My voice of reason.

She, stepping out of the bathroom: Oh my gosh, the bathroom smells amazing.
Hien, with her eyebrows raised: Wow. Someone thinks very highly of herself.
She: THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT.

A place to call home.

Ah, I have finally come to the realization of why I have been unable to write for the past couple of days -- it's because I have been staying at hostels and living out of my bag. I don't exactly have a space of my own that I can decorate with pictures or hang up cards from my loved ones. Without a safe little haven that I can mark up and call my home, I have been in sort of a funk and can't think correctly.

And all this is from a stop by Erin Murray's apartment. It's so absolutely adorable!!

Woof woof!

Just came home after teaching three Bruins what it meant to be a Husky (a Catholic Husky even). REPRESENT! 

However, I just realized that I hadn't even talked about Amsterdam yet, so this amusing story will have to wait until another time. Sorry for the cliffhanger, I'm a jerk, I know.

Goodnight!
hd

P.S. Woke up this morning to the beautiful sight of the sun streaming in through the window and the crackling rumble of vespas zipping through my alley... and the first thing that popped into my mind was, "Hands up, and suddenly we all got our hands up, no control of my body. Ain't I seen you before? I think I remember those eyes, eyes, eyes. Eyes, eyes, eyes, ee-- aw, dang it."

How is it that Usher is so catchy??

Postcards From Italy.

Well, not really, since I'm still in transit right now -- I scheduled this blog to be published while I'm up in the air on my way to Rome and passed out in my seat. Just wanted to share one of my favorite songs and thought that now would be an appropriate time. :)



(The video is more of a placeholder since it refuses to cooperate on blogger, so please click on it and watch it on youtube instead.)

By the way, I considered stopping by France for a bit during my trip, but I thought that would be too dangerous. Why? Because instead of doing something normal like view the Eiffel tower, have a glass of wine, and eat a baguette with pâté, I would more than likely hunt down try to find Zach Condon (the singer of this band, Beirut) and force beg him to marry me be my friend (he's already married). That may take several weeks but once I have my determined face on, several weeks it is going to take! I'm supposed to attend class regularly though, so that's why I decided 'no' in the end. My dear Zach France will have to wait for another trip.

I'm actually writing this a week ahead, but please know that I miss you all already.

♥

...and I hope that you're not lactose intolerant because it's --

--DARY!!! 


This trip is going to be LEGENDARY!! Landed in beautiful Amsterdam and giving my parents a call before I head out for flowers, food, and shopping!

Call me Captain McAwesome.

About to leave for the airport with my mom and my oldest brother. I would say more but words are coming out in a weird, nervous order or words don't even come out at all. Just abrupt and excited screams.

I can't sit still for more than two seconds. What more can I say anyway? Except that it's obvious that this trip is going to be LEGEN-- wait for it......

I'll come back when you call me, no need to say goodbye.

"Just because everything's changing,
doesn't mean it's never been this way before.
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
as you head off to the war.

"Pick a star on the dark horizon
and follow the light.
You'll come back when it's over,
no need to say goodbye."

I'll be back. :)

Well, if I try to stay in Europe I'll be fined a ridiculous amount of euros and thrown into jail if I get caught anyway.

...but it's also because I love each and every one of you oh so, so, so very much. (Haha.)

My biggest fear.

I really hope that I don't forget to pack my toothbrush.

As embarrassing as this is, I have actually forgotten to bring a toothbrush once. Or maybe twice. Okay, I have probably gone without a toothbrush for at least three weekends.** I know, I'm hopelessly scatterbrained, now quit badgering me.

That reminds me of when I was still working with this great organization called Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể a few years back and I was a counselor for the annual camping trip one summer. Basically, my job was to be the mother hen for a group of campers, ranging from 6 to 16 years old, by making sure that they were all well and hydrated and also to guide the older kids on how to be a leader for the younger ones. The fact that I was a counselor kind of made it forgivable for me to forget my toothbrush because I was in a position of power and the kids had to talk to me whether they liked it or not anyway. Not that they didn't want to talk to me of course, I was a lovable counselor. I also managed to scrounge up some mouthwash which may have helped.

Anyway, I remember that in my group was a little boy that I'm going to call Kay. Now, at that time, Kay was 6 and a half years old, had a round shaved head and a round body to match, and he really liked chasing butterflies. In other words, he was completely adorable. He was also the youngest and (naturally) the slowest out of all the kids in that group. His marginalized position as the burden also made him vulnerable to being bullied and so I took him as my responsibility that weekend. I gave him piggy back rides when his feet hurt too much, I held his hand when he was scared at night, and I even carried him to the bathroom once when he told me that he wouldn't be able to make it if he had to walk. When three days and two nights had finally passed and it was time to say goodbye, he ran towards me, threw his arms around my legs, and as he hugged my knees he said to me, "I'll miss you, Chị Hiền" (older sister Hien).

Oh dear. My heart started to melt all over the place in messy pools. Especially when I knelt down and hugged him back, completely speechless.

The impossible contest.

The first person who figures out where I was studying today wins a prize (a.k.a. a souvenir from Italy)! The winner can request for almost anything except for the mitre (Pope's hat) -- I'm afraid someone has already called dibs on that and I can only pull so many strings.

Here are the clues:

(these are two drawings that were made in the woodgrain of my workspace. I can't take credit for these drawings although I wish I could -- waaay too creative to be done by my pen!)

You need to tell me:

• In which building is this workspace?
• On which floor?
• What can you see to the right?
• What can you see to the left?

Goodluck (you're definitely going to need it)!

Also, be sure to wish me luck since my last final is tomorrow. So exciting. And so hard to care and keep studying..... :)

-hd

A picture.

(I can only hope to be able to tell countless stories that are as great as this one.)

-hd

Some things never change.

Before I went to Japan four summers ago, I pondered if I would still be funny in another language...

My sister told me not to worry because my face would be funny in any language.

Thanks, Minh. Thanks a lot.

Goodness!

In fifteen days, my plane will have already taken off for about three hours. I am expressing my emotions in the most eloquent fashion possible when I say that I'M FREAKING OUT.

Focusing on schoolwork and caring about my grades is getting exponentially difficult with each passing hour. Not saying that it was easy in the first place. Wish me luck and good luck to those who are going through finals as well!

hd