Spring Break 2006 Report

WooooooHoooooo~~~!!! Ogga-ogga woot~ woot~! Brrrlp~brrrlp!

Sean gets crazy in Miami as claimed by observers! Yep, it’s been a long time since I dropped the bag and set free. I like to stay optimistic, so I'm gonna say that this year's Spring Break (probably my last in my academic life) was a blast! And I just love it that my birthday always fall on Spring Break! It's get down and mov'it for me~

The Drive Down
After frantically trying to finish my work before leaving for our 24 hour drive down to Miami, it didn't take me long to get my stuff and rush to Su & Chia's place where we departed from there. Was quite pleased with the van for 7 people compared to the one I took last year on my road trip to New York. This Dodge Grand Caravan was more spacious and had many places to store things. Nevertheless, it is a 24 hour drive so it was not the most pleasant ride of your life.

We arrived in Florida, stopping at Daytona Beach first to have lunch.

It was worrying to see Daytona Beach so crappy as we all knew Daytona Beach as one of the better beaches in the East Coast. So we continued on our journey down to West Palm Beach to visit MG's brother. MG was always our spirit lifter and it was always fun to have him around (because we get to see him go crazy in public), but his brother, as claimed was far more advanced! He worked at Sushi Rok, a Zagat rated restaurant in which the boss treated us to some awesome Japanese food. Had a double shot of what I recall is called a Sake Bomb. It was probably the smoothes shot I've ever had.

Our first night, which also was my 22nd birthday inauguration, was celebrated getting lost trying to get to South Beach where all the happening things are. When we reached there thanks to GPS (which was EXTREMELY USEFUL for the entire road trip), we walked around to the eye opening scene of beautiful people and atmosphere. It was truly a "Bintang-Walk" but much longer, bigger, and especially more high-class (the people). I just love it!

Day 2
The next day we headed to the Everglades to see crocs and the ride of a lifetime (ok, maybe that sounded exaggerated, but the hover boat was really exhilarating)!

Drove around Little Havana and bought myself a cigar from a famous cigar store which I remember was featured in the Amazing Race. Across the road we had Cuban coffee shots (mental note: I better take notes of the names of things I tried when I’m holidaying) which was warned by the lady behind the counter that it was VERY strong. So we shared one shot (about ½ cup) between 6 of us just to try it out. Verdict: delicious!... but not strong as claimed… So how? Another shot of course! The lady was shocked to see us down it so easily; as expected from college students especially from Purdue where sleep is considered a luxury activity in our dreaded lives.

Headed to the apartment with much fanfare after that. As we checked in, we did what most would do, check out the beach! It was gorgeous! Blue, clean, waves rippling by the shore. It was pretty cold, so we decided to go into the pool instead after basking by the seashore while enjoying the cool breeze. Of course, it was my birthday so it is only tradition that I get tortured. But to some, torture is pleasurable I guess… Mine was fun!

Had dinner at the Waldorf Towers @ Ocean Drive to a very expensive dinner. But it was sooo good! I had lobster ravioli.

As we headed home, we wanted to get a little bit more wasted as it was Spring Break after all… however, everyone was too tired and went to bed right away.

Day 3
Headed back to Ocean Drive and checked out the beach there. You see, the beach at out apartment is more private as it was more residential. Ocean Drive @ South Beach is public and where people want to go “people gazing” head to.

Sitting by New Times café chilling.

At night, had dinner at a Japanese restaurant while we waited for MG to join us for clubbing. We wanted to go to Mansion and it was a great coincidence that I noticed it next to the restaurant we were in! Its funny that most of the popular venues in Miami don’t display large fancy signs. I only noticed Mansion because of the huge ‘M’ logo on the carpet to the entrance (that’s me, always looking down instead of up…).

Mansion was probably the nicest club I’ve ever been to. Large, has a grandiose entrance, a few club floors, multi tiered, fantastic sound and lighting and most important of all, the people was just nice! Enough said, I had an awesome time there. Some even claim that I was crazy over there…

Day 4
Not much activity as we woke up at 2pm after a very early morning return from Mansion. Headed to Ocean Drive to sunbath. I now realize why people sunbath as it is really relaxing especially if you come from depressing Indiana. It’s a chance to put back color in your body, literally.

Dinner was at Ocean Ten restaurant. It was an interesting dinner as we got to see Flamenco dancers. The atmosphere was hyper in a sense that it was chilling; hyper-chilling if there’s a word for that. The Latin music, Flamenco dancers, open air dining, and my mouth watering grilled salmon added to the perfect dining experience I’ve lacked for a long time.

We headed back after that to play “I’ve never…” with free flowing booze I brought from Purdue (finally, the booze I bought from Changi is now opened!)

Day 5

The highlight of Spring Break; Global Gathering Music Fest, Miami 2005! I won’t say much here because words (my lousy vocabulary…) just don’t give justice to the high intensity party and head banging raving of this event, without drugs!

Call it crazy or anything you want, but I had a fantastic time I so longed and needed. It wasn’t a perfect trip nevertheless (especially when you have to calculate your pennies whenever you wanna do anything), but I guess it is tolerance and making the best out of everything you do that makes you happy is what matters most.

WooHoo!