Now it's time to say goodbye...

     This week has been a week of more goodbyes.  After we came home from Amsterdam we spent the night seeing Paul (Fellman) off by having a little kitchen party and laying low.  Paul (Railton) and I have been pretty lazy this week but it's been nice just being able to spend some time together.  Monday we saw Erica off by going to a few different places, met up with Breanna, which was nice because her and Erica are sorority sisters.  Tuesday we saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Andreas (SO hilarious).  Wednesday we spent the afternoon with Eileen, had what some might call a disastrous lunch (while others... cough, paul and I, cough... would call it a normal day), afterwards leaving Paul in the parking lot because Gordon didn't realize he wasn't in the car... I laughed, a lot.  Today we went to the Dali exhibit by the London Eye and it was AMAZING.  My favorites were the series on Alice in Wonderland and the series on the 12 tribes of Israel.  I finally bought his autobiography, which I plan on reading when I'm done with Elizabeth and Mary (thanks mom and dad... it's fantastic).  I feel like this week has gone by so fast and we haven't done a whole lot of anything.  We've eaten Nando's twice, had some Pizza Express tonight and generally have spent far too much time inside room 113 in Wood Green.

     Tomorrow night should be fun, meeting some friends to go to Cafe Pacifico for my fix of mexican food.  We will also be meeting up with Paul's cousin so that should be fun.  He leaves Saturday around noon and then I'm fending for myself for a couple of days, probably sitting in the backyard (if it's not raining) reading my book, otherwise I'll be inside... no biggy.  After having two smelly people in this room for two and a half weeks it will be nice to have some alone time so it's kind of perfect that everyone is gone at the same time (not that it matters but Andreas and Liz are in Rome and Chris and Traci are on their Greek Island Cruise).  

     I can't believe that I only have 3 full weeks left to live in London, walking along the Thames this afternoon, watching the sun shine on the Eye, looking at Parliament, I realized how much I'm going to miss living in this city; I really do love it here very much.  I, very unrealistically, wish that I could pick up everyone that I love and plant them in London.  Rest assured, now that my mind is free from thinking about school I've started to miss home very deeply, I'm very anxious to get home and see the people I care about.

     On another depressing note, I do believe that the following picture, 1 of a series of 5 from our night at the Globe, is the only (series of) picture(s) of all 7 of our little Wood Green group.  Real World London anyone?

Apollo 13 to Earth...

     Got back yesterday morning from Amsterdam!  It was, well, interesting.  I mean, I was very aware of the novelty going into this particular travel spot, but I was ill prepared for the reality.  It's the place where anything goes, porn, drugs, sex, etc. are all at once open to the point of novelty but also a reality that is always in your face.  I can't imagine living like that, of course, our hostel was also IN the Red Light District, which is the area I'm referring to.  The city, like every city, is zoned and that is the particular area where everything is kosher.  When we were out and about going to Anne Frank's house and to the Van Gogh museum it was much more what you would expect from any number of popular European cities.  This picture is of the Reich Museum.

     We didn't actually go in the Reich museum and instead opted for the Van Gogh museum, which by the way was absolutely wonderful.  It's an EXTENSIVE collection of his work credited back to his brother, who inherited Van Gogh's work after he died.  A lot of his very famous work, sunflowers, irises, etc. were there and it was all mapped out really well.  There's Paul and I in front.
     This is the view from our hostel window, the hostel was actually one of the best I've stayed in.  The beds were comfortable, the internet was cheap, it was very secure, clean and in a very central location.  I was pleased.  There are those XXX EVERYWHERE.  They're on the drains, on flags, on benches, it made me giggle a lot.
     A lot of our time was spent just walking around in awe of what we were seeing/hearing.  The things that the club owners of some of the sex shows were yelling, well, whatever they could to get people to come inside, good example: "Half price for the short one."  Hilarious, and that was the clean one.  This is me in the middle of the Red Light District in the evening.  Of course, you can't take pictures of the "working women" but we got several pictures that were almost as good.  That light up elephant in the background of my picture is supposed to be some really famous sex show, but I'm not really sure how significant it is to be considered a famous sex show.

     Funny story:  Like I said, we spent a lot of time walking around exploring, eating, and being relentlessly judgy with the window girls.  We were walking past a particularly good looking girl (of which there were actually quite a few... as long as you avoided the tranny isle), and I was staring, because, well, I'm rude and that's what I do.  All of a sudden I'm jerked to a stop because I've just run my crotch straight into a stone pillar sticking about 3 1/2 feet out of the ground.  I made some stupid noise all the while still staring at the prostitute, who at this point is pointing and laughing hysterically in my direction.  I don't know how many or how few people can say that they've made a fool out of themselves in front of a hooker, but I'm now one of them.
     There are these little cages on the sides of the street that are for men to pee in.  The thing is, it pretty much just goes from knees to chest and it's just a little metal ring to walk around so you inevitably end up feeling like you've watched the whole world pee.  Awkward.  We did a lot of bar hopping and actually witnessed several men from afar negotiating with the ladies and going inside, that was an I Spy game that didn't get old.

     I'm convinced that every city and/or country has their own obscure and ridiculous street signs that really just shouldn't exist.  Amsterdam's happens to be the "please hold your child's hand while escorting them past the hooker windows" sign.
     Riding an overnight bus is an adventure in itself.  On the way there Liz and I got stuck in front of a fat lady with a bad foot who kept complaining that our seats were too far back, except that our seats were broken and sort of fell back on their own.  Later in the journey she was telling her son to kick the back of Liz's chair (something you just don't do), and she flipped.  It was hilarious watching her yell at a woman who speaks very little English and then yelling at surrounding people to ask them to tell her that her chair moves by itself.  Amazing.  On the way back I slept almost the whole way, which was a stark contrast to the way there.  I did have a really tiny woman sit behind me who said I was cramping her, which is crap because she didn't even have anyone next to her.

     Paul (from here) left this morning to go back to Philadelphia, we all just hung out here last night and enjoyed each other's company.  Erica leaves tomorrow.  Now that people are leaving there's a very different feel to being here. 

I hate kids... Like that

     After school finished up and I got some much needed sleep it was time for the guests to begin arriving and an excess of fun to be had.  Tommy, Paul's friend, was the first to arrive the night school was over.  My Paul came at 2:30pm the next day and then Chris's friends got to Heathrow Friday morning.  Wednesday night we went out for our friend Ryan's birthday before he left the next day to fly home.  We went to Cheapskates and Paul got his first glimpse of what London's night life is all about.  Fortunately, Paul took to my friends like fish take to water and has thus had various options of entertainment ever since. 

     Thursday Chris, London Paul, Liz, Tommy and I went to Regent's Park to relax and enjoy the sun.  We went on the swings and played frizbee and then walked over to the Sports Cafe to get our customary wings.  
     Once we got back from wings I had the pleasure of shaving Chris's head into what can likely be known as the shortest lived mohawk in history.  We've been planning on doing so for a while and finally, on the eve of his friends arrival, we took the plunge.  I woke up the next morning to find him near bald since he shaved it off after I left his room that night.  Pity... it was amazing.
     Friday Erica and I went shopping (dress specific) while Paul went with Liz to the National Portrait Gallery.  Erica and I had a fine time eating the European equivalent to Chipotle (the owner is from Santa Barbara) and successfully finding what we went looking for.  We had plans to go to Fabric, supposedly the loudest club in London, that night so we wanted something to wear... such girls!  We had a great time at Fabric, though Tommy had already moved on with his travels everyone else's friends were there to enjoy and it was wonderful... except the getting home part.  Usually we frequent certain clubs or areas which means we know how to get home... Fabric is not in one of those areas.  Though we ended up leaving in three separate groups, we all got home safe.  

     Saturday we went back to Regent's Park for some tanning but the sun decided not to come out.  What did come out, however, was a couple who had no qualms about PDA and really enjoyed each other's company in broad daylight.  Ridiculous.  Afterwards Erica and I walked to Oxford Street and met up with Chris and his friends Mike and Collin to walk a bit.  Paul came and met us later for some Wagamamas (I'm going to miss that place!).  Went to bed early and woke up to go to Brick Lane market, got delicious crepes and saw the goodies.  Eric and Paul met Liz, Chris and the boys at the Imperial War Museum while Paul, Ben and I went home for a bit.  We relaxed for a bit until it was time to go meet up with everyone at the Globe theatre to go see King Lear!!  Liz, being the wonderful girl she is, bought everyone tickets as a farewell gift, so sweet.  We were in the pit so we stood the whole time, which is an issue after 3 hours, but it was an amazing performance and I'm so glad we all went!  

     Last night (Monday), we went out to celebrate Ben's last night (which is technically tonight but we'll be on a bus to Amsterdam later).  We went to a pub in Camden and then came home, grabbed some beers and went to Alexandra Park for the night, it was beautiful sitting on the hillside after dark with a great view of the city just spending time with good friends.  Today everyone is at the Tower of London, which I did when Mom and Dad were here, so I opted to stay home and pack for our trip.  Being out of school has made me lazy, maybe I just need a little time to unwind.  Hopefully after Amsterdam I'll be ready to go back out and explore!

Frolicking about in our summer skin

     As of about 2:30pm yesterday (Tuesday, May 6, 2008) I officially turned in all of my papers and seminar worksheets, thus marking the beginning of my glorious summer.  Erica and I went and got paninis and a milkshake and headed to Trent Park for the cut and print.  We brought beach towels (of which I left mine at Trent Park, like an idiot) and laid out on the lawn near the river, it was a perfect day out... see?

...at this point Andreas and I decided to share my ipod and show everyone what we're made of (which, turns out, consists of singing a healthy mixture of the Newsies, Wicked, and Disney soundtracks).  I also reinstated my tan lines, but just barely.  Liz was partially absent for this because she needed to go back to the main land for some bread (Trent Park doesn't have a Liz friendly menu as they do not sell plain loafs), and, it turns out, a package of razors.  Fortunately, I was nice and did not put up the picture of Erica dry shaving her legs in the middle of the grass.  

At approximately 4:03pm we headed for the first engagement of the afternoon, the English Department party.  The goodies table looked something like this...
A healthy variety of alcohol... white wine, rose wine, red wine, and PEANUTS!  Plus chips and a whole slue of candy bars.  We had some wine, played a little game we like to call "Doctor Reflex," (that's a lie, it didn't have a name) which is basically just hitting each other in the knees and laughing when our legs jump... classy.  Paul and I walked out on to the balcony and played with the cutest little girl, she was dancing and singing Dora for us while we looked at the amazing view.  After that we went to the study abroad party where they set up beer pong (Paul and I lost to Liz and Andreas... go figure) and I talked to a girl for a bit about grad school possibilities.  Liz, Erica and I took a walk back out to the lake and then Liz and I decided to leave to go home.  We met everyone for chinese but Paul and I weren't feeling it so we got kebabs (or in my case, hummus and pita) and came home to watch Sex and the City before we went to pick up the first of this weeks many house guests, his friend Tommy.

Here is the very par milkshake that Erica and I shared.  The weather is gorgeous again today, and should last all week.  Paul gets here this afternoon and then we are off to our friend Ryan's birthday celebration tonight.  I'm so happy it's summer!!!