Yet Another Update

Meteora

Earlier this week, my dad made a good point that I have travelled a lot in the past 6 months, what with me going to New Orleans (we don't need to talk about it) and Los Angeles (I don't want to talk about it). But I thought that I should attempt to keep this blog alive, what with my next international trip being under 150 days away!

Quick Summary: So I ended my blogging abruptly with me going into the Parthenon. Following that, I went to Meteora, Delphi, all around the Peloponnese, Bologna, Italy to see Kaitlin, and London, Dublin, and Edinburgh for fall break! (London, Dublin, and Edinburgh has a video: https://youtu.be/RHTGr-jfp-M) 

My cousin, my best friend, and some
of their friends during Mardi Gras

In February, I skipped a week of school to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans with my cousin, my best friend, and their friends  and needless to say, it was insanely fun. I was there from Saturday to Wednesday and it was a party the whole time. So many people, so much food, and a ridiculous amount of alcohol. Eric was a great host and showed me around New Orleans, which included several stops for me to try real southern food. Yum. Honestly, so much happened and it's all a blur, so it's hard to summarize and write down. Plus, a lot of it involved alcohol (like the actual day of Mardi Gras, I had more drinks than there are hours in a day, and that's so much for Danielle, being that I consume one drink every three to six months), so let's not dwell.

Jake and I at Disneyland

Some other travel I did consisted of visiting Los Angeles during the first half of spring break. There I hung out with old family friends, Katey from study abroad, and Jake. I stayed in Downtown LA so I got a pretty good experience of the city. Katey is an incredible person and spent the whole day driving me through all of LA! She brought me to Hollywood, Beverley Hills, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach! She also fed me In-And-Out burger! Katey was a killer host! And Jake was wonderful too! He brought me to Disneyland!! He loves Disney just as much as me (believe it or not) so we were basically just geeking out and riding everything we possibly could! It was crazy fun!


I  took part in school activities and ventured out into Omaha more than usual this past semester too. Katy and I went to the Creighton Luau and met up with some friends. The food was outrageously good. I can still taste the flavored pork! It was crazy to see everyone on stage dancing beautifully and then remembering that I have class with most of them! Next year, I plan to buy a ticket earlier and get closer seats!

When Christie came up mid-April, we hurried on over to the Omaha zoo! Although the northern (?) half was under construction, it was still a very good zoo in terms of organization, size, and animal visibility. We even walked through the terrifying Butterfly Pavillon...if many of you don't know, I'm slightly freaked out by butterflies. I absolutely embarrassed myself when one landed on my arm and I went into catatonic shock! But we had a very good time. As I said, zoo was good and the weather was wonderful for Omaha. Last time around this year it was pretty frigid! I would have to say I enjoyed the aquarium the most and I think Christie liked the butterfly seats the most! Haha only kidding. I definitely think she liked the big cats!

I generally hung out with more people too. Attended a retreat, went to a luncheon, had a few study groups, sat in on some outside lectures. But my favorite was when Riley, my RSP kid and now great friend, and her friend Rachel (now my friend as well) went to a kinda art facility. It was truly art-crafting-skill work in the sense that they welded metal, blew glass into statues and beads, carved wood furniture, painted, and sculpted. I definitely think Riley and I will be returning to try a glass-blowing class! They have a couples weekend class every so often - so we'll see you there!

We did the Myasthenia Gravis walk again this year, as we do every year! Even though it was a little humid and the sky was unhappy, a good number of people showed up! It's such a good cause!

Skip, Nana and I did a fun, spontaneous thing too! I surprised them to an outing and treated them to a Dinner Detective in Kansas City at the Philips Hotel. Skip and Nana seemed so ecstatic! Honestly I was a little anxious bringing them to something like this, but it was great fun! They were the perfect people to bring!

The family also participated in the KC Thunder Ride. We had to reschedule due to rain, but holy cow! An incredible number of people were still able to make it even with the rescheduling! Mom and I had to drive a little crazy to get some footage but I definitely think it was worth it. The copyright of the music was just approved by YouTube, so you can check out the video! It's underneath :)

For my birthday, Dad and I drove out to Columbia, Missouri to watch Butch Walker! It has been four or so years since I've seen Butch live and holy cow was it worth the wait. Butch was feeling a little under the weather, but I feel the audience really lifted him up. Everyone knew every word. No joke. Best concert so far. I hope to see him again some day! Keep it up, Butch! After the concert, I turned 21 on the road back to Kansas City. Hooray

Amigoni Wine House - the wine is crazy
delicious. I usually don't drink or like
alcohol, but this wine is very fresh a local!

Last thing to mention is the crazy birthday party my friend Nicole had. Her father put together a crazy itinerary with the them "I've always wanted to had a drink there!" And in two days, we went to the Boulevard Brewing Company, a Royals game, the casino (I broke even), Amigoni wine house, Powerplay arcade for bowling, and a whiskey bar. It was awesome! Her father did it right! Kudos! I actually returned to Amigoni's a bit later with Mom to have her try some of the wine. We ended up buying a few bottles to give to my grandma, Uncle Bill, and possibly my cousins for their weddings.

The June 1st (Nicole) and the June 3rd
birthday (me) girls at the Royals game!

Julep Whiskey Bar in Westport 

Speaking of which, we also attended my cousin's wedding. She was the most beautiful and graceful bride I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to be selected to do a reading. What an honor! A lot of the family flew out to see it too, so it was a great family function as well. I think we're all ecstatic as a family with the fact that we get to attend two weddings in one year, to honor the joining of two lovely couples and to bask in each others joy and celebration. I am so happy for Jeff and Enaam. And soon I get to be happy for Tara and Rick.

Well, lucky for you, I'm going to stop talking because I didn't do much else this summer until my roadtrip, which I'll write about probably by the end of next week. All I did was get A's in my theology and philosophy class, get coffee, and read some outside class books. I'm done rattling now.

Much love <3
Danielle