Sprechen Sie Deutsch?!

I have just returned from my first trip to L'Allemange; Deutschland; Germany. And it was a freaking winter wonderland. So amazing, so breathtaking, such a dream come true. I went to visit my friends from California who are also studying abroad, Margaret and Katie. Two of the most awesome, fun, cool, hilarious people I have ever met in my life. It was sooooo nice to see them. My trip started with a flight from France to Amsterdam International Airport, where I had my first layover. This made me realize two things: one, I would like to go to Amsterdam, and two, I'm going to spend an absurd amount of time in the airport because it's badass.

Heineken and Starbucks. It tasted like liberty.

So I got into Amsterdam to find SNOW. Snowing Snowey Snow. I'm such a southern California kid for thinking snow is such an incredible unbelievable thing. But to me, it is. As we descended from the clouds and I got my first sight of the white icy land before me out the window of the plane, I squealed. Legit, squealed. The person next to me gave me a "oh, god. you people." look. But I didn't care because I was in heaven.

I met up with the girls in Stuttgart, Germany, and we went to the Christmas markets.

So Cute. So German. I loved it.

Then we went into Tübingen where the girls live.

I went to a Christmas party with some of their friends, but I'm sorry no pictures can be provided from that blessed event. But I can tell you I woke up with a Snuggie on, 5 band aides on my fingers, and a broken toe. So. Anyways. The next day we slept in late, then went to the Chocolate Festival, where I had a chocolate shot. As in chocolate liqueor in a shot glass made of PURE chocolate. Nothing could have made me more happy. We finished of the night by watching Paranormal Activity 1 & 2 (which were not THAT scary by the way. no nightmares here) and crashed at around 3 am. I had to wake up at 6:45 am (kill me now) to catch my flight back to France.

But I can't complain so much, because this is what I woke up to:

On my flight home, I read the inflight magazine, The Holland Herald. In it was an article about living abroad and trying to find home on the road. I find extremely inspiring and it certainly reminded me of everything I'm feeling right now. Here was my favorite excerpt:

"Home is essentially an idea we carry around with us, redefining at every instant. It has less and less to do with a piece of soil and more and more to do with what might be called a piece of soul. Home, these days, is less a matter of where you sleep, but more of where you stand."

Reading this made me find that sense of wonder again-- it almost made me feel like a kid again, when anything was possible, as cheesy as that may be. It also made me realize that there is so much to be done in this life. It made me realize my ambitions. I've never been a simple person, I've never been a complacent person, and I've certainly never been afraid to get what I want in life and just go for it. I don't know where I'm going next, but I can promise you it won't be boring.

cheerio, love.

I have just returned from my second trip to

London, England.

verdict: its love.

The trip began with a particularly beautiful flight.

I guess these were pretty nice too...

After we got into town, we ate at Pizza Express.

A restaurant that serves dough balls.

As in balls of dough with a cup of butter.

As in, ohmyfreakinggod.

Followed by some words of wisdom from my father.

I'm happy to say the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

So much awesome.

Then, it was the big event.

The reason we were in London in the first place.

The premiere of Harry Potter 7.

Which was, AMAZING. i was, well... spellbound. tehe.

We saw it in IMAX.

And we sat behind a group of American students who put my Harry Potter obsession to shame.

I believe I heard one girl say

"if I have to pee during the movie, I'm just going to be in my pants.

I brought napkins."

(Not to worry though. next movie, I'm bringing a wand. Maybe a cauldron.

Bitches think they can out fan-girl me... pshh.)

Love.of.my.Life.

And we walked around, checking out Big Ben, the London Eye, and Parliament.

Parliament

which was guarded by very intense, machine gun carrying cops.

Parliament, which I decided to throw a starburst at.

A starburst that hit a window and made a sound and made one of the intense machine gun carrying cops come out from his post and stare me down.

With his big machine gun.

I thought I was going to get arrested.

But an innocent smile does wonders and he lowered his weapon and walked away.

**Note to self: Do not throw candy at important buildings. Cops won't be amused.

We ended the evening buy people watching drunkies over hot chocolate before returning back to Victoria Station and back to the airport for our flight back to Aix.

Bloody Good Show Chaps.

lucky november.

it's november.

and november, pour moi, en general, c'est un tres bon mois.

translation: for some reason unknown to me, my novembers' are pretty awesome.

it's just one of those things, ya know?

i'm counting on ole lucky november to get me out of my homesick,

what the heck, france?!

slump.

i'm missing so many things.

1. My family. My friends. My dogs. Obviously. No need to elaborate.

2. The Holiday Cups at Starbucks. Peppermint White Mocha?! Guess not.

3. Big Gulps. Moreover, the concept of a freaking refill. You might think this is silly, but after you find yourself paying 3 euros for un Coca Light, and only getting one glass for the whole meal, you might rethink judging me.

4. The laundry machine in my house. That I don't have to get change to use.

BUT.

i'm in france this year.

and that's a definite something.

AND.

i'm going to London for Harry Potter 7 opening night.

AND AND.

it's my birthday in 28 days.

AND AND AND.

this is my christmas wonderland.

DONC.

i think it's going to be all good.

je peux le faire. je peux le faire. je peux le faire.

PURPLE.

PURPLE.

it's the color of spirit in the LBGT community.

this month, 6 gay boys in their teens committed suicide because of

homophobic bullying.

the parents of these boys have asked that on October 20th, 2010

we all wear some form of purple

to remember these boys and raise awareness against hate crimes and bullying of the

LGBT community

i for one will DEFINITELY be wearing purple.

i'm not gay, or bisexual or transgendered.

but i don't have to be to want equality for all.

no one deserves to be hated for simply being themselves.

please support this effort!!!!

these boys were not the first to take their own lives because of bullying,

but with our effort, they will not have died in vain.

we are all equal. we are all children of GOD. we are all beautiful.

i only have a blog to creep- eh, follow other blogs

because right now, nothing much is happening in the life of

Caitlin Martin.

which makes me sad. because im not living in france or anything.

ok, it's not bad. it's just, you know i had this idea that i would be spending this entire year eating pastries, and riding vespas, and wearing berrets.

that all the buildings would be from the 17th century and nobody would have cell phones

and everything would just be so fabulously french.

and, now i guess i could say im, well,

disenchanted.

because everyone has cell phones.

and no one wears berrets.

the boys all ride skateboards. not vespas.

and all the buildings are new.

and there is mcdonalds.

and big industrial buildings.

and i actually have to study.

and i'm still a poor college kid.

and i get tired.

and have bad hair days.

and everyone can tell i'm american just by looking at me.

and it just sucks that vacation is over and life has begun.

enough whining.

i'm done.

i just need a hobby.

badly.

i'm thinking:

french cooking class.

painting.

skateboarding.

vampire slaying.

scrapbooking.

i've made tons of friends here. some that i know i will have forever. and i have a lot of fun. and i guess the mere fact that i'm in the works of planning my trip to amsterdam in october, paris at christmas, and india/spain/italy over summer makes my life pretty awesome.

not to mention possibly paris fashion week in the spring.

and cannes film festival in the beginning of summer.

oh, wait. actually my life is pretty badass.

Sooooo French.

"So French."

It's this catch phrase I'm trying to get started.

Hoping it will be something like Paris Hilton's "That's Hot."

Is it lame? Ha, well I tried.

Anyways, I'm HERE!

France France France France France.

&& its effing beautiful!

the city.

the food.

the clothes.

the wine.

THE BOYS.

seriously, though. all the beauty has made the 15 hours of travelling I did worth it.

yeah, that's right 15 hours.

10 hours from LAX to Paris. 4 hour layover in Paris. 1 hour flight to Marsailles. 2o mins drive to Aix.

How does that suit ya?

Aix-en Provence is a beautiful place, and the people here are even more beautiful.

Tan, confident, stylish, amazing.

Fingers crossed all that rubs off on me!

So far my top moments have been

A) Finding my apartment! I'm staying with my newest homegirl Alexis in an adorable 17th century apartment building. 17th century! Wow.

B) Getting to buy alcohol without getting carded! The second night here I shared a bottle of wine with 3 other girls. Aix is known for its wine- well all of France is, right? Mmm, words cannot describe how good it was.

C) Watching French people sing along to American songs. I think you can guess its pretty hilarious.

D) THE Woohoo. Part bar, part club and a hotspot for youngsters like me. I think the name alone describes how awesome it is.

E) The other people in the program are amazing. I can see me becoming friends with them all!

actually, the only bad thing is this 9 hour time change. so hard to sleep. but another week here should fix that little hiccup.

I'm so excited!!!!!

viva la france, bitches!

(i will post some pictures here, but for all the pictures from my adventure, check my facebook)

su-hum-er :)

It's finally here.

Thank the freakinnnnn lord.

I had a great freshman year, don't get me wrong.

But truth is, it's probably 50 degrees in SF.

Not down.

It was a scorching 90 today in tmecc.

Oh, bliss.

I'm a week into summer && already it's been real.

hope the next two & 1/2 months follow suit.

goals:

get sunburned.

go to venice.

go to barnes & noble drunk.

spend some quality time with the girls.

road trip?

get MADD.

have fun.

lets make it a good one kids.

Lost and Found: The Tale of Rediscovering Pink and Tacky

"Fashion fades. Style remains the same."

-Coco Chanel

I've always had style; unique all to me.

From the minute I had a say in what clothes I wore, it was pink cowgirl boots, velvet suits with dalmatian collars and my favorite- the "bacandy", aka my bright pink bikini.

Once, I cried through an entire Christmas play because my mom made me wear pants.

I told her that "I could be happy if I was just wearing a dress."

There was this saying in my family,

"If it's pink and its tacky, Cait will wear it."

[Not saying my style was classy, but for better or worse it was 100% ME.]

I had learned the ins and outs of productive shopping by 7.

Knew the locations of dozens of Nordstroms by 10.

And had an above proficient knowledge of all notable labels by 13.

For anyone who knows me, they know that, well... I was spoiled when it came to clothes.

Like ridiculously.

What do you expect from the daughter of the ever stylish Karen Martin?

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I HAVE LEARNED EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT STYLE FROM MY MOM. THE WOMAN HAS A 65+ SHOE COLLECTION AND CAN PULL OFF LIME GREEN. SHE IS AMAZING.]

I LOVED, LOVE, AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE FASHION.

However, I realized recently,

when I got to high school, things kinda changed.

I had nice clothes. I was "in."

But, I had lost my style.

I had lost my Pink and Tacky.

Firstly, I was forced into a cheer uniform or ASB shirt 3-4 days out of the week

[precious.]

&& so tired or dgaf the others,

The easiness of a sweatshirt and jeans was oh so enticing.

Secondly, I lost that fearlessness I had for fashion as a youngster.

It wasn't that I necessarily looked bad...

I just was nothing compared to the fashionista extraordinaire that was

the young Caitlin Elizabeth Martin.

Cut to this year

And, I ship off to San Francisco, CA.

One of the fashion capitols of the world.

Full of inspiration.

No cheer uniforms, no ASB shirt, no waking up at 6 am.

But,

A serious lack of funds.

Fashion is difficult for poor college girls.

But alas, I remembered

Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, && Edie Sedgwick.

Would they have let something so trivial as money keep them from style?

Would they let losing their style for a while keep them from getting it back?

Absofreakinglutely not.

So,

I adapted.

I practiced.

I re-discovered.

And now, I can proudly say, I am a reformed shopper.

I learned how to make final sales and clearance look good.

Reallllll Good.

And, MOST IMPORTANTLY,

The girl that used to want to wear pink cowgirl boots and a bikini grocery shopping

Who would come in early from recess in pre-school to ensure she got the BEST dress up clothes

Who could spend a whole day trying on her mom's clothes,

Well, She's Back.

And better than ever.

MY EPIPHANY:

[i have a lot of these, i know]

Style is not what you wear. It's about how you wear it. It's about knowing who you are and what you want to say and not being afraid of it.

Viva La France

"America is my home, and Paris, my hometown."

Ok. So I'm not going to Paris.

I'm going here.

Aix En Provence, France

Beautiful, eh?

Eh.

I will be attending the L'Acadmie d'Aix-Marseille.

For the entire next school year.

Entire. Next. School. Year.

It just hit me. Like, big time.

Because we had the awards ceremony today for everyone accepted into the study abroad program. And there were all these kids there, going all over the world- Denmark, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ghana, Sydney, London, Japan... EVERYWHERE. Not to seem cheesy, but it sort of felt like we were in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, representing the country we were going to. Carrying the torch of fire from one country to... ok, I'm stopping. But I mean, you could have cut the excitement in the air with a knife. We are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

I am embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

T-Minus 5 months.

Each precious moment I have with my family, my friends, my Peanut Butter (!!!) is crucial. No matter how excited I am about this, I will miss them so much. And I'm sure within the next five months I will have, I don't know, 456732 meltdowns. Especially when trying to pack. How do you pack for a year?

(yeah, the international programs people suggest that you take all of the things you would like to bring, and then cut that in half. something like "pack three pairs of pants, 5 shirts, a jacket and shoes." uhh, NO. That just doesn't work for me.)

And how do you say goodbye at the airport without bursting into an uncontrollable fit of sobs? How do you say, "Where is the bathroom?" in French?!

And how...

I guess I will just have to figure it out. Because the thing that is keeping me holding on is the thought of getting off that plane, out of the airport, and breathing my first breath of FRENCH AIR. And knowing that I made it.

L'homme ne peut pas decouvrir de nouveaux oceans a moins qu'il n'ait le courage pour perdre la vui de la cote.

P.S. I have been posting a lot.

Like everyday.

And I think because this blog, is right now The Coolest thing ever to me.

So sorry that I am a pretty post happy at the moment.

I'm sure it's just a phase.

:)

Revelations

Revelation #1: I love love love love love my friends. No, like, on the verge of obsession, love.

I'm the person who has best friends with the same people their whole life.

No, like seriously, my whole life.

The least I've known any of these girls is 5 years. The most is 15.

I grew up with these girls.

They are the ones who who knew me back when my life's ambition was to be an Egyptologist. (Yes, I was kind of sort of OBSESSED with the Mummy movies)

They have seen me through awkward phases.

Through stupid boys and ugly annoying girls.

They are the source of most of my laughter and the butt of most of my jokes.

They are the best people I know.

[[Victoria, Kristin, Hannah, Jess Pitchford, Jay Carroll, Cailey, Kellie, and Alympia]]

Oh, how I love them.

(Alympia somehow managed to be missing from every picture I had of the group, and Kellie isn't in this one either. Just imagine them in it.)

Senior year was without a doubt, our year.

Our friendship had never been stronger... until NOW.

I realized this recently:

I think we are closer apart then we ever were together. Because as the lovely Hannah said, now we don't take for granted our time when were all together.

I cannot wait till summer.

When we will take a picture where everyone is present. Heh Hum... Lymp.

:)

Revelation #2: Life is an adventure. I should inspire myself everyday.

I am an ordinary person. I do average things. I wake up every morning and go to bed every night. I breathe in, I breathe out. But my life is, nonetheless, an adventure of EXTRAordinary magnitude. Because each day I live, I feel the wind on my face, I learn something that may change my life, and I do something that may change someone else's. I will meet people, make them laugh, make them cry, make them think. Each breath that I take has thunderous sound. Ordinary, Extraordinary; there are synonymous if you believe your ordinary is extraordinary. That’s what’s gonna change the world. That’s what going to make a difference. That’s thing that will make your life worth watching

when it flashes in front of your eyes.

-Caitlin Martin

isn't this picture inspiring? :)

I didn't know how to post my pictures the way I wanted them last time, so here we are...

Me in my turban.

:)

Could you imagine this calling you?

Now, on to today's business. So I went home to T-mec this weekend for my brother Josh's going away partay. Guess where he is moving?

Guess!

Did you guess Africa?

Don't lie.

Well, if you did you're wrong.

He's moving to South Korea. Why you ask?

He's going to be teaching English there for a year.

Oh I will miss him so.

Were looking at a 8000+ mile separation here. Blast!

My movie buddy, coffee fanatic, all together kindred spirit. Love you kid.

Bon Voyage.

First Post/Why everyone should own an overly large scarf.

This is my first post. Let's all be excited about it for the next five seconds. Ok, starting... now.

Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Were done.

I follow a couple blogs, though not officially, and have always thought they were interesting, but I had never really considered having one for myself. But with some encouragement from my homie Haley (after I creepily admitted to reading her blog), I have started one.

So, in honor of my christening into the blog world, and in honor of Haley's encouragement I am going to tell you all (aka my zero followers at the moment) something I think is very important to know about me:

I SHOULD NEVER BE LEFT ALONE WITH A WEBCAM.

(i bolded and italacized that... it's THAT true.)

This tuesday, when I should have been studying for my biology exam, I instead decided that I should skype attack everyone who was online.

Skype attack: (verb) when you call someone, and as soon as they see you on their screen, you do something weird like scream, or some dance moves, and then hang up.

Now, I decided that my weird thing would be to call people wearing a turban. Random?? I know. That's just part of my charm I think.

My turban obsession started about a year ago during cheer practice. You see, I was not what one would call very, uh, studious at practice. Instead of learning cheers or dances, I would walk around and distract everyone with my imitations of cartoon characters- Mr. Crocker from Fairly Odd Parents was a favorite of mine- and my other antics.

So one day I was wearing a scarf- a big scarf.

And somewhere through the course of practice it had ended up wrapped around my head.

So me, weird old me thought "Wow, this is the coolest thing EVER." And on this particular practice we were in Coach Sharp's classroom.

Coach Sharp's classroom= stapler, tape, paperclips. Aka, some sort of device that would hold my scarf in place so I could wear it like a turban while "learning" the dance.

I walk over to Sharp's desk fashion myself the turban, and casually walk back into formation.

It was only a matter of seconds before everyone had noticed, and wala!, I distracted everyone on the team...yet again.

Sharp couldn't even be mad though because it was so funny.

So, back to present day. Me. Bored. Out of my mind. In my dorm room. Looking for any sort of distraction from the cardivascular system i was taking notes on. And somehow that magical scarf ends up around my head again.

I look up on my computer. I see the camera. I look down on my toolbar. I see the Skype button.

You can probably figure out the rest.

When I told my friend Haley about this activity of mine, she assumed I was drunk. I wasn't.

This is just what happens for me when I have a scarf and a webcam.

I am surprisingly good at entertaining myself. I was no longer bored. No, in fact I was more energized than ever.

Till we meet again....