Update: I'm still here

So, I keep forgetting the password for my blog, maybe because I have so many accounts and other things that I have to remember that I have to change my password to the blog everytime I say to myself "Hey, you know what I should do? Write something on the blog!" Maybe that makes my accounts less likely to be hacked, somehow I doubt that. But, I can assuage myself with the thought of my forgetfulness is somehow helpful in the inter-world. So, for about the fourth or fifth time, I have changed the password, and this time I have stored it. Expect more frequent and hopefully more exciting updates!

My social life isn't that exciting, I usually just hang out around my town and see a couple of friends that I have known since before high school, but I make some trips to Virginia (exotic, I know!) to see the former college roommate or a friend of my time in Egypt. I have picked up a really expensive addiction to Carmen's Italian Ice. I am a particular fan of their Black Raspberry, Mango and Melonball, their Cherry is also very good. Other than that, I am still trying to make life plans! It feels like everyone else has their shit together except me, at least now I am working, which makes my parents a little less angry with our family situation.

I am making plans for some of the spoils from this job, like an international getaway of some sort. My friend Jenny is in Ireland and she is totally cool with people coming to visit her, I know that when I was living overseas, I would have loved for some of my friends from back home to come and visit. It was a lot different for me because my friends were in college and Egypt, in the minds of some is just a giant Muslim terrorist training camp. But, it'll be interesting to be on the other side of that experience. Plus, a lot of people have been telling me about how awesome Ireland is, and I think my parents will be happy that I have chosen to travel to a place that is not extremely dangerous or is very close to a war zone.

I do have a question for the internets: Can you smuggle cookies onto the airplane? Or, more appropriately, am I allowed to bring cookies onto an airplane? There is a reason that I am asking, I plan on taking a trip (the first one in quite some time) to Ireland after Christmas and would like to talk the haul of cookies that I make every year. I don't think that baked goods would be a national security matter, but people have gotten a little crazy about brown people on planes with bags.... so I am not planning an interrogation while traveling overseas.

Well, I have nothing else really... sorry for the lameness of this post! I promise for more awesome in the future when my life gets more exciting or more things happen.

Cheers!

You Never Forget your First!

Hello, and welcome to the blog, Live from Suburbia. There has been a lot going on in the past year that has not been on the blog. I have returned from an amazing trip to Egypt, where I studied at the American University in Cairo for a year. The rundown is as follows:

- arrived in Egypt with high hopes of learning a lot about how other people live, and how that affects the world that I live in

- made friends first semester

- traveled around (Greece, Turkey, and other places in Egypt)

- friends left at the end of their semester away

- got homesick

- became very depressed

- got kicked out of an apartment because of my risky behaviour (actions taken while depressed)

- made some amazing friends, but had to leave because I had to go to back to America

My god! Looking back, since I am back in the States, this experience was even more amazing than I thought. Being surrounded by a different culture, and having to interact with so many people from so many different backgrounds was something that many people may not be able to ever have. For anyone who is thinking about traveling around for academic or other reasons, I say "go for it!" No matter how long or short the time that you have, you will change your outlook on the world that we live in and share. The sad part is that I realise that I will never have an experience like that again, but I am so glad that I took this chance. Don't come in with any expectations of how things will be, who you will encounter, and what will happen to you while in the country of destination, and how you will react to returning to your home country. For me, I thought that I would be completely ecstatic to come back to America, but I am attempting to save money for a trip to visit my friends in Egypt for my winter vacation.

 My life in America is at a crossroads because of my age (21), my sexual orientation, my choice to vacation destinations (Middle East, southern and eastern Europe), my experience, my ambitions (graduating college, working overseas, being happy wherever I may be), my family (caring parents who don't realise my desire to be more independent), and finally, my desire ( to continue a relationship cut short because of my return to the States with someone in Egypt) To fulfill all of these goals, I have to become more assertive and demanding of myself and the people that I choose to surround myself with. It's a long and slow process, but I will have to do it for my own well being, if I am to be taken seriously and not taken advantage of. Thanks for listening to the rants of a confused, young, ambitious 20-something.