travels

it's 3:30 AM and i'm bored with nothing to do so maybe i should write about some random travels i've done this year!


February
Went to Madison, Wisconsin with my buddy George for two of his special studies I films, in which I had to act. -__- Anyway this was from early Thursday 2/12 (talking 5 AM pick up time) to late Saturday the 14th. I remember I felt bad not being with Jonathan on Valentine's Day (though we don't really care for/celebrate it) but I got George to get us back in Chicago by 10pm.
George's classmate Mitch Buss and Mitch's old friend who is a waiter named Ian came along too. George and Mitch drove and we were cramped in George's family's van that was packed all the way up to our backseat area with lighting equipment. I remember at one point at night George was driving and well he fell asleep for a second cause I watched as the car veered left and he certainly woke up when we drove over the sidewalk!
Madison is a cute city; their downtown is totally different. They have so many more unique shops and restaurants and it's not all MCDONALDS H&M GAP CHIPOTLE! We went in a few shops but I only got some gifts (including a Hello Kitty toaster, yes) at the Urban Outfitters. I was so ecstatic at their 5% tax rate ahah aha.
I remember there was this one night where Mitch, Ian, and I just walked around their town square waiting for George. We walked up to their capitol building, from which eight streets span out like rays. It started snowing lightly but we saw this dump truck dumping a bunch of snow on the ground and we were like wtf you crazy wisconsin ppl. Well we asked what was up and apparently they had some winter games thing that weekend where people got to ski or whatever all through the big streets and since there wasn't yet snow to do so, they were doing it themselves.
anywho UWisc kids have a really, really nice campus. i was quite jealous. it was the second real, big campus i've been on since MAASU 08 @ UKansas.
We found this body of water somewhere and I saw some canoes and thought that I'd like to try it out here. I remember being so amazed at the difference in Chicagoans and these people from Madison. First off George got permission to shoot in their historical society! And the people there- well, there was this old man who was there every day that we were there, and I noticed that we leave for a few hours, with his bag and stuff still open in the area. I was just amazed cus that shit woulda been snatched in Chicago.
Hmm I think that's all the random I have for Madison.

In early April (the 3rd-5th) ASO and I embarked on my second MAASU, this time to UMich in Ann Arbor, MI. It was only a four-hour drive; I can't even fathom how we did nine hours last year!
UMich had a big campus, too, although some areas looked pretty broke, gotta say. Just some areas looked like they hadn't been touched in a long time I guess. But like the building we were in, their new science and research building - very beautiful main floor!
On the Sunday that we left, we all had some grub and dessert at their most famous eatery. The little neighborhood that Bae brought us to (she used to go to UMich so she still remembered most things) called Kerrytown was pretty cute. We ran into this flea market but a lot of things were pretty pricey. We went into this little mini mall sorta building and found the coolest Korean-American fusion joint ever! I snapped a photo of the menu on my phone before being told photos weren't allowed. But they just had a lot of cool things like the "Seoul Dog" which was a hot dog with some spicy kimchi on it! Remo (major foodie) loveddd it; I didn't doubt that he wouldn't!

Oh so in early May I worked with George again and this time we went all the way to PHILADELPHIA! I remember I was just sooo apprehensive but excited when he tracked me down at ASO's A2 event just to ask me to come along. I knew he really needed someone to 1st AC for him, because he was asking me - he got me 1st'ing for the first time on a digital shoot back in April which wasn't so bad, but I had never 1st'ed on film before, so I was definitely nervous. "I don't know how to check the gate!", I told him. I reminded him plenty of my shortcomings but he still insisted and I knew he just really needed someone so I agreed.
Philly was a 12 hour drive (Kansas, what?) and we left at 1AM Thursday morning D: There were two cars- George and the director Chase in the same family van while Miles K. (actor, grip), Colin P. (cam sem classmate, actor, grip), Paul Kane (actor, grip) and I were in his mom's SUV. Miles drove first so I just went to bed in the back. I remember waking up around 2:30 AM because both cars got pulled over by a cop. Apparently the speed limit was 70 and George went 88 while Miles tried to keep up with him at 86. It sucks cus you speed cus you want to get there faster but then this stop was honestly like 45 minutes long, and plus you are down like $200 :/ I think Paul drove next and I drove from 7-10 AM. It is suchhhh a nice scenic drive towards the east coast! Nothing like Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and especially not the cornfields and barren lands down to Kansas. It is so greeeen everywhere with these HUGE rolling hills/mountains and trees planted all over! So gorgeous and I wanted to take pics but obvs couldn't as I was driving.

hmm I think this is it for now.



I wish I had that program with a pic of the U.S. where it colored in each state you've been to :D
I added a lot this year so from west to east I can say:
Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 11/50 !

Paris Winter 07-08

Like I said, my summer is meh and I've been doing nothing. In my yearning to travel, I will finally type up the contents of the travel journal that Erica and I wrote in everyday for the 17 days we were in Europe from December 26, 2008 to January 11, 2009. Some entries are written in bullet point, others like a story. It varied. But it's all good. Most things in parentheses are additional comments I'm adding now for better understanding.  

Alright so I've tried and edited and turns out the bullet form just looks really ugly on here.  I'm not satisfied when the single-indent bullet available on blogspot so I went to Word to type it all out, and when pasted here, looks horrible.  So, I'll figure something out.

Until then.