Weekly Friday Recap! The Airport Is A Crazy Place

The past month has been a fever dream. I had my first experience with an airport Karen, Trump got shot, and the Olympics are live! Grab your popcorn and enjoy!

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Transcript

Let me give you a little bit of insight what it was like flying to Utah. This was the beginning of July. So it's been about a month, and this was nothing crazy, but I just want to walk you through my day because it is a weekly Friday recap, and we haven't talked in so long. This has been on my notes to share, but I've kind of been taking a break from weekly Friday recaps. If you know, you know this summer is busy.

No. I'm just kidding. I'm not gonna pretend. Like, it's insanely busy when I've just been kinda depressed. I haven't really been in the mood to catch you up every week.

I don't wanna be a bummer, if you know what I mean. And so, yeah, let's dive into this experience that I had. I woke up at 5:30. My flight was at 6:30, boarded at 6. Wait, that would not actually make sense.

I must have woken up at 5 then because I absolutely need, you know, 30 minutes to check my bag, get through TSA. Luckily, I have TSA pre check. This is something where if you don't have it, you absolutely need to get it. I think if you don't have an Amex credit card, then it's only, I don't know, $50, $100 every 5 years. Tell me right now why you haven't done it yet.

Oh, is it because it's really annoying filling in every single address you've ever lived at the past 10 years? Listen, I understand. Because going through that and having to write down every single place that we have lived when we have moved and lived in 1 to 2 places every single year. I mean, besides when we bought our townhouse, but it was so annoying and it was honestly something that kept me delaying this. And maybe you don't need to do that part for the TSA that was for Global Entry.

But if you're gonna do TSA PreCheck and you plan on traveling the world anytime soon, just go big or go home. Get Global Entry. Okay. At the end of the day, this is not an advertisement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. It's just nice because you get to just go in front.

You don't have to take off your shoes. I usually have my Kindle. I've been bringing my laptop with me. You don't have to take out any of these electronics. It's really nice.

And so in my mind, I thought, alright, half an hour. That's gonna be great. I'll get to my gate pretty soon. I'm leaving out of a small airport. And so I walk into the airport.

I'm getting ready to check my bag. It's the first time I'm checking my bag in probably a year, if I could guess. I usually travel with just a large backpack that's kind of a carry on sort of situation, and then I have usually another personal carry on. But I'm going to Utah for 10 days. We're going camping.

We're doing a whole bunch of activities. I need a wide I need a wide variety of things. Alright? So I bring my suitcase up. I set it on the weight, and, of course, it is £52.

So I asked her say, hey, do you mind if I switch some things to my backpack? I don't want to, you know, pay a $100 for an overweight bag. And she says, oh, it should be fine. What? What do you mean?

I've had to move items for it being 1 pound over. So essentially, I'm delighted. I'm sitting there. I'm like, this is the best day ever. I have an extra £2 of crap I'm bringing to Utah.

It's perfect. But then but then I look at my phone. There's this text message that says that your flight has been rescheduled. Your new flight is at 11 AM. Now, I must have gotten this text in the middle of the night.

I think it was around 12 AM, and I didn't check my phone first thing in the morning. All I did was wake up like a zombie, hurry and change my clothes. I had set up the night before, wash my face, and then Kaden took me to the airport. It was a very simple process. There is no way my brain is working at 5 AM in the morning.

If yours does, I applaud you 1,000 times because because that's just not what we're working with here. And so I'm like, wait a second. Why does it say that my flight is canceled? And the person at the desk, they said, yeah. I'm trying to find your flight right now, but it says that it's not available.

Were you flying standby? And I was like, not to my knowledge was I flying standby. And wonderful Delta employees the one thing I love about Delta is they won't tell you any information unless they know what's going on. And so if they don't know what's happening, they are really good at comforting you. They'll say, yeah.

Don't worry. I'm gonna figure this out real quick. They won't sit there and say, that's really strange. I don't know why it's saying that. Yeah.

Why is it doing this? Have you thought about doing this? No. They are efficient. They are effective.

I love Delta. Oh my gosh. Do I fly it every time? No. But I really try to when I can.

And so we eventually figure it out. For some reason, she says, no. You're actually set. You'll be just fine to get on to this flight. They haven't left yet.

Because, apparently, 10 minutes ago before I got there, another flight had left to Salt Lake City. And so in my mind, I was thinking, okay. If my original flight was, quote, unquote, canceled, why would they push me to a later one and not just have me come 10 minutes sooner? Well, I guess it'd be more like an hour sooner. But it was all good because number 1, my flight wasn't canceled.

Number 2, I'm getting on the plane with a 52 pound bag. That's a win in my book. And so I had passed security, not passed, I go through security, and I walk into this little snack corner. Because if you know me, you know, I'm never preparing with snacks beforehand. I'm gonna buy them in the airport, unfortunately.

And my go to is typically bottle of water and a builder protein bar. I would bring a reusable water bottle, except for the fact that I hate the water at the Asheville airport. And so it was kinda something that I had to buy when I was there. And so I get in this really long line because this snack corner also doubles as a breakfast coffee to go spot. And, unfortunately, there was one singular person working on this morning, and there were probably 15 people ahead of me in line.

Well, I had 15 minutes till we had to board, so I thought, oh, this is perfect. I have plenty of time. But not only was this guy the cashier, he was also the barista. He was also grabbing to go orders for the kitchen and handing them to the people that had ordered food to go. He was grabbing the muffins and handing them off.

He was scanning people's magazines, protein bars, whatever that they were buying. So it started taking a little bit of time. I'm standing in line, and this guy comes up right behind me and immediately starts coughing. And so I like you know, that little shimmy that you do with your back where you're like, no. Don't touch me with the cough.

I try not to make it evident. And so instead, I kind of move forward a little bit because, listen, I still give people space in lines. The best part about social distancing was social distancing in lines. I'm so happy that for a few years, we had this little bubble around us where they said, yes, stand 5 feet away from people. Oh, my gosh.

That is my favorite feeling in the world, is someone not right up on my butt while I'm standing in line. And so I scoot forward because I had plenty of space in front of me and the woman in front of me, you know, maybe, like, 4 or 5 feet or something. Nothing crazy, just some personal space. So what does he do? He follows right behind me and stands once behind me again.

And so then the next time the woman moves forward, I kind of let, like, a tiny, tiny bit of distance built to build between us. I mean, I'm talking 3, 4, 5 feet. Not very much. Not very much. And so he coughs again, which I expected.

So I move forward and he comes right up, not only behind me, but comes and stands next to me. And I'm thinking, okay. What time is it? It's it's so early. I don't have the cognitive function to understand what exactly is going on here.

Did we just create 2 lines? Like, did I miss a notification of some sort? What is going on? Because let me tell you this, in a lot of areas in Europe, when you're flying a, you know, an airline where, I don't know, maybe it's Spirit, maybe it's Wizz, maybe it's JetBlue. Does JetBlue fly in Europe?

I'm not positive. But, essentially, when you get into line, you have to fight for your place. You cannot be sitting there on your phone. You have to be observant. You have to be ready because people will just cut.

They'll straight up come stand next beside you acting like they're looking at a sign, and they won't make any eye contact with you. And suddenly, within a blink of an eye, they're not only in front of you in line, but they've also moved themselves up another 5 people. And they're not making eye contact with anybody. And so you can't, like, side eye them or anything. Honestly, it's a genius move.

I should be doing this. It's insane. And so, finally, 15 minutes later, finally get to the front and purchase my stuff. I the whole time when I was in line and he was sitting next to me in my head, I was thinking, okay, Hannah, you might have to say something if he tries to move in front of you. And so I did what all of us do when we get in the shower at the end of the day, and we have a full on conversation with our biggest op of the day, you know, everything that we would have said if we had some, some guts to say it.

And I was thinking, what am I gonna say? Okay, Hannah. I I think what I'm gonna go with is, excuse me. I'm standing here in line. Nothing crazy, but I had to practice because if there's anything you should know about me, it's that I hate confrontation.

I standing up to myself against strangers because what is even giving this stranger the audacity in the first place? Is this our first day on earth? Was I bothered a bit too much? Most likely. Honestly, most likely.

So it's okay. Like I said, got my protein bar, my, you know, $7 protein bar because the markup is 4 times is what it is in the grocery store. And by the time I get to the gate, we're boarding. So I walk up onto the flight. I'm comfy.

I'm cozy. Why? Because I got bumped up to comfort plus. I'm stoked. Well, I'm sitting there getting my headphones ready.

I have my eye mask. I'm adjusting my compression socks. Your girl isn't trying to get any water buildup in her ankles today. When I hear an announcement that the passengers need to start putting their suitcases anywhere that fits in the above compartments because the plane's filling up. And so minutes go by.

I'm getting more comfortable getting into a calm flying headspace, like, this is it. This is I'm living the dream. I'm going back to Utah. I'm going to see my family. And the plane is still boarding.

When suddenly this woman stands up very abruptly and I hear her go, These are for the passengers on these rows. You can't put your bag there. These containers, not these containers. What is it called? These compartments are for these comfort plus passengers.

Was this woman an airline consultant? What was I about to say? Was this woman oh, my gosh. What is a position? You know what I'm saying?

A flight attendant. Was this woman a flight attendant? No. She was just sitting in one of the rows in front of me, and this guy starts putting his bag up in the first place that he can see. And she's like, these are for the passengers on these rows.

And he says, they just told us to put them where space was available. Were there any seats where this woman was where someone might have needed that space? No. They were all full. I almost stood up and said, hey, you can put your bag in one of these.

I don't have a carry on Because it was the most wild thing I'd ever heard. So if he was about to listen to her and take his bag out and try to find another spot, I was going to say that. But I was just like, is this a normal thing to have Karen in comfort plus? Comfort Karen? I couldn't believe the audacity.

Why do you care where people are putting their bags? I don't know. The energy was weird. Maybe she just slept bad. For some reason, it was giving she's done this before, and she has the satisfaction of getting her way a lot.

It was very, very strange. So I landed Atlanta because Atlanta is usually the spot that Asheville flies into either that or Charlotte before getting to Salt Lake. And my my flight was supposed to be several hours later. And so what I realized was my first flight wasn't canceled, but my second flight was. So it was delayed for several, several hours.

I was kinda bummed because it was really adding on, I think, 5 or 6 extra hours. So I wasn't going to land until 5 PM when before I was gonna land around 12 or 1. And so I decide, you know what? We're gonna make the best of it, and I decide to go into the 60 minute suites. Because, again, with Amex, they include lounges or suites, and I thought this is going to give me some of the rest that I didn't have last night.

Typically, I don't wake up at 5 in the morning, so let's get a few hours in. And so I get all cozy on the very, hopefully, not germ covered couch that they have in those little rooms. I put on my eye mask and then I think, oh, wait a second. I should probably double check what my flight is just so that I'm not crazy. And I see a notification that says that I can rebook to a sooner flight.

So I hop on my phone. I am searching frantically another option to get to Salt Lake City. And guess what? There is one, and there's a seat left, and they're boarding in 3 minutes. And so I tear off my eye mask.

I put back on my shoes, and I ran to that gate. Well, the only thing about this new flight is it was going to arrive 3 hours sooner than the one that I had been rebooked on. So now we're landing at 3 o'clock, 3:30. But the issue is is we're not only flying to Salt Lake. We're flying to California and then to Utah.

So here I am going from one side of the states to the very other and then back to the middle. It was just it's it was how it goes when flights get rescheduled, I guess. And so we land in Salt Lake City safely, we as in me, myself, and I. And I hop off the flight, and I'm thinking to myself, oh, my gosh, this whole time that I'm flying. I'm a little bit anxious because I rebooked that flight really quickly.

And I'm thinking, how on earth would they get my checked bag? How on earth would they get my checked bag onto my new flight if I gave them exactly 5 minutes of of notice? And so in my mind, the entire flight from California to Utah, I'm thinking, what did I do? And I walk out. They have my bag.

Delta has my bag and not only do they have my bag already, which is so strange, honestly, so strange. We'll get that to a minute. We'll get to that in a minute, but they offered me snacks when I walked in. I walked in and I said, hey, I'm looking for my bag. It said that it arrived before me, which is very strange because I was told that there was no flight here before this.

So what's going on? That's a flight I should have been on if my flight got here, if my bags got here before I did. Anyways, I could not complain because they had my bag already for me. They gave me some snacks. And then I ended up waiting an hour and a half in the airport for my family to pick me up because there was a massive crash on I 15.

So long story short, made it. We made it. It was a wonderful night. I spent some time at my dad's house, and we sat on the porch, hung out in the evenings. Oh my gosh.

The views were beautiful, the temperature, the climate, the no humidity. After living here in North Carolina, I don't think I can do this full time. I don't think I can do it full time. If there's an option to go somewhere for half a day, I would love to know where it is. Yeah.

If there's a way that I can transport to California for, you know, 5 hours a day, I might be able to continue living here. No. I'm just kidding. It's beautiful. It really is.

And I've learned that it's one of the most diverse areas for plants. The climate is insane. There's 100 and 100 and thousands of different kinds of plants and whatnot. There's even bamboo. Like, I'm talking, it's humid here, but it's been raining the past 16 days.

It's been raining all the time and it'll come and go. It'll start, it'll stop, but it's not been good for me mentally. And it's not been really helping my self feel like I'm in summer. I don't know. I feel like I can't complain though, because, honestly, in March, it started getting warm, and I've never experienced that either.

So you win some and you lose some. But I just wanted to share that very interesting flight day because everything that was happening, I thought this is not real life. What is going on? But you know what? It was not a big deal.

We survived. We came through to the other side. We got to Utah. It was wonderful weather. Went to Bear Lake, went camping.

I have no complaints of how it went. It was awesome. And so, yeah. What is next on today's weekly Friday recap? Well, how about beats of the week?

Oh, my gosh. We have not done this in so long. So beats of the week, songs of the week. I really have been liking Foolish Thai. And if you haven't heard of him before, he has a song called Step.

Is this a casual comfy song? Absolutely not. This is a you're doing hip, you're sprinting, or you're lifting, or you're driving fast down the road kind of song. Okay? So that is the vibes that we're going for.

It's more hip hop rap esque, and I like it. I think it's fun. I think it's good. So look that one up. Another one, She's My Caller by Gorillaz and Kallie Ooches.

I don't know why, but this one just gets me stoked. I don't even really know how to describe it. Let me see what the what the definition of gorillas is. Okay. So they're a Brit band.

And it sounds like they kind of tie themselves with okay. It says their latest album is energetic upbeat genre expanding. So yeah, they work with a whole bunch of different artists, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Thundercats, Stevie Nicks. They've also been with Elton John, of course, Kalle Ooches, and a whole bunch of different artists, and they have a very, very, very wide range of music. So anyways, She's My Caller.

I think that's a good one. And then the next one is, of course, something that is a little bit more chill, and it's called Lose You by Una Mia. And that's u n a space m I a. Probably not saying her name right, but she is more of an R and B singer. And this is just a really pretty casual song.

And so, yeah, it's vibey. I like it. I wish I had more comments about these songs today, but, honestly, my mind is going a 1000000 miles an hour at the moment. And so I just had to tell you what the beats were for the week because it has been so so long. And, also, did you see that The Weeknd came out with his very newest and latest album advertising video?

Promotion video. Okay. Yes. He came out with a video promoting his new album that isn't out yet, but it's going to be the very last one that we get from him. We've been talking about this for months, the fact that he is kind of dropping not kind of, but he's dropping his stage name The Weeknd, and he's just gonna go by Abel.

And so it really sounds like this last weekend this last weekend. It sounds like this last album that The Weeknd drops is going to be more of his style from back in the day. True OG weekend fans know the haunted club music is back. That was more his style. When I say haunted club music, that is just a funny way that I kind of describe his albums trilogy and kiss land, like, very I wouldn't say dark as in, like, devil dark, but more so just the sounds and the vibes, you know, listening to it at nighttime, driving around.

His Beauty Behind the Madness album was so good too. I feel like that's kind of where he got a little bit more pop esque. Whereas, yeah, his Echoes of Silence album, House of Balloons, trilogy, Kiss Land, those are more I don't know how to describe it, but that's kind of the vibes that I really liked that he made. And, obviously, I still like all of his music. I don't know if there's been an album where I've just said this is a terrible album.

I've really liked most of his stuff that he's put out, but I'm really hoping from the preview that we saw that his newest and last album will be more along the lines of what he was doing in, you know, 2012, 2015, those times. Because I know it's hard to I know it's hard when artists change their style or when they become super popular because then they kind of go more of the pop route. But I also think it's hard because I wanna always support an artist that ends up changing their style because, really, they're growing into themselves. Usually, I'd like to believe they're growing into themselves and doing what they enjoy, and maybe sometimes it's influenced by production. In fact, I'm sure a lot of times it is, and it depends on who you're signed with.

But it's hard when an artist that you've loved when they kind of step into a new direction because it's not what you're used to. It's not what you fell in love with. But at the same time, it's cool to see them expanding their style. I don't know. The same kinda goes for Lil Yachty's newest album with James Blake.

Not a fan personally. And Lil Yachty was someone that was on, I think, my top five listened to artists for last year, because I really liked his album that he dropped last year. I mean, I went and I saw it in concert. It was really good. It was super different from his past just kind of rap hip hop albums.

And so, yeah, I just really, really didn't like his new one. And I'm trying to see if he even has it on his discography. Discography? Did I even say that correctly? But, yeah, I just didn't I didn't love it.

And so I don't know. I haven't listened to his album with his friends yet, but that's okay. That's okay. I feel like we've gotten so many amazing good albums. Amazing good.

So many albums this year from artists that haven't dropped in a long time. I mean, Kendrick Lamar, obviously, is coming out with a new album, and we've gotten so many songs from him. We've seen I mean, Kanye West dropped a new album, but I haven't really been listening to it that much. I don't know about him these days. You know?

Not too sure about him. Who else has dropped an album? Obviously, Billie Eilish. And, man, I'm kind of blanking out, but I feel like there's been tons of new drops, Cigarettes After Sex, which honestly not my favorite album they've ever dropped. But also ASAP Rocky is dropping a new album by the end of this month, which is super exciting.

Haven't heard from him in a long time. And so, yeah, we've got some things to look forward to. And I'm excited about those. What else is happening? Well, of course, the Olympics and I have to be honest with you, my family never grew up watching the Olympics.

And so I've never actually watched it on TV in Lifetime, never ever, ever before. And so the things that I've been seeing have kind of just been highlights, because I also don't have cable. Is that where you guys are watching this is on cable? I don't know. Let me know, but I have heard some wild things.

And one of them is that the athletes have not been stoked. So the athletes stay in this place called the Olympic Village, and they've not been having a good time. Apparently, they switched everyone to more of a plant based diet. They're taking these athletes from all over the world who have, like, the need to be in peak performance and conditioning, and then they're like, okay. Here's some beans.

Here's some legumes and potatoes. Try digesting this real quick. It's like they probably need to have a bunch of options so they can keep sticking with what they've been eating, but, alright, whatever. So that's been really interesting, the fact that they changed the food up. The other issue they've had is not having enough food.

So not only are they trying to push a more plant based diet onto these athletes, but they don't have enough of it. And then I think they're I mean, and that's not to say that everything has been plant based. I think they've had some meat, but it's just been rare and hard to find. The other thing is because they're trying to do the most eco friendly games ever. And by doing this, they thought, alright.

Let's not do air conditioning. Yeah. You heard you heard that right. For these athletes, they didn't put air conditioning in their rooms. The rooms are at 79 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's hot.

It's hot in that part of the world. And so because of a lot of complaints, they've had to bring in some AC units, and it's just kind of wild. The fact that they're not giving them good nutrition, bedding AC for the most elite athletes in the world? Are they trying to sabotage? What is going on?

They're supposed to be competing at full capacity, and they're not able to rest. They're not able to sleep. I could I could never. I have to sleep at 65 degrees, and that's not a flex. That's not saying, oh, see how cold I can stand this because we all know I'm a very warm blooded person.

I'm never cold except for when I'm in Utah for 6 months of winter, then it gets a little bit too cold for me. But you know what I'm saying? And so it's just wild the fact that these are the things that they are sacrificing on. Maybe don't do as extravagant as an opening ceremony if you wanna save save the earth. I don't know.

And in regards to the Olympic opening ceremony, I've seen so much about this, so much talk about it. And all I can say is that I think that everybody has realized by now that it was not the Last Supper. I I think a huge misconception from what I've seen and from what I've heard is that Paris was depicting the Last Supper very inappropriately. And so I went online and I was looking at it and I read their statement about what it was. And I saw, you know, the Greek god Dionysus in the front.

And it was not supposed to be the Last Supper. It was supposed to be a Bacchanal, I think is what it's called, in honor of the Greek god Dionysus because Greece is the founder of the Olympics. And essentially what a Bacchanal Bacchanalia? Is that what it's called? Essentially what that is, is a wild drunken party that celebrates the God of wine, wine making and the grape harvest.

And it was just very interesting because there was that guy in the front painted in blue covered in vines and fruits. And everyone thought that was a mockery of Jesus, but it was a completely different scenario. And And so I think this is one of those things where it's so easy to jump to conclusions of, oh, my gosh. This religion's being oppressed, and this religion's being oppressed. When it's like, no, sometimes it's not religious.

Sometimes it's a philosophical Greek mythology thing. And maybe maybe I'm completely wrong. If I am, please let me know. Because just from what I had seen and the history of Greece, it was, you know, there were 18 people there. There were not the 12 disciples that the Last Supper included.

And I just felt like it was in regards to Greece and that not everything has to be political and centered around oppressing any sort of religion. I mean, like I say, I think that everyone always deserves respect. Every religion deserves respect. But I think that growing up for me, there were lots of times where I would definitely internalize things and take them personal when they actually were not personal against me, against my religion. It had just been the way that I had interpreted it.

And so I think that this is just one of those examples of the fact that sometimes we can interpret things as being extremely bad and terrible and mocking when it's actually not affiliated with our beliefs at all. And I read this really funny thing. I've been on a Bridgerton kick because I just barely finished the 3rd season of the TV show Bridgerton. And so I saw this really funny letter about the Olympics, and it goes, dearest gentle reader, which is how Lady Whistledown in Bridgeland starts all of her letters, obviously. So they go, dearest gentle reader, I'm about to step on some toes in regards to the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics.

The headless woman was Maria Antoinette. She ruled over France and was found guilty of treason, conspiracy and stealing from the country. Sound familiar? Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was depiction a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek.

Surprise. And if you didn't know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. These parties often spanned several days, which honored the god of wine, Bacchus Bacchus? Am I saying that right? The blue guy covered in grapevines.

He's also known as Dionysus, the god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure. And finally, it was not death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, goddess of the scene, the river in which the boat procession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana. If some of you weren't so busy trying to end the Department of Education, you might know this.

Loosen the clutch on your pearls. Yours truly, Lady Frances. I thought that that was really funny. Because this is a quote at the bottom. It says, Paris is back on its feet, jubilant, flamboyant, creative, and open, free.

That's Thomas Jolly, the artistic director. And do you have to agree do you have to agree with everything you see on TV? No. The biggest thing that I always say is that we have the freedom of expression. And if you don't like the way people are expressing themselves, you have the freedom of turning your TV off and just not watching it.

Especially if you are someone that doesn't want your kids watching things that you find offensive, then just simply turn off the TV. We don't need to become keyboard warriors with every single thing. Believe me, it's taken me a long time to learn to learn these lessons because, boy, have I been a keyboard a keyboard? Boy, have I been a keyboard warrior in my past in my past life. But we've graduated since then, and it's not too late for for all of us.

It's not too late. And so, yeah, I just think it's been really cool to watch some of these clips of the Olympics. One of the ones that I saw was showing the refugee team. And I had never thought about this. I'd never thought about people who are refugees that can't compete under their own countries, you know, because they've either, you know, I guess, escaped them realistically is was why they're called refugees.

And so there was an actual team that was created back in 2016 so that these athletes could still be a part of this and still be a symbol of hope for other refugees and kind of bring awareness to the crisis that we have in the world. That's a very real crisis of refugees and people is trying to escape the countries that they're under oppression with. And so it's really, really cool, and it was really moving to see them on their bow. And there were over 36 members of this year's refugee, refugee Olympic athletes, 10 different countries. Wait, was it 10?

No. It was 11 different countries. Twelve different sports. That's what it was. And I just thought it was amazing.

There was one specific story. Her name is I'm not going to be able to say her name. Usra Mardini. I know that's not how you say it. That's how you spell it, though.

She's Syrian, and she's a swimmer. And, essentially, what happened in her life is she used her swimming skills to save herself and an entire group of people while fleeing Syria. She swam for 3 and a half hours to pull her group's boat all the way to land. And it really can't be any more influential than that. It really can't.

Because later on, she went on to become the very, very, very first person to win the Olympics as refugee. And so, yeah, it's just been really inspiring. Even if they don't win medals, they're able to represent hopes and dreams of 100 and 1,000 of and 1,000,000, I guess, is really what it comes down to, of displaced people all around the world. And that's what the Olympics are all about. Right?

Is kind of bringing bringing your country together, bringing the world together. And I know that I haven't addressed any of the crazy things that happened in July. And I'm not going to do a July recap. It's August now. July is kind of, you know, we've talked about some topics on on Thursdays and kind of what's been going on in our personal lives.

And, typically, I do do a pop culture recap of July, but I feel like this July was filled with the most insane real life dramatic events that just felt so fake. For example, Trump Trump getting shot, obviously, Joe Biden dropping out of the race. Now it's Trump versus Harris. And it's just been a really crazy month of every other day, there's something wild being said on the news. And it's not really my place to want to bring that to my podcast.

If you want to look for it, you know where to find it. You can go learn about those things somewhere else. I really feel like this is a space to wind down and relax. And you know that. You know that this is not the place where you get news.

It's not the type of podcast that I have, but I also felt kind of weird thinking about doing a pop culture July episode when it's just been full of the most wild events ever. And so, yeah, I just find it nice that we have the Olympics now. And we can hear about these really incredible inspiring stories and Olympians. For example for example, Shikari, she is absolutely amazing. I love the fact that every time she runs, maybe not every time she runs, but she's often full glammed out.

She's got her nails on. She's got her eyelashes done. Sometimes she'll have her wig on and then she'll tear off her wig right when she's about to start running. I just think that she's so dope, so inspiring. I've been saving her videos and as well as, you know, of course, Simone Biles.

I've been saving their videos for inspiration when I get to the gym and I'm just thinking, oh, I'm just so exhausted. I can't do this simple workout. No. I pulled up a video of Simone absolutely killing it. Her team won gold, and I just get stoked.

I just get so excited, especially, yeah, Shikari Richardson. She is absolutely amazing. Her entire team is so cool, and she actually got disqualified. I think it was in 2021. She tested positive for marijuana.

And so being able to come back, being able to or not what she says is I'm not back. I'm better. So I guess she's not coming back. She's just come in better. She is here and she's not leaving anytime soon.

It's just been really inspirational. The other story I wanted to share was this guy named Amir. He is also on the refugee team, and he fled his country of Iran. He mountains. Usually, when you're escaping usually when you're escaping as if I know.

But, typically, from the stories that I've read, memoirs that I've read, history even, when you're escaping through the mountains too, like, you're watching your back. You're usually terrified for your life. You are desperate. And how are you supposed to carry that much food also? So you're living off the land.

You're trying to find water, and it's just insane. And so he made his Olympic debut. I think it was 5 days ago, 6 days ago now as a canoeist on the refugee team, which is amazing. And so essentially what happened when he fled, he went through the mountains that laid between Iran and Turkey just on that border. He was with 2 other Iranians.

And a few years later, he found out that he could actually compete as a refugee, as an Olympian refugee. And he said in the article that he was so excited that he couldn't sleep for 2 days 2 nights because he knew that he could finally start again. And so he returned to the water in 2022, caught up in training. And once he found out he could internationally compete in 2023, he was like, okay, we're doing this. He states, you know, his primary goal is to just make his family make his family proud.

Make his family proud regardless of where he finishes. He says, I will try to enjoy the games. I want to make my mother proud of me and my sister. I want the people who helped me in Germany to be happy, especially the canoeing club in Augsburg. They are living family to me.

And I just feel like that is extremely inspirational. He ended his race and was pumping his fist in the air. He ended up getting eliminated, so he didn't make it to the semifinals. But he completed his Olympic dream. And I just think that it's extremely inspiring.

I think that it goes to show that people that are refugees, people that flee their countries due to not being safe. I mean, I know I talked about this before, but my grandpa's from Albania, and his parents fled Albania when he was in my great grandma's belly. So she was pregnant with him and due pretty soon after they fled. And they were the very, very, very last boat that was allowed through the passage and all modes of transportation were cut off at that point. So they could have very well been stuck in Albania and stuck during the time of communism when communism came into Albania.

It literally came in in 1946, and it didn't leave until 1991. They were under oppression for so for so long. We went to a museum, actually, when we were in this place called Schroeder. Schroeder, I'm pretty sure is what it's called. And that's in Albania.

It was the entrance point to essentially going into their national forest. You kinda stop in that spot, and then you can head on in to the Albanian Alps. And I haven't shared anything about this yet on my Instagram, but it is a beautiful, beautiful area of the world of the Balkans. And, yeah, we went to this site of witness and memory for communism. It was such an extremely sad thing to see.

It was cells where they would keep people okay. I I won't give you an entire description because it atrocious terrible things happened there, but I was really honored to be able to learn a lot about the history and to be really, really, really grateful for the opportunity that my great grandparents had to even make it to America and to to escape. It was just something that I hadn't really been able to understand the depth of it and the the importance that it was at that time. And I don't know. It just it's something that is really impactful, obviously, because I wouldn't be here if if that hadn't have happened.

And so it's just it's just really inspiring. I know that a lot of you have family that have also experienced, you know, moving countries or immigrating to different places. And it's just really inspiring to to other people who are also in the same spots that like, hey, your life isn't described by this, and you can overcome it. And you still have a place in this world. And I think that it's very, very important for everybody to feel like they belong, that everybody deserves safety and respect and love and a secure home.

And, yeah, I just feel like it was a really perfect time for the Olympics to happen because of the craziness of what is happening, not only in America, but all over the world. It's just been a crazy I wouldn't say a crazy year, but I feel like it's been crazy since since 2020. We haven't really had a break there, but that's okay. I hope you guys check out those beats of the week. I hope you have the most wonderful weekend.

I've missed weekly Friday recaps, and I would love to hear from you. So let me know if you've enjoyed episodes recently, and don't forget to submit your love notes and hate mail. Everything you've been loving, everything you've been hating, if there's been any life experiences you've been going through and you wanna talk about it. It's kind of like an advice forum, but, also, I don't wanna call it an advice forum. Really, it's just a place to share your weekly Friday recaps and the things going on in your life.

And so if you would like to share, go ahead and head over to my Instagram bio where you can submit the stories. I'll also put them in the description of this podcast. But thank you guys so much again for joining me today. I hope you have the most lovely weekend, and I'll talk to you soon. Byeeeeee!