Day 89: Mon 9 March GOING HOME

Today was pretty stressful.
I really don't like leaving to go to airports.

Everything went well though, and Train and I got to the airport in very good time- with about 2 hours to spare. Had a bit of breakfast there and then said goodbye to Train before heading through into the departure lounge bit.

The flights didn't seem quite as long on the way back as they did coming over to America, which was nice. I couldn't manage to get the internet to work in any of the airports, so I sat and played sims 2 deluxe for about 6 hours in LAX. ^^;
I also managed an awkward sort of goodbye phone call to Tim. My phone ended up cutting out though :(

It was nice getting back home again and seeing my family and things, mum is still on a biology camp until Friday evening, so I don't get to see her til then, but I've managed to catch up with almost everyone else which has been nice.

I've made vague plans for the next 10 years of my life, as well, which is pretty fun. I'm going to keep them under wraps for a bit, but I'll tell you that I am intending to go to uni, and polytech within the next couple, and holidays to Japan, going on a cruise and heading back to America are on the agenda as well. Australia not so much, but we'll see how time and money and things are working out later on in the year.

This is going to be the final entry to this blog.
It's been a fun 3 months and no doubt the next time will be even better.

Thank you all for keeping up with my blog and leaving comments when you have, it's been nice to keep in touch with everyone, and to bring me back to reality at times.

Take care, and until next time.

- Rachel

Day 88: Sun 8 March

My goodness.

So my trip to America is coming to a close.
It's been a wonderful time, and I wish I could stay here longer and get a job or something.

St Louis is a wonderful place to live, it seemed just like home after the first week.
South city is a mixed sort of place, we live in a pretty decent part of it which is close to public transport, a bunch of super cool shops and things, and a number of nice places to eat.

Everyone here has been so friendly to me, the bus drivers even say "you're welcome" and smile at you when you say thank you as you get off the bus! All my friends who I've made here are just lovely. I've never met a nicer eclectic mix of people in my life.

I've had a number of exciting adventures over here in America, and I'm quite sad that I don't have the chance to have any more before I go home again. With everything that has happend over the course of these past 3 months, I feel like I've learned a great deal about things, and grown up as a person. Also managed to change the way I see the world, and my outlook on life in general- I'm young, life is short- we have to make the most of it while we can still freely do so. I'm not in debt, don't have any long-term responsibilities and am still able to get about places quickly and easily without my body just giving up on me; I'm at the perfect stage in my life to explore and discover what the rest of the world has to offer me. Meeting all my new friends here has been interesting too, I really do like the fact that no matter where you go, everyone is pretty much the same- we all have the same day-to-day problems, look for the same things in new friends/partners/whatever and you can find a lot of common ground with even an absolute stranger, it's just a matter of talking and asking the right questions until something comes up that you can relate to.

I've also come to realise why Kale is so smart in the fact that he doesn't lend money to friends. Lending money is an awful idea, and from now on in life, no-one is getting a cent from me :/
Or, another way to think about it perhaps, is never lend money with the expectation of getting it back again, because chances are you wont >>;

Anyway, on a lighter note: St Louis is a wonderful place and I'll definitely be coming back when on my return to the states within the next few years. Next time I hope to get a working visa and be able to find a job to help keep my living expenses under wraps. Next time I'll also go to New York. I'm gutted that I couldn't afford to go this time, but now I've got a penpal who lives there and I'll have a free place to stay if/when I go there. His name is Tim, and he's really friendly. Here's a picture of him!

Day 87: Sat 7 March

Today I woke up around 11am. I ended up going out later in the afternoon to Hampton Plaza to get some money out and buy Emily a birthday present :)

We went out for dessert with the 5's at 10pm

I've managed to get Sims 2 Deluxe to work on my laptop without a cd :DD

In other news, I now have a pen pal who lives in New York, and goes to college in Massachusetts! His name is Tim, he's very nice and friendly.

Day 86: Fri 6 March GOING AWAY PARTY

My going away party was wonderful!
I think it's the best party I've ever hosted.

It started off kind of awkwardly, and I was sure it was going to be a Disaster! like on the sims 2 when I try and throw my sims parties >>;; but everything turned out splendidly :D

I went to bed at 4:40am on Thursday night and my Friday started off when I woke up at 8:30am to go to Goodwill to find a suitcase. Did all that and ended up getting a lovely smallish cherry red leather(?) suitcase there for $8 US.

Got home again at 1pm and Tassels (Mike) came over to visit and say goodbye and things. He wasn't able to make it to the party that night because he had to leave tomorrow morning at like, 3am as he was going on holiday.

Peach/Ben came over at about half past six and we just really hung out for awhile and waited for people to arrive. (The party wasn't meant to start til 9).

Nate and his friend Danielle came over at 8pm ish and we talked and hung out as well. They had to leave early, but it was alright, it was nice seeing them again.

People started trickling in at some point after 9pm and our nextdoor neighbours brought over some ice and alcohol for us. They didn't stay because Mr 5 was feeling sick but we're going to visit them later.

Sadie and Ted arrived, and so did Tyler. Sadie and Ted could only stay for an hour or so, because they had another party to attend. Alex and Amanda and Andrew arrived, as did Booker and B, and Hannah, Kyle and Liz and Hagrid as well.

B brought amazing food that she'd made- these little cinnamon strusle cupcake things and also brought tiramisu, which was to die for :D

We had a ton of fun, ended up playing charades for awhile, and smashed something on the concrete in the backyard. I think it was a light cover thingy. We dropped it off the second story balcony. I can't remember what time everyone left, they all left at different stages. Ben and Tyler ended up staying the longest and going home at like 6:30am.

I had a great time :) here are some photos.
Click
HERE and it'll take you to the album.

That picture above is of my friend Amanda and me :)

Day 85: Thurs 5 March

Today Train and I played videogames next door at the 5's apartment and waited for their package.
It came at 4:45pm.

After that, Train baked 2 cakes and I tidied up all my stuff and deflated the big air mattress. I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.

My going away party is tomorrow night, it should be fun :D

Day 84: Weds 4 March

Drat, I forgot to update my blog again.
This is becoming rather bothersome, me forgetting, not the blogging.

Today it was a nice day (about 16C or something) so I headed out to try and do the things that didn't work so well yesterday. I went to the bank, got $30 out, bought CJ his pop-tarts and a ton of peanut butter cups and ate an apple for lunch. It was a rather delicious one. I found something that I wanted to get Emily for her birthday, but I didn't have enough money with me at the time, so I might get it tomorrow.

After that, went back to the apartment and dropped things off before heading out again to catch the same bus (#11) but in the opposite direction this time, to look for a cheap secondhand bag/suitcase to bring extra stuff home in. I'm allowed two checked bags for free, so I may as well make the most of it.

Met up with my friend Peach (Ben) at a cafe called the Mississippi Mudhouse and had a coffee etc with him before getting a ride with him to the salvation army thrift store to look for a bag. I found one that might be okay, for $1.50, but I'd rather get a different one. I'm going to check out one more thrift store and then go back to the salvos and get that one if I can't find a different one. I ended up buying the coolest mug in the world, though, for 69c. It's got a picture of a cat flying over a bunch of tall buildings, and wearing a red scarf :DD It's really neat.

Went next door to Apop after that, the record store that a few of Peach's friends own, and looked at a few things there/ talked to people etc. My friend Jeremy is meant to be playing a show tomorrow night, which I might go to as well. I think it's another noise one. I think I'll go just to see if all noise music sounds the same or if some of it is different. I'll keep you informed.

When I got home, Train and I headed out to Aldi's to buy essentials; bread, milk, eggs, macaroni etc etc

After that, we went over to the 5's and watched the movie The 5th Element.

I've decided it's my new favourite. :)

Tomorrow we are looking after the 5's apartment and waiting for a package for them while they're at work, then going urban exploring with Peach and I might be going to that show after. Fun fun fun.
Nice weather for tomorrow, too.

Day 83: Tues 3 March

Today Train and I went to the bank for him to deposit some money. I was meant to get out $20 that CJ sent me to buy candy and pop-tarts for him, but I was clever enough to leave my wallet at home >>;

Other than that, we went to IHOP (International House Of Pancakes) and had lunch. It was pretty tasty.

Bussed home again and couldn't be bothered heading back to the bank so it can wait for another day.

At 7pm we went to the 5's and watched The Departed with them and their friend Chris.

That's pretty much been my day. Tomorrow I have to start tidying up so people can come around on Friday for my going away party. I hope some people turn up :/ At any rate there will be me and Train, Kyle, Liz, Hannah, Travis and Mr & Miss 5, and Peach. Hopefully a few others turn up too. It should be fun let's hope.

Day 82: Mon 2 March

Today Train slept in til 4:30pm, it would have been later, but I woke him up.

At 7pm we went to Black Bear Bakery and watched the Spinal Tap movie, it was pretty cool :) Entertaining to say the least.

After that Peach came back to our apartment with us and we watched Into the Wild

That was a good movie too, but a bit sappy in bits I guess.

Day 81: Sun 1 March

Wow, first of the month. Golly this year is going quick.
There's another Friday the 13th this month too.

Train and I went to the laundromat today to do a few weeks worth of laundry. We saw Greg and Lynn (Mr & Miss 5) getting out of their car just as we were leaving, and Greg offered us a ride, which was nice of him :)

I also bussed to this random person's house and picked up a book which I found on Craigslist for free. It's called Sophie's World.


I'm only up to Chapter 2, but it's really good so far.

I might be going out with Peach to a show at someone's house tonight, a few bands are playing, it should be pretty fun. Doesn't start til 10pm so I might have a nap first. It's 6:13pm now.

EDIT: The show and things were pretty cool. Very low-key. Noise music is not really my thing, I've discovered. It's pretty much just loud screechy guitar noises, and lots of computery stuff. It was super cold, and in between listening to people 'play' I guess you could say, we went up into the guy's apartment and watched simpsons reruns without commercials on VHS, drank beer and ate hotdogs and asparagus.

Day 80: Sat 28 Feb

Slack and forgot to update today as well.

I baked white chocolate and peanut butter cookies this evening, and Train, I and our friend Peach (Ben) went next door to the 5s to watch the movie 1408 and some more of planet earth.

Day 79: Fri 27 Feb

I've been so slack and haven't updated this in ages D:

We watched the movie Jesus Camp today. It was scary. Evangelical people are crazy D:

Day 78: Thurs 26 Feb

Train and I went out for lunch today, to a place called Nadoz Cafe. I had a tuscan panini. It had artichokes in it. I've decided I don't like artichokes.
Also stopped by Blockbuster and rented two dvds- Jesus Camp and The Producers- the old version from 1968, not the new version from 2006.

We also had a look in an art gallery on the way home. Train and I have rather different tastes in art.

Watched The Producers this evening, it was really good.

It has that Gene Wilder guy in it, from Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

After that Train buggered off to his room as per usual and locked me out with an elaborate trap featuring a piece of string and a ball of yarn over the doorhandle :/

I watched the second half of Withnail & I that I started watching with Curtis in NC. It was really good too.

It's thunderstorming at the moment, it's a little bit scary as this apartment is really old and creaky, but it's fun nonetheless.

The other night we also saw a house across the street getting raided by the cops, it was rather exciting, we peeked through the blinds in Train's room and watched. There were 2 cop cars, and a bunch of undercover ones too :D

Day 77: Weds 25 Feb

Today Train and I made the most of the good weather (about 20C!) and went for a walk in the afternoon, stopping off at the DVD store, the dollarstore and the supermarket.
It was rather nice.
I bought a bunch of candy for people back home.
We had macaroni cheese for dinner

UPDATE: Itinerary coming home

Click on it for a bigger picture :)



Also, to avoid any confusion- I arrive in Auckland on the 11th of March at 5:10am, not the 9th of March.

Day 76: Tues 24 Feb

Went to get my suitcase handle repaired today, but the shop was closed because the guy is sick and broke his foot or something or other. I think I'll just forget about it, and not worry about the pull up handle.

Made blueberry and white chocolate muffins this evening, and applied for 3 jobs back home in NZ.

Day 75: Mon 23 Feb

Oops I forgot to blog today ^^;

Today I ventured to the post office and bought stamps, also finished writing my postcards and got them all sent off as well as found a new cafe.

I have less than $100 left to spend over here in the states and still two weeks to go D:
I'm getting bored and fidgity. I'm ready to go home I think. I've half organised a going away party for myself, but only 6 people have said they're definitely coming, the other dozen or so are "maybes" at the moment, great friends, huh? :/

I'm feeling a lot better, only got about 4 or 5 days left of antibiotics until I'm perfectly healthy again.

Turns out the doctors don't accept overseas insurance either, so they'll be sending me a bill soon, which I don't really have any money to pay it with >>; No idea how much it's going to be either, but after a little googling- it's going to be at least $100 US I'm guessing D:

Southern Cross better pay me back.

Day 74: Sun 22 Feb ARCH

Today Train and I played at tourists and went to visit the arch for the first proper time in the whole almost 3 months I've been here. We took a bunch of photos, you can see them
here:

After that, we headed home and went out with our neighbours (The 5's) for dinner to Applebees where I had an 'oriental chicken salad'; it was really tasty :D We then went back to their apartment and watched the movie WAR which was okay, but I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone (I fell asleep for about 45mins in the middle of it) ^^;;

It does have an actor I rather like in it though; Jason Statham. Other than that, it's nothing special.

Tomorrow is dry cleaning and buying stamps day. Perhaps hanging out with Kyle for a while tomorrow night, and hopefully will get to see B and Booker again soon too. I'm nearly ready to go back to NZ I think. I need to get the handle on my suitcase fixed too.

UPDATE: Pictures from NC

Here is a link to my gallery of photos I took in NC, mostly on the way driving back from Asheville with Curtis.

Clicking on the picture above will open a new window with my photos in it :)

Day 73: Sat 21 Feb

Spent a lot of today catching up on sleep.
The only problem with that is I'm taking my antibiotics at awkward times now; first dose 3:30pm second sometime after midnight.

The 5's have postponed movie night again until tomorrow night. We're going to watch Transformers with them. I have mixed feelings about that movie, although I haven't seen it yet, but I'll go anyway and tell you about it after.

We just got back from grocery shopping and are going to make curry for dinner :)
Well- Train's going to make it and I'm going to cut up the veges seeing as my cooking skills are rather lacking  >>;;

Also going to postpone my big list of things to do until Monday when the bank and things are open at decent hours.

Last thing; I'm running out of money :/
I have about $500 NZ left for my last 3 weeks here, after which I only have $3000 left to come home to, which is going towards living in Melbourne at the end of April.

Day 72: Fri 20 Feb Back to STL

Goodness, what a day.

Woke up at 7am to a screeching alarm, much to Curtis and my disgust, and proceeded to get our things together and head back out of Asheville. Ended up leaving around 8am I think, and driving for hours on end back through greensboro, durham, and dropping me off in Raleigh at the airport.

I hate saying goodbye to people; it's really sad. It was hard saying goodbye to Curtis, after having spent only a week together. Nonetheless, it had to be done.

My plane left at 12:50pm. I wasn't on it.
I got to the check-in place 15 minutes after the cut off, so I had to catch the next flight instead, which was at 3:50pm and travelled via Philadelphia instead of Charlotte. I slept a lot; in the airport terminal and on both flights. Arrived in St Louis at about 8:30pm local time and Train met me at the baggage claim area. Caught the Metrolink and the Bus back to the apartment. Soooo much less awkward the second time :P
Stopped and picked up a DVD on the way home; Snatch. Might watch that tomorrow or the next day- we're having a movie night with the 5's again tomorrow. :)

I'm still sick, but feeling a hell of a lot better. The medicine is working wonders. I'm drinking lots of water and cranberry juice, and taking lots of neurophen/ibuprofen so I'm fine.

Mr 5 loaned Train his acoustic guitar, so we've been playing with that a bit too.

Here's a photo of Curtis and I just before we left the hotel this morning [note the huuuge bags under my eyes :/]

Day 71: Thurs 19 Feb ASHEVILLE, NC

Today Curtis took me to the doctors to figure out what was wrong with me.
Turns out I have a kidney or bladder infection or something like that.
I've been given a bunch of antibiotics to take and hopefully it'll just fix itself. Also been told to drink TONS of fluids.

I'm catching a plane back to St Louis from Raleigh tomorrow around lunchtime.

Day 70: Weds 18 Feb ASHEVILLE, NC

I was feeling really sick this morning and couldn't sleep, so I stayed up for ages and Curtis and I ended up watching tv for a few hours and a movie about Football. After that at about 6:30am we headed next door to IHOP (international house of pancakes) to have breakfast and then went to bed after that.

Slept until about 3 or 4pm before heading downtown to walk and drive around for a bit. I was going to take a bunch of photos- the architecture is really nice and so are the trees and mountains. I think I'd like to live here in downtown Asheville, NC one day, the people seem pretty nice- there are only about 80,000 people living here I think.

Had dinner at a restaurant called Magnolia, which was nice- our waitress was really friendly. Walked around for a bit more trying to find the carpark- Asheville is really hard to find your way around when it's dark, especially with all the highways and things.

Back at the hotel at 9pm-ish and are just watching tv, presently, might go for a swim in the hotel pool later on- the lobby area is really fancy. :)

I'll stick the batteries back into my camera and take some photos tonight/tomorrow.

Day 69: Tues 17 Feb ASHEVILLE, NC

Left Fayetteville this morning and went with Curtis to a job interview but the manager who was meant to interview him didn't turn up :/
We waited around for an hour and then headed off.

Stopped in Greensboro for lunch at about 3pm and met my friend Daniel and his friend Jeremy, they seemed alright.

Headed onwards to Asheville after that, but didn't end up getting to our next hotel until almost 9pm because we got lost a few times, but it's okay. This place is really really nice. We're staying here for 3 nights.

Day 68: Mon 16 Feb FAYETTEVILLE, NC

Stayed in another hotel tonight, Curtis had work from 2pm-12am so I just stayed in and got a few things finished- postcards, sorting out other stuff, reading, watching tv etc.

Day 67: Sun 15 Feb RALEIGH, NC

Curtis was meant to go to work today, but he wasn't feeling too well so he took the day off.

We've watched a bunch of movies and things, and we went out for dinner to The Flying Saucer.

Off to Fayetteville again tomorrow.

Day 66: Sat 14 Feb RALEIGH, NC

Spent last night and tonight in Raleigh, NC. Curtis had work on Friday night, but stayed on Saturday. The hotel is nice, the staff are really friendly and it's nice and clean.

We went out for a walk or two and looked around the museums and the state Capitol building.

The weather has been pretty good too.

Day 65: Fri 13 Feb FAYETTEVILLE, NC

Arrived in Fayetteville at the Greyhound station at 9:30am this morning and met Curtis who came to pick me up. He's lovely, and quite tall- like 6'1", compared to most of my other friends who are guys from St Louis who are all like, 5'9"-5'11" tallest.

We went to the Paratrooper/Airforce museum place to have a look around, as it's pretty much the only thing to do in Fayetteville, apparently, but we got there at 9:45am and they didnt open til 10am, so we went for a drive and found The Arts Center, which is apparently just a center for doing art, not looking at it. :/ Headed back to the airforce place and it was 10 o'clock on the dot. We were the first people inside except for the staff.

After that, headed back to Curtis' parents house (where he lives at the moment) which is just out of Fayetteville in a small place called Linden. He has 2 ginger tabby cats, and 2 dogs- a rottweiler and a boxer- both were super friendly and not jumpy which was good, because I don't really like dogs, but his ones were nice. Stayed there for a bit then headed to the hotel in Raleigh. We got there at about 1:45pm and Curtis was meant to start work at 2pm, but it took us an hour to get there, so he called in and said he'd be late.

He left and I took a shower and then went to get blinner. (breakfast, lunch and dinner) which equaled a sub from a place pretty much at the end of the parking lot. It was pretty good.

I've already made a mess and have to sort out my clothes and things; they have a washing machine that guests can use here, so I'm going to do some washing in a minute, finish writing my postcards and read some more of my book :)

Oh, I called CJ too, but it was like, 5am in NZ lol so I woke him up by accident ^^;;

Curtis is getting his wisdom teeth pulled out tomorrow, but after that/when he's feeling a little better, he's driving back up to Raleigh and we're going out somewhere. They have a bunch of museums/art galleries etc here :)

Day 64: Thurs 12 Feb GREYHOUND

I didn't sleep at all today.

Caught the 5:40am bus to the greyhound station and went to a nearby 7-eleven to stock up on hot drink and snack for the ride. Lucky we caught the earlier bus, because by the time I got back to the station, the people were already queueing up to board the bus. I had a mix up with my ticket and almost forgot to go get the tag thing for my bag from the front desk. Got it just in time.
Train txtd me a 7:15am (my bus left at 7:25) and told me he'd lost his bus transfer to get home, so I had to run and give him $2 to get home with.

Stressing about him made me less stressed, actually, and I got on the bus and everything with no hassels. Had two seats to myself because it wasn't very full.

On the bus, I met two very 'country' boys named Cody and Addy (22 and 20) who are brothers. A few sammies short of a picnic some of the time, but very friendly and very respectuful and old fashioned. We talked for ages on the bus from St Louis to Nashville, TN- they were heading to Florida while I was going to North Carolina, but we had the same busses until we got to Atlanta, GA. I ended up hanging around with them, and Cody helped me carry one of my bags and opened doors for me and things.

Here's a picture of them:
Cody is on the left, Addy the right.

We walked around outside in Nashville for quite a while- we had a 3 hour layover there. Took a bunch of nice photos :)
















Also in Nashville, met a guy named Aaron (but at first I thought it was Eric, then Erin- because of his accent) he's from NSW in Aussie, originally, but has been in the states for ages and has lost his accent in day to day speech. He now lives in Fargo, North Dakota. He reminded me quite a bit of my cousin Johnny, except that he's 19, more emo and has more piercings and tattoos than johnny does :P

Said goodbye to Aaron and Me, Cody and Addy headed to Atlanta, Georgia. When we got there, they didn't have long to wait until their bus came to take 'em to Florida, but I had about an hours wait after they had left. I sat down and did some sudoku then called my family and then my bus arrived :)

The ride to North Carolina from Georgia wasn't too bad, I slept a little bit I think, and it was dark like almost the whole way, so it was easier than earlier on. Plus I didn't have anyone to talk to on this one, so sleep was pretty much my only option and I was hella tired at that point.

Day 63: Weds 11 Feb

I spent most of today sleeping in and getting ready for my big trip tomorrow.
I'm getting kind of nervous.
I always get pretty nervous when I travel- I think it's mostly because I don't want to be late and miss my bus/plane/whatever or that I'll accidently get on the wrong one and get lost or something.

Here is a map of the route that the Greyhound bus will be taking to get me from St Louis to Fayetteville :)


View Larger Map
We're going over to the 5's again for another movie night- we're watching The Prestige this time, which I saw at the movies with Kale when it came out the other year.
The movie poster doesn't make it look nearly as good as it actually is.

I'll be in bed earlyish tonight after the movie, then up and at'em at about 3am probably. We have to leave at 6am to get to my bus on time.

My next update will have to be when I arrive in Raleigh on Friday afternoon.

Day 62: Tues 10 Feb

Today was spent getting ready for my trip to NC on Thursday.

Train and I bussed to Hampton Plaza again and picked up a few bits and pieces and I got some more cash out, too.

Also headed to the greyhound station and picked up my ticket for Thursday morning.

I think I've got about 90% of all my stuff sorted out now, it's just getting the stuff I'm going to need to use tomorrow sorted out as well, and packing that tomorrow night- eg toothbrush etc.

It was pretty warm today, about 20 degrees out, but it cooled down by around 5:30pm to about 10C I think. The weather is cooling down over the next few days, too. Highs of 14 tomorrow, 12 the next day, 10 after that and 5 on Saturday. I hope NC is warmer!

Day 61: Mon 9 Feb

It's 11am- I still haven't gone to sleep yet. I went for a jog this morning, for about 15mins, then headed to the supermarket to buy some healthy things to eat this week.

Here's the plan for my trip to NC; updated as of like, 7am this morning.

Go on my normal day/time there- bus leaving this coming Thursday 7:25am, I have to leave my house at 6am. Bus on the Greyhound to Fayetteville NC, Curtis meets me at bus station. We drive to Raleigh and spend a few hours there, I check into the motel place and he goes to work and goes home. He has the Saturday off work. Saturday night at hotel, sunday night at hotel, he drives back to Fayetteville monday for work at 2pm, Tues comes back to Raleigh, we drive from Raleigh to Asheville detouring through a couple of places- one of which being Greensboro to visit my friend Daniel and stay in Asheville for a couple of nights.


View Larger Map

Watched the start of the 1st season of LOST, and also the movie Sleeper with Train.

Day 60: Sun 8 Feb SCIENCE CENTER

Today I went to the science center by myself.
I woke up at half past one and decided to get the bus there at 1:44. It was rather fun.
I might have to go back there again; I missed out on a couple of things.
Missed like 2 or 3 (different) busses going home but it was okay.

I'll upload pics when I wake up more.

Day 59: Sat 7 Feb LOTS

Stayed at Andrew's apartment last night and he dropped me home around lunchtime this morning.

A couple of hours after that Train and I met him and Kat in a huuuge park for a picnic, but we had no food and we got lost on the way. Hung around with them for a couple of hours and then they dropped us into town and met Peach for coffee.

Then went to see a few of his friends at a record store, had mexican for dinner, went to the City Museum from about 8:30pm until about 11:30pm and now I'm super tired.

I bought a souvenir cup :)

I found a glostick on the ground. It's a loopy one.

PS! I saw two grey squirrels in Forest Park! They were so cute!! :D

Day 58: Fri 6 Feb POPTARTS

It's 6am, I haven't been to bed yet. I slept when we got home yesterday from Train's interview, until about 9 or 10pm.

Went to 7-eleven and bought poptarts and milk because we have no food left.

Here's a slideshow of pictures I made for Sarah, because she didn't know what a poptart was.

Not sure about the rest of today yet. I hope Train's foodstamps card comes; we need to buy groceries. It's meant to be really warm today- between 9C and 16C !! We're going to the laundromat later.

Went shopping at Target then came home and did laundry and supermarketing with Train.

Now I'm heading off to a friend of Kat's apartment on the other side of town for a party. Should be good fun :)

***

The party was at Kat's friends Andrew and Tyler's apartment on the other side of town. I met a bunch of really nice people there (Andrew, Tyler, Amanda, Alex, Connor and a couple others) and had a lot of fun.

Day 57: Thurs 5 Feb

Woke up achey again at 8:30am (like I have done the past 4 or so days) and decided it was too early and that I'd go back to sleep. Got up at 11:20am when the alarm went off and I'm still feeling like all my limbs have got lead in them.

Train has a job interview at 2pm and it's 12pm now so we're going to head out in a bit and get there early.

Day 56: Weds 4 Feb DARK KNIGHT w/ 5s

I think I'm getting sick again.
My whole body feels achey, my throat is killing me and my head is stuffy.
I spent the whole day in bed til about 5pm because I couldn't get up.

At 7pm Train and I went next door and watched The Dark Knight with our next door neighbours and a couple of their friends :)

I came back home and was feeling okay for awhile.

The rest of the night after that was really stressful though; I decided to bake cookies because I needed something to do and the recipe said to leave them in for 25mins but they were too thin and the coconut in them burnt and went black and they taste awful.
After that, I was talking to Curtis about meeting him in Fayetteville and going to Raleigh (all in NC) and it turns out he has THIS weekend off instead of NEXT weekend and was under the impression I was coming tomorrow. >.<

I've already booked my bus ticket for next week, and paid for the place to stay for NEXT weekend and I can't change it, so I have no idea what I'm going to do :/
I mean, I guess I'll still go- but it sort of defeats the purpose if the person I'm meant to be seeing isn't going to be there.

I was so stressed and had no-one to talk to about it because Curtis decided he was 'upset and going to bed' so I woke up Train from his 20min nap which lasted almost 3 hours and he cheered me up a bit. He's so wonderful.

Day 55: Tues 3 Feb ART MUSEUM w/ PEACH

I had a shower at 4am this morning because I couldn't sleep and my hair had too much product in it.

After that, when I woke up, I went out for lunch by myself to Urban Eats and had their vegetarian wrap- which was really really good. Then I caught the bus to meet our friend Peach (Ben) at a cafe not too far away, I ended up getting on the right bus, but going in the wrong direction and I got lost.

It was freezing cold outside, like, -7C and I stood on the corner of Michigan and Loughborough for about half an hour while Peach found his way to where I was and came to pick me up.

We drove around for awhile and just talked and things, and then we went to the Art Museum place in Forest Park which is also where the St Louis Zoo and Science Center are :)

I saw a bunch of cool old furniture, and they had lots of rooms set up to model old ones, with fancy furniture and table settings and stuff. I really liked those, I wish our house had fancy old furniture in it.

I also liked a lot of the postmodern/abstract expressionism/Colour field stuff from around the time after WWII, in the way that I liked the shapes and colours a lot more than the way people say things like "Oh this splatter of paint is symbolic of my traumatic childhood blah blah blah" All it really is there for is to look nice, to me at least.

After that we got coffee in the loop and saw one of Peach's friends- Jeremy, so we talked to him for awhile. He's an artsy kid too, and was working on a lot of collage things.

Got home not too long ago and had cheese pizza for dinner with Train.

Tomorrow I'm (hopefully) going to the science center with my friend Kyle (from New Years at the Cabin) and a few of his friends I think. It's meant to be really cold tomorrow too though :(

Day 54: Mon 2 Feb HAIRCUT

Today Train and I went to get hair cuts :)

Miss 5 told us of this pretty good place in Hampton Plaza (10 min bus ride west) so we went there and got it done- $15 each :D
My hair is really short now, it's all good- but a little chilly.

Came home and watched the rest of Tekkonkinkreetand then went to bed.

Day 53: Sun 1 Feb VISITING THE 5's

-will write more here later as well-

* Stayed at Webster Uni overnight
* Caught bus from there to shrewsbury station; got on the right bus but going the wrong direction and ended up in the middle of kirkwood.
* Got on the right bus in the right direction; met Train at Chippewa and Spring and went out to a very late brunch (1:30pm).
* Went to the dollar store and supermaket then bussed home.

We went over to the 5's for pizza and a movie (Boondock Saints) and had a chat to them for awhile; they're both really nice, probably about 22 years old? Miss 5 (Lynn) is very short, smaller than mum by quite a bit! Mr 5 (Greg) is pretty tall though. They have a cat named Rob who is a very well fed grey tabby cat.

She advised us of a good place to get a haircut, so we're heading there tomorrow. :)

Day 52: Sat 31 Jan

-will write more later-

* Made two snow people/bears and man and a lady one [no batteries for camera though :(]
* Slipped over and hurt my whole right side because I was running in socks on our hardwood floor >>;
* Went to a party at Webster Uni with my friends from Barry's party the other week without Train.

Day 51: Fri 30 Jan

Man, today was awful :/

It took us ages to get anywhere. It was very long, cold, tiring and stressful.

We missed the bus at least 3 times and ended up walking around in circles a lot.
Perhaps we should invest in a map of St Louis; that could be handy.

Had a really good bagel for late brunch though, from Einstein Bros Bagels and some really nice fish & chips from Blueberry Hill. Finally got that damn book returned; and bought The Metaphysical Club instead. The guy working there said it was a really really great book, and asked if I was a philosophy major LOL

We got out two more DVDs on the way home, after returning the other 3. We got The Boondock Saints and Tekkon Kinkreet. I think we're going to watch The boondock saints with the 5's on Sunday- we're writing them a note at the moment. (The 5's being our across-the-hall neighbours)

Day 50: Thurs 29 Jan

This huge big air mattress is doing me wonders- I ended up sleeping all day until 9pm ^^;;;

Train and I are going to watch the movie But I'm a Cheerleader later tonight.

It's supposed to be really funny.

Tomorrow I'm going to return that John Perkins book for store credit and look for something more worthy of reading. Also, I'm going to find stamps to send the postcards I've got- I should have done this ages ago!!

Thank you for the wonderful christmas card, Ngarie, it arrived sometime last week :)
And yes, couchsurfing in st louis does sound like a fun idea; I'll have to talk to Train about it and see if he's keen. It'd be a good way to meet some new people !

I'm getting pretty excited for my trip to North Carolina, I leave in just under 2 weeks :D
Staying with Curtis in Fayetteville over there, and we're driving up to Raleigh the first weekend because they have lots of cool art galleries and museums and things aparently, and after that I'm heading to Greensboro to stay with my friend Daniel.

And yes, Dad, in regards to the plastic bags in my shoes- they really do do a good job of keeping watery snow out :) Now I just need to find some that work with hands as well, and I'll be set :P

Day 49: Weds 28 Jan; SLEDDING

SLEDDING!

The bed guy came with Train's new bed at around 9:15am this morning, and I helped Train to set it up. We moved the air mattress into the lounge/my room and then we both went to sleep for a while (we stayed up all night until the bed guy came)

Woke up at about 5:30pm and got a txt from Ted telling us that sledding was a go, so we baked a chocolate cake, had showers and things, had pancakes for tea and got layered up.

Ted picked us up at about 9:45pm and we went to go and get Sadie from her night course at Webster.

We went to Whitecliff Park (rather appropriate name, I think) and went sledding, and made snow creations :D

Here are a few pics:

Here is a link to some more pictures: SNOW!