Evil Penguins, Shufflin’ Dolphins and Wrestlemania...

It’s been a while since I have blogged on here, so I figured better late than never, eh? March has been an insane month for me- I spent one half on completing assignments a month in advance so that I could spend the second half in Miami! For the sakes of not thinking about my pending exams, I will write about the second half of March which I spent on South Beach.

I will admit that for the first 3 days I didn’t do much. I mainly explored the area I was in and spent time lounging on the beach. Despite the fact it was packed, I found it surprisingly peaceful while I was sunbathing...although I didn’t realise until I got back to the apartment to find that I had got sun burnt! I officially have the worst tan line you could think of, but at least the burning has now turned into a tan!

One of the first things we did when we went to South Beach was go on an Air Tour of Miami. The photo on the right shows the plan we flew in. While my plane to Miami was my first flight ever, this little plane scared me a LOT. I feared a wing would break off and that would be the end of me, but luckily I did survive. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t know about any of this right now...I took some really great photos from the air, which I will show at the end of the blog. I felt a bit sick afterwards but I had fun nonetheless.

Now onto the first part of the title of this blog: Evil Penguins. I went to Jungle Island, and got to see some...interesting creatures. The one that stood out was this penguin. It wouldn’t stop giving me evil looks, so I took this photo to show you that I’m not lying about it. It then decided to peck me, and I ended up in trouble! How does that work out?! I also got the opportunity to feed a baby kangaroo- while I don’t understand why there is a kangaroo in Miami, it was a really great experience.

Another highlight was going to the Miami Seaquarium. I have always wanted to see dolphins up close, so this was my opportunity. I went to the showcase of their dolphins and killer whale, Lolita...and they were able to do the shuffle as seen in LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem! You really couldn’t make this stuff up. This was my best picture from the Seaquarium. I didn’t get a good photo of Lolita, and when I Googled her, she had pictures from anti-Seaquarium protesters!

In amongst the crazy shopping I did and acting like a tourist for a week, there was a reason why I went to Miami at this particular time...Wrestlemania 28. It’s been a childhood dream of mine to go to one Wrestlemania, and I figured I would take the opportunity to go while I could. In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have gone because of California, but I didn’t know about that beforehand, so I’ll take the trip for what it was. Plus, when you have Dwayne Johnson in the same area as you, it’s imperative to go! WWE celebrates Wrestlemania for an entire week, which meant that they were running meet and greets in the form of “Axxess” sessions. I went to three of them and met a wide variety of wrestlers! One of the best things about going to the sessions was seeing my friend who I haven’t seen in six years, and she is now one of the wrestlers who took part in one of the sessions I went to. I decided to surprise her (I didn’t tell her I was going to Miami), and she was IN SHOCK! It was great seeing April after a long time apart (for the WWE fans out there, she’s known as AJ), and I’m excited to see her again this week when she comes to London! She also introduced me to one of her fellow wrestlers who I am now friends with. Maybe I can blag free tickets to shows...?

While the cost was high, I felt the experience of going to Miami was worth it. I need to find a way to get money to go to Los Angeles in June, and I need to sort out my visa (which is turning out to be a LOT more complicated than I initially thought). I’ll be sure to update this blog with my progress, but I am determined to make it to California! To end this blog, I thought I would share some photos with you that I took while in Miami...

  

Top left- my view from the airplane; Top centre- a view of South Beach; Top right- the artist work outside the Miami Children’s Museum (I didn’t go there but I went past it during my Duck Boat Tour)

Middle left- My view of South Beach from my Air Tour; Middle centre- me feeding a baby kangaroo; Middle right- me and my friend, AJ who is now a WWE Diva!

Bottom left- Former WWE Superstar Edge & I; Bottom middle- Sun Life Stadium when I arrived; Bottom right- My view for Wrestlemania. Over 78,000 people attended!