Spending the Night with Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and New Politics

I think everyone has a few singers or bands who have had a significant impact on them, and for me, one of those bands is Fall Out Boy. I first became a fan of them in 2005, and in 2007 after their album Infinity on High came out, they quickly took over the role as my favourite band. Throughout high school, my love for Fall Out Boy stayed strong, and if I was ever having a bad day, I knew that listening to their music would cheer me up. I even saw them in concert twice, in 2007 and 2009. (Of course, they were amazing!) I was so sad when FOB broke up in 2009, but was so excited when they got back together last year. They quickly returned to being one of my favourite bands, and I grew to love their new music just as much, if not more, than their previous albums.

So needless to say, I was so happy when my sister told me that Fall Out Boy was going on tour this summer and would be playing a show near us! And to make it even more awesome, Paramore was joining them on tour! Paramore is another band I loved since high school, but had never seen in concert. At first, we didn't think we would be able to go, since the lawn seats and cheap seats were all sold out, and the only ones left cost hundreds of dollars a piece. But then, after checking one last time on eBay, we found tickets in a great spot for $75 a piece. Score!

The concert was on June 22, which ended up being such a nice day! My sister Lexi and I headed out early to park and get some dinner before the show. Of course we jammed to my FOB CDs the whole ride! After finding parking (that was free!!), we went to a little Italian place nearby for dinner. The restaurant was having a special where pizzas were half-price that night. Everything was going perfectly for us! :)

Lexi and I all ready for the concert!

When it got closer to the time doors would open, we headed back to the concert venue and got t-shirts. (I have a Fall Out Boy t-shirt that I got seven years ago when we saw them perform for the first time, but unfortunately it doesn't fit any more!) 

The first band to perform was a newer band called New Politics, which Pete Wentz just signed to his record label. I had only known one of their songs before seeing them perform, but they were really good and I enjoyed their set a lot! I've been listening to a bunch of their songs since the concert, and definitely want to buy their CD.

Next up: Paramore! Before the concert, I hadn't bought Paramore's latest CD yet, and didn't know most of their newer songs, but I was so excited when they ended up playing a ton of their older songs! Hayley Williams has so much energy and was so great to watch. It's amazing she can run around on stage as much as she does and still sound so good singing! My favourite song they performed was probably Misery Business, because that was the song that made me originally fall in love with Paramore when I heard it on TRL. (Any other 00's girls miss that show as much as I do? ;) ) The entire crowd seemed to know that song, so the whole venue was singing along with the band. They even brought two girls up on stage to sing the end bit of the song with Hayley. Paramore is a band I had wanted to see for years, so I was so happy to finally get to experience them perform live. (And seeing them perform inspired me to buy their newest CD that I have been absolutely loving!)

And then it was time for the performance I had been anticipating most: Fall Out Boy! As I expected, they opened up with Phoenix from their latest album, and from the very beginning, their set was full of energy and excitement. It's amazing how many hit songs they have had over the years. I did not stop singing and smiling the entire time they played! Something about seeing them perform live just makes me feel happy because they have had a pretty big impact on me growing up. I can't even pick a favourite song because they were all so good, but one thing I loved was how they ended the show with their song Saturday. I know it used to be their tradition to end all of their shows with this song because it was one of the first ones they ever recorded together, but I wasn't sure if they would continue that tradition after returning form their hiatus. But they continued the tradition, and I sung along with the other die-hard fans who have been fans of theirs ever since their early years.

I had such an amazing time at the concert, and seeing the three bands perform live made me love them even more and made me so excited to (hopefully) see them again in the near future!

Reunited with a best friend and travelling to New York City!

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post, but I have been extremely busy finishing up my last semester of college, moving home, and then working on the job search. I am now officially a college graduate which still hasn't really hit me yet. This summer is going to be so great, and has already gotten off to a great start. The first exciting event of my summer happened a couple of weeks ago when my friend Ciela came to visit.

Ciela is from Holland and now lives in London, and we met and became good friends when we studied abroad together in Lyon, France. Even after leaving Lyon, Ciela has been one of the people I have really stayed in touch with and talk to on a regular basis. But since we live thousands of miles away from each other, we didn't see each other, other than through Skype, for a year and a half... until she decided to book a trip to visit the US for the first time! She landed in Boston around noon on June 11, which was a Wednesday, and was here until the following Tuesday.

As soon as I picked her up from the airport, the fun began! Since we didn't have a full day to hang out, we decided to have a more low-key day and stay on the South Shore. I drove her around my town a little bit and she was so excited to see the beach and ocean from this side of the pond. Then we headed down to the Plymouth waterfront where there are a bunch of cute little shops and restaurants and there are really pretty views of the water. And unlike a lot of tourists in the area, Ciela was not all that enamoured by Plymouth Rock haha! Us locals always like to giggle about tourists who come from all over the world to view the rock, and we never understood how it can seem so exciting to some people when it's literally just a rock with "1620" carved into it, and it's not even the real first rock the Pilgrims stepped onto! After exploring the area and getting some ice cream, we headed back to my house to have dinner with my family.

The next day, we headed into Boston! When we got there, it was around noon so we decided to stop for lunch. We got burgers from an outdoor restaurant on Newbury Street, which was amazing! Then we walked all over the city. We walked down Newbury Street, which is like the Rodeo Drive or 5th Ave of Boston, then to the Boston Common and Public Gardens, Faneuil Hall, the harbour and everything else in between! Once we got near the North End, it was too early to get dinner from one of the amazing Italian restaurants, but we did decide to stop and get a snack from Modern Pastry. Mike's Pastry may be the more famous of the two pastry shops, but I have always loved Modern Pastry more! I got strawberry cheesecake and Ciela got chocolate mousse cake, and we went to sit by a relaxing fountain to eat them. Unfortunately, then it started to rain a little bit, so we headed to the nearest T station and went to the Prudential Center, which is the big mall in Boston. Once the rain had cleared up, we walked around some more and made our way to Chinatown where we grabbed some dinner. Then it was time to head back to my house to pack for the weekend because we were heading to New York City! :D

Boston Common

Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall

delicious snacks from Modern Pastry!

Friday morning, we left the house around 6am to catch an early bus from Boston into Manhattan. Throughout most of the bus ride, it downpoured all through Massachusetts and Connecticut, but once we arrived in New York, the weather had cleared and it was sunny and warm out! We think New York had known we were coming and made sure the weather was good for us :) After checking into our hostel in Williamsburg, we didn't waste any time and headed back into the city to start sightseeing! First we went to the 9/11 Memorial which is so cool. I had been there in January, but it had still been under some construction then and was closer to being finished this time. The main focal points of the memorial are the Freedom Tower and two huge fountains where the two original towers had stood, with the names of all the people who died carved around the edge. It's a really nice memorial and a good way to honour all of the people who died on September 11. After that, we walked by the Hudson River and went over to Wall Street to see the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve.

the 9/11 Memorial

the Freedom Tower

Wall Street (the NYSE is on the left and the Federal Reserve is straight ahead)

Then we went to the nearby TJMaxx, but when we were going to leave, I guess the rain we had experienced in Connecticut made its way to New York, because it was downpouring! We managed to run to a subway station though and took the subway to Grand Central Station and then Chelsea where we made our way to the Chelsea Market for some Thai food. Once the rain had cleared up, we decided to head to the best place to see in New York at night—Times Square! I always love going to Times Square and this time was no exception. It looked so cool and we even saw the Naked Cowboy! (It was a younger, different Naked Cowboy, though, so I wonder if the older one retired!) After walking all through Times Square (and taking lots of selfies), we walked over to Rockefeller Center which is also cool to see at night! After that, we headed back to our hostel to rest up for our full day of exploring Saturday.

Grand Central Station

Times Square!

I have my own company in NYC, no big deal ;)

Rockefeller Center

In addition to being a fun day of sightseeing, Saturday was also Ciela's 22nd birthday! It was so cool to spend her birthday with her. We started off the day by heading to Herald Square and the Upper East Side. We went into a few shops and just enjoyed taking in the atmosphere. We went to the Chrysler Building but realised once we were next to it that maybe viewing it from below may not be the best idea because you can't really see it :) We walked all around the Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Park Avenue area and then went into Central Park. I had been to Central Park before, but I completely forgot just how huge it is! We spent a couple of hours walking around and saw a lake with people boating on it, the John Lennon memorial called Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Even though we spent so much time walking around, I feel like we still didn't even see so many parts of the park! It's so cool how peaceful the park is even though it's right in the middle of a huge bustling city. If I lived in New York, I think I would spend a lot of time in Central Park during the summer. After exploring the park, we went to the Met and sat on the steps to rest and pretend we were in "Gossip Girl" haha. And as our final sightseeing destination of the day, we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry. This was new for me too because I had never taken the ferry, but I've heard it has amazing views of the skyline and the Statue of Liberty. It didn't disappoint and we had timed it perfectly so it was sunset as we were taking the ferry from Staten Island back to Manhattan. It was such a beautiful view and it was awesome seeing the city from a new perspective.

the John Lennon memorial

Sitting on the Met steps pretending to be Blair and Serena ;)

view from the Staten Island Ferry

Then it was time to go out and celebrate Ciela's birthday! She had a friend from London who was also in New York for the weekend, and we went to meet up with her, her husband, and her cousins who were all at a rooftop bar called 230-Fifth on Fifth Avenue. When we got there, there was a HUGE line that probably would have taken two hours to get through, but we were able to skip the entire line and go straight in! Ciela's friend Sandy had a table in the VIP section where they had bottle service. It was so awesome! The view was amazing and it actually felt like we were in a dream! It was such a fun night hanging out on the rooftop overlooking the Empire State Building and Manhattan skyline, and I didn't want it to end! When they eventually made everyone leave at 4am, we had a little bit of trouble navigating the subway back to our hostel since we were both so exhausted. It took us about an hour and a half to get back. We had also been excited to see the Manhattan skyline at night one more time when our train emerged from underground to cross the Williamsburg Bridge, but since we had been lost in the subway for so long, by the time we crossed the bridge, it was already light out!

230-Fifth rooftop bar

the view from 230-Fifth

After a couple hours of sleep, we were woken up to the sound of the guy in the room next to ours loudly Skyping someone, so we packed up and headed out into Manhattan for one last time before we would be taking our bus back to Boston that evening. We went to Washington Square Park to see the big arch. Where Ciela lives in London is right down the street from Marble Arch, so she was excited to see the Manhattan version of the arch! After that, we explored Soho a little bit, and then went to a restaurant called Jack's Wife Frida to meet up with someone for brunch. The girl we were meeting is the daughter of my mom's friend, and we had been next-door neighbours and good friends when we were little kids! She is a year younger than me and goes to school in New York. She brought a friend as well, and it was so cool reuniting in NYC! The food at the restaurant was amazing too! After brunch, we had a little bit of time before going back to the hostel to pick up our suitcases and going to the bus, so we made one last stop at the Flatiron Building, another New York icon that I had never seen before! The weekend in New york was so amazing, and it was the perfect way to celebrate Ciela's birthday!

Washington Square Park

the Empire State Building

poached eggs, pita, avocado, greek yogurt, and chopped veggie salad... yum!

reunited with my childhood friend Catherine

the Flatiron Building

The next two days were more low-key and relaxed, spent on the South Shore. We needed some more relaxing days after our busy weekend in New York! Monday, we slept late and then went to the beach. The beach was a little bit chilly, but it was still fun! We also hit up a few American places that Ciela had never been to before but wanted to experience: Dunkin Donuts and Target! She loved both of these places just like I do! That night, we went back to my house for dinner with my family. My mom had also bought a cake so we could all celebrate Ciela's birthday together! My family loved Ciela too and were sad that she couldn't stay longer.

Ciela's cake and birthday gift

The next morning, Ciela and I went for breakfast at a restaurant down the street from my house that makes the most amazing and huge pancakes! I got banana chocolate chip and Ciela got blueberry. I had been to that restaurant before but had never had the pancakes, which they are known for, and it was definitely a good choice! After breakfast, we went to a couple more American places before I had to take Ciela to the airport: Walmart and also a drive-thru ATM. It's funny how things that seem so normal are so interesting to people from another country! Ciela was amazed by how many drive-thru places there are in the US, since the only drive-thru they have in Holland, she said, is McDonald's. Then it was time to go to the airport and say goodbye, which was really sad, but I was happy that the week had been so great! And I have my flight booked to visit England in October, so I know I will be seeing her again in just over three months—much better than the year and half between this visit and the last time we said goodbye in Lyon. Seeing Ciela made me so grateful to have friends from all over the world, and it made me even more excited for my trip to England in October and being reunited with some more of my international friends :)

banana chocolate chip pancakes! :D

Some exciting things from the past month...

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in forever! I have been extremely busy with the end of the semester and graduation approaching. It's been a never-ending stream of tests, papers, presentations, applying for jobs... so much stuff! But the hardest of it is done now! I just have one more presentation and one exam, and then I'm done with school work forever! (Well at least until I eventually go for my Master's degree :) ) In exactly 10 days, I will be done with my undergraduate degree which seems so crazy to me and is a little nerve-wracking, but I'm also so excited for post-grad life. So much fun stuff has happened since my last post, so I thought I would fill you in a little on everything that's been happening.

The first thing that happened since my last post was that my friend Antonio, who I studied abroad with and who is from Mexico, came to visit Elon, which is where I go to school! It was so cool to see him because he was the first person from abroad that I've seen since returning to the US a year and a half ago (other than the girls I go to school with and my friend Anna who lives in North Carolina). Even though it had been so long since I had seen Antonio, it felt as if no time had passed at all! Seeing Antonio got me so excited to reconnect with more of my friends from my semester abroad. The next person I'll be seeing is my friend Ciela who is visiting me in Boston next month! She is Dutch and lives in London now, and has never been to the US, so it will be an exciting visit!

Then not too long after seeing Antonio, my sister Lexi and I bought tickets to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore in concert in June! We have been huge fans of both bands for years now and have already seen Fall Out Boy in concert twice. They are amazing live, so I know they'll put on a great show. And neither of us has ever seen Paramore live, so seeing them will be great too!

Next was an annual tradition that the students at my school have: Festivus. Festivus is basically a huge mud party that is probably the most fun day of the school year. I've heard from people who have never experienced it that it doesn't seem fun, but I promise you it is! This year was even bigger than ones in past years because it was the 10-year anniversary of the event, and it did not disappoint! Festivus is one thing I'll definitely miss after I graduate.
                     

so muddy!!

so you can get an idea of what Festivus looks like, this is a pic I took at my freshman year Festivus!

Then recently, I booked a flight to London in October!! My sister is going abroad to Bath, England in the fall, and my parents and I had planned to visit her there. Our plan is to fly into London, go to Bath, then London, then Paris, and a day in Lyon. Then my parents will stay a little bit longer in Paris and head to Dublin, and I'll be heading back to London for about another week! When I go back to London, I'll get to see Ciela again as well as my good friends Ben and Josh who I also studied abroad with! London is probably my favourite city in the world, and I am psyched to be back in Lyon, so I am already starting to count down the days to this trip! I don't have my flight back booked yet, and part of me wants to just stay in London for six months until it reaches the point that I would need a visa to be there haha. I know that wouldn't be possible since I will hopefully have a job in Boston at that point, and will definitely not have enough money saved to be living in London quite yet. Hopefully in a few years though!

This past weekend, my business fraternity had its annual end-of-the-year banquet where we have dinner, dance, and the president gives out awards and superlatives to the graduating seniors. My superlative was "Most Likely to be Carded", which was pretty fitting since I feel like I definitely look younger than 22! After banquet, everyone went to someone's apartment to hang out longer. I ended up playing some beer pong and slap cup, and had such a fun night. It was a really good way to bond with the other people in the fraternity one last time before I graduate.

Pre-banquet selfie :)

Sad selfie after I spilled some pasta sauce on my dress haha. It washed out ok though! :)

me with some of my family in the business fraternity! We're called the "Sexy Fam" haha

And most recently, I had my last day of classes as an undergrad student yesterday! It's such a weird feeling to be done with classes, but I definitely feel kind of relieved and like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders since I have been so stressed with school work recently.

my first day of class ever compared to my last day of class!

Next exciting thing that is coming up: graduation! I promise I will be posting much more frequently now that I am almost done with my school work and will be heading home for summer soon. When I get home in a couple weeks, I will also be purchasing a new camera and starting my own YouTube channel! I have actually had lots of ideas for blog posts over the past month, but then decided that they would be better in video form, so I have a huge list of ideas in my phone now and am planning to film lots of videos this summer.

Thanks for reading and I will talk to you again soon!    xxChristie