#boluineurope: London

Oh my dear London town. Another city to cross off my list. I've been fascinated with the Brits since childhood. I've always wanted to have a British accent. I love tea and tea cakes. I've always had a crush with Prince William when I was a child and daydream about what it is like to be a Royal.

Or should I just asked Lorde? I will never be a royal, but you can call me Queen B.

I took the balls to extend my 8 hours London layover to a whole day layover and even though I had to spend a little more for my ticket, it was worth it. My friend from Jr High, Ket, came down from Leeds, to accompany me to see LDNtown. She was heading back to Indonesia anyways and never got the chance to actually enjoy London, so it was a Win-Win situation. We took the Big Bus Tour and did some Hop On & Hop Offs. We stayed at this dingy motel by Paddington Square station which was ideal because it has the express train to Heathrow.

London is such a big town. No way you can walked around LDN in a day. I totally recommend doing the Big Bus Tour if you are really short on time. If you don't hop off, the tour takes about 3-4 hours, depending on traffic. It takes you to the main spots of London. If weather permits, I recommend the open top deck. Really perfect for pictures. It costs about $30. Not bad. Plus no blisters to your feet :)
Oh dear London, you know I will be back!
toodles, Rima

#boluineurope: Ertsfeld & Geneva

As you may know from my last #boluineurope post, we drove to Milan. So of course, we drove back to Switzerland, to Zurich to be exact to drop off the car and take the train back to Neuchatel. Well heading back to Le Suisse was kinda hell because we had to pass the long tunnel, Gotthard Road Tunnel. Mind you, they kinda limited the car entries to the tunnel so there was major traffic... #annoyed. Once we passed the traffic and held our breath for 16+km (jk. we would be dead), we were finally in the German side of Swiss.

We see mountains covered with some mean looking clouds (it was kinda rainy) and there was a river flowing next to the road. We were like, "Uh, we should stop and take pictures. You don't see this much green in California." Plus I had to pee. So we stopped at the next rest stop, peed (there were no toilet paper *sad&gross*) and hopped over the fence and admire the beauty of nature.

Did you know... those rocks were filled with slugs/leeches? I didn't realized until we were heading back. I told Rob, "Hey, why are there big ass dog poops everywhere?" because they literally looked like big dog poo scattered all over... Until I realized they were moving. I screamed and started to run away and made hurling noises. GROSS. And no I didn't take pictures of those... Argh.

Anyways, after that mini-heart attack, we headed to Zurich, barely making the last train to Neuchatel and made it safely to the hotel. Then we split the following morning :( He had to stay for another week to finish work while I had to head on back. I hopped on the train to Geneva and decided to spend my last day in Swiss there.

Swiss is really a pretty country. Lots of nature to admire and lots of history. Too bad it's SOOOO DAMN EXPENSIVE.
But I don't mind going back. Matter of fact, the Pillow is heading back in November. But too bad I can't go. Boo. 
Swiss, thanks. Your chocolates were awesome.
Rima

Letting my inner emo girl out...

NEXT WEEKEND!

Like I really wanna have my emo bangs back and dye my hair red.

Ok, a little kidding on the emo bangs.

Apparently dear old Rima forgot (the joy of almost 30) that she purchased tickets to see Paramore (with guests Hellogoodbye *squeals*) for next week. I really thought it was for November -_-

Me & Paramore go way back. It was my tune during nursing school. Hayley Williams was my study buddy in between learning how to put in foley catheters and memorizing body parts for giving intramuscular shots. It was during a Paramore show in the heat of 103F degrees at a Vans Warped Tour concert, where I was by myself and got pinned between sweaty men... That I almost past out and had to tap on of these emo boys to lift me up... and crowed surfing I did... to the front of the stage. I seriously thought I was gonna be suffocated to death. Poor little me. I survived though. I can say that I did crowd surf one time in my life.

I got advanced tickets (#fangirl) and it's for the GA floor. And I got 2 tickets. And I'm taking the Pillow with me... Who has no clue on who Paramore is and doesn't know any-single-song-from-them. Poor thing. He's so gonna be deaf by the end of the night. I know he probably would rather be working instead (workaholic much?)

Can you imagined that I wanted to do my hair like this before?

True Story.

My inner hipster/emo kid rejoices... (get's hair chalk)

xoxo,
Rima

I'm Going Back to the Start...

(cue "The Scientist" by Coldplay)

First of all, since it's the first week of October, Happy ER Nurse's Week.

Anyways, some of you may not know that my background of nursing is actually Emergency Medicine. I was in the ER for 3 years before I transferred my ass to Interventional Radiology aka IR aka Medical Imaging aka "Er, what kind of nursing is that?!!!?!" says everyone that asked. My 2+ years in IR were splendid... From doing crazy emergency cases (Man vs Cow. May he RIP) to getting awesome lunches from Reps (from BJ's to Panera to Famous Dave's). We are a tight-knit family (6 Nurses, 4 Radiology Technologist & 4 IR Doctors), so it's always a love-hate situation everyday at work. My Monday-Friday, with holidays and weekends off (except when being on-call) are awesome. We work closely with the other division of the Medical Imaging department and we all watch each other's back.

Yet this awesomeness that I have experienced will come to an end :( It's like closing a chapter.

I am going back to my roots. I will be serving back as an Emergency Nurse in November (cue the bedpans & butt cleaning. #argh). Why? Because of baking school. I can have a flexible schedule (I make my own schedule) while I'm learning something that is the opposite of nursing, baking (I can get your sugar high... better bring your insulin! #harharhar)

I will miss working with my IR team. A lot. Gonna miss the free lunches (duh free food). But it is nice to go back and work with some of my old co-workers and doctors... and get my old skills back in order. Plus, no call :)

Good thing IR is right next door to the ER.

I guess you can't have everything. I would love to stay in IR, but I can't have a flexible schedule.

Oh life.

- Rima