La Vie Bohème

I apologize if you can't see the video in America. For the full effect, go watch La Vie Boheme from RENT on YouTube before reading this. It will make more sense that way.

La Vie Bohème - RENT the Musical: An Elaboration on the lyrics

• To days of inspiration, playing hooky, making something out of nothing
• From the first time I heard this song, it inspired me. I was a nervous little 14 year old girl being thrown into a large high school when I found RENT, but when I had this song going through my head, I gained a pep in my step. It reminds me to be brave, and it reminds me that I have nothing to lose by being who I am. So here in Ireland, I am 20 years old, and I continue to find inspiration in this song through these lyrics. But I find the lyrics change meanings for me as I go from place to place in life, so I guess this is the Irish version!
• Playing hooky? Well... I may be playing hooky next week to go to SWEDEN. I booked spur of the moment plane tickets to visit Stockholm, Sweden from Thursday, Oct. 10th to Sunday, the 13th! I am uber excited about it, and so are the other two Americans going with me!
• Making something out of nothing: My nothing was sitting on the couch at home, which I have turned into something by getting to Ireland!
• The need to express, to communicate
• This lyric has never been more real for me than here. I can't go one day without hearing someone speak German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, or Irish. The miracle to me is that even when English fails us, we express to communicate. Hand gestures and eyebrows have a whole language of their own. I expected a lot of things out of Ireland, but I must say, this language diversity has been one of the best buried treasures I did not expect to find.
• To going against the grain, going insane, going mad
• Going against the grain, you say? Yes, I am, and I am enjoying every second of living in a foreign country. Every second of being a woman in the field of science who also has a political opinion. Every second of having short hair. And every second of being single.
• Going insane? Going mad? Yeah...maybe. But I enjoy that, too. It's stress free.
• To loving tension, no pension, to more than one dimension
• Tension keeps things interesting; it keeps you on your toes. Ireland is having this very strange effect on me, because they are so relaxed about absolutely EVERYTHING here. I told my professors I wouldn't be here in January for exams? No problem. You're late for the train? No big deal, it's always 5 minutes late, too. 
• To more than one dimension: Europe in general is a different dimension. 
• To starving for attention, hating convention, hating pretension

• I think we are all starving for attention; it's just one of those basic needs we have. 
• Hating convention and pretension? Yeah, we should get rid of those. One thing I have found with the internationals is that convention and pretension have no place among us. We came here knowing we were different, and yet we have no problems being friends. No fights or drama (at least that I have heard of). We wear different styles of clothing and speak with different accents. What's sad is that I don't get that same feeling in America. Besides the Thundering Word, you hardly see eclectic groups of people walking around Huntington, but I think we might be better off if we could all find a group of people who we think we have nothing in common with, then work to find the similarities (and there would be more than you first think).
• Not to mention, of course, LOVING dear old mom and dad
• I will send your postcards soon, mom and dad! Thank you for encouraging me to live my life. You are awesome and I make sure that everyone knows it!
• To riding your bike midday past the three piece suits, to fruits, to no absolutes

• Maybe it's the syncopation of this line, but it always makes me smile. :) Life is fun. Ride your bike (or surf board) along the coast in Northern Ireland. Set no absolutes. I'm kind of starting to have a life crisis here because I'm realizing I don't want to wear a suit every day. I know, I know, you can't always be young and free; you have to grow up and do what you have to do. But there are different ways of growing up, and I like this road less traveled by...
• To Absolut, to choice, to the Village Voice
• I didn't know this until I just looked it up, but Absolut Vodka is actually made in Sweden, where I will be in 6 days! AAAHHHH!
• To the fact that we all have choices and a voice, I will prost to that!
• To any passing fad
• People here wear a lot of vans, boots and keds. You are not allowed to leave the house without a scarf, but it doesn't have to match your outfit. If you wear tennis shoes, you must also have on a football jersey. If you are going out tonight and you are Irish, put on the shortest dress you have with the tallest heels, and make sure your hair is teased to rat's nest quality. If you are international, wear a classy dress with tights and flats for walking. Maybe pin your hair back, and go with the intention of having fun and watching out for each other in a foreign country.



• To being an 'us' for once, instead of a 'them'
• The first time I truly felt like an 'us,' as in an Irish person, since I've been here was actually just this past Tuesday, Oct. 1st. I went with 3 other guys to The Queys Pub in Portrush to watch the Champion's League football games. We saw Barcelona, Arsenal, and Chelsea win their matches. It was something about the relaxed atmosphere, with friendly people, all watching a very familiar game, that I guess it suddenly felt like a version of home. It's funny how that feeling never comes when you expect it to; like maybe while eating fish and chips, or drinking a Guinness. It comes when you treasure the moment, rather than the materials. 
• La Vie Bohème
• Urban Dictionary says a bohemian person is: 
• Someone who tries to live by the ideals of truth, freedom, love, and all those beautiful-sounding concepts. 
• To hand crafted beers made in local breweries
• Bushmills Whiskey is made in Portrush, just two miles down the road from me. Also, the Irish Baileys Cream and Harp beer are made in Ireland. Not to mention the infamous Guinness.
• To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese

• 30 Day Yoga Challenge on YouTube with Erin Motz has kept me sane this past month.
• I feel like these ingredients have been in every meal I have had since I got here. I REALLY miss American food.
• Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion
• My emotion for the day has been meeting with my International Friends mum, Linda! A wonderful program they have for international students here is to place them with an Irish family who will invite them to their house and really give them a feel for Irish traditions. I met Linda for coffee this morning and instantly made a new best friend. She is a mother of 6, with only 2 left in the house; 2 are married and one is about to be married.  They live on an Irish dairy farm with 160 cows, I believe she said, and that is fine with me! On Sunday, Oct. 6th, I am going to their Presbyterian church with them and coming back to their house for lunch. I really miss my friends from Beckley Presbyterian Church, so maybe Linda and her family can fill that gap for me a wee bit.
• Compassion, to fashion, to passion, when it's new
• Compassion: Life is a lot easier with it, and luckily, it kind of came programmed into my personality. Apparently, it comes programmed into Coleraine natives' personalities, too!
• Fashion? Eh. All I know is I want to buy a real, Irish, wool sweater.
• Passion: My passion for sports and horses are being fulfilled! I have joined the Equestrian team to take beginner riding lessons, as well as the Gaelic Football club to get back into the cleats. At training on Monday and Wednesday, I realized just how different Gaelic Football is from soccer. You have to slow way down to pick up the ball, then run and bounce it off your feet as you go! We did a shooting drill that I thought I could rock, but they punt the ball way over a goal post, and only occasionally shoot it into the net. I hit the net every time... but that didn't count for our drill. I'll get it eventually.
• To Sontag, to Sondheim, to anything taboo

• To be honest, I didn't know Sontag until I just looked her up.
• Sondheim: Yes. Just yes. 
• Anything taboo: And actually what this means is that nothing should be taboo. I really don't think God will smite you for having an addiction, or saying a swear word, or being human. 
• Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens, carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman
• Oh, yeah, that taboo thing. One of the last sermons I heard from John McKinnon was on the good Samaritan, and his closing line has stayed with me everyday since: Live with EXTRAVAGANT LOVE for ALL people. Love even the people who are named Pee Wee to the ones who were born without a clear sexuality.
• German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa, Carmina Burana
• I will also admit that I didn't know Gertrude Stein, Antonioni, or Kurosawa. But this song did make me look them up!
• I do know Carmina Burana and Bertolucci, so I think that's still better than most of my generation. I am also learning a lot of interesting facts about French and Irish history and German politics from my friends, and then they want to know why my home country is currently shut down!
• To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy
• Sometimes you just have to be apathetic, like when all of your classes are a review of basic biology. Or when someone asks you if you think Northern Ireland should be part of the Republic again... talk about tension.
• Entropy just makes me think of Rocket Boys, which makes me think of Theatre West Virginia, which just makes me sad.
• Empathy leads to an interesting story. I guess it was more like sympathy, but really, how much difference is there? Last Thursday, Sep. 26th., I got sick with a cold, but it started out with a sore throat. I tried to see the doctor, but they couldn't get me in until Monday, so the secretary sent me to see the 'chemist.' I actually think this is a much more suitable name for a pharmacist, but eh, whatever.
  Anyway, while I was explaining my symptoms of a very rough, red, sore throat to the chemist, a sympathetic old woman came up and gave me her advice. She was dead serious when she told me to take a spoon full of sugar (no, she was NOT Mary Poppins) and add vinegar to it, then swallow it. She swore up and down that my sore throat would be completely gone in less than an hour. Of course I had to pretend I was taking her seriously, but there was no way I was going to do that!!! Witch be crazy. 
• Vaclav Havel, the Sex Pistols, 8BC

• I now know Vaclav Havel was the first president of the Czech Republic.
• The Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK must be listened to at least once while you are actually in the UK.
• 8 BC can either be a year in time, or a nightclub in NYC. We have Kelly's, which can either be a male or female name, or a nightclub in Portrush, Northern Ireland.
• To no shame never playing the fame game
• This is the line that reminds me to be myself. You don't have to be popular, and ironically, you usually become more popular the less you worry about being popular. It was nice coming to Ireland and starting with a completely clean slate. It's a rare, and short lived thing to be completely unknown by everyone around you.
• To marijuana, to sodomy, it's between God and me, to S&M
• This is a very bohemian line, but to each his own, and between each man and his own God will he have to confide in. I thoroughly enjoy being a part of this rising, progressive generation. I can count on one hand the number of international peers here who do not have an open mind about politics and religion in the world today. Most people are very willing to have an intellectual discussion, and often they have more of a compassionate attitude towards America's problems than we do for the rest of the world. 
• La Vie Bohème
• So here is a toast to the life of bohemians, which means nothing more than being yourself within a group of other people doing exactly the same thing.