What is up, my blog readers? Guess where I am. THE EAST COAST!!!!! I'm not actually back home yet, though. I'm currently sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to start boarding. I've got some time so I figured I would go ahead and write my final blog post. First off, these flights have been the most turbulent flights I have ever been on. I'm not sure if there really was something going on in the air or if my pilots really just wanted to get to where they were going. The pilot on my first flight said we were going to make it to Seattle in 2.5 hours. That flight is usually close to 4 hours. Sure enough, we made it to Seattle over an hour early. My flight into Atlanta was the same way. That flight is usually five or six hours depending on which way you're traveling and we made it here in four hours. I did see two little girls in the airport whose roller bags doubled as scooters so they could move around the airport on wheels. It was pretty cute. I'm really excited to be this close to home. Only one more flight and I'll be there. Although I am excited to be home, I did have a great time while I was in Alaska. It had its ups and downs but I am glad that I did it. I discovered that I wanted to move to Alaska. I learned how to drive in literally all weather. I discovered a love of Thai food. The one thing that probably surprised me most about being in Alaska was discovering that I don't actually hate the snow. For years and years I claimed that I hated snow because it prevented people from doing anything. Being from the south, this is our reality. If it snows, everything shuts down and we all stay indoors. In Alaska, that never happens. Once it hits -50 degrees, some businesses will tell employees not to come in and schools will make classes optional, but nothing actually shuts down. I embraced the snow and learned how to function in it. How many people in South Carolina can say that they know how to drive on ice and snow while going the speed limit and without sliding off the road? Probably not many. I am now able to say that I can do that. I can also drive around the bends and curves of the Parks Highway going upwards of 65 mph, and I can drive in the pouring rain. I feel pretty accomplished because of that. Although I didn't get to do all the things that I wanted to do while I was here, like hiking, skiing, kayaking, swimming in the hot spring, or going dog sledding, I still had a good time. I spent a lot of time with family that I don't normally get to see. I learned how to cook some amazing food. I tried a new job that I definitely was not qualified for. I got to see some amazing scenery. I was able to focus on a different area of law while attending classes at UAF. I really do think that this was a great experience. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to come here experience Alaska for more than just one month. My flight is going to start boarding soon, so I should probably go. This has been amazing and I hope that you all have enjoyed following me on this journey. Bye!
0 Comments
If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know that my brother, Billy, was visiting up here for the summer. In the past, I have fought with my siblings a lot and we never really got along great. Since I've been in college, my relationship with my brother has drastically improved. It was so great to see him again after having not seen him in 6 months. We hung out, ate a lot of food, cooked a lot of food, and watched a lot of Master Chef together. Who knew that my brother and I would be sitting at the kitchen table eating steak and potatoes while watching Master Chef? Definitely not me. We had a lot of really great discussions while he was here. We talked about where we wanted to be after we both graduate next summer, our relationships, and food. We talked about food a lot. I'm really proud of my brother and the person that he is becoming. He has lots of goals and aspirations, and he has a direction for his life. It was awesome to sit down with him and talk about all this stuff. He's graduating from high school in June with certificates in welding that most people his age wouldn't have. He wants to make his career in welding and is already making plans of where to go to do that. I'm really happy that he knows what he wants to do, because I definitely don't. After being on a fast track to a degree in criminal justice starting in high school, I still question whether this is something that I want to do. After working in a bakery for almost half a year, maybe I'll find more satisfaction in becoming a baker or a chef. Who knows. I'm so glad that I got to spend quality time with my brother. Although we did have some serious conversations, we also had some fun times. Any time that one of us had cookies, we would take one and place it on the other person's shoulder. There was also a lot of smacking and shoving involved. Whenever we would walk by each other, someone got shoved or smacked. It was pretty funny. His plane flew out this afternoon around 3. He called me once he got to Seattle. Apparently the flight was not a good one. We do not take kindly to screaming children. He has very little patience for children just like I do. Hopefully his next two flights will be better and he makes it home safely. I fly home in ten days. Woohoo. Very excited. Tonight is my last shift at work and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked in the bakery. Yes, that job was stressful and had a lot of downs, but there were some ups mixed in with the downs. My managers were proud of the product that I was putting out, and honestly, I enjoyed it. I really do love cooking and baking. I still hate doing dishes, but I love making something delicious. After I get done working, I get to start packing and cleaning. I need to start packing my bags, shipping stuff to Columbia, and cleaning my room and the truck. I will post again next week to reflect on my time here in Alaska and wrap up this blog. It's been fun.
We are getting close to the end, guys. As of today, I put in my two weeks notice for work and have started to get my affairs in order for coming back to Columbia. I am so freaking excited. This has been an amazing experience and I love it up here, but at the same time, I am so ready to see my friends. I'm ready to see football games and the Horseshoe and my favorite restaurants. In the last two weeks I have done a lot of fun little "self-care" activities. I got a pedicure after working a 55 hour work week. That was stressful, but honestly kind of fun. I enjoyed the work. I have been getting caught up on my favorite tv shows. I bought a new planner that I absolutely love. I just got done doing my laundry and cleaning my room, so that always feels good. As of right now, it looks like only three of my six classes are going to require textbooks so I'm super excited about that. Still probably won't be cheap, but at least it's only three and not six expensive textbooks. Soon, I'm going to start mailing stuff back to Columbia so it will be at the house when I get there. I'm super excited to be moving into the new house. That's really all that I have to say. Not much else has happened. I've had sushi three times this week so that's always super fun. I love sushi. Anyways, I'm gonna get back to applying for jobs!
What's up? So last week I went on the big fishing trip down to Homer that I was super excited about and had been planning since like January. I was super excited because the last time I went halibut fishing I had a great time. I caught some fish, got to see a new city, and got to see all the great scenery on the drive there and back. This fishing trip, unfortunately, was not like that. This time, there were 12 of us that went: myself, my brother, all three of my uncles, my grandfather, one uncle's fiancée, her niece, one uncle's girlfriend, her daughter and nephew, and my other uncle's nephew (or my cousin). Having that many people should have been fun. We did walk away with a whole lot of fish, which was nice. The problem with having that many people is that there are so many different ideas and plans. There were basically three groups that formed during the trip: my uncle, his girlfriend, her daughter, and her nephew as Group 1; my uncle, his fiancée, and her niece as Group 2, and then my grandfather, my other uncle, and his nephew as the Group 3. That left my brother and I kind of floating in the middle. We both live with my uncle and his fiancée right now but my brother slept in the tent with my grandfather and that group (Group 3) while I slept in a hammock (my choice). I rode down to Homer with Group 3 while my brother rode down with Group 2. We all hung out and spent time together, but there was definitely lines drawn between all the groups. Although it sometimes seemed kind of clique-ish and everyone had their own opinions and ideas on things, I still had a fairly decent time. We drove down on Monday morning. It was an 11 hour drive, which is almost double what it takes for me to get from my house to the university, so that was fun. Tuesday was our fishing day. When you go fishing with a charter, you have a few different options for how long you go fishing. You can do a half day, which is only about six hours; a three quarter day, which is about nine hours; a full day, which is about twelve hours; or a multi day. We did a three quarter day charter, which meant that we left the docks around 8 and got back around 4 or 5. What time you get back is determined by how long it takes for everyone to catch their fish. We went halibut fishing, and with halibut, each person is only allowed to catch two fish per day: one under 28 inches and then one of any size. If there is extra time once everyone catches their two fish, the captain might allow people to fish for other types of fish, like salmon or cod or rockfish. As I stated earlier, when I went two years ago, I had a great time. I caught one halibut and one salmon (by accident). This year was not like that. I have major issues with motion sickness, so I obviously carry Dramamine with me wherever I go. I took some before I got on the boat. The ride out to our fishing point: I was fine. The ride back from our fishing point: I was fine. During the fishing: I was not fine. I cast out twice and didn't catch anything and then I started to not feel so great. I went inside to put my head down and try not to look at how much the boat was rocking. The water was pretty rough where we were at. The boat would lean all the way to one side until we almost had water coming into the boat and then lean all the way to the other side and do the same thing. I was doing just fine with laying my head on the table and not thinking about it until I heard my cousin throwing up in the trash can. I looked over, saw him, and then realized I should probably head outside. If I was going to puke, it would be over the side of the boat. Sure enough, I puked. Now let me tell you, I am not a sympathy puker so I don't know what came over me. I haven't puked in nearly 6 years and I have watched a great many of friends puke their guts out. Other people puking has never bothered me. This was the first time that something like this had ever happened to me. After that I went back inside to lay my head down and couldn't look up again without wanting to go round two with my stomach over the side of the boat. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. I think 6 out of the 17 people on the boat all got sick because of how rough the water is. If you decide to go out fishing like that, be prepared. The next day was much nicer. We went down to the Homer Spit to do some shopping and look at all the cool shops. That's one thing that I love about small towns is all the cute shops that you get to see. I bought a bunch of cool stickers, a pin, a tote bag, and some really good ice cream. On Thursday, we made the drive back home. If you ever get a chance to go to Alaska, I highly recommend going to Homer. It was super pretty and the Spit was super cool. Even the drive down there is awesome. I finally saw a moose! It only took my 6 months to see one, but I saw it. I was very happy. Overall, not a bad trip. It had some highs and some lows, but I would definitely go back to Homer. In other news, I am now fully trained as a day baker at work and am now working all those shifts. That basically means I make all the breads, rolls, hamburger buns, and desserts for the restaurant. Making bread is super easy. It is significantly better than store bought bread I might add. Also, who knew I had awesome cake decorating skills? I was super impressed with how quickly I caught on to it and how nice my cakes came out. Super proud of myself. My uncle made an Oreo cheesecake today and it should be done tomorrow, so once I get off work I can have a nice big slice of it. Very excited for that too. Side note: While on the boat, I saw a BUNCH of otters, which I thought was super cool because we don't exactly see them in their natural habitat where I'm from. We only ever see them at the aquarium, so it was cool to see them out on the water just doing their thing, hanging out with other otters. Well, I think that's about it. My next fun adventure should be the fair, so get ready for a bunch of fried foods and cool vendors!
What is up my friends? Once again, I apologize for not posting in a while. I'm kinda lazy, not gonna lie. BUT some fun stuff has happened that I think y'all would like to hear about. First, I have two funny wildlife stories to tell. Now, when people think of Alaskan wildlife, they think of moose and bison and elk and bears and a variety of other big game. What people don't usually think about are birds. Driving around in Alaska, I see a lot of people with dogs in their vehicles. This is a normal (and very cute) occurrence. Lots of dogs means lots of happiness for me. So I'm driving around one day and I see a dog kennel in the bed of someone's truck. I figure that this person usually transports their dog in the kennel or that, if the dog is in there, then it must be sleeping. So here I am thinking about all the cute dogs that could be in the kennel when a head pops up. BUT it wasn't a dog. IT WAS A TURKEY!!! So here I am laughing at a red light because a turkey just pops its head up in this dog kennel WHEN TWO MORE HEADS POP UP!!! There are now three turkeys in a dog kennel in the back of this dudes truck. I am rolling. I thought it was pretty hilarious. So my second funny encounter with Alaskan wildlife happened last week. My uncle and I had dropped some food off for his fiancée at work and we were driving back home. Sitting at the stop light, I look next to me and see a gentlemen in a truck. With the windows down. With a bird on the dashboard. I thought the bird was fake. But then it started moving its head. I tell my uncle and he thinks that it's fake. Then he sees it moving. He informs me that this is no ordinary bird. This is the Alaska state bird. A ptarmigan. That is a decent size bird similar in size to that of a chicken. What?!?!?!?!?! This man has a real live ptarmigan sitting on his dashboard while he drives through town! My uncle said he had never seen anything like that before during his entire time spent living in Alaska. It was crazy. Those were my funny wildlife encounters. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Yesterday was the summer solstice, and everyone is celebrating this weekend. The Midnight Sun Run is tonight, which is a 5K from the University to Pioneer Park. It starts later tonight around 10 or something. There is also a baseball game going on that starts around midnight. There's also a festival that goes on, but I'm not sure when that one is. Lots of fun festivities for the weekend. With it being summer time, the farmer's market is now open. Lots of yummy food and cool vendors. My brother flew up here yesterday, which is super exciting, so I took him to the farmer's market with me. I haven't seen my brother in six months, so it was really nice being able to see him once he got off the plane. We have lots of fun stuff planned. In July, everyone is driving down to Homer so we can go halibut fishing. I went to Seward two years ago to go fishing and had a lot of fun, so I hope that Homer will be just as fun. We are also (hopefully) going to go kayaking at some point. That's something that I have really wanted to do since the snow cleared and I think that it would be a great thing to do. Within the last week, I have been trained on day baking at my job. I was doing the early morning baking, which consists of muffins, cinnamon rolls, and cookies. Now I am doing the day baking, which consists of bread, rolls, hamburger buns, hoagies, cakes, and pies. I enjoy the day baking a lot more. I picked it up fairly quickly and hope to keep that position. That is most of what has happened within the last few weeks. Hopefully I will post more frequently, but then again, I am kinda lazy. I will post again in a bit!
So I know that it has been a really long time since I posted, but I'm here now. Let me tell you, I fall in love with Alaska more and more each day. Everyone knows the saying, "the grass is greener on the other side." I like to think that I am already on the other side. Because it's summer time now (yes, we completely skipped spring), all the grass is green, people are planting flowers and tending to their gardens, the trees are in full bloom, and the air smells wonderful (unless you live with two dogs like I do haha). My uncle and his fiancée have a huge hammock that they put in their backyard and I love to go and lay in it. The amount of times that I have almost fallen asleep in it are way too many to count. When we go camping down in Homer to go fishing, I intend to sleep in a hammock rather than the tent. I will fall asleep almost instantly if I sleep in a hammock. I have spent a lot of time outside during the last week or two. Whether it was laying in the hammock, helping Liz plant herbs, or just going out and doing running around, I have tried to be outside as much as possible. Yesterday, we had a barbecue for Memorial Day weekend. We put a bunch of chairs outside, invited a bunch of people over, and smoked a brisket. It was really really good. My uncle and I made macaroni salad and a coconut lime cheesecake the night before, and today, there is only a little bit of macaroni salad left. No more cheesecake. It was just that good. I did have to work that morning, which kind of sucked, but I got everything done, came home, took a nap, and then joined everyone for the barbecue. Speaking of work, it's going fairly well. One of the bakers that trained me has moved back home to Arizona and we hired a new girl. So far, she has been trained on the day baking stuff, but this week she is being trained on the morning baking stuff. I actually have an evaluation this Tuesday to see how all of my stuff is turning out and to see if I should get a raise. That would be really nice. When August 1 comes around, I have rent to pay down in Columbia. I need to make sure that I have the money to pay my rent. I have started looking at getting a second job but haven't settled on anything yet. I just want something like a part time administrative assistant. Something kind of low-key since my current job is a lot of manual labor and I'm consistently busy. We will see after Tuesday what I decide to do. Liz's birthday is next week so we are planning a surprise party for her. It is going to be unicorn themed, so lots of pastel colors and sweet food. I'm not sure if we are making her a unicorn cake or if we are just going to go to the grocery store and buy one. I think that her niece might be taking over all the party planning so I think I might just stay out of it and be surprised when the day comes. So because it is summer time, that means that my brother and one of our cousins will be flying up here shortly. It's an early graduation present from my uncle to fly each of the nieces/nephews up the summer before their senior year. I flew up here and spent a month and a half for my early graduation present. Now it is my brother's turn. He is flying up June 20, which I am super excited for. I haven't seen him in six months. We do talk everyday and have legitimate conversations, but I still haven't seen him face to face, so it will be nice. Our cousin, Brendan, is actually flying in this Saturday. None of us have actually met him. I think he lives in Arizona or Nevada or one of the surrounding states. I think we will all have a good time though, despite not actually knowing each other. We have lots of fun things planned for this summer (or at least I do) and I can't wait to share all my adventures! I will talk to y'all later.
Wow wow wow wow wow. This has been an amazing experience. I recognize that this post is way later than what I usually post. It has just been a crazy last two weeks. Between exams and David coming to visit (woohoo), so much has been going on. As of yesterday, I am completely finished with my finals!!!!!! I think I passed (lol). All finals done. All papers are written. All exams taken. I can return my textbooks and throw away all the paper! It's very satisfying. Now I can focus on other stuff, like showing David around Fairbanks or painting. David flew in on May 1. I went and picked him up from the airport and we had sushi for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. He liked it. Unfortunately, I still had to work, so I left at midnight to go make some amazing cinnamon rolls. So far, we have eaten at the Cookie Jar (my place of work), the good sushi place, my favorite Thai place, and my favorite Italian place. We have spent a lot of time with family. David and my uncle play video games for hours on end while I sit on the couch and nap. About two days after he got here, I came home from work and my uncle told me that my face/neck looked weird. I thought it was just because I had gotten off work and still had like flour and sugar on my face. I was wrong. Turns out I was having an allergic reaction to something that spread from the left side of my face to the entirety of my neck and to the insides of both my arms. Most of it has cleared up, except for the part on my neck. Still somewhat itchy. I have no idea what it was or how I got it and there wasn't exactly much that I could do. I didn't go into anaphylactic shock or anything, but it was enough of a reaction to be uncomfortable. It hasn't stopped me from going out and doing stuff though. David and I have explored Fairbanks a little bit. Later on today we are going to drive out to the North Pole and go visit Santa Clause's house. Yes, that is a real thing. Yes, you must go if you are in Alaska. Tomorrow, I would like to take him to Chena Hot Springs and go hiking in the surrounding area. I haven't been to Chena Hot Springs, so this will be an adventure for both of us. Now, since David has been here and since I have been here, we have come to a startling conclusion. Keep in mind: we are both from the east coast. We like the beach and the heat and the sunshine. David and I have made the decision to move to Alaska after I graduate next year!!!!!! There is no humidity, it's a small community, and I have family up here that will help us move and get settled. I fell in love with Alaska a long time ago, but David now sees all the beauty that I see up here and has agreed that this would be the place he would like to move to. I am so excited. It's going to be a big move with a VERY long drive, but I think it will be amazing. I am so excited for what the future holds, and I cannot wait. That's enough rambling. I will post more throughout the summer. I'm not sure if it will be as frequent, but I will keep posting so everyone can see what the summers are like up here in addition to the winter. I will talk to y'all later!
Happy late Easter everyone. This post is coming to you late because Easter was a nightmare. Originally, one other baker and myself were supposed to go in to work at midnight the day of Easter. We were going to make 180 mini cinnamon rolls. Yes, you read that right. 180. Well, then I get a text that says the other bakers are confident that I can make all of them myself. From start to finish. In under 6 hours. Yeah. No thanks. I ended up asking my manager about it, and he told me that the other bakers would make them on Saturday. All I would have to do is put icing on them Easter morning. That seemed a lot more reasonable. So, I go into work on Easter morning and everything was already done! All I had to do was let them thaw. I was ecstatic. I still had to make regular cinnamon rolls and cookies, along with prepare 2 new cookie doughs. Despite that, I was still done in 5 hours. Went home, took a nap, then went to Easter dinner at my grandparent's house. We had ham, pulled pork, coleslaw, potato salad, cucumber salad, and green bean casserole. My uncle didn't find me funny when I threatened to eat all of the green bean casserole. In my defense, it was really really good. It didn't last more than 24 hours in our house. After that, I decided to attempt some of my school work. I am proud to announce that I am completely finished with my Juvenile Delinquency class! It was one of my online classes, and he had the final exam already opened so we could take it. I'm very proud of myself. I have one more assignment for my sociology class, my final exam for my corrections class, a few assignments for my philosophy class, and a discussion board and the final for my psychology class. I'm so close to being done. Hopefully I can have everything done by the time that my boyfriend gets here. I would love to not have to go to class or take finals once he is here. I should probably get back to finishing those last few assignments. I will post again next week.
Today is an exciting day. I am taking over the Instagram page for USC National Student Exchange (@uofsc_nationalstudentexchange). If you're interested, go check it out. It's been fun so far. Right now we are at the university looking at art pieces and sitting in the library doing homework. Later we are going to visit some of my favorite restaurants and places around Fairbanks.
Aside from the Instagram takeover, life has consisted of class, working on finals, and work, just like usual. At work I made a cinnamon roll wreath and two 12" decorated cookie cakes. They came out pretty nice. I will share the pictures in my gallery. In terms of finals, I have 3 papers, 3 exams, and 1 in-class presentation. Super fun. I would like to have it all done by the time that my boyfriend gets here. He is flying up on May 1, which is the week of the finals. I might still have one class to go to while he is here, but I am almost done, which is super exciting. I registered for classes this morning for the fall semester. That was a nightmare. I had my schedule all planned out. I went to register. "You have an advising hold on your account. Please contact your advisor." One of my classes completely filled up by the time I fixed the issue and I was forced to rearrange my schedule. One of my minors is Psychology, and I need to take two psychology classes next semester to make sure that I graduate on time. The only issue is that the psychology courses are limited to psychology majors right now. They won't open for psychology minors for another 3 days. I have tried for 2 semesters now to get into Cognitive Psychology and haven't been able to get into it. It is driving me insane. I would really love to take that class, but I won't know whether I can or not for the next three days. As of right now, I have 3 classes on Tuesday and Thursday, starting at 10:30 am and ending at 2:30 pm. I have 1 class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which I was trying not to do, and its from 2:30 pm to 3:50 pm. If I get into the psych classes I want, one will be included in the Tuesday Thursday schedule at 8:30 am and one will be online. I just really hope that it all works out because I don't want to have an awful schedule. I'm not going to say too much more because I'm posting a bunch of stuff on Instagram. Go check it out! I will post again next week. Disclaimer: I do apologize that this post is late. It's been rough.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. What up guys? The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining longer, classes are almost over. I am one happy southern girl. Everyone at work is always like, "It's so warm out! Don't you love it?" I tell them that it's getting warmer but we aren't in my comfort zone yet. My comfort zone is like 70-80. We are in like 45-55. Almost there. We are almost at the point where we have close to 24 hours of sunlight. That starts in June. I am very excited for June. You will hear lots about the sunlight and my happiness. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my first blog post, but I will be maintaining my blog all the way through the summer. I want y'all to see both sides of Alaska: near darkness 24/7 and all sunlight 24/7. It'll be a lot of fun. Classes are almost over, which I am very excited for. Spring semester in college is worse than having senioritis in high school. I lack all motivation to do any of my work and assignments are getting turned in at the last minute or shortly after the last minute. It's bad. Work is work. I go in and make cinnamon rolls (which I have pictures of!!!). My boyfriend will be flying up here in like 2.5 weeks, which I am super excited for. We are going to go to Chena Hot Springs and climb Angel Rocks and see Gabriel Iglesias perform and he's going to try a bunch of new foods and it's going to be awesome. My brother is flying up in the middle of June to spend the summer up here, so that will be fun. We are all going to go halibut fishing down in Homer. I thought Homer would only be an 8 hour drive from Fairbanks because I thought that it was just two hours outside of Anchorage. The 6-hour drive from here to Anchorage is nothing for me because I make that same drive from Virginia Beach to Columbia. I was very mistaken. My uncle informed me that the drive is closer to 12 hours, not 8. I'm excited to go, I'm just not excited for the car ride. Y'all should be though. That trip will contain lots of great pictures. It'll be fun once I actually get there. I need to get back to my homework, so have fun! Talk to y'all later this week! |
AuthorStudent at the University of South Carolina studying criminal justice, French, and psychology. Archives
August 2019
Categories |