Cliffs of Dun Aengus

If you're visiting Ireland, you have to go to the Aran Islands. I stayed with my friend, and she insisted we take a trip to Inishmore, one of three islands in the bay of Galway. She told me everything you imagine about Ireland--misty winds, acres of pure greenness, rainbows-- was all there. Sure enough, rainbows were more or less commonplace on this little island, there was green for miles around, and I was more or less some degrees of damp by the time we loaded the ferry to go back to Galway. 

While there, we did the most typical touristy thing and saw Dun Aengus, this fortress from the prehistoric times. It sits at the top of these cliffs, and from there is where I shot this picture on my phone. I can see why Irish literature is so rich....

{Book Club} The Book Everyone Should Read...

...especially you ladies.

HALF THE SKY
Turning Oppression in Opportunity for Women Worldwide

by Sheryl W. Dunn, Nichalos D. Kristof

Everyone at my college who takes Intro to World Politics is required to read Half the Sky. And just about everyone I have talked to discovers they like it. I read it for the same reason, and I fell in love. It's not just a diatribe about the pitfalls of gender inequality worldwide. It does not just pinpoint one specific issue. It doesn't demonize men, and it is not an annoyingly feminist book by any means. Neither is it a boring or difficult read.

No, this book is the start of an answer. It describes issues women worldwide face--discrimination, maternal health (or lack-thereof), rape, genital mutilation, sexual slavery, and human sex trafficking. The list goes on. It also highlights success stories (and discusses the stories that are not so successful) and portrays these strong women who emerged from their hell to be future leaders. It shows you how women can change the world. It's so ridiculously inspirational, you'll probably at least tear up at one point. I did, and I shed not a single tear watching Up or The Notebook. 

So if you want to figure out a way to get involved, or even just be better educated about women, pick up this book NOW. Seriously, everyone should read it.

By the way, if you really are that lazy about reading or seriously don't have the time, there is a documentary out and about. Grab some popcorn and rent it for an evening!

[Sorority Stuff] How to Paint a Lilly Print

Okay, so I know there's all this stuff out there about modge-podging Lilly Pulitzer prints to letters and plaques instead of going through the pain of painting out often complicated designs, but I kind of have a soft spot for the old fashioned way. And, I know this is going to sound completely crazy, but I like the feel of a painted letter rather than a modge-podged one. I know, I'm weird.

Anyhow, after painting a few Lilly-inspired prints, I think I've got how to paint a Lilly print down to a pretty simple science. For the most part. I stay far away from more complicated designs and stick to the patterns more than the scenery.

Here are some quick things to keep in mind:

• It's okay if it's not perfect. Seriously, coming from a perfectionist, you don't need to copy it detail for detail. Only the original artist is capable of doing that, and even then they might not be able to.
• Keep it simple! I got better at them the more I painted prints, so stick to the simpler ones first before venturing to more detailed, complicated designs.
• If all else fails, use a lot of white paint to cover it up and start over or come up with a new design!  

H O W  T O  P A I N T  A  L I L L Y  P R I N T:

Cherry Picker Print

1. Pick a Lilly print! You can choose it for whatever your reason. In this case, these were the colors I happened to have on hand!

2. Paint the whole surface in the background color. Of course, I forgot to photograph this! I painted my S in a navy blue.

3. Roughly sketch the outline of the print with pencil. As you can see my sketching is far from perfect and veryyyyyy simple. I stuck with the pattern, but I didn't try to do a carbon copy.

4. Fill the outlines in with white paint. Again, doesn't really have to be perfect, but follow the lines with more detail. I used both a little bitter brush for the bigger spots and  then went over it again with a small, finer brush to get the curves and such. Make sure you can cover the pencil lines so it's not sticking out in the end.

5. Fill it in with paint! So, for this print I actually used a turqoise-y color, a darker pink, and I mixed it with white to create a lighter pink. Then using the print for basis, I began filling it in. You'll notice my print isn't perfect, but it still gives the general feel. For really fine details, like the dark pink outlines for the flowers, I actually used a mechanical pencil and dipped it into paint.

6. Make sure you put a covering over top after it dries! Modge-Podge gives a nice finish, but I'm cheap, so I've only used Elmer's glue mixed with water. That's another tutorial I'll get to in the future!

There you have it! A quick little tutorial about how to paint a Lilly print. If you have any you'd like to share, let me know!

Korea: The Basics

So, Korea holds a very special place in my heart (I tend to be drawn to countries recently torn apart by civil war, -cough- Spain -cough-). It was the first place I had ever traveled to by myself, a fact that never really freaked me out as much as it should have. I studied at Yonsei University two summers ago in 2011 after helping start a program at my college to join with Yonsei's Summer Program. I'll admit, I was a little lazier with experiencing the culture than I should have been. Sure I lived in the heart of Seoul, and I did a lot of things that were new to me, but I really didn't take advantage of my time as much as I could have. I was more into the contemporary pop culture and less about what makes Korea, Korea. Nowadays, I'm playing catch-up, but that's another story. One of the cultural things I did do, however, was visit the War Memorial of Korea. It's a museum commemorating all the wars Korea has been through, but obviously there was a huge emphasis on its most famous one.

With all that is in the news today, combined with my recent view of Taeguki, and my burning to desire to return to this country, I feel like I have a duty (not to mention I want to talk about this) to shed some light on the situation to people who may not have a clue. So I'm starting a series of posts to quickly inform (that is, if you skip through my two paragraphs of rambling) you crafters, girly-girls, etc of a very important issue that has giant effects on a global scale. You should be a little worried about Korea because this country is one of the most unstable in our world today. It is a reminder of the past that generations before us lived through. A world where ideologies took center stage, and people fought for a belief alone. The Spanish Civil War. The Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union. Hitler. World War One. World War Two. The things that defined the twentieth century continue through this peninsula. Yes, that's oversimplifying it a bit. Obviously, other countries (-cough- China and Taiwan -cough-) have their issues, but none on such a scale as the DPRK and ROK. Especially now, what with a new DPRK dictator and the recent threats that have been coming from them, not to mention the thousands of North Koreans who are dying of starvation, largely forgotten behind these ideologies.

Basically, TL;DR I'm going to inform you-all about the Korean conflict as quickly as I can so you're going to have an idea of what's going on there and why it's important.

T H E  B A S I C S

North Korea: 

• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
• Communist
• Leader: Kim Jong Un

South Korea: 

• Republic of Korea (ROK)
• Democratic
• Leader: President Park Geun Hye

The Korean War: 25 June 1950- 27 July 1953

• Started after the defeat of Japan, which had controlled Korea previously, in WWII. The USSR took control of the north and the US took control of the south. It was divided at the 39th parallel. (Yes, this should sound eerily familiar. It's how Germany and the rest of Europe turned out for a while!)
• Began when the north attacked the south.
• China was/is an ally to the north, the US and UN were/are allies to the south.

The Armistice: A peace agreement to end fighting between both sides. It is not a treaty, so technically Korea has been at civil war for almost sixty-three years. It was signed on July 1953.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ): Located at the 38th parallel, is 155 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.

Recent Events:

• North Korea originally ended the truce in 2003 via its news agency, though it appears to have resumed it.
• Ended it again in 2009 because South Korea was joining the US anti-proliferation plan
• In 2010, North Korea bombed Yeongpyeong Island.
• Which means, yes, I somehow managed to still make my parents let me go to Seoul the following summer.
• In 2011, Kim Jong Un assumed leadership over Korea after his father, Kim Jong Il died.
• Just recently the DPRK ended its truce with the south again.

Hope this gives you a brief overview of the conflict. I'll have more posts in the future. Let's just say, I didn't become an International Studies Major because I overall don't enjoy politics or tests or a lot of what goes on in classes necessary for IS degrees, but when it comes to the Korean Conflict and anything to do with human trafficking, I sometimes wish I did.

You can read more here.

Can We Talk About Glee?

So I'm sitting here on spring break watching the episodes I haven't seen yet, and... What the hell is going on?!

I'm pretty sure good, ole Ryan Murphy is doing the usual. He's bored of this show, especially with how amazing I hear "American Horror Story" is (I'm too scared to ever actually watch it. I don't do well with horror). So, what does he do? He must tell the writers to do whatever they want to see, and then with a few thinly sarcastic quips, boom. Suddenly Tina is a bitter future cat lady, even though she had the amazingggggggggg Mike Chang to call her own for a long time. And Rachel is Lea Michele after a makeover episode? And Puck is suddenly that creepy college kid? And the splitting between New York and Lima is not working. I get it, the older kids would have been sorely missed, but you need to focus on one or the other. It's too jarring otherwise.

Over all, though, the continuity of this show annoys the living hell out of me. You can't get away with mixing things up and forgetting old stories like you could in the old days. IMDB lets people know ASAP that you did! Are we going to forget that pretty much all the Glee kids have hooked up? One quip from Emma about the incest is not enough, Murph. Not. E. Nough. Also, since when did Blaine go from the dapper private school fellow to the whiny, Kurt-obsessed kid he is now?

Okay, with that said. I'm still way into these musical numbers, especially when classics or Broadway tunes are done. The way Schuster proposed, while totally unrealistic and impossible to do in reality (you can't sing and synchronize swim) is on my replay list on Youtube. And I will say when Glee is good, it is good. Rachel choking last season actually made me cry, even though all the episodes leading up to it were making me bored to tears.

Thoughts? I know most of my friends have long since jumped off this ship. For some reason I keep watching. I think it's like that whole train crashing analogy...

Image Source

Obligatory About Me Post

Hello! My name is Sam, my pen name is Samantha Elisabeth (the "g" in the url stands for my last name!), and this is my 19394809x attempt at blogging. I know, I'm that blogger. Don't worry. This time around, I'm more worried about documenting my times in college before they slip away and less about making this blog a "thing" or how many comments or followers or whatever made me get annoyed and bored before. So, here it goes. A few pointers about me!

• I am a contradictory person. I also change my mind so often, even I can't always keep up.
• I love, love, loveeee traveling. I recently spent my fall semester in Madrid, Spain, and I basically bounced all over the map. You can see that documented in this blog, here.
• I also really adore cats. Like I just made up a Broadway-esque song in the shower about why I'm a cat lady. I seriously wish I was kidding. I don't have one, but I wish I had many...
• I can speak Spanish. Es verdad! Mis clases en Madrid eran en español, y lo he estudiado para siempre. I used to attempt to translate my blog posts.
• I can also speak very, very little Korean, but I can read it! I just don't know what I'm saying most of the time...
• I'm a girly-girl to the core. Pink is my favorite color, and even though that fact embarrassed me in second grade, I'll stick by it 'til the end.
• I do like working out. I've been a competitive swimmer since I was a tiny little thang, and I'm on this gym kick right now in the off season. My goal is to be able to run a 5K straight!!
• I secretly think Leonardo DiCaprio and I are soul mates. Not necessarily in the romantic sort of way (though, you know, I wouldn't be opposed...), but in the way that Lena from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants thought she and her grandfather were. These are the things I think about at night!
• I own a shirt that says Sam-I-Am, and if you don't understand why that's funny, we can't be friends.
• Did I mention I'm an English major? 
• Did I also mention that I'm in a sorority? 
• Oh, and I seriously love hipster things. I had these amazing hipster glasses in Spain, and I left them there by mistake! 
• I also wish I owned the grumpy cat. She's too precious for words.

Okay, that's it for now! I'll probably come back to this list. I know it's not very concrete, just random facts about me. You'll discover more, I suppose, as we go on!