American girl meets international travel (for the first time)

I always like to have pictures in my stories - so here's my first picture.  It's the view from my hotel room.

I don't even know where to start with this story!  I guess the flight would be good huh?

This is my first time out of North America.  I've been out of the country (Canada, but really?) but never overseas.  So off the bat I'm going to say I'm proud of myself for making it here all by myself in a country where English is not the primary language.

I sat next to a priest on the 9+ hour flight.  I have never seen some eat so fast in my life!!  We got dinner, which was my first meal on a plane in I don't know how long, and about 5 minutes later the dude next to me was done!  It was crazy.  Did I mention that the priest didn't speak english but still insisted on talking to me?  I just nodded even after the flight attendant explained to him in polish that I only knew english!!  Oh well, I think he wanted a friend.

I tried to get comfortable to get some sleep but then they started to play The Blindside.  So of course I had to watch - I love that movie.  After about 10 minutes of a Polish version of the movie I gave up.  I fell asleep eventually only to be woken up when everyone cheered when Big Mike pushed the other football player over the wall.  Needless to say I didn't get much sleep...

So then I get to the airport - and the first step was passport verification.  After waiting in line for forever I finally got through - no problem.  I was a little nervous that they would stop me for some reason and then I wouldn't have anyone to call and I'd be stuck in a Polish jail!  Luckily none of that happened.

I even survived my 2.5 hour drive from Warsaw to Plock.  I did get lost a couple of times and I did depend on the GPS for the first part of the drive but I made it.  Warsaw traffic is a lot like Chicago.  I fit right in cutting people off. :-)  

My hotel is super cute!  And I walked through the city tonight with the other UOP guy here.  He showed me around to some of the places he had found in the two weeks he has been here.  I think I'm going to wander around town tomorrow with my camera.  There are some awesome churches.  On Sunday Tony is going to take me to the store that has it all.  :-)  So far I'm loving it here!!  

Sweet Home Chicago

And I'm back!!  I got back to Chicago last Thursday - April 1st.  I even got to spend Easter with my family!  It was really great to see them.

I realized when I was landing how much I love Chicago.  There are 4 seasons (compared to New Orleans where it's either hot or not).  There's baseball - today is White Sox opening day!!!  I wish I could go to the game, but instead I get to go to the dentist... :-/  Sometimes you have to sacrifice I guess.

For now I'm going to enjoy my time back in a familiar place - I even went and drove by my old apartment.  Looks like they planted new flowers.  :-)

My next stop is Plock, Poland.  I'm not sure when I leave - should be sometime this week.  Spring and summer in Europe isn't too bad.  I'll take it!

Tour of New Orleans

I realize this is supposed to be a blog about my travels and I haven't really written about what I've done since I've been down here.  And since I'm supposedly leaving soon, I figured it may be time to tell everyone what I did when I wasn't at work.

So here's my tour of New Orleans...

For all of the pictures you can go to my Flickr site - www.flickr.com/foto4lizzie

Mississippi River
There's a nice river walk down in New Orleans that winds along the Mississippi river.  I went down there the first weekend I was here and explored some by myself.

French Quarter
Then I wandered down to the French Quarter, near Bourbon Street.

Garden District
My favorite area of New Orleans is definitely the Garden District.  There are tons of shotgun houses and parks and street cars.  Tulane and Loyola are down in that area as well.  I wandered through Audubon Park.  I've been told the zoo is pretty good.  I never made it over there.  Lots of great little shops to wander through on Magazine St. as well!

 Cemeteries
There are tons of cemeteries down in New Orleans - St. Louis, Metairie, etc.  I went with one of the other engineers to go take pictures and wander through to see some of the older tombs.  They recommend not to go by yourself because there might be people waiting to mug you - I decided not to test that theory...

A Little Further West - Oak Alley Plantation
Closer to the refinery there is a lot of sugar cane farm land.  And with the farm land comes the plantations.  I went to Oak Alley - it's pretty well known.  The lane up to the house is lined with the huge oak trees.  The trees are hundreds of years old.  And I happened to tour the house while they still had Christmas decorations up - so pretty!

I did a few other things around the area.  Went on my first motorcycle ride, went to the DDay Museum (which was pretty awesome, go see the movie they have!), and ate lots of food.  I had alligator for the first time ever.  I had coffee at Cafe Du Monde.  I think I covered most of New Orleans.  The only thing I'm missing is the swamp - maybe next time?

Off to Walmart

You know what I dislike more than most things? A chatty cashier/sales person. I know it's their job to talk to you and get you to buy something, but come on. Can't I shop in silence??

I went to Walmart last night, which is always interesting in Louisiana. I was at the checkout and the cashier decided to comment on everything I had in my cart. I knew she was like that - I'd been to her before. I even mentally made a note that I really didn't want to go to her anymore, but her line was the shortest...

So when she was tired of commenting on all of the food in my cart she asked me what I did. I told her I was an engineer at one of the refineries. She asked me if I had to wear the jumpsuits. I told her I did. And she replies with "but you're too pretty to wear those". I didn't really know how to respond because it completely caught me off guard. I told her they were required for safety.

I know it's just some random lady who works at Walmart, but she kind of made my night.

Ugh I'm such a girl...

Do you ever do something and wonder how it'll affect you later? Have you ever made a decision and because of that decision your life changed?

I recently made a decision that has really been affecting me if I have time to think about it. When I'm busy, I don't have the chance to think about how I'm not doing something anymore, or how I've lost a major part of my life. I was depending on this part of my life too much, and when I realized that I shouldn't, it was like someone took the chair out from underneath me and I fell to the floor. Do you know how bad it hurts when you hit the floor? Unfortuantely ice won't help numb my pain, I just have to deal with it.

What's really bad is that I knew things wouldn't change, yet I still went for it. Things didn't change and now I'm pissed off at myself. I'm pissed that I didn't learn from my mistakes and that I let myself get attached (again) and here I am broken - again. Sometimes I don't think I'm smart at all - I wonder why Purdue gave me a degree. I'm guessing it is because engineer is pretty straightforward, and emotions are not.

It kind of reminds me of the part of the Sex in the City movie where Miranda is trying to do a pros and cons of her marriage and then gets foam on her lip from her drink and decides to go for it. There was no logical reason for that, it was purely emotional. I totally get it, and I always fall for it.

I need a rule book for my feelings. But if I had one, would I follow the rules? Aren't rules made to be broken?

This is the life...

I went to the spa for the first time in my life today. I can't believe what I've been missing out on! I went with one of the engineers I've been working with - it was a fun girls day that we'd been looking forward to for weeks. We got the works: manicure, pedicure, facial and a massage. I was a little worried about the massage - the masseuse was a man and I wasn't really sure what to expect. Let's just say he was amazing. I almost asked him to move in with me. :-)

I recommend the hot stone massage to anyone who might be thinking about a massage. Especially if you just came out of a turnaround or intense equipment checkout. But - word of caution - don't do it if you have lots of bruises from climbing in and around things. That could be painful...

Look for more regular entries - now that I'm moving back to a normal work schedule I may have the effort to make more entries. I'm really looking forward to my first weekend off in a while. Wish me luck with all of the new-found free time!

I'd Like My Life Back Please

Have you ever been so tired you could sleep for a couple of days? I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of being tired. Working this many hours per week is crazy. I've been working since January 4th and have had 4 days off (one of which I was sick and couldn't function). I'm ready for a break!

I have learned a ton, and I've met lots of people so I can't say that I regret working all of these hours and having zero life.

There have been a couple of nights of bad decisions and then you regret it the next morning, but at least the other guilty parties are suffering too. Those few nights I actually felt like I had a life. It was refreshing.

I'm ready to get my weekends back. I don't really remember what it's like to have a lazy Sunday...

Maybe sometime within the next month I'll update you all on what's I have found in the NOLA area. For now, you'll have to deal with my venting about working non stop.