'Appy 'Irfday to ME: Why am I singing this alone, LOL

View of Bern Switzerland

The monumental 21st birthday of RSSJ was spent in the land of the Swiss (which is too damn expensive, lol). First stop on Friday the 4th was Bern after a 4.5 hour train ride. The city is built on hills, so me being a citizen used to the flat Illinois terrain... Switzerland presented a problem! Getting to my hostel proved to be a trial because, me and my lack of common sense as my ma would say forget to write the address to my hostel down and clearly my phonetics don't match the Swiss' at all, so I spent 20 minutes trying to get the taxi cab driver to understand where I was going. My hostel happened to be along the river which was really beautiful, however it was unfortunately DOWN hill from the city-centre. So after unpacking I had to make the hike back up... and lets just say I stopped to talk to a few of the stray cats along the way, cus that shit was INTENSE. Once, I made it up the hill... Three main goals: Einstein House (connect to the subject I hate the most i.e. physics, lol), Buy a watch, and the Clock Tower. It was really cool walking through the Einstein House and seeing the couch and tables where he once sat and ate. And apparently for the folks in Switzerland, the Einstein look is wats up because I saw hella dudes with unkempt gray hair and those mustaches! The clock tower was amazing to see and I did happen to find the watch that I most desperately wanted. However, I walked away and couldn't find the store again... *sadface* So after my day tours I went back to the hostel to skype only to discover that my Euro- wall adapter apparently does not apply to Switzerland *double sadface*. I could have sworn they were in the European Union as well, so with my computer dead after one Skype session with Jessica, I had to turn to the evening plans to a club.  After my search I found a club in the city, so I got dressed and made my way back up the hill around 10pm. I stopped at McDonalds (which was my only choice of meals because I was being cheap and that was equivalent to 12 dollars) and then headed to the club. Now, WTFITS.... I get into the club and there is literally no one there with a piece of facial hair... I felt like I walked into a high school dance, so clearly I had to dip. I spent that evening walking downhill and praying to God as my 21st birthday approached!

Nupey Pik

Happy Birthday to me, Happy birthday to me... what went through my mind as I woke up Saturday! I happen to have a very interesting breakfast to start my interesting day! I woke up to find that, and I don't wanna sound racist.... BUt one of the damn Asians in my hostel room stole my glasses... come on now, lol! I was mad but it isn't like they were RayBan's, so I got over it. For my birthday breakfast I had cereal with sunflower seeds in it... o_O Once breakfast was over, made my way to the train station for stop #2- Lucerne, Switzerland! It was so beautiful and I definitely enjoyed all of my 3 hours there. There was a festival going on and I was greeted by people dressed in all costumes and the sounds of a band playing in the distance. So me being me, I followed the sound and lets just say that band was cracking... they played Rolling in the River! As I continued to walk through the festive streets, I saw some cool clocks in a window that had star placements for zodiac, etc. Above all I found the H&M, lol So my bday was  going great!

This was good

That afternoon, I embarked on the journey to my last birthday destination, Zurich. I arrived and got soooo lost trying to find my hotel... the cab drivers wouldn't give me a ride because they kept saying it was right down the street but that damn thing was hiding from me! So after a few pitstops in random hotels and restaurants for directions, I finally made it there. Let's just say my Hotel was Ballin'! It definitely put a nice touch on my birthday... My room had a TV with two English Channels #FTW I spent my afternoon watching MTV and CNN, before taking a well deserved nap. Once I awoke from my nap, it was time to the hit the city! The churches and sites were phenomenal to see and on my way I saw this upscale cupcake shop... I figured no one else was going to buy me birthday cake so I celebrated with 2 red velvet cupcakes from the Cupcake Affair and they were sooooooooo good. A wonderful gift to myself and on top of that the shopping in Zurich: ON POINT, lol. After, walking around for a few hours (more hills included) I went back to the hotel to make my Skype BDAY Calls and check the FB wall. Honestly, this was definitely one of the highlights of my birthday... knowing that people truly do care and love is a good thing. After a nice chat with fam and friends, I had to get ready for the club connected to my hotel, called XTRA for Latin night. In short words, the club was KRAKKing... and apparently I was Kid Cudi for the night (must be the glasses that I had to replace at the nearest H&M thanks to those Asians, lol). However, the downfall was that I had no cash and the club excepted no cards so I was drinkless which is not an option for a 21st. So after an hour or so at the club I made my way to the Hotel's bar and ordered my first two drinks... A long island and a hurricane! To say the least I was alotta tipsy when I left there so my bday night was well spent.

Last Weekend of Break: Scared White Ladies and all

So considering that much of my vacation time had been postponed due to my lack of French speaking abilities and SFR(thats the internet company) I decided to spend my weekend it Paris and visited Ibrahim!

I got there a little early and the funniest thing happen when I approached his apartment building entrance. It was about 4pm and this little old white French lady started to approach the door... me being cautious (trying to avoid giving her any signs of trouble) stood back to let her enter the door! She kindly entered the code while glancing over her shoulder back at me and I must say, she probably scraped the skin off her knee caps and nose trying to hurry and close the door behind her while peering at me through the glass. So to be funny, I entered the code and walked right in behind her, lol (I know its bad!) But really lady, come on... you think I would rob you in broad day light with glass doors to your apartment building. But that was just my welcoming experience into Paris once again!

I called up Ibrahim to discover that he wouldn't be done with research until 6:30 so that gave me time to tour the neighborhood! I loved all the little shops of random quirky stuff, and when I actually put myself up to it... I will start buying people's souvenirs. I checked out the mall too, and I have come to the conclusion that French neighborhood malls are just better, but maybe thats becuase my neighborhood mall is Ford city, LOL!

Starbucks seat from 3 years ago!

Once I met up with Ibra, we took a trip to the Louvre... for the exclusive visiting time for city residents only... (this made me feel like a true Parisian!) Walking through the Louvre didn't seem as overwhelming from the first time I went back in high-school... Although I did get lost like 5 times and on one of those journeys, GET THIS, I saw two people I know from UIUC! WTF I am in the biggest museum of the world, during exclusive hours, on a Friday night, and I see two people I know... this world is truly small! Got to see the Mona Lisa, as close as you can get to it's nice and all but the whole big fascination especially when the picture directly opposite is HUMONGOUS (come on people!) The highlight of my Louvre trip was getting to take a picture on the exact sofa (at least I think it was) in the same spot of a starbucks me and my friends chilled in high school 3 years ago!

My Mona and nem' pose lol

Why does no one see me with that 5x7 across from me LOL

L'HOMME... all this for MENS SHOPPING! #FTW

After the Louvre, we did some intense window shopping in downtown Paris and it makes me want my engineering job NOW! You have Gucci, Louie, and POLO  (Black Label) chillin on the same block. The best thing about downtown shopping is this HUGE mall that has two buildings connected and one is completely dedicated to L'HOMME! I haven't been in there yet but I pray God keeps my wallet intact, lol!

Then we had dinner at McDonald's with a nice discussion about my educational future.. (debate over me taking Phys 212 again---DEATH OF ME) we headed back to his place and he discovered Lil Kim's new video dissing Nicki Minaj! Now I would have never thought in a million years I would be defending Nicki Minaj in any type of circumstance... However I feel that Roman's Revenge was a better song than that of Lil Kim's! Ibrahim being the person he is (a frikkin PhD owner) wanted to breakdown things all scientifically, without the basis of understanding the metaphors from Nikki's verses, LOL!

So after, about an hour of this I checked my email and what do I see... An internship offer from GE, which threw me into worship mode because this was definitely not a part of my expectations at all!  With that Ibrahim decided he was going out (mind you it was 3AM already) but I stayed in skyped with my ship, and watched a movie...

Saturday marked one of my favorite days in Paris----I TOOK A HIP HOP CLASS AT STUDIO HARMONIC! Funny how a language barrier totally disappears with dance! It was so much fun and I definitely enjoyed being in the company of other dancers.. makes me =D

LOVE's Reflection

I spent the last week of my break trying to figure out my internet situation, which didn't get figured out finally until YESTERDAY! I insisted on informing these people that I did not have the wall connection necessary, only to discover after a week it was hidden behind my gigantic shelving unit! #sadface

On a better note, I also spent my last week of break delving deeper into the word of God... with my new book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan (lol at first I typed Chris Francis and realized that was completely wrong) and if you want to be amazed check out this vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ya12I036lg.

Chapter  5 discussed LOVE, and what it truly means. It got me thinking about how we get so indulged in ourselves... We forget to love (the right way!) I took the verse, as Francis stated, from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "Love is patient and kind; Love does not envy or boast; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.... faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is Love." and inserted my name in place of the word love, and it literally brought me to tears. This is how we should live each and every day carrying out Christ's greatest command... To Love each other!

Another part of Chapter 5 discussed how we should always be running after GOD, because if we are running how can we ever fail! He used the analogy of trying to race and eat a box of twinkies... at some point you will have to choose (question is we often times indulge in that twinkie and stop our legs from moving) This thought brought new meaning to one of my favorite songs by Tye Tribbett, "Chasing after YOU" Which is my profession to Christ... I will be running and seeking God for all of my days!

GLORY!

I guess the streets of France ARE really confusing...

So today was a day to remember! I went into Paris in search of dance studio's which was unsuccessful... but nonetheless, I found another favorite train stop known as Bastille! The Opera House is located here and its full of shops, stores, and some good night life! My favorite part were all the furniture stores, with the extravagant displays (never too early to get ideas for my Condo when I'm making bank!) which have brought me to the conclusion that IKEA 'aint' got shit on France!

Now, the more interesting part of day came on my ride home.  Apparently there is some problem with the RER A trains (equivalent to the Metra) in Paris/Cergy. So this morning it all went well although I forgot to get off the train the first time so I ended back up where I started (no worries, it was only two stops). However, this evening I got to the train stop to transfer to the buses that they have working in between the stops that can't be accessed for the past couple days... The bus driver got to the the first stop OK, or at least it seemed so because I was in tune with the Lonnie Hunter playing on my ipod! Then I felt the bus jerk a few too many times and looked up to find out he'd made a wrong turn. Now I'm thinking, no biggie, it's just  wrong turn. THEN, he enters a traffic circle and find myself losing my balance due to the centripetal acceleration because he has gone around not once or twice, but THREE times! And at this point the whole bus and I had caught on... and I look up, this dude is on a cell phone trying to get directions: YOU'RE A BUS DRIVER... SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND THE CITY! But, after about 3 or 4 OR 5 more wrong turns and traffic circles, we ended up at the station. Luckily, the gospel playing on my I-pod could only bring me to laugh at the situation and say "Merci et Au revoir" to the bus driver. I guess the streets are not just confusing for tourists... but also for those that are supposed to know them like the back of their hand!

Amsterdam.... Enough Said!

I finished "A Free Life" during my train ride to and from Amsterdam.... which was crazy! The city was beautiful and the "scenery" was wild. They have girls/ people getting it crackin in the windows like it's nothing. Found out you have to smoke cigarettes in a glass box because it's illegal however, you can smoke weed wherever/whenever you want o_O. And speaking of the herbs... Amsterdam has it like no other! There are seed stores and coffeeshops on almost every corner! Another thing, was that you barely see any cars at all! The city is full of bikes, trams, row boats,  and buses (I guess there is enough going on in the air without car emissions added to the mix).

First view from the train station

Graffiti Here is Amazing

YES people, its a bank for all kinds of seeds!

But of all of this, Amsterdam had an effect on me for the better! One day I will go back and maybe see the place in a new light!

RANDOMS!

I Finished Harry Potter- 7 books, 7 weeks.... and by far some of the most amazing reading I have ever done. J.K. is a beast when it comes to writing and honestly I wish the series didn't stop... Now I get to watch all the movies over and see whats different!
Now I'm reading "A Free Life" by  Ha Jin and it is a really good book! I'm delving into the lives of Chinese immigrants trying to find their way creating their identity while seeking the American Dream.

I went to the movies to see "Black Swan"--- This was a really great show. I loved the movie and the message of it! It was awkwardly disturbing but thats what drew me into it...

Journey to America: Part 2- Germany

“Ohhhhh Germany, how did you almost eff’’ up my entire life!”

We woke up in Brussels, missed our first train and were on our way to a city called Kaiserslautern, where we didn’t have an address to the Ball because Google sucked and Danielle’s aunt had to return to the states for an Emergency. We didn’t have a place to stay and had no idea how to speak a lick of German, and I’m talking not even how to say hello!

But by the grace of God, with Danielle data roaming we found a hostel on our train 10 minutes before our stop with the hopes that it was close to us! We got off the train in Kaiserslautern past 7pm, while the ball which we still didn’t know the location of had started at 6pm.  We went to the taxi man who spoke no English and showed him the paper with the address of our hostel, hoping it was close by! He started driving and soon the meter reached 20 Euro and it didn’t look as if a hostel was coming up any time soon considering we were driving down long dark roads with what appeared to be woods on our left and right! Once I came to this sight, I started thinking… “I can not DIE in Germany… I didn’t tell my mother exactly what city in Germany I am in… Switch the Iphone to Emergency call with 112 ready( that’s the European Union emergency number)…” I gave Danielle that look at started thinking of everything that I had in my book bag , which was on my lap, that can be used as weapon: I started loosening my belt which would become my strangler, trying to think of ways to discretely get to my shoe strings.  Then the dude pulled into a part of the forest up to one of the gates that  you see on a farm that Jason is lurking in and was about to proceed to make a turn down this dirt road on our right, saying, “That way, that way” I said, “hell naw, turn around!!!” And On my left, Danielle was pulling out her mase and googling how to say, “Take me back to the station!” in German! Yes, people we were not about to be a feature of TAKEN #lbs! When he finally got back on the main road, we saw a building with some lights and then we saw children running around playing in a playground and we figured, “Aight we cool then!” We went into the hostel, which was really beautiful, and while the lady was checking us in started talking about our silent communications of how we would take down the taxi driver and steal his cab! LOL

When we finally checked into the hostel, I ordered wifi and proceeded to look for the address of the Armstrong Club, which was the location of the ball! We called a taxi and got dressed and when we said Armstrong’s Club luckily he knew where it was! At this point, all seemed well; We were looking good, on our way to the ball, and getting it cracking to the German radio station on our way!

THEN………………. We pulled up to the gate of an Army base, presented our passports and said we were there for the ball! The soldier looked at us and asked, “Do you have ID card?” and we were like, “No, we just have passports” and his response being, “Well, you can’t go in unless you have someone with an ID card with you.” So now we are standing at the gate stranded with no one to call inside the ball and Danielle’s cousin on a plane making her way to the states! Yeah, our wonderful weekend seemed to have come to a halt. Then Danielle made me start soliciting myself to passing cars, talking about I look good and that somebody will probably check us in…. FAIL! So we finally, got a number inside the club to the kitchen delivery services and one of the guys their helped us out so much by finding someone in the party upstairs and letting them know we were at the gate! After 45 minutes of waiting and debating whether to leave we were finally in the ball! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

That night we stayed at Ms. Joyce’s crib, a woman of DST, and her house was Amazing! She had American television, the most comfortable couch, popcorn, Italian sparkling wine, and good convo! We spent our evening watching Princess and the Frog , SAW I (which made me realize just how old I was considering that came out when I was 14), and Madea Goes to Jail… clearly we barely wanted to sleep because we had a TV we understand!

The next day we went to the Airforce base and they had a place that was like a mall straight out of America... WITH AMERICAN FOOD!!!! I'm talking Captain Hooks and Mandarin Wok (which is what I enjoyed)! Unfortunately due to Danielle's obsession with Girl Scout Cookies (even though I had them for the time and they were good as hell) we missed our train by 2 minutes which meant skyping into my neophyte was not looking to happen!

So we caught a later train, ended up falling asleep on that train and had to schedule another train... At this point I was depressed because I knew there was no hope for my Neophyte...But, luckily Europe loves to give free wifi in restaurants and we found a Burger King where I could skype right outside the train station! So I threw on my tux and bowtie and skyped into the Neophyte at last. It marked one of the happiest days of my life and was a great ending to an AMAZING weekend.

Journey to America: Part 1- Brussels

So this weekend had to mark one of the greatest one’s of my life! Among the greatness was my journey to Brussels, Belgium and so the story begins… It  starts with being in French Class the day before and my teacher asking all of us what our plans were for our 2 week break! When it got to me, I said I was going to Brussels, Germany and Metz.  Then the second part of the question came which was when was our departure? My answer: “A demain!” which might not have been a good one since I was scheduled to attend French on Friday as well, but the ticket was bought and I was ready! So the next day I caught my train to meet Danielle in Brussels, and that’s where we ran into our first little problem… In all of trip planning we never discussed exactly where we were going to meet considering I had no phone and she got there 30 minutes before me. Turns out, we ended up at different stations and I had to pay 10 Euro to use wifi and call her and my mom to let them know where I was. Once there we made our way to our hostel, got settled, and set out on our journey of shopping for dress pants for me and gown for Danielle in preparation for the Krimson and Kream Ball the next evening. We caught the metro , and I must say the CTA has nothing on the style of Brussel trains: I’m talking leather holding sraps and seats, with computer screens displaying your next stop on the train! We were on our way to completing the list for Brussels Danielle made including:

1. Finding Ball attire :I found two bowties in my first store in Brussels, which seemed impossible to find in Paris, believe it or not! With the decline in our available time for shopping because Europeans don’t like to work at ALL: They open at 10, close at 7 and have a two hour lunch, WTF! But, I found some gray pants in Celio after running around with Danielle who took over 2 hours to find her knee length dress.

2. Having a waffle: The waffle was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted, EVER as far as dessert! The warm waffle with the glazed sugar was the perfect combination, making it gone in a matter of minutes… All I was missing was a glass of milk.

3. Belgium Chocolate : As far as chocolate, Belgium has every kind you could ever imagine for CHEAP and I discovered that my favorite is the kind with alcohol! I bought a box with amaretto inside and a box with Champagne inside, after eating about half of the free samples #lbs

4. Belgium Fries: I had some of these during my first meal in Brussels and they were really good. I knew that they understood fries when the man put ketchup in the bottom of the container, put the fries in, then put ketchup on top! He understand that the ketchup has to be evenly distributed and I hope one day America can learn from this excellent quality of Brussels!

5. Visiting the Mannekan : Funniest thing ever because Danielle went all over Brussels searching for this… All the stores had huge statues of it, in different outfits and all… and when we finally see it, Danielle says, “I didn’t think he was that small,” and we looked at eachother and started rolling!

6. Brussels Beer: After seeing Mannekan, we stopped in the nearest bar and tried the beer! We had their Combi 1, which included 6 different beers, 4 of which I liked!

7.Visiting the Royal Palace. : This is where I had to take the crazy photos!

Let’s just say Brussels became one of my favorite places on earth! The city was beyond beautiful and for the first time in my life I was shopping in a place where there were more stores catered to me then women…. definitely whats up!

MUCH TIME! but no time for HairKut!

So much time has past since my last post and lets just say that after the fiasco with my account (I still hate TCF) I have been pretty busy....shopping! This week marked a great one in my life because Tuesday was the Founders Day of Kappa Alpha Psi Greater Beta Chapter.... Shoutout to the NUPES! YO YO!!! And while on the subject of the Nupes, it is with much regret that I am missing my first Krimson and Kream Ball hosted by my chapter. But, I will be at the Krimson and Kream Ball (it's a Delta Ball, but since I'm a Nupe and I will be present, I've made a new declaration) in GERMANY this weekend!!! Apparently my friend Danielle has a cousin here that is greek and she got us tickets, so the tux is out and mon papillon est pret!

This past weekend I went Salsa dancing with Ibrahim, a beastly salsa dancer and member of the Caliente Fam. We went out with two of his fellow coworkers, one which happened to be a supermodel and I must say a brother looks good because she definitely wanted a piece of moi! But enough about that because things like that spring me into trouble....

And now lets see, this week I officially got my Eurail Pass which means Europe here I come. Belguim, Germany, and Metz are on the list for the weekend. Amderstam might be later next week *wink wink*

Now, Unfortunately due to the fact that this world can't seem to go without taxing any and everything my adventure for a SLR camera has come to halt---> For my camera to get through French customs, its well over 200 dollars and for my old camera to ship from home it's 150 dollars and probably some custom fees will be tacked on to that. So for all you folks waiting on the glorious photos... Sry but the Iphone has got to do for a while.

Which brings me to the close of todays blog.... I set out on a journey to find a barbershop, because lets face it, I need a Klean Kut for this ball. So I took the metro into Paris and started walking around the neighborhood of my old hostel. When I finally found the barbershop there was an Arab man with someone already in his chair. I saw the dude's lining and it was clean so I thought, "it's either this or I would need to buy a pair of clippers!" So I sat and watched him cut the guys hair and with each moment more fear built up inside of me. For one, he was using scissors and well all know you do not raise scissors to a fade! Then I saw him using a razor, and I usually don't mess with those either! And so the final string was pulled when I saw him using gel and a blow dryer.... The feeling I had in my stomach was the same one as a kid when my mom grabbed the clippers and a bowl from the cabinet for me and my brother. At last it was my turn, the barber and I spent about 20 minutes of trying to translate what 'EVEN all-around' was, when finally I just said cut it and I closed my eyes. Surprisingly, the kut was not that bad.... I was a little skeptical of my lining at first but it is decent! So now, I have conquered one of my most dreaded fears of a foreign world: THE BARBER!

Australia Day!

So much has happened in the past week of my life! I moved into an amazing hostel called St. Christopher's Inn on Monday and stayed there for an entire week. It was much better than my previous hostel, ALOHA! The people were really cool and the bar was really fun (in moderation of course). I met some cool Aussie's who were celebrating Australia Day on January 26th. I happened to be in the wifi cafe trying to skype some folks and overheard them trying to guess whether I was American or French... then they called out "Ayy Mate!" and I let them know I was from Chicago. The day kept going and before I knew it there 12 people sitting around 3 small cafe tables topped with empty beer bottles. I met another Chicagoan girl Wesley that was traveling for two months! France was her last stop before returning to the city for work.  I was really excited to meet a fellow black American (no offense to all the other great peeps), Rhonda who was quite interested to spark a conversation when she saw my laptop displaying K-A- Psi. We had a conversation about the differences in greek life between Howard and U of I. She was a really cool person who had an interesting story about how she ended up in France. She told me she flipped through a magazine it landed on a page and she decided if she can save up a enough money in 2 months she was going and that's exactly what she did. I found it interesting that this was the same way she made her decision to go to Howard! I think I might use this method of chance and put the countries across Europe in a hat and just pull one out to see where I will make my next trip. After a great afternoon chatting with Aussie's and fellow Americans I went out to a bar called Cafe Auss and I had a great time with Wesley and another girl I met Meghan who was originally from California but staying in Texas( she said I had to mention her that way). I did discover that Guiness tastes like piss and I will probably be sticking with Light Beer for a while. We met a few guys that were on the tour through Paris the previous day and lets just say the night got really interesting. For one, this guy kept getting us shots of everything which were pretty good, but what shocked me the most was his offer at the end of the night. It was about 12am and we were about to leave and he offered Wesley and me Coke... and I am not talking about the one you drink. I must say that was a little too much for me to indulge in so I grabbed Wesley and Meghan and we chucked the deuces. I finished that night by landing on my bed and going to sleep!