True banalities

Am I lazy or what? I haven’t updated this in a million years. Not that my life has been uneventful: I finally finished university, got accepted into a masters program and am currently living in Denmark. But I honestly don’t regard this as the highlight of the year. To me what was truly amazing is that amidst all the craziness of graduating, finding a new place to live (or several of that, in my case) coping with all sorts of dramatic changes in our lives and being thousands of kilometers apart from each other we actually managed to have our famed Mexican reunion. Every time I feel blue I log on to Facebook and look at the pictures from this summer: the happiness radiating from them is so strong that I instantly forget about Danish bureaucracy or boring essays on trans-globalism. Chit chatting and making conquest plans with Pauly and Magda, meeting and giving our seal of approval to Zach, tearing up the dance floor with Kike, climbing pyramids with Adrian and pretending to be athletic with

Alberto and Miguel (cenotes anyone?) might seem like the most typical things ever. To me they’re just proof that life’s cool as long as you have friends you love and who love you back. And that you should never forget to make a wish on New Year’s Eve- it might just come true.

Wasting my time

I have one month till I have to finish and present my two disertations. True, one is 99% finished but I still have a long way to go with my Art History one. Not to mention the crap load of exams and Advertising school homework. So, in such busy times what’s a girl to do? Yeah, I should be sleeping in the goddamn library but instead I went walking round Bucharest on Wednesday and Thursday, partied at Alex’s yesterday, and today went on a shopping spree which ended with beers in Val’s appartment and us posing as hip hoppers in the hallway of her building. Tomorrow- hmmm, I have a feeling I won’t go out but I’ll spend a lot of time chatting, as I’m curios for news from across some oceans. But my papers won’t write themselves…Uff, I hate that I have to grow up!

Anyway, on the upside I’m amazed! We make some hot guys!  Hahahahah!

cinema-Lego-phy

I don’t know about kids today (cos I’m an old, old person) but when I was 7 I really liked playing with Lego. I’d go to my friend’s Alex house and together we’d stage some awesome “productions” with our toys. I’m telling you, soaps, telenovelas, thrillers, rom-coms and horrors all together couldn’t match the sheer craziness and magnitude of the twists in our Lego shows. If only we were so full of ideas now.

Imagine how giddy I was when I ran across this video for camera pop band Camphor. The song’s called Castaway and it’s a stop motion animation with…Lego! Y-haaaa!

Protest in style :p

The Umbuster, from Icelandic designer Sruli Recht- the perfect accessory if you’re an anarchist planning to protect yourself from the bullies in the police force.

And, you have to agree it’s much classier than carrying a police baton (“pulan”) like my friend Bubble did, in high school.

Image from Sruli Recht via http://nickpapageorgia.blogspot.com/

Feel good recipe

I’ve caught a cold. And, like most people with a runny nose and an itchy throat I just sit around and do nothing all day long. Well, almost nothing. I’ve been thinking a lot. And because I’m not feeling so well my thoughts haven’t been the happiest ones. Past mistakes, rivalries and insecurities came to mind. But just when my dark thoughts were reaching their highest rescue came…in the unlikely form of a Facebook message. Knowing that somewhere in the world there’s somebody who loves you and can’t wait to see you is guaranteed to put the smile back on your face. Then, a note from someone who only spent with you a couple of hours but feels they know you enough to want to be your friends and keep in touch with you is one of the most reassuring things ever. And, last but not least, a phone call from someone at the other end of the world who calls just to make sure you’re ok banishes all negativity. I even think my sneezing stopped. Thanks!

Exploring the Andes from the editing room

“At last, my greatest creation! It is compleeeete!”- anyone remember Dexter’s Lab? Yep, that’s me right now. I finally wraped up the Andes documentary! And it took me three whole weeks! No finals have ever made me so tired as editing this documentary. Whoever thought a documentary only requires some people willing to travel and a guy handy with a camera was wrong. Yeah, we were lucky enough the lovely members of Explorer Club gave us the tapes (more than 12 hours of recording) of their trek over the Andes for free. But after all the time I spent in the editing room I think I could get a job as an Andean guide if I ever fail at journalism. Why was I given this task? Well, my boss thought I am some sort of expert on Latin America since I talk non stop of my adoptive Chilean family and of my plans to reach Chile and Argentina one day. Anyway, in spite of my Chilean and Argentinian connections viewing 12 hours of footage, re-writting the scenario of the documentary over and over again, choosing the best scenes, picking the right music and deciding which moments to cut or minimize so everything would fit into 26 minutes wasn’t easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done but, after seeing the final results, I couldn’t be any prouder! Sure, I’ve been finishing work at 10:30 pm, going to bed at 11 pm(unheard of before), fighting with the editors, the producer and the graphic designers but in the end I think it was worth it. Besides, I had a pretty neat excuse to cut classes.

My final thought on the Andes, Chile and Argentina? Well, I’m gonna repeat it : Can’t wait to get there!!! Saying the scenery was breathtaking would be an understatement. And I already knew the people are great. I did find out the difference between llamas, alpacas and vicunas. And decided newborn alpacas are the cutest creatures ever! I enlarged my culinary Chilenismos with lomo a lo pobre, sopa de mariscos and beer in a pitcher(amazing sollution for serving alcohol). I am certain now that Argentinian guys are the hotness! And, after, seeing that kid from the human orchestra dance in Santiago de Chile I remembered dear Marnie’s demonstration on Chilean vs US dancing. It’s all in the chest- hips coordination, baby!

PS: I got the pictures from the expedition from explorer.org.ro

High school forever

Maybe it’s the day I spent with my best friend since high school, Virginia, just relaxing and chatting as if we had no care in the world. Maybe it’s all the old classmates, acquaintances, boyfriends, etc. from high school I keep bumping into so often lately. Or my recent infatuation with the Gossip Girl series. Or the fact that I’m about to finish University and take the final plunge into adulthood (gosh, that sounds so dramatic and pretentious). I also remembered a friend’s comment from a year ago: “This is high school! Even though all these people are in their 20s they’re all fighting for the titles of most popular, nice girl who is admired by guys, party queens and kings, jocks and cool nerds!”

I’ve been overcome with a sort of nostalgia for my teenage years. The excitement, the feuds, the “clans” (bisericute in Romanian), the class trips, the crazy parties, the bitchiness. And then I realized that people outgrow their teen years but don’t necessarily outgrow all their adolescent habits. Show me a so called grown up who doesn’t bitch, binge drink or eat, go all adventurous from time to time and, sadly, who doesn’t back stab or try to undermine you by stealing something you value (idea, job, clothes, boyfriend, group of friends, so on). This is life. And I guess it’s those emotional and insecure teen years when life is at it’s most earnest.

So, in celebration of those stranger than fiction high school days I give you some illustrations from the book “Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is”, a teacher’s collection of the notes students exchange in class. I’m also posting a brilliant stop motion animation, proof that the book really tickled a lot of creative nerves.

http://media.npr.org/books/holiday2005/dearnewgirl/lion_lg.jpg

http://media.npr.org/books/holiday2005/dearnewgirl/tomorrow_lg.jpg

http://www.fecalface.com/content/IMG_3521.jpg

http://www.fecalface.com/content/IMG_3522.jpg

http://www.fecalface.com/content/IMG_3524.jpg

Multilingual Puzzle-Girl

I must have had such a huge smile on my face today. Even though school is killing me(9 classes for International Relations and 7 for Art History, taking into account this is my last semester in this bloody school?!) I was so happy to find out I had passed my language exams with 10 in French (it’s like A+) and 9 in German(A-). Considering the 10 I got in Spanish I must say I’m EXTATIC!!! And even though this kind of news would prompt my gangsta friend Ben to call me a “Neeeerd” everybody knows I’m not that school smart. I pass a lot of my exams relaying mostly on creativity and the info I store in the drawers of my brain to keep for “special cases”. But in this case I have to admit I owe it to my international friends. Take Spanish, for example. Even though Kike insists that I’m very fluent after a couple of beers I can’t show up tipsy for a class. I did it once, in my first year at Uni, and it would have finished badly if we hadn’t used breath mints.  So, instead I try to remember random bits of what the “Espanish” speakers used to talk about. I also try to imitate their accents (they shouldn’t feel offended, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery) so whenever I open my mouth in class I think of Alberto, Miguel or Eva. On the other hand, I have to thank the amazing Mexicans(Magda, Enrique, Emilio) and Paulina, my Chilean sister for teaching me all those expressions. They really impressed my professor who is doing a doctorate on slang:)). For my French class I try to pout and purr my words just like Noemie. And for German, where I have one year less of study than my classmates (they started it while I was in the US) I picture Adrian smiling, winking at me and saying “Rrrilly?, Verry gut! or What are you sinking?” and immediately get over my fears of this language.

I never thought people were like puzzles, constructed from all their experiences and encounters. Thankfully, I proved myself wrong .

1 year

One year ago I was on my way back to Burlington, Vermont. I had spent New Year’s Eve with my family and when the clocked ticked 12 times on January 1, 2007 I made my wish. New Year’s wishes are supposed to be kept a secret, otherwise they don’t come true. But my wish did come true so I guess I can make it public now. As I sipped my champagne I thought of what I wanted. Easy, a hot guy as my new room mate! But after a second I thought: Look, let’s be reasonable here, no way they’re gonna put a guy in the same room as you. And in the unlikely case they did, yeah, you’d have a chance of hooking up with him but you’d also fight like crazy. So, I took another, bigger sip of champagne and wished with all my heart that I’d get a nice roomie, one with a sense of humour, a taste for parties and an ID that said she was over 21. Fast forward onto January 14, 2007. I was in a cab heading towards Burlington (affectionately known as B-town, no. 4 beer capital of the world and home of Ben& Jerry’s ice cream). I was tired, jet lagged, high on like 12 espressos I had in Milan, a bit drunk from the wine I shared with an old friend I had met by chance on the Italian airport and most of all worried. How will I feel with half of my friends now gone? Will some bitches make me uncomfortable? Will I feel all lonely? (cue to Bobby Vinton’s song , hehe) Will my new room mate be all right? As I entered B building with the gloomiest look ever on my face I heard Yumi shout: Anca chan! You’re back! She dragged me to the commons room where some people were having a party. The food smelled so good and the music sounded fun. Then, a girl with a huge smile came over to me and said at a really fast pace: Hello! I’m Paulina! I’m from Chile!..And I’m your new room mate! 15 hours of flight and seven more of waiting around on airports had made me pretty trashed. I mumbled something like: Hey, nice to meet ya! and crawled upstairs. But on the inside I was really happy. Somehow, part of my soul knew that on that day I had just met for the first time my Chilean sister, Paulina. The rest is, as they say, history!

New Year Resolution

Next year I wish me and Pauly and hopefully some of our other friends will be partying some place sunny. And this is where me and Pauly will be shopping:

At the world famous Magda Mall, where, according to Migueltxo, you can find everything, including men to suit our crazy tastes! Btw, the Mall is named after our amazing friend Magda! Tqm, Magdis!