Work work work and finally 20!

I miss my free times so much! I have been working for almost a month now and it is making me sick already, literally. I go home, browse the internet, and in the middle of chatting with my friends, I just pass out. There are times when I have NO appetite and I always have a huge headache.That has been my life in the past month. Although during my days off, I actually go out, have fun and sleep sleep sleep like a dog. I still feel sick when I think of the work next day.

Work is ok. Not too bad, not too good... just in the middle. I love it and hate it sometimes. I love the work because it's my dream unit but I hate it because I am new. I am not used to the unit, the people, the workload and it gets overwhelming sometimes. I am usually a good multitasker and I work fast, but learning while doing the work is challenging. Plus, there are moments when I just have a mental block! Sometimes I get really tired and then I space out especially during reports and when someone is talking to me, haha. I look dumb, but it is funny though. I just laugh at myself inside.

Uuuggghhhh... LOL I just want to go on a vacation again.

Anyway, I cannot complain much because a lot of good things have happened this year. I graduated college, went skydiving, passed my NCLEX, went to Europe, and got a job... all before I turned 20. A memorable end to my teenage years. Now, I am starting another decade of my life. Turning 20 feels great though. I used to abhor not being a teen, but I realized we all have to grow up at one point.

I just feel like being 20 means more responsibility and man-ing up. I just need to get used to being an adult and overcome any negative mentality.

Sorry this is a rant post, lol.

▶ ▷ Knit-a-Square!

My friend who is from South Africa got me involved in Knit-a-Square (KAS). It is basically a community of people knitting for charity. We knit squares, hence the name, and ship them to South Africa where the other KAS volunteers knit the squares into blankets! The blankets are then given to kids with HIV to keep them warm. KAS hits two birds in one stone by raising awareness of the kids in need and helping them out through knitting squares.

I thought it was really cool especially because I did not know how to knit before I joined this charity work. It is easier to get into the program when you say "Hey, lets knit a square" than "We have to knit a blanket."  Blankets are also considered "taxable" items because they are categorized as a commodity while squares, well, are just squares. Thus, the cost of shipping squares is cheaper than sending blankets, as what my friend have told me.

So, this was a picture of me knitting my first square during the first get-together.

This was us a month later. And yes! I finally finished a square!

It's hiding in the piles of knitted squares, but if you spot the purple square, that is my work, haha. Yay!

My friends in nursing school. I am happy that we still get to see each other after graduating.

I always have fun going to KAS get-togethers. We decided the recent one to be a tea party/KAS get together so I got to drink all kinds of tea. It is not one of those boring meetings where we knit squares for 5 hours like robots. I met new people and had conversations with them. Plus, I feel accomplished because I finally knitted a square! :)

For more information, visit Knit-a Square's website.

▶ ▷ Fall haul!

I started my orientation classes for my job this week. I realized how my body is not used to waking up at 6AM anymore because I can feel the impending decline in my immune function. I literally feel sick just after three days of going to orientation. Orientation is not that bad though. It is just really boring and draining.

Anyway, back to my quick FALL HAUL post while waiting for the IOS5 update to download on my itouch!

I have been a shopaholic these past few days so here are just some of my fall favorites :)

Blouses from H&M, Forever21 and believe it or not Old Navy and Ebay!

Lately, I am into chiffon, collared blouses, and long-sleeves/ 3/4 sleeves smocked at the cuff. I am not sure how to describe this style, but it is more sophisticated, 70s inspired, professional look than the usual get-up I had. I think entering the "real world" as a work lady corrupted my mind into thinking I should dress-up more adult like. Plus, I need to wear business casual during orientation week. I still look very young though, haha, and I will be only wearing scrubs to work.

So, here I am trying to model my own clothes, lol. This is one of my favorite top from Old Navy, which I wore yesterday at orientation. I wore flats (left) because I had blisters and I am still not used to wearing heels.

Old Navy top, H&M pants, shoes

Excuse the background and my sweaty self, LOL. Thanks!

▶ ▷ Korean Food Trip!

Just a little trip to H-mart with my nursing buddies!

Bulgogi (top) and Gal Bi Tang (bottom). It was soo spicy that I  felt like I could breathe fire.

And the Phillies lost that night! :(

▶ ▷ Eurotrip: GREECE! - Part 2 (picture-heavy)

Part 2 of our Greece vacation will be on Ioannina :D

What's Ioannina and where is that?

Ioannina is a city in  the northern part of Greece. It is not a common tourist place compared to Athens, but many tourists also visit the place and its surrounding cities like Preveza and Parga, which you will see if you continue reading :)

We rode a plane to Ioannina, which took two hours. Greece's coastline is so beautiful.

A week-long adventure in Ioannina will be difficult to sum up in one post, but I'll try. We did sooo much! So, I'm going to start on the place we stayed at.

My mom's friend was so kind to invite us to her condo (TOP FLOOR!) and we had such a good time. Cafes were everywhere by the way! And in Greece, life starts at night. They have siesta in the afternoon wherein stores, banks etc etc are all closed. Not many people are in the cafes until dark. Yes, pretty interesting!

Cafes across the street and beside the building.

The reason behind it is it gets really hot in the afternoon that there is nothing to do but to sleep. Greeks are pretty relaxed and laid back unlike the workaholic nature of the Americans. It was a very interesting contrast.

/sigh I wish I took a picture of the view during the day but this is basically the view up close. Mountains and lake *-* It's so dreamy!

Oops I actually did take a picture.. What a nice vacation house *.*

Of course, we ate at one of the restaurants lined up at the lake.

Their water comes in nice bottles!

I guess I'll just spam with more pictures in Ioannina.

Wax Museum

Look at the background. That's Ali Pasha, the ruler of the Ottoman empire, beheaded. 

Perama Cave is 1.5 MILLION years old. It was beautiful and my first time entering a cave, lol. Sadly, pictures were not allowed because the flash and lights from the camera can hinder the formation of the stalagmites and stalactites. So, here's a picture of us out of the cave haha.

Riding a boat to another island!

This is the actual place where Ali Pasha was beheaded (on those steps).

A little about history.. The Turks conquered the Greeks for more than 300 years! So for a long time, Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish Empire) until the Greeks triumphed and the ruler, Ali Pasha, was killed . Up to this day, the Greeks are still proud that they retained their own culture. Heh, I would! It is really amazing how their culture was not completely taken over and influenced by the Turks for all those years!

Turkish mosque 

A cafe near the mosque. Students mostly hung out in this place. By the way, Greeks love talking about politics... just something I noticed.

Sorry! A really picture-heavy post.. and there's more.. ahh! Pictures from the beach, Preveza and Parga!

View from the backyard of a house. Can I live here?!?

YAY BEACH! I could not wait to dip in that clear, blue water and it is right in front of our hotel!!

Hands down.. best Greek restaurant I have been!! The resto is only  managed by a small family, but the foods were so awesome!

Moussaka (I call it Greek lasagna). It is soooo goooood!!!

PREVEZA!

Boardwalk. There were a lot of yacht parked from different countries especially from Italy. 

Haha, we were the ONLY Asians in town. I felt like a celeb because everyone literally stared at us, lol.

Awesome service and the crew were all nice. This hotel is right at the beach too!!

PARGA!!

I say more than half of the people here were tourists. So yeah, they didn't stare at us much. We were still the oddballs because all of them were Europeans, lol.

Ending it with a gyro... NOT. Save the best for last so here we were having lunch on top of a mountain. Seriously, it was just amazing.

Considering the location, ambiance and service, the prices were really not bad. I thought it would be more expensive than this!!

I think this was the "Stuffed Pork Tenderloin"

"Trilogy"

OMSGDHJAHDYGU THE VIEW!

Haha, I am gonna end  with some famous Greek sweets. Delicious!!

Yay! This ends everything about Greece. Definitely coming back to this awesome country.

I think I will also blog on our vacation in Paris and London. I have videos of the Eiffel Tower at night, which I haven't edited yet! Hope I don't get lazy in the next days, haha.

Thank you for reading!