Autumn in England

Once again I am terribly behind on my blogging, quelle surprise! Apologies to those who have been holding their breath (I’m sure most of you have) in anticipation of my extremely riveting and witty journals. Due to the dire state of my laptop’s Ethernet failure, the internet has not been as accessible as much as I would like and don’t have it in my room, although, it gives me a fantastic excuse to do my homework and read as opposed to stalking people via facebook. Regretfully, I do that anyway whenever I set up camp in the library, which is fairly often…and may I add that hanging out in Kent’s library is nowhere near as cool and social as Chapman’s. It is tackily furnished in the most impractical way, with “modern-esque” couches in the lounge that are shaped in cubes and covered in obnoxious primary colors. However, the stains and tattered corners are a dead giveaway that they aren’t trying to pull off hip interior décor on purpose, but the couches are most likely from before I was even born. You can pity me if you want.

That being said, school is going quite well. My classes are for the most part great as I’m taking almost all international relations and politics courses and surprisingly I haven’t heard much America-bashing since the first day of class, if any at all. In fact, they absolutely love Obama over here in the most absurdly obsessive way. I had a high school girl come up to me the other day…no let me rephrase that… the other day a high school girl heard my American accent and nearly knocked me sideways she was so excited. She called over her posse so they could fawn over my friend and I like we were Prince Harry in his knickers. They ranted about Obama for a while and I’m just going to take a wild guess at the fact that they probably know little to nothing about American politics, especially considering that the next thing they nearly crapped themselves about was the fact that I’m in a sorority. They literally started screaming at the top of their lungs in a pitch I didn’t know even existed and (of course) said “Like, OMG it’s like Legally Blonde!” “Yes, it totally is and we, like, wear matching pink all the time too, just like the movie!” I replied. Ok, I lied but it was too fun and easy to mess with them. I couldn’t resist. This little run in was at Guy Fawkes day, which is celebrating the failed attempt to blow up the British House of Parliament and is also known as bonfire day where they have…guess? BONFIRES! Wow you’re sharp. One massive bonfire, some rubbish fireworks and a waste of six quid later it was over and for the record 4th of July completely kicks Guy Fawkes’ arse (they literally spell ass, arse here…hilarious!)

Backtracking a bit, Halloween weekend was put on by my study abroad program and they brought all of the students from the universities outside of London into the city for a massive celebration…AND it was Houston’s 21st birthday so it was quite the adventure. Friday they rented out a fancy shmancy Mexican restaurant where we decided to buy rounds of margarita pitchers between the three of us. This was the first mistake. The second mistake was when Jessica decided to switch her round to a pitcher of margarita on the rocks where I’m certain they chose some top of the line tequila because it cost us about 50 pounds. For those of you who lack at mathematics, that would be around $80. Ya… my hair is standing on end just thinking about it, at the very least it was one heck of a margarita! We topped the night off by meeting up with some more friends and going to O’neills (always a guaranteed good time). Saturday we wandered through Portobello Market, which was absolutely massive. Just when you thought you had reached the end, there was more, and more and MORE. My proud purchase was found in a random antique store and the second I set eyes on it, I fell in love. Gazing up I saw this turquoise and gold 1970’s vintage dress with a jeweled broach on the waist belt hanging on the doorframe. 30 pounds. STEAL. Fits like a glove. Now I just need a posh occasion to rock this little beauty. Later that night the program threw a Halloween party on the top of Tower Bridge. Not a big deal or anything… It was amazing to wine, dine and dance our pants off with that view. Afterwards Jessica, Houston and I went to Fabric, which is this massive club in London to celebrate Houston’s 21st, and she did. Plenty. We somehow managed to get into the VIP room, which was a completely separate bar with a balcony that overlooked one of the main dance floors where you could look down as scoff at all the VIP rejects. Kidding! No, but really... The next morning we were given a lovely buffet breakfast at the Hilton compliments of our program and after I had the chance to meet up with my Chapman friend, Matt, for a drink as he was visiting London from Florence where he’s studying! Then (WHEW, it’s not over yet!) we took the train to Bath to have a girl’s getaway with a cozy stay at a B&B, posh birthday dinner and tours of the Roman Baths and shops the next day. It was quite the weekend and took a few days to recover, but well worth it indeed.

[Mom and Dad please read this paragraph and skip the last one]
Other than that I’ve been studying away…ALL the time, I never go out ever- not even drinks on the weekends. But don’t even worry Dad, the money spent is paying off and my brain is just immersed with SO much knowledge. Fun just spoils that, so I won’t be having any of it. Ever. The library is going to start charging me rent pretty soon from what I’ve been told.

Other than doing homework when I absolutely have to, I don’t study too much. A lot of the work here is independent and the reading they give us is SO extensive and DRY! It’s a shame because the subject matter is very interesting in my opinion. This means that I have plenty of time to go out with my friends. It’s typical to go have a pint or two on a frequent basis with friends for a chat, it’s a very relaxed atmosphere here. Between what’s offered on campus and the pubs in town (The Cuban is a fun one we just discovered, they have salsa dancing!) I keep myself very entertained. Assuming that Mom and Dad continued reading when I said not to, I truthfully am not wasting my life away, I promise! My life is not as crazy as it appears! I’m now writing a novel (all the more reason I should blog more frequently) so I’ll end it on that note.

TTFN,
V

Kent Uni. orientation week

After being nagged by agitated fans I finally agreed to cave in and write another blog. Sorry! I just didn't have much to write about for the month of August and September as it consisted of me couch surfing with family friends and relatives throughout England. At the beginning of September my parents were able to come into London to visit since my dad happened to have a show to attend for his work for a week and my mum happily tagged along. After, we were supposed to enjoy a relaxing few days on a southern spanish beach but we were cursed with horrid weather and there was a massive storm which wiped out any and all options for us to get a suntan. Shame. Consequently, we went to Paris instead, yaaaayyyy, which was the second time for me in one summer. Awesome. I slept in and worked out in the hotels fitness facility while my parents did all of the touristy things and then met up with them for the meals. It was lovely to see the 'rents though and i'm glad they got to come out for quite a while, even if we didnt get the vaca we had hoped.

I was dropped off in London after our Paris trip to meet up with my study abroad program. It was so much fun to meet all the students and have a couple more nights out in soho before we took off for Canterbury. I met some lovely girls both in and out of my schools program all who I stay in touch with! Jessica and Houston from IFSA-Butler both go to school with me and we are quite the team. Jess is from AZ and Houston is not from Houston. She's from Alabama. It's hilarious when we introduce ourselves to brits at school as the conversation usually goes something like this:
-So where are you from?
Houston- Im from Alabama
-OMG like the song!! Sweet Home Alabama! (starts singing song)...or scenario 2: Oh like Forest Gump!! Love that movie.
Me- I'm from California
-ooooo California!! Where in California?
Me- Orange County...
-WOW!!! Like The Hills? And Laguna Beach? Very famous, thats amazing!
Jessica-I'm from Arizona
-....wheres that?

This is fairly standard and if I had a quarter for every time this scenario played out there is a fair chance that I may be able to buy something cool, like my own island or jet or maybe just the world. Anyway the entire first week was orientation and was full of themed events which catered to our every desire. Campus was one giant party and unlike America, you can legally drink when you're young...basically when you can see over the bar. This means that there is no shortage of bars on campus and you drink constantly...no, really...for example it's Monday night and everyone is out at the bars. I don't know how their livers handle it. My birthday was Monday of orientation so I lucked out and pretty much had a built in party. Although, I wish it had been later in the week because I hadn't gotten a chance to meet many people yet but throughout the night I easily recruited some new friends to join us. This includes some guy with a giant inflatable banana. Priceless. Just like God did on the 7th day, tuesday was my day of rest x 1000 and it was much needed. Throughout the week we went downtown to Canterbury to take a tour of the Cathedral and after we went to the pub for a pint, is that unethical? The brits do it so we figure when in Rome...

The city of Canterbury is everything I expected and more. It is beautiful & quaint but it also has every necessity...like Topshop, H&M and a mexican restaurant with good food and margaritas. Those are all necessities. My school sits up on the hill and overlooks the town and on a nice day our massive field will be crawling with students hanging out and enjoying the ambiance. The campus is big and takes up many many acres but it doesn't take too long to walk to class, maybe ten minutes or so. I live in the Parkwood flats which is a (no so) little community of apartments which house freshers (freshman) and international students. My flat is shared with 4 other girls, two are from france and two are from california. I was a bit bummed because I was hoping to live with some brits, specifically hot men, but they usually stick the internationals together...who, may I add, make up 30% of this campus! In fact, most of my new friends are not british simply because everyone is from somewhere else. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

This past weekend I had volleyball tryout and guess what? I made the team! haha They definitely aren't up to American university standards and people actually asked me if I play professionally. I can tell already that this season is going to be incredibly fun as both the mens and womens team have great chemistry. It will be nice to have a proper scrimmage with guys! Its nice to be back on the court again as I haven't played in 8 MONTHS because of my mono. During the tryouts I literally forgot how to do my standard jump serve and made myself look like a bumbling idiot! It took me five minutes to even figure out the footwork and got so frustrated I probably nearly busted my spleen. Don't fret, I didn't really, and I eventually figured it out. More practice needed though, my vert has gone down more than I want to admit... On a positive note the president of the club suggested I try out for the England Uni squad, a kind of national team I think. Im busting my butt to get back into shape again so maybe my pro beach dreams aren't so far off after all.

First day of class, so far so good, minus my polisci prof convincing the class the the 9/11 attacks and apollo landing were conspiracies. Could have done without that one. But I like taking international relations & politics courses...maybe it should have been my major?? I love it here and I feel like i'm not going to want to leave when the time comes. I'm trying not to think about that :-( All in all, i'm incredibly happy!

ttfn,
-V

Eurotrip '09

My apologies...its been a month since the last post! I've been quite busy wrapping up my internship and packing up for my trip through Europe. I'm just going to skip ahead to the good stuff...so straight to the trip it is.

I went to stay with my cousins the night before my flight from Hethrow to Athens which was at the most ungodly time in the morning around 6am meaning we had to be at the airport at the crack of bloody dawn. After getting turned around a bit to find the dreaded terminal five, we arrived to the airport just in time for me to check in. There was an issue with the self-check in station so they sent me to the help desk where a family of six was being difficult and took 20 minutes to fix their problem, which was literally two minutes too late for me as the gate closed 40 minutes before the flight and it was now 38 minutes...bastards. The guy helping me at the desk took the blame as I shouldn't have had to wait that long and luckily found a spot for me on the next flight out at 8am, which was just fine as I was able to sit and enjoy a bowl of oatmeal and my cupa with my new book. Once I arrived in Athens I had to find my way from the airport to the hotel where my friends were going to pick my up in the middle of the taxi tour we had booked. I couldnt figure out how to use my mobile because the country code had changed so I was on my own. With my knack for a sense of direction I eventually found my way to the hotel and five minutes later the taxi was at the front door waiting. Sadly, I missed the Acropolis, which was the only thing I really wanted to see but at least I could see it from the roof top of my hotel. The next morning we got up bright and early to catch our ferry to the island Ios where the real fun would begin.

Three hours into the boat ride when the ferry never docked we realized that the ride was in fact 5+ hours long... not three which means that we would miss our flight out of Athens when we returned and decided we would have to leave Ios a day early in order to make it....I was not happy about that to say the least because I was greatly looking forward to relaxing on the beach and working on my tan. Once we got to the resort we learned that the room had been booked for two people....not four and I was not willing to sneak in so Denise and I rented a tent (they had camping and hotel rooms at the Far Out Resort) and I ended up spending the night on an inflatable pool floaty with a beach towel as my blanket. At least I could double it at the pool the next day! For me the following day consisted of lounging by the beach and the pool all day, however, I did manage to squeeze in an intertube session with Taylor and Denise which was a blast. I earned some war scars when my elbows were rubbed raw from the tube because I kept having to pull myself up so I wouldnt fly off...coincidentally I also left a blood trail on the bed sheets throughout all of the hotel rooms we stayed in for the remainder of the trip because it just wouldnt heal up properly! I thought that was pretty amusing. That night was a lot of fun and the main pool turned into a giant dance party (my favorite!) around 6pm where everyone hung around until about 11 or 12 when they'd head up to the village to hit the bars and clubs, which we did. We made friends with Irish Amy and Aussie Amanda (two friends we met on the ferry ride over) and were out with them for the night. I couldn't believe how many bars there were weaved around every little walkway and corned, all of which were tucked up in the hill. Long story short the night was epic. Sadly we had to pack up and leave Ios the next morning without my tan being sufficiently black, but I suppose Ill just have to make up for it when I go to Spain with my parents. Five hours later after a long and extremely rocky ferry ride which nearly caused me to vomit (among other things) we were back in Athens (boooo!)...aka my least favorite city of all time. It all worked out because I got a Souvlaky which is a delicious kabab sandwich and pretty much the only thing we ate the entire time in Greece, although my favorite was the classic Greek salad.

The next morning we were off to Rome where we started to play tourist from the second we got there. The next morning we got up early and sadly I had randomly gotten sick...worst timing ever as I had to spend all of the day on my feet touring the city. I fell asleep on the red bus tour. Whatever. I got to see the colosseum which was great plus the Pantheon and the list goes on... The only thing that kept me going was gelato, lots and lots of gelato. We had a legit italian meal that night with some delicious wine, followed by gelato of course. Sleep. Wake up. Do it all again with the Vatican, which was by far my favorite part of Rome. I cant really describe it, you just have to go see it for yourself. Its the worlds second largest museum with the Louvre in Paris as the first and if you stopped to look at each piece of art for one minute you would be there for something like 13 years straight. The best part of the trip was when we went to the airport and well, we went to the wrong one. Yes, fact. It happened and we were stupid enough to be the ones to pull it off. Somehow we managed to get to the other airport in time to catch our flight, which, by the way, was in fact delayed by at least another hour. Off to Geneva.

Most of all I was excited to see Switzerland, rightly so as it turned out to be my favorite place of all. Geneva was beautiful and the city sat around a massive lake that goes all the way to France and Italy. We were lucky enough to be there during the celebration of their independence and they had a massive carnival going on around the end of the lake that included tons and tons of food (the worlds largest fondue pot), rides and events such as water ski jumps and a regatta (woo crew!!). They held a massive fireworks display on the water and it came from four different points out on the water and was right over head. Very impressive. Our friend from Chapman happens to live in Geneva so he came to pick us up and show us around town. He took us to his favorite lebanese restaurant where I had a delicious falafel sandwich and to his house where we passed by the King of Saudi Arabia's property...I cant call it a house because its full of tons of mansion. Fair enough, where would he put all 30 of his wives? Pimp. I loved Geneva especially because of the French influence (their main language) as the rest of Switzerland is often German.

The next morning we were off to Interlaken and sadly, it started pouring rain. This put a damper on our trip in more than one way in that not only is there nothing to do in Interlaken when its raining as it is completely outdoor oriented but we had canyoning scheduled for later that afternoon, which coincidentally was canceled. We rescheduled that for the next morning with hopes that the weather would get better even though the report stated otherwise. Because we now had all the free time in the world on our hands we were able to go visit the waterfalls where they took us up on a lift where we were able to walk through the caves and observe the falls from ten different spots. This is the one thing the rain was good for because the water level had risen so much. We went to bed early that night so we could get up bright and early for a long day ahead of us filled with canyoning and skydiving back to back, sounds like my ideal day...what an adrenaline rush! Luckily the canyoning was still on and once we were suited up in our wetsuits, harnesses and safety gear we began to hike up the mountain and start our journey. Canyoning consists of propelling and jumping off cliffs into the river as well as sliding down natural water slides. The water was cold but we hardly noticed it while we were so distracted with the next rock we were supposed to jump off. Just our luck (I feel like I have to say this a lot) it started to rain just as we finished canyoning which meant that skydiving was to be canceled. The problem with this was that we were supposed to make our way to Zurich later that evening on the train. However, I refused to leave Interlaken without skydiving since i've been waiting for years on end to do it and I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity in Switzerland to do so. We chose to stay and extra night and moved our things the Balmers youth hostel where everyone and their mom stayed; it was the place to be. We made friends with three girls from New Jersey who were in our canyoning group as well as skydiving, which we decided to re-book for the following morning at 8.30am. After a long night and setting up a beer pong table that ended up being the hit of the night. Up bright and early we packed our bags and hopped on the van that drove us 30 minutes out to the jump site. Strangely enough I had absolutely no nerves even when we got to the peak summit in the plane. I was the second to jump and ironically enough, Taylor was the first...the one who is actually scared of heights. They flew the door open and Taylor's eyes were as wide as saucers but he had no time to second guess and was tossed out the door before he could turn back and change his mind. The moment my jump partner told me to dangle my feet over the edge I think I may have stopped breathing and we were out in as quick as 1...2...3...GO! I think I started to breathe again after 4 or so seconds went by and it began to feel like I wasn't falling at all. It's difficult to explain but all I know is it was the time of my life. I couldn't stop laughing the entire time and probably didn't stop until 15 minutes after we landed. It went by so fast and we had about a 45 second free fall with a few minutes of chute time, which was fantastic because we could see all the way to the French Alps. I would highly recommend skydiving to everyone even if you don't think you have the guts to do it, I almost guarantee you will love it...even Taylor did! Right after we finished skydiving we went to Zurich and I took a long nap and a long shower got food and gelato and went to bed. Honestly, I cannot tell you what Zurich is like at all. We had to get up at 4am to head to the airport the next morning and were there for less than 24hours so its not completely my fault I suppose. And thats about all folks.


Whew.

ttfn,
V

Cricket is not a bug...

Its been a while since i've posted but it just means that you have more to read now! Starting with my internship, two weeks ago we had our event at Sadlers Wells Theatre called The Big Opportunity: Gains from the games and what comes after. It went very smoothly, minus the fact the (of course) the one time I sleep through my alarm was the morning of the conference! After an abrupt and shocking wakeup call from Josh at my door there was a 20 minute period of pure pandemonium reeking havoc through my room but thankfully as I arrived to the theatre everything was calm and under control, which is often a rarity when it comes to planning events. All of the workshops and speakers went well, all of which touched on the Olympic games, how the city can benefit from it before, during and after it takes place. Although, there was this delegate, Michelle, who attended that sauntered around the workshops and used her ludicrously pieced together view points and beliefs about how the world should be run...that answer would look something like Michelle basking in the glory of running the world on her own if she had it her way, in which case all of man kind would retreat to the moon. Anyway, Michelle and her pesky questions aside the conference was great and I got to get the inside on a lot of the developments of the Olympics and met some very influential people, like the Minister of the Olympics and some of the Mayor's appointed cabinet members. Our boss, Paul, took us interns to a pub around the corner after a glass of celebration wine. Josh and I were really only going to stay for 30 minutes or so, honestly. Well, that plan was quickly shattered as Paul rattled off another round of ciders before we could take off. Six ciders & four hours later....it was 9 pm and we had been in there for quite sometime confessing our love for everyone in our office and how fantastic they are as people. It happens.

Paul was nice enough to give us Monday and Tuesday off so I took the train down to Lymington to visit my great aunt Anne and great uncle David. David is the manager for a local cricket team so Saturday I got to go watch a game in Salsbury for the day which was a lot of fun. When the players asked if I liked it (knowing it was my first game ever) they snickered in disbelief when I claimed that I had a lot of fun. It makes me wonder if they even like the sport! I had to explain over and over that it is just like baseball back in the states in the sense that its a slow game and you can sit there all day. Sunday we went to another game except this one was 20/20 so it was much quicker and notably my favorite of the two- much more exciting. Monday's adventures consisted of a trip on the ferry to Isle of Wight which is absolutely gorgeous. I decided that i'm moving down to this area someday and joining the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and will be a yachttie and live happily ever after with all of my friends in polo shirts and big boats and sail away to Aruba. Oh the things I think up. I had a lovely stay with the Heppenstalls as they stuffed me with food for the five days I was there as if I were a starving child from a third world country or something. I'm surprised they didn't have to get a forklift to take me to the train station on Tuesday.

Wendnesday morning at 1am I decided that I want to play hooky at work and go to Wimbledon. Best idea of my life. We woke up several hours late at 5am to catch one of the first tubes to the park where we were rounded up like cattle and sent through various lines, all of which were actually quite organized. We didnt really prepare ourselves and didnt bring a picnic/ drinks with us for the hill but I got my Pimms and strawberries & cream so I was quite satisfied. We sat on the hill with the crazy people and watched the big screen as we...Ill speak for myself... I got fried like chicken from the blazing sun. Not prepared. Now my lovely tan is peeling. How dreadful. The best match to watch was Andy Murrays just because everyone got so into it. Every point he earned the crowd erupted in cheers and it made me proud to be half British haha...and then of course I was proud to be half American when Roddick beat him in the semis but I suppose that match was bound to be a win-win situation when it came to my pride!
I went to a comedy club with John, his cousin and some of his cousins friends Wednesday night which was really funny. Comedy clubs are on my list of adored places ever but I have to say it was scary going into one as a foreigner...which came back towards the end of the show and nipped me in the tush. One of the comedians says "So who here is from overseas" and there were about three of us that gave a holler and he goes around asking us where we're from. He gets to me and I say..."uhhm...America?" as if I suffer from memory loss and really can't remember. He laughs and says how brave I am for coming into a British comedy club as an American and I said, "Ya, exactly, that's why I really didn't want to say anything!" He then looks at me and say "Hey! So you must be really excited about Obama, right?" This was one thing I didn't have to hesitate on and quickly shouted "NO!!" as the crowd ooooo's in distaste at my bravery. If I didn't know any better he is more of a superstar than a President. Thats another story..

Saturday I got to go back to Chessington to visit my aunt at my cousin's house. It was really great to have us all together and I loved listening to her stories about living in Dubai (where they're at now) which, by the way, is a very strange place for many reasons. It would be fun to go visit. We went to the Hampton Courts which is where King Henry viii lived. It was a massive palace! It was nice to have a break from the big city and go down to Surrey for the day and it made me realize just how much I despise living in a big city such as London. Granted i'm not in the best area at Kings Cross (there was a roped off, blood-stained area of walkway outside my building the other day that just screamed "good morning, welcome home!") I certainly would have fancied South Kensington much more than here...

Paris tomorrow...Hooray! I wish I could have my 5 years of lost french back :-( Mais je peux parler Francais seulment un peu maintenant. C'est d'accord. The traveling starts this weekend and doesnt stop for a month and then hopefully i'll be able to make my way back down to the Lymington area for some R&R with family friends.

ta-ta,
V

Things I have learned whilst in Britain...

1. People Smell. Badly.
This is a stinky city and I would like to blame it on the body oder of the Brits wafting through the air. Not only does the city smell (maybe because i'm used to fresh countryside) but the people have some serious BO issues, as in they could do with either a. being isolated (im thinking they should implement the bubble boy concept) or b. get some prescription deodorant. B doesn't work because as I discovered yesterday they have fairly odd deodorant over here. I was wandering my way through Boots (big pharmacy) and could NOT for the life of me find a stick of deodorant. I began to panic as I quickly began to envision my fear of being one of them, a smelly bastard, become my reality. Ok well thats a bit of an exaggeration because they have spray on deodorant, but that just weirds me out and I didn't recognize any brands. That aside, it really kills your mood when youre stuck on the tube for 4 more stops and the guy standing next to you with his hand gripping the bar overhead has an immense pit stain that slightly resembles Lake Tahoe with a corresponding stench that stings the nostrils of 3 world countries. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I learned this fact way before I even got to England. It happened in my math class with that teacher from England. For the love of God I can't recall his name but he smelled SO bad, we would leave class every day with a headache. Not my idea of a good time.

2. There are no rubbish bins (trash cans) anywhere.
Simply put, you will be walking around with an empty cup which once held your non-fat caramel macchiato from starbucks for 45 minutes before you find the trash. They are not in public sites like the tube, train or museums and its really annoying. I swear they do not exist. Mainly I think this is due to the tube bombing from a year or so ago but still, it only compels me to litter. Litterbugs go to hell. In which case this is a call out to Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown or the freaking Queen of England...whoever can hear me...please put some rubbish bins somewhere, anywhere, I dont care. Hook a sista up...I just don't want to be condemned to hell. Thanks.


3. They don't think Americans are cool the way we think Brits with hot accents are cool...
I can't tell you why but i've gotten the strangest reactions from people the second I open my yapper. Maybe its because I open my yapper and not my mouth but honestly, i've made an effort to be extra polite and not offend anyone by my jokes. I've found that the chicks here aren't very warm and welcoming and I've gotten so many dirty looks from them when i'm in a store and have politely asked a simple question. Solution: I utilize my British accent whenever I shop. Simple enough. Seemingly...until I whip out my US Bank debit card to pay and they look at me like i'm nuts because clearly i'm not from these parts. 60% of the time it works every time.


4. Tube rules:

a. Stand sideways on the tube, not forward. If you stand sideways you can successfully lean when it stops and starts without flying forward or back. If you like being catapulted, don't listen to my advice.

b. Dont eat on the tube. One day I realized how dirty and disease prone/ swine flu prone the tube is and thought that hand to mouth would be a deadly movement.
Hence, antibacterial gel is great for on the go. Look at me i'm swine flu free! ps. swine flu is apparently in my building, awesome.

c. Read the daily paper to kill time on the tube, like the Metro. Today they had an article about a guy who had half of his butt cheek chopped off from a boat propeller. Solid reading, always a good time.

d. Avoid the smelly guy mentioned in point #1, there always is one on every tube.

e. Don't take your time when your either entering/exiting the tube doors or the tube gates because they WILL close on you and it hurts. Today I got caught in one of the doors and held up the line. Some bloke behind me kept telling me to move out of the doorway and I kept thinking to myself, well that would be convenient, wouldn't it now?...if only my left arm and handbag weren't deathly clamped in between the doors maybe I could just get out of the way for you, kind sir.


5. Don't succumb to the old men just because of the accent
Just because they say 'ello luv and 'ey there beautiful with smooth british laden lingo doesn't mean that they are nice people. They are the equivalent to the creepy mexicans in orange outside of taqueria de anda hollering at you in spanish. See, not alluring at all when you really think about it.

*sidenote: However, British accents ARE in fact, as cool/hot as we think they are.

6. They eat mayonnaise and potatoes with everything
Chips (fries), jacket potatoes (baked), mashed, broiled, boiled, hashbrowns. Every meal hands down. Potatoes. And they eat everything with mayo. Yummmm.


That is all I can muster up for the moment. More to come.

TTFN,
V

Believe it or not...I'm still alive

Midway through week three in England and after starting my job this past monday, I have indeed survived! Aside from the crampingly small bathroom, where I literally have bruises from knocking my knees and elbows while moving about, everything is A-ok. This past weekend we had the chance to go out for the firs time and experience London nightlife at its fullest. We made friends with the USC EUSA student and went out with them for Tyler's birthday on Friday night. We're all about the good deals to save cash so naturally we hit up the free bars and club and they turned out to be great! Cover charge here is ridiculous...anywhere from $20-40 american! The first place we went to was insane. Next thing you know this white, dorky looking guy with a greased up comb-over do and full on suit busts out on stage and starts rapping to a remix of the Jungle Book (good choice!!!). We were laughing so hard...not because of how ridiculous he looked but how amazing he was!


After that we moved on to some pubs and ended up getting a reserved table at a cocktail bar because it was Tyler's birthday. Eventually we moved on to this legit club where apparently Sam Ronson (aka Lindsey Lohan's ex...slash maybe back together??) was DJing...the tabloids the next day said that Lindsey was in London with her so she must have been there! After I fell off of a step in the club and fell flat on my face while I was searching around for everyone and completely embarrassed myself we started to head home. On the way back to Nido we stopped by the "food & wine" place to get a 1 pound pizza (deal!) and as I returned to my room I looked out the window and noticed that the sun was starting to emerge in the distance...bedtime!
Night: success.

Sunday we went to the British Museum and I saw the Rosetta Stone and many other super old things... It was really cool but, honestly, I don't know how to write about a museum and make it sound incredible?? But it was, you have my word.Moving on. Work started Monday and I love it! We're in the middle of planning an event lecture and workshop that is at the end of June. Its based around the Olympics and the aftermath...as many Olympic venues have failed after the games ended. The goal of this conference is to bring awareness to issues that are linked to the Olympics through Non-profit and Societal organizations so that they have a say in how things are run when 2012 approaches. London Civic Forum is a small organization but we work with thousands of other non-profits. They invited me to go to a press conference to hear the Major, Boris Johnson, speak on the Olympics BUT the stupid underground transportation unions (tube) decided to strike because they're selfish and "demented" as Boris said, so I couldn't make it to the press conference :-( I was really bummed but I get to hear him speak next week too! The tube strike is incredibly annoying and it makes it a nightmare to travel. It took me 2 hours to get to work via bus this morning and I dont work that far away. Lame. That aside everything else is just peachy OH and I got accepted to University of Kent in Canterbury for the fall...FINALLY! Time to run, i'm about to go watch the England futbol game (soccer, not american football...I WISH!) at a local pub. Should have brought my jersey.


TTFN,
V

Nido is Neat-o

Sunday morning I finally made the trek out to London to meet up with Matt and the three that flew in later that afternoon. Once I arrived we indulged in BBQ and some wine/brews and then went to dinner after at an amazing Italian restaurant where Matt's dad treated us...I cant get over the food choices here, its a bit of a problem. We pubbed it Sunday night which was where I discovered cider...how we dont have cider in the states I dont know, its SO good. Monday we took the day to drag our overweight luggage through the tube and across the city so we could move into our nido accommodations. This must have been hilarious to watch, we were all over the place...especially when Matt thought it was a good idea to kick my massive suitcase down the escalator when Tyler was in front of us. Luckily, it didnt knock him off of his feet but I found myself in a bit of a mess when I got to the bottom and couldnt move it out of the way fast enough. Lets just say I almost cause a massive human collision at the bottom of the escalator and it wouldnt have been pretty!

Nido is a giant complex (950 students) that is solely for study abroad students, which is awesome because we get to meet people from all over the country! Its virtually new and has a restaurant, cafe and work out room. The rooms are really small; i'm sharing one with Denise but we manage. Theres a communal kitchen on each floor which is air conditioned...while the rest of the complex is not, so we tend to crash in there for a bit on the scorchers. Great weather thus far but a bit too hot in my opinion because we have to walk everywhere and I always walk with a purpose so it wares me out! Its been a fun relaxing week so far, pub crawled most nights which is EXPENSIVE! Its funny to watch us scrounge for cheep food around here, our goal is always under 5 pounds, which is pretty reasonable I think. Tis a shame because if we walk right up the street about 10 minutes we end up in Angel, which is a very social and beautiful area- tons of great places to eat, drink and shop there= potential bank busting. http://www.nidolondon.com/london/kings-cross/home.php

We walked through South Kensington Gardens and another park yesterday and that was a blast. We figured we had accumulated several miles walking by the time we were done but it was well worth it. Its nice to see the city still has tons of stunning parks kept up because its always great to be able to get away on a sunny day and hug a tree as one of my profs would say...or maybe just sit under one and read :-)

I just now returned back to my pad from my placement interview (we dont start until next Monday) and it was amazing! Well, aside from making a wrong turn off of the tube station and getting lost in the ghetto it was great. The office for London Civic Forum is small, but comfortable...literally, I get to wear jeans, t-shirt and flip flops to work everyday! Woohoo! Paul, my boss, was incredibly delightful and explained the project i'll be working on, which is a conference called The Big Opportunity. This is a chance for London's community to get a say in the bigger picture of the 2012 Olympics and what happens after its over(in London...for those of you who are behind in the news). London is trying to work on the raising issue of lack of sports and exercise in today's society, which is the cause of world obesity. This conference touches on those problems as well as how the city is going to utilized sources for the Olympics that they already have in order to save money, space and allow growth in the economy. Nearing the event on June 25, ill be working a lot, normal hours are from 10am-6pm but I may stay late or come early BUT the good thing is he compensates by giving me full on days off! Ill have monday and tuesday following the conference off...always a plus!! I spoke to him about working extra on other projects so I can get in some good experience and he knows that i'm into sports so he's going to scope out some things for me to get involved in and give me some contacts that LCF has worked with...aka BBC sports n.b.d. He sounded like he was interested in using me past the program date because I told him I'm staying for 7 months so this may end up a potential job! Not bad. Everything else is great and am really enjoying myself! I'm going to go grab dinner and go to the pub for our welcome reception so AU REVOIR MES AMIS!

TTFN,
V

End of week 1 & all is well

Maybe that title isn't as fitting as I thought...all IS well I suppose, I still love it here but unfortunately i'm sick :-( word of advice, dont get sick in a foreign country. Thank the Lord they speak english... I felt a cold coming on a couple days ago and woke up with severe sinus pressure (typical for me). I mean, really? Don't you think i've been sick enough this semester?! I have a weak immune system still from "glandular fever" aka mono and there was some dude next to me on the plane blowing his nose every 5 seconds so I guess it was inevitable. At least I got sick while im with family and not at work, especially because it was quite easy for me to make a run to the town doctor here...btw they still do make house calls! Im on antibiotics now but didn't feel well enough to make the trek up to London to meet up with Matt and his cousins to go out tonight; i'm bummed. One more day of rest and then Ill be up there tomorrow with the rest of the gang (Denise, Taylor and Tyler). Is it wrong for me to pray to get better so I can go to the pubs?...my mom is rolling her eyes right now (shout out to my Mum, miss you!) haha Anyway, not much to update except for that I finished the second of the Twilight series an hour ago. WHEW I'm living on the edge. The countdown for the mayhem begins! T-minus 24 hours.

TTFN (ta-ta for now)
-V

The Jetlag still sucks...but England doesnt.

Wow. So I haven't even been here a week and I'm already obsessed! I'm out in the countryside staying with my Dad's cousins, Richard and Marion, who are absolutely adorable! They've been so hospitable and have taken me around much of the countryside thus far and their house is gorgeous! The shower has jets blasting you from all directions and I kinda wish I was a guy because a lot of the bathrooms here have urinals on the ground, they look like mini toilets. Kinda weird. Richard and Marion used to live in Houston, TX for three years and it certainly rubbed off on Richard, he's absolutely HILARIOUS. He wears a button up plaid shirt, jeans with a big belt buckle and cowboy boots...I wish I would have brought my boots because that would have made for a great picture! To top it off, I was sitting in my room reading the other afternoon and next thing you know I hear Toby Keith being blasted from the next room over. He reminds me a lot of my dad with the way he talks and acts, it's pretty funny. They took me down to this beautiful seaside town 10 minutes away a couple days ago which was fun to walk around. All of the villages look the same and they're so adorable it literally makes me sick to my stomach, I seriously can't handle it.
Yesterday we went over to Salsbury to visit my dad's other cousin, Martin and his wife Maggie who are a hoot. Maybe I think everyone is hilarious over here because of their accents, I don't know, but they have such a great sense of humor. Plus, they all laugh at my jokes, which is a good thing. Although, I have to say i'm holding back a bit...I'm not sure they'd understand my "that's what she said" jokes, which is killing me because the opportunities are endless, especially with all of their funny words. Salsbury is gorgeous (I need to start finding some more adjectives for that because obviously i'm finding everything to be beautiful here...) and we walked around for a bit. It's a nice place to shop but unfortunately the only store I went into was the pharmacy to get some plasters (bandaids) for my blisters :-( We visited the cathedral, which is located in the heart of the city and is surrounded by a large circular gated area of historic "houses" (I think they're mansions) that closes at night. After walking around a bit more we returned home for a spot of tea (as usual), wii and then dinner. The drive through the countryside still scares the crap out of me. In the last post I mentioned how narrow the roads were...well that was in the city. The countryside is a whole other story. I'm not even kidding you one lane in the states is TWO lanes in the country. Down all the roads they have very tall shrubbery lining the streets so you can't see around the corner or over the side and its not like they go slow!! They zoom around the bends as if theyre the only car for miles, yet, they manage to not get into car accidents. We "survived" the drive back to the house and ended up playing some wii after tea. If you ever need a good laugh, try playing wii with a room full of Brits. SO FUNNY! I had gone upstairs to take a quick nap and I suddenly hear, [read in British accent] "Go on, take a good whack at it!" coming from downstairs...wii tennis, of course. I'm ashamed to say that Maggie was actually better than me but I guess she gets a lot of practice. After dinner, they showed me a lot of old pictures that they've kept from when my dad was young...its so funny to see him without gray hair (sorry dad, its true!). Richard and Marion had whole scrapbooks of them and I got to see my grandad and GREATgrandad from when he was he was back in the war. It's crazy to hear stories and see pictures of family that date back that far.
It's finally raining today so we may go tour this historic house (more like a mansion, once again....they call them houses but they look more like castles to me)...I think it used to be occupied by royalty at one point? Not sure... anyway, tomorrow i'm playing in some badminton tournament, which I used to play with my dad all the time so i'm hoping to dominate :-) we'll see. And then friday is some holiday so I think we're going into town to partake in whatever festivities they have. It's been a nice, relaxing week thus far...nothing too ridiculous but i'm saving all that for when my chappy mates arrive later this week...that's when the real mayhem starts! I may or may not come back with a British accent (if I come back!!) it's just too fun. Anyway, i've got to finish up my tea here and get ready to go out for a drive. 'Till next time!

-V

Day One and jet lag sucks...

I'm finally in London! I was picked up from the airport by my cousin Sam around 9am...a bit weary because I chose to stay up all night before I left. I slept on the plane but ended up taking a 7 hour nap once I got to Surrey BUT the good news is when I woke up at 8pm Britains Got Talent was on GO SUSAN BOYLE. Tomorrow i'll be on my way to Devon to stay with some other relatives until the start of my program on June 1. Everything here is gorgeous, we passed by a castle on the way to the house which was insane to see and the houses are super cute cottages. The streets are ridiculously small and so are the cars...not a lifted truck in sight! Driving on the left side of the road is throwing me off and I tried to get into Sam's car in what I thought was the passenger seat...oops. Anyway, not much excitement today since I slept the whole time but I'll be writing more later! Wine & cheese time :-)


Au revoir mes amis,
-V