Long time no see!
After I got back from Peru (Mike and I broke up while I was there, not sure if I updated you on that), I moved back home, and started working at Victoria's Secret again. I worked there for a few months, and in October I talked with Kerry and Kate about going to England to visit everyone. Then, in November I had a truly life altering conversation with Ellen in that she encouraged me to move to Washington DC. I discovered the best way to move to a new place, or to do things that are challenging in general. The key is to trick yourself. Let me explain.
I spoke with Ellen in November. I told Kerry I would come with her to the UK to visit all of our British friends in February. The trick was, I bought a round trip ticket from New York, and vowed that I would not need a plane ticket to get there. So I needed to be moved into DC by Feb 14. I gave myself about a month, and my one way ticket to Washington left on January 17, 2014. About a week later, I was moved into a house with 3 roommates: Sam, (and his girlfriend Sheila), Leanne, and Diana. Two or three weeks after that, I was on the bus to New York, then Kerry and I met at Heathrow!
That was a great trip, we got to see such great friends! We stayed with Kate, and Valeria, and Grace at different times. We also made a side trip to Paris. And we had so much fun that we are planning another trip! This February we will be going to Iceland!
Upon my return, I basically used up all my credit on living and job hunting. Job hunting, in case you don't know, is the WORST.
Luckily, Sam was working with a temp agency called CityStaff. CityStaff sent me on a job interview with a law firm, and I did not get that job. Then, I worked for one day at a restaurant, but they never called me back. I also had a job offer from Guess to be their assistant manager, but the manager forgot about my interview where I was supposed to meet the district manager. Since then, the store has closed down, so I supposed it's for the best.
One morning, I woke up early fully intent to deal with my stress regarding unemployment by watching Netflix, when CityStaff called me and asked if I could work that day. I jumped out of bed and onto the metro, and was hired to sit at the desk at Rosetta Stone HQ for the day. They asked me back the next day, and I met the person in charge of the receptionists, Natasha. She asked me what I was looking for in terms of work, and I told her that something like this would be great (full time, and money? YES please!) So I stayed on for a month or so before I had a "formal interview," which consisted of Natasha asking me if I would stay longer than 6 months.
I've been working there for about 8 months now, and it's great. I answer phones and greet guests and help candidates get to their interviews, I book travel for candidates and other non-company guests, and I am working on assisting our foreign employees with travel to the U.S. and hopefully will be rewriting travel policy while studying for the GRE.
That's right! Grad school is back on the table! I got accepted to the Institute of Education in London last year while in Peru, but I couldn't rustle up the money to get there. So I am going to take the GRE and try to get into international relations and/or public policy either here in DC or in Geneva.
There was a bit of a trick to that as well. I signed up yesterday to take it (I have been studying longer, but I actually booked it yesterday) on October 9. That is about a month from now. That means, I have to be done studying in a month. It leaves little time for procrastination (as you can see).
I hope I do well on it, but if not I can take it again.
That's about it for now :)
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Friday, June 28, 2013
Quinden
5:50 am: "It's time to go! You are going to miss your bus!"
I leap out of bed, rubbing sleep from my eyes, shaking alcohol out of my head, and tearing on my clothes. Black jeans, green shirt, brown jacket, shoes. Done. Where is my bag? Empty. AH! Throw everything inside bag, run out the door. No passport. Run back to house, grab ID.
Finally, 6:05 am, we are on the way to the bus station. We clamber out of the cab, and wait around in the bus station for a while before buying the tickets. That's one thing about Peru, time is different here. Everything runs a little bit slower, with less organization. I am exhausted after having slept for only a few hours the night before, and slightly drunk still thanks to the rum.
I am sitting next to someone I barely know, Braulio, who is one of our students at Horizon. He is 35 or so, and we each try to make conversation relatively unsuccessfully a few times on the bus, but I am tired and pensive.
The music in my one working headphone is on shuffle as we cruise through the desert and dilapidated buildings, shacks in some cases.
I try to sleep, but my brain stays awake. The bus slows down and stops. Braulio says everyone's least favorite word in Peru, "Policia." Everyone scrambles for their ID, and two of my fellow gringos are escorted off the bus because their IDs are not passports. The Spanish speakers of the group, Braulio included, get off the bus as well, leaving myself and one other volunteer to wait nervously. 20 minutes later, all the white people get back onto the bus and explain that the cops just needed 20 soles and to scare some tourists.
For the few of you that are not acquainted with Peruvian currency, 20 soles is approximately $7.19.
In all seriousness, the police here are not to be trifled with. Many are corrupt, extortionate, and drug involved. Luckily these guys just needed a little bribe to get them moving along. The bus revs up again and we continue our trek, climbing the mountains. Suddenly in the middle of our two lane highway, my fellow volunteers start collecting their things. I slip my ipod into my pocket and we get off the bus in the middle of the road. Across the two lanes is a small farm in front of a river, all dwarfed by the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen.
The bright green is rice, the river is behind it, and the mountains are stunning. We put our things down and went for little walk around before lunch. On the walk, we saw a decapitated sheep head, chickens in a coop, chickens not in a coop, two fruit-looking things that we then learn are actually sheep testicles, and sheep skin, in addition to the rice farm and the river. We walked back up to the house and sat down for lunch. The sheep head was missing, and the meat atop the rice and lentils had a flavor I had not had before and was not fond of. Then they brought out a plate of ceviche (raw fish, lime, chili, other spices), which everyone loves and immediately gorged on. After repeated exclamations regarding the delicious taste, Braulio informed us that it was not actually fish in our ceviche, but sheep testicles. Everyone was a bit shocked, but it was good so we kept going, obviously making inappropriate jokes as we ate.
After lunch we went to swim in the river, which moved quickly in some parts but generally was quite nice. We pulled our clothes on back at the house and began the walk to Quinden, the town. If you could call it that.
We walked for ten or twenty minutes on the two lane highway and then through the dirt roads to our hostel. The owner was a kind woman who spoke no English but was quite hospitable. I hit my head on the doorframe on the way into my room, which should surprise no one, especially given that the doorjambs are much shorter than in the states. Even so, unsurprising. The bathroom at the farm was actually a concrete slab with a hole cut into in surrounded by a metal tent with a very blowable curtain as a door. If a truck goes by while you are squatting into the hole, everyone can see you. As a result, I really needed to use the bathroom when I arrived in Quinden. Kellie went first, and came back within a minute complaining about birds in the bathroom, a large turkey in particular. I did not care about some stupid birds, I needed to GO, so I went into the bird room. The birds were mostly perched on a branch, with a few chickens on the ground. I did my thing and realized I had to put the toilet paper in the trash can (you can't flush tp here, at all). There was a chicken atop the wastebasket, but he didnt seem to mind when I lifted up the lid. The real issue was that I could not find the flush button or lever. After some unsuccessful hunting, I decided to ask the nice owner, so I walked past the birds to find her. She explained that I needed to fill up a bucket of water and dump it into the basin of the toilet. Ok, no problem. I had to do it twice because the first time it still didn't work, and when I emerged from the curtain separating the toilet from the rest of the birds, the turkey had had quite enough of my shenanigans. He was on the ground, and he looked at me with his scary, beady eye. I slowly tried to edge past. He released a turkey shriek from hell and charged, puffing his feathers and beating his wings at me! I stuck my foot out and pushed him away, which did not help him feel better. I started yelling for help as the turkey attempts to eat my toes through my shoes, and the nice owner runs in, brandishing a broom at the devil bird and crying, " Vamos, vamos!" I definitely ran out of there and needed an escort for every other bathroom trip in that house.
I have a newfound respect/fear for turkeys now, and will only tolerate them on my plate.
Anyway, we went to dinner after the turkey attack and ate some tamales and soup. Soup is a big thing here, people eat it for most meals. After dinner, someone produced beers and the adults stood in a circle. We had one cup and one bottle of beer open at a time. We took turns with the alcohol and everyone was feelin good pretty soon. I couldn't understand most things that were said, but the beer was nice and so was playing with the kids after a bit of drinking. Ellen learned how to pop the top off a beer bottle by using another beer bottle. In my enthusiasm to find out how to do this, I got shot in the eye by a beer cap as it flew off the top of the bottle. Luckily it didn't change color or anything. After hide and seek, the whole town played a game of bingo, which was really disorganized and full of bingo enthusiasts. Kellie and I went to get some rum and we drank with the other volunteers and some of the older townsfolk.
SOmeone suggested we go look at the stars, and I ran outside to do so. I was the only one though, and all of a sudden someone was saying come back inside, pulling me back in. Apparently I had run into a street with four or five armed (with semis probably) and masked men, who were acting as curfew enforcers. Oops.
I kept drinking with the other people until bed. The next morning, we were up bright and early to go climb a mountain.
We hopped on the back of some motorcycles instead of walking back to the farm. First time on a bike! It was lovely, it was around nine, so the sun was up and the farms were lush with the river winding through them, the mountains in the background. If I hadn't lost my phone I would have tried to get some pics.. sorry lol
Back at the farm, everyone ate breakfast while I wrote in my journal, after which I ate some bread and had some tea, and everyone else went to take a nap. The beds were full, and Braulio said he was going to visit his sister- did I want to come? I went, and stuck my head out the window on the ride there. His sister wasn't at home, so we went for some beers, along with his friend Carlos, who was driving. We went back to the sisters and talked for a bit before heading out for some lunch- ceviche time. We went to a restaurant in Quinden and spent at least 2 hours, probably more like 3 and a half, eating, and drinking beers. It was four of us, we met up with one of the teachers of a school and he joined us. As I drank more beer, my spanish improved immensely which was great, but is now frustrating as I cannot speak a lick of it again. The four of us went through 14 beers, so we were feelin good as we drove back to the farm.
Once back, we went swimming in the river again, which was quite enjoyable with a little buzz going. Then we (8 people) piled into a car with Carlos and his friend Gringo, and set out for the 3 hour drive. Not too fun but well worth the trip.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Time to try blogging again!
Hopefully I'll stick with it this time lol, but we all know I probably won't. I am sitting in the airport in Costa Rica, glad that my laptop charger has decided to work and hoping that it works upon my arrival in Lima. I have written down important addresses and phone numbers though, so I should be alright.
This layover hasn't actually been so bad, I've been reading about Lawrence of Arabia, who so far seems like a pretty badass dude. I have also been doing my language learning program! Yay!
Getting to this point was tough- on Friday I got three shots and almost passed out (typical), and then Saturday was my last day of work and my goodbye Moose and Angel dinner. Sunday I tried to get a lot of errands done, and things kept going wrong, but a delicious sushi dinner and some friend drinking afterward made up for it. I must say that yesterday took the cake though.
To make a long story short, I got my calculus grade changed, went to Costco twice, went to the mall, picked up a bunch of peruvian money, bought someone a present, dropped off some thank you notes to the postman and sent my rough draft to my manager to finish my grad school apps!
* update: Now I'm in my bed in Lima! I really like it here so far, the buildings are super pretty. Well some of them are. I took a walk around the block and got a little sandwich and some pics. More later :)
Hopefully I'll stick with it this time lol, but we all know I probably won't. I am sitting in the airport in Costa Rica, glad that my laptop charger has decided to work and hoping that it works upon my arrival in Lima. I have written down important addresses and phone numbers though, so I should be alright.
This layover hasn't actually been so bad, I've been reading about Lawrence of Arabia, who so far seems like a pretty badass dude. I have also been doing my language learning program! Yay!
Getting to this point was tough- on Friday I got three shots and almost passed out (typical), and then Saturday was my last day of work and my goodbye Moose and Angel dinner. Sunday I tried to get a lot of errands done, and things kept going wrong, but a delicious sushi dinner and some friend drinking afterward made up for it. I must say that yesterday took the cake though.
To make a long story short, I got my calculus grade changed, went to Costco twice, went to the mall, picked up a bunch of peruvian money, bought someone a present, dropped off some thank you notes to the postman and sent my rough draft to my manager to finish my grad school apps!
* update: Now I'm in my bed in Lima! I really like it here so far, the buildings are super pretty. Well some of them are. I took a walk around the block and got a little sandwich and some pics. More later :)
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
polysci
Perhaps this class in blog form will be less invasive to those on facebook who don't care about it. Which is mostly everyone I think. After reaffirming a few times that the midterm will be "around the middle of the term," I was a bit surprised to realize that, the middle of the term has arrived.
The first gem of the night, a little dull and lackluster: When you say to write the essay so your mother could understand it, does that effect the language you use?
Number two: To professor: "Will you be using a specific rubric we can take a look at?"
Answer: "I don't know what that means."
Nixon was a white supremacist apparently. He felt that black people were inferior, but he established programs in order to make them better- Affirmative action
He just told a story about an old man who saw that he had a political scientist badge on once. and the old man said, are you a political scientist? Prof: yes. OM: Is the social security act constitutional? Prof: yeah. OM whips out pocket sized constitution: where does it say that?
Was this old man just carrying around a constitution waiting to bump into a political scientist?
im losing focus...this was a bit of a fail
The first gem of the night, a little dull and lackluster: When you say to write the essay so your mother could understand it, does that effect the language you use?
Number two: To professor: "Will you be using a specific rubric we can take a look at?"
Answer: "I don't know what that means."
Nixon was a white supremacist apparently. He felt that black people were inferior, but he established programs in order to make them better- Affirmative action
He just told a story about an old man who saw that he had a political scientist badge on once. and the old man said, are you a political scientist? Prof: yes. OM: Is the social security act constitutional? Prof: yeah. OM whips out pocket sized constitution: where does it say that?
Was this old man just carrying around a constitution waiting to bump into a political scientist?
im losing focus...this was a bit of a fail
Friday, September 14, 2012
I know no one checks this anymore
But I am going to write anyway. I figured that after my return, keeping this updated was a bit silly since no one outside the States reads this, and now we can text!
The reason I am writing is to keep my goals in check. I have 4 months before I want to move and SO much to do until then. I need to find a job, first. Or decide if I want to get a Masters, in which case I need to come up with some MONEY. But probably, a job. Then, I need a visa. Then a place to live. I just checked plane tickets (not a priority now but still) and they are only about $500-600, which is AWESOME.
In addition to that I want at least a 3.5 gpa this semester. Considering my habits of doing the bare minimum for school, I need to work really hard to get this.
Mike left yesterday and I am feeling a bit distant from everything- as though I'm just going through the motions. But Norwich is closer than ever (well, closer than it's been in a while) and I just need to keep running until I am done. I found a really good quote today when I was bumping around on youtube:
The best years of your life are the ones in which you realize your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny. (Albert Ellis)
These are the best years and I am going to make the most of them.
Anyway, nice catching up (if you are reading lol)
The reason I am writing is to keep my goals in check. I have 4 months before I want to move and SO much to do until then. I need to find a job, first. Or decide if I want to get a Masters, in which case I need to come up with some MONEY. But probably, a job. Then, I need a visa. Then a place to live. I just checked plane tickets (not a priority now but still) and they are only about $500-600, which is AWESOME.
In addition to that I want at least a 3.5 gpa this semester. Considering my habits of doing the bare minimum for school, I need to work really hard to get this.
Mike left yesterday and I am feeling a bit distant from everything- as though I'm just going through the motions. But Norwich is closer than ever (well, closer than it's been in a while) and I just need to keep running until I am done. I found a really good quote today when I was bumping around on youtube:
The best years of your life are the ones in which you realize your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny. (Albert Ellis)
These are the best years and I am going to make the most of them.
Anyway, nice catching up (if you are reading lol)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Last day of March
Hey errbody :)
So in case you haven't heard, I will be back in the States in exactly one week. I will be in SF until Tuesday the 12 and in SD til the 28 of April. Yay!
In SF, we will be eating lots of awesome food. In SD, we will be going to the beach as much as humanly possible! I have a bet with Mike about who will get a better tan, and obviously I have to win this! Crystal ,I know tanning is bad for the skin and everything, but now it's a bet and my dignity is at stake so...tanning it is! Also in SD, we will be driving! AHHHHHH! I haven't driven in around 6 months. SIX MONTHS. I can honestly barely believe that. But I have new music so we will have lots of fun! And shopping!
Basically, I'm super excited to come visit and see everyone. Love you guys, see you SOON!
So in case you haven't heard, I will be back in the States in exactly one week. I will be in SF until Tuesday the 12 and in SD til the 28 of April. Yay!
In SF, we will be eating lots of awesome food. In SD, we will be going to the beach as much as humanly possible! I have a bet with Mike about who will get a better tan, and obviously I have to win this! Crystal ,I know tanning is bad for the skin and everything, but now it's a bet and my dignity is at stake so...tanning it is! Also in SD, we will be driving! AHHHHHH! I haven't driven in around 6 months. SIX MONTHS. I can honestly barely believe that. But I have new music so we will have lots of fun! And shopping!
Basically, I'm super excited to come visit and see everyone. Love you guys, see you SOON!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saint Patty's Day
Basically, I love the Irish. They take a former slave who converted the pagans to Christianity and celebrate it in the only way they know how- extremely excessive drinking! Thanks Patty! Unfortunately I did not have the money or the time yesterday to drink beginning at 10 AM, as is apparently the custom for the true celebrators of Ireland's patron saint.
I was writing an essay or trying to force the printer to print it 5 minutes before it was due. The essay was about different factors that affect cell migration. 1500 words. Do you know anything about Rho GTPases or integrins or focal adhesion kinase? Neither did I before yesterday. Hooray!!
Anyway, after turning in the essay, I went back to my room for a nap. I opened the window, but had to close it again because even though my room is at least a five minute walk away from the center of campus, there were SO many people there drinking, I couldn't sleep because of the noise. I was not joking when I said 10 AM. I read an article about a 5 year old (or a 3 year old, one of the two) that was an alcoholic. No joke. I swear, the English are just as bad as the Irish, and this holiday, which celebrates the Christianity of Ireland (which is also weird if you think about it because Ireland has all kinds of fights and issues due to the geographic split, which I think has a lot to do with Catholics vs Protestants) is dedicated purely to drinking as much as humanly possible. After my nap, Mike and I drank a bottle of wine (he drank most of it) and went to the LCR. So Saint Patrick's Day was pretty good on this end of the world :)
Hope you all had a good day too. I miss you all and none of you ever skype me :(
I was writing an essay or trying to force the printer to print it 5 minutes before it was due. The essay was about different factors that affect cell migration. 1500 words. Do you know anything about Rho GTPases or integrins or focal adhesion kinase? Neither did I before yesterday. Hooray!!
Anyway, after turning in the essay, I went back to my room for a nap. I opened the window, but had to close it again because even though my room is at least a five minute walk away from the center of campus, there were SO many people there drinking, I couldn't sleep because of the noise. I was not joking when I said 10 AM. I read an article about a 5 year old (or a 3 year old, one of the two) that was an alcoholic. No joke. I swear, the English are just as bad as the Irish, and this holiday, which celebrates the Christianity of Ireland (which is also weird if you think about it because Ireland has all kinds of fights and issues due to the geographic split, which I think has a lot to do with Catholics vs Protestants) is dedicated purely to drinking as much as humanly possible. After my nap, Mike and I drank a bottle of wine (he drank most of it) and went to the LCR. So Saint Patrick's Day was pretty good on this end of the world :)
Hope you all had a good day too. I miss you all and none of you ever skype me :(
Sunday, March 13, 2011
dogs jokes and boys (Mike)
Ok ok, I know I keep saying this, but SORRY for taking so long to write again. My reasons are silly, but you guys basically know what's going on, I just talk to you individually (or can't get hold of you!) rather than writing on the blog. Still, I am procrastinating at the moment, and figured I was way way way overdue for an update. We left off at the very beginning of the semester. I am still generally enjoying classes and everything, the only real news there is that I'm taking a second year course as well as the rest of my technically first year courses. The thing is, these are way harder than the classes in the states- at the first year level.
One major piece of news that I've avoided writing on here is the boyfriend. Hilariously enough, I am dating a guy named Mike- we've been together since just before Christmas :) (Hilarious because my sister is also dating a Mike lol). He's basically amazing- you guys would all like him a lot. He's 20, blond hair, blue eyes (that look greenish or greyish sometines) and about 2 or 3 inches taller than me.
For his birthday (about a month ago), we went to an aquarium in a nearby town. It was really nice because we are actually pretty close to the ocean, and this town (Great Yarmouth), is right next to the North Sea. So for the first time in MONTHS I got to see the ocean again! It was such a cute little town too, it looked like a typical beach town but in the off season, so everything was closed. There was a boardwalk though, and they had rides and stuff on one pier, and bowling and an arcade on another pier. There was a theater there as well, but no one was inside, so we went in and explored a little bit. Most of the doors inside were locked, but it was still fun to look around. After the fishies and the piers, we went to watch Black Swan. It was super good! If you haven't seen it, you should. Luckily, it's online if you don't wanna pay money. The best website ever to watch stuff online, by the way, is fastpasstv.com. Hulu doesn't work here, so we've had to come up with new methods haha. The other good one is tv.blinkx.com. Both lead you to links to watch whatever you want basically.
Yesterday we went into town and messed around in the mall for a while before going to see Unknown at the theater. Or theatre as it's spelled here. I get so much crap for my accent here, but it's funny because both Mike and another flatmate Nick are trying to convert my accent to be more British. The thing is, they are picking up more American than I am picking up British!
Oh hey! My dad got a dog! He's a blue kerry terrier, and he's super cute. The only problem is, the dog was really badly behaved, so Dad gave him back to the breeder after like four days. So when I say, "Dad got a dog," it's really in the past tense, and he doesn't have it anymore. :(
Dude. You guys. The other day we were watching Youtube videos, and there are these two comedians who were really funny, but really offensive. I will find some links, one sec.
Jimmy Carr
assortment
So the first one is just the one guy, and the next one is a bunch of different comedians. Some of the references will be lost, but some of the jokes are really good (PS- Richard Hammond works on a car show and he got into a crash which lead to temporary brain damage, including memory loss).
hope you like them :)
I think about you guys all the time and miss all of you a whole bunch! If you get a chance, skype me or facebook or something so we can talk!
One major piece of news that I've avoided writing on here is the boyfriend. Hilariously enough, I am dating a guy named Mike- we've been together since just before Christmas :) (Hilarious because my sister is also dating a Mike lol). He's basically amazing- you guys would all like him a lot. He's 20, blond hair, blue eyes (that look greenish or greyish sometines) and about 2 or 3 inches taller than me.
For his birthday (about a month ago), we went to an aquarium in a nearby town. It was really nice because we are actually pretty close to the ocean, and this town (Great Yarmouth), is right next to the North Sea. So for the first time in MONTHS I got to see the ocean again! It was such a cute little town too, it looked like a typical beach town but in the off season, so everything was closed. There was a boardwalk though, and they had rides and stuff on one pier, and bowling and an arcade on another pier. There was a theater there as well, but no one was inside, so we went in and explored a little bit. Most of the doors inside were locked, but it was still fun to look around. After the fishies and the piers, we went to watch Black Swan. It was super good! If you haven't seen it, you should. Luckily, it's online if you don't wanna pay money. The best website ever to watch stuff online, by the way, is fastpasstv.com. Hulu doesn't work here, so we've had to come up with new methods haha. The other good one is tv.blinkx.com. Both lead you to links to watch whatever you want basically.
Yesterday we went into town and messed around in the mall for a while before going to see Unknown at the theater. Or theatre as it's spelled here. I get so much crap for my accent here, but it's funny because both Mike and another flatmate Nick are trying to convert my accent to be more British. The thing is, they are picking up more American than I am picking up British!
Oh hey! My dad got a dog! He's a blue kerry terrier, and he's super cute. The only problem is, the dog was really badly behaved, so Dad gave him back to the breeder after like four days. So when I say, "Dad got a dog," it's really in the past tense, and he doesn't have it anymore. :(
Dude. You guys. The other day we were watching Youtube videos, and there are these two comedians who were really funny, but really offensive. I will find some links, one sec.
Jimmy Carr
assortment
So the first one is just the one guy, and the next one is a bunch of different comedians. Some of the references will be lost, but some of the jokes are really good (PS- Richard Hammond works on a car show and he got into a crash which lead to temporary brain damage, including memory loss).
hope you like them :)
I think about you guys all the time and miss all of you a whole bunch! If you get a chance, skype me or facebook or something so we can talk!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
New Entry
Hi Everyone!
I know you have probably given up checking this blog-it's been so long! I am sorry.
Christmas was really, really good. I went to Ireland with Kaylee and we stayed with Niamh and her fabulous family. We ate real food that we didn't cook, which was a little slice of heaven in itself, especially after we had the worst time actually getting there, what with terrible weather, missed connections, and cancelled trains. The trip was worth it though- as you can see by the pics on facebook haha. We went to the bars, which was fun because the people there are friendlier..well, more easy going than the people here. I guess it's not so much that they are nicer in Ireland, but that they joke around a lot more, so it makes them seem friendlier. Anyway. We also went to a Norman castle, built in the 1200's! It was on the border of northern Ireland-we saw it right across the fjord. Turns out Ireland has two fjords haha. In the town with the castle (Carlingford), we ate oysters with Guinness as well. Oysters are some of the best food ever guys. Really. I know they look super gross when you see them on the plate, but really, they're awesome.
Christmas itself was quite nice. We woke up and went to Mass (everyone in the Republic of Ireland is Catholic). After Mass, we went to Niamh's grandparents, and then to her aunt's boyfriend's house. His name is Charlie, and he was absolutely hilarious. He immediately went and made us drinks, at around 1 in the afternoon on Christmas day-he was really drunk by this point by the way. The drinks were really, really strong. He was great. We made it back to Niamh's and ate a magnificent dinner. There was a huge turkey (25 lbs!) and ham, three kinds of potatoes, veggies, garlic bread, and cider. Cider, by the way, is alcoholic over here. It's pretty good, but it makes me sleepy, as did the food, so after some bangin dessert, we watched Happy Feet and dozed. Then we went back to Charlies for more drinks, soap operas, Wii, and guitars. You guys. I swear, I have never, in all my years of watching super dramatic intense tv, seen an episode so crazy. It was a soap opera, but still. I couldn't believe they thought of all the stuff that could go wrong haha.
A few days after Christmas, it was time for us to go. Niamh's dad, Ray (her mom's name was Denise. HAHA Crystal how weird is that??) , drove Kaylee and I to the ferry station and we got on a boat and left. On the boat, we had some fish and chips. These fish and chips, along with the potato chips and candy bar I had earlier, made me feel a bit weird, but whatever. We got off the ferry and got to sleep on the floor of the ferry station as we waited to board the train that left at 4 ish am. Yay. I woke up from the floor and was super grumpy (you guys know what I get like when I don't sleep haha). On the train, I went back to sleep. I woke up and felt even worse. I ended up being sick on the train. Multiple times. Yay fish and chips. So, finally, we make it to London, where Kaylee and I were meant to split up so I could get my flight to Norway. I had a full hour, but, as it turned out, the airport wasn't actually in London at all. Great. So I got directions from someone. And got on the wrong train. Long story short, I didn't make it to Norway, which ended up being alright, considering I threw up on every train I was on.
I made it back to Norwich and went to bed. Kaylee made me eat some soup, which was nice. New Years was fun- we just went to a club. I've put those pics on FB as well..I think. I didn't get drunk, which I thought was fitting because I've never started a new year drunk, and there's no reason to start now right? A few days after new years, Russell came to visit.
He slept for a few days, and then we explored Norwich for a few days (ok, a few hours haha). When people started coming back, we went out to town. Then, on my actual birthday, we went to London! Woo! We saw all the touristy things, and then we went shopping, followed by the British Museum, which actually is one of my favorite places on earth. Literally. After the museum, we walked around soho for a while and ate some BOMB sushi. We got the train back, and after a delay "due to an incident that the British Royal Police had to assist with," we got back to Norwich. We stayed up til 1 or 2 and then woke up at 4 ish to make sure he got the bus at 5am. He made the bus and got home without incident.
After Russell left, everyone started coming back. That Saturday, we had a bunch of people over for pre drinks, and they all sang happy birthday to me, which was so cute! We went to the LCR (club on campus) after, which was fun. Actually, I ended up leaving early because I got a nosebleed haha. Fun times.
I started classes that week. They are pretty good generally, but will most likely be changing soon so that I can get more units taken care of. On tuesday there was another LCR, and it was really good haha. Going back there again in a few hours!
As you can see, my life, while school is in session, consists mostly of work, class, or the LCR. This is why I don't write very often, but leave me comments so I know you're reading, and ask me questions or tell me about your life. Love you guys!
I know you have probably given up checking this blog-it's been so long! I am sorry.
Christmas was really, really good. I went to Ireland with Kaylee and we stayed with Niamh and her fabulous family. We ate real food that we didn't cook, which was a little slice of heaven in itself, especially after we had the worst time actually getting there, what with terrible weather, missed connections, and cancelled trains. The trip was worth it though- as you can see by the pics on facebook haha. We went to the bars, which was fun because the people there are friendlier..well, more easy going than the people here. I guess it's not so much that they are nicer in Ireland, but that they joke around a lot more, so it makes them seem friendlier. Anyway. We also went to a Norman castle, built in the 1200's! It was on the border of northern Ireland-we saw it right across the fjord. Turns out Ireland has two fjords haha. In the town with the castle (Carlingford), we ate oysters with Guinness as well. Oysters are some of the best food ever guys. Really. I know they look super gross when you see them on the plate, but really, they're awesome.
Christmas itself was quite nice. We woke up and went to Mass (everyone in the Republic of Ireland is Catholic). After Mass, we went to Niamh's grandparents, and then to her aunt's boyfriend's house. His name is Charlie, and he was absolutely hilarious. He immediately went and made us drinks, at around 1 in the afternoon on Christmas day-he was really drunk by this point by the way. The drinks were really, really strong. He was great. We made it back to Niamh's and ate a magnificent dinner. There was a huge turkey (25 lbs!) and ham, three kinds of potatoes, veggies, garlic bread, and cider. Cider, by the way, is alcoholic over here. It's pretty good, but it makes me sleepy, as did the food, so after some bangin dessert, we watched Happy Feet and dozed. Then we went back to Charlies for more drinks, soap operas, Wii, and guitars. You guys. I swear, I have never, in all my years of watching super dramatic intense tv, seen an episode so crazy. It was a soap opera, but still. I couldn't believe they thought of all the stuff that could go wrong haha.
A few days after Christmas, it was time for us to go. Niamh's dad, Ray (her mom's name was Denise. HAHA Crystal how weird is that??) , drove Kaylee and I to the ferry station and we got on a boat and left. On the boat, we had some fish and chips. These fish and chips, along with the potato chips and candy bar I had earlier, made me feel a bit weird, but whatever. We got off the ferry and got to sleep on the floor of the ferry station as we waited to board the train that left at 4 ish am. Yay. I woke up from the floor and was super grumpy (you guys know what I get like when I don't sleep haha). On the train, I went back to sleep. I woke up and felt even worse. I ended up being sick on the train. Multiple times. Yay fish and chips. So, finally, we make it to London, where Kaylee and I were meant to split up so I could get my flight to Norway. I had a full hour, but, as it turned out, the airport wasn't actually in London at all. Great. So I got directions from someone. And got on the wrong train. Long story short, I didn't make it to Norway, which ended up being alright, considering I threw up on every train I was on.
I made it back to Norwich and went to bed. Kaylee made me eat some soup, which was nice. New Years was fun- we just went to a club. I've put those pics on FB as well..I think. I didn't get drunk, which I thought was fitting because I've never started a new year drunk, and there's no reason to start now right? A few days after new years, Russell came to visit.
He slept for a few days, and then we explored Norwich for a few days (ok, a few hours haha). When people started coming back, we went out to town. Then, on my actual birthday, we went to London! Woo! We saw all the touristy things, and then we went shopping, followed by the British Museum, which actually is one of my favorite places on earth. Literally. After the museum, we walked around soho for a while and ate some BOMB sushi. We got the train back, and after a delay "due to an incident that the British Royal Police had to assist with," we got back to Norwich. We stayed up til 1 or 2 and then woke up at 4 ish to make sure he got the bus at 5am. He made the bus and got home without incident.
After Russell left, everyone started coming back. That Saturday, we had a bunch of people over for pre drinks, and they all sang happy birthday to me, which was so cute! We went to the LCR (club on campus) after, which was fun. Actually, I ended up leaving early because I got a nosebleed haha. Fun times.
I started classes that week. They are pretty good generally, but will most likely be changing soon so that I can get more units taken care of. On tuesday there was another LCR, and it was really good haha. Going back there again in a few hours!
As you can see, my life, while school is in session, consists mostly of work, class, or the LCR. This is why I don't write very often, but leave me comments so I know you're reading, and ask me questions or tell me about your life. Love you guys!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Merry Christmas!
Hey guys!
These past weeks have been really busy with tests and work, so I haven't written. I figured you wouldn't want to hear about each library study session or piece of work due. Now though, break has begun! The snow here is so pretty. It's been snowing for almost a month (with some breaks-it hasn't been constant), and I still really like it.
It's super weird to be here because everyone is gone except for Kaylee and I. We live in a flat of 8 people, and it's odd to think that we'll be the only ones here for the next few weeks. It's only been two days and I miss everyone haha. I'm really glad that we won't be staying here the whole time.
Tuesday, Kaylee and I are gonna go visit Niamh in Ireland! Her family invited us to stay for Christmas. And then after that I'm off to Norway! Woo!
I feel like my entries keep getting shorter and shorter, what do you guys wanna know?
Love you guys! have a good break and enjoy your time off and with family and everything!
These past weeks have been really busy with tests and work, so I haven't written. I figured you wouldn't want to hear about each library study session or piece of work due. Now though, break has begun! The snow here is so pretty. It's been snowing for almost a month (with some breaks-it hasn't been constant), and I still really like it.
It's super weird to be here because everyone is gone except for Kaylee and I. We live in a flat of 8 people, and it's odd to think that we'll be the only ones here for the next few weeks. It's only been two days and I miss everyone haha. I'm really glad that we won't be staying here the whole time.
Tuesday, Kaylee and I are gonna go visit Niamh in Ireland! Her family invited us to stay for Christmas. And then after that I'm off to Norway! Woo!
I feel like my entries keep getting shorter and shorter, what do you guys wanna know?
Love you guys! have a good break and enjoy your time off and with family and everything!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Playlist
Alright, so I have just remembered, as I foolishly procrastinate my lab report writing, that I said I'd dedicate a post to music over here. I'm not really sure of the best way to do this, as I haven't actually bought any of the music, so I think my plan is gonna be youtube. Ill post the links here, and you can listen to them at your will.
Duck Sauce- Barbara Streisand
This song is way better without all the people talking. Especially Barbara Streisand.
Cheryl Cole- Promise This
Katy B- End too Soon
Yolanda be cool- papa l'americano
Take That- The Flood
Biffy Clyro- Bubbles
I know there are more, but this is it for now, as I do need to write this dumb thing. later guys.
Duck Sauce- Barbara Streisand
This song is way better without all the people talking. Especially Barbara Streisand.
Cheryl Cole- Promise This
Katy B- End too Soon
Yolanda be cool- papa l'americano
Take That- The Flood
Biffy Clyro- Bubbles
I know there are more, but this is it for now, as I do need to write this dumb thing. later guys.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Good morning!
What's up guys?
It's been about two weeks since we last "spoke." In that time, quite a bit has happened. Firstly, last weekend I went to Amsterdam! Minus the eternal bus rides, it was so cool! Amsterdam, as it turns out, has more canals in the city than any other city in Europe. Even more than Venice! When we got there, we went to breakfast and ate the best food ever. Literally, these pancakes were the most delicious thing I've eaten in two months. This is what mine looked like; please forgive the hobo-ness haha, we were just off the bus.
Breakfast eaten, we went on the walking tour, and learned all kinds of fun facts for three hours or so. We walked from one end of the city to the other. That's one thing that I didn't expect- Amsterdam is actually pretty small, but there is a lot of stuff there. We walked past Anne Frank's house and the red light district. The oldest prostitute in Amsterdam is rumored to be 82 years old, with her own room, and...brace yourself...a two week wait list! Umm....no thank you!
After the walking tour, Hanna (my Norwegian friend) and I went back to Anne Frank's house and met up with a bunch of people we knew completely by accident haha. We all went to the museum and saw the rooms that the Franks and the others lived in for two years. If you haven't read the book, you should.
We got some dinner at a nice Italian restaurant after Anne Frank, followed by a night on the town. It was quite an early night though, because Hanna, this girl Claire, and I were tired. So we went home early haha. The next day, the three of us got up early and went to the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty cool, he was a really talented painter, and the sheer volume of his work is pretty astounding. I mean, he only painted for around 11 years, and came out with 900 paintings, among another few hundred drawings.
We went shopping after hanging out with Van Gogh, and it was a lot of fun! I didn't buy much, but walking around in the stores and seeing the different style of the city. Turns out the Netherlands has more tall people than any other country in Europe. I felt short while walking down the street for one of the first, or perhaps the very first, time in my (adult) life. You know how when you go shopping sometimes, there's that group of shorter, older women (like 50's-60's) that are all together and just hanging out? They usually are at least a head shorter than me, but there, we were the same height. It was pretty weird.
Saturday was shopping day, and Saturday night was the red light bar crawl. That was a good night. We went to five different bars and ended up at a club, just dancin away. I have developed a new appreciation for the club scene since being here- it's pretty fun :)
Waking up Sunday morning was pretty interesting, but once we were on the bus, sleep came pretty easily. Bye bye Amsterdam!
This week was pretty good, but busy as usual. We are getting a lot more work as the semester winds down. I've got another test on Monday for chemistry, despite having just taken one last Monday. Ugh. On Wednesday, Kaylee and I went to the store for Thanksgiving food, and it was snowing! It's been snowing off and on since then too, it's been really nice. On Friday, Kaylee and I made (ok, mostly Kaylee) Thanksgiving dinner for us and around 8 or 9 other people. It was a lot of fun, especially since a bunch of them had never had Thanksgiving before. Christmas dinner is their big holiday dinner here.
I'll put pictures of the snow and of Thanksgiving on facebook eventually, but it may be a while haha. Gotta run, time to study!
It's been about two weeks since we last "spoke." In that time, quite a bit has happened. Firstly, last weekend I went to Amsterdam! Minus the eternal bus rides, it was so cool! Amsterdam, as it turns out, has more canals in the city than any other city in Europe. Even more than Venice! When we got there, we went to breakfast and ate the best food ever. Literally, these pancakes were the most delicious thing I've eaten in two months. This is what mine looked like; please forgive the hobo-ness haha, we were just off the bus.
Breakfast eaten, we went on the walking tour, and learned all kinds of fun facts for three hours or so. We walked from one end of the city to the other. That's one thing that I didn't expect- Amsterdam is actually pretty small, but there is a lot of stuff there. We walked past Anne Frank's house and the red light district. The oldest prostitute in Amsterdam is rumored to be 82 years old, with her own room, and...brace yourself...a two week wait list! Umm....no thank you!
After the walking tour, Hanna (my Norwegian friend) and I went back to Anne Frank's house and met up with a bunch of people we knew completely by accident haha. We all went to the museum and saw the rooms that the Franks and the others lived in for two years. If you haven't read the book, you should.
We got some dinner at a nice Italian restaurant after Anne Frank, followed by a night on the town. It was quite an early night though, because Hanna, this girl Claire, and I were tired. So we went home early haha. The next day, the three of us got up early and went to the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty cool, he was a really talented painter, and the sheer volume of his work is pretty astounding. I mean, he only painted for around 11 years, and came out with 900 paintings, among another few hundred drawings.
We went shopping after hanging out with Van Gogh, and it was a lot of fun! I didn't buy much, but walking around in the stores and seeing the different style of the city. Turns out the Netherlands has more tall people than any other country in Europe. I felt short while walking down the street for one of the first, or perhaps the very first, time in my (adult) life. You know how when you go shopping sometimes, there's that group of shorter, older women (like 50's-60's) that are all together and just hanging out? They usually are at least a head shorter than me, but there, we were the same height. It was pretty weird.
Saturday was shopping day, and Saturday night was the red light bar crawl. That was a good night. We went to five different bars and ended up at a club, just dancin away. I have developed a new appreciation for the club scene since being here- it's pretty fun :)
Waking up Sunday morning was pretty interesting, but once we were on the bus, sleep came pretty easily. Bye bye Amsterdam!
This week was pretty good, but busy as usual. We are getting a lot more work as the semester winds down. I've got another test on Monday for chemistry, despite having just taken one last Monday. Ugh. On Wednesday, Kaylee and I went to the store for Thanksgiving food, and it was snowing! It's been snowing off and on since then too, it's been really nice. On Friday, Kaylee and I made (ok, mostly Kaylee) Thanksgiving dinner for us and around 8 or 9 other people. It was a lot of fun, especially since a bunch of them had never had Thanksgiving before. Christmas dinner is their big holiday dinner here.
I'll put pictures of the snow and of Thanksgiving on facebook eventually, but it may be a while haha. Gotta run, time to study!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Supa quick
Hey Guys,
this isn't actually an entry, I just wanted to post this link because it's funny and gives you a sort of flavo(u)r for what some things are like here. Yay John Cleese!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/23vccv/starrgazr.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/john-cleeses-letter-to-america/
this isn't actually an entry, I just wanted to post this link because it's funny and gives you a sort of flavo(u)r for what some things are like here. Yay John Cleese!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/23vccv/starrgazr.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/john-cleeses-letter-to-america/
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
Hey Everyone!
Minus my nearly epic cough, this week has been a good one. Yesterday was a lot of fun because of Guy Fawkes Day. You know the movie V for Vendetta? The day that V is always talking about is Nov 5, and the reason is that a guy tried to blow up Parliament and was unsuccessful. Turns out, that's a legitimate reason to celebrate here! So last night, they had a carnival set up, and a huge bonfire that was burning a big wicker man who looked like he was holding London above his head, and fireworks! They don't celebrate 4th of July here, as they don't have cause to celebrate our independence from them. So that ended up being a lot of fun.
You guys. Yesterday, when I was walking out from my flat, I saw the biggest earthworm I've ever seen in my life. This thing, no exaggeration, was at least 8 inches long. Maybe even 10. Biggest. Earthworm. Ever.
Anyway, on the agenda this week is to hopefully buy some new shirts and see Due Date. Don't tell me anything about it!
Later guys!
Minus my nearly epic cough, this week has been a good one. Yesterday was a lot of fun because of Guy Fawkes Day. You know the movie V for Vendetta? The day that V is always talking about is Nov 5, and the reason is that a guy tried to blow up Parliament and was unsuccessful. Turns out, that's a legitimate reason to celebrate here! So last night, they had a carnival set up, and a huge bonfire that was burning a big wicker man who looked like he was holding London above his head, and fireworks! They don't celebrate 4th of July here, as they don't have cause to celebrate our independence from them. So that ended up being a lot of fun.
You guys. Yesterday, when I was walking out from my flat, I saw the biggest earthworm I've ever seen in my life. This thing, no exaggeration, was at least 8 inches long. Maybe even 10. Biggest. Earthworm. Ever.
Anyway, on the agenda this week is to hopefully buy some new shirts and see Due Date. Don't tell me anything about it!
Later guys!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Legalize it (?)
Hey guys!
Just wanted to let you know I am indeed (sorta) keeping up with election time in CA! Obviously, the marijuana prop is the most fun one. Any thoughts? Ideas? Comments, rants, raves?
I just watched Obama on Jon Stewart. My two favorite television men were on the same show....it was lovely. I think I'll watch it again actually. My mom sent me a package and I just got it today. Yay!! She sent me packages ( or packets, as they're called here) of cookie mix, and almonds that aren't stale, and Double Stufs, along with alfredo and ranch packets, and duct tape! And a light up bouncy ball. I guess I am destined to always have one of those, no matter where I go haha. It was really really nice though! Thanks Mom!
Halloween is comin up! I went to a party on Wednesday (yeah, I went out on a Wednesday night lol) as an Egyptian! It was awesome. I am gonna be a ballerina on Saturday as well, which will be cool. Unless I want to be Egyptian again haha.
I have decided that Alexandre Dumas is my favorite author. Turns out I really like French Romanticism as a literary style- it's full of adventure and twists and turns; plus, there is no need to analyse it, but you can if you want. Oh. No. I am starting to spell like them! They switch their z's for s's a lot... Ah oh well. Anyway, Dumas. And Hugo. Both are excellent. Just throwin it out there.
yesterday my flatmates and I got into a discussion about pronunciation, which happens at least once a week, but this time was funny, so I'll try to paint a picture for you. We were talking about the mounds of sand in the desert (not really sure why). Dunes. With a D. They say (and I am not exaggerating) Junes. With a J. They think it's a D, but really, it's a J. Then we started talking about the stuff outside on the grass in the mornings. Dew. I think you can see where this is going. Jew. There's Jew on the grass. hahaha that sounds so bad. it was a good conversation.
I am still on the hunt for the Chinless Wonder my mom is so terrified of- I'll keep you posted.
I have got class pretty soon, and then I am gonna go to a waffle party. By the way, waffle here can mean "useless filler." For example, when writing an essay, you don't want to waffle on about something. This party is dedicated to the food though, which will be fun. Waffles. (Now I bet you want chicken and waffles, right my LA friends? lol)
You're welcome.
Special Hello to Crystal, as we haven't spoken for some time and I miss you.
That's about it for now, love you guys!
Just wanted to let you know I am indeed (sorta) keeping up with election time in CA! Obviously, the marijuana prop is the most fun one. Any thoughts? Ideas? Comments, rants, raves?
I just watched Obama on Jon Stewart. My two favorite television men were on the same show....it was lovely. I think I'll watch it again actually. My mom sent me a package and I just got it today. Yay!! She sent me packages ( or packets, as they're called here) of cookie mix, and almonds that aren't stale, and Double Stufs, along with alfredo and ranch packets, and duct tape! And a light up bouncy ball. I guess I am destined to always have one of those, no matter where I go haha. It was really really nice though! Thanks Mom!
Halloween is comin up! I went to a party on Wednesday (yeah, I went out on a Wednesday night lol) as an Egyptian! It was awesome. I am gonna be a ballerina on Saturday as well, which will be cool. Unless I want to be Egyptian again haha.
I have decided that Alexandre Dumas is my favorite author. Turns out I really like French Romanticism as a literary style- it's full of adventure and twists and turns; plus, there is no need to analyse it, but you can if you want. Oh. No. I am starting to spell like them! They switch their z's for s's a lot... Ah oh well. Anyway, Dumas. And Hugo. Both are excellent. Just throwin it out there.
yesterday my flatmates and I got into a discussion about pronunciation, which happens at least once a week, but this time was funny, so I'll try to paint a picture for you. We were talking about the mounds of sand in the desert (not really sure why). Dunes. With a D. They say (and I am not exaggerating) Junes. With a J. They think it's a D, but really, it's a J. Then we started talking about the stuff outside on the grass in the mornings. Dew. I think you can see where this is going. Jew. There's Jew on the grass. hahaha that sounds so bad. it was a good conversation.
I am still on the hunt for the Chinless Wonder my mom is so terrified of- I'll keep you posted.
I have got class pretty soon, and then I am gonna go to a waffle party. By the way, waffle here can mean "useless filler." For example, when writing an essay, you don't want to waffle on about something. This party is dedicated to the food though, which will be fun. Waffles. (Now I bet you want chicken and waffles, right my LA friends? lol)
You're welcome.
Special Hello to Crystal, as we haven't spoken for some time and I miss you.
That's about it for now, love you guys!
Monday, October 25, 2010
London
Hey guys,
I promised a more interesting blog this time, so here we go!
Tuesday, I went to Cambridge for a field trip for my biodiversity class, which was pretty cool. We started at the zoological museum, which, by the way, is on campus. They have a museum full of bones and other representations of animals on their campus. I can't exactly say I'm jealous, but I think it is pretty cool. They had this HUGE skeleton of a whale outside too, it was massive! I learned what a magpie looks like, and that they are ALL over my school. Magpies are like the seagulls at RB lol. Everywhere. After the zoo museum, we went to the gardens to study the plants there. Woo. It ended up being fun though, because I had a good group and because we met up with a teacher who studies plants, and he showed us around and gave us answers to questions. It started raining while we were outside in the gardens, and at first we didn't really pay attention to it. Rain here is different, sometimes it really does just whisper. You barely even know it's there. A while after the rain started, we went to the greenhouses. After being there for a few minutes, the rain just started pouring. And then the hail started. We were surrounded by cactuses (cacti?) when it was hailing outside haha; greenhouses are pretty cool. We drove by the campus of Cambridge, and I am totally serious when I say these people go to school in castles. it's awesome. This is a picture of the campus:
I promised a more interesting blog this time, so here we go!
Tuesday, I went to Cambridge for a field trip for my biodiversity class, which was pretty cool. We started at the zoological museum, which, by the way, is on campus. They have a museum full of bones and other representations of animals on their campus. I can't exactly say I'm jealous, but I think it is pretty cool. They had this HUGE skeleton of a whale outside too, it was massive! I learned what a magpie looks like, and that they are ALL over my school. Magpies are like the seagulls at RB lol. Everywhere. After the zoo museum, we went to the gardens to study the plants there. Woo. It ended up being fun though, because I had a good group and because we met up with a teacher who studies plants, and he showed us around and gave us answers to questions. It started raining while we were outside in the gardens, and at first we didn't really pay attention to it. Rain here is different, sometimes it really does just whisper. You barely even know it's there. A while after the rain started, we went to the greenhouses. After being there for a few minutes, the rain just started pouring. And then the hail started. We were surrounded by cactuses (cacti?) when it was hailing outside haha; greenhouses are pretty cool. We drove by the campus of Cambridge, and I am totally serious when I say these people go to school in castles. it's awesome. This is a picture of the campus:
It's so cool! Look up more online if you are so inclined, it really is awesome.
Ok, so that was Cambridge. On to London.
On Friday I caught a train after class and was in the city within two hours. I met up with Dad and we got some dinner. Then we walked around Knightsbridge, which was where the hotel was, for quite a while. By this time, it was pretty late, so we went back and watched tv until bedtime. The next day, we went to the Museum of Natural History, where the dinosaurs were! We saw other stuff too, but the dinosaurs were the coolest. After the museum, we went shopping! Yaaayyyyyy! It took a while, but I got some good stuff and it was fun. We went to Harrods, which is probably one of the most interesting stores ever. Picture Nordstroms or Bloomingdales. Bloomingdales is nicer I think, so picture that one. This store is divided into different rooms, depending on what you want. So they have a whole room for purses, another for perfume, etc. They also have a huge section in the center that looks like a market. You can buy raw meat and veggies there. Remember, this place is like Bloomingdales. With food. They have literally everything from apples to jackets that cost $16,000 to fossils or black jade for house decoration. So walking around there was pretty fun haha. Turns out I don't like expensive things though, so we didn't buy anything there. We also went to Westfield, which is the biggest shopping mall I have ever been to in my life. It's at least 6 times the size of North County, and at least 4 times the size of Powell. Good times!
After shopping, we went back to the hotel, got some sandwiches, and got ready to go to a Michael Jackson tribute concert, Thriller. Dad has been really into Michael since he watched This is It, so he got tickets for this show. The show was really cool, these people just danced and sang to all the hits for two hours, and it was a lot of fun! Thriller was over around 10, but we didn't want to go back right away, so we walked around again. We walked to this one hotel and ate some awesome dessert and then walked the rest of the way back to the hotel, around 12 am. Dad had to leave early the next morning, so we went to sleep. He left and I did a little more shopping before leaving as well. Getting back was a lot tougher than getting to London because on Sundays they do construction on the railways. So, instead of taking 2 hours, it took around 4. It was nice though, I basically just listened to music the whole time.
Dad says hello to everyone! Hope you all are having a good time! Love you!
Ava
Sunday, October 17, 2010
More (non) events
Hey Everyone!
This week has been good. Lots of class, not lots of work outside of class, which is nice.
The weekend was weird because Aoibhinn and Naimh were gone, as were James and Swany. I was going to be gone as well, but then I realized I'd mixed up the dates. Good news for you guys I guess, it means that next week's entry will be more exciting! I am gonna be in London! Anyway, this weekend, Kaylee and I hung out together a whole lot. We went out on Friday after watching Brokeback Mtn and met some cool kids on the bus, so we hung out with them all night. This guy with a girlfriend was hitting on me that night. Always fun. ugh.
Yesterday, we hung out with our flatmates Donald, Nick, and Mike. We all had dinner, and then Mike had ordered 2 pizzas, so we ate those as well. It was so nice to spend time with everyone because usually everyone is kinda just doing their own thing. Mike and I learned the Soulja Boy dance from Kaylee, which was entertaining, especially for everyone else when I crashed into the trash can. After dinner and hanging out, Kaylee and I went to the LCR, which is basically the club on campus. They set it up a few times a week and people go to drink and dance. I tried a sip of red bull and vodka, and it was pretty good!
Today has been pretty lazy. I went to the library with my friend to study for a test. It's around 4 pm now, and I'm pretty proud of that productivity. This week should be fun because on Tuesday I am going to go to Cambridge with my Biodiversity class to look at the plants. Obviously, the exciting part will be Cambridge, which is supposed to be beautiful, but I'm sure that I'll have some fun facts for you about the plants when I get back. Speaking of fun facts, I learned a great one.
Do you know what a sea cucumber is? it looks like this:
Right. So when something comes along and thinks it looks tasty, this little guy literally spits out his internal organs for the predator to eat. Let me run that by you again. It spits. out. its. guts. Most sea cucumbers are able to regenerate their stomachs and gonads and whatever else they spit out, so the predator eats and the sea cucumber gets away. However, some sea cucumbers slipped through the cracks and are unable to regenerate. This makes the defense mechanism rather pointless.
PS- if you have any doubts, you can look this up on youtube. No joke.
I think that's about it for now, but next week should be better what with all the traveling around.
Love you!
This week has been good. Lots of class, not lots of work outside of class, which is nice.
The weekend was weird because Aoibhinn and Naimh were gone, as were James and Swany. I was going to be gone as well, but then I realized I'd mixed up the dates. Good news for you guys I guess, it means that next week's entry will be more exciting! I am gonna be in London! Anyway, this weekend, Kaylee and I hung out together a whole lot. We went out on Friday after watching Brokeback Mtn and met some cool kids on the bus, so we hung out with them all night. This guy with a girlfriend was hitting on me that night. Always fun. ugh.
Yesterday, we hung out with our flatmates Donald, Nick, and Mike. We all had dinner, and then Mike had ordered 2 pizzas, so we ate those as well. It was so nice to spend time with everyone because usually everyone is kinda just doing their own thing. Mike and I learned the Soulja Boy dance from Kaylee, which was entertaining, especially for everyone else when I crashed into the trash can. After dinner and hanging out, Kaylee and I went to the LCR, which is basically the club on campus. They set it up a few times a week and people go to drink and dance. I tried a sip of red bull and vodka, and it was pretty good!
Today has been pretty lazy. I went to the library with my friend to study for a test. It's around 4 pm now, and I'm pretty proud of that productivity. This week should be fun because on Tuesday I am going to go to Cambridge with my Biodiversity class to look at the plants. Obviously, the exciting part will be Cambridge, which is supposed to be beautiful, but I'm sure that I'll have some fun facts for you about the plants when I get back. Speaking of fun facts, I learned a great one.
Do you know what a sea cucumber is? it looks like this:
PS- if you have any doubts, you can look this up on youtube. No joke.
I think that's about it for now, but next week should be better what with all the traveling around.
Love you!
Monday, October 11, 2010
New Words and weekends
Hey everyone!
I have more words to add to the list. A "twitcher," apparently, is a nickname for bird watcher. Yeah. And a solicitor is a lawyer. There are two types of lawyers here, solicitors or barristers.
This weekend was pretty good. Turns out that getting drunk doesn't necessarily mean that I will be mean and tired. That's pretty cool, because drinking is a huge part of the culture here. British kids start drinking at like 14, which I think is a little earlier than most US kids (although I could be mistaken I guess). The legal age is 18, which is the age of university students, generally, so the campus has no qualms about selling alcohol everywhere. There is a Union pub, and a bar I think, and they sell all kinds of stuff at the little grocery store type thing on campus. Even at school events, there is a bartender. Often more than one actually. So I am quickly learning that alcohol is only as big a deal as you make it, provided you are careful.
More good news: Jersey Shore is much loved around here. The only person I have met who didn't like it was the other American girl, Kaylee. By the way, I learned how to spell Aoibhinn's name finally.
A-o-i-b-h-i-n-n. Naimh's name wasn't as tough to learn.
Yesterday was nice because after everyone woke up, we all went to go get lunch. After lunch, we went and sat out by the lake on campus. This lake is very nice; it's pretty in a different way than lake Merced. And it's closer. I would've liked to say that they haven't found a body in this one, but I think they actually did at some point...
Anyway, being out by the lake was cool, we just sat and talked and made dumb jokes and stuff. Good fun, good fun.
I guess it may get tiring to read about all the little things that happen around here, but when something big happens I'll let you know!
I have more words to add to the list. A "twitcher," apparently, is a nickname for bird watcher. Yeah. And a solicitor is a lawyer. There are two types of lawyers here, solicitors or barristers.
This weekend was pretty good. Turns out that getting drunk doesn't necessarily mean that I will be mean and tired. That's pretty cool, because drinking is a huge part of the culture here. British kids start drinking at like 14, which I think is a little earlier than most US kids (although I could be mistaken I guess). The legal age is 18, which is the age of university students, generally, so the campus has no qualms about selling alcohol everywhere. There is a Union pub, and a bar I think, and they sell all kinds of stuff at the little grocery store type thing on campus. Even at school events, there is a bartender. Often more than one actually. So I am quickly learning that alcohol is only as big a deal as you make it, provided you are careful.
More good news: Jersey Shore is much loved around here. The only person I have met who didn't like it was the other American girl, Kaylee. By the way, I learned how to spell Aoibhinn's name finally.
A-o-i-b-h-i-n-n. Naimh's name wasn't as tough to learn.
Yesterday was nice because after everyone woke up, we all went to go get lunch. After lunch, we went and sat out by the lake on campus. This lake is very nice; it's pretty in a different way than lake Merced. And it's closer. I would've liked to say that they haven't found a body in this one, but I think they actually did at some point...
Anyway, being out by the lake was cool, we just sat and talked and made dumb jokes and stuff. Good fun, good fun.
I guess it may get tiring to read about all the little things that happen around here, but when something big happens I'll let you know!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Vocab
Hey everyone!
Today was a good day. I went to class, and I had about an hour for break, so I came back to my room. I have started sitting on my windowsill (which is sorta big enough) and reading my favorite author. So I opened my window and sat and right away a bug flew at me! I shook it off and thought to myself "I think that was a ladybug!" Then, another one landed on me! There were a total of four different lady bugs around my window when I opened it. They all looked really different too; one had lots of spots, another one was black with red spots, and one was yellow with black spots. I thought it was pretty cool. Especially since the day was so pretty today. No rain! Yesterday afternoon was the same way. I love it when there's no rain here, because the campus is gorgeous. There are no sprinklers here, grass just grows naturally, and it's everywhere. There is a lake too, surrounded by trees. It's almost visible from my room, but there is a big hill in my way. The buildings here have a lot of thought put into them. There are sidewalks that are more like bridges than anything, so you don't have to walk where cars or back alleys are to get to class.
I know you guys all know that some of the words here are different. Sometimes they sound different, and sometimes they mean different things. But I also know some that you don't. Here's a fun list lol. The British word is on the left, the American is on the right
Crisps= chips
Chips= French Fries
Packet= package/ container or wrapper of some sort. Not a stack of paper.
Maths= math
Trousers= pants
Pants= underwear
Herb= herb. The difference here is the H. Here, it's pronounced.
Pasta= italian style pasta/ one piece of this pasta. If you say noodles, they think you mean Asian style noodles.
Walkers= Lays. The weirdest thing ever. Think about a bag of Lays potato chips (or crisps lol). Red bag, rad circle thing with the word Lays written in the center. Now, replace the word Lays with Walkers. I kid you not; check my facebook.
37 degrees= normal body temperature
I guess this list isn't as extensive as I'd hoped. Oh well, I'm sure more will be added as time moves on.
Today was a good day. I went to class, and I had about an hour for break, so I came back to my room. I have started sitting on my windowsill (which is sorta big enough) and reading my favorite author. So I opened my window and sat and right away a bug flew at me! I shook it off and thought to myself "I think that was a ladybug!" Then, another one landed on me! There were a total of four different lady bugs around my window when I opened it. They all looked really different too; one had lots of spots, another one was black with red spots, and one was yellow with black spots. I thought it was pretty cool. Especially since the day was so pretty today. No rain! Yesterday afternoon was the same way. I love it when there's no rain here, because the campus is gorgeous. There are no sprinklers here, grass just grows naturally, and it's everywhere. There is a lake too, surrounded by trees. It's almost visible from my room, but there is a big hill in my way. The buildings here have a lot of thought put into them. There are sidewalks that are more like bridges than anything, so you don't have to walk where cars or back alleys are to get to class.
Classes are tough. I have class Mon-Fri, for hours at a time. At least daily I have classes that are back to back, often three or four classes back to back. One other difference here is that the classes meet on different days at different times. In the States, you'll have class Tues and Thurs at 1:00. Here, I'd have a class Tuesday at 3, Thursday at 1. So that's been odd.
One of the biggest differences between here and there is the knowledge they have of America, especially compared to the knowledge I have of Britain. We were talking about politics because I was trying to figure out how they work here, and the American girl on my flat was there. She made a comment about Bush, and one of the Irish girls asked what she'd said. She passed it off saying "Oh just something about one of our presidents." The girl asked which one, and rolled her eyes and scoffed when she heard Bush. She goes," Tch. Of course I know who that is."
Now, who can name three British PMs? See what I mean? It is really different. PS- the current Prime Minister is David Cameron. He named his opponent Nick Clegg as a sort of assistant Prime Minister as well, so they are working together, but Cameron wears the pants in this relationship. I now wonder why it is that America is so self centered. I realize that a large part of it has to do with information, what is presented and what isn't. I just wonder why only American information is presented. Why European politics are never addressed, except briefly in a historical context.
So, lots of thinking going on over here. Hope everyone is well State-side.
Ava
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Two new posts!
This one is a quick one though. I just wanted to let everyone know that my "meeting people in weird ways" trait is alive and well. I was sitting on my bed, deciding not to open my laptop and instead do something more productive, when i looked out my window. I live on the second story, but there was a guy standing outside, looking in.
...
He smiled and waved so, I went to the window, and he told me about how my room was his old room and asked me what the flat was like now and everything. It was kinda sweet, you could tell he really enjoyed his time here (like we did in 212). But.
Still weird.
...
He smiled and waved so, I went to the window, and he told me about how my room was his old room and asked me what the flat was like now and everything. It was kinda sweet, you could tell he really enjoyed his time here (like we did in 212). But.
Still weird.
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