Adventures in Iceland

Iceland has been on my list of "to go to" places for a very long time. I'm happy to report that it's now moved to my "to visit again" list.

Getting there was quite the adventure. The plan was for Drew and I to meet up in Boston and head to Reykjavik from there. Between him missing his flight and the first leg of my flight nearly being canceled due to weather (the Chicago airport wasn't allowing any air traffic because of terrible thunderstorms), I was worried we wouldn't make it.  Luckily, we both did, met up and then killed nearly five hours in the Boston airport bar. It's amazing how much more fun lay-overs can be when alcohol is involved.

Yes, that is an empty beer glass.

Since we both had early morning flights to Boston on Tuesday, neither of us slept Monday night. And given that our flight to Reykjavik was a red-eye that evening, we didn't sleep Tuesday night either. Perhaps Red Bull would have been a better option than beer.  Luckily, our excitement kept us fairly awake.

When we arrived, we headed straight for the Blue Lagoon. The weather in Iceland was around 50 degrees and rainy, so the warm waters felt particularly great.

Right before the unfortunate realization that in addition to exfoliating your face, silica mud also takes 30+ minutes to remove from your eyes.

After spending a couple hours in the water, our sleep deprivation finally kicked in, so we found some indoor lounge chairs and fell asleep for several hours. Post-annoying countless other spa-goers with our snoring, we boarded a bus for Reykjavik and found our hotel.

Still exhausted, we planned to take a quick nap before venturing out to explore Reykjavik's nightlife.  Said nap turned into 14 hours of sleep.

We woke up the next day and began our quest to eat at all of Reykjavik's vegetarian restaurants.  We found this awesome place called Glo (strangely enough, on our way to finding another veggie place), which was absolutely delicious!

We explored the city for a while (well, not that long, after all, only about 200,000 people live there so it's not terribly huge) before heading to the National Gallery.

 I promise Drew likes modern art more than this picture indicates...well, maybe.

After that, we checked out the famous Hallgrímskirkja church.

And since we were in Europe during World Cup (and because the U.S. was playing), we thought it was imperative that we watch it.  We went to several bars that were absolutely packed before we found an Irish Pub that had some seats available. We met a few other Americans and took advantage of the happy hour specials.

That night, we found another fantastic vegan restaurant (who knew that a country that's national dish is cured shark meat would have such awesome vegetarian cuisine). That raw chocolate cake was nearly $8, but worth every penny.

The next day, we woke up and headed to the Pearl, where we took in some views of the city.  And of course, we had to try on some Viking hats for good measure.

Oh our way back, we stopped by the Penis Museum (I mean, how can you not?). It was no where near as scandalous as one would think, and the most exciting thing in there were probably the bathroom door handles.  But, I can now brag/sheepishly admit (depending on the company) to people that I've been to a penis museum.

In the evening, we did more exploring. It never truly gets dark there in the summer, which makes taking touristy pictures at midnight quite convenient.

Before heading out, we tried (yep, you guessed it) yet another vegetarian restaurant.

While our time in Iceland was short, I had a fantastic time, and I can't wait to go back! The only downfall is, it's REALLY expensive, so I'm currently contemplating starting a kickstarter for my next trip. I dare you to find someone who wouldn't want to contribute to penis museums and chocolate cake.

Stand-up in the dark

There are a lot of firsts in comedy. First open mic, first time you get paid, first time you go on the road, first time someone recognizes you in public...first time someone asks you why you gave up your real job with health insurance to play at a bar for seven people. You get the idea.

Last night marked the first time I've ever done a show during a power outage.

Comedy by candlelight.

Despite there being no power in the entire town of Holly, Michigan, I still had a great time playing at the Holly Hotel. The crowds were great, and we had a ton of fun! And I even timed it just right so that I could drink a beer while it was still somewhat cold.

And given that the place is haunted, the candelabras kind of added to ambiance.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to tell jokes or ghost stories.

Ultimately, I went with the jokes.  

Loony Bin, Justin Bieber and a new do

I had a great time working at the Loony Bin in Little Rock, Arkansas this week!  It's one of my favorite clubs to work!  Not only is the staff awesome, but they also play Ani covers before the show.

 Plus, you kind of have to love a club that posts this (despite my love of all things boy band, the Biebs has gone too far and is is no longer in my good graces). 

I worked with Tim Pulnik and Sam Adams, both really nice and funny dudes. Tim let me tag along with him to some golf stores, where I happened upon this gem.

If this doesn't have "next headshot" written all over it, I don't know what does.

Since gas was so expensive and the bus was so cheap, I decided to Megabus it down South.  Sadly, we are no longer BFF's. Despite its super inexpensive ways ($1.00 each way, um, yes, please!), the ride back left quite a bit to be desired. My nearly 24 hours of bus travel included having to wait outside for 15 minutes in a downpour, sitting near at least 5 people in desperate need of a CPAP machine, and sharing a row with a guy whose headphones were so loud my Shazam app picked up what he was listening to.

But, I suppose you get what you pay for. Despite not having the best trip home, at least I had a fun week! Maybe it's time to give my ex, Greyhound, another chance...

The marathon that wasn't

 

So, this weekend was supposed to be my first marathon.

After completing my first half marathon, I was so thrilled and energized, that I immediately looked for a marathon to run. Sure, I was in pain from 13.1 miles, but, I had a killer runner's high that compelled me to hand over my credit card information and sign up for 26.2 miles in Cleveland.

I remember thinking that training for a marathon would be an awesome way to relieve the inevitable stress that was sure to follow from law school. I researched training plans, read tons of articles, and eagerly awaited training for something that had been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.

I gave myself six months to train.  For the first couple months, the training was great. I felt strong, and running on the treadmill was an awesome excuse to blast boy band music.

But, then, not just the stress, but the reality of law school hit. I had never done so much work in my life. And between schoolwork, comedy, working, interning, and being involved in various student organizations (not to mention still trying to prepare food for myself and shower every once and a while), I was averaging about 4-5 hours of sleep per night. That amount of sleep isn't really conducive to remembering your own name, let alone training for serious distance running.

So I did something I never thought I'd do: I decided to give up.

And it felt wonderful!

You see, I'm a bit of a perfectionist (and by "a bit," I mean it's practically my middle name), and I pride myself on not quitting when I set my mind to do something. 

But, I had to listen to my body. And when I did, I felt so much better! 

By the end of my first year at MSU, I was so stressed, so tired, and so out-of-shape, that I still decided to go to Cleveland, but I switched to the 10K instead.  Rather than pushing myself too hard and taking what would probably be a huge risk with my health, I figured, since I still had the hotel room, still paid the entrance fee, I'd still journey down there and just relax. Well, if you could waking up at 4 am to sweat as relaxing.

 

I was so thankful that my mom and Drew still agreed to go with me. They're incredibly supportive, and they were there to cheer me on and tell me how proud they were of me (even if 26.2 miles became 6.2 miles). They let me drag them to the expo (where I may or may not have forced them to play carnival-esque games), and they made the drive so much fun! They also helped me polish off some pretty amazing falafel that we found near our hotel (well, I should say, we found a restaurant that served falafel; we didn't just pick up some deep-fried chick pea balls from the street and start chowing down). 

 I still got to take this shiny lil' guy home.

One day I will run a marathon. Today was not that day. And I can honestly say that I'm okay with that. Running long distances feels good, but listening to yourself feels pretty good, too.

Oh yeah, and not having killer blisters and feeling like I'm going to collapse = also pretty amazing! 

Trip to Nicaragua

After finals, I took a trip to Nicaragua for a week of relaxation. My mantra for the week: beach, beer, repeat.

When I went to Nicaragua last year, I had a wonderful time. I loved going to museums, learning about its history (P.S. It's not quite what we're taught in U.S. schools. For a more accurate account, check this book out), and exploring different cities. As soon as I got home, I vowed to return.

This time, I headed to San Juan Del Sur, a tiny beach community that has recently exploded with tourism.  I posted most of my pictures on facebook (which can be found here), but I'll share a few here as well.

I got the flight with frequent flier miles on Spirit airlines. For those of you who haven't flown Spirit, you have to pay for EVERYTHING. Want a seat assignment? You have to pay. Want to put a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment? Yep, you have to pay for that, too. Want to use the bathroom? Well, okay, there's no charge for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start making passengers pay 25 cents to use the facilities. 

But, if you learn to beat the system (like the time I wore a backpack under my coat so I wouldn't have to pay for a carry-on; I don't know that scoliosis has ever been shaped like a Jansport, but nobody said anything, and I saved myself $35), Spirit can get you a lot of cool places on the cheap. 

Not exactly a lot of leg room, but how can you argue with free?

After arriving in the middle of the night, like last year, we stayed in Managua for the night before heading out to San Juan Del Sur.

The cheapest mode of transportation offered on our last trip was 'micro-buses' (basically, a cross between a mini-van and a van that seats 15 people). However, this time around, we got to experience the chicken buses, which are old U.S. school buses that have been painted with bright colors and outfitted with stereo systems that are probably worth more than the buses themselves.

The ride was four hours long, and the bus was absolutely packed. We met a combination of locals and people from various parts of Europe. Of course, it's impossible not to get to know someone when you're sitting three to a seat and it's 95 degrees out with 1,000% humidity. In my younger days, I've been in quite a few situations where I had the opportunity to be sweat on by strangers (mostly at dance clubs where the men insisted on removing their shirts), and I can safely say, I'm still not a fan of it.

If I sound like I'm complaining, I'm not. It was, after all, an adventure. But, it definitely made the air-conditioning that we paid $18 per night extra for at our first hostel completely worth it.

This was the first place where we stayed, which we absolutely loved!

We ate breakfast outside every morning and got a chance to look at the beach before heading to it each day.

The next few days were a blur of beach, beer (what can I say? I'm true to my mantras), relaxation, and reading.   

 

We also discovered an amazing raw vegan place and curry restaurant.  Neither were exactly authentic Nica cuisine, but they were delicious anyway.

Hopefully the money we spent on food will be donated to the 'get new sign that's spelled correctly' fund.

Despite loving our first place, we moved to another hostel mid-trip because it was cheaper.

 

The new hostel was right near a surf shop so Drew took some surfing lessons, and did really well (he even got up his first time)! I didn't get any pictures, but I did make a little video of our trip that features him riding some waves.

On one of our last days, we discovered a nice little coffee shop and got a lot of reading done.

 When we left after a week, I was actually kind of glad to go.  As strange as it may sound, beach and beer actually got somewhat boring after a while.  I suppose I got too used to always being on the go.  Plus, the fact that the water went out two days in a row (as I mentioned, San Juan Del Sur has boomed recently, and it seems the infrastructure hasn't quite caught up yet) made me rather excited to return to a flushing toilet again.

I also felt kind of old there. If getting ridiculously drunk is your thing, San Juan Del Sur is your place. They have these pub crawlish events, but instead of pubs, they take place in pools.  Everyone seemed to be raving about them! We were told that they were $50, but worth every penny because it was all-you-can-drink.

But, when I heard that, all I could think was, "why would I pay $50 to throw up the next morning?"

Yup, I'm officially old.  When I was 22, I probably would have thought that was heaven.  Now, heaven seems a lot more like Netflix and really good chocolate. Dear God, what is happening to me? If I start talking about wanting to purchase a pair of Crocs, please stage an intervention.

Despite not taking part in the pool crawl and being pretty ready to leave when we did, overall, we had a nice time and it was great to be able to get away from a lot of the stresses back at home.  

And we did manage to throw back a few hard liquor drinks. I suppose I'm not a complete lost cause.

Lansing Half Marathon

On May 4, 2014, I ran my third half marathon. It ended up being a bit of a doozy in that I didn't really train for it (P.S. I don't recommend that), but I still had fun. And I added another medal to my collection. Granted, it was the equivalent of a 'You're Special' ribbon that pre-schoolers get just for doing something that everyone else in their class can do, but still, it was nice to feel it around my neck.

 Oh yeah, and I made a video all about my experience.