Au revoir l'Amérique... Bonjour l'Europe!

So guess what?... We're going to Europe! Woo hoo! 

We fly out tomorrow for Amsterdam for a few days, then to gay Pareeee, then over to Stoke-on-Trent for my cousin's wedding, up to York for some old-world sightseeing, then finally jolly ole London!

Things I'd like to do while in...

Amsterdam:

• Rent a bike and ride along the canals
• Red light district (hehe)
• Walk the Jordaan
• Anne Frank House

Paris:

• Have a picnic of baguettes, cheese, fresh fruit, and pâté in the Champs de Mars.
• Wander Montmartre up to Sacre-Coeur 
• Musee D'orsay
• Jardin du Luxembourg
• Eat a macaron from Laduree

Stoke-on-Trent:

• Relax!
• Enjoy the countryside
• Experience my first English wedding

York:

• Walk the walls of York
• Holy Trinity Church
• The Shambles
• York Castle museum

London:

• Harrods
• Walk the South Band
• Eat fish and chips with mushy peas
• Borough Market
• Maybe some shopping along Oxford Street?

I can't wait to take loads and loads of photos there. I just ordered a new 64GB memory card for my camera...should be enough ;). I've got tons of movies uploaded to the iPad for the flight over and a bag of snacks, roasted seaweed, sweet and spicy pecans, and dried fruit (thank you, Trader Joe's). Only thing left to do is pack last minute things, like toiletries, and try to get some sleep tonight!

We're not bringing the laptop with us, so I won't be able to upload any camera photos, but tune in to my instagram (username: thelilikoi) or facebook for real-time updates.

See you in 2 weeks!

Jet-setters (photo dump: SEA, LA, NYC)

This week has been busy, but with nothing exciting really. Actually, this is my first time in a week getting on the computer (although, I do admittedly surf Facebook, Instagram, Buzzfeed etc. on my phone at least twice a day). It's funny and strange how not getting to use a computer for a week makes one feel kind of disconnected from the world. 

Since we haven't had much going on this week besides the usual, work, teach Zumba at night, work, gym, work, teach Zumba, and so forth, AND to get psyched about our upcoming European vacation (!) (will update on this later this week), I'll do another throwback post about our past travels.

While Galen was interviewing for residencies last year, I tried to go along with him to as many places as I could so we could check out the cities together. It was a lot of traveling this past year, a bit stressful but overall very fun. 

The places we visited included: Los Angeles, where we stayed with our friend AJ who is a lighting producer, New York, an easy trip because we were able to stay with my cousin Katie and Steve, and Seattle. The only place I wasn't able to visit with Galen was Boston...go figure. 

Luckily Galen was able to batch all of his interviews in the same cities together, so we were able to save some money on airfare. He did 3 or 4 interviews in LA (I can't remember the exact numbers now), like a million in New York (he was there for about a month's time over the winter holidays), 1 in Seattle, and 1 in Boston.

I forgot to bring my camera along to LA and it was raining a lot in NY, but the iPhone took pretty good photos. Anyhow, here are some photos from Seattle, LA, and NY. 


SEATTLE

At Seattle Aquarium

Oprah's favorite Mac-n-cheese

Our first dinner there after we arrived around 10:00PM

The most beautiful berries can be found at Pike Place Market (see Our Alaskan Honeymoon for more Seattle photos)

LOS ANGELES

Overlooking Santa Monica beach (see LA continued for more LA photos)

I went with AJ to work at the LA Convention Center while Galen interviewed

NEW YORK

NYSE

Spending time with Nicky in the pre-Mikey days

Us moving the rest of Kevin's stuff, which we flew over with from AZ, to his apartment

Special weapons and armories exhibit at The Met on a snowy day

Portait of a handsome guy on the train

Visiting Gung Gung at work. He is basically the president of Chinatown. ;)

Galen's birthday dinner at Eataly

Dessert at Veniero's. I had the strawberry shortcake and a hot chocolate.

Thoughts on moving

The Zumba Mamis who have been with Paty for many years now

Tonight I had the pleasure of team-teaching with the beautiful Paty Parkerson Sotelo (formally known as Paty Gonzalez Sotelo)! We had an awesome turn out with almost 60 people! She has been my Zumba inspiration, what I aspire to be as an instructor.

This was one of her last classes because she is moving to Mongolia with her new husband! As she was telling her story to everyone after class, she said how at first she felt nothing but excited for her big adventure, but as she began to talk to more people about moving, everyone only had worries and concerns, "Will you be lonely?...What will you do there?...You don't know anyone over there..." and then she began to feel worried too. I guess it's natural for all of these things to cross one's mind, but honestly I didn't feel any fears for her when I heard the news!

Now, for myself, I have thought about these things constantly. I'm sad to leave all of my friends behind in Arizona, I'm sad to move so far from my parents and Galen's parents. I'm worried that with Galen's busy schedule, I will be lonely. I've made so many friends at the gym, and teaching Zumba has become such a huge part of my life; what if I can't get a job teaching in Boston?

It's strange how I worry about all of these things for myself, but for Paty, I'm certain she will thrive no matter what. I'm excited to start a new adventure and experience living in a new place. I'm excited to be able to take road trips to places other than Phoenix, Sedona, and Vegas. I'm excited for chowdah and lobstah rolls! I guess there's really no way of telling how we'll do, but if Paty can do it in MONGOLIA then I can manage in Boston. ;)