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saltwaterlungs

Villain, I have DONE thy mother
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Hence I Am Busy

2 min read
As you probably have noticed I've been mega inactive since, like, June. You probably have read all my promises to return and maybe seen my attempts to come back as I spam accounts. I've realized that is probably not possible for me to be as involved as I once was. This year I am taking 5 IB courses (which is pretty much AP so it's intense and "challenging"), and they take up a lot of my time. I also got a job (Hooray!) as a barista at Starbucks (it's super fun and I love every second of it). Weekends are spent relaxing or hanging out with friends to unwind from a busy week or volunteering at the church. I babysit too, and also still am fully involved with the theatre program at my school. Needless to say, my life is packed right now. This is basically a list of excuses now, but I lack the time I once had to read all of your work and reply to all your comments. So, I am taking a step back officially. No fake promises of return this time, no insistences of community involvement, just a note to say I won't be around as much if at all. I love you guys, you mean the world to me and I appreciate all of your support as the years have gone by, but life is crazy, and hence, I am busy. I hope you understand.

Lots of Love,
Hannah
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answers

7 min read
I asked last week for some of your questions, and now I shall answer them! Thank you so much for asking me these questions! I appreciate it so much

xTwitterBug asks:
how was your vacation so far, hannah? : D
It was awesome! The Germans were so kind and genuine and super helpful with my German. My host family were the actual nicest people in the entire world. On my birthday, when I came downstairs, there was cake and presents on the table waiting for me. I almost cried. I made a group of new friends who I hope to continue to remain friends with for the rest of my life, and have been keeping close contact with since the end of the trip. The food was delicious and I miss it dearly, especially the bread and ice cream. Nuremberg was beautiful and charming and wonderful, and I miss being able to walk around that city after school everyday and explore. Berlin was just like Los Angeles, which was strange and comforting. The East Coast was also a trip and literally everything in Maine was adorable. Boston was really cool and I hope to study there maybe. New York was as awesome as it always is. My adventure was killer, to say the least. Thank you for asking!

gliitchlord asks:
when do you find you write most?
In the afternoon. This is when I have the most time and am awake enough to write and edit functionally.

how many color words have you used in poems?
Total? No idea. I try to avoid them if I can and describe how the color feels, looks, smells, tastes, etc. But of course, I use them anyways. My pretentious poet side doesn't always win. I get lazy.

do you have a favorite rhyme sound?
I hate rhyming. There, I said it. I never rhyme in my poems because it almost always sounds corny when I attempt it, and I tend to skip over poems with end rhymes too. I don't even read rhyming poems by the world famous poets. Personal preference, I guess. So, by default I do not have a favorite rhyme sound.

when those years beyond us pore over your archives, which piece will they consider the most representative of society?
I hope adolescenceWe look up into the sky
and see the stars as millions
of possibilities for us to wrap our hands
around and try, picking and choosing
our favorite constellations like apples
in the fruit aisle of a grocery store.
We talk about our dreams
of leaving this town
far behind and far away,
but we don’t talk about how
leaving home means leaving each other
and each constellation we wrap our hands
around propels us into completely different
directions. We want to hold on to each other
as much as we want to let go of this dustbowl,
but we can’t have both,
and that scares us.
We look up into the sky
and see how big the galaxy is
even when we can’t see 90% of it
and we are suddenly aware of how
small we actually are, barely grains of sand,
barely specks of dust, barely here at all.
We stop looking up and look
down at our feet shuffling,
worried and afraid for each other
because we barely sleep and failing
a class means failing high school,
failing to get into the dream college,
fai
. It sums up American teenagers and our feelings towards the education system and each other really well in my opinion.

ilyilaice asks:
How is your love life? 
Heart
Haha, funny story. While I was in Germany, I met a guy. He was with our group, and we hit it off from the very beginning in the airport where I taught him how to play this card game, Egyptian Rat Slap. We hung out a lot the next week, and then he asked me out. And then we got together and spent the next two weeks being the annoying heterosexual couple. Now that we're back in our respective states, we've been maintaining a good long distance relationship through video chat and handwritten letters and texting. And it's still going strong! :love:

wispy-blue asks:
do you have a favourite colour?
Yes, and it is blue.

Aramiro asks:
How did the salt water get in your lungs?
Ah yes, the origin story. I grew up by the beach and it has always been a source of inspiration and majesty and interest to me. The phrase saltwaterlungs comes from my fascination with the ocean and a poem I wrote a bazillion years ago where I say that saltwater runs through my veins and my bloodline is inseparable from the sea. The lungs portion of that came up because I thought it was artistic. (Fun fact: if you add heart or lungs in front of any noun, it will sound poetic. for example, microwave heart.)

GuinevereToGwen asks:
Favourite kind of sky?
Dusk, when the sun has set but it's still lightish out and the sky is this bright blue-green and then all of the streetlights turn on and it is a big landscape of blue and orange and the stars are just starting to come out. Yeah, that's my favorite.

LadyBitterblue asks:
So, what's your favourite word?
My favorite word is a German word, Schmetterling. It means butterfly but sounds super aggressive and I love it.

sylveda asks:
What do you miss the most about Germany? 
Aah, this is hard. I think I miss the relaxedness and no responsibilities and easy going behavior of everyone the most. Almost every day after school my friends and I would go into the city and walk around and eat ice cream. We hung out every day and went home when we felt like it and didn't really have to answer to anyone. My parents were really chill and said, "Okay, the train leaves every hour. Text us when you're coming home." There weren't any worries or any reasons to be worried because it was so safe. It was also super easy to get around because you could walk literally everywhere and the public transport took you everywhere you needed to go that was too far to walk. And in restaurants, they didn't push you out as soon as you finished. You could eat slowly and talk and hang out inside for hours, and when you wanted to go, you would ask to pay, then leave. Germany was really relaxed with rules and stuff, and it was really really nice. The US? Not so much. You can't even have open bottles in the street here. Boo.
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I need to get back in the dA groove. I've got a ton of messages (no complaints there, I'm enjoying it) but I'm still feeling disconnected ya feel? So ask me some questions in the comments. Nothing is off limits. Well, some things are off limits. I have to keep my personal security and privacy in check. But I will answer almost anything, so go crazy! If you're drawing a blank, you can ask about me personally, my life outside of the Internet, my writing, my past/present/future, etc.

So please ask me some questions and I will answer them in a journal!

Lots of love,
Hannah

Skin by SimplySilent
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My trip is over and I'm really sad about it honestly. I met some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of getting to know, made unforgettable memories doing stupid shit in a foreign country, met a boy (I'M AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE), and I honestly hate being back home. I mean, the tacos are good here and I missed my dogs but every part of me wants to be back in Germany with my new friends eating food and hanging out and walking around the city that I've come to know and love. As much as I'd like to say I'm glad to be home, I can't because it simply isn't the truth.

So, sorry to bum you out. This took a different direction than I wanted it to. I mean I just wanted to tell you guys that I am back home and have a shit ton of messages to go through, but I guess I needed to talk about it with someone... or the entire Internet.

Lots of Love,
Hannah

Skin by SimplySilent
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In Germany Now!

9 min read
Hey guys! I know I said I would be on hiatus, but I have computer access now so I thought I would give you a quick update.

I finished the first leg of my journey, the American portion. Maine was beautiful and lovely, Boston was exciting and historical, and NYC was the perfect dreamland it always is, in summary. I'm now in my room at my host family's house, and i wanted to tell you about my past few days!

So, I finally got to meet up with my group for the Germany trip in the Newark International Airport. It was exciting and really surreal to finally be there with my ticket and the people I would be hanging out with for the next few weeks. So, overview of the airport adventures: playing cards and chess, long plane ride, chatting with the people in my row, strangely smelly plane blankets, and having a hard time sleeping because you know planes. Fast forward ten hours and then we were in Nürnberg! All of us were exhausted but determined to stay up so we could adjust to the timezone because there is nothing worse than jet lag for five days. I got to meet my host sister in person and her mother at the airport, and they are both so kind and friendly and understanding of my sleepy German. I met the rest of the family at the house, and all were just as nice. (Also, everything is so green in Germany! Big beautiful lawns, giant gardens, tons of trees. It look absolutely nothing like Southern California. My first day in Germany was mostly sleeping and trying to adjust to the schedule here. Nothing too exciting.

The next day was far more eventful! I went to school with my host sister on the bus. There's lots of bikes in Germany, as everyone said there would be, and it's a lot safer for them here. In California not so much because there's very little places to park your bike and the bike lanes are small and scary to drive in because the cars are so much bigger and faster than you, nor do they care about bikers at all. So, at school, my group and I met up in this classroom which had the Simpsons painted on the back of the wall. Apparently the Germans love the Simpsons???? We took a photo in front of it because we thought it was so funny. Then we met the director of the school who told us about its history. He had a thick Bavarian accent, so it was a little had dot understand, but I picked up most of it. The school was founded in 1556! Older than America is! Then we went to the library, where they had books just as old! The librarian was kind enough to let us hold and touch those super old books, and we all were geeking out really hard about the hand drawn pictures and hand written music notes and the SMELL OOH LORD JESUS THE SMELL OF THOSE BOOKS WAS HEAVENLY I SWER IT FELT JUST LIKE HOGWARTS! Still geeking out a bit as you can tell. Then we went to the next few classes with our Germans. Honestly I'm not too stoked about having to attend school, but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. After school, my sister and me, as well as another guy whose German was sick that day, went into the city to look at the churches and stuff. It was really beautiful and interesting, because the buildings were so old and gosh it was just exciting to be in a different country with different people doing different things than I do. The church was called the Frauenkirche for those interested in looking it up. We climbed up this hill that overlooked the city, and we ate Bratwurst am Brotchen, which is bratwurst stuffed in a roll. It tasted super good because German bread and sausage are amazing, this is a fact.

Later, we went to a soccer game where Tessa's friends were hanging out to watch and they all were really cool and friendly and interested in where I come from and what it's like there. They were impressed by my German, which was really nice because talking to native speakers is always scary for me. I couldn't really understand the game because I dot watch or play soccer, but it was fun to just hang out and pretend I was a German for a bit!  So, after the game, we all went to what they call a Fest, which is kind of like a street fair but with more bands and small stages for concerts in the different parts, and tons of different foods. They have them every weekend in different locations, so that's cool.Her friends were all really cool, making sure I was in the middle of the group so I didn't get lost and talking with me in German about America and my trip so far. Good people, all of them. Tessa and I split a beer, which is super humungous there. We sat down on a bench in the center of the Fest, and the boys all had a smoke. Nearly everyone smokes in Germany, which was surprising to me because of all the anti-smoking ads I see everyday back home. Overall, yesterday was a super fantastic day with lots of firsts: irst Fest, first Bratwurst am Brotchen, first Spaghettieis (which is ice cream made to look like spaghetti), first soccer game. A really great day, and I think there are going to be many more to come!

(It was surprisingly difficult to switch over from German to English to write this! Maybe I am near fluency after all!)

Liebe Grüsse,
Hannah

Skin by SimplySilent
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Featured

Hence I Am Busy by saltwaterlungs, journal

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