This is What Life Should be Like All the Time

Upon my arrival to Madrid my loving Jenn Jenn was there to meet me. I was soooo incredibly happy to see her. My spirits were dampened a little because as I was coming from Italy, Spain did not want to look at my passport. They figure, I can get into another EU country, so I’m ok for theirs. It was a little sad. But its odd, cause they do care if you come from the UK, and the UK cares where you come from no matter what…they’re total snobs, and honestly, I kinda like it. Very security conscious. Must be because they know they’d better be when they’re so friendly with the US. Anyhow, I met Jenn and we booked it to her home stay in Pinar del Ray. Its in the outskirts of Madrid, and very suburbs. They have a really nice Senora and she is incredibly accommodating, and does just about everything for Jenn and Emily. The only problem is she doesn’t speak English, so it was a little hard for me to communicate because I’m so rusty and kinda bad at Spanish. Their Senora was also Theresa Garcia’s mom when she was abroad, but I didn’t find that out until after I had met their mom and didn’t go back.

After we dropped my things off very quickly we went to the bus stop and were off to Sol because Jenn had to see a film for class, and they had gotten me a ticket to it as well. The whole AU enclave program was there actually, so after the film I got to see Emily and Joanna as well. We didn’t get to say hello before the film started because we were about a half hour late to it because of my plane. Although it turns out we only missed about 10 minutes of the actual film because there were so many advertisements, and there wasn’t anything important in those 10 minutes. The film was called Los 13 Rosas and was completely in Spanish and there weren’t English subtitles because it was a real movie in a movie theatre, not just an educational movie. The movie was also incredibly sad, because it was about 13 women who were rebels against the Franco regime in Spain and they all got caught and executed. Since I’m an evil and cold-hearted person (no I don’t really think I am) I didn’t cry, though just about everyone else did.

After the incredibly depressing movie a bunch of us went to a restaurant and had tapas and drinks, though I just had water because I was so exhausted from the night before and didn’t think it would be very kind to my body to put any alcohol in my body whatsoever. We sat there and talked and generally had a good time, and while we were there a band came up to the end of the street we were on and started playing. It was really cool, and they were really good, and it was then and there that I knew that I was going to have some of the best couple days of my whole time over here in Europe, and I was absolutely right.

Following tapas, I went back to Jenn’s and Emily’s to collect my belongings and change for going out, and we met at Joanna’s house where I dropped my things off and we headed for dinner, and then a bunch of us went out to Chueca together. We had dinner at a kebab place called Bosforos. It was a requirement that I visit this place, as it is very near Lola’s and Jason’s favorite place to eat in Madrid, outside of Lola’s that is, because he talks about her cooking even more than he talks about Bosforos. Any how, Joanna, Jenn, Emily, Piah (Jo’s home stay mate), and I all went to Bosforos to have a Jason experience. So we all ordered a #1, and sat at the Jason table (I got to sit in the official Jason seat though) and we were going to put the spices on, but they were no where to be found. So we just ate our #1’s and fries and rice and didn’t have spices, but man, we were all impressed with how incredibly good it was…..and how incredibly cheap. It was 3.50 for the giant kebab that none of us finished! Its like the Spanish version of Chipotle for me I think. Jason calls it an orgasm in a pita, and I think he might not be far off with that assessment. So after dinner we headed out for the evening to a hot spot known as Chueca.

Now, Chueca is known for its clubs, and has some of the best in London literally right next to each other, but it is also the gay district, and apparently Madrid is one of the (for lack of better term) gayest cities in Europe. This isn’t a problem, but it made for some pretty interesting observations. We went to a bar called Nike (pronounced Nee-kay) and they had hella cheap drinks. There were giant cups of sangria for 3 Euros (I think) and mixed drinks the same size for 5 I think. I’m completely unsure because I didn’t pay enough attention when people said how much they were when asked by others, and I didn’t buy any for myself. Now that I think about it I only had one drink (alcoholic) the whole time I was in Madrid, and it wasn’t a problem at all. I just didn’t want it, and I totally had fun anyhow. While at Nike we talked and coughed (cigarette smoke…its legal to smoke indoors in most places in Spain and boy do they ever) and there were 7 or 8 girls in our group, and one boy. This is because there are 30 girls and 4 boys on this program. And I for the life of me can’t figure out why there aren’t more boys….but it seems that its that way a lot for Madrid…I asked where all the boys where, and the response I got from Emily was, “In London apparently”. This was because I had just told her that we had 14 boys and 11 girls in London. We hog the boys, what can I say. The four of us (and by 4 of us I mean Jenn, Emily, Joanna, and I) decided to call it a night early because I was dying from lack of sleep and the others wanted to rest up because we decided that Saturday would be our big night of debauchery. So Emily and Jenn went back to Pinar del Ray, and Joanna and I headed for Manuel Becarra.

It was when we returned to Joanna’s at this time that I met the famous Lola. Joanna’s home stay mom, and also Jason’s when he was in Madrid. Basically Jason was incredibly jealous when I found out that I was not only going to get to meet Lola, but also stay at her home because Jenn and Emily decided that there just wasn’t room at their place. To be fair, I saw it and quite agree, and I got my very own bed at Joanna’s because there was a trundle bed under hers. Lola was fantastic and so incredibly nice, and we had some conversations about Jason. Sadly, I did not get any dirt on him, because she only had good things to say about him. Seriously, if it was up to Lola and Jason wasn’t Jewish, I think she would have him sainted. It’s ok though, it’s clearly proof I’ve got a good ‘un on my hands. It’s just too bad he reads this, ‘cause now his head is going to be inflated beyond belief. I spoke a little Spanish to her and then she asked me if I understood and from then on, it was all Spanish, and I tried my best to keep up with the conversations. I’m pretty rusty on my Spanish, let me tell you. Even though Lola pretty much only spoke Spanish to me, she did speak a lot slower when addressing me, and when it was clear I wasn’t getting it, she used English. She also laughed at me when I was making the bed and apparently tried to put the sheets on the wrong direction and asked me if I knew how to make a bed….I’m positive that for a whole night she thought I was a complete ditz. Whatever, I make beds how I want…..until they make me fix it…haha. Once the beds were made, it was time to get in them and Joanna and I put in Love and Basketball and fell asleep watching that.

Saturday we got up and headed for the Retiro to meet up with Jenn and Emily and have a look around the park. This park is sooo much fun. There is a lake and you can rent boats, and we decided to do this, and the boat cost 4.30 for the 4 of us. We thought it was 4.30 per person, and were still willing to pay that, so we were totally thrilled. We got the boat for 45 minutes and we had tons of fun. Everyone tried rowing, first in pairs (didn’t work out so well) and then singularly…and boy me and Emily were awful at it. We nearly got us killed I think….more specifically and more often though, probably me. We nearly got run over by the Barco…the big boat that is motorized and carries like 20 people around the lake. Joanna and Jenn were good at rowing though, so they did the bulk of the work. There were some waterfalls on one side of the lake, near a giant monument and I wanted Joanna to get near them so I could stick my hand in and have a picture, so she did, and I got one, but then we were too close and the water was going to start coming into the boat, and we were all freaking out cause we were going to be “taking on water” and it would have been falling on me and I did not want to get soaked. We eventually made it out due to Jo’s superior rowing skills and we were all still dry. That is until we met a young Spanish boy around 10 who decided that we were funny, and he would try to splash us from his boat. Well, we thought this was cute and hilarious, but at the same time we rowed away as fast as possible because that water was coooold! The lake isn’t too big and because of that we ran into the kid and his boat numerous times. Eventually he was splashing us, and we were splashing back and giggling the whole time, because it was sooo fun. We were like “Run, it’s the Spanish Armada!!” and then he said to us, “I’ll give you time to escapar!” Clearly the whole sentence was in Spanish, not just the last word, but that’s what he said, loosely translated, and I like the word “escapar” (to escape). This little kid was soooo cute, he absolutely stole my heart away. After the boats we went and had lunch at a little café, and we ordered a couple sandwiches and drinks, and we had also packed some lunch so we had that as well, and it was just lovely. We sat around in the sun and talked and had a nice leisurely time, and I really think the Europeans have it right when they don’t hustle you out of your table once you have finished. We sat there for ages just talking, and then finally asked for the bill and went on our way. We walked around the rest of the park, may have seen the oldest tree in Madrid (we think we found the right one), and then had some fun with cameras and jumping. Haha, the pictures are pretty great. After the park we headed back for Lola’s and the four of us hung out in Jo’s room and we all took naps in the 2 beds. It was just like sophomore year, all of us cuddled up in bed together.

After naps Emily and Jenn had to go back to their house and have dinner and get themselves gathered for the evening out we had planned. Saturday night was to be our long, out-all-night-crazy-night. Here’s the thing. Spanish culture and night life goes like this; dinner between 9-10 and you don’t finish until 10:30-11:30, and then you might head home get yourself together, whatever. But the bars are pretty empty if you show up before midnight, and they get really hopping around 1. Clubs are dead until 1 or 2, and they stay open until 5am-ish. We headed out for Sol around 11 and went to a bar called Dubliners for our first stop. We were supposed to head for Kapital after that, but we ended up having so much fun at Dubliners that we never ended up leaving. All night I only had 1 drink, and I had lots of fun and didn’t need more than that. It was interesting, but hey, whatever, I don’t always need to be crazy. Once Dubliners closed, we went right next door to O’Connell Street, and hung there until about 4 when they closed. Then we had to figure something out, because the metro starts up again at 6 (another reason people are out all night, unless they want to take a bus). We decided that we had to go for churros, and there is a really famous and popular churro place right in Sol, so we went there. I think I’d been there before (the last time I was in Madrid, like 4 years ago), but I couldn’t figure out where our hotel was, but it was definitely somewhere in the area, because we walked to this churro place from it. Any how, the churros were incredible and delicious, and I just love hanging out with my girls, we always have so much fun. After churros it was about 5, and we headed for home on the night buses. Jo and I were home by about 5:30 and we collapsed into bed.

Sunday morning, Joanna slept in while I got up to get ready to meet Emily and Jenn at the metro stop by the Rostro. The Rostro is a giant Sunday morning market in Madrid, not unlike the ones in London. So we went and had a good time looking around, and I bought 2 pashminas for 2 euro each. It was an incredible deal, and they’re pretty decent quality and they look quite pretty. Look out for them in the pictures….I’m pretty obsessed with them now. After the Rostro I went back to Lola’s where we had a lovely sit down lunch around 2 in the afternoon. She made more of her famous Zucchini crema soup, that is sooooooo delicious, and we had bread and beef and fries, and mmmmm such wholesome goodness. After lunch we met up with Jenn and Emily again, and headed for a bull fight!! It was incredible. At a bull fight they don’t just do one fight, they do 6. So you have to see 6 bulls die in the ring. The first one was really hard to watch because we weren’t really sure what to expect, and clearly, its people killing an animal. But we were brave girls and stayed for the whole thing, and saw some pretty spectacular things. The fight we were at was an amateur fight, which means that it was a) less expensive and b) sloppier than a professional fight. Sloppier doesn’t necessarily mean worse, but it can definitely mean more exciting….and boy that is what we got. A bunch of the fighters got roughed up by the bulls and one even got actually gored, and that was awful to watch. I hid in Joanna’s shoulder for that actually. But we followed up, and found out that the guy is going to be ok. He’s got an 8 inch hole in his thigh, but it isn’t anything that is going to kill him or even maim him for life. I think the freakiest part about the whole thing was that his girlfriend was sitting right next to us, and she very reasonably completely freaked out. I would flip out if it was my boyfriend. Never fear, there are loads of pictures, and even some video, and here are some websites to instruct you on bullfighting, because its rather complicated, and I barely understand it myself so I couldn’t possibly explain it all to you.

Go here for the wikipedia explanation (pay attention to the Spanish-style fighting)

Go here for the bull fight we saw. There is some really good video and pictures.

the guy who got really hurt is named Vicente Pinazo, and the part about him is at the very bottom of the page. There were some other incidents at the fight, which are also pictured. You can also click to watch the highlight (or lowlight because it shows the peeps getting hurt)video. The thing is called videoresumen and its all the way to the right near the top of the page.

After the bull fight Emily and Jenn and I went to Bosforos again because we were craving it (totally like Chipotle) and then we went to find Jo at Dubliners to watch the football game. We hung out there until about 11 and then headed home for the evening. We didn’t do much and basically just headed to bed, but not before we had a lovely chat with Lola and we talked about Jason and his insanity (unicorn?). We sill love him though. Haha.

Monday morning I got up really early and met Jenn at the Prado to see the museum only to discover that it is closed on Mondays!! Talk about a bummer. But it was ok, because we went to her school and printed some things out for my flight home, and booked bus tickets and things for me, and then we had lunch and I found paella and it was deeeeeeelish! We also went shopping for a thank you present for Lola. I got her a picture frame and put a picture of me and Jason in it for her. She somehow didn’t have a framed picture of Jason and I had a few pictures of the two of us with me, so I gave her one. She really loved it! Yay! We hung out at school for the rest of the afternoon, and just relaxed until Jo had to leave for her internship, and I had to leave for the airport. It was really sad, because I really didn’t want to leave. Those girls are soooo my favorites (cept Jacki of course) and I think Madrid might be one of my favorite cities on earth. I’ve been twice now, and I don’t think I would mind going back 100 times.

Lost in Roma

Wednesday started early again, though not quite so early as Tuesday. We were out the door by 9am for Lauren’s Art of Rome class. We walked past the Vatican, which was amazing and totally packed for Wednesday mass. There were incredible amounts of people. Lauren’s art class was pretty cool, we saw a really neat fountain called Fontana Paola, and it was huge! It was on a road called Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, and at the very top of this road is an incredible view of Rome. You can see just about the whole city from there. We also visited a church during Lauren’s class and it was connected to the Spanish Embassy, which was pretty cool. The Spanish embassy is there because the church was commissioned by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and they bought back some of the surrounding buildings to use as the embassy. After class we headed to the bottom of the giant hill for some lunch, and we popped into a cute little pizzeria and got some of the best pizza I’ve had in a long time. Its one of the few places you can find in Rome that allows you to take your food/drink and go, because in Italy eating is an institution and making it an art form. You are meant to sit and enjoy and take your time, not just stuff while on the go. Its nice because you always get to enjoy your meal, but on the other hand as a tourist with only so much time to see the sights you don’t necessarily want to spend 3 hours on lunch when you could spend 30 minutes and then see St. Peter’s with those other 2 ½ hours. After lunch we stopped back my Lauren’s university, checked our email and ran into some other AU kids. I saw my friend Mark, who kinda looked up at me, said “Hey” and then did this incredible double take as he realize that I wasn’t really supposed to be there. It was absolutely priceless. Then Lauren decided to skip her class, and take me to the beach! It was an hour journey to the coast, and it was a little chilly once we arrived, but it was absolutely worth it. It was incredibly cold, but I was a big girl and eventually got myself entirely into the Mediterranean. The beach was a black sand beach, because it was made out of volcanic rock, and it was really different from the beaches I’m used to. I kept thinking it would be like dirt and make me dirty, but it was just like white sand and just stuck to me, and once wiped off left no residue or black marks. After returning from the beach we ate dinner back at Lauren’s apartment. Lauren cooked some chicken and pasta, and veggies, and it was really good. We then went out and visited the Trevi Fountain at night, and I tossed in a coin to ensure that I return once again, because I totally love Rome, and will return as often as possible. On the way Lauren and I stopped at a gelato place that Lauren claims is the best in Roma, and I won’t deny that it was fantastic, but I still think my place by the Pantheon was better. At the Trevi we met up with Elyse and she wanted some gelato as well, so being the good friend that I am, I agreed to get some more with her. Again, it was good, but my place was better. I then parted ways with Lauren for the evening, and went home with Elyse for the evening. The two of us sat and talked for a couple hours, and then turned in, because we had an early morning ahead of us.

In the morning we left her apartment early and stopped by her local food market, and it was wonderful. There was so much fresh fruit and bread and meats and cheese it was mind boggling. Just walking around was a feast of the senses. We left the market and stopped by a pastry shop and indulged in a cannoli that was absolutely to die for. It was so good, and Elyse managed to make a complete mess of hers and get powdered sugar absolutely everywhere, including on the brim of her baseball cap. I was amused to say the least. We then ended up walking to her school, which was at the top of an incredibly steep and long hill, as the bus decided that it wasn’t ever going to arrive. Elyse then went to her class, and I was off to see the touristy sights of Rome once again. However, I was on the wrong side of the street, and ended up in the suburbs of Rome and completely lost for about 3 hours. By the time I found my way back to the city center my feet killed, because I lost my bus route and didn’t know what other one to take, and it was nearly time to meet Elyse again. However, I was not disappointed in my journey because I got to see a part of Rome that I never would have had I not gotten lost, and it was incredible. I saw a man jogging, and that was landmark because people don’t go running in Rome because they walk everywhere. He was the only person I saw out running the whole time I was there. Once back in the city I visited the Museo dell’Ara Pacis. It’s a museum right down the street from the Pantheon and on display was a collection of 300 of Valentino’s most beautiful dresses, including some dresses worn by incredibly famous women. There was one of Jackie O’s, Halley Barry, Julia Roberts, Audrey Hepburn, and even Princess Diana. For a person who doesn’t really like fashion or dresses that much I liked it an incredible amount, and it was definitely worth seeing. After the museum it was down the street to the Pantheon to meet up with Elyse and we then headed to the Spanish Steps to have a seat on them and at the Fountain at the base of them and enjoy the day. It is one of my favorite places in Rome and I love visiting it. After sitting a while and nearly falling into the fountain, we headed back to her apartment for a bit of a rest and a snack. Then around 6pm we left again, because Elyse had another class, and I was meeting up with Lauren again for dinner and then a night on the town. We ate in again, and hung out with one of her roommates for a while and then headed out to Campo, on of the best known areas in Rome for bars.

At Campo we went to a bar called the Drunken Ship where we met up with Elyse once again and played some beer pong! Lauren and I beat some boys and then were going to play again, when Huw finally arrived. It was so fun!! Huw and Amanda beat Lauren and I and then they lost their next game against some strangers. We then decided to head to another bar, and there Huw refused to let me buy any drinks myself and paid for them because he said I was visiting and he had to be a good host, if only for the night. He is such a gentleman. Because it was a Thursday night the bars were all half empty, though Lauren said in the past they’ve been completely full. I never caught the name of the second place we went to, but it was pretty crazy. The bar tender was a real bartender and did fantastic tricks, and I think the best ones were when he lit a bottle of Malibu on fire and then blew on it to make a torch, and then when he poured some alcohol out of a mixing cup, and then caught it as it was falling to the floor. I’d never seen tricks performed, so this was a real treat for me. We stayed until closing around 2 and were going to go home, when Huw convinced all of us except for Elyse who had a quiz the next day to go to one more bar with him. We headed to Scholars, and it was completely packed. There was seriously no room to move at all here, and was the only full bar, and I’ll have to attest that to the televisions with American sports on them and the fact that it was probably the only American bar open within a mile or so. While the others continued to drink I decided I had had enough because I had to fly to Spain in the morning, so I switched to water to avoid being dehydrated in the morning. When we finally left at closing time, it was really late, and we had a bit of a walk ahead of us. We decided to have a photo shoot on some fountains, and it was really fun, and Huw was totally ridiculous. He also let me wear his shirt because I was freeeezing. He then proceeded to walk us all the way home even though he should have walked the opposite direction when we got to the Vatican. But no, he walked about 10 blocks in the wrong direction, putting him about 20 blocks from home around 4:30 5ish in the morning. We tried to convince him that he needed to stay with us, and we’d give him some blankets, but he refused. He did make it home alright, but we were super worried he would be accosted because he was tipsy and alone and American at 5am. As mentioned, we walked past the Vatican at night, right in front of St. Peter’s and it was incredible. I’d only seen it during the day, and it was all lit up and totally gorgeous. The next day I woke up rather early and with only 2 ½ hours of sleep I needed to make my way to the airport for my flight to Madrid. I made it rather easily and it was nothing compared to my first attempt at traveling throughout Europe. The only problem was that the plane was about 2 hours late….and I’m not sure why. We were supposed to land in Madrid at 1:30 and we didn’t get there until after 3. But more on that later, because this blog is my longest yet I think!!

Cheers!!

When it Rains it Pours

As I have alluded to earlier in my email, I did indeed have an auspicious start to my lovely holiday. Monday night I had quite a bit to do, and had to leave before the crack of dawn, so I only took about a 2 hour nap. I left the flat at 4am, even though I wanted to leave before that, because I was waiting for the rest of the kids leaving at that time. Because I didn’t leave right away I missed the 4:12 bus I needed to get to Victoria Coach Station. So I had to wait for the 4:42. Because I missed that bus, I missed the first shuttle to the airport, at 4:50. So I had to wait for the 5:20. Now, none of this was a big problem, because the shuttle is advertised as a 40 minute ride, and I would make it in plenty of time to check in for my 7:20 flight. However, the shuttle is mis-advertised, and it took an hour and 20 minutes. Check in closes 40 minutes before a flight, so my check in was supposed to end at 6:40. And I got to the airport at 6:45. I then learned that the flight was a 7:10 and I missed check in by 15 minutes, not 5. I then proceeded to try to get another flight, but I realized that somewhere between getting on the first bus and arriving at the airport I lost my mini wallet that had my bus/metro card in it, my credit card, my Indiana State ID, my FIE student card, my Imperial College Student Card, and my international student card. Basically it was stellar. And it was also 7am. I had no pounds because I had changed it all to euros the day before, and no credit card and I was stuck in some airport on the outskirts of London. Not the best situation. Clearly I start freaking and crying, and not knowing what else to do, I called my parents at home. Now keep in mind that there is a 5 hour time difference, so it was 2am there. I had to call the house multiple times before they woke up to get the phone. I felt so bad waking them, but I didn’t know what else to do. My father basically was incredible, and insisted that I continue onto Rome and we would work everything out. So he gave me his credit card info, paid for the ticket transfer fee, and helped me on my way to Rome. One thing that was kind of a problem was that the new flight was at a different airport, so I would have to take another bus, and that it wasn’t until 5pm. So instead of getting to Rome and seeing some of the sights and playing with my friends for the day, I got to hang out in an airport. So I got a bus for 10am, and spent the time in between running around the airport trying to find out if anyone had found my things and turned them in. No such luck, but a girl can try. The bus to the new airport was for 10 past 10. It never showed. So a bunch of other people and myself waited outside in the cold and rain for over an hour for a bus that never came. And I didn’t have a jacket. Eventually a bus came along, but we couldn’t get on it because the driver had gone over her driving hours, and wasn’t allowed to drive any longer. And then another bus came, but he and the over-hours driver stood around and chatted for a good 15 minutes. None of us were amused. Especially since they didn’t let us onto the bus before they had their visit. Oh no, we had to wait outside still.

We finally got on the bus and then to the airport, and I had to wait around for 3 hours before I could even check in for my flight. You only have about an hour and a half window to get checked in here, because they don’t let you check in until 2 hours before the flight, but close it 40 before take-off. Also this airport didn’t let you take more than one carry-on onto the plane, so I had to check my bag that I wasn’t planning on checking and they charged me 10 freaking pounds for it. Again, not amused.

I finally make it onto the plane and the flight was 2 ½ hours, plus a lost hour because of the time difference, so I didn’t land until 8:40pm. Then I had to take a bus to the main bus station in Rome, and then another bus to where Lauren lives. It would have been really simple had I arrived before 9pm, because the metro would have been running, but Italians are lazy and the metro closes at 9. So I had to take more buses. These buses are not nice buses like the ones in DC that tell you what stop is next. So I had to ask, and it was interesting not speaking Italian, and people around me not speaking English. I even asked the bus driver where the stop was, and he said I missed it, that it had already passed. Now, I’m not positive that’s what he said, but he shook his head and pointed behind him over his shoulder, so that is only what I can assume. So I jumped off the bus at the very next stop, and I was at the back of the Vatican. So that was cool….only I didn’t know what it was at the time. A nice Italian kid about my age tried to help me but he didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Italian. We discovered that we both speak broken Spanish, so we tried to communicate that way, but soon he was hailing a random person on the street to help out. This girl spoke good Spanish along with her Italian and we got a little more accomplished. I also whipped out my phone and called Lauren and made her talk to the Italians, because she presumably knew the area and could find me, and she speaks broken Italian. Well it sort of worked out, but we called over the girl’s friend who amazingly spoke fluent Italian, fluent English, and fairly good Spanish. And then Lauren found me, and the kids were like, “Wanna come out with us?” It was totally cool and I had made friends despite the language barrier and being a retarded foreigner. Sadly we turned them down because I had had the day from hell and needed food and sleep.

When I got to Lauren’s apartment I found a dinner waiting for me because she had cooked, and it was burritos, Chipotle style. Now clearly it wasn’t just like Chipotle, but it was still good and I was completely thrilled that she was so thoughtful. And basically she hugged me and tried to make my life happier because of my intense day, and soon we were sitting and chatting and having a fantastic time. I knew I missed her, but I really didn’t realize how much until I saw her. It was fantastic.

I’ll tell you about my Roma adventures in the next blog entry, as this one is long enough already.

Ciao!!

Its Been a Long Time Comin'

Sorry its been so long since I’ve posted, I kept meaning to, and then never did. Wednesday night I went with a couple of my history classmates and met up with my professor in Northern London, and went to a Turkish restaurant. I had a lamb sis kebab, and it was rather spicy, and really good. My professor got quail, and I got to try some, and it tasted pretty much like chicken, no lie. I liked it a lot, and it inspired some Wedding Crashers jokes. Going to this restaurant has also inspired me to want to go to Istanbul, however, since Congress decided to pass a bill saying the official stance of the U.S. government believes Turkey committed genocide against the Kurds during their civil war, I don’t think the Turks are feeling particularly amicable towards us Americans. A telling sign of this non-amicableness is that the Turkish Ambassador to the United States has been called home. So yeah, smooth move Congress.

Thursday I had another make-up history class, and Alison and I were finally able to give our history presentation, which was fantastic. After that I had the afternoon off, and Justin and I decided to go to the Tate Modern, and on the way I picked up some batteries, so guess what? Pictures again! Hooray! There is a link at the bottom of the blog. Anyhow, in general I’m not a huge art fan, but when it comes to modern art, I really missed the boat. So I have no idea why I decided that going to the Tate Modern would be fun. And actually, I did make it fun….because I made fun of the “art” so much and was incredibly sarcastic. For some of my wittier comments, see the captions in the photos. But I only got a few pictures before I was told that I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, so that was a little disappointing. There were some things that I did in fact like and I even got a picture of the one I liked the most. Although, the one I liked the most for sarcastic purposes I did not snap a photo of. It was of a hand painted and numbered can….of the artist’s shit. No kidding. I was appalled that something like that could pass for art….although the funny thing is that the can is still sealed shut so no one really knows if there is poo in there or if the artist was just trying to make a statement. But judging from other pieces I saw, I’ve learned not to put anything past these “artist types”.

Friday brought yet another history class, but as it was the last one, save the final, I was kind of excited. We did review for the exam, and that’s about it, although it still took quite a while to get through…he pretty much laid out exactly what we were to write though, so that was nice. Friday afternoon I just kinda hung out until suddenly at 4pm I decided I would go to the British Museum because it stayed open late at night. And so I went by myself, and it was quite nice. I was able to look around at my leisure and not have to worry about anyone else and what they were doing. I saw a Korean Moon Jar, which are incredibly rare because they are so incredibly hard to make. What it essentially is is two rather large jars, only one is open at both ends, and fits on the others top opening to make one giant jar….its really hard to get the seams just right and most pieces don’t survive the firing in the kiln. I think its something like 1 in 10 make it out alright….and that’s by a master crafter! And what’s really sad, is that they take out all the ruined ones to a hole in the ground, smash them, and then burry them. That’ll be a field day for an archeologist in about 600 years or so. I also saw the Rosetta Stone, it was really cool, and I also saw the Elgin Marbles for about a second, but there were so many old Asian businessmen around with their cameras exclaiming wildly, that I just walked away rather quickly. I was in a quiet sort of mood. That and I didn’t realize what I was looking at at the time…haha…oops. I do intend to go back though, because only the first floor was open for some reason, and there are a couple other floors of interesting things. Notably, the mummies from Egypt that are upstairs. I also have to go back again though, because my British Life and Culture class is headed there, and while I can skip out on the class if I like, our professor is requiring that we go on our own at some point and write about 500-600 words on something we saw there and how we felt about it if we do decide to skip. So I’ll have to decide what I want to do…I may choose to miss the class and travel instead, and write a really short summary on some mummies!

Saturday was a relaxing kind of day, and I honestly can’t remember what I did until late that evening. A couple of the girls and I randomly decided to head out for a quick drink at our pub and it turned into a really interesting night out. I was hit on before I even got down the stairs to the pub, and then as soon as I sat down at our table (by 2 different people mind you). And I was the one wearing jeans and a tank top and zip-up jacket and ponytail. Everyone else had nice going out tops and skirts and dresses….not me…and they hit on me….I can’t understand it at all. But the best part was the third couple of guys to hit on us four girls, because they decided they would by us (and themselves) shots of jeiggermeister, and then a little later, another pint. It was fun, and the best part was it was free, and at the end of the night it was a, “Oh my friends are leaving, it was nice to meet you” and a quick wave and out the door. Haha…(sounds a little mean and conniving doesn’t it?…oops)

Sunday I also did a lot of nothing, though I did study for my final that I had on Monday morning, so that’s something.

Monday I took my history final and it consisted of two questions that I proceeded to write 8 pages on and it took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes to write…I’d better get a good grade on it!! Then it was home to the flat for a quick lunch and then back to Foundation House for my British Life and Culture class where we took a walking tour of Covent Garden and Russell Square. It was pretty cool, and we talked about rookeries and the Bloomsbury writers. After class it was back here to the flat to get ready for my European Holiday!! Around 4am I will be leaving for the airport and my 7am flight to Roma, and I’ll be there with Lauren and Elyse until Friday morning when I fly to Madrid to see my loves, Jenn, Emily, and Joanna. There’s going to be some extra fun there, because things always get insane when the 4 of us girls get together, plus we have a guide to Madrid from an insider (yay Jason). Alllso, Jason’s home stay mommy, Lola is now Joanna’s home stay mommy, so I’m gonna go have some soup (I hear its superior) and try to get some bad stories about him from her. Haha.

This is a Picadilly line Service to Cockfosters


Cheers!

Livin' Life in Fast Forward

I can't believe classes are almost over and soon it will be fall break and the semester half over!! Its going by soooo quickly!

Saturday. For the most part I sat around and did nothing while waiting for 5pm to roll around so I could get ready to go to try outs. I went to tryouts, and immediately realized that my expectations of what it would be were far too high. I thought about the 54 names far too much and forgot that basketball is not what this country does, and it is after all, club level, and not at all serious bball. We spent half an hour just randomly shooting around, and then they had us do 5-6 laps around the court for a warm-up. So I set out to do them, and within one lap around the court I was half a lap ahead of anyone. And I wasn't going fast at all. I was jogging and getting a warm up in. Everyone else was basically walking with a bounce to their step. It was incredible. But I did slow down a bit after that and only finished about a lap ahead of everyone else. We then proceeded to do lay-ups for 20 minutes, and at my end of the court there was one other person who could do a proper left-handed layup. Seriously. And then we did 3 on 2 for a half hour or so, and we did it against the "coaches". Why they didn't let us play defense I'll never know. We then did 3 girl weave and 2 on 1 back for the last bit of time....so like half an hour. It was ridiculous. We didn't do any ball handling drills, almost no defense, no scrimmaging, no sort of plays. None of that. Also no conditioning. It was also very "wing it" by the coaches. I guess I'm just used to good-ole Shead (HS coach) with his very structured and detailed plans for practice. And I miss it, a lot. I broke my finger when we were doing 3 on 2 vs the coach characters while trying to grab a rebound. It pretty much sucked, but didn't realize how much it hurt/that I really did something bad to it until the very end of practice. Adrenaline will do that to ya.
After "try-outs" I came back to the flat and saw all the girls about to leave for dinner and a night out for Diana's birthday. Well, I sat around here, made a quick dinner, got cleaned up, and went to join the girls after their dinner out and went out on the town with them. We went to this place called Abracadabra, and it was completely insane. We had no idea what it was, but later found out that it was intended to be the most exclusive and highest quality (ie: EXPENSIVE) club for rich people in London. We decided it was where the ugly rich Europeans went haha. Click here for the website for the place and you'll see for yourself. Just enter a bogus cell number to see the site...thats what I did. Lol. Needless to say we didn't stay long cause it was expensive and we're poor, so we went to a bar elsewhere in Piccadilly and had loads of fun there. It was 6 girls on the town together, and we just got silly. And we stayed out waaay too late and goofed off together and had a blast. Yay girls nights out!!
Sunday I did nothing (aka: recovered from Saturday). I did do a little work on the presentation I had to give for Tuesday though.
Monday I had class all day. For history we went to the Churchill Museum and War Room Cabinet from WWII. It was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. I would love to educate you all here, but this blog would be farrr too long, so if you would like to know more, go here. For BLC we talked about the media and the reporting on the Madeline McCann case and how irresponsible the media is being on the case. It was really interesting to learn about. We also had some English treats brought by the professor that were really interesting. We had some Cornish pasties that were pretty good, and kind of reminded me of stuffing (the filling anyhow). For some history on the Cornish Pasty, go here.
Tuesday I had politics and we got our papers back. I wrote mine on the United Kingdom Constitution and I got an 'A'!!! Yay! Now, I would like to say that I thought the overall content of the paper did probably deserve the grade I got, but I think that the structure of the paper could have been better, and if I had been able to write more, it would have flowed better (there was a 2000 word limit...my paper was 1996 words). I also had a presentation to give. Angelica and I did the history of civil rights and liberties in the UK. And we did pretty well.
Today we had politics again, and this time, it was our final. Yikes! We took the final, I think I did alright, and I also asked about the presentation grade, and we got an 'A-"! I'm so thrilled. So as long as i get a B+ or higher on the final (which I'm sure I'll get) I'm gonna get an 'A' in the class. Hoorayyyy! Also, I'm excited because this means that I'm totally done with politics!! Yay.

Oh, I nearly forgot! I had my interview for my internship (that we have in place of classes for the rest of the semester) yesterday morning. It went really well, and I clearly got the job! Yay. I'm working for London First in the safer business section. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing, but as soon as I start doing it, you guys will be sure to know! The staff I'm working with is currently 2 people short, so I can be sure that I'll get to do some real stuff....and prolly be working my ass off...and not getting paid for it. Meh, thats what an intern does, and I'm going to be getting some fantastic experience. Click here for more info on the London First organization.

And now you are all up to date on my life!

Cheers!!!

I Went Abroad to Study......

So this week has been nothing but studying, and doing homework, but don't worry, I promise you this blog won't be boring! For those of you who pay loads of attention to detail and can do math, you'll notice that I am writing this around 11:30pm on a Friday night. Yes, everyone I am being that girl who decided not to go out on a Friday night even though she's abroad. I am being a tool and sitting at home whilst everyone else parties and lives the good life. But you know what, I don't regret my decision because I have my reasons, and I can assure you that they are good ones. But for now, I shall regale you with stories from my life this week.

I last wrote on Tuesday and it was the story of my weekend. Well, I can assure you my life has calmed down immeasurably since then. I mentioned that I went to the National Portrait Gallery in my last post, but I didn’t really say anything about it. Now, our visit to the museum was rather hasty, and we didn’t see a lot of the museum, but what we did see was pretty incredible. We started with the Tudor era and walked through the exhibits in chronological order, which is impressive in itself, because the layout of the museum is not the easiest to follow. Props to our professor for that. The Tudor paintings looked almost cartoonish in nature, because of the quality of the paint I think. The colors were so rich and the paint was so thick upon the canvas and the cloths so ostentatious (the style of the period) that some of the paintings could have easily been a cartoon satire. The next era that was really impressive was the Victorian. Basically, I’m a huge fan of Victoria because she was one of the monarchs who actually cared about her people and wanted the best for them. And she actually loved her husband, Prince Albert, which in those days very nearly never happened for royals and such. They had 9 kids, 9!! Someone worked it out and that’s just short of 7 years of pregnancy. Good lord. When Albert died Victoria was devastated and went into mourning for about 20 years, no joke. She also had the amazing monument to Albert erected (you’ve all seen my pictures of Big Albert by now, that’s the monument) and there is the Royal Albert Music Hall right across the street from it as well. In the 20 years that Victoria wore black and mourned she almost never stepped foot out of her palaces and neglected the country something awful. During this time the people who used to love her turned against her and just thought she was a drain on the country’s economy because she didn’t do anything for the country except spend their money (the tax payers support the royals…duh). Eventually Victoria’s advisors managed to rouse Victoria and got her to take an active role in running the country and once again, the people began to love her (I do love a story with a happy ending). Now Victoria gained the throne when she was just 18 (1837) even though she was about 5^th in line for it because amazingly everyone else in front of her died. It happened a lot in those days, what with disease and all. And she didn’t stop ruling until she died in 1901. She ruled for 64 years. That’s the longest reign of any monarch in the history of the country. Although Elizabeth II (the current Queen) is working on a pretty impressive streak herself. After Victoria died her first son, Edward VII came to the throne and he also ruled for quite a long time, and that period became known as the Edwardian Period. They think of the best names, the Brits, don’t they? We walked through the museum up to some pretty modern and recent paintings, and we even saw a photograph exhibit on Princess Diana, that was pretty spectacular. At the end of out rather quick tour we stopped at a computer station, and picked a painting we wanted to research and give the class a presentation on, and then we were off doing homework. Alison and I chose a painting of Queen Victoria. It’s called Queen Victoria’s First Visit to her Wounded Soldiers. It’s a depiction of Vicki visiting soldiers wounded in the Crimean War. She felt horrible about the fact that her soldiers had to fight at all let alone in horrible winter conditions. She did her best to ease their sufferings and put pressure on Parliament to give the soldiers the most supplies and support possible.

As I said before, Tuesday was pretty boring, but Wednesday was pretty cool. We went to the Imperial War Museum for my politics class (I’m not entirely sure how it relates). That place was seriously cool. They had an entire exhibit on spying in wars (including a bit on James Bond, ‘cause they’re that cool) and all the intelligence agencies that GB has. It was really well done, and we spent a huge chunk of time in that exhibit. Its definitely worth the time to visit if you’re ever in London, and the best part is its free! After the spy exhibit we visited the Cold War era and the Korean and Vietnam War periods, and man for a while I totally forgot we were in a British museum, because our war histories are almost identical. There was even a little movie short on Hendrix’s American National Anthem that he played at Woodstock. The only part that you could really tell it wasn’t the US’s own history was the Falkland War, and in the spy exhibit because they have MI5 and MI6 (the MI stands for Military Intelligence). Our two countries are so interconnected when it comes to war, its insane. Its basically US history with a British twist. Now, don’t go yelling at me that I’m completely wrong and there are so many differences, because I do know that there are, and I’m oversimplifying it, but as far as generalizations go, I’m 100% right. But the best part of the museum was what we saw after class was officially over. Our professor said he was done showing us around, and that he was leaving, but we should stay and have a look around if there was anything else that caught our eye. Well, being the nerds we were, most of us did end up staying around for a while. We totally skipped the WWI and WWII exhibits, and we saw that there were “experiences” in there. So we went. Now we all know so much about the world wars that we didn’t spend time actually looking at the exhibits, except that I stopped and looked at the WWI model of a trench for quite a while. But the coolest part was they built a mini trench exhibit, and you can walk through it and its dark and noisy and smells kind of like what a trench would smell I think. It was amazing. I got lost before I went in, so I went through on my own, and it was totally creepy. Then on the WWII side you could go through a London Blitz exhibit. It was kind of corny, but also very interesting. Definitely worthwhile, and they don’t charge for that either. Woot!

Some of Wednesday evening was spent working on the presentation for Friday and most of Thursday was as well. Thursday is also usually my day off, but we had a make-up history class because we missed a couple classes right at the beginning of the semester. We sat in class and listened to a lecture that was rather boring and then watched a semi-interesting movie on the Battle of Britain. It was incredibly old, and I think that is why it was only mildly interesting. Friday I had history….again. And it was presentation day. Me and Alison were ready to go, had our paper written and printed out, I had my computer with the presentation. And then our professor SKIPPED us. We didn’t get to present. We were like WTF. When class was over we went up to him and were like…ummm you skipped us, we were supposed to present. He said, oh sorry….I thought you weren’t ready. Umm no. We spoke to him Thursday after class about having the cord for our power point presentation the next day. What part of that says we aren’t ready to present? So now we have to wait a whole week to present again, because he won’t let us do it on Monday or Thursday (we have another make-up class). I’m incredibly annoyed.

Now as you can see, its no longer Friday night, but Saturday afternoon, and that’s because I fell asleep before I finished my novel. And the reason I went to bed so early is because I haven’t slept well at all this week and because I’m getting a cold thanks to all my lovely roommates, and because today is try-out day! There were 54 girls sent the reminder email, and I’m sure not everyone will turn up, but that’s still a lot of girls and I’ve never had to actually try out before. Anyhow, I went to bed early, and woke up late, and got 12 hours of sleep last night. It was fantastic. Totally makes up for the lack of sleep I’ve had all week. And try-outs are this evening, so after they’re over around 8pm I plan on taking a shower, eating, and crawling back into bed, because with my cold I’m sure to be exhausted. Especially since I haven’t played in a while, and I’m sure it’ll kick my ass. So wish me luck for this evening!!

Cheers!

I Went Abroad to Party.....

This last weekend was pretty ridiculous. I went out both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday I went with Alison, a new friend from AU I've made, and one of her friends, Julia, that was visiting. We went to Notting Hill and bar hopped, and it was a lot of fun. My goal of the evening was to get hit on by a guy, and I succeeded. I got hit on by no less than 3 guys. Although they were all 24+. Oh well. Julia went home a different way, because she wasn't going to the same place as us (she lived here for 7 years, so she knows her way around, don't worry) so me and Alison were on our own to find the correct night bus home. We were definitely a few drinks deep, and didn't really know where we were headed, so we just got on the first bus that came along, but we knew it went in our general direction. We went too far and missed our stop and ended up at Victoria bus station. Which was good, cause its huge and has loads of buses going through it. We made a stop at a McDonald's and got fries and man, they were delish! We then caught another bus, got off at the far end of Hyde Park and walked the rest of the way home. Now, its a good mile home from where we were, and we knew that, but its not a bad walk, and being as cheery as we were, we didn't care at all. We giggled and talked the whole way home and we made it no worse for the wear.
Saturday night Alison and I went out again, this time to Camden and with Jason and Justin. We were just sitting around, and all of a sudden decided to go out, and as a result didn't do any "pre-gaming" as we like to call it. And even so we (by we I mean me) some adventures on the tube getting there. Basically we decided to follow the 30 people on our train to where ever they were going because they were all drinking (it's allowed and CRAZY) and got off at one stop so we figured we'd see what was up. Well, we couldn't figure out where they had gone, so we were like, back to plan A, Camden. We went to get back on the train, but SURPRISE, I'm the only one who made it on. I hopped on just as the doors were closing, and everyone else was behind me. It was stellar. We met up at the stop we were headed to (just 2 down the line) and there was no harm done, but it was pretty silly. Now, I don't know if any of you know what the Camden here is like, but its similar to our Camden (as in New Jersey) in that it is kinda shady, but not nearly as dangerous because there are virtually no guns here (though I suppose you could just get shanked...sorry mom). Anyhow, the scene is very alternative, though I hesitate to say punk, because punk here has actually died out for the most part. Think vintage clothes, mow hawks, pink hair, and spiked jewelry. Skater-ish. We walked into the bar and the very first thing that happened before I could even order a drink is that 2 guys start talking to me. And they were trying to have "witty banter" but it just came off as them trying to make me feel stupid, and I ended up thinking they were the dumb ones and got quite annoyed (all under 5 minutes). Basically they asked me if I knew the meaning of 3 different words (apparently I fit the stereo-type of being a stupid American?). And they think obnoxious does not mean annoying, but rather cocky or arrogant. Possibly its a cultural difference, but they this guy took a consensus among his friends and one girl was like, "Well I go to university, so I know, and it means arrogant." Umm, hello? I don't know if maybe you missed it, but the whole reason we're here in London is because we're studying. Means we got to university too. She had the whole attitude that she was better than us. Obnoxious.
We left that bar pretty quickly, and found ourselves another bar called Loch 17. It was really cool, played very American music that strangely ranged from current top 40 and pop to 70's dive bar, and 80's dance music. It was all very strange, but we loved it, and Alison and I tried to get some guys to hit on us, but sadly, they all already had girls. Oh well. Though there was a nasty guy who kept touching me around my waste and lower back and I was completely unamused. And Jason came back from the bathroom to tell us that he had been hit on while in there. Some guy told him to "Put his c-ck back in his beautiful pants." As we were leaving I saw the guy who had been touching me, and I very nearly hit him as hard as possible with my elbow as i walked by, but he was talking to the bouncer, so I only made the motion of it at him. I was very menacing, let me tell you. But then Jason was like, that was the guy who hit on me! It was the same guy!!! We all thought that was hilarious, let me tell you. On the way home we got lost on the buses again, finding one in the right general direction of home, and eventually made it there.

Sunday was chill, and Monday was a crazy busy day of classes. 6 1/2 hours of class is not spectacular, let me tell you. Though the first part of the day was spent in the National Portrait Gallery for my history class, and that was actually pretty cool. Today I had class in the evening, and I had trouble sleeping last night so I didn't wake up until noonish (I didn't fall asleep until well after 3am...it pretty much sucked). So I didn't do a whole lot before class, except go to the fresher's fair (Freshman...get it?) and sign up to play club basketball. I'm so excited. Only tons of girls have signed up and there are try-outs on Saturday night, and I'm a little nervous. I know I'll probably do just fine, but I'm still nervous. Yikers!

I also have a bunch of homework coming up, such as a presentation on Friday, another presentation Tuesday, and a FINAL on Wednesday! The class portion of our semester is nearly over and I can't believe it! Its insane. Cause it also means that we're closing in on the halfway mark of the semester, and I'll be home before you know it.

Thats all for now,

Cheers!