Staying for a Bit

UGH. Rough morninggggg. If you couldn't tell by my last post, I had more than a little to drink last night. The hang over is worth it though. I had a great time. The other volunteers at the center are amazing. I have made some life long friends here. Also, they asked me to stay and be a long term volunteer! I have to think about it a little bit more but I could definitely see myself staying here. The long term volunteers have a lot more responsibility and are project heads. I think I am going to call my mom later today and talk to her about it. I'm sure she'll freak out and demand that I come home. We'll see. She wasn't too excited when she found out I was going on this trip but she was surprisingly supportive. I'll keep you posted!

I am getting lunch with my friend Robby today. He is from California and is on a similar path as me. He left home about a month ago and is traveling in the opposite direction. We have really hit it off and he is also deciding if he wants to spend the summer in New Orleans. I'm looking forward to talking to him about it.

I may or may not post. I have a big day on site tomorrow. If I have time you'll hear from me!

-L

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FEST!

I just got back from spending the day at New Orleans Jazz Fest! It was so much fun!!! We came home to get some rest and take a little bit of a break from the action but we are planning to head down to Bourbon Street soon! I am having an amazing time. I think that I would like to move down here someday. The people are so friendly and there is so much to do. The live music has been amazing. I have always been drawn to live music but I think I've officially fallen in love with it! Almost every night I have gone to a different show. There are even jazz bands playing on the side of the street! The culture is awesome. The food is delicious. I love it!

I am so excited! Can't wait to keep partyingggg.

YAY

-L

So Many Adventures!

My flat tired situation worked out alright even though it took AAA 3 hours to come! I guess it was nice to have a break. The Outer Banks was absolutely amazing! I worked on my rusty surfing skills and by the third day I wasn't too bad! The weather is already so much warmer down south. It was so sunny and beautiful the whole time I was in the Outer Banks. I was way way too busy hanging out on the beach to keep up with my blog! I'm sorry! I'm having such a great time and an amazing series of adventures but I don't know if I am going to be able to keep up with the blog. I finally feel as if I have made the perfect decision in my life. I have gotten back in touch with old friends and made so many new friends along the way. It was so hard to leave the Outer Banks but I was so excited to get on the road. Right now, I am in New Orleans! I drove down the coast and stopped to visit my cousin in Harrisonburg, VA. for a few days. I LOVE New Orleans so far. I am staying at a volunteer center and I have been working with them to complete a few projects around the city. They are still working on fixing up some of the houses that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

If I have time in my travels I will update but if not, I'm sorry! I am going to keep going on my adventure until my funds run out!

Thanks for following!

-L

Emergencyyyy

I just got a fucking flat tireeeee. I'm so annoyed. Right now I am still about 3 hours from Jason's house in the Outerbanks. I was just driving along and hit a HUGE pothole. Thank God I have AAA. I was able to pull off the exit and into a rest stop with WiFi. I'm pretty lucky actually so I can surf the internet and vent on here! I'm calming my frustration with a huge cup of gas station coffee and a vending machine candy bar. AAA says they will be here in under an hour. We'll see. UGH!

Looks Can Be Deceiving!

So, Jess and James are quite the pair and have made D.C. a veryyy interesting experience. I got into the city around 5 on Friday night and decided to have dinner by myself and walk around a little bit. I am not a particularly shy person but I wanted to have some prep time before I had to introduce myself to the 2 total strangers I would be staying with for a few nights. I stopped at a little restaurant that boasted that it had the best crab pretzel in the city. I'd never tried a crab pretzel so I figured it was worth a shot. I actually really liked it! It is always kind of awkward to go out to dinner alone. Thankfully, I brought my book and got some reading in. Little did I know then that I wouldn't have a chance to read again for the rest of the weekend.

After dinner, I walked around and looked in some store windows. The weather was really nice so I enjoyed some time to explore. I arrived at Jess and James' around 8 and they were already WASTED! I expected a totally different type of welcoming. They greeted me in the doorway and led me into the kitchen where they already had a shot poured for me! I wasn't about to offend my host and hostess so I went along with it. I thought, this is turning into a drinking vacation...don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good party but I had literally just recovered from my NYC shenanigans. Meanwhile, more and more of their friends arrived and they ended up having a huge party at their TINY apartment. I just kept drinking and drinking so I wouldn't feel awkward....BAD coping mechanism, I know. Late at night, well really early in the morning, people began to leave and I found myself sitting between Jess and James on the couch with 2 of their other friends sitting across from us. I couldn't help but feel like both of them were hitting on me. I chalked it up to the alcohol at first but after a while, it became quite clear that the leg grazes were not accidental. Feeling awkward, I got up to use the bathroom and when I came back Jess was making out with the OTHER guy that was not James! She motioned for me to join and it immediately clicked...they were SWINGERS! All four of these polo and seersucker clad prepsters were about to have a foursome and wanted me include--fivesome I guess... Very intoxicated and overwhelmed, I declined as politely as possible. Although, I'm 100 percent sure my shock was visible. They understood and the four of them ventured into the bedroom. Thankfully, I had brought my Ipod. I took one more shot for good measure and turned my music up as loud as possible and squeezed my eyes shut till I fell asleep.

Needless to say, I left early in the morning and spent last night at the Holiday Inn. I'm a little bit bummed because I handled the situation awkwardly (I mean how else would I have handled it!) and I didn't want to call either of them to show me around the next day. So, D.C. has been a bit lonely. I had a solo picnic on the water and went on a few tours of various historical sites. I enjoyed the city a lot. There are so many beautiful parks and stunning flowers and trees. I'll have to come back with friends next time.

I'm off to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I'm really excited! I know it is still early in the season but my childhood friend Jason lives there now and he promised me a surf lesson! I'll be in the Corolla area for 3 days. I hope the weather is nice. It isn't beach season yet but I'm not too bad on a surf board. When we were kids, Jason used to take me out surfing with him and his brother in Connecticut. I haven't seen him few 2 years but I made sure to visit his family when I was in CT. He is the kind of friend that you can talk to once every few months and its like you never left each other. We spent every summer together from the time we were born until we were about 22.

Post soon--

-L

On to D.C.

New York City has been amazing. I'm thinking of maybe moving here when I'm done traveling. My friend Sarah showed me an awesome time! On Wednesday night we went out with a lot of her friends and our friend Mike from college who also lives in the city. It was a little bit overwhelming though. It seemed like we went to a million bars and I got a little bit too drunk! I was planning on leaving NYC yesterday but I couldn't think of driving all the way to D.C. with my head pounding that bad. We started off drinking at Sarah's apartment with some of her friends. I haven't taken shots since college but we decided to whip out the bottle of vodka for old times sake! After about 4 shots things started to get a little bit wild! Sarah's guy friends that live on the floor below her came over to hang out with us. They were hilarious. She had this one friend Marc that was so cute and very funny. I was immediately attracted to him. They brought over some beer so before I knew it we were all pretty wasted and having a rowdy time. At about 11 pm we left to head to a bar close to the apartment building. It was more like a pub if you ask me. We ordered a round of wings and continued drinking. My memory is a little blurry from this point on but I remember little parts. We stumbled as a group outside the bar and hailed a cab. The cab driver was a flamboyant man from the Dominican Republic. I told him about my plans to travel around the U.S. and he recommended that I go visit his family in the DR. I lied and told him that I spoke Spanish. OOPS! My lies still come out when I'm drunk. I took a few Spanish classes in college but I'm veryyy rusty. As soon as I told the man I spoke Spanish I knew I'd be subject to having a conversation. Ugh. It was terrible. After a few failed attempts to speak Spanish I laughed and admitted to the whole cab and the drive that I'd lied and I only spoke the few words I'd learned in college. It was surprisingly easy to admit and everyone got a good laugh about it. By the time we got to the next bar things were heating up between Marc and I. He kept putting his arm around me. At the bar he bought me a drink and asked me to dance. We made our way onto the dance floor and had a great time! Soon all of Sarah's friends joined us on the dance floor and Mike and Sarah started dancing together! As far as I knew, they had been just friends! Apparently not, I remember them kissing and he ended up going home with her later that night. I didn't know until the morning because I went back to Marc's house! I barely remember it but we had sex! It was awesome even if it was pretty clumsy.  Even though I'll probably never see him again it was really fun to hang out with an awesome guy. The morning was a little bit awkward. I haven't had a one night stand since college and I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, Sarah only lived one floor up so I mumbled something about how she must be wondering where I am and ran out.

Anyway, we sat around laughing about our drunken night and eating pizza and ice cream. It was like we were back in college again. It was great. I spent one last night on the couch in Sarah's apartment and left early this morning. Right now I am in a coffee shop along the highway. I was still tired from my time in New York so I decided to take a little break. I'm on my way to D.C. now. I don't know anyone to stay with in D.C. but I joined this couch surfer network on the internet before I left and I am sleeping at one of the other members apartments right in the city. I'm a little bit nervous. Her name is Jess and she lives with her boyfriend James. They look a little bit up tight from their pictures. Like matching polo shirts and seersucker pants. They joined the couch surfing network because they have an extra room and say they like to network. We'll see how it goes. They seem really nice so far!

I'll keep you posted!

-L

CRAZY Week!

I've been on the road for 3 days and it has been AMAZING! Right now, I am in New York City. I haven't gotten too far yet seeing as Boston is only about 4 hours away! But I love this city! Also, it took me a few days to get here because I stopped to visit some family in Mystic, CT.

I guess I need to backtrack and explain why I left a few days later than planned. So, as I was packing up to leave on Thursday night, my friend from work called and told me that she couldn't sublet my apartment anymore! I was so mad. Finally, I had this amazing opportunity and she all of a sudden was preventing me from doing it! Needless to say, I was not very friendly when she told me. After I hung up the phone I was really upset but I knew that I needed to go on this trip no matter what. I spent the next few days in constant contact with my landlord and on the phone with friends. Finally, my friend that was originally going to sublet called me back and said that she changed her mind yet AGAIN! I said okay and told her this was her last chance to back out but she didn't! I left the next day, Sunday. Close call...

I hoped on the road and headed down to coastal Connecticut to visit my family. I grew up going there in the summers and I was really looking forward to returning. When I pulled into the town I was flooded with memories. I can't believe how many years it took me to return here. Even though it isn't summer yet, I pulled over and took a walk along the beach. I arrived at my Grandparents house in the late afternoon. They were thrilled to see me! I spent Sunday night to Tuesday morning visiting all of my favorite spots like the Mystic Aquarium, the Mystic Seaport, and the Mystic Drawbridge. It was hard to leave but I was excited to get to New York City.

I arrived in New York City late last night. I have a good friend from college that lives in the city, Sarah. I haven't seen her since college so it was so exciting to be reunited! Since I got in so late last night we couldn't go explore the city but we will tonight! I can't wait.

I have to go. We are going for a walk around the city.

--L