Holy Day

I don't really know where the word holiday came from, but on this day, Yom Kippur, it is the holy day holiday.

A quick blurb about this day to those of you who may not know: Yom Kippur is the day of atonement for Jewish people. As a lot of Christians go to confession, we save our sins to be shared with God on this day. We ask for forgiveness and to be written in the Book of Life for the following year. And on this day we fast.

In the past, as a kid, I wouldn't do too well with the fast. First off, you're not supposed to even have water. So you (according to strict rules) can't brush your teeth or use water fountains. They were shut off on this day at my Temple. Second, I'm a hungry hungry hippo. Another thing I now realize is that most of my friends and I don't even know the true meaning of the fast. I want to say that it has to do with suffering and showing God that we will suffer for our sins. But truly, I think God doesn't want us to suffer.

I'm a firm believer in karma. It is always present. Like if I don't go to class (not that I have missed this year). Of course the professor told us something that day that is on the exam, and I'm screwed. Karma for not going and sleeping in- most probable reason I skipped. So maybe this one day a year thing doesn't mean I need to fast. I suffer (in my own way) all of the time for the "sins" I commit because karma comes for me. I know karma is a Hindu belief. I still think it's structured by God to teach all of us lessons.

So here we have it: following the tradition today is absolutely what everyone thinks you should do, but this year I don't think so.

I'm not perfect in any way, hence why I find myself crying over dumb things and losing every sport and occasionally tripping up the stairs. I think, though, that today I did a great thing for myself. I let my opinion be the one that guided me. And I think that God is proud of that. I give all of my heart to everything I do and to everyone I love. So, through the transitive property, God has lots of love coming his way from Amez.

I sat in my bed this morning with a gurgling tummy and finally dipped a chip into my salsa. Still in bed, yes. This year I have countless times prayed and atoned. I don't believe one day should be enough. Like I said in previous posts, I'm not very religious. But I do believe that if you don't ask for forgiveness you dwell. So I find myself asking God to help me get better when I do something wrong, to help me see my mistakes, and to help me help the world. This fasting thing is sort of weird. I don't think God needs us to not eat the food he has graciously provided us to then just feast at sunset with our families.

I'm proud of all my friends that can successfully do the fast. I really am. I think when people make it a competition or complain all day about it it means less, though. We aren't all supposed to suffer together for our sins. We should suffer alone because this holiday is about atonement for Amy's sins. Not Amy's and Amy's friends. I've been somewhat alone all day just going over things I wish I didn't do this year. Asking God to forgive me and to help me grow from these memories. I think for me that's been valuable.

Maybe next year I'll think different and ask God for forgiveness about not fasting this year. But for now I'm content. I say sorry when I'm wrong; I follow the Ten Commandments; and I literally can't go a day without thinking about my religion. In college it is hard to attend services with the busy schedule of class and sorority stuff and clubs. It is easy to lose sight of my faith. But I haven't. It's right where it always was. In my heart and in my mind.

Just like God.

peace.love.meep
-amyjoy

P.S. I know religion is a topic that I don't discuss often, and it might have gotten way too personal, but now you all know why I didn't fast today. And why people shouldn't make others feel bad because they didn't. Judaism has been the best religion because it allows me to make these decisions. A lot of thought went into it. And I hope that this is "food" for thought for others.

Oh my blog.

What could this be? Amyjoy didn't fall off the face of the planet?!

Everyone calm yourselves (that means you mom and dad and Tamra).
So sorry for my hiatus, fans, friends, foes. Whatever you are. I am back.



Here's the thing, I went from Europe and experiencing things like every single second, to home life in bumblefuck Illinois. There's a lot less to experience here besides the lovely hospitality my parents provide and the yapping of my damn dog. Who I love.

I could write probably ten posts about the happenings since I left good old home and came back to Beantown. But I'll just make a list; I like lists.

1. I actually went into the city, Chicago, twice when I was home. Once I went with my childhood friend who moved to Wisconsin when we were in elementary school. We did the architecture boat tour with a really sassy tour guide, and we also did a segway tour. Not as hard as it looks actually. Second time was my last week at home with a few of my close friends from Boston! They were there visiting a few friends from Northeastern that just graduated and have jobs here. That's right, they have jobs right after graduation. Go Northeastern!

My Boston friends and I went on the Navy Pier ferris wheel *vom.com because I'm afraid of heights*. Then we just hung out and went sight-seeing. 'Twas amazing to see them and catch up, even just 3 days before our big reunion in Beantown.

The infamous bean is what we are standing in front of. Which is ironic because the bean is in Chicago but Boston is Beantown.


2. When I got back to Boston I stayed with Hannah (pictured in the bean pic) and Annabelle. Two of my best friends at school! I only really became close with them this past summer, but I know we'll be forever friends. Anywho... we went to a Red Sox vs. Yankees game the first day I was back with about 9 other friends. So much fun besides the fact that baseball is too long of a sport. Cute guys though. Both on the field and off.

3. MOVE-IN. I still don't want to talk about it. Sensitive topic, but I'm finally unpacked and all my walls are decorated weirdly- to signify it is indeed my room. Like seriously who has a picture of fruits, veggies, and herbs in their bedroom?

4. Study abroad reunion at the head of the chemistry department's house. Wowza. He has a pool, pool house, zipline, soccer field, and he wants to make tennis courts. Even his dog swam; it was a great great day.

5. Hawaiian social. This was our first sorority/fraternity social this year. We had to dress up in theme. I had a great time because my best friend Matt and his little hung out with me and my little Tamra. Not a lot of people showed up, but we still managed to dance and rock out to the live band. Fun fact: Matt and his little grew up in the same town as the lead singer of the band. Who was also (another fun fact) not wearing a shirt. I really don't understand why he wasn't but the two boys kept fangirling, and it annoyed the singer.

6. My 21st birthday. I feel like I'm going to write about this later. Needs its own post. Too.Much.To.Say.


Wow. I like didn't breathe the whole time I wrote all that. Just too excited to be back to my blaaawggg. Hope you keep up because there's definitely more coming your way. Less about my life per se, more about my thoughts and opinions. Ok wait that's dumb. It's about my life.

peace.love all of you. meep
-amyjoy

Burger Queen

Moment of silence for my favorite purse that broke the day before we came back to America. *tear* I got it in Italy when visiting my sister a few years back. She did study abroad there in Rome.


So we get to Geneva, Switzerland for our final day, and of course it's raining. It like never rains, but go figure. We took a boat cruise around Lake Geneva, which was serene. A wittle cold. Then we went back to our hostel. Guess what? Wifi was only available in the lobby, but our room was right above it. The party room was ours. People used us for our wifi. Not ashamed. Come one come all.


Then we were off the next morning to the Swiss airport, which, again is actually in France. Shhh don't tell. But my backpack was taken at security, and it made my life because as the guy was searching through it, he stumbled upon a minion from a Happy Meal. (My friend Ale gave it to me) Then he goes in the cutest French accent, "Oh, a minion." But he pronounced it min-ee-yon. I died.


OH MY GOSH. We had been playing soccer and volleyball with a little ball that had Olaf on it from Frozen. And for some reason my friend Jake wanted it to come back to America, so we could have it in the Chemistry building. So it got through security...but the flight attendant wasn't pleased.

Anyway, all I have wanted in Europe was cheez-its. But instead I adopted pringles as my staple and ate some carrot cake at the airport. It even made it through customs. HEHE. That and I got a burger king crown to wear for our waiting time in the airport. Little kids were jealous.


On the plane, the head of the chemistry department sat behind me, so I had to be on good behavior...

What's funny is that all of my friends and I played an interactive trivia game on our TV screens. You could play with whoever logged on, but of course it was only us. Then my screen kept acting up, and I couldn't even play sudoku. I cried.

At one point as we were in the line of planes waiting to depart, I saw a plane that said SAS on the tail. I need that plane for me. Sassmaster Amy.

Wait, also this guy near me had my favorite candy I got when I had visited Israel in December. It's called Marzipan and tastes like almonds. Yummo. Really stop reading this and go buy it. I wanted it.


Quick note to everyone that leans back on plane seats. NO ONE LIKES YOU. You cause discomfort and hostility. That is all.

As we descended into Boston, Home by Philip Phillips played. Very nice, itunes. At the airport this little girl thought I was her mom and handed me her gum. No little girl, I have a flight to catch. BYE.



Sitting in the airport for my 3 hour layover to Chicago (kill meh) I reminisced on the last five weeks. Then I got into thinking about how there were barely trashcans in Europe. That was an inconvenience. And don't get me started on how there was like one recycling bin in the whole continent. Hmph.

But hey, now I'm home, I weighed myself, so I could laugh. And I ended up crying because I lost ten pounds. Like what even. Thanks nonstop food and beer. I don't get it..


Not complaining!

peace.love.meep
-amyjoy

Alp, I need somebody

"There's a fly in your turtenwurst" - quote of the century.

First of all, I just looked up turtenwurst on google and nothing pops up, so that's unsettling. But why is it unsettling you ask? That is what we thought was turkey in the dining hall, and many people used it to make sandwiches. Eep. The flies were also all over our food.

One of the interesting parts of our stay in Fiesch was the lack of wifi. There was wifi down at the reception area and where we ate, but no wifi in our rooms. Womp. We did find a bench that could pick up single, however, and we deemed it the wifi bench. So original. Many weird things happened at the wifi bench that I will never feel the need to discuss.

Anywho, I climbed an alp! Well, sort of. We took two cable cars up, and then we climbed to the peak. It was the scariest thing ever. Talk about being afraid of heights. I played some Andy Grammer while we hiked for pump up. It made me move faster! Go Andy.

My friend Scott had 3 bars on his phone when we got up there. I was shocked. Then he said not to worry, that he'd be able to tell someone if I fell. Thanks Scott. You really made me less nervous...

Then, on the way down, my friends asked me to play more music because they liked hiking to music as well. And some lady had the audacity to scream at me. She barely spoke English, but she could muster out a "shut up". Okay lady. I'll turn my music off, but you need to get your hiking stick out of your ass. Then she ran off. Bye Felicia! Best part of that was a little while later a kid passes us with a shirt that says "Let music be the answer". I wish I could show that lady.

Then we had some lunch and found out our friend Mao got lost after she had left the mountain early to go back to the resort. But no worries, she flagged a van down, and they took her back. Such a Mao move. I'm glad she was safe. Switzerland probably has less creeps than America at least.

Interesting things to note: A random church bell decided to ring at 8:48 AM for like 10 minutes. I do not understand one bit. And #yourewelcome to my friends for holding their phones in my purse while we went swimming at the resort. On the way there I got them some mad steps on their pedometers.

Once again we played soccer and volleyball at nighttime. I played soccer as my girlfriends watched from the sidelines and cheered for me. They are so good to me. 

Oh and we did superlatives. I got best puns. Not upset about that :)

peace.love.meep

-amyjoy

4 Trains and some Mad Chemists

This post will start angry and end happy, so bear with me.


Oh my effing lord. This was probably the most stressful travel day of my life. First, we get onto our first train leaving Basel, Switzerland. The trains here do not wait for anyone, even if you're standing out by the door. So we got onto the wrong car in order to just make the train. We were able to switch cars when inside. However, that did not happen. There were 1903094093094 rude people who would not even let us through or who stared as if we were terrible people.

I ended up standing with my luggage for the hour ride in the area by the doors. It wasn't worth it to me to take my luggage up stairs and down aisles to find my seat. We finally get off, and we hear my friends (who had tried to find their seats in the chaos) rant about how awful the ride was. They literally sat for about five minutes after struggling to get through the massive amount of stagnant passengers. This ride was both a trust exercise (because some people left their stuff with me and a few others at the door and hoped we would take it when we got off) and it was a team-building task. We all had to make sure everyone got off during the short interval where the train stops and that no bag was left behind. STRESSSSSFULLLL.

After that we got on another one hour train, which was less stressful but still bad. We arrived at a place called Visp. There we went on a tour of a company called Lonza. In the powerpoint presentation they gave, they referred to us as Boston University. From there on out no one paid attention. Plus they made us go up 70 thousand flights of stairs, and we were already so tired from the train fiascos. Ugh. And to put a cherry on top, one of the guys asks if anyone is afraid of heights, so I raised my hand. It ended up being nothing, but right before we went out on the balcony, my friend Melanie goes, "Who's got Amy?!" So loved.

After that we took yet ANOTHER train, but guess what? It was broken, so we got off and transferred to our fourth and final train of the day. I literally could not even. And on each of these we had to carry our luggage. Remember that time I didn't pack light?

Just going to take this moment to thank all the boys who helped me with my bags. You are the real MVPs.

Pictured: one of my teachers and one of my TAs carrying my Vera Bradley duffle. Looks good on them hehehe.

Between the third and fourth train we actually had time for a quick lunch. I got ice cream and others got beer at the grocery store called coop. We call it co-op because Northeastern is known for our co-op program, but it was pronounced like a chicken coop. Bawk.


On the last train Mel and I pretended we were asleep, so we could have two seats each. Not sorry about it; 'twas a long day.


Our destination was Fiesch. I liked to pronounce it fish but it was fee-sh. It sort of reminds me of my hometown Kildeer. It's in the middle of nowhere, and no one knows of it.



Our resort was like a summer camp. Legit looked like it. There were rope courses, a zip line, pools, and other sport courts. We played volleyball and soccer next to the mountain after dinner. It was so picturesque.



I think I'm falling in love with Switzerland. Don't tell the others.

peace.love.meep
-amyjoy

No Place Like Lucerne

Halllllo. 

Welcome to Lucerne, Switzerland. Probably the most gorgeous place I have ever been to. No exaggeration on that one. 

As we get out of the train station we boarded a ferry to take us across Lake Lucerne. All around us were mountains and gorgeous, breathtaking views. Yaaaaaaaas is all I could say. Then my friends started singing Barbie Girl. I don't know why. 

Today was the day of mass transportation. We took a train, a ferry, a tram up Mount Pilatus, and a cable car down the mountain. Not to mention, we took a bus around town. Oy. It was kind of funny, though, when we went up to the mountain, my pringles can got really inflated. So much that the top ricocheted off into my backpack. No pringles lost, don't worry. 

At the top we met this lovely man playing some instrument that could only be described as the Ricola Guy instrument. See picture for understanding.

He was funny and asked, "American?!" as he could probably tell from our incessant giggling and obnoxious voices. 

Mount Pilatus (yes, we made one too many pilates jokes while there) was awesome. The views were unreal, and you could even see the Alps from across the way. Unfortunately there were bees everywhere though. I know, even at that altitude. My friend Jordan got stung, but the people inside the gift shop area had sting cream. It must be a frequent thing. 

Of course I bought a cute Swiss winter hat at the gift shop, even though it was really hot. Then one of my chaperones who happens to be my academic advisor asked where I found it. She then proceeded to buy the same one. TWINS. I have never felt more proud of my fashion choices. Mostly because she looks like a J.Crew model every day.

So Bern is the capital of Switzerland, and I got sunbern. So I think I win. Also, in Lucerne, there was a plaza that literally had chocolate and cheese shops right across the street from each other. Tourist paradise. And I had a genius moment when I figured out that Swatch is Swiss Watch. Mind blown.

A couple things I have noticed: many foreign people do not smile in pictures. The Swiss flag is square. And I still want a Vespa even though I would be killed if I used it to get around Boston.

peace.love.meep

-amyjoy

The Rad Rhine

Today we toured another Novartis pharmaceuticals campus! This one was freaking phenomenal. There were like 5 restaurants and all these cool science-y things. I think it's that hardcore because this campus is the world headquarters.

We had four different lab tours, which were interesting. I even saw some of the equipment I used during my latest internship. I got way too excited. The best part was a sample chute that took samples from a chemistry lab to an analytical lab. Thus, the scientists didn't have to walk down 4 floors to do a 5 minute test on each sample. I know of some hospitals that use a tube system to move emergency tests to a lab for quick analysis. Supposedly Novartis is the first pharm company to do this method. I love the efficiency.


It was also so freaking hot outside...like 90 degrees. We all melted. And that's when we decided to take a dip into the Rhine River. You know, the river that runs from Switzerland to France and Germany. That's what people were telling me at least. A couple of days ago we saw people floating along, so we thought we'd try it out. We rented floating device/bags from the hostel and were on our way. Basically we put all of our clothes in the bag (water resistance HELL YEAH) and used the bag as flotation. It really wasn't necessary because the river ran at a sweet, lazy river speed. I was pissed I didn't bring my phone because I would have gotten mad steps due to my phone pedometer. The river was far away from the hostel, and we walked there and back.


I'm pretty sure I got some sunburn, but it was worth it. Then for dinner we got burritos...again. Still no shame people. None at all.



Favorite quote of last night was when Melanie texted me, "I'll cook brussel sprouts for you every damn day."
She then explained that she meant to send that text to her boyfriend. I cried. True love going on over there.




AND FINALLY, I figured out what my fans should be called. Like people who fangirl over my blog (besides my parents and the occasional friend who brings it up). Call them the anDEEZ nuts. If you don't get it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHFFdy2NSdE

It has become a viral thing to say. I don't know why. Just deal with it.


Anywho,

peace.love.meep
-amyjoyandeeeeeez nuts