Un-Romance

M'kay, so, evidently I lied. In my last post I said that I didn't want a romance, that I was just going to concentrate on my friends and my studies, which I have been doing, but with the holiday season upon us and all the couples and couple-y things surrounding me 24/7 (mistletoe, warm fires, cold snow, hot chocolate etc...)Plus all the couples around me and all the romantic christmas movies on tv, makes me think that I may have changed my mind a bit. It's not hard to want what you don't have, you know? Especially with the Christmas season tricking you into thinking that love is in the air, even if it isn't. Anyway, I shouldn't really act on this desire becasue it would violate two things: The promise I made myself in my last blog and the Pact. I don't want to break those promises, but I can't help feeling a need for a real romance, especialy now during the most romantic season of the year. Bah Humbug.

Friendships versus the world

So, it's the month of NaNoWriMo and in honor of that, my subconscious and my schedule have decided to corroborate and make me write as much as possible. With essays, group projects, my novel, and these blogs that I feel the urge to write, I don't know when I'm gonna have time to watch Glee! Mixed in with all this writing I'm doing is the purpose of this blog. I'm trying to have a better social life and not be such a hermit. I'm trying to hang out with my friends more, take more initiative when hanging out to be there for them, and do more fun and exciting things like swing dancing and rock climbing. I've decided that instead of focusing on myself or finding some sort of love interest, I'm going to focus on developing the friendships I have and trying to make new ones. These will be the people who I stay with, who I tell my secrets to, who I learn from and lean on and visa versa. At least I hope so. This is a current life decision and I intend to stick with it for a while. On a lighter not, expect some modern, sexy, fairy tale photos soon. I'm taking them for my photography portfolio and I'm well excited. YAY!

Let's Go To The Movies (or TV)

Film: 5th Element
Action Film: Equilibrium
Drama Film: Under the Tuscan Sun
Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Lord of the Rings series
RomCom Film: Pretty in Pink
Horror Film: The Orphanage
Film based on a book: Jane Austen Book Club
Film based on a play: Midsummer's Night's Dream w/Stanely Tucci
Actress: Kate Winslet
Actor: Bruce Willis/Alan Rickman tie
Comedian: Stephen Fry/Carol Burnett
Director: Ron Howard/Gurinder Chada
80's Film: Weird Science
Foreign Film: Amelie
Film Couple: Stanely Tucci and Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia
Classic Film: Born Yesterday/Royal Wedding tie
Movie Musical: Finnian's Rainbow
Christmas Film: Miracle on 34th Street
Favourite Old Sitcom: Bewitched
Favourite 90's Sitcom: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Favourite Current Sitcom: Glee
Favourite Crime Show: Psych
Favourite Comedy Show: How I Met Your Mother
Game/Quiz Show: Does qi count? if not, Jeopardy
Stand Up Comic: Michael McIntyre
Cult Film: Blow Up
Television Actor: Neil Patrick Harris/Dule Hill/James Roday/Kevin Sorbo four way tie
Television Actress: Jane Lynch/Kristin Chenoweth
Favourite Reality Show: Dancing with the Stars
Favourite SciFi Show: Andromeda

I encourage you to copy this and do it yourself...cause it's fun!

Austin, TX, apparently the capital of awesome artsy stuff

So, I have some plans for the summer, if I can find an online or freelance job to earn some mulah. I have three ideas so far:

Idea Number 1

Intern in the Public Relations department at the Phoenix Art Museum. It would be cool because I'm a bit of an art history nerd (and by a bit I mean obsessed...) and a bit of a fashion nerd (same definition, and they have a fashion exhibit). Also, I might get to help organize public galas etc...which would be really fun and good experience. Plus side: Live at home for free. Downside: It's in Phoenix and doesn't really aid my need for travel.

Idea Number 2

Intern in the Public Relations/Marketing Department at Walden Media Studios in L.A. It would be cool because its what I really want to do, at this point in my life, you know, work in the book/music/movie/fashion industry, as opposed to doing PR for a law firm or something equally as boring. Also, I'd get to deal with different kinds of crises and meet famous people and become their friendly aquaintences, or even their friends! Plus side: It's in L.A. and its a publishing company(!). Downside: It's in L.A., kind of a sketchy town, and I don't currently have the money to live there for a summer.

Idea Number 3

Intern in Austin, TX, possibly at a boutique I found while browsing the interwebs. It would be cool because it deals with fashion, which is something I'm looking for. Also, I am hoping to convince a family friend that lives there that if I pay rent or buy my own food, she would let me stay at her house. I haven't breached that topic yet, but I will soon (maybe she'll read this!). Also, it's in Austin, the capital of cool and bohemian awesomeness, with a really good music scene. Plus side: It's in Austin and aids my need for travel, as I've never been there. Downside: I don't know if I can convince my friend to let me stay at her house...

As you could probably tell by the title of this blog, this option is my current favourite.

Which option is your favourite/Which option do you thing I should go for?

xxx

Disney Ridiculousness and Tip-Top Days

Today may not be the epitomy of good, perfect days, but it came darn close! The only two things that are a real downer so far are: the fact that I slammed my finger today when I tripped up the stairs...I'm having just a bit of trouble typing because, well, it does kind of hurt, not to be wimpy about it. And my Women's Studies class, as a whole. Pretty much it's a load of rubbish with a few interestingly decent points thrown in here and there. Today she talked about how body image is perpetuated by Disney Princesses which I guess I understand, but then she said, and I quote "what's with all the silly dresses and tiaras?" Well, the dresses focus on the time period and geographical location and they wear tiaras because they're royalty, of course...duh. Also, teh class mentioned that villains are always people of colour. In my vast film viewing, I find this to be false. For example, Disney films with humans, created by Walt originally (who people know was slightly racist): Aladdin- Jafar was the same race as everyone else. Mulan- the Huns really were the enemy of the Chinese. Peter Pan- Hook was white. Snow White- White. Sleeping Beauty- White, well okay, sorta green... Little Mermaid-...purple... Cinderella- White. Beauty and the Beast- white, AND the ideal of a "perfect male physique". Pochahantus- Whites(who really were enemies of the Native Americans at one point. 101 Dalmations- White. And those are just Disney films. Actually, most villains are played by Brits, rather than people of colour. There are villains that are people of colour (Push and Shanghai Noon for example) but it really isn't a stereotype and I wish people wouldn't make such a big deal of it. Every monday and wednesday I leave the class fuming and have to call someone to listen to me rant. It's the only thing that calms me down. If I happen to call you, just nod sympathetically (I can hear that through the phone you know) and make occasional remarks like "really?" "no way!" "I can't believe she said that!". It'll help me a lot. I guess the class does make me think...
But on to the overwhelmingly good part of the day! I got to talk to two people about my time studying abroad, fun! I made plans in the distant future to travel to, a) botswana b)China c)Amazon on a river tour, with a friend. I met someone new and exciting today and am looking forward to having a new, cool friend in her. I got compliments on some photos I took(!!) and overall, I'm have a tip-top day. Tonight, it gets even better with Dancing with the Stars (Sabrina, Swayzee tribute, and Lion King performance), Glee(need anything else be said?) and laundry, yippee! Sorry that this was a bit of a lacklustre blog to come back from my hiatus on, but I'm just too happy to write much :)

Homesick for Normalcy

I've been in this really weird state of mind recently. I'm home and what I'm doing was, at one point in my life, normal (to clarify, I'm sitting at home bored out of my mind or doing chores), but that sort of lifestyle hasn't been normal for about 4 years. I've always had something to do, a job or something. So, while I'm sitting here on the interwebs, bored out of my mind, with the occasional fun thing to do, I'm pining for different things. I'm pining for more family time. I want to bond with my parents, I want to just watch movies and play games and chat, but they are at work a lot of the time, and I am not. I pine for my University life. I can't wait to go back and see all the friends that I haven't seen since december. I pine for the normalcy of going to class everyday and hanging out with good friends at night and watching movies, or going to church, or grabbing a coffee. I pine for my highschool friends, who I won't see for much longer, unless they make the two hour drive up to Flag. And I also pine for England. Yes, of course I pine for the foggy glory of the British countryside, even though I love me a good cactus and some rocks, but mostly I pine for the people. I want so much to have the times we had back, but they will never again exist. Even if we all get together again, which I'm hoping most of us will do next year, it won't be the same. Change is good, it broadens the mind and the personality, but right now I'm stuck in this strange limbo and I just want to go back. Perhaps not rewind time, because that would be counterproductive, but to have my family, my British friends, my American friends all together with me, each group similar to what it always was, all in one place, so that I can stay close or get closer with all of them, instead of losing the friends I've made and tried so hard to keep. That's all (but don't think I'm depressed or anything, I'm just in Limbo).

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Tonight is my last night in the UK. I don't quite know how to feel about this. On the one hand, I'm quite sad to be leaving this beautiful country, it's mild temperment, it's liberal attitude, the friends I've made here etc. On the other hand, I'm so thrilled to see my family and friends again, start planning for my 3rd year in college, making a scrapbook of my adventures, and, despite myself and all my whinging, I'm actually excited about seeing my hometown again with its surprisingly beautiful cacti, and desert rocks as well as its gorgeous sunsets. I will be quite sad to leave the friends I have made here though, as I've already said. Once I leave (once I left Essex Uni actually) it will never be the same ever again. I will never have those special people all together again. We will never have a time like we had these past two terms at Essex. It was the first of many things for me, and I will miss it immensly, but change is inevitable and it can be good, I suppose. As I have been thinking about this quite a lot recently, I brought it up while talking with a friend. He came up with the brilliant, honest, heartbreaking reality that, while I will never have a time like this ever again, I will always have the memories of my time here and I will have other memories to make with the people I met here at different times. It is true and sometimes when I think about it I smile, and then other times I want to cry. It's different then when I left home. When I left home in January I knew that I would be coming back on July 23rd. For certain. This is not so certain and the Uni experience is already gone forever. It's a bit too blinding a reality than I care to accept. As my computer will be packed up tomorrow morning, I will quickly list things that I have enjoyed and memories that will stay in my mind forever:
Paris with Lauren
Spain meandering with Jenika
Spanish Spin the Bottle
EuroTrip
Waffles and Peep Show with the Fencers
All my many birthday celebrations with Rossen
Italia and Scotland with Tinerz
York with David
Flirt, SportsFed, and Potato Wars
Exploring England with Rossen
That time
Jenika and I hanging out
Flat 3 and Flat 8 SouthSide

I will miss the experience and the people for sure.
I love you all.

hopeless houseguest

So, I'm am officially a houseguest for more than 2 nights. I know I was technically a houseguest when I stayed in Poland, but I knew both the people that I was staying with well enough to feel comfortable with them. Here in Surrey, I only know one of the three people I'm staying with. Another thing that I'm not used to is not helping in any way that I can, Rossen simply forbids it because "I'm the guest". Oh this is frustrating and I really wish I could help or make them and/or myself more comfortable. I'm just not used to this! The only time I've ever stayed at someone's house I was almost equal friends with the family as with the friend I was staying with, and it was only for one or two nights, not two weeks! This is just the newest situation for me, and its a bit uncomfortable for certain reasons and it's confusing. Ah well, I'm having a nice time of it as it goes. Rossen's parents are lovely and his mom reminds me of an old russian movie star when she smokes a cigarette very elegantly and then mutters in Bulgarian, its the only image I have in my head :D

I will make a picture post later with some photos from Surrey, but sadly I don't feel inspired enough to write about Roma or York, other than David's family is lovely, I saw Obama, and I saw the most beautiful church in the world, no offence to people who don't attend services at Santa Maria Della Vittoria. byebyebyebyebye!!

Dzien Dobry!!

aka: hello in Polish! well, you guessed it, I'm in Poland, officially. After an well crowded flight over here, and a short wait in the airport coffeehouse, I saw Jim, after three years! It was wonderfully exciting and nice. Last night Anka cooked us a traditional polish dinner of something similar to dumplings topped with goulash. It was yummy. Then today, after waking up completely confused as to where I was and what day and time it was(I was tired and delirious) I went on a bus to town centre. I wandered around the huge mall, Galeria Dominikanska, for a bit, then went to the market place where there wasn't much out (it was raining) and I was accosted by a gypsy asking for money. I didn't know what to do and was so confused, and she kept blocking my escape, until I was rescued by an older polish woman who put her hand around my waist and led me away whilst chatting to me in Polish. I love that woman I've decided. After that little excursion, I met Jim for lunch in a milk bar(which doesnt' really have milk) and had some more traditional dumpling food. MMM!

This evening was my favourite so far. It was just a typical family night, I felt like I'd walked in on a movie and was just observing. The parents played helicopter with there kids for a bit, then we all played blocks. Now there's soup on the stove, Jim was on his computer doing work with an infant sleeping on his lap. Aniela was sitting in her chair pretending to read her mulan book whilst Anka entertained us all by playing the piano beautifully. It was so stereotypically beautiful it made me want to shout for joy! I wish you could have seen it, but then it might not have been so special. I was the only guest and I know them, and I STILL felt like I walked in on an old film or scene from a novel. Well, I will update more when I can about the town, Jim's upcoming show, and possibly Krakow. Then it will be York where I see David again, Italy where I see Tina Simone and Elisha again, and, finally, Surrey where I get to see Rossen again! YAY!! I'm thrilled, actually. Couldn't you tell?

Guess where I am?

EDINBURGH! That's right folks, I'm in Scotland right now. I got up at 10 to 5 this morning, got on a coach, then a plane, then two trains, then some walking and now Tina and I are in Edinburgh, mooching off the Library's internet. We have done so much cool stuff today! I was speechless earlier when I discovered that a favourite book of mine, 44 Scotland Street, has actual places in Edinburgh. We went to the coffee shop across the street from the art gallery and had a lovely conversation with a posh couple and the posh coffee shop owner, who knows the author personally as he comes in there all the time! He also knows some people that characters are based on! We then journeyed onward and found Cumberland Bar, Drummond Place, and Scotland Street itself! Although, I was quite disapointed when I found out that 44 doesn't exist, it only goes up to 43, Darn that McCall-Smith! As soon as I finish this post, which will be momentarily, Tina and I will journey to the Elephant House, the place where J.K. Rowling wrote her Harry Potter novels on napkins, I'm so excited! After that we might go on a pub crawl, or we might sleep, we'll see where the night takes us. Look out for pictures of Scotland Street, Elephant House, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness and Loch Lomond, they're coming soon!

Planning Makes My Head Hurt

It really does, I've had a constant headache for the past two days straight, and on and off for a few days before that. I've been planning like mad, but the headache has finally mostly gone away. I think that it is due to the fact that I booked my flight and hostel for scotland, my hostel for roma, my flight for poland, my places to stay in London and Surrey and will find out about my place to store luggage and stay for a few days in Berkshire tomorrow at around 1. I'm so excited! All that's left to do is find out about luggage storage and book my flight to Roma! YAY!! I'm so very thrilled. My absence of headache might also be due to the two parasetomal I took earlier...whichever cause floats your boat :)
Travel itinerary update:
Scotland with Tina
Poland with Jim
York with David
Italy with Tina
Surrey, Stonehenge, Kent, Brighton, and Colchester with Rossen
London with Katie and Krista
THEN HOME! I must admit though, I'm really rather sad about coming home, except that I'll get to see my family and friends again! I will miss it so very much here, I am considering moving here later in life. I think that will be good.

On a side note: why is bloody everyone getting married?! Chelsey, Chandra, Jimmy, Rachel, Dan, Julie, Andrew, Aundrea, Lauren (they're all engaged) and Amanda, Ashleigh, Devin, Katie (they're all married). It's craziness! How can you even fathom that at our age!? (They are all my age or younger, apart from Ashleigh, who is one year older than me)

easy exams cause slight stress

So, I sat in my first British University exam yesterday and it was exciting. I got there about 25 minutes early because a) I gave myself extra time to find the room and I found it right away and b) I heard that they lecture you 15 minutes before, which they did! It was the European Society and Politics in 1500-1750 first year history course, so it was relatively easy. I was expecting the worst, I didn't know whether or not it would just be a surprisingly hard test and ruin my curve and cause me to lose my NAU scholarship, but it didn't. It had two source analysis sections (which are basically short answers about the two articles that the examiner gave us) and one essay question, which I answered in a bit over 3 pages. I chose the one on one of the subjects I studied hard, which was the influence Charles I had in the English Civil War. Overall, it was an easy exam, which worries me a bit, but I hope it just means that I did well and not that I didn't do what I was supposed to...

The Socialistic Week of Busy

So, I absolutely can't be bothered to write out the rest of what happened on our epic road trip, being that it was so long ago and I'm a horribly neglectful blogger. Suffice to say, it was tension filled, confusing, amazing and wonderful. After that, I madly wrote essays for a while and then took a break to visit London with Laura and DenniMarie, old family friends who came to town. They let me sleep in their fancy hotel, I had my picture taken with a Frenchman dressed as a Scot, rode on the London Eye, met(sorta) the lead singer of Duran Duran, and saw the place where Henry VIII had Anne Bolyen beheaded! Exciting stuff for sure! So, this last week has been chock full of exciting thrilling things! Last Saturday Lauren and I went into town to get her some shoes for the Summer Ball and then we saw Hannah Montana the Movie (which was surprisingly sweet and classic Disney).
On Sunday a few friends and I proceeded to epically fail at tennis for several hours (except Chris, he was good at it of course)
On Monday I went into London and saw a concert with Lauren where the preview acts were alright, if a bit repetitive, and the main act, whose name happens to be Andrew Bird, was really good. He had a small recording studio on stage and for a lot of his songs he accompanied himself with backing vocals, whistles, violin picking, actual violin playing, and guitar! He also had a drummer, a bassist(who also played the bass sax) and another guitar player. He had a lovely voice and was quite talented and all in all worth the 12 pound train ticket.
On Tuesday I did something exciting, but I don't remember what it was...
On Wednesday we all went to Mexican night at a local restaurant and then went to Star Trek and I was blown away by the special effects. Blown Away. You should go see it. Right now. Seriously, why are you still reading this?
If you are still reading this, you're a true friend. On thursday I cleaned my room, and that may not sound exciting, but it is :) Then a friend came over and we watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. After that a few friends and I went to a very loud and good jazz performance, followed by an even louder alternative dance party, followed by chilling at one of their houses and watching cheesy movies until 4am. After that we all walked home in the drizzling rain while the sky was getting lighter and the day was getting foggier. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a while. Truly awe-inspiring.
Now I'm off to a Star Wars marathon!

GO SEE STAR TREK

SLLS!

Uber Update

So, this post will have 3 categories: Paris, EuroDisney, London Again.

1. Paris
I just got back from Paris about 5 days ago. It was amazing! Everything there was beautiful! My friend Lauren and I went with the school's International Academy. First we went on a ferry from Dover to Calais and we got to see the white cliffs of Dover, which were so pretty! Then when we got there we drove straight to the Eiffel Tower and it was beyond my imagination. From far away I was thinking that it wasn't too special, it looked like it did in the pictures, but then, as we got closer, it got exponentially more and more beautiful. Paris itself was like a fake world. There were happy couples everywhere (I know its the city of love, but really? yes, really), cute picture perfect families complete with 2.5 children and a dog, and simply gorgeous architecture all around. Our first real day in Paris was filled with typical tourist things. We first went to the Sacre-Coeur and walked reverently inside the grand church. I also bought a candle and prayed, as one is tempted to do in a place so beautiful. Next we went for a complete change of pace and drove to the Moulin Rouge. It was very expensive to go in, so we didn't, but we did take lots of pictures of the iconic outside. In the afternoon the group journeyed to Notre Dame Cathedral and listened to the bells. Afterwards, Lauren and I spent the rest of the day walking through the Louvre Museum and generally being in awe of all the paintings. In the evening, Lauren and I found a quaint little chinese restaurant, ordered some takeaway, went back to our hotel, and ate it before going to sleep. All in all, a great 2 days in Paris.

2. EuroDisney
This place was amazing. It was so different, and yet the same to the Disneyland I'm used to. The castle was pink instead of blue, everything was more decorated and more beautiful, Indiana Jones was a pure rollercoaster, Space Mountain was so much more intense, and Star Tours was in French! It was amazing. I'm gonna let the pictures do the talking, I think 3. London Again
This was my third trip to London, and its still as magical as the first trip. Big Ben is just as unexplainable and Westminster Abbey is just as old. This trip we did a few new things though. We finally got to go into the national gallery, something I've been wanting to do since I got to England. We saw all of these amazing paintings by Degas, Van Dyck, Rubens, Vigee-Lebrun, Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. I was in Heaven. Speaking of Heaven, we also went into a church and were there for the Evensong. The church was St. Paul's Cathedral, and the architecture in that building was so amazing and ornate it made you want to cry. The Evensong was very beautiful. The men's choir had voices like angels, and some of them were very high pictched angels, they were singing all the way up in my range! Then, after that, we went for a complete scene change. The Troubadour, a downtown restaurant and bar, has acoustic musical acts held in the basement. Jenika, Jaime and I went there to see an aquantaince of mine perform. When we got there we were surprised to see that it was in a part of town that was not touristy at all! It was very nice. The show was filled with pretty decent indie music. The first act was Catherine Tran. She had a lovely voice, but her melodies were great for background music. The second act was Tom Milsom, a brief acquaintance of mine. He was great! I've heard him sing better, but I've never heard a better kazoo act. Also, his in-between chatter to the audience was the funniest out of the three acts and his electric ukelele was enjoyable to listen to. The last act was called Animal Kingdom. They were used to more 'rockin' settings so their acoustic set was rather depressing, but still great sounding. We then caught the train back to Colchester and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Catherine Tran

Tom Milsom

Barcelona Part Deux

So, when we got back to the apartment after a fun morning, we met up with two mexicans, Carlos and Mauricio, and a Brit/Kenyan, Caroline, and went exploring. Mauri took us around the metro, because we definitely didn't get it, and we went to Park Guell, designed by Gaudi. Lemme tell ya, Barcelona LOVES Gaudi. His architecture is everywhere! But Park Guell had to have been my favourite.

Isn't it beautiful!? Anyway, after that fun adventure, we had another fun adventure: Jenika was pick-pocketed. She got her wallet back, sans about 60 dollars, but it still had all her cards and things, so that was good. We were so relieved that we immediately went home and celebrated with amazing kebabs, that's kebabs, not kabobs, so no stick involved. It actually tasted a lot like what I get when I go to Chipotle's. Later, much later, in the evening we journeyed to a club, we got there at 2am, cause we'd heard that clubs started later there, and no one was there yet! We left and came back around 3am, and that's apparently when the party started. The music was alright, but the clubs at Uni are better. When we left at 4am, there was still a line all the way around the building to get in. Sunday was a fun day in which we succeded in getting lost several times, much like Saturday afternoon, but still had fun. We went up to Montjeuc and the Castle, which was a killer climb of a gigantic hill and about 1,5oo steps. We took a break in between the two at a lovely area with fountains and flowers galore.

Once we got to the top, we explored the castle a bit. It was relatively small, but it had really nice gardens with about 6 cats playing around in them.

I named him el tigre. He was very affectionate. After that we went down the mountain again in the funicuolare (like an enclosed ski lift) and saw so many pretty views from high up. Following the very exciting funicuolare ride, we hopped on a metro to the sea. It was so nice there! I loved it. I don't have very many good pictures of it though, so I won't be putting one up. It was freezing, but I played in it anyway. Then we went to a restaurant on the coast, it was a Spanish buffet and it had great food finished off with icecream. MMM! Then we went back to the flat and socialized with our flatmates for the rest of the night, and in the morning we hopped on a plane and were back at Uni by 130. How exciting!
This was our group for Saturday and some of them for Sunday

Scheduling Surveys

So after not much deliberation, but multiple groans and sighs, I have my schedule for fall term worked out and here it is:

PR 371 Public Relations Case Studies and Research
Tues and Thurs 2:20-3:35
PHO 181 Communication Photography
Tuesday 4:00-6:30
PHO 285 Intermediate Photography
Tues and Thurs 9:35-10:50
PSY 101H Introduction to Psychology Honors
Mon and Wed 2:00-3:15
MUP 362 Women's Chorale
MonWedFri 10:20-11:10
MER 131 Merchandising Fundamentals
Tues and Thurs 8:00-9:15

And that's my new schedule for fall term. It's not gonna be great fun, but it won't be bad. The only blemish on my plan is that I have an 8am class in the Communication Building on North Campus, and I live in Pine Ridge, the far end of South Campus about a 20 minute walk away. Bleck.

And now for something fun, just to copy Lauren:
person (famous) = Zooey Deschanel
person (familiar) = Mom and Dad, can't choose
gift to receive = Handmade (but nice)
item of clothing = My black dress from the Basement
.poem = "Captain and crew, captain and crew, take me, oh take me, anywhere new" exerpt from Needles and Pins by Shel Silverstein
deity = Christian God
vehicle = Specific kind of Jeep
designer = Jovovich-Hawk
season = Spring
contemporary movie = The Women
80s band = Bon Jovi
song = "You really got a hold on me" She and Him
Movie Quote = "Leeloo Dallas, Multipass"
"Philosophical" Quote = "My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can." Cary Grant
Book Quote = "These shoes had a mind of their own. They kept clunking into each other, making me trip, and I had to stare down at them and order them to pint in the right direction. I felt as if I were trying to keep two little kids from squabbling with each other." Bloomability by Sharon Creech
Social Networking Site = Facebook
Blogging Site = Blogger/Blogspot by Google
Online Game Site = bigfish.com
Weird Online Thing = ThisIsNotTom.com
Music Site = 99.9kez.com
News Site = BBC World News
Electric Device = Bedside Clock
Electronic Device = iPod
Winter Item = Scarves
Summer Item = Sunglasses
Fall Item = Cardigans
Spring Item = Flouncy Skirts
Office Supply = Pencils
Toothpaste = Crest Whitening with Mint
Chain Restaurant = CoCo's
Non-Chain Restaurant = Collin's Pub in Flagstaff
Pizza Place = Rays Pizza in NYC
Ice Cream = Chocolate mixed with Oreos
Chinese Dish = Sweet and Sour Pork
Indian Dish = Chicken Tikka Masala
French Dish = Chicken Cordon Bleu
After-Dinner Mint = Andes Chocolates
Spice = Nutmeg
Herb = Thyme
Marine Animal = Sea Otter
TV Show: The IT Crowd

The end! Do the survey thing if you wish, it's fun, just delete the one's you don't have an answer to :D

I stole/helped create this with Lauren and Now I'm doing my own

Flower = Callalily
Fruit = Orange
Contemporary Actor = Bruce Willis
Contemporary Actress = Kate Winslet
Classic Actor = Fred Astaire
Classic Actress = Audrey Hepburn
Contemporary Book = 44 Scotland Street Series
Classic Book = Pride and Prejudice
Contemporary Writer = Janet Evanovich
Classic Writer = Edith Wharton
Photographer = Annie Leibovitz
Painter = Degas
Impressionist = Edouard Manet
Sculptor = All things Lladro, but if that doesn't count, Bernini
Blockbuster Movie = Star Wars Return of the Jedi
Indie Movie = Little Miss Sunshine
Foreign Movie = Amelie
Classic Movie = Royal Wedding
Animated Movie = Aladdin
80's Movie = Weird Science
90's Movie = The Fifth Element
British Movie = Driving Lessons
Classical Musician = Mozart
60's Band = The Beatles
70's Band = Does The WHO count?
90's Band = Backstreet Boys
Current Band = She & Him
Record = The Boyfriend
Classic TV Show = Bewitched
Contemporary TV Show = Psych
Reality TV Show = Dancing with the Stars
Cartoon = Felix
Male Singer = Josh Groban
Female Singer = Mandy Moore
Animal = Fox & Crocs have tied since I was 6
Mythical Creature = Merfolk
Obscure color = Peach Chiffon
Actual color = Orange or Green
Decade (Not Lived In) = 1940s
Decade (Lived In) = 2000s
Broadway Show = Oliver!
Off-Broadway Show = Altar Boyz
Magazine = Teen Vogue
Country = England, so far
Drink = Pepsi
Film Character = R2D2
Novel Character = Jemima Jones
Theme Park = Six Flags
Shakespearian Play = Midsummer's Night Dream
Non-Shakespearian Play = Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Philosopher = Carl Jung
Textile Pattern = Plaid
Fabric = Cotton
Store = Anthropologie
Cuisine - Mexican
Perfume = Cool Play by Lacoste
Cologne = Bulgari one from Stephanie Plum novels
Nut = Pistachio
Christian Holiday = Christmas
Pagan Holiday = Halloween
National Holiday = Thanksgiving
Day of the Week = Tuesday
Town = York, England (Bath if its only one's I've been to)
City = NYC
State = Arizona
Board Game = Scattergories
Sport = Dance/Gymnastics
Vitamin = C

Barcelona for the Weekend

So, I'm writing this blog in addition to trying to finish my essay by tomorrow. Woot! Anyway, thought I'd finally make a post about Barcelona, now that Jenika has already done two...
So, our first day was uneventful because we just got on a plane in the morning and made it to our flat at around 7 ish. Then we went and ate at some traditional Spanish restaurant where I tried sangria and proceeded to hate it, a lot. Then we went back to the flat and while everyone else went out to a crazy shot bar (it was crazy, I saw the pictures!!) Jen and I went to sleep so we could get up relatively early and go exploring. We didn't get up as early as we'd planned because I forgot to change the time on my watch, but we still had fun exploring. We saw the living statues getting ready for the day, the amazing market with silver candy and the best oranges I've ever tasted, the port with a giant Christopher Columbus obelisk of sorts, and a hot air balloon about to take off. It was a fun first half of the day. On our way back to the flat, we made an impromptu stop for chocolate churros(curly churros with a sligtly crusty shell on which you poured pure sugar and then dipped in mugs of melted chocolate). After eating those we, yes, drank the rest of the chocolate. This was not hot chocolate, it was pure melted chocolate, oh yeah. Then we went back to the flat and...I'm gonna stop it there until next post.

Epic Fail

Sorry for the Epic Fail of that last post, but I'm technologically impaired at the moment and can't fix it, so just scroll down while enjoying the lovely mulit-coloured polka dots.

Bathering at Bath

I went to Bath this weekend. It was lovely. Wouldn't it be mean if I ended it there? No, I don't think I'll do that. Anywhoo, I had the most amazing time! Lauren and I got up at 445am and started our travel journey at 545am. Had fun on the trains and buses and underground. Made a quick stop off at Kings Cross to be geeky Harry Potter fangirls.

Got to Bath around 11. We decided to just wander and ended up going to the fashion museum (relatively neat, but slightly overpriced...), walking past the jane austen museum(woulda gone in, but had spent too much mula already), eating fish and chips while people watching, and just generally exploring the lovely town that is Bath. At 13ish we walked to the train station for the Bathering(youtube gathering in Bath). We met some awesome people(hi awesome people who might be reading this!!) and got to hang out with them all day. We ate at Pizza Hut, walked around, got crammed into a sweet shop, snuck onto a small outdoor stage, had a private concert of a random choice of songs on ukulele played by Tom(who I happen to be listening to at the moment), and went to a bar/hotel/restaurant where some of us didn't even order anything. I met some great people and hope to see them again soon! Pic time:

Lovelies

Bath Another Lovely(and me) --->

Gone Clubbin', Be Back Later

So, I went clubbing in an actual club for the first time last night. I'd gone to the ones on campus of course, but never the one in towne. It is called Liquid, and its super hip. I realize that I just brought down it's hip-ness by calling it 'super hip', but oh well, it has 'hip' to spare. I had a really good time! It was Sam(my flatmate)'s 19th birthday yesterday and the school was having a bash in town(not for Sam, just coincidental) and we all had a party in the flat with cake, then went to the club. The club itself has 2 levels, one techno and one r&b. I stayed in the techno one all night because I prefer that type of musica. The club had awesome lighting, and a wicked double dance floor. Here's a picture, enjoy!

Me and Piradipa

New Tastes All Over the Place!!

Friday was Lauren's birthday. Jenika and I decided to make it super fun for her. In the morning I went with Jenika to the dentist to get her tooth fixed(turns out time is it's only healer), then we went into Colchester and ate at Nando's the amazing Porteguese restauarant. Then we went back to campus to get Lauren and went straight back out. We searched high and low for the Secret Garden and were extremely dissapointed when it turned out to be luxury apartments(those liars!!) Next door to the liars however, was a garden and 3 museums. We didn't have time to go into the museums, but we did meander around the garden and take lots of pictures with the gazebos(GAZEBOS!!) Jenika had to go back to Uni to see some concert where she was denied food(go read her blog) and Lauren and I went to the cinema and saw "he's just not that into you". It was sufficiently cute :) Then she took me to an Indian restaurant and I got to experience Indian food for the 1st time, and it was amazing!!

The next day, the 3 of us went back into Colchester again and explored the museums. The castle museum was nice, and we learned about women power, Boudica the woman who invaded Colchester, and then went to the prison, which was beyond creepy and I never want to go there again. Also, there was a 50 foot well which was intense, it took two seconds for our coins to hit the bottom! The Natural history museum people were liars just like the secret garden people. It was not a museum, it was a tribute to taxidermy, ewww. The hollytrees museum was the most fun. There were all these fun random rooms to learn about and there was even a sillouette drawing machine, which we all used :) Then we all went back to Lauren's place and watched part of the 10th Kingdom while eating local fish and chips.

Sunday started out with the tragic bus adventure, in which Jenika and I proceeded to waste almost an hour lost on the public transit system. When we finally got to Lauren's suburb, we shopped for snacks in the CoOp. Once we were back in lauren's flat we had a feast of junk food(oreos, milk, cheesecake, nana's chips, salsa, cookies, clemetines, brie, baguette and much more) while we finished 10th Kingdom(where's my Wolf?) and watched Sabrina(go bogey!!).

All in all, it was a super fun weekend and I think I gained about 3 or 4 pounds, what with the junk food feast, Porteguese food, Indian cuisine, McDonald's lunch, takeaway fish and chips and the chocolatey cereal I'm about to go eat. MMM!!

Lazy Fingers

Okay, so this was supposed to be the blog about London, but I'm too lazy to type it all out (mainly because I would be typing until tomorrow morning because it was just that awesome) and Jenika did such a decent job describing it that I am now linking you to her here's the first one: 1st and the second one: 2nd there you go, enjoy!

Come On with the Come Ons!

So, yesterday Jenika (from AZ) and Peradipa (from London) went to this itty bitty fishing town about a 10 minute bus ride from Uni called Wivenhoe. It was amazing! The houses were simply adorable! It seemed like they were fake, like something that movie makers would build to represent England. They couldn't have possibly been real, they were too cute! Anyway, we wondered around for a bit (ok, we were lost, but we found our way eventually) and then went to this pub called the Rose and Crown. We had to wait about 45 minutes for our food, but it was worth it!! Check out the picture!

Anyway, we had fish and chips (delish!), Shepard's Pie (even more delish) and some sort of hot chocolate pudding (best of all!). Oh it was so good. All throughout this lunch, by the way, we were being questioned and examined by the most adorable little british child named Keira. She asked us questions in her adorable accented voice, tried on our jewelry, took pictures with my camera and, and I quote, "may I see your handbag please?" It was pretty much the highlight of the day :) We then wandered around some more, found a pretty church and proceeded to take pictures while a service was going on inside, walked reverently around the cemetary, watched a man play with his very excitable dog, and walked the plank, quite literally! except we landed on a tiny pier, not in the arms of Peter Pan...too bad though, I'd love to meet him!

The day before our riverside adventure, a large group of us went to Colchester, the town on the opposite side of Uni. It is the oldest village in England and it was so weird to she shoppes like Build a Bear and TopShop on this ancient cobblestone street. OH! and they had a TKMax. That's right, tKmax! Photo op. Colchester was lovely and I'm for sure going back soon :)

So, onto the title of this blog (it's a long one today). Today I ran into one of my friendly british aquaintances. We

chatted and he proceeded to tell me that I looked radiant. RADIANT! Now, if I was in the states, I would say that this was a HUGE come on, but here, I just don't know. People go around saying quinessential nice things like that all the time and I didn't know how to make heads or tails of it. But it did boost my ego, so, Cheers Lee! Ok, London adventures will be next, bye bye bye bye bye!!

Karaoke Night at the Bar

So, last night, I met up with a bunch of international students for a fun quiet-ish night at the campus bar. Little did I know that last night was karaoke night. Oh. My. Goodness. The first thing I think of when I hear the word Karaoke is embarrasment. Oh no. Unlike in the states, the people here flocked to the bar. There was an influx of about 40 people within a matter of 10 minutes, all for the bad, drunken singing! People were singing everything from Grease, to Kanye West, to Rocky Horror Picture Show, to Chicago, to Ricky Martin (that one was sung by my new friend Sara from Jersey). It was intense. I, of course, didn't get up on stage, but you could definetly hear me during most of the songs. Sometimes we (Jenika and I) even got the French Canadian and the Colombian to dance with us! It was a surprise how much fun it was! Can't wait till Thursday for the next karaoke night.

Ok, it is now time to dress up like a wee devil for the Heaven and Hell party that I'm going to. Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to Colchester. Be prepared to anxiously anticipate pictures being posted. <3

Jolly Old England

By tomorrow night I'll have been in Britain at the U of Essex for a week! Oh wow, sorry that I haven't written about it yet, my computer has officially died and I am using my new flatmate's. So, for the next *insert number here, a lot* of blogs I will be talking about things that are happening while I am abroad. So, this week has been exciting! I met tons of new people (Aussies, Brits, Mexicans, this random guy from Finland, Canadians who speak english, Canadians who speak french...), had tons of new weather (Fog further than the eye CAN'T see cause it's so thick) and learned lots of new words such as: cheers-everything from cheers to thanks, innit-what do you think?, and o-re-GAH-no, which means oregano :) Everything has been pretty crazy so far, classes are confuzzling, buildings, at least at the U of E, are crazy unorganized, and drinking is apparently a sport! One great thing I've noticed about Britain so far, among all the good things, is that all the Brits are incredibly friendly and hospitable. They are willing to help me cook, or cook for me :) , show me around the campus, lend me there extra laptop when mine has a nervous break down (Thanks Steve!) walk with me to Tesco (a super walmart hopped up on AWESOME drugs) and just be my friend in general. It's awesome. Sometimes I can get a bit homesick, but hey mate, I just remember that I'm in the country that is responsible for fish and chips, then all is good again. Cheers!