City Of Roses

It's a little strange doing a travel post about the place I lived for 18 years but traveling is traveling.  Right after my graduation ceremony concluded last Saturday, Vlad and I headed to the airport to catch a flight to Portland, Oregon.  There was traffic on the way down which made for a sprint through the airport and a photo finish for making the flight but we did it! 

When we arrived at my place in Portland, we walked around the neighborhood a bit before heading to Washington Square shopping mall so Vlad could get things for family and friends back in Australia.  After getting back and a quick nap, we took the MAX into Portland and had good times at one of my favorite places in Portland, Deschutes brewery.  Before heading back, we made a stop at the oh so famous Voodoo donuts.

The next day after watching a disappointing Heat game, we went to Pittock Mansion before heading downtown again.  When we got downtown, we walked along the waterfront and then towards Pioneer Courthouse Square.  The weather was pretty bad so we stepped into the mall to try and find more gifts but didn't have much luck.

Pittock Mansion

Portland!

Benson Bubbler

On Monday we pretty much spent the entire day going in and out of shopping malls around the Portland area.  Later on, Vlad and I stayed outside almost the entire night in my backyard having one of our "deep" late night conversations.  That night will probably be one of my favorite memories ever.

We headed back to Denver on Tuesday after our flight was delayed due to sever lightning storms.  We were worrying a bit because Vlad's journey back to Australia was supposed to start Wednesday morning and we weren't sure if we would make it back in time.  Luckily we did but it took about 11 hours to get from PDX to Fort Collins which put a damper on our last night activities.  We did get to walk around campus one more time before Vlad shuttled back to the airport in the morning.  Saying goodbye to your best friend is not a fun or easy thing to do and has made for some rough days after.  I'm so glad we got to spend his last few days together and I will be counting down the time until we meet again.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Land Down Under

As of today, I am officially a college graduate!!!!  That post will likely be for next week but until then, this weeks "featured friend" is about Vlad Zecevic.  I tried to pack this with as many inside jokes as possible so if something doesn't make sense, that's probably why.

LA

I told some people in the fall last year that I was "getting an exchange student" for the spring semester and didn't really explain much else.  In short, the program pairs a CSU student with an exchange student and the CSU student is supposed to help get the exchange student settled in the first week they arrive.  Here's my story:

In the fall of 2013, I got an email from CSU's study abroad office saying they were taking applications for a volunteer position as a peer mentor (although I hate that term) for an incoming exchange student.  One of my favorite things about studying abroad was talking to and making friends with people from around the world, and that's not the easiest thing to do when you're in the US, so I decided to apply.  Apparently it was fairly competitive to get accepted so I was happy when I got the email saying I would be participating in the program.  Little did I know, what was to follow would introduce me to one of my new best friends.

I waited about a month until I got the email saying I would be paired with this kid from Australia named Vlad.  I immediately proceeded to Facebook stalk him, as one does in this day and age.  After the initial stalking, I thought we would be civil towards each other but maybe not be the best of friends or have a lot in common.  I would have been happy with a quick check-in every few weeks.

I emailed Vlad probably one of the dumbest introduction emails anyone has ever sent but CSU had a list of topics I had to talk about in my first message so I was just following the rules.  After reading his response, I was fairly sure we would get along.  A few emails later, we figured out we had two classes together.

When the time came for me to pick Vlad up at the CSU transit center, I was "super" excited.  The first day we went to the store and got him moved into his dorm.  The rest of the week was making sure he was awake and that he showed up for various orientation events.  After the week, my commitment to the program was pretty much over but I kind of enjoyed hanging out with him so we continued to do so.

For Spring Break, we got to go to New York and Los Angeles which was incredibly fun!  As of today, we are in Portland (after sprinting through the airport to make our flight) for a bit so he can see arguably the best part of the US...just saying.

Disneyland...accurate.

Here's a few things I've learned about Vlad:

• He inhales food and chugs coffee
• He could easily sleep for a week straight and still be tired
• That being said, he's nocturnal
• His obsession with Lebron James is very real  
• He takes more selfies than anyone I know, male or female.

And here are some of my favorite memories:

• Fuzzy Thursdays (good job pressing the button)
• Spring break week
• Our deep late night chats
• All the Stanley references
• Watching him try and make pasta

Anyways, just wanted to give a shout out to one of my new best friends and let him know that when he has to go back to Australia on Wednesday, he will be greatly missed.  Thanks for being such an amazing friend and letting me travel around the US with you.  I could not have asked for a better exchange student.

There's so much more I could say but the cheesiness level is already too high.  I can't wait to see you in Australia/Europe/back in the US, whichever comes first!     

By the way Vlad, I expect multiple updates every few days to keep me in the loop. 

Ooohhhhhh no Taco Bell.  That's all for now.  Bye.

School's Out

College classes are officially over!  I've got one exam on Monday and then I'm done!  It hasn't quite hit yet that it's over but I couldn't be more thrilled!

For this weeks post, I figured that after being at CSU for roughly 4 years, it was time to finally take some pictures around campus.  So here is a little tour of campus:

Here's the business school (Rockwell) where I pretty much lived.

Pride Rock looking building is the gym/climbing wall.

Moby Arena where basketball and volleyball games are played.

Cool little nature park on campus.

Found this building today...

This is where the youth mentoring program was held.  Prison? Maybe.

Sculpture that could easily turn into a lightning rod.

Tall tower in the back on the left is where I lived freshman year.

Behavioral Sciences Building where I had a few classes in years past.

Monfort Quad where I saw Obama speak last year.

And of course the most photographed place on campus, The Oval.

So yeah, there's a little bit of CSU.  Highschool friends, come and visit! 

That's all for now.  Bye.

Ghostbusters

This last week I got to do something I've been wanting to do since freshman year.  Living in the dorms four years ago, someone on my floor told us about this graveyard just outside of Fort Collins that is said to be haunted.  She said that people regularly would leave the place sprinting out and crying because of what they saw.  She wouldn't tell us the name but after some research, a few of us figured it was the Bingham Hill Cemetery.

Bingham Hill Cemetery was "discovered" in the 1860s but was likely used before then.  Buried there are Colorado pioneers, many of whom died from unpleasant diseases and by other, slightly disturbing, means.

We tried to find the cemetery twice freshman year but had no luck.  It's off a dark road and hard to see so we sort of gave up after the second try.

Last week, me and two others tried to find the place one more time and we were successful! It was a little frustrating becasue when we found the entrance, I realized it was about 10 feet from where I looked freshman year.

It was too dark to take pictures so I pulled this from Google Images.

Walking along the path towards the cemetery was scary enough.  It's a dirt path with wooden planks along the way.  There are old trees drooping over the walkway, not to mention it's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farms.

As we got to the actual cemetery, I noticed everything got a lot colder.  I'm not going to lie, it was creepy.

We walked around the cemetery a bit.  The whole time I felt like someone was watching us.  At one point, I swear I heard footsteps coming up from behind us when we were standing still.  Vlad says he saw an old woman standing behind one of us for a split second.  There were also two deer looking things standing by a fence.  Those were probably just deer.  People on internet forums said there was an old chair against a tree that if you sit in it, some people feel their arm being grabbed.  Two of us sat in the chair.  I didn't feel anyone grabbing my arm but it did feel like someone was flicking my hair sticking out from under my beanie.

When we decided to leave, I felt the temperature rise almost immediately.  Very weird stuff.  My theory is that 95% of supernatural things people experience are made up in their mind.  However, I do think that things can happen.  Even if none of it is true, it was a fun night and another thing to cross off the Fort Collins to do list.


That's all for now. Bye.