It’s that time of year where back to school commercials are starting to appear on TV.
Another summer gone too fast but the memories will always be engraved in your mind. Although, we’ve come to the “end of the road” (had to quote Boyz II Men, sorry), summer 2017 will never be forgotten. With that being said, this is what I did this summer.
May
As my summer break began, I knew it wasn’t going to be the same as the other summers. Mexico was out of the question, which meant no Puerto Vallarta or Playa Del Carmen. My mom, my cousin, Janet, and I decided on a girl’s trip to Europe. This would be the first time my mom and I would be going to a completely different continent. We were both stoked.
Rome
The first stop on our trip was Rome. The ancient city is buzzing with people everywhere. Tourists and locals could be seen walking around the cobblestone streets, piazzas, and alleys. It’s true what they say; Rome wasn’t built in a day. The city is massive! However, the sites make up for all the walking we did. The Colosseum was colossus, the Fontana di Trevi was gorgeous, Vatican City was immaculate, and the Sistine Chapel was breathtaking.
June
Paris
The Second stop on our trip was the city of lights, Paris. I was super excited because I took four years of French in high school. I could finally put those four years of learning French into good use. In Paris, we went to the Louvre, went to the Moulin Rouge, walked down the Champs-Élysées, and had lunch at a restaurant inside of the Eiffel Tower. Paris was different than Rome because it was more metropolitan and fast paced.
London
Our last stop on the trip was London. This was the city I was the most excited for because I always wanted to visit London. The city did not disappoint my expectations. The weather was cold and gloomy. It reminded me of San Francisco. The red telephone booths and double decker buses popped out in the gray city. Places we went to were: Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, and Abbey Road. As a Beatles fan, I had to see Abbey Road Studios and walk across the famous crosswalk. You best believe I scratched that off my bucket list.
I could go on about this amazing trip but for time’s sake, I’ll save that for another article.
After I came back home from Europe, it felt like my summer didn’t have any more excitement. June was a month that was very laid back for me.
I went to Live 105’s BFD, a music festival, for the third year in a row. It’s a tradition my cousin, Yesenia, and I have been keeping up with since high school. My favorites were: Mariah Hill, Milky Chance, Franz Ferdinand, and Phoenix.
Summer days and nights call for baseball, I saw myself heading to AT&T Park every one to two weeks to see the Giants play. Since they haven’t been doing too hot this season, their ticket prices have gone down. No matter how crappy the G-Men are doing, I still support them.
July
Besides May, July was the month I was the most excited for. Bruno Mars was going to perform for two days in San Jose. As the days approached, I kept on checking online for ticket prices to drop. About a week or two before the concert, ticket prices dropped and I saw my opportunity to get them. The 24K Magic World Tour was the second sold out concert of the summer, so prices were high. Once the ticket prices went down, I immediately got them.
As soon as the day of the concert arrived,I couldn’t believe I was going to see him! I was worried that the tickets I bought from Vivid Seats would be fake and my friend, Katie, and I wouldn’t be able to attend the concert. When we arrived to SAP Center, it was time for the moment of truth. My ticket was scanned and it beeped. It’s a legit ticket! Katie and I were relieved and laughed about how worried we were about the tickets being counterfeit.
We were calm while we waited for Bruno to get on stage. When the lights went off, we went 0 to 100 real quick. We screamed and stood up like a couple of hooligans.
I was so shook; I couldn’t record the beginning of the first song. Bruno Mars puts on a pretty damn good show. Not only can he sing, but also the boy can dance. The crowd went nuts when he did his famous James Brown dance move. However, the performance that caught my attention was “Versace on the Floor.” His dance moves were so fresh; he was making every girl in the arena swoon.
You know a concert is good when you’re leaving the venue tired, sweating, and slightly deaf. I could go on about how amazing the concert was but I’ll save that for another day. Can’t wait for round two in November!
August
I was suffering from post-concert depression in the beginning of August but was slightly cured when I remembered I had tickets to see Hamilton: An American Musical. Hamilton is not like any other Broadway musical that has catchy showtunes. Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the America’s founding fathers, through rap, hip-hop, and R&B music. How cool is that? This was my first time seeing a musical and I didn’t know what to expect. Heck, I didn’t even know what to wear! I kept it classy and wore all black.
After listening to the soundtrack for months, I was finally about to see Lin Manuel Miranda’s vision of telling the story of Alexander Hamilton. The musical was witty, funny, sad, and entertaining. I would love to go see it again.
As summer comes to a close, I look back at all the memories I shared with my friends and family. I saw beautiful European cities with my mom, I kept up the tradition of attending BFD with my cousin, saw the Giants lose too many times, saw my favorite singer live and survived with my home girl, and saw the most popular play in the country with my sorority sisters.
Summer 2017, you will be missed.
All photos were provided by the author, Alondra Vega.