

Posting from my new home in Florida! August 23, 2008

Hey guys,

I don’t know how many people are actually going to read this since I’m back from Europe… but I definitely want to keep up my blog, just so those few people who want to check on me, can! Plus, I know everyone wants to see my new apartment, and it’s just easier to put photos up here. Facebook scares me more every day. So here I am in Melbourne, FL. If you recognize this city’s name from the news, it’s because Tropical Storm Fae just came through and tried to flood people out. Thankfully, I’m near the Palm Bay side, and my apartment is fine, a few of the other buildings in my complex had about 2 feet of water in them. I also want to keep up some photography on the side here, and of course…music! So check in on me here… and don’t forget the phone works too! Love you guys!

A weekend home… in Metz, France August 1, 2008

With my finals being completed on Friday and 4 days ahead of me until I flew out of Frankfurt, I had to decide what to do with those last few days in Europe. Since I only bought a two month railpass this summer, and I am “broke” (because I’m hopefully moving to Florida in the next two weeks), I decided to stay in unexplored territory: Metz. Now I know what you’re thinking…that’s where you’ve lived 6 months of you life the past two summers! This is true…but there is more to Metz than a really nice train station and a few restaurants, and I needed to find out there is. Friday night after my thermo final, I decided to wait around GTL until my friends Jonathon and Chris finished because they were leaving for Croatia and home respectively that night and I wanted to say goodbye. Chris came down the stairs and told me to hurry up, they were going to the Irish pub and a taxi would be there in 20 minutes. We ran to Aloes (our residence), dropped off stuff, and ran back. I decided to go to the pub with them because it was the last time I’d be seeing them for a long time. The Irish pub was packed with a bunch of GTL students, and we had fun with Irish Car Bombs and giraffes of beer as usual. The End. The next day I went downtown to explore the cathedral and pick up a Longchamps bag for my mother (she’s going to look so cute with it!). The Metz Cathedral is enormous and more beautiful than you would expect a small town like Metz to have. Inside it says this spot was the home of a church in Metz since the 5th century. Can you imagine? I’m not sure exactly what the dates of this cathedral are, but it’s beautiful.

On Monday I decided I was going to rent a bike and go on the trails for the day outside of Metz. I’ve heard it’s really fun just to ride around and come across old Roman ruins (Yes,they’re absolutely everywhere in France). I was going to go alone, even though I didn’t really want to, but all my friends were taking a deformable bodies exam Monday night (whatever that means). At lunch I ran into Gaston and Tee, and they said they would accompany me! They’re both on crew and pretty extreme guys, but they said it was okay that I’m not an athlete. They must have had fun, because they invited me along the next day as well. But believe me, I was in no shape after Monday to go anywhere near a bike or running trail. Our bike ride took about 4.5 hours and 16 miles around Metz, the river, rocky trails, grassy paths, another town, and the vineyards (on a hill of course). I was dead, I had blisters, and parts of me hurt, that weren’t supposed to hurt. But all is well, and I had a great time! We even saw an old Roman aqueduct. At the aqueduct we even found a wild apple tree. After Gaston and Tee tried a bite, I had to. But don’t worry, it’s Wednesday and I’m not dead yet. We made it to the vineyards I had been dying to see since this beginning of the summer. I was sad that the vineyards are only open for tours or tastings on Fridays and Saturdays, but it was great fun nonetheless. I will say that without my bike buddies, I would never have gotten that far, and I definitely would of turned around at the first hill. But I made it. Also, all the map reading was done by them, I didn’t go near. I was afraid! A couple of times, we had to turn around, and more than once they guessed at the direction to go. Oh well… all is well.

Yesterday was spent packing and cleaning our room so we don’t get fined (in euros). Right now I’m riding on a plane while everyone else is dead asleep (we stayed up all night). Oh well…C’est la vie! Au revoir France! I’m officially done with my electrical engineering degree!

The following pictures are of the Metz Cathedral, some gardens in Metz, the main Shopping Street, and the Opera house.

These next photos are of Georgia Tech Lorraine (the school building I went to everyday), the swans in the lake that I fed my leftover baguettes to, and the running trail around the lake that I used tons. What a great place to spend two summers!

My favorite and last weekend….in Italia July 26, 2008

Sorry for not posting earlier in this week, but I needed to prepare for my last 3 finals at Georgia Tech. Yep…I was done with my degree as of Friday night at 9:15pm, when I walked out of my thermodynamics final. Pretty crazy huh? I’m an engineer now! Okay… so as for Italy…this was by far one of the best places ever. We went to Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre was so beautiful I can’t even describe it to you. Which is why cameras are so helpful in these moments. I sent a picture via instant messenger to my friend, and he was like.. “what is that? a postcard?” noo…. it’s my awesome rebel xt and a beautiful landscape:)

So anyways… we arrived in Florence on Saturday morning and went straight to the Accademia. This is where Michelangelos’ David is located. I have an illegal picture of me and Samantha in front of David which I shall post once I get it. Seeing David is like seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. When you get in front of this statue, you can’t believe how absolutely massive it is. You’ve seen pictures before, you read the history, and then you just walk into the room and stare in awe. It was great, and you can definitely see why Michelangelo was so famous in Italy. Afterwards we went to the Duomo, Florence’s Gothic Santa Maria del Fiori Cathedral (pictured at your right). After walking through the cathedral, we paid 6 euros to climb over 400 stairs to the top of the duomo. It was so beautiful to walk around the painting “Last Judgment” by Vasari and Zucccari, which was quite scary if you actually looked at the characters. Well… look at the title and you should understand. It’s pictured below.

We happened to find an amazing lunch withing the markets of Florence. They had pizza and sandwiches for about 2.50 euro. I had a piece of salami pizza and went back for a pesto potato sandwich. Muah it was magnifique. So… basically if you don’t go inside the Uffizi Gallery to gaze at art all day, we completed all the major sites! We used the rest of the day to explore the markets ( I bought scarves), the glass shops, the Ponte Vecchio ( a beautiful bridge lined with gold and silver shops, nice to look at and wish), and then a awesome dinner we found from our hostel map. The unlisted 12 euro dinner consisted of an appetizer (lasagna), chicken or beef with potatoes and cheese, dessert and your choice of red or white wine. I love these deals. Our hostel apparently was equipped with an awesome bar and indoor pool; both of which we were too worn out to take advantage of. We PTFO’ed (word of the trip), and woke up to take a train to Pisa the next morning. I’m pretty sure it’s self explanatory for you what we saw in Pisa…. But the Leaning Tower of Pisa is just as incredible as you think it would be! Too bad there is nothing else in the city to attract tourists, but I think they do well enough. The tower was built to be a bell tower, however during construction in 1173 it began leaning due to a badly layed foundation, and the soil that it was in. In 1272 upon completing the tower after a short break they tried to compensate by building the top floor uneven. This allowed the tower to “bend” in other direction so not it’s completely crooked. It was quite a sight to see. Don’t worry about the following pictures, it’s what all the tourists were doing

After our 3.5 hours in Pisa we were off to Cinque Terre, or “five lands” translated from Italian. The gorgeous, alternative to the French Riviera, but BETTER! This was one of the best places I’ve ever been to. Italy food, wine, fun, and beaches! There are 5 cities connected by a 6 hour hike along the mountains by the sea. It was just so beautiful. It was Samantha’s birthday weekend, so we took advantage of it by buying her 2 different amazing desserts. I can’t say much other than the fact that this weekend we hiked for about 4 hours, climbed rocks, took trains between the cities, and ate amazing food. Otherwise, we stayed in a hostel a little far from one of the towns, that had a bus that connected us. However the bus was way overpacked the morning we left, and with the blazing heat, and people falling on each other as we twisted around the mountain side, it was one of the worst experiences of my life, I don’t know if I’ve ever sweat so much in my life. But I’m alive. There’s nothing else I can say… but enjoy the pictures of my AMAZING weekend.. Can I have my honeymoon here?

On the left is Jonathan making us fresh fruit rum drinks on the beach.  People were staring at us… but they were jealous.  There are no “No open container laws” in Europe… how much better than the US!

Normandy July 16, 2008

Well to continue my travels in France, what better place to go than the beautiful western side to Normandy! During the weekend I was surrounded by crêpes, caramel, and a little bit of la plage (the beach!). I didn’t use the weekend to go swimming though, I was busy learning some important WWII history, and seeing a beautiful abbey, that you may have seen in pictures of france. Off we go…

Ashleigh and I changed our train schedule the day before we took off, and we decided to take 2 TGV trains without reservations (a big no no). However, on our trip to Paris, the conductor looked out our eurail passes and passed us by, we decided it was because we were cute, pick your own reason. On the following train, it was so packed, they never checked. We switched back and forth between a bucket seat in a hallway and a comfortable seat next to French kids learning English, oh well, it was free. After arriving in a town outside of Ponterson, we took a bus to Mont Saint Michel. You will be aghast when this “island” comes into view. When the tide is out you can walk along the sand to the island. They tell you to be sure to go with a guide, since there is quick sand around. Also, Victor Hugo is quoted saying, the tide comes “as swiftly as a galloping horse.” This is not suprising, as the tide was already coming in during our short stay on the island. We walked around the cute little town, full of shops of things to buy, and then we went up to the abbey. The structure was rebuilt over the centuries, making itself bigger and better. There was even a small garden in the middle of the structure. The columns were large, apparently they were also needed to support the tons of weight pounding down on them. The abbey was built to reach high into the heavens, for the monks living there to be closer to God in all ways. They chose the island to be far away from humanity, apparentely they were hermibts. A causeway was built to connect the island to the town of Pontorson in the middle 1800s. By 2012, there will be damn constructed, so that the Mont St. Michel will once again be a true island, and you will no longer be able to walk on the sand to reach the island. It’s kind of sad, because I think it’s wonderful the way it is.

We left the island that night, and took a train to Rennes where we were staying, and did a little shopping. Ashleigh found some cute pants, and I bought a Calvin & Hobbes book in French which is on my level. So know I’m reading comics in French…. oh gee.

The next morning we were off to Bayeaux to see the D-Day sites, yes even I can appreciate a little war history. Our tour included (in the following order) A German cementary, Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach, a museum, and an American cemetery. Our tour guide was really nice, and sometimes his English was a little tricky. He spoke great English, but he pronounced things with French vowels, leaving Ashleigh and I bewildered. We were part of an eight person tour, with the other 6 people being a family with 4 small kids. It was fun. You know.. this summer I’ve been noticing how cute European kids are, but I decided this weekend that I think they’re really cute because you can’t understand what they’re saying when they speak other languages. Kidding…kidding…

I’m not a WWII expert, so I’m not going to explain alot, just a few things I felt while on the tour. First, it’s no secret who the enemy was, and the many, many German bodies left in France had to be buried somewheres. It seems such a shame they weren’t moved, being it wasn’t that far away, but here they remain. Out of the 21,000 souls in the German cemetery, only about 2,000 have proper graves, the remaining thousands were left unidentified, and all the unclaimed dogtags/their owners are buried in a mound in the middle. There was a monument to the fallen, but it wasn’t as moving as the one in the American cemetery. There, the normal white crosses and Star of David’s mark each grave, even the unknown ones. Many more people were there walking around, and it was overlooking the ocean. The atmosphere was definitely different. Just…different.

German cemetary

American Cemetery

Pont du Hoc was where the Americans surprise attacked the Germans. When their ships came in, they climbed up the huge cliffs and bombed the German bunkers. The bunkers remain, along with metal, and barbed wire. There are also holes left, 2 types. One type, is a huge round hole that caves in, left from shells dropped from the sky, the other are flatter, less deep holes left from the navy ships’ shells.

My final pictures are from Omaha beach. Of course… it doesn’t really look like a battlefield anymore. But the pictures we were shown on the tour were of make shift ports, ships lining the beach, helicopters and blimps flying over, and soldiers laying dead on the sand. It was horrific and incredible all at the same time. Before this trip, I asked Ashleigh if we would need a swim suit, and we decided that where we were going, surely there wouldn’t be people just frolicking about… the funny thing is, there were. Tons of people were on the huge beach probably celebrating their Bastille weekend. The beach is perfect for this, because when the tide is out, the beach is really quite huge. The mother in our tour group commented to our tour guide, “how would the soldiers that fought here feel if they came back and saw people playing,” and perfectly he said, “I’m sure they would have been proud, because this is what they were fighting for… freedom.”

and yes my shoes got a little wet while taking this picture.

Wordle. July 16, 2008

This is something really cool I found on my friend Lauren Wright’s blog. You can allow the program to search your blog, and it will use the most common words to make this picture! Try it out here

I apparently talk about travel in my blog… who knew?

Jack Johnson in a Parisian sort of way July 11, 2008

Prior to leaving for Europe, I happened to look on ticket master in search of a concert I could attend once in Europe. The person that stuck out at me was Jack Johnson. His music is very acoustic and relaxing. I brought up the idea to Ashleigh, and we felt like Munich would be a good choice to see him. However, the price tag and class schedules got to us, and we decided to wait. We waited so long in fact, so that we could no longer purchase tickets. So, two weeks ago when some of our friends brought up the idea of seeing Jack Johnson in Paris (which is only a 1.5 hour TGV from Metz), we took a few more seconds to decide… YES! So on Wednesday after my classes, I boarded a train in hopes of seeing my favorite Hawaiian guitar player rock out and say a few French words. Jack was performing with G. Love & Special Sauce, and Mason Jennings. Everyone in our group seemed to like G.Love a lot, but I liked Mason Jennings more. G. Love was too funky for me, whereas Mason’s music was acoustic, which I love! Jack performed most of his new CD, and of course a few of his old favorites off his famous one from 2005, In Between Dreams (The on Raf introduced me too so long ago). The most amazing thing about the whole concert was how many people were there. I figured it would be kind of like Chastain Park, an outside amphitheater in Atlanta where you sat on a lawn. However Palais Omnisports de Paris @ Bercy, was comparable to Philips areana. We guesstimated about 7,000 in attendance. Every seat was filled, and more people were piled on the floor. I wouldn’t have guessed that the French liked Jack Johnson that much! Well… he is awesome though. I’m really glad I went! Enjoy these pictures. Hopefully I can upload the videos to You Tube, and post them soon! If I had known cameras were going to be allowed, I would of brought my SLR… oh well, next time.