Adventurous trip to Philly and Atlantic City! (1st PART)

All started with a spontaneous idea one day... it went approx like this :
"Hey what are we gonna do when we have three days off in a row? ... Uhmmm Idk, let´s go to Philadelphia!...Okay! And when we´re there, we can go to Atlantic City as well, it´s not far from Philly. .... okay let´s do that...the tickets to Philly are 8 dollars for each... okay, i´ll pay it with my card and you´ll give me the money later... and the tickets to Atlantic City? ... We´ll figure something out when we´re in Philly... Okay, cool...."

Just like that. We´ve always wanted to go to Philly but it was more about talking about it than really doing something. Not anymore! :)

We were supposed to be at the Union Station in DC at 7am so we had to get up quite early. We packed some food, water, bathing suit, towels, etc. and the journey could begin.
The bus was huge so there were kinda plenty of space to lay our heads and stretch our legs. The bad thing was that Americans are so crazy about AC (air conditioning) that even when it was pretty comfortable outside the AC was turned on --- Antarctic Mode... We were shaking all the way to Philly wearing everything we found in our backpacks- towels. The journey to Philly took about 3 hours.

When we finally got to Philly we had no idea where to go and what was worse...it was raining. It wouldn´t be that bad if we didn´t have only one umbrella. And that wouldn´t be that bad either if I didn´t ride longboard all the time so all my shoes wouldn´t have a hole inside so it felt like I was barefooted. (And of course had no extra socks).
But we decided we´re gonna enjoy our trip anyways. So we tried to find the nearest McDonald's so we could look up the places to go when it was raining. We asked two people on the street and to out biggest surprise the first had no idea if there is any McDonald's in Philly and what was more the second one had no idea WHAT McDonald's is! She was like... "What? You said McDonald's? Is that a restaurant or what? I´ve never heard about that."

It was raining all day long. We spent most of the time wandering the streets, looking for a place to hide and food to eat and what was the most important thing- Our job was finding the Bell of Liberty! (If you are a fan of HIMYM you certainly know what I´m talking about) In 2nd series of HIMYM (I guess) Barney and Tedd went to Philadelphia to do this awesome thing- lick the Bell of Liberty! So we did pretty the same thing :D And it was more fun than it sounds! :D (We went to Atlantic City as well (as Barney, Tedd, Robin, Marchall and Lily did so M. and L. could marry each other) (but I´ll write about that later) :)

It was FUN! :) Well...until the sun went down... to be continued...

Tomorrow--- Philadelphia!!!

We are going to Philly tomorrow and on Thursday to Atlantic City... Sounds amazing right? 

The only thing is thaaat... Don't tell our moms but... We have absolutely no place to stay over night. We tried Couchsurfing but got no positive response. So we're gonna be adventurous and just stay all night in the city.. well, somewhere.

Tomorrow at 7am we're taking a bus, we're gonna spend the day and night in Philly and early in the morning going to Atlantic City to dip ourselves in Atlantic Ocean ;) then we're gonna travel to Washington at night... Uhm...

Positive thinking brings positive things! Soo...It's gonna be fun! Keep your fingers crossed for us!! ;)

And... Shhhh :)

How to survive the hot days in DC?

Last days niki and I found out that we don´t have to swelter when it´s 1000 °F outside. Too bad we found out only few days ago.

As I told you before here in DC you don´t have to pay ... well ... almost for anything. Library membership is for free, amazing ZOO is for free, (almost) all museums and art galleries are for free, first class in the gym is for free, classes of yoga in Meridian Hill Park is for free, concert of Drum Circle every Sunday is for free and as we found out recently - all swimming pools in DC (and it´s not a smal number of them) are for free!

I wish we knew earlier abou the swimming pools for free because it was really HOT all summer. I mean... we spent almost all time at work but there were days when at least one of us had a day off but it was too hot outside to do anything... so we just stayed at home and ... read.

But! Later is better than never so now... we spend almost everyday in a swimming pool. There is one really close to our home and another one relatively close to our work (I mean it´s like 20 minutes walking but after 3 months in DC it feels like nothing :) ) and what is more it is in beautiful area near Potomc river and Potomac park where people play baseball every day and also, the Jeferson Memorial is like 5 minutes walking from there :) 
Both pools are clean, never crowded and good for lap swimming and (of course) for free (for DC residents) :) 

What to do when you're depressed??

Get drunk at 2pm with Gin and wateeer!! And sing and dance out LOUD 'I don't care i LOVE it!!!' Hahaha That's how we Slovak Girls do that!!! 

We are supposed to leave in 3 weeks??? HELL NO!!!

As Paulo Coelho once said : "If you´re brave enough to say GOOD-BYE, life will reward you with a new HELLO."   

     It´s been kinda surprising that leaving the USA is MUCH MORE difficult for me than leaving my homeland.
Why is that?

     As I was leaving Slovakia I wasn´t unhappy or depressed at all. I was just looking forward to the new world out there in America, new experiences, new friends, new LIFE. There was nothing depressing about that because even tho 4 months is a long time and the US is quite far away I knew that I´m coming back again. I´m gonna see my family, I´m gonna see my friends, my dog... My old life will wait for me.
    That was the thing that kinda calmed me down but right now (after 3 months in the US) it is the exact thing that freaks the hell out of me!

I knew that I´m gonna find new friends here, that I´m gonna have the time of my life, that I´m gonna experience things that I have never experienced before. But THIS?

 I had NO idea how hard it will be to leave... THIS... Wonderland!

And the more i think about my old life the more it does NOT make any sense- f.e. the school that I am attending? For what?!, What was I thinking?? Why didn´t I listen to my mum? WHY? I know she´s ALWAYS right... but I have a mind of my own... F*U*C*K

Is it too late now? I mean...I´m only 20 years old... is it too late to make a LIFE decision?

B-day Booooy :)

It is C.´s birthday tomorrow so I decided to make a Bday surprise for him :)

He agreed that he come to my place at around 1pm so we can watch movie or just hang out and skate around the DC. He had no idea that I´m planning anything for him.

I had to get up early to buy everything that I wanted. It is kinda difficult to buy presents for someone who you´ve known only for about 2 months so I had to focus very hard on things that he told me he likes.
I bought an apple pie and some ice cream- because I knew that he likes Apple Cobbler in HRC very much, colorful candles so he could blow out his ...ehm 26 candles on his Bday cake (he hates the number) and and the next thing that he loves- beautiful yellow orchid with a purple tint.
He looked very happy (just like happy puppy Moose) and surprised that I remember what does he like :)

After we ate the apple pie (and drank wine that he brought (white- he knows what I like :) ) we were just talking and then went skating across Washington DC. Unfortunately he has his skateboard and not longboard so we had to push very hard to catch me up on my longboard :) I tried to ride his skate but... it´s not for me at all :D I fell down after a push so I went back on my longboard. :)

It was a great day! Unfortunately he had to go home at around 7.30pm because his friends were making him a surprise B-day party so he had to be surprised and stuff  :D He already knew because they were all sneaky all day long asking questions f.e. like "didn´t u say that u have to leave? didn´t u say that u already have plans for today and you´re leaving the house? aren´t u supposed to be somewhere else?"... so unprofessional :D hahaha

Sk8-er Booooy :)

Pack your bags baby !!! :)

Today we finally booked our air tickets to California!!! YAY!!!

All we need to do now is rent a car, wait till September 9th, find someone through Couchsurfing in NYC and GO!!! The crew consists of 4 cool girls :) Niki, me, Michelle and Bara- czechoslovak group :)

The plan is following- Washington, New York, San Francisco, Yosemite NP, Sequoia NP, Los Angeles, San Diego, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion NP, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Washington... and then... back home --- Paris, Vienna, Slovakia...
(I would rather skip the end and just stay in Cali :) )

14 days, 4 girls, 1 car --- It´s gonna be LEGEN... wait for it... DARY!!! :)

Things in the US that makes us laugh/cry/wonder/or are different as in Slovkia...

.... * people do what make them happy. Literally. It doesn´t matter what it is or what does it make you look like in front of everybody else. If it makes you happy- you DO IT!!! :)

* Skateboarding/ longboarding is not a crime. People are super respectful when talking about me riding my longboard on the main streets in Washington on my way to/from work. Even cops yield to me!!!

* People ask for what they want....It is a common thing here in DC that men just come to you on the street and start talking to you like "How are you? What are you reading? Is it good? Will you give me you cell phone number so we can meet sometimes? etc" or even just give you their buissness card so you can get in touch with them anytime you want. No pub. No alcohol. No special occasion. Just like that. On the street or in the swimming pool or anywhere.

* when Spanish people yell and scream it doesn´t mean they´re fighting. And also it is perfectly normal to talk with a person for next 2 minutes even when the person is already gone :D 

* if u want to lock the door- turn the key to the left. Yep. They´re weird.

* if somebody asks you "How are you?" only 1 person from 100 actually cares how you really are...

* it is a daily routine to hear strangers on the street saying - "you look good, i love your hair, i love your style, have a nice day, do you need  help...   ( btw... it can make your day sometimes)

* you DON´T have to pay for everything- neither for library membership or screen on the green cinema, nor for swimming pool or for the ZOO or museums or art galleries or... MANY things here are for FREE

* people are nice for no reason...just to be nice. Just to help you. Just to make u feel welcomed. And as I was told by my Canadian friend C. - comparing to Canada people are mean assholes here so I can´t imagine how great is it in Canada but I defintelly wanna experience it :)

* it is NOT allowed to go to PENTAGON... not even read the signs there :D (Niki and I had an experience... I´ll write about it later)

* everything is sweet...bread, baguettes, pickles, chips (with the taste of waffles!!) - everything... and when I say everything, I mean it! In HRC they put sugar (and not just a little of it) on a bacon! yes! (The secret recipe has been pronounced)

* Slovakia is not Slovenia! Learn the difference! It is a huuuuge success to find a person who knows where it is and actually knows Bratislava.

* they have no idea that there is a dry soy meat that you have to actually COOK yourself before eating

* eating healthy cost a fortune!

* the customer/guest here is a boss

* you don´t have to take off your shoes when going inside of  house

* you get paid twice a month (and it is not enough!! )