BONNA WHO? BONNAROO.

So this past SUMMER I decided to fulfill a dream of mine. I decided to go to BONNAROO!

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual, four to five-day music festival, created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment. The festival is held at Great Stage Park on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.



I MUST say this was one of the greatest experiences of my LIFE. First of all...I did things a little differently than most people. One of my good friends is in charge of running the TOLL booth. So I did what I thought would be the BEST thing and work the TOLL booth at BONNAROO! So me and some friends [and some not so friends] signed up, and packed our stuff. We drove up a day early to get our stuff all set up AND get right to work. After getting our tents set up and getting situated [as BEST you can in a field filled with millions of other people] we went to an HOUR of training. The training consisted of learning the WAYS...the BONNA WAYS as we like to call them! WE learned how to greet the cars that drive up...ask them for their tickets...scan the tickets, then give them back the ticket stubs & PLACE a green and purple cloth bracelet with the words BONNAROO stitched on. THEN last but not least get handed them a booklet with a schedule of all of the EVENTS and concerts. THE shifts were 12 hours long...6 PM to 6 AM! longggggg shift but well worth a free ticket to the best SHOWS and what we were unaware to become some of the BEST days of our lives.

So after MEETING thousands of very interesting people driving through the TOLL booth, it was time to get the real BONNAROO experience. I remember the first time walking through the BONNAROO arch and into CENTEROO [where all the bands perform] it was like entering a whole new world! THOUSANDS upon thousands of people everywhere...wearing anything from big bird costumes to nothing at all. ANYTHING and I mean anything goes at BONNAROO!


I am STILL in shock of how many GREAT bands that I saw. ALL within 4 days of being there. 2009 LINEUP included: Animal Collective. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Bon Iver. Ben Harper. Citizen Cope. SNOOP DOGG. Grizzly Bear. Pheonix. Passion Pitt. Phish. The Beastie Boys. MGMT. Crystal Castles. Girl Talk. Pretty Lights. The Mars Volta. Santigold. Of Montreal. Wilco. Cage the Elephant. and many many MORE.

ALSO, I cannot believe that I used a porta potty for 4 whole days straight [blows my mind] but hey I did it & that's all that matters right? SO OVERALL the experience was incredible. I will definitely be making an appearance to at least the next couple BONNAROOS. If I work the TOLL booth again or NOT...that is the question of the year!..and you BETTER believe I ponder that thought EVERY single day of my LIFE.

LONDON its all about LONDON.

I should be going in CHRONOLOGICAL order with the events that have happened in my life. But I couldn’t wait to write about LONDON any longer! In May of 2009 My SENIOR class went on our senior trip to LONDON! That’s riiight, London ENGLAND! From the minute I landed in the magnificent city of LONDON, I knew… I knew I was quickly going to fall in love! And sure enough, I was completely & UTTERLY in love!! From the ADORABLE London boys [lets not forget the way they dress] to the totally crowded but yet completely enjoyable tube stations, to the delicious variety of foods [and drinks] It’s true…the drinking age is 18 there, and that was a definite plus as well! We stayed in a 5 star hotel, with excellent continental breakfast. ALTHOUGH I did see the strangest little Asian man slurp a half-cooked fried egg one morning at breakfast & COULDN’T control my laughter! On a side note...EVERY morning we had to have a wake up call- which consisted of someone at the front desk calling the phone in our rooms at the appropriate time. WELL, the very last morning we had to wake up extra early… its 4:45 am and we hear a KNOCK on the door to our bedroom... yes a knock! My roommate quietly said “come in!” but apparently they did not hear. So a few minute later [we are dead asleep] and we hear the door open…creepy, at the least bit! There HE is… the OWNER of the Hotel [little Asian man] as he walked closer to us, his voice gets louder & more CLEAR… “THIS is your wake up call… THIS is your wake up call!” After 4 or 5 times of him saying this…my roommate FINALLY replies with, “OKAY!! Thank you. BYE!” We are still to this day convinced that if she hadn’t replied when she did, he would have crawled in bed with us still saying “THIS is your wake up call!” over and over again. As CREEPY as it was, we got a good laugh out of it for pretty much the whole flight home.

ENOUGH with the funny stories and on with the amazing adventures! We went everywhere including West Minister. The Tower of LONDON. Ely Castle. CAMBRIDGE [most lovely place I have EVER been]. St. Paul’s Cathedral. The LONDON eye [in which in did ride…yippie!] and much much more! During this trip I learned a lot about the culture AND a lot about myself.

[AND here are some pictures that I TOOK on the trip...]

I know what you're thinking...ALL of the true natives in LONDON absolutely despise the London EYE. But like any good AMERICAN would...i took that baby for a little ride. IT took a little over 30 minutes to go all the way around. BUT the view was unlike anything i have and probably WILL ever see!

THIS picture was taken at the most amazing
place i have EVER been... right by the ELY Castle. i am completely obsessed with how green the grass was & HOW beautiful the flowers were. [the closest to in love i have ever been].

One day we were there, the Premiere of Night at the Museum 2 was going on... in which we were able to get pretty close to Ben Stiller.

WAGAMAMA--a real RAMEN noodle bar! I got the CHILE chicken ramen! SO spicy I felt like FIRE was coming out of my ears but it was absolutely delightful in EVERY way.

The AMAZING view from the TOP of St. Paul's Cathedral.--The CLIMB was awful but well worth it in the end!

OVERALL the trip was amazing & I got to see some of the MOST amazing sights I have ever seen. I found a love and BURNING passion for traveling. I hope to travel much MORE from now on.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW...

The SIMPLE Life

I can only say WELCOME to the beginning of ONLY the beginning of my life...well, my WONDERFUL life. I must say, I do live a very simple life. I wake up [at various times, depending on the day]. Go to class. Eat lunch. I MUST stop after lunch...this is when my life gets the most interesting! Lunch comes at 12:00 everyday for me [which I MUST say, this is a terrible time to have lunch at my school because the lines to any of the places in the cafeteria are outrageous]. After that, I have NO idea what is going to come my WAY. Sometimes I sit in the cafeteria for hours and hours, doing nothing more than laugh and talk. But other times I come back to the apartment and bake, clean, smoke hookah, do crafts or go on an adventure. I NEVER know what I am going to do after lunch. Then after whatever I do during that time, I make dinner with my roommate [who just so happens to be my best friend]. Then we head over to the guys to watch TV or play board GAMES [ONLY if I am LUCKY] and laugh and talk some more. Pretty simple huh? Yes! But, My LIFE hasn’t always been this simple. Well, I am going to stop here. From now on…until I catch up to my life NOW, I am only going to blog about my past. ONLY about the most important things I have done, and the most AMAZING places I have gone. Get EXCITED!