First day in Pittsburgh

To all you people who hate on Pittsburgh: don't.

This is like a hipster working class city; cool and down to earth. I met the most amazing people here, Adam and Rachel, who took me out to see the Strip District and made me eat the messiest sandwiches I ever had - saying that it was Pittsburgh tradition to eat them and I hadn't really bee here if I hadn't. The name of them escapes me at this time, but they involved coleslaw, french fries, kielbasa and tomatoes in one. And more than enough of it, too. It was amazing though. Amazing and messy.

Anyhow, you know that Andy Warhol is from here, right? And he hated Pittsburgh with a passion. Well, none of th guidebooks ever says where he actually lived for the first years of his life, but thankfully Adam knew and drove me there to take pictures and be generally excited about it. What can I say? It was just a house, but still so amazing (because he lived there once). Then we went to the South Side, had Margaritas (ignoring the 5pm rule) and then strolled up the street for the view of hipsters becoming sorority girls the further up we got.

Pittsburgh is great. I even consider staying for one more day already before I go to DC to catch up with my dad.

But as always I have to go now. Adam was talking about this old renovated church we had to go to (it is now a bar - I love it!) and then I want to see the city skyline at night.

Pittsburgh

Yesterday was a rough day. I went hiking in Shenandoah National Park to see a waterfall (saw three... wow!) and today my body is completely wrecked. But it was beautiful and the trees in Virginia are something different than any other I've ever seen.

Well, I am now a healthier person and am in Pittsburgh, the city where Andy Warhol grew up and that they have a museum called the Mattress Factory. Oh, I can't wait to explore this city and I am so happy that they have tall buildings here. After a long stint in small town in the South I've really missed them.

That's all for now. Sorry it's so brief, but I have to watch Team America.

Charlottesville, Virginia

Went on the most demanding hike I've ever been on today. But now not only have I lost many pounds, but I've always seen incredible waterfalls and I've said it before and I'll say it again: Virginia is one beautful state.

So I was at Monticello yesterday and it wasn't actually the house that was interesting, but the nature surrounding it. The colors here are so strong, and they dominate everything around them. It is absolutely stunning. Then the trip went to the university and I have to say that even though that might sound boring, it was not. Seriously, that university is incredible - not just because of Thomas Jefferson's architecture, but because a) it has an art gallery, b) it has thirteen libraries, c) okay, so the architecture is fantastic, d) there are about 20 lawns where you can just be and they are very pretty (very!), e) it's huge, f) it has a university town of its own outside it and g) it even has an amphitheatre. I want to study there. I don't even care what it'd be.

Afterwards I got tipsy at a winetasting which is a pretty good trick apparently and went out for some good old mac'n'cheese; something I've fallen guiltily (is that a word even?) in love with here.

Drunk on Greyhound

Hey everyone,

I'm back and here in Charlottesville I have the feeling my Internet access might be consistent.

So one of the most interesting things that has happened to me since we last spoke was actually on a Greyhound bus. Normally interesting things happen there, but this time I got the "pleasure" of being seated right in front of a severe drunk. Well, I had to get from Wilmington (that lovely, lovely place where they filmed Dawson's Creek) to Charlottesville and in order to get there I had a five hour wait in Richmond, VA. As the house had almost passed and we all stood in line, a man kept going back and forth, crossing the line of suitcases, bags and people. He stopped right between me and two younger boys and says "Maybe you want to MAKE A FUCKING PASS HERE!" and starts making all these gestures. Everyone is shocked, but no one does anything, because this guy was less than polite about it. One of the boys, the older one, says "hey, watch your language" and the man stops. "Watch my language" he says in a mocking tone and then goes on to kicking the trash cans around him.

Well, time passes and we go on the bus. I see that the line is extremely long and I just hope that man won't sit next to me. Well, we get on the bus and I sit behind the youngest of the boys, but with a bag on the seat next to me. Just in case. The drunk man comes on. He's about fifty or sixty years old and he looks rough. He stops next to a man who's sitting on the seat close to the isle. "Move over, Rover!" the drunk says. Nothing happens. "Move over, Rover" he tries once more. Again nothing happens. The man does not move. The drunk precedes down the hall and sees the seat next to me. "Well, I'll just sit next to this young lady!" he says and that's when I have eye contact with the boy in the seat in front of me, and say "well, I'll just sit next to you". I get up and so does the boy, letting me have the window seat. We all know that no one wants to sit next to this guy.

So begins the trip where I get to talk to the two young boys, Lonny and Lance as their names were, and the drunk keeps acting like a Bukowski without the talent. First thing he does is to tell jokes with no punchlines and get upset when no one laughs. Lance, the oldest of the boys, can't help but to make fun of this guy, so he says "hey, old man, didn't you hear? They said you can wear hats on the bus" and he points to the cap on the guy, who immediately takes it off. When the dunk starts singing old sailor tunes, the driver gets into the pictures as she starts getting sick of the loud behavior from the drunk guy. Over the intercom she tells him she'll stop the bus to take him off. But nothing happens. He asks Lance if he can't borrow his phone to call his wife, but Lance says he'll do it for him. And that's when a three-way conversation begins with Lance trying to explain to the wife that her husband is drunk on a Greyhound bus, and she tells him to tell her husband not to come home. Oh my. It was all very entertaining, but was I glad when the bus pulled over in Charlottesville.

And that's where I am now. The last Southern State. And now I will leave you to go to Monticello. Catch you later...

Empire Records! empirerecordsempirerecordsempirerecords!!! in Wilmington...

I'm in Wilmington, not Raleigh. Changed my mind last minute. Though that's not the important part.

The important part is that ever since I could watch movies I have had three films that I know by heart (okay, one of them is from 2003, so it doesn't really count... wait, that's not the point either) and one of them is Empire Records. I love everything about it from Mark/c not knowing how is own name is spelled to A.J. not having to explain his art to Warren. I love that movie with a deep-rooted passion. So today I went on a so-called Hollywood walk and suddenly the guide stops us all in front of a building and he only gets to say that there is only one film made here in Wilmington that took place in (almost) one set. I just blurted out "EMPIRE RECORDS!" and held my hand to my chest. It was a beautiful moment. A true fangirl-moment.

Otherwise I've been taking a lot of pictures of Dawson's Creek locations. Yeah, I used to be really into that show. Don't judge me.

Wilmington is everything I thought North Carolina would be like. It's just like a Whiskeytown-song, a band that I made myself listen to on my bus ride here. Everyone is so nice here and make one feel right at home. And I've noticed that the students of the community college in town all seem to work, but never do. This means that they sit in cafes with papers and computers, etc., in front of them while they talk on their phones or suddenly get into conversations with co-students. I love it.

Chris from Charleston

So after I wrote that thing about the Southern cuisine, I went out to dinner and had the best (THE BEST) fried chicken I ever had in my whole life. So I take it all back. The breakfast is still not on my awesome list though...

Today I met the funniest guy. I was sitting in a cafe called City Lights, when suddenly a blatant homosexual turned around around said "girl,you will wear that keyboard out!" My name was Chris and in a matter of five minutes we were friends. He lived in Los Angeles, he told me, but went back to his childhood town Charleston once in a while.I have a feeling that he was actually the ownr of City Lights because he knew everyone in there and occasionally stepped behind the counter to make himself more coffee. He was incredibly entertaining.He wore strange, old-fashioned Southern clothes and said it was something he only did when he came back "to mock the good folks of the town". He is a character in my book for sure and before I left, I wrote him a poem about Charleston and the cafe. Hey, if I become a famous writer, they can put it on the wall...

I could write much more, but the keyboard here is still driving me crazy. Sorry about that.

Charleston

Hey guys,

I'm now in Charleston, and it's such a cozy town. My last night in Athens was dominated by a house show that really bummed me out. However, I've never experienced that kind of an artistic organic event, and it gave me some ideas for when I once come back.

I wish I could tell you guys more, but the keyboard I'm sitting at is driving me halfway crazy. Just know that I am here, I'm feeling good and that South Carolina sure does have some disgusting food - but it's the South, so that's just part of the experience...