Brittni’s Blog

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I finally went Skydiving! I’ve been wanting to so long and finally I made it happen - and also talked my brother and 3 friends into doing it with me! Yes! It was so much fun and on of the most intense experiences of my life. Can’t wait to do it again!

Here’s my jump:

And here’s Brent’s jump:

My friends and I have been planning this trip for months and it was all worth it! My super tight group from the DC program had 12 of us and all of us made it (even if just for a dinner) which is really amazing! Those of us living in the bay area drove down together and made a week long road trip out of the event. Here are most of the activities from the week:

Day 1 - Me and four of my friends drove down to LA. When we got there we drove around a bit, did some touristy stuff in Hollywood, climbed up to the Hollywood sign, went out to Persian food, and then to a bar in Newport called Sharkyz.

Day 2 - We woke up early and headed up to bear mountain to go snowboarding. Unfortunately, the resort was sold out of tickets when we got there so we just drove back towards Newport and down the coast. We got some great tacos and clam chowder at Crabby’s in Huntington Beach and stopped at a little park just south of Laguna for an amazing sunset. Then went down to LA and out to a great Japonese Restaurant called Yakitori.

Day 3 - We went out to a great breakfast, then went to Balboa park, took a nap next to the fountain, saw a magic show, explored the science museum a bit, watched “Wild Ocean” a the Imax theater, and went to my friend Christine’s place to have a party and bring in the new year!

Day 4 - Christine, Ainslie, and I went down to old town San Diego, got some Mexican food, explored the shops and museums, and got some taffy. Later we met up with a bunch more old friends from the DC program and went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo, then back to an apartment where Jenny surprised the three December babies with a birthday cake, then we all went out dancing at a club called PB, then back to Christine’s apartment and partied til the break of dawn!

Day 5 - After the big party we had a loungy day, hanging out, went out to Pho, taking naps, watching movies, and that night we made a big dinner like we used to do all the time in DC.

Day 6 - We headed up to Irvine, went out to sushi, and hung out in a park for a while. Then went to the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel where my aunt works and got us a great discount. We had an amazingly pampered afternoon at the Ritz. First we watched the sunset over the ocean from the balcony of our ocean front room, then took a long walk on the beach, then went out to dinner at a local restaurant where we watched a great Charger game (and they won in overtime!). When we got back to the hotel waiting for us was delicious champagne and decadent chocolate covered strawberries that my aunt had sent to us. Then Ainslie and I put on bathrobes and went to the jacuzzis and explored around the hotel.

Day 7 - We woke up at the Ritz and drove back home to the bay area.

Just for fun!

I had a very safe and fun New Year’s with my friends in San Diego, California, but I wanted to share this story about my old roommate in Buenos Aires. Cydney Schwartz is a 20 year old girl from New York City, but she is wise beyond her years.

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Robbed on New Years Eve.
Posted on 12/31/08 at 11:20pm
I was robbed, ½ a block away from my house in daylight. I was moving out of my apartment, and planned to catch a cab to my friend Jenny’s house. I walked to the corner of Libertad and stood looking for a cab, but nothing. It was New Year’s eve, people here don’t like to work on the holidays. A man told me to walk a block toward Nueve de Julio, which is the main highway here in Buenos Aires, and is pretty much what I would have done anyway.

So I walked, in the safe neighborhood of Tribunales, ½ a block from my house, with all of my stuff, in broad daylight. I am almost at the end of a block when a couple approaches me. They come to me, swiftly and quietly, with out saying a word and grab my bags on both sides. The man is short and dark–the woman is skinny. I pull away, and yell “no no,” then the woman presses something cold on my throat and says, “callate!” I keep saying “no, no” and then I realize, there is a knife on my throat. So I relent. The man takes my giant backpack, and the woman takes my purse with my passport, credit cards, $100 in cash, tickets to Uruguay and Salta, and camera. I walk to the street corner, sit on the ground and begin to cry. I cry and cry and cry. I cry because I am not one of those stupid travelers that walks down dark alleys and waves money around. I cry because this is the first time I ever carried my passport, credit card, and camera together. I cry because I just bought a new black sequined top that that stupid toothless bitch won’ t even fit into. I cry because I am scared and angry and sad and I had a million plans for the next few months and it had all just turned to shit. Mostly I cried because we live in such a shit world where people are so hungry and desperate they have to turn to this kind of violence. People passed by, tried to comfort me. The police were called and promised to look for them—sure they would! I just cried and cried sitting on that street corner, feeling the places where she had pressed the knife.

It has been four hours since the robbery, and I’m still not ok. I shooken up, I’m scared, but mostly, I’m sad that the world is the way it is. I am sad about terrorist bombings in Israel. I am sad about the genocide in Darfur. I am sad that there is war, and homelessness, and corruption. I will be fine, but those people will be living on the street their whole life.

I have been living in a bubble. Sure I did tons of volunteer work in high school, taught English in Africa this summer, witnessed extreme poverty, but all of that was on my own time. I had a home to go back to, a life to look forward too, and while terrible things were happening, well, I had my bubble. This whole experience, it had made me realize that I am not immune to the decaying world around me. I am a spec of dirt beneath the inferno. I can never ever go back to my bubble.

I have always been a big dreamer, but dreams, dreams won’t feed that child sleeping in a cardboard box tonight. I need to start doing things, because if all we ever do is dream, everything will stay the way it is. Changing the world is not something I want to do when I grow up, its something I want to do today. Well, today just happens to be January 1st. So Happy New Year everyone! But more than that Happy New World!
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I don’t want to make my friends (and mainly my dad) more nervous about me going back to South America than they already are, but this could happen anywhere and isn’t that common in the places I will be going in South America.

After flying back to the states, I had two days back home before I headed up to the slopes at Squaw Valley with my dad and brother. Although the season got off to a late start, the conditions this weekend have been superb. Beautiful fresh powder, but warm and not too blizzardy. A ski trip was the perfect way to get my dad, brother, and myself away from our busy lives and catching up with each other. I also learned that beautiful, fluffy powder + high end tequila = BIG AIR and Lightning speed

If anyone sees Tucker, tell him I miss him!