Author: Ali Vitali

Ali is an NBC News Campaign Embed covering Donald Trump and the Republican Party for Decision 2016. She joined MSNBC in September 2012 as a member of the video team, responsible for publishing video content, and then moved to The Cycle as a Graphics and Segment Producer. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @alivitali and on Snapchat avitali.

The Joys of Excelling (or at least attempting to)

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As the first hour of this 25th day of January approaches, I find myself mindlessly clicking, combing and scanning my screen for any scrap of potentially pertinent research information. Oh, Howard Tilton, you are just too packed with overly wordy information. And I don’t mean that in a praiseful way. I mean you are REALLY over saturated with information. I feel like I’m one of those poorly cast characters in a Bing! commercial.

And so why, at 9 minutes to 1 in the morning am I searching for anything related to media, communication, politics, rhetoric or any keyword that would bring up a profitable search? Well readers, Honors Thesis season is upon us. Well, at least in its preliminary and base level stages. And after a fruitless search for any loop hole in the Tulane system to graduate with Honors sans thesis, I’m resigned to the idea that this may just be a very long semester and one where my recently bought “ALL NIGHTER MUG” (complete with “sleep is for the weak” slogan) will be getting a lot of play. On the positive side, I’ve made great strides already – but I guess that’s inevitable when you go from having no topic at all to a now pretty good idea. I would follow this with something tacky and proverbial: Rome wasn’t built in a day or some shit but honestly, I’m not trying to build Rome. And in fact, anyone who has used that as a qualifying or comforting proverb is just lying to themselves because that phrase applies to no real life situation because no one is trying to rebuild Rome. Hmm, Rome…think I could create something thesis-y and meaningful out of that? It might require a trip back, ya know, for research purposes…I’m gonna have to think about this (again).

Not just chickens run around with their heads cut off

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So it seems that since returning all I’ve been doing is running in circles, head cut off, and just screaming for some time to breath and possible try to re attach my head – I hear they’re necessary, after all. And while abroad was breathless and  I was continuously on the move, it was simple. And so I think I get it now: I’m not screaming for time, I’m shouting for simplicity. In fact, I’m doing so at the top of my lungs. Here, things are cluttered – socially, there are ties we have to uphold, appearances that “need” to be made; emotionally, there are those people who you don’t realize make you emotional until you see them after 5+ months and all you can say is “dammit, really?”; physically there is a haggardness thanks to the countless appearances and emotions and school and pressures that make you look as though you’ve fought a war and trudged to class all in the same day. And with rush finally ending this weekend – some could say this is a social war in itself – I’m hoping to find the time to take a breath and rescrew my head to my flailing body. Until then, the chicken metaphor still stands. You’d think after years of overinvolvement my motivated, ambitious, “must do everything” self would’ve learned…alas, the cons of being so Type A.

Abita’s Back!

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Yes faithful readers, the time has come – a bit earlier than I remembered – for that glorious taste of strawberry to shock your tastebuds into an alcoholic dream of bubbles, beer and berries. In other words, Abita Strawberry has returned. And just in time, too. Because honestly, what’s better than grabbing a cold one and sitting in the sun on a Wednesday, the air of Hump Day Happy Hour around you, as you bask in the fact that we are, in fact, living the dream. Sure, we may have classes, but it’s 60 degrees, sunny (“all you really need is a light jacket”) and I’m walking around in flip flops in January. Yeah, life is good down in good ol’ New Orleans.

Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

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“Wizard: As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don’t know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.
Scarecrow: But I still want one.”

-The Wizard of Oz, 1939

A short story: Le petit prince et le renard

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Ainsi, le petit prince apprivoisa le renard. Et quand l’heure du départ fut proche:
-Ah! dit le renard…Je pleurerai.
—C’est ta faute, dit le petit prince, je ne te souhaitais point du mal, mais tu as voulu que je t’apprivoise…
-Bien sûr, dit le renard.
—Mais tu vas pleurer! dit le petit prince.
-Bien sûr, dit le renard.
—Alors tu n’y gagnes rien!
-J’y gagne, dit le renard, à cause de la couleur du blé.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince

“First Day of School!”

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Fish and friends everywhere, it’s that time again: Day 1 of classes. And on this cold morning in New Orleans, I want nothing more than to pull up the covers, put on my hoodie and cuddle up for an in-home marathon of Vampire Diaries and trashy morning talk shows. I clearly don’t share Nemo’s enthusiam. *Sigh* I guess this means the vacation’s over…Happy First Day, Tulanians.

“First Day of School!”

Happy Twenty-11!

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Well, another one bites the dust! And as I look back, I always have trouble labeling years to be completely good or completely bad. It wasn’t always that way, though…for instance, I’ve always felt it safe to say that the better half of 2008 didn’t really go my way, but if I finished semi-strong can I still say it was a “Bad Year”? It’s a collection. And so, when I think on my collection from 2010, I can’t help but think of what seemed to have defined it: a constant movement, this rolling like a rock (with intense speed!) type of image as I made my way across the world and back again. January I started in New York, a few days later New Orleans, Spring Break in our own little “Southern Riviera,” back to New Orleans, back to New York, and then it got interesting. Hawaii, Paris, then Aix, Munich, Aix, Barcelona, Aix, Paris, Aix, Milan, Florence, Rome, Aix, Prague, Aix, Amsterdam, Aix, Paris, HOME – all in time to finish 2010 just where I started. Now for those of you who think “was it truly necessary to list everywhere you’ve been, in the order in which you did it?” and I say, well, yes. And I did it for a reason: not only to show how and why I will be so happy to spend more than 4 days in one place for a little while but also to show, life is cyclic. Or at least 2010 was for me. A year of travel and experiences, and I end up back in my own little bed. Not bad, eh? I’d say: good year.

But wait: what’s this I hear? 2010 was termed bad by the Judging Powers that be? They also say 2011 should be “promising”? Hmm…OK I have to ask, how does one tell if a year looks to be promising? And better yet, is the year 2010 put it at a distinct disadvantage because we spent some of its last minutes breaking the Guinness Book of World Records record in, erm, largest group of people fist pumping at one time? If so, then I have to say, we should be giving 2010 the benefit of the doubt. Sure, one could cite recession, joblessness, Wikileaks, ongoing wars, the economic tumble of countries like Greece and Ireland, and the death of Michael Jackson as negative contributing factors to the recently gone 2010, but we have to take some responsibility too, don’t we? Afterall, we helped Mike the Situation make over 5 million this year alone. We put the Vampire Diaries on the air (thank you, CW). We let Jodie Picoult continue writing novels (c’mon guys, The Pact? Really?) We almost let the Harry Potter Movies end! (Good call on splitting it between 2010/11 – that ensures 2011 some pre-determined “good” ratings) So when we think of “how bad” 2010 was, we have to consider that a lot of it was kiiiinda our own doing. As for the other stuff, I guess we can blame the cosmic gods that control the quality of our years – or Canada.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Study Abroad: The Come Down, Part I

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I, for one, can say that I wasn’t ready. After the long drawn out goodbye to France, I’ve been home all of 3(give-or-take-a-few)hours and already find myself itching to do something. Anything. How was boredom so evitable in France but so quick to find me on my floral duvet in my room in NY? I never thought I’d say this but Lilli’s crazy cultural sheets and sayings may have some truth to them: there’s a huge come down from study abroad. I guess all I keep asking myself is, “what now?”

I guess first and foremost there’s the ever-so-pressing issue of NYE: the frazzled rush to find plans, the dodging of jet lag, the futile attempts not to compare anything you’re doing here with what you could be doing across the pond in say, Aix-en-Provence, France. Then there’s the issue of having 5 days at home and 6 valises of laundry to do before repacking and heading down south (“to the land of the pines/I’m—” Sorry, small tangent). Next, the strangeness of adapting to (again) only having one cell phone. I found it very strange to not turn on my very crappy, yet reliable, portable français upon deboarding the plane today at JFK. It’s going to be strange not to pay as I go and I’m sure I will grow wistful as the soundwaves reaching my ears start to lack that obnoxious ding-ing noise that it makes when it wants to alert you to an SMS or phone call. And finally there’s the most important of all issues: what is the fate of this (a)blog? After all, I’d be lying if I said that keeping it hasn’t been entertaining, but I’d also be lying if I continued an abroad-blog from, well, not abroad. I’ve loved the comments that I’ve received – whether it be from parents, family friends, friends, or just bored readers with nothing better to do who ended up getting a good laugh. I guess we’ll see…considering the number of people who incredulously listen to the events of my day to day and marvel at the fact that MTV hasn’t yet called me for at least an hour episode of True Life because “how does this stuff even happen to you anyway?” Thus, I’m sure there will be more stories to tell. But I would like to say thanks for it while it’s on my mind – for reading and for following along.

Well, judge me for this (or not) but I’m going to go stow away my french phone for mon prochain séjour (because there’s going to be one!) and then watch some Vampire Diaries. The “what now?” now applies to Damon’s evil doings, Stefan’s search for humanity and the Bella-esque heroine who doesn’t bite her lip and actually speaks. Oh, I am coming down and hitting reality fast.


Better to have loved…

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I have to continually remind myself of this idea – that it’s better to have experienced, to have seen, to have learned, to have met, to have known someone than it is to not have had that chance at all. But with the series of goodbyes and au revoir’s over the course of the past week and a half, I’m still not too sure this is making it any easier – only showing me that the pit in my stomach is a sign that the past four months were worth it. I had the chance to meet the most amazing people: 31 people at AUCP who, each in their own way, made this experience unforgettable; a host family – complete with live in host brother – who, upon closing the door to my 3rd floor apartment for the last time, really felt like an extension of my real family; a certain fun loving, green/blue-eyed boy who made me laugh simply by looking at me and saying “thanks for it” and who made me realize that having no emotions means you miss out on, well, life.

And so I’ve seen that goodbyes, in any language, just plain suck. But I’ve also come to learn that the deeper the pit in your stomach, the harder it is to fight back the tears as you walk away from the car and the more you find a smile creeping onto your face simply at the mention of a word that makes you think of “that time in Aix,” the more worth it those relationships are. It’s the stories, the too many bottles (or boxes!) of rosé, the Thursdays where you got sucked into the abyss of RoMarc’s apartment and didn’t wander out until 5am – all the while wondering “how did we stay that for that long?”; the games of “Never Have I Ever” where you really never have had a ménage-a-dix with an entire fraternity; the massive 4 scoops of gelato ice cream on the Cours Mirabeau simply because “well, we had a hard day, right?” It’s Crêpes A-Go-Go every Tuesday or seeing half of the AUCP at Book-in-Bar at any given point, at any given hour, on any given day, probably drinking tea and eating a scone; it’s talking ourselves into random purchases because, well, pourquoi pas?..then again, it’s justifying just about anything with pourquoi pas?! It’s been an envie d’ailleurs and an envie de revenir; swearing to a Sober Oktober only to jump right back into a glass of wine because, bien sûr, you can’t say no to Martine and Didier.

And as I sit here at my computer, I can’t even pick apart my memories because they all seem too fresh to harvest – to separate and put into words, into descriptions on a computer screen – they just seem like yesterday. So my stories, my mini-escapades will stay as one big film reel of souvenirs for a few days more…I have an 8 hour plane ride, after all, to sort through them. But I do see now that it’s true: It’s better to have loved. Every song ends, but we can still enjoy the music. We do things for the rush, the thrill, the story. If for nothing else, we do it for the experience. And I’m happy to have had this one, no matter how hard it is to leave.

Sweet Lou, in France, demain.

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Need I say more? After two days in Lucerne, Switzerland the Vitali girls are returning back to France, a country where we have some idea of what’s going on and how to communicate, and finally finally being rejoined by their fourth member – thus making this Eurotrip complete. All of this in time for the previously loathed and despised holiday called Christmas in Paris! Author’s note: I’m making progress, but play me any Christmas song that doesn’t involve heartbreak and sorry (aka anything other than “Last Christmas”) and I’ll really have to try not to slap you. One can only make so much progress in a few months.

Waking up bright and early tomorrow for a train then a plane back to Paris. If I don’t get around to posting until after: Merry Christmas Eve & Happy Present Opening!