One thing I am very grateful for is being able to travel so often around the States throughout the semester. I am super thankful, blessed and happy to have the chance and opportunity to travel not only around America, but get the opportunity to spend my first ever Spring Break in MEXICO! I enjoyed it so much - I went away twice for Spring Break all within the same month!
Here's a list of the places I was lucky enough to travel to too throughout the semester:
1. NEW YORK - I got to travel to New York before I even arrived to Tampa (Florida) over Christmas and New Years with a bunch of my girlfriends I went to highschool with back home. We had a fab time embarking on a white xmas and new years!
2. CHICAGO - Chicago welcomed a bunch of us exchange students with opening arms at the end of January over a long weekend! It was still snowy and cold but boy was it a beautiful place! The magic 6 - Doris, Rhi, Cass, Jonny, Matt and myself got to explore the city, enjoy some fine dining (managed to make it to Guiliana and Bill Rancics RPM steak & Italian restuarant). It was delish, and the manager even gave me a book of hers because I told him so much I knew about Guiliana (I am a huge fan plus she has my dream job!). We saw the Navy Pier, a big ferris wheel, the bean, a huge famous fountain, and got a 360 view from a tall building...
3. NEW ORLEANS - HELLO MARDI GRASS in February... for many of you's that dont know what this is, allow me to fill you bin... it basically is a big annual celebration for preperation for Christian Lent. But the whole town celebrates in style with dances, parades and lots of purple, orange, yellow and green. Did you know that in N'Awlins (short saying for New Orleans) it's legal to drink alcohol on the streets? Yep, how crazy. So thats exactly what we did... right now a popular street called Bourbon St which is full of strippers, bars, clubs and fun amusements for adults. On our last night we managed to check out the Jazz street which was spectatular, they had a vintage art market, amazing jazz bars with live bands playing awesome tunes, and the food was yummo. During our stay in N'Awlins I managed to find a Banksy graffiti artwork painting on one of the streets out of town - it was awesome to get a snap shot of it. We visited a famous market that was full of local foods and beverages. N'Awlins was one to remember - with the crew; Evie, Tessa, Doris, Frankie, Camilla and myself.
4. SPRING BREAK PART 1: MEXICO, CANCUN & MIAMI - WOW is all I can say for SB; it was a time to remember that's forsure. I managed to book a student trip venturing off with my UK sorority gals, Ali, Daniela, and Chloe! It was a fab time, but unfortunatly a few things went wrong along the way haha. Lets just say it'll be an experience to remember forever.. We stayed at Oasis in Cancun, everyday we ate buffet food, drank cocktails, and layed by the pool or beach! We partied at night, but going downtown was so experience, clubs where wanting around $60-$85 per club! Was a rip! We managed to enjoy our time in the resort which had many clubs and bars.. one called 'Kinky' - yep and thats exactly what it was. We did a few day adventures - one day we managed to go boating and snorkeling, it was my first time ever snorkeling also!
After Cancun - we flew to Miami and stayed their for a few days - the girls are all underage so we couldnt really go clubbing but we still went bar hopping which was fun, they used fake ID's haha. South Beach was stunning and so colourful. Miami is real expensive, you need lots of money to throw around there.
5. SPRING BREAK PART 2: MEXICO, CROZUMEL - When Paige (my room mate) asked me if I wanted to go on a real cheap cruise with her and her bestfriend around Mexico I couln't resist and say NO! What the heck, why not! My good friend Tessa and I tagged along with both Paige and Danielle. First thing we did once we got onto the ship was buy the 4-day alcohol pass! Everyday we got unlimited cocktails and alc. We were in heaven!! Free buffet all you can eat every day, drinks, casino, bars, club, karaoke, and fun entertainment shows including comedy! What great time we all had! We made great friends with a bunch of American guys that where on a bucks trip haha (I feel sorry for the groom).
6. ORLANDO - This was a quick weekend trip with a car load of exchange friends at USF - we hired a car that weekend, myself, Evie, Matt, and Ben had a great weekend away exploring all the theme parks! And that is exactly what Orlando is known for!! As soon as we arrived downtown it was full of every different theme park you could think of left right and center. We brought a 2 day pass for Universal Studios! That was huge - it was like it had it's own city inside the theme park! We managed to go on all the rides and adventured and explored whilst eating a meal at the Simpsons bumble aboad.
7. PANAMA CITY "SHITTY" - Spring weekend was spent like this! It was a big 3-day beach festival with loads of music and dancing and lots of drinks! We managed to get a hotel on the beach in walking distance of the festival. Every day we walked bare foot back and forth in bathers that showed very little! Thank god for the alcohol haha. It was a fun weekend spent with a bunch of exchange students!
8. LOS ANGELES 4 COACHELLA - LA LA LA LA LA LA, im in love with LA! Legit this place is my dream home .... I hired a car, drove from LAX airport to Palm Springs (3-hours away), there and back all in the sum of 4 days! I didnt really get to explore the city and LA in general as I was basically in Palm Springs for the 3 day festival. I managed to check out Fashion District and the Hollywood sign briefly before I started my drive. We stayed at the Marriot resort - I wont elaborate on as I dedicated 2 blog posts a few weeks back talking about my time and experience at Chella. But it was the best weekend of my life!
9. LOS ANGELES AGAIN! - Green card anyone? no seriously, I am in love with LA! I enjoyed it that much when I went for Coachella, I had to go back with my swis gal AKA room mate Alex, we had the best time ever! We went for a week, booked our flights last minute, and had no accomodation booked what so ever. Thats what made it fun haha. So, the first night we stayed with Alex's class mates family friend who lives in LA and studys there, the next 2 nights we stayed at a hostel on hollywood drive, right in the heart of downtown. The first night we went bar hopping, and managed to meet a famous Rapper, Kevin Gates... we didnt know who he was at first, he said... google my name. LOL so we did...we met his brother (Ron), videophotographer, and his music producer. Oh and not to mention his pitbull dog which is basicalyl human; it was reppin' a Louis Vuitton collar and had a matching doggy-bag. We got to hung out with them that whole night - until 6am actually haha. Was fun! The next day we went shopping on Mel Rose Ave, and went into DASH - the kardashians store. they where filming their latest series.. DASH DOLLS and we managed to get on film whilst they where recording, and we met the producer. We ended up hanging out with him that night which was cool. The next few nights we stayed with our friend Josh and a bunch of his mates that he lives with. That too was a great time. We got to explore Laguna Beach which was an hour out of LA, we managed to check out the Hollywood sign and explore Beverly Hills. We ate at yummy places, and drank GOOOOD fucking coffee haha. We tried Urth Caffe which is real popular. We met a few celebraties, the guy of Fantastic Four just to name a few.
Oh and last of all - I managed to score myself a Summer INTERNSHIP!!! So excited! Its with an awesome Public Relations agency called Mannfolk Beauty, lifestyle and fashion agency on Mel Rose ave. I start beginning of June for 3 months. Now time to hunt for an apartment!!!
10. SAN DIEGO - While Alex and I where in California, we managed to get a 3 hour train to San Diego for one night! We stayed with her family friend from her small town in Switzerland - He was living in Cali studyng english. He was a super cool layed back guy! He took us around the town, saw awesome things, and got drunk at his local party scene where all the students at his college end up. Was a quick 24 hours but was fun!
Well thats a quick summary of all my visits around the states during study in the semester. Check out the pictures below... theres only a few though.
With Love,
Carina x