Recalling the Summer

With just under 10 days left before I say good-bye to everything and everyone that is around me, I have been feeling rather somber and perhaps  teeny bit depressed. I don't like feeling this way so I intend to do something about it. First I will recollect everything good that has happened this past summer, all the things that I will cherish and miss while I'm in France, and then I will start a To-Do List for France/Europe to get me excited and more positive. Though I will do that I think in my next blog post.

So I bring you, without further ado, my summer of 2011 through pictures (I will briefly talk about them as well).


It basically started when I finished my Spring course in Rhetoric Writing, though I will recap a little from before. In that class I met a lovely girl named Ksondra and we talked a lot and knew some of the same people. Near the end of the course she lent me a movie which has now become a favorite of mine: FAR and AWAY. I was bound to like it, and she knew I would.
I watched MANY movies this summer with my family
-- X-Men First Class -- Rio -- Thor -- Clue -- Soul Surfer -- Captain America; just to name a few. Also finished Smallville!

This summer I worked at Rainbow Stage which is an outdoor theater that features musicals every summer. This summer they produced CATS and Hairspray. I always liked musicals though never had the spare money to go to see one live (and tickets are not cheap!) so this was my first opportunity to watch a live musical. I had previously seen the Nutcracker Ballet and Pirates of Penzance, but I was still blown away by the performances. Musicals are really a genre of their own. I can't say which one I liked best, since they are both fairly different and can't really be compared. I will say, however, that I much prefer the theater version of Hairspray vs. the hollywood movie version. Having a male play the role of Edna Turnblad is for the purpose of great comedy which unfortunately cannot be used to a great advantage on screen like it is on stage. The interactions between the parents of Tracy Turnblad is probably what the audience remembers best, because it is just so awkward and hilarious.

I re-learned how to ride a bike!!! :D Now I no longer get that awful pain on the tail bone or easily lose control. I didn't bike enough times to get really good at it ("look ma! No hands!" *crash*), but at least I can bike to Sobeys and back without getting myself killed :P I still can't let go with one hand for more than a split second to re-adjust my sunglasses. I tried waving once to my mom who was driving home while I was biking one day...lost control for a second :P. Not gonna try that again any time soon.

I read 6 books for pleasure. Can't say I took pleasure in all the books I read, but I enjoyed most of them, particularly The Bad Queen, Wishful Thinking and Emma. The reason I enjoyed The Bad Queen so much was because it gave me an entirely new perspective on the French Revolution. A more accurate perspective I think, because before I had a very negative view on the French monarch rulers at the time of the Revolution and actually believed in the lie that the Queen Marie-Antoinette had said "let them eat cake". I still hold the view that the monarch system was extremely corrupt, but I do not hold Louis the 16th personally accountable for the state of France because it is quite obvious to me that he had some kind of mental condition that made him perfectly unfit to be king.

Because the weather was so great I headed out to the beach for my 20th birthday. It was a really good birthday :D My face hurt so much from laughing and smiling almost the whole time! The weather was really good all summer-long, one of the driest summers we've had, so we spent a lot of time in the pool and doing outdoor outings like church picnics and soccer games.

(Tara B and I being very adult-like -->)

Anyways...This summer went by quickly to say the least, and though there was no family trip anywhere and we didn't make it to Folklorama this year, I enjoyed it very much. Though I think the reason I'm so sad is because I love my crazy family and I know I will miss them sooooo much.
:(

I don't like how this blogger lays out the photos...it makes it difficult to have many because they all have to be on their own line. Laaame. So I will end on a bittersweet note. Even though I will be away from my family and friends for many months, not only do I have a big adventure ahead of me filled with all kinds of mysterious surprises, I know that by next summer I'll be home, swimming in the pool with the family again.



~ Cheers