-I was the only dancer and they noticed
It All Started With Lena Dunham
In March my sister, Margaux, sent me a Youtube video with a perfectly succinct message: “This is Lena Dunham’s boyfriend. She directed the video.” Dunham’s boyfriend is the guitarist of Fun and started the band Bleachers as a solo project. Loved Lena’s video, died for her boyfriend’s song, “I Wanna Get Better!”
Admittedly Margaux knew how to pique my interest with the reference, but that day I became a Bleachers fan too. The thick riffs did what they wanted to my body, the lyrics “I didn’t know I was lonely till I saw your face” literally made (makes) me cry; I played the song on repeat and told my boyfriend to dance at a distance in case I exploded into a rainbow — it was that wonderful.
Slowly more singles like &ldq... [more]
-$40 for a takeaway pizza, um ok!?
Once again I’m an expat and this time I’m living in one of the most northern, well-organized, and richest countries on the globe: Norway. My earliest memory of Norway’s existence is from my 6th grade Geography class with Mrs. Lockard. She quizzed us on the world’s capitals and the one that stuck out in my mind was Oslo because it just had such a funny ring to it. Oslo. My hipster radar was already on point even before I hit puberty.
That’s where my knowledge of Norway ended until I met the “Norwegians” who taught me more about their homeland than I knew about my own. Now that I live here, I’ve picked up on even more facts and have formed some observations:
It’s an extremely rich country with one of the lowest wealth gaps in the world. In 1969 the Norwegians struck oil in the sea off their coast and since the 80’s have been living lavishly off it. Not Arab style though, nothing here is too os... [more]
-The neurotic journey of moving to Europe and taking all my clothes off in Germany
Growing up as an American you hear a few generalizations about Europeans and some of those generalizations are true. They don’t tip, they’re more open sexually, and they are generally comfortable with nudity — whether watching it on TV and movies, or simply taking it all off when things get too warm.
Regarding the latter, I saw it when I came to Oslo during a chilly summer and noticed ass cheeks flapping and side boob swaying in the breeze on the first day of sunshine.
I knew moving to Norway would mean I’d have to cozy up to the idea of splaying my American-grade naked body for all to see at some point. In the future. The far future. But my big reveal came way earlier than I could have mentally prepared for. Not that mentally preparing would have helped.
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On a weekend wedding layover in Germany, Matias and I strolled the bone-chilling streets of Berlin and spotted a Finnish sauna. It was so cold outside and a sauna sounded so... [more]
As soon as I moved to Lebanon, people inside and out asked me when I would leave. “How long are you here for?” locals prodded. I’d shrug my shoulders and tell them I didn’t know. “I guess I’ll leave when it feels right…?”
Well, I guess now feels right, or, greater opportunities have arisen. I moved with my boyfriend Matias to his home country of Norway.
It’s not how I came to Lebanon — following my love that is. Remember, I came here with “no money, no plan, no man” and full of confidence because of it.
The months leading up to college graduation in 2011, everyone nervously asked each other “What are you going to do after college?” I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but ... [more]
-Or just donate blood in Beirut
I woke up late; It was past noon. The electricity wouldn’t be back until 12 and I was alone because Matias went on a mission to Tripoli, so I slept — pretty well for a morning filled with jackhammers and never-ending machine groans. I opened my computer to a hauntingly familiar news jolt. Beirut’s been bombed. Again. This is something like the fourth bomb since moving here two years ago. And as usual, Twitter and Facebook were flooded with sarcastic, pissed off, disillusioned comments; despair for the situation; sympathy for victims and families; and the ever-present blood donating debacle.
Since it was past noon, it was time to work. So I started checking what there was to do. And in between clocking casualty numbers and who did what, I’d write a line or two of silliness about bamboo massages (they seem re... [more]
I went from hiking down a mountain
to hitchhiking w/ a convicted prison escapee with a heart of gold.
There comes a point after a long night of partying when all you want to do is go home. At least, that’s the feeling I get every single time I’m out dancing for 10 hours and dirty as hell from hanging out in the forest.
Two weeks ago we went to Forest Frequencies, the psytrance festival in Chahtoul, a mountainous area north of Beirut. It’s a four day psychedelic trance festival in an old camping ground. People do a lot of crazy things. They even bring their children.
It’s a hardcore way to party and I’ve spent days at a festival before but I just can’t make myself do it anymore. These days the party plan is this: Arrive early evening one day, party till the morning, and leave around noon the next day. ... [more]
-For the worse…now I know why rich people are assholes.
The term “rich bitch” doesn’t exist for nothing and I know the reason why. Certainly you can ‘fake it till you make it’ and project an image of living large, but it isn’t until you actually live large that you rightfully adopt the bitch part of it. I gained this new insight on life a couple of weeks ago when Matias and I were upgraded to First Class on our four-hour flight from Kathmandu to Qatar.
It started in a typical third world airport, all hot and rundown, as we sat in the waiting area about to board a shuttle bus to the plane. A confused airline attendant walked around and stopped at a 40-something well put together guy and bumped him up to first class.
“Hey! How did you just get to do that!?” We leaned over and asked him. “Ha, I have friends in high places,” he chuckled. “Good for you, Asshole, we have friends in high places too,” I mumbled under my breath, and glancing at Matias hissed, (... [more]
-The Types of Travellers You Meet in Nepal
The country of Nepal is like a giant, living museum — everything is a sight to behold. Its borders perfectly outline a chunk of the Himalayas with a bit of forested plains in the south and is situated directly between China and India. It is amongst the poorest countries in the world, where the majority of people make about $1 a day and the second biggest revenue comes from people leaving Nepal to work as maids or construction workers in other countries, namely the Middle East, and sending those few hundred dollars a month home. Let’s just say it’s not very developed. Dirt roads abound, one meager dish — dhal bhat — is the customary meal consisting of lentils and rice, and electricity is out more than it is on.
Then again, it is the birthplace of Buddha and Kama Sutra, the home of the world’s highest mountain and local Tigers, a jungle of breathtaking nature where those birds on “Planet Earth’ almost crash into your face when y... [more]