Home is NOT Places

This was previously posted unfinished in error. I apologize!

“Feel it burn in my soul, like a wound that is exposed

I need to run, I need to go.

I took my time, I got no more.

So take me somewhere I don’t know

‘cause home is not places, it is LOVE.

I told myself that it was fine.

No shame in the dotted lines.

But then, I woke in the night and raised my fist for a fight!

So, take me somewhere I don't know 'cause home is not places, it is love."

-Home Is Not Places, The Apache Relay

Wow! Had such a spectacular time in Atlanta. It’s always just beyond incredible to be home. I was proud of myself for actually managing my time well. Not only did I clear out ten bags of trash and organize several boxes to be donated, I found some awesome jewels squirreled away. Here a few of them:

Every Congratulations card from when I was born.

I also spent A LOT of quality time with a few of my absolute favorite people with some of my favorite foods in some of my favorite places.

With the help of a cherished family friend, I made my first ever batch of fried okra, and feasted with some of my favorite southern foods: mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans, cole slaw, VENISON from the farm this season, and pork chops. I was waddling home. I was on a strict eating schedule in order to get in all my favorite foods, but I was so thrilled to share those foods with such treasured people.

I’m so sad to be returning to CA, but it is also good to be back home.

Home is not places.

It is people.

40 sleeping law students

The European Union and how learning comes into play amongst these many adventures

I know you're probably wondering if I ever study. The answer is yes. As I've said in earlier posts, law school has not slowed down in any way. One of the largest attractions to this program in London is the two school trips that are offered. The first is of the European Union - to the European Parliament in Brussels and to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. 

Since taking a course on international organizations in undergrad, I've been fascinated by international cooperation and conflict. What makes states decide to work together, and what makes them fight tooth and nail for centuries on end? From a political science perspective, from a historian's perspective and from a legal perspective, there are dramatically different answers to these questions. In the case of the EU, cooperation is mostly economic. It was incredible to see at the European Court of Justice a case tried over an issue that was decided decades ago in the United States. In many ways, European Union law is just a much much more complex version of our federal law. This semester I am taking a course called European Union law, so it was interesting to visit these places  as a way of bringing words in a textbook to life. Although these institutions are open to the public, we had special treatment by getting speakers and guided tours. 

See if you can guess what all these ingredients lead to.  Take 40 law school students to a beer capital of the world, then drag those 40 hungover students to a court room at 8 am, toss 'em  in the room with little headsets to translate from German that is not simultaneously translated into English for the first 30 minutes and what do you have?? 40 sleeping law students? You guessed it. We didn't exactly represent our University in the finest light that day, but it wasn't entirely due to apathy. 

Luxembourg, country number 28 for me and for London, country number30

having a chocolate covered strawberry in front of the original Godiva. DELICIMOSO.

That's PARIS outside my window!

Wow, I didn’t even realize that I had forgotten just how magical and wonderful Paris really is. There is no city like it. I landed at eleven, got to the hotel at noon.

Oh wait, I am forgetting some crucial detail. I was running late off very little sleep and a long night the night before with friends and half way to the metro when I realized I didn’t know which of the four terminals in the Madrid airport I had to go to. This is a big deal because they’re different stops on the metro and you can’t simply walk between them. Anyways, I was reading my ticket when I read the sentence, “passengers must provide special documentation for this flight” and I think, “yeah, duh, my passpo… oh no…” and I had a mental image spring to mind of my passport on my bookshelf. I knew I didn’t have it, I didn’t have MY PASSPORT. I didn’t even do a panicked search. I have to get off the metro, ride the metro back to my stop and was literally RUNNING with my Vera Bradley bag until I found a taxi to take me the other four blocks, wait for me to get it and then he drove me to the airport. I told him, “I AM IN A SERIOUSLY HUGE HURRY!” and even the doorman for the apartment looked at me shocked since he had seen me LEAVE for the airport 45 minutes before, when I told him I forgot my passport, he was like, “oh no!!” wishing me good luck and trying to soothe my frantic state. By the time I got to the airport and sat at the gate for 30 minutes before take-off, I felt a little stupid for having such a huge panic attack, but SERIOUSLY, how was I so stupid?? ROOKIE MISTAKE. I have never been so happy to hear the words, “Hello and welcome to Iberia flight 2342 to Paris Orly” because I really did not think I was going to make it for about an hour. That’s what I get for not drinking coffee before I left.

I’ll provide you with the itinerary of my three day trip to Paris. I think I deserve a pat on the back for all my energy and let me tell you, my feet STILL hurt from walking all OVER the place. It really was amazing though. So, so amazing.

With a few pictures. The rest to follow on Facebook!

Thursday: got to the hotel, Dad came over from the convention center.

            -We headed to Musee Rodin, the famous sculptor who did the Thinker and one of my favorite artists of all time.

           -Next was Musee Orsay, the world’s best collection of impressionism, my  favorite genre of art and Dad’s too.        

           We grabbed lunch and a coffee  there and made our way to all our favorite artists. Infamous canvases  you can’t even really believe you are actually standing 2 feet away from filled my mind and are still swirling in my dreams.

I wasn’t suppose to take any of those pictures, and even a random woman looked at me judgingly and said, “you know you’re not suppose to take photos right?” and I was like, “uh, you don’t work here and I am sneaky. You wish you were this sneaky.” It bothered me the rest of the day. I have AWESOME photos so it was worth it. One kid CHUCKED his pacifier at a Rodin statue. I wonder what Mrs.Twisted-Panties would have said to that kid's parents. This is the foggy view of the Eiffel Tower on our way to the hotel.

          -Dad had a meeting, I shopped around then joined Dad in his next meeting.
          -Dad, two guys Dad is doing business with and I headed to Dad’s favorite  restaurant in Paris by the Bastille for amazing seafood and typical Parisian style. We said what we were thankful for and had a nice time.   

          -I got a banana-nutela crepe after dinner. The crepe is worth the cost of any flight to Paris. There IS nothing     better in the world than that. Seriously.

           

Friday: Dad woke me up for a kiss goodbye. We were together I think like 15 hours,  but it was amazing just to see him and to be together on Thanksgiving. In Paris, much less.
I let myself sleep in until 9:15. I have been going non-stop and needed 7 hours of sleep. I checked out of the hotel, went over to the convention  for about an hour, had a cappuccino and found a hotel close to the                                     Eiffel Tower to stay in that night. Went to that hotel, checked in and headed out for my jam-packed day.

1.     Musee Mormattan- Monet: fabulous collection of Monet, including his palette and some letters he wrote to friends asking for money when he was super poor. I stayed here in awe for hours. There was also a Cross exhibition, my new favorite neo-impressionist.

2.     Musee L’Orangerie: Monet’s infamous Lillies are installed here. The most impressive art I have ever seen. This room of paintings sucked the air out of my breathe and totally blew me away. I was enthralled. Monet is my favorite artist of all time and it was wonderful to see these works in real life.

3.     Exploring of the gardens and Plaza Concorde. Had a beignet for lunch just because I could.

4.   Sainte- Chappelle: the stunning cathedral that tells the Bible story from Genesis until the Apocalypse in stained glass, 6, 500 square feet to be exact with 1,100 different scenes. So incredible.

 5.   Notre Dame- I was trying to find my way there, just walking around and sort of guessing about the direction. I turned the corner and there it was. After it had already took my breathe away by its proud glory, I walked toward the huge cathedral and saw this sign pointing literally straight at it. I was like, "wow, so helpful. thanks, sign." The Christmas tree at Point Zero- literally the center of France and where everything got started, was a really nice touch and made me excited for everything December has to offer.  The stained glass there isn't too shabby either...

6.    Shopping- this was a MUST. It was Black Friday after all. I got my first Christmas gifts this trip! Whoo! 

7.     THE LOUVRE I had to push myself to do this. My feet hurt and all I wanted was a nice relaxing dinner with a glass of Bourdeaux and a bed. Realizing I HAD to c'set la vie, I grabbed a hot hot and cheese sandwhich, very yummy and typical from a nice little cart and pressed onto the ridiculous collection of the most famous painting in the world.

8.     Beyond exhausted, a little rest at my hotel then I climbed the Eiffel Tower.  I was standing in front of a really great family who made the lines go by faster and the entire experience much more enjoyable since I had been alone all day long.

Saturday: Armed with six hours of sleep, I got up, had about 4 croissants because they’re so amazing and a drop of coffee (not nearly enough) I headed to take a tour of the Versailles Palace.

Because it was the best weather yet, I braved the 289 steps of the Arc de Triomphe and got some great pictures some Chinese/Korean people wanted pictures with me, I think they thought I was a celebrity or             something. Anyways, it was definitely worth the calf burning. I wish it had been a clearer day, but it was the best weather by far so no complaining came out of my mouth!

Determined to have a less busy day, to relax and enjoy Paris, I walked along the Champs-Elysees and shopped, then enjoyed a wonderful meal.
There's so much I didn't get a chance to do, but I feel like I got quite a bit accomplished with the time I had. I think I deserve a pat on the back. 

I went over to the convention to help with taking down the booth and somehow Pedro, Werner and I got stranded in the basement of the convention center with all the loading people and I really thought we might get murdered down there. Over an hour later, we finally figured out where we needed to go, loaded the van. Leaving Werner to finish up on his own, Pedro and I jetted to the airport for our flight.

I caught myself feeling ready to come HOME. One the way to the airport, I was thinking, “I can’t wait to be home.” That’s why there is the quote above and the title of the blog from that same song. Atlanta is home, LA feels like home, Tuscaloosa is home, York is home and now, Madrid is home.

And it really does feel good to be home. 

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date

Determined to catch up on blogging, expect several long posts to come. First of all, about my weekend. I took off Thursday from work and went with Melania to Budapest, Hungary to help with a conference for Biolase. We were running super late on the way to the airport and totally relieved when we got there and checked in with no problems. So relieved actually, that we overestimated how long we had to grab something to eat and again ended up running toward the gate as the plane was already boarding. Running late was a theme of the entire weekend as you are about to read. Melania blames it on being Italian, I blame it on my mother who was never on time anywhere. We ended up getting on one of those moving sidewalks and having to run in the opposite direction to catch the flight. It was quite a sight.

On the plane, I was fortunate enough to sit dead center in a group of about 30 Spainards going to Hungary for a ballroom dancing competition. It was like a scene out of Home Alone. They wanted to be my best friends and share their life story and I was dying to catch some ZzZ’s. Obviously, that didn’t happen at all. They switched seats, talked, told stories, laughed, made fun of each other and screamed while I journaled with my ipod on loud yet still learning Spanish. What a flight.

            Thursday night, we checked into the hotel and Melania took me to one of her favorite restaurants with traditional Hungarian food. Wow, it was delicious. The red wine we had was very distinct and really great. We met up with some of Melania’s friends from when she studied in Budapest for two years. There was a blur of Italian, Hungarian, English and Spanish, which was really incredible. The girls were awesome and we had a really good time. We were the last people to leave the bar and by the time we said goodbye, I thought they were my long-lost friends too. It was a really nice night and the first time since I have been here I really relaxed and enjoyed myself.

            Going off very little sleep, it was time to get up and get to the University where the congress was being held. At breakfast, I found friends from Biolase and we headed off to get everything set up. Once the banner, lasers, registration table etc organized, people started appearing to register. Registration went pretty smoothly, mostly because Melania speaks Hungarian and also because the four hands doing it really helped quite a bit. The first speaker was a good family friend from Rome, so we sat in on his presentation and the next course also.

Next thing we knew, it was time to break for dinner. There was a gala that night and my boots had broken earlier in the day. Deciding that we had just enough time to run to the mall to buy me new boots and to get a necklace for Melania’s dress, we sprinted to the mall. Because I cannot read my watch, we ended up thinking that we were a complete hour ahead. As we are about to pull up to the hotel thinking we have 15 minutes to change and get to the gala at the hotel, Pedro calls wondering where we are. We were a complete hour late!!! HORRIBLE. We made up for it though by being the last people to leave. As we finally decided to go to bed around 4 am, they were setting the room up for breakfast.

Again, the next morning came way too soon. Weary and exhausted, we had another full day of laser courses ahead. The day flew by though. Interesting courses, wonderful speakers, awesome snacks and coffee for survival on breaks. With our break after the certification presentation and cleaning up, we went to get a suitcase and some other things that Melania left with a friend two years ago. Opening that thing up was like finding some hidden treasure! Again, barely making it in time to the hotel in time to change and head to dinner, we were rushed and running late. But we did it. All the speakers, several of the attendees and all the staff headed to another recommendation by Melania to have a traditional Hungarian meal. The food was wonderful and the company even better. We had a great time and weren’t yet willing to say goodbye. More drinks at the attendee’s hotel and a nice night stroll across the river to see the infamous bridges and city skyline. Walking through the city watching our breath in front of our faces, we were reflecting on what a greet weekend it had been. Melania said she’s like the rabbit from Alice And Wonderland. Exactly how rushed the whole weekend was! Just 6 hours after getting back to the hotel, we headed back to Madrid.