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"In order to write about life, first you must live it." -Ernest Hemingway

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I've been everywhere, man

Well, Becky's throwback post looked like so much fun that I decided to do mine! And actually, there is going to have to be more than just one throwback post for each of us because we've done so much stuff! In fact, I'll need like 5 posts just devoted to travel because I looooooove traveling! I've been to England (twice), Ireland, Wales, Italy (twice), Puerto Rico, Canada, France, California and pretty much every state on the East Coast. And I've got tons more on my list!

But I decided to start today with England! I've been to England twice, the first was the summer between 9th and 10th grade and then again during winter break of my Sophomore year of college. The first time I went was with a Student Ambassador group called People to People and we spent 3 weeks traveling to England, Ireland and Wales. It was amazing, there will be more to come of that trip! The second time I went during Winter Intersession and got some credits for my Visual Arts major. My friend Krista convinced me to go (it didn't take much) and we also took a weekend trip to Paris!!!!! I've wanted to go to Paris since before I can remember, and it was everything I expected and more. Look for a whole post devoted to just that weekend. But without further ado, let's get down to it!
Oh, I've Done That: UK Version

29. Go to Hampton Court Palace
This was the first thing we did on the trip right after getting off the plane, notice we are still in our "People to People" uniform of blue shirts, khaki pants and name tags. This picture is of my friends Julia, Rebecca and me standing in front of the palace. I remember the palace was really beautiful and had people dressed up and walking around. Fun fact: Some movie with Reese Witherspoon was filmed here.
There was also a maze at the palace made of giant hedges, it was like the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie!  I feel like that should be something on the list, finish a maze made out of hedges. Let's make it official, shall we?

30. Finish a maze made of hedges
 Check! I don't remember exactly how long it took us but we definitely went in a few circles. I believe this is us after the ordeal, alive and well.

31. Go to Bath, England
Bath is a really cool place, if you ever get to England I recommend that you go. It's a cute little town that is actually called Bath, named for the Roman-esque Bath built there! I believe it was built on some kind of natural spring that you could actually drink out of. My facts may be all wrong here, it's been a while, but here is a picture of Tammi, me, Julia and Rebecca sitting in front of the bath.  
There are a ton of shops in Bath too, but the only thing I remember is that Julia and Rebecca bought really cool slippers. When I went there again I'm pretty sure Krista and I bought scarves. But I could be wrong, we did a lot of shopping on that trip! 

32. See a Tudor house
Come on, these are awesome! I believe this was taken in Chester, and as I recall, I LOVED CHESTER! There were Tudor houses everywhere and it just looked like a really adorable and wonderful place to live. However, there was a Disney store in the middle of it so it's probably a huge tourist trap. But still, who doesn't love a good Tudor?


33. Squeeze as many people as you can into a British phone booth
Okay, so there aren't that many people in there, but there were only 5 of us at the time and somebody had to take the picture! Even so, it was a tight squeeze with Tammi, Rebecca, me and Julia in there. We probably looked like such loser tourists, but could you really resist doing this? I didn't think so.

34. See Stonehenge
This I've actually done twice. Apparently anyone who plans a trip to England for students thinks it's really important that they see it. It's in the middle of nowhere and is surrounded by goats, but that's what makes it really interesting. It's literally not close to ANYTHING, and the real mystery is how the Druids got all of those heavy stones there, let alone on top of one another. The first time I went we had to listen to the audio tour guide which seemed to only ask questions, not answer them. But the second time we opted to skip the audio tour and just walk around and draw our own conclusions. 

The best part about this, I think, is to compare how the quality of my cameras and my ability to compose a photo changed between the first and the second time I went. There were different weather conditions both times, the first time was pretty overcast and hazy while the second time was nicer with a bright blue sky, but really, what a difference.

10th grade
After several photo classes

Let's take a break from the list real quick and watch Julia and me go from rags to riches and back again:


 Just thought that was fun, back to the list!


35. See the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Okay, so you can't see much, but neither could we. They do this EVERYDAY but still a ton of people were there to see it. They play music and the guards march, but other than that I can't really tell you what else happens.  However, while we were on our way to a park we did see a whole troop of them marching down the road, not sure where they were going because the ceremony had ended, but at least we got to see them up close!

36. Have tea time in London
What a lovely tradition! We couldn't go to London and NOT have tea. As a red-blooded American, I am a HUGE fan of coffee, in fact I don't think I could have graduated without it, but tea is also delicious and better for you and really awesome when you drink it in London!
 
 37. See the London Bridges
Another thing that London should be known for are its awesome bridges. Some old, like The Tower Bridge

The London Bridge, as in "is falling down"
(I took this picture while on a boat crossing the Thames!)
 
And some new, like the Millennium Bridge, which I just found out (from Jamie) was nicknamed the "Wobbly Bridge" because it was originally built as a suspension bridge but they didn't take into account that people naturally walk in a similar rhythm to one another so the whole bridge was swaying up and down. It was closed for two years to make renovations, and now, I can tell you, it does not wobble.


38. Ride the London Eye
Okay, here's something I can't believe I've done. I HATE ferris wheels. Hate them. I don't go on them. It's too high up and everything sways and moves and makes me feel wildly unsafe. However, when I went to England the first time we all got tickets to go on it and I thought hey, this won't be so bad. 
No, I was wrong. I was TERRIFIED. I'm super afraid of heights, even getting too close to the railing on the second floor of the mall freaks me out. As adventurous as I am when it comes to traveling, heights are not my thing. Although surprisingly enough I'm not really scared of airplanes, weird. 

So the only pictures I have were taken by Julia (beautiful work!):





 Because I was like this:
Sitting perfectly still, holding my breath with my eyes closed. I don't even think I knew she was taking this picture.

I also missed out on another thing during that trip when everyone repelled down the tower of a castle. Yea, it sounds awesome doesn't it? Well I thought I could do it, the people in charge of the repelling tower program spent hours talking to us about how we can do and be anything we want and we don't have to be afraid of anything and blah blah blah. So I got the helmet on, I got the harness on, I did some more sitting and staring....and then started to cry. Yup, I'm a big baby. I might be a little more inclined to do it today, but I doubt it. There will be no repelling for me any time soon. Oh well. :/ I prefer to be close to the ground, or under ground:

39. Ride the Tube
We actually got pretty good at learning the different lines, we didn't even need the map after a while!

40. See Big Ben
That's a given, how could you miss it?

41. Go to Trafalgar Square

 42. See the London Museums
We actually went to roughly 10 museums the second time I went to England. Let's see if I can name all of them:
Tate Modern
Tate Britain
The British Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery
Tower of London
Shakespeare's Globe Theater

I'm pretty sure that's not all of them, but we also went to The Louvre and Musee D'Orsay in Paris during that trip, but I still think I'm missing two. Anyway, I saw some really amazing work, here are just two examples:

This was at the Tate Modern, every year a new artist transforms the entryway however they see fit. Someone even put in a bunch of slides one year! But the year we were there Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth" was there. From what I can remember, a "Shibboleth" is a way to determine who belongs to what race or class, depending on how they pronounce or use a language. I think "Shibboleth" was actually one of those words used to determine where someone was from and therefore what class and race they were. So a crack in the floor seems pretty appropriate right? Splitting the hall into two separate sides. Well, it was cool to look at nonetheless.

 And oddly enough, the other image I chose also deals with language and stone. The Rosetta Stone! I swear I didn't mean to choose two things that fit together so nicely, I just thought they were cool.


43. Go to the Globe Theater
This, however, is not the original Globe Theater. The original burnt down some time ago, but we went to the original spot as well.
But the first picture is of a pretty exact replica of the original theater, except that it's not made of thatch like the first, so it won't burn quite so easily! We didn't get to see a show in the Globe Theater, but we did see an AMAZING show in London called "War Horse" if it comes around here, I'm going. It's a play about a horse that goes to war, except the horse is a wooden marionette controlled by a person dressed in black, but the best part is that after a while you don't even notice the person! It was very cool, and very moving. See it!

 And here's a fun picture of Krista being silly in the Globe Theater. 
I couldn't resist!


 I also did a ton of other things in London that I, for some reason, don't have pictures of. I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare; Portobello Road, the place they sing about in Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (one of the greatest movies ever!); and tons more. But unfortunately, they are not documented, the only images I have are in my mind. But a special thank you goes out to my good friends Julia and Krista because I used some of your pictures in this post and in the posts to come! Thanks for putting up with me while we traveled! I had so much fun with you guys, you're awesome travel buddies!

 Well there's lots more to come from us, whether we did it in the past or we have plans to do it in the future. Thanks for sticking around and reading about us! We really hope people are enjoying it and being inspired too! So until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love always,
The Go Getters

Friday, November 26, 2010

Because we've also lived in the past...

Time for another update from Becky! This blog was started to document our check-marks, adventures, or whatever you care to call them. So far, we've been having so much fun and really seem to be on a roll. However, Sam and I have always been pretty adventurous people (most of the time to avoid boredom). We often talk to each other about the many things that we have already crossed off of our list, before we became "The Go Getters". So, for this post I've chosen to write about five items on my personal list that got crossed off before "Oh, I've Done That".


#24. Go to the Kentucky Derby

I grew up riding horses, so in my eyes the Kentucky Derby was like the Super Bowl. My freshman year at the University of Delaware, I learned that my friend Riane actually lived in Louisville, Kentucky (home of the derby)! When she invited a group of us for a weekend of Derby greatness, we jumped on board. To make a long story short, after a very long and eventful road trip, we were off to The Kentucky Oaks and Derby! For those of you who are not familiar with the events of the Derby, Oaks is a series of races held the Friday before Derby specifically reserved for fillies (young female horses).  One of the best parts about Oaks is that tickets in the grand stands are much cheaper than on the Saturday of Derby. So, on the day of Oaks, we decided to do Churchill Downs the way it was meant to be done; all dressed up in sundresses and huge hats.


To sum up the events of the day, when a group of young nicely dressed girls walk around Churchill Downs, everyone thinks they are famous. We were interviewed for magazines, newspapers, our photos were taken for websites, and we even appeared on the popular ABC show "Dancing with the Stars"! On the Saturday of the Derby, we had tickets in the in-field and spent the day drinking and gambling our money away,  waiting to catch a glimpse of the two minute stampede.
This is what happens in the in-field...
To this day it is still one of the best weekends of my life.



#25 Drive a Zamboni

This one, I feel like a lot of you can relate to. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to drive a Zamboni?!  Last year, my friend Scott managed to snag a job at the University of Delaware's ice arena, being one of the Zamboni drivers. Once my friends and I caught wind of this news, we would constantly bug him to take us on rides. However, out of fear of loosing his job, he always had to decline. Fast forward to a week before graduation...Scott decided it was FINALLY time!! (the worst they could do was fire him, but he was leaving in a week so who cared) So, along with an all around good night at the ice rink (snowball fights, messing with the scoreboard, etc.) we each got a chance to take the Zamboni for a spin.











And yes, it was as awesome as I expected it to be! It also went surprisingly faster than I thought it could go. Haha.



#26. Be immortalized

Okay, so I know many of you may find this one extremely egocentric, but I don't care. I like to believe that my life will have some meaning even after I am gone. Sure, with today's technologies, my life is already plastered all over a number of social networking sites; but to me, all that stuff is garbage. Perhaps, my studies and career choice have extremely influenced my views on this subject, but I wanted something to permanently capture a specific time in my life. The opportunity arose for me to sit for a portrait artist. I couldn't pass it up. After a total of 7 hours of sitting, there is now a permanent portrayal of me as I am now, at 22 years old.

© David Shevlino
Even years after I'm gone, this painting will still be here. And maybe, just maybe, someday someone will look at this portrait and wonder about the person portrayed, just as I have done so many times before.


#27. Walk on water

Obviously, this one was left up to my own interpretation, unless I turned out to be the long lost ancestor of Christ...but let's be serious. While driving through North Jersey, a group of us found a lake that was completely frozen over. At first, I was absolutely terrified to walk out on the ice, but after minutes of peer pressure, I decided to go for it! I freaked out a number of times (every time I saw a crack or heard a cracking noise) but we continued to the center of the lake.










I know this may not seem interesting to some of you, but don't knock it till you've tried it! It really was a breath taking experience; to stand somewhere that normally you could only get to by boat.


#28. Go to a presidential inauguration

I was very active during the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2009, (going to rallies, volunteering at speaking events, registering young voters, etc.) so it only felt right to go to his welcome party! Scott's granny lives about 25 minutes outside of D.C. in Virginia so the night before we crashed there, in order to get an early start for the big day. We had to take the train into the city, because they closed all bridges to and from D.C. in order to regulate the crowds. Being in the train was a whole experience in of itself. For those of you who can't imagine it, this is exactly what it was like...



And for someone like me, who can get extremely claustrophobic, it was not a fun ride (I almost had 3 panic attacks on the way there). Finally after a 30 minute train ride, we arrived in D.C. but were barricaded into the underground Metro station, because the streets were already so crowded outside, that there was actually no room for us to even fit outside on the National Mall. Once we FINALLY got above ground and outside, it was like nothing I've ever experienced.


There we were, over 2 million people, all together for the same reason. Every conflict, every sense of bitterness, everyone left their past behind and for this one day we were all unified. We all made our mark on history. After Barack Obama was sworn it, there were tears of joy all around. People of all ages, all races, and all creeds were hugging each other as if they've known each other all their lives. The energy in the air was overwhelming. We all knew that what we experienced would never be forgotten.

So, thanks to everyone for traveling back in time with me and reliving some of my past adventures.  And just like always, we are taking suggestions for our list and encouraging you to go out and complete your own list. Tell us what you've done! We love hearing from you!

Until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love always,
The Go Getters

Monday, November 22, 2010

Dammit, Janet!

Hey guys! Are you ready for a new post?! Here we go!

So on Saturday we went to Newark, Delaware for THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW midnight showing! For those of you who don't know, it's a whole big thing with props and actors and talking back to the screen. Becky and I were joined by Jamie (you know Jamie), our friend Tim and Becky's friend Sam. Before the show we stopped at Klondike Kate's for some Red Bull Vodkas, because we weren't sure if we would be able to stay up through the whole thing haha, and then we were off to the show!

Do you know what happens when you go to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror for the first time?

     
This. This is what happens.

They label you a "virgin" and draw a nice big V on your forehead with lipstick. I tried to avoid it, but it was inevitable. Notice the other Sam is NOT a virgin, and therefore has no giant red V on her forehead. Darn.


We had to take this picture outside because, surprisingly enough, they were SUPER STRICT about their rules! They told us to take the pictures outside and then put the camera in the car before we could go back inside. Spoiler Alert: We didn't do that.

So after buying tickets from the lady who looked an awful lot like McLovin, we bought our prop bags and got in our seats.

Prop bags are necessary for throwing stuff at the stage, looking ridiculous and various other shenanigans. 

Despite trying to pay attention, we missed some of the cues and ended up just throwing things at random times. Also, DO NOT try to eat the popcorn. No matter how tempting it may look, it is stale and disgusting. Don't try it.

Before the show started they called up all of us virgins, Becky was in the bathroom and didn't have to go to the front, and had us act out the famous Lady and the Tramp Scene with Twizzlers. Yea, it was weird. Luckily, Jamie and I had a plan and just kissed each other's cheeks. Tim, however, was not so lucky. I won't go into detail, but oh, poor Tim. Poor, poor Tim.
Jamie and I are the adorable couple in the middle. Thanks for sneakin a pic, Beck!
So I'd say the best part of the show was the talking back to the cast. Luckily, we had a regular sitting in front of us and he yelled out all of the lines perfectly. I wish I had written some of them down...but I didn't. So you'll just have to go see your own midnight showing!


Despite their crazy obsessiveness about not having cameras in the theater, we managed to sneak some pictures:
Lips.

The big entrance. 

 Becky's cell phone pics came out way better than mine!


 
Big finish! 


Rocky Horror was a lot of fun. The cast was okay, I didn't really pay much attention to them, I watched the actual movie instead. But the shouting out during the movie was totally the best part. I even got to join in! Whenever the narrator says Janet's name you're supposed to yell "Slut!" I finally caught onto that one by the middle of the movie. That's it though, for the most part we sat back and enjoyed everyone else yelling.

After the show we wanted to get a picture with the cast, because honestly, they loved us. BUT, their stupid rules again, they made us go outside in the freezing cold. (After "going to the car" to get the camera) But at least we have this to show for it:

And the two boys on the left are the boys who knew all the lines. They also loved us

So in conclusion, Rocky Horror Picture Show Midnight Showing in Delaware = Awesome. Success. Would go again.

And until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love always,
The Go Getters