Reuniting with a London sister yet again!

Over the weekend I went to Philadelphia for my friend’s wedding. My friend, whom I hadn’t seen in seven years and only met once…..in London.

In 2005, I was selected as one of 28 young girls to travel to London as part of the Teen Ink London Summer Writing Program. The annual program (which now takes place in New York) brought girls together from all over the world together for the sole purpose of honing our writing skills.

L to R: Me, Christine, Tiffany, Christina and Jess in 2005 in front of
St. Paul's Cathedral in London

The group, with ages ranging from 14 to 18, got along pretty well…well as well as hormonal girls can. There were different groups within the 28 girls simply because you hang out with who you feel you can connect to.

We all kept in touch mainly through letters or emails and complained about how much we missed London. Soon Myspace and Facebook popped on the scene and we were all able to see how each other’s lives were going through pictures, statuses and videos.

Fast forward five years after the trip to when I reconnected with one of my friends on the trip, Tiffany. She lived only an hour and a half away and we were able to meet up twice to hang out with one another. It was lovely. We picked up right where we left off.

Tiffany and I in 2010

Now fast forward to the year 2012 where Christine gets married! I remember our phone conversations after we came back from London when she’d tell me about working at a restaurant and dating him. Now I finally got to meet him and see her again.

The beautiful bride and I!

Was it worth a weekend trip to Philadelphia just to go to a wedding that I wasn’t even a part of? Yes! We’re London sisters. We experienced the London bombings together and for many of us it was our trip outside of the country. We have this unique bond that is unbreakable even if we go months without talking. Congratulations to Christine and Rafael!

Travel Challenge: Day 8--A Favorite Food From Another Country

I'm a fatty and I don't care who knows it.

I love to eat. I love trying foods from different cultures and different countries. It makes me feel more connected to the place that I am visiting, rather than ordering "Americanized" food in a different country.

I've always loved Shepard's Pie. I first tried it at a tea house in, of all places, Kansas. I've been hooked since then, and when I finally went to Ireland and had authentic Shepard's Pie with Guinness, I died. As a birthday present, our bus driver bought me a recipe book of Irish foods. It's been thoroughly abused.

Photo via ifood.tv

Tortilla de patatas. I thought I knew about Spanish food before I traveled to Spain but I was sadly mistaken. Living with a family, I was able to eat typical Spanish meals and the day my host mom made tortilla de patatas, I kissed her. Seriously I did. A few weeks later, my friends and I had a dinner party and we made tortilla de patatas, but it didn't taste the same as it would from a woman who's been making it for years.

Photo via Chicho's Kitchen

 I had this in London and my mouth thanked me for it! I can't remember the name, but as you can see, I had carrots, a huge flaky biscuit/bread type thing, parsnips and beef with Guinness flavored gravy.

 Obviously I thought it was excellent! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard.
 

Apparently I Have a Signature Pose.....

Every now and then I go through my pictures on my computer. Last week, while deliciously on Spring Break at my Mom's I decided to relive my glory days abroad.

Instantly I was flooded with memories of good friends and I in London or at Il Duomo in Florence. Then I realized...in a good portion of those pictures....I do a specific pose.

At first I thought to myself, "wow, Naomi you have that same pose in two different pictures in two different cities in different years!" Then, as I continued to go through my pictures, the pose became more apparent.

My signature pose, is this:

London 2005 in front of the Buckingham Palace Gardens at age 15, aaaah so young!

Now usually I don't have an awkward looking face, but this is generally my signature pose and I ONLY do it when I'm abroad! In all of my other pictures from high school or college I don't have a pose like this. But when I go abroad it's a completely different story!

I do have a variation of this pose:

Florence 2009 on top of the Duomo

Here are just a few more of pictures from my trips that include one of the two poses!

Paris 2009 inside the ballroom in Musée d’Orsay

I love elephants! Paris 2009 before going in to the Musée d’Orsay

Just behind me ladies and gentlemen is our seating area! Rome 2009--The Coliseum

On the Thames River tour showing off Big Ben. London 2010

Here I am AGAIN showing off Big Ben like I own it. London 2010

Oh yeah, I think I'll just chill here in Bath, England. 2010

At the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. London 2010

Same pose different country. No biggie. County Clare, Ireland 2010

Ireland 2010 again. One arm on a rail showcasing the scenery behind me...you know like all the other pictures I have on here.....

After visiting Muckross Abbey in Ireland 2010. There just happened to be a deer in the area. See how I show it off?

I thought I'd show off this sign in Gaelic while was on Inis Orr in Ireland in 2010. I don't know what it says but I'm doing my signature pose so who cares!?

I wonder why I never do it while I'm in the states. Hmmm.....

Picture Time!

I'm just going to let this post speak for itself. London, Dublin and Limerick. England and Ireland. Oh how I love thee!

The National Gallery

Big Ben and Parliament
The Tower of London Bridge

The Tower of London

Me in front of Big Ben!

The girls and I in front of Stonehenge.

Loves it!

London Here I Come!

Tomorrow is the big day! I leave for LONDON, ENGLAND! I miss that place so much it's unhealthy!

Currently I'm still packing up to move out AND trying to pack for my trip but dangit it's hard! Ugh. Oh well, this will probably be my last trip until we get to London, so for now TOOTLES!

07/07/05. Five Years Later

As an American, I've noticed that when a crisis happens abroad, we all have unwavering empathy for the country and tend to "rescue" it. There was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which affected 14 countries and left hundreds of thousands dead. Then there was the 2004 Madrid train bombings and most recently the earthquake that absolutely destroyed Port au Prince, Haiti.

America runs over and offers its condolences and tries to donate any money or food to the families affected, and that's great. However, what happens afterward?

Today marks the five year anniversary of the London tube bombings. It was a terrorist attack that holds a special place in my heart because, I was there. At the ripe age of 15, I traveled abroad for a writing program and only four blocks away from my dorm, the explosion on the tubes happened.

No one really told us what was going on, but a few of the girls on the trip got a hold of a radio and eventually we were able to find out what happened. It was absolutely awful. The chaos, tears and rage that ensued London was inexplicable. I still remember this day every year not because I was there, but because of the I could feel the vulnerability of the city and saw first hand that in the wake of a disaster, EVERYONE does want to know "What's next?"



Experiencing September 11, 2001 was horrible enough, but I didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. Being that both September 11 and the London bombings were terrorist attacks I was able to come full circle and connect the feelings and raw emotions of the government and its citizens.

However, I do wonder do we as Americans run to help a country and then after we've done our "good Samaritan" act, forget all about it? Some do and some don't and I'm certainly not saying that we should hold candlelight vigils each year because, obviously it didn't happen on our territory....but should we at least acknowledge a five year or 10 year or even 20 year anniversary even if it didn't affect the country as a whole? Thoughts?