Ultimate FRIENDS Questionnaire

I just finished watching all ten seasons of Friends on Netflix and, let me tell you, I am emosh. It took me a few months to get through but it was worth it. I don't think there is any show on TV currently where the characters warrant that kind of emotional viewer attachment. Seriously, I felt like I was saying goodbye to my 6 bffs! It's ten seasons long but I guess that's what makes it special: you don't feel like the plotline is rushed and you get to know each and every character. I found this "challenge" on Pinterest and thought I would roll them all into one post. OH and, spoiler alert. I ruin the whole show.

Favourite season. I'm really not sure what my favorite season is considering I watched them straight through on Netflix. 

Overall favourite character. My overall favourite character is Rachel Green. She, by far, showed the most character development. She went from being annoying and jobless to having baby Emma and getting a high-profile job at Louis Vuitton. I literally felt proud of her by the end! I felt proud for a fictional character!

Chandler, Joey, or Ross? It has to be Joey. 

Rachel, Phoebe, or Monica? Rachel, for the aforementioned reasons.

Overall favourite couple. Honestly, Richard and Monica. Even though I feel like it's blasphemous to say anything other than Chandler and Monica or Rachel and Ross, Richard and Monica were just top notch.

Favourite Monica boyfriend. Richard!!!! Bless Chandler but I was seriously hoping she would end up with Richard.

Least favourite Monica boyfriend. Pete. He was a freakin' weirdo and they were not cute together.

Favourite Rachel boyfriend. My mind says Rachel and Ross but my heart says Rachel and Joey... (Tag is a close third because he was definitely the cutest).

Least favourite Rachel boyfriend. Sadly Rachel dated a lot of duds but my least favs have to be Joshua (JoshWAHHH) - I also didn't like him on The OC, there's just something off about him. Also, duh, Barry.

Favourite Phoebe boyfriend. Look, I know it's controversial not to say Mike, but come on: David! He was so cute and I was waiting forever for him to come back from Minsk so they could be together. Dumb Mike got in the way :(

Least favourite Phoebe boyfriend. The one that shot a bird... What was his name? Gary? He was so gross.

Favourite Ross girlfriend. I mean, I have to say Rachel because she's my favourite overall character, but aside from Rachel I would say Julie. She was really decent and they were super compatible. Also Mona, but Ross completely ruined that.

Least favourite Ross girlfriend. Charlie. Gosh, I hated how she ping-ponged between Joey and Ross, and then ended up ditching Ross for that Nobel prize loser. Elizabeth and Emily are up there too.

Favourite female secondary character. Three words: "Oh. My. GODDDD." Janice, of course. Every time she appeared was my new favourite moment of the show to be honest.

Favourite male secondary character. Gunther! He provided the lifeblood of the show: Central Perk!

Least favourite female secondary character. Definitely Rachel's sister Amy. Bleh, she was horrible. In fact, anyone from Rachel's family was pretty bad.

Least favourite male secondary character. I think I'm gonna go with Phoebe's half brother. I mean, he was soo ill-equipped to be having a child, let alone three! Ah he was just so cringey.

Favourite Rachel hair. When she first started to wear it long and straight. 

Least favourite guest star. I wasn't crazy about Brad Pitt's guest star role if I'm being 100% honest. It was kinda lame haha.

Favourite Phoebe song. Aside from Smelly Cat which is just iconic, I would say the one where she wished them all happy holidays. "Monica, Monica, have a happy Hannukah.."

Favourite wedding. Mike and Phoebe! It was so nice that they had it right outside Central Perk :)

Who are you most like? I guess I would say I'm most like Monica in terms of competitiveness and appreciation for food... But I don't have her anal retentiveness, that's for sure.

When did you start watching? I had seen episodes here and there on TV, but I started watching all the seasons in full last Christmas break.

Most touching episode. The one where Monica found out she couldn't have babies. I may have sobbed.

Funniest episode. What's coming to mind is the episode that Chandler goes to Yemen to escape Janice. "15 Yemen Road, Yemen" Hilarious!!

Favourite moment. I don't know if I could pick one moment only, but I loveddd when Phoebe challenged Ross about evolution and nearly crushed his soul. So good.

On a break or not? Yes, I think they were on a break. But it's both of their faults that the parameters of the break were not clearly defined! Obviously they had different expectations!

Favourite actress/actor. Jennifer Aniston!

Did you like the way it ended? Yes, I do like the way it ended. I don't think they could have ended it any better. The only thing is I think Rachel should've gone to Paris and if Ross was really into her, he should've gone too.

Latest Netflix Love: Friends

This is probably the latest I’ve ever hopped onto a bandwagon. To be fair, the show first started airing when I was exactly 1 year old and stopped airing when I was 10, so I definitely wasn’t Friends’ target demographic. Luckily, Netflix recently picked up all 10 seasons of Friends, so I can finally know what all the fuss is about. (SPOILERS to come)

At first I thought the show was kinda boring (eep!), but after three or four episodes I quickly became invested in all the characters. Exciting things started to happen, like Ross finding out his ex-wife was having his baby, or Phoebe searching for her last remaining family members. All these quirky but touching storylines make the show really endearing. And on top of all that, it’s funny. I’m four seasons in and I’m still not bored of the humor. I’ve read that it starts going downhill after season 5 but I’m still optimistic.

Since I’ve become so invested in this show and it’s basically all I’ve been watching lately, I thought it would be fun to give my opinion on each character.

source

Ross is soooo lame. Like, if you think of an annoying, know-it-all, lame individual, Ross is it. I think he’s self-absorbed and his views of women are practically feudal (breaking up with Rachel because she invested time in her dream job? Please), but what I like is that he’s punished for being such a crap person. He has the worst luck, bad things are constantly happening to him, and his “I take thee Rachel” blunder is perhaps the best manifestation of television karma of all-time. So even though he annoys the hell out of me, the schadenfreude is high when I’m watching a Ross scene on Friends.

source

Oh, I love Monica! She constantly teeters between being the most level-headed Friend, and also the most insane. I loved her relationship with Richard (they were so perfect!) but I’m excited to see what’s to come with Chandler because I think she’s one of the only Friends who can match Chandler’s dry sense of humor. Sometimes I feel like she doesn’t get enough screen time and that her storylines are a little half-baked, which is sad.

source

Four seasons into the show and I still can’t decide if I like Chandler. I mean, there’s no doubt that he’s pathetic and has some issues, so I get why he acts the way he does, but sometimes I wanna shake him and be like, “snap out of it!” That said, I think the best thing to come out of Chandler’s storyline is Janice. I love their interaction. The episode where he had to fly to Yemen to get rid of her killed me. And, yes, I'll admit. Chandler is the main source of humor.

source

I would say Phoebe has one of the most interesting personalities and storylines on the show, but she doesn’t get nearly enough attention. I hope we get to see her being Auntie Phoebe to her brother’s kids because I think that would be really nice. I also love when we get glimpses of Phoebe’s worldview (like how she doesn’t believe in evolution or gravity) because she expresses herself hilariously and she’s somehow always able to justify herself. Great character.

source

Joey is a pretty one-dimensional character, but no matter how crazy things get with the Friends, you can always count on Joey being quintessentially Joey. He’s always getting up to something stupid and hilarious. I can’t say I’m a fan of the way he treats women either (dumb feminism always getting in the way of me enjoying 90s sitcoms, lol), but I can’t really deny my soft spot for Joey.

source

And finally, the best of the best, Rachel. Seriously, the show would be nothing without Rachel. She seems to be the only one who has shown significant growth as a character so far. Her giving Ross a chance, going from broke to getting her dream job at Bloomingdales, and being the most open-minded about relationships and friendships makes her the undeniable best. And just the simple fact that she was strong-willed enough to know she didn’t want to marry Barry and go against all expectations of her?! Queeeen.

I guess the last thing I wanna say is that even though I'm not keen on every character personally, when they're all together it's just the best. I don't think I've ever watched a show where all the actors click so well. You can really tell they were all friends in real life. You should definitely give Friends a watch if you have some time to spare. It's worth it!

Vacanze Italiane Part 1!

Hello blog friends :) I mentioned in my last post that I was going to blog about my trip to Italy and I figured I'd finally get around to doing it. SO! Without further ado...

We started the vacation off way in the south of Italy in a small town called Agropoli located in the Salerno region. If we're to picture the "boot", Agropoli is on the arch of the foot. We spent a week here just shopping, going to the beach, chilling by the pool, and eating. Our hotel (Hotel Mare) was right on the beach which was really nice. To be quite honest, I'm not the type of person that can spend hours laying on scorching hot sand in the heat of the day... But my mom is. So I did that. I got a bit of a tan too except it's starting to fade which is a little disheartening. But I'll survive. We made our way up to the medieval town in the mountain a couple times to do some shopping and it's really lovely up there. The lower part of the town has been renovated and it's filled with cafes and shops, but if you take the hike up to the peak (I think it's well worth it), the buildings do date back to the Middle Ages. I can't quite remember the history of it, however the town is set up in a way that's meant to ward off pirates/on-coming attacks. The buildings are very tall and the walk up is a little lengthy. There's an old castle way at the top and it's stone walls are still standing. What I love about Italy is that it can be both a relaxing vacation as well as a cultural experience. I guess that can be said for mostly all of Europe but I feel like Italy is a special case.

Here's a shot of the lower part of the town in the mountains. You can see the modern restaurants on the side, but if you keep walking along this path, you'll hit the really old section. Also, literally every guy in this place was wearing shorts like that (short and bright-colored), but I guess Italian fashion is a whole other conversation.

All of the buildings are incredibly charming. I love the old brick on this one, the contrast of the fuchsia flowers, and the shop sign ("Cose Inutili", which translates to "Useless Things").

Another thing my mom and I did while we were in this Salerno area was take the train to Paestum. Paestum is a location that dates back to "Before Christ" times, making it incredibly, incredibly old. Here, you can basically find a series of three temples dedicated to various Greek deities (one to Poseidon, one to Athena, and one to Hera). The Romans took over the area in the year 274, and built a village surrounding the temples, of which only the ruins can be seen today. The only place is very fascinating and we spent about 3-4 hours wandering around, checking out the sites, and visiting the accompanying museum.

This is the temple dedicated to Athena, the first of the three. (That's my mom in the pic, lol)

This is the temples dedicated to Poseidon. Although this was the largest of the three temples, it surprisingly wasn't the "most important". The most important temples of the three was the only dedicated to Hera, wife of Zeus (which I conveniently don't have a picture of). The temple dedicated to Hera was where they would keep the treasure and all that.

The last little excursion I'm going to mention for this part of my trip is the "Enogastronomical tour" that my mom and I took. The day started off visiting the factory where mozzarella di bufala is made. We got to hang out with the buffalos and I actually really enjoyed myself. The buffalos looked really comfortable (despite living in a factory), and I got to pet a few of them which was fun. They are massive creatures though. The factory, called Vannullo, claimed that the only way to achieve quality mozzarella is to keep the buffalos happy and serene. They therefore played Mozart for them every morning and set up a station where they could get massaged... Not bad!

Next, we were off to an amazing vineyard in Agropoli. It was a private-owned vineyard and winery where we got to taste some great wines. If I wasn't a fan of wine before this trip, I definitely am now lol! They also had a ton of olive trees and made their own olive oil as well, which we got to taste on some of their home-made bread. Really yummy!

For lunch, we went to a tiny town located way up in the mountains called Castelcivita that also dates back to the Middle Ages. And when I say mountains, I mean WAY up in the mountains. It was a quiet, quaint little village--mostly attributed to the fact that the only people who still live there are 80+ years old. All of the young people in the town have moved out and gone to the larger cities. Anyway, it was really fun to see and we had dinner at a lovely restaurant that served locally-grown foods only. To be honest, I'd be incredibly happy living up there. Maybe I'd get a little city-sick once in a while, but it's got way too much character and life not to be appreciated. I don't know. It's really a gem. 

This was the view from the restaurant we had lunch at which was located a little further south from the major part of the town.

That pretty much wraps up the first week of the trip. Next on the agenda was four days in Monopoli, a city on the outskirts of the Bari region, located on the ankle of the boot, which means 6+ hours of train rides from Agropoli to there... Not fun considering my luggage weighed a million pounds. But hey. Once we got there we met up with my mom's friend Mariangela who invited us to spend our time there at her mother's house in Monopoli. My mom had already spent time with them last time she was in Italy but it was going to be my first time ever meeting these people so I was a little anxious, but they were so friendly and affectionate and caring and cooked the best food. Also, Mariangela had a niece my age named Francesca who spoke English so I spent a lot of time with her and her friends & family as well, which was nice.

They have these special cucumbers that grow only in the Monopoli region and they were SOOO good! Best spherical cucumbers ever!

One day we were driving around and came across this tiny beach... But have you ever seen water so stunning?!

I'll just quickly go over some of the things we did in Monopoli now... The first night I went to the beach with my friend Francesca and her friends. I was a little nervous, again, considering I didn't know these people and they didn't know me... But the whole thing turned out to be a lot of fun, even if I didn't really understand them since they spoke mostly Barese dialect (which is basically a whole other language. Seriously. It can't be Italian.). Anyway! Francesca's friend Davide picked us up in his silver convertible and we went to meet Francesca's other friends at a little shack by the beach where we picked up some beers and pizza. All of her friends were extremely friendly and all took the time to introduce themselves to me, and one bought me a beer which was cute. One thing I noticed, though, is that at least Francesca's group of friends (not sure if I can generalize this to "all Italian teens") drink much less than we do here in Montreal. Just an observation. But I think it goes to show that they genuinely just enjoy one another's company and aren't worried about not having a good time without drinking. It was refreshing. I'll try to describe her friends a little more...

One thing to be said is that Francesca is an activist for all different types of causes, from animal to human rights--the whole spectrum. And so are all her friends. I don't know if this is why, but I found them to be the least materialistic group of teenagers I've ever met (maybe besides the silver convertible, however I later found out it was environmentally friendly AND not to mention it had a WWF bumper sticker). Also, none of them were self-conscious whatsoever. All the girls were wearing bikinis and as soon as we hit the sand they all bolted straight to the water.

One of her friends brought his guitar along and made a very futile attempt at playing songs I might recognize (aside from some Beatles, they seemed to be really into Norah Jones... Really?). Davide let me flip through his iPod. I don't know why that surprised me. It was chock-full of Oasis-esque bands and classic rock. Later one of her friends was telling me he was in a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band, lol. Anyway, everyone sang and danced and talked all night.

This wraps up part uno of my blog posts on my Italian vacation (I honestly didn't think it would be this long and I'm tired)... So the rest will be up soon!