Life update.

I've decided to try and restart my blog again! I've been so busy these past few months. A few important things:

1. I never did get a job.
2. Also, no Miami this summer. Ha!
   
3. I am going to UCLA this fall! I will actually be taking the last summer session there, just prior to the start of the fall quarter [September 23], so I actually start there a bit earlier than some of my friends... August 2. I will be living on campus, in a dorm, and I am SO excited to finally be moving out! It's really beyond unbelievable :)
4. I went to Iran! I just got back last Thursday, the 15th of July, and I'm STILL not finished uploading all the pictures onto Facebook... probably because I have over 2000! The trip was actually really helpful for me, because we flew with Alitalia and had an 8-hour layover in Fiumicino [the airport in Rome] on the way there! I got to practice some Italian [though admittedly not very well] and I picked up a few of the in-flight airline magazines on the way back. I'm so excited to be studying a semester there next fall [if all goes according to plan!]. Flying over much of Europe and seeing everything from an aerial view let my imagination run wild during those 11 long hours from Los Angeles to Rome, and it made my strong ambition to someday live in Europe and ideally see every country there più forte, as they would say in Italia :) But enough about Italy and Europe: Iran was even more amazing than I could have dreamed. The family I have there are all so amazing... I even picked up two brothers [my cousins... my mother's sister's two sons. The older one is Sepehr, who had just turned 13 a few days before we arrived, and the younger one is Soheil, who is 9]. I can't believe I only had a month there with them. I still feel as though I can just walk a few blocks and be in their house any time I want to see them. I wish they all could come live here [or maybe we could all live together in Europe ;)] because they truly are better than any of my family here, and I miss them so much... but as you know it's almost impossible for Iranians to get a visa to immigrate to the US. We try to Skype with them every day, but it's really difficult for them to have internet there because of the situation. For now, I suppose we just have to be patient.
5. Romanian music still rules my life... completely! I honestly can't get enough of it. A funny story: one day in Iran, I was in the bedroom ironing one of my shirts, and my cousins were watching one of the music channels on satellite. I think it was an Italian channel, so they were obviously playing a lot of European music. From the room, I heard the first few seconds of the new Akcent song Love Stoned, and I was so ecstatic that I screamed at the top of my lungs, dropped my shirt and nearly the iron too, and ran into the room to watch the video, even though I've seen it almost a million times! My family had no idea what was going on for the first few seconds, and they thought I had seen a bug... since I SOMEHOW picked up the reputation of being deathly afraid of bugs and insects.
6. I finally got a Lookbook, so now you'll be seeing a lot more fashion-related posts! I've already put up a few outfits, but never really took the time to make blog posts for them. I suppose I should do those soon.
7. I've been spending almost the entire last few days browsing through hundreds of articles on Wikipedia. Most of the articles were various places of the world I would like to visit... or places I visited in Iran and wanted to know more about. Also "researched": various cultures and cuisines, movies, books, actors and actresses, etc.
   
8. A minor note, I've been picking up cooking and baking. So far I've made quiche lorraine, garlic basil pesto, nutella swirl cupcakes, and nutella olive oil cupcakes... all from scratch! Today I hope to make some sweet tea cupcakes to use up some of the flour... since we seem to be getting the first batch of the summer ant rush -___-

That's all I can think of so far! I've taken quite a few outfit pictures these past few days, so I'll be putting those up shortly. Ciao!

The Skins effect.

It's quite strange really: during the rolling credits at the end of every episode of Skins, I get the most bittersweet feeling. Mostly sweet because I love Skins so much and it's my favourite show, but in a way it's also bitter, not only for that very same reason [I'll explain later] but also because each episode reminds me just how much I long to be living in the UK right now... and not only that, but I wish I could have grown up there, and experienced the culture of the UK from birth. I envy the English a lot, for reasons I can't really explain. I have no idea why I'm drawn to that culture so much, I just am. Every time I talk to my parents about my wishes, they always scoff at me, saying "How can you be so sure you'd be happy there? How could you possibly be in love with a country you've never visited?" This response always frustrates me, because I obviously can't give them a tangible, legitimate response, and so they can never take me seriously. But I know that the first chance I get, I'm relocating.

And as for the other part of my bitterness... I'm sure most of us have experienced that anyway. When you love a series [or film or book, even] just so much, you wish you were in it... not necessarily to be one of the characters, although that sometimes comes up too, but more of a participant in the action, culture, plot.... basically just to LIVE the sort of life that our favourite characters live. I've felt it with Harry Potter too [as I know millions have :)] and Gossip Girl, and Friends, and even... Twilight. [Yes I admit, I used to be a fangirl, before the book was soooooo popular... not that that wasn't the most pretentious sounding thing ever but it is true! It's mainly the rabid tween fangirl crowd that really turned me off to the series... not to mention the numerous faults that have been pointed out... I'm really not going to get into this now.]

Back to Skins, I'm really enjoying Series 4 so far. Not only are the music and fashion ace, but I think everyone is really growing into their character, and the plots are just digging into each character, showing all the complex facets, flaws, and virtues of every person. I admit that while the First Generation were my favourite of all time [not just because they were first], I will be sad to see these kids leave... and I really have gotten quite attached to them. Sigh... again with the bittersweet feelings.

Cheers.

[PS: If you've got absolutely no idea what I'm on about... check this out: http://www.e4.com/video/bsT92GRq7Lu6v6G5QKRjl1/play.e4]