Hello, Freeganism!

Well it's been over a month since my last post, and I'm more than a little embarrassed about that. I promise to update you all on my latest dance news soon, but can't wait to tell you about my latest discovery- freeganism.
Whenever the topic comes up, I'm always saying crap about the ridiculous capitalist and consumer based society we live in, and yet I still buy things when I don't need to. I feel like since I've been living on my own, I've gotten much better at not visiting H&M and Forever 21 EVERY TIME I get a paycheck like I once did, but I've noticed that I'm continually making trips to my grocery store. This is probably a common theme for most people , but the one thing I spend the most money on, besides rent, is food.
The idea of dumpster diving for food was first brought up to me by my room mate, Patrick, a little over a month ago. He was telling me that we needed to take a trip to a Panera, because they don't use any preservatives in their breads and therefore throw all of the un-bought, fresh bread in the dumpster. I thought it was a great idea, but unfortunately it didn't come back up until today.
After researching dumpster diving at panera, I learned that several locations actually do something good with their leftovers and donate the loaves, bagels, and pastries to local food banks. Through my online investigation of diving for baked goods, I came across the movement that is known as Freeganism.
Freegans are anti-cosumerists that dumpster dive for everything they need, from food to clothes to furniture. They're in no way homeless or "need" to do what they do, they simply believe in taking full advantage of what is currently available to them and not going for the latest new thing.
Taking a sofa from the side of the road for your living room instead of heading down to Ikea to spend hundreds of dollars on something similar is something that I think many people can at least wrap their heads around doing, but when the question of getting your food from the trash comes up, most will probably gag a bit.
Several sources say that we throw away up to 30% of our food. Most commonly because of the sell-by date(which I should remind you, is still edible for several days past that date)or because one egg in a carton of twelve in cracked, or because there's one moldy strawberry in a whole case. Perfectly fine, edible food is continually thrown away for no good reason. After reading several articles and watching even more youtube videos on the subject, I knew I had to give this a try.
I planned out a route that first involved whole foods. I emptied my messenger bag, put on my grungy kaki pants, boots, and dark rain coat, and headed out for my first night as a freegan. Upon arriving at the whole foods dumpster, I saw that it had a compactor and realized I had to move on to my next location. Next stop was Trader Joes. My guess is someone had beat me to the punch because there wasn't much left in the dumpster, but there was definitely some good stuff. Having only a few bags and being on my bike, I couldn't grab that much anyway. My heart was racing a bit as I stepped up to make my first dig through. I took one last look over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear and then began rummaging. I quickly saw a box with an old pineapple, cantalope, a nice looking kiwi, and bananas in it. I took the kiwi, and a few bananas. Next I saw another box full of bags of spring mix and took the best looking one. Then I saw several packs of strawberries, nectarines, and mangoes. I had to take one of each.
As I began to gather my things and place them into my bag, I heard a car pull into the parking lot beside the dumpster. Luckily there was a fence surrounding the dumpster so I wasn't in obvious eye range, but I'm sure I could still be seen. I peaked over my shoulder and saw it was a small black sedan, and made a sigh of relief at realizing it was probably just a manager and not the police there to arrest me for indulging in fruit that is not meant to be enjoyed.
I then got back on my bike and headed for the next stop on my route- panera. I was really disappointed that they didn't have ANY bags of leftovers, but it probably means that they were donated, so I guess it's not too bad :P
I decided to try the Starbucks' dumpster for baked goods as well, but didn't find anything there either. It was actually Dunkin' Donuts that had the bagels and croissants I was looking for. There was a large bag full of them, but I only grabbed a few as I didn't have much room left in my bag. Last stop was at the panaderia just down the road from my house, but unfortunately, I couldn't find their dumpster so I had to head home without any loaves of day old bread. Someone should make a google maps section for restaurant dumpsters, don't you think?

So I arrived home feeling great at not only getting a nice little workout from riding around town, but also having enough fruit and bagels to last for several days and the best part, I didn't spend a cent.

I suggest everyone try this. If you can get past the slight smell of old produce and the idea of eating something that was in a dumpster for an hour or two, then this is for you. You help the environment by lowering the amount of waste put into the earth, and you save yourself a butt load of money.

Anyone want to join me on my next dumpster run??

:) Siobhan

14 Blisters later and I feel great!

Well quite a few many things have happened since my last post and though I've been meaning to share my great experiences and revelations, I've grown worried of what the people that read this will think. Which then brought me on to a not so new thought that never fully gets through my semi-thick skull- The only way to gain acceptance, is to be completely comfortable in your own skin.
These last few weeks have been amazing. I have started creating my footprint on Boston and it's dance scene. In this short time, I've danced my first gigs in the city, taken a flamenco workshop with the great Omayra Amaya, participated in my first jam sessions, and have met several fabulous dancers that I hope to see much more of in the future.
For each of these incredible opportunities, I felt a great deal of gratitude and excitement, but also fear. Fear that I wouldn't get the steps down in time for the show, or that I would be the obvious Irish dancer amongst the crowd of experienced Flamenco dancers, or I would just look like a complete idiot in front my new possible friends.
When I was on the bus this past weekend to New York City for a jam session, there was this "rational" voice in my head that kept saying "What the hell are you doing, Siobhan? Who does this?? You're driving all this way just to dance with some guys you don't even know. You should just get a return ticket and go home." And even as I stepped off the bus and onto the busy sidewalk of Chinatown, my hands were shaking with nerves. Whether it was from the hustle and bustle of New York or from only getting a few hours of sleep the night before from said fear, I don't know. It wasn't until I finally got up and danced that everything went away. It didn't matter that I was alone in a strange city, or that I messed up the timing on some steps and probably looked a bit foolish, I was dancing with brilliant dancers from all over the world and I had a great time.
I suppose, in short, what I'm trying to say is too often do we miss out on great experiences simply because of rational, fear based behavior. I wouldn't have had any of these things happen to me if I had believed that voice in my head. Dancing is my passion, so what does it matter if a random person thinks it's something irresponsible or a waste of time?
I am learning to face my fears and to stop caring what other people think of my actions or behaviors. I am Siobhan- Spontaneous, unconventional, and often a little crazy, but that's ok.


Until next time!
Much love,
Siobhan :)

Let's just say, it's been a good day :)

In case any of you didn't know, the film adaptation of "Eat Pray Love" finally opened in theaters today. Having been counting down the days until its release, I didn't need to force myself to wake up at an earlier than normal time this morning to make it to the 10am showing. Now I should pause for a moment and let you know that I am notorious for never finishing a book, even if it's unbelievably good. So having only read the first 10 pages of "Eat Pray Love", I went into the theater almost completely ignorant of what I was about to see. I only say almost because I knew I was going to end up crying. Even watching the preview, which coincidentally features my Moving-to-Boston song, Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine, makes me tear up.
There is a moment when Liz, the main character, is in Rome and is told that she must live life with piacere nel niente- pleasure in anything. This line really hit home with me and convinced me even more that I am meant to live in Europe. Taking pleasure in anything isn't exactly something most Americans would call a virtue. For aren't we suppose to stay busy and become productive machines?
With unschooling for two years, I learned how to take pleasure in anything. To most, what I did with my days was considered a waste of time and I heard on several occasions from different people, that they couldn't take pleasure in just anything and definitely couldn't go that long being by themselves and in their own thoughts. While I love to be social and believe it is a huge importance in people's lives, I find that being alone and doing "nothing" just as important.
I like to think that in these last two years, I have really gotten to know myself. I know the way I think and learn and the type of people and experiences I want to have in my life. But most importantly, I'm no longer afraid to be that person. When you have little to no friends and social interactions as I had, you stop looking for validation from others and look to yourself as being the beautiful, worthy, and capable person you are.
This blog isn't meant to be a praise to Unschooling, by any means, but just it's lessons of loving the simple things in life.
I have a new game that I've made up since moving to Boston, though I don't have a name for it yet. It's what I spent my day, today, playing.
After seeing the movie in Harvard Square this morning, I asked myself what I should do with the rest of my day. Of course with it being lunchtime and having just seen the delicious food of Italy on a 50 foot screen, my first thought was to grab a slice from Pinnochio's, Harvards best place for pizza. After devouring my slice of juicy tomato basil, I began to walk in the direction of the train. "Where shall I go?" I asked, and snap in an instant, "the North End" came to mind. For those of you who don't know, the North End is Boston's Little Italy and with it's tall brick buildings and narrow streets and gelatarias on every corner, you think for a moment that you are in Italy.
I'm really in love with Italy, if haven't already caught that.
After walking down the cobblestone streets and people watching, I decided to rest at a small secluded park. It was there that I closed my eyes and meditated for a few minutes. I blocked out all the sounds and just sat cooling off from the slight breeze against my face. Once I opened my eyes, I quickly remembered that I hadn't yet bought any gelato! I chose the popular gelataria on the main drag and quickly noticed the mint chocolate chip, that is after I noticed the cute guy serving the gelato.
Within a few minutes, I was scraping the sides of the cup for the last drops of the cool mint flavor. Feeling content with my tummy full of pizza and gelato, I grew tired and planned my leave for home, first making a stop at the outdoor produce market just outside the North End.
I also won $10 after getting the urge to buy a scratch ticket.

In much shorter terms, my game is to go out, have nothing planned, and just follow your intuition and see where life takes you that day.
So with all this said, I invite you to put aside some time in your life and take pleasure in anything. Turn your phones and MP3 players off and instead listen to the sound of birds chirping or the wind blowing through the trees. Forget any appointments or overdue bills that may be stressing you and live in the moment and love where you are.
I'm beginning to feel excited for what tomorrow might bring me because I have, yet again, nothing planned... ;)

Sending you all love!

Well Hello!

The idea of first writing a blog came from my mom who insisted I find a fun and relaxing way to continue working on my writing after leaving school to become a, commonly used term, dropout. I began my unschooling at 15 when I left the unoriginal, creativity killer that is high school. Tired of being told what to do and how to do it, I started spending my days doing just what I wanted. At first I slept most of the day and watched movies for the rest of it, but I soon grew out of that and started fully pursuing my art. I would dance and paint and take photographs and I even taught myself how to sew. I think of these two and a half years as a huge life saver and eye opener.
Now, I am 18 years old and trying something completely new. I have moved to Boston to live on my own for the first time. I packed my mom's mini cooper full with bandaids, hydrogen peroxide, blister-aids, and dancing shoes for a year long dance scholarship in the city. This scholarship will give me the chance to develop new skills in new styles of dancing such as modern, tap, and flamenco in addition to my already well developed Irish dancing.
And so, I am finally taking my mom's advice and starting a blog to share the oh-so-many amazingly awesome things that are soon to come!

'Til next time!
Siobhan :)