Au revoir

Final Itinerary:

Australia (2 weeks): Sydney, Cairns, Byron Bay
New Zealand (1 week): Auckland, Wellington
Thailand (1 week): Bangkok, Chiang Mai
Europe (4 weeks): Düsseldorf, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, San Sebastian, Lisbon, Barcelona

I have all the necessities packed; my backpack weighs 25 lbs. I will be posting here or to facebook or maybe sending out mass emails to let you guys know what trouble I manage to get myself into. I'm really excited/nervous, and my mom is still angry and doesn't want me to go.

I promise not to get into stranger's vans, even if they promise me candy.

Snow trip!

South Lake Tahoe, CA

I spent last weekend in Tahoe with Matt. I forgot my snowboard in Pittsburgh last month (dumb, I know), but it probably wouldn't have fit easily into my over-packed car anyway. Matt flew into Reno with his skis, my snowboard, and his stuff.

It was a great weekend, but now I'm stuck back at home which isn't so great. I leave on my grand adventure next Thursday. So far I've only planned 2 out of the 8 weeks.

I miss everyone back in Pittsburgh.

Killer pumpkins

Me and my sister, with pumpkins grown in our back yard

We planted pumpkins in our backyard one fall. I was probably around 4 at the time. My parents let me watch Little Shop of Horrors, which played out horribly since I didn't catch the humor and thought the man-eating plant was real. I can still remember some very vivid nightmares I had that fall where the pumpkin plant vines grow into my room and wrap around me while I sleep.

The perks of being a pack rat

My old room here has a mind boggling amount of stuff. Since my Mom is planning on moving in the next year, and since this is likely to be the last time I'll be staying at home for over a week, I'm going through the innumerable shoeboxes of trinkets, notes, pictures, and mementos that I have been hoarding since 4th grade, when we moved here.

This picture is what happened when my dad handed me his camera when I was six.

It's strange to look through the "important" boxes of items I deemed valuable. I'm throwing out things I thought I would find important (student council campaign fliers, hundreds of inane notes passed between classes), and I'm discovering things that I previously considered common which I now cherish. This postcard my dad sent me when I went to camp one summer, for example (Chow Fun was his cat, and my dad used two different colored pens):

Dear Caroline
Chow Fun and I really miss you- he asks about you every day just before he eats. I hope you are having a good time. Chow Fun hopes you come back soon to feed him.
MDC + CF

I guess you had to know him.

In other news, post-college life just got a lot scarier. It's sad when things can't work out how you wish they would.

New Year's Eve (posted only 1 week late)

Matt, Justin and I went to Sea of Dreams (www.seaofdreamsnye.com) up in San Francisco. The theme was "7 heavens", and we decided to fully participate and dress up. Luckily, I found something appropriate in the collection of my outrageous figure skating costumes.



Me and my (infamous) sister.






Haha. Bambi eyes.

I made lots of friends! This guy had a fuzzy cape, and a magic stick.

I spent most of the night dancing around and petting all the fuzzy costumes.

Highly memorable. I definitely want to go again next year!

Pittsburgh to Palo Alto Road Trip, in pictures:


The landscape was this exact scenery for two whole days of driving. The midwest is boring.


Matt forgot his sunglasses, so he borrowed a pair of mine.



I wish gas stations in CA had dinosaurs.





Something other than flat plains! Exciting!




Utah was empty. Seriously. I think we may have passed 2 gas stations while driving across the entire state. The plateaus and snow were pretty, though.


We made it to Las Vegas. Matt was excited, as shown by the above picture.


Back in California. Unfortunately, Central California looks a lot like the Midwest.



In conclusion, almost everything between the two coasts is excruciatingly boring. I'd suggest getting rid of all of it, except they probably grow a lot of food, and I like food.