Naked as the Day you were Born

Okay, so not QUITE that naked, but naked enough... as naked as I'll ever be in public, save for the all too occasional beach trip. Wednesday night I participated in a Chapman "tradition," called the Undie Run (and in doing so became a walking college cliche, but that's besides the point). My excuse is that it's for a good cause. Our school has a club called Action in Africa, and one of the things they do is collect the discarded clothing of sweaty college students and send them to African orphans. I support this, except I didn't because in a frenzy not to miss the run I threw my shirt off in my car and sprinted to Memorial Hall, but that doesn't mean I don't care.

So Chris and I take off down the street and leave Erica and her not-so-in-shape friends in the dust. Chris, who's training for the San Diego Marathon, yells at me, "Let's win this thing!" "Chris, it's not a race..." as I struggle to keep up. I know, I already ran a marathon, a quarter of a mile should be nothing, but I've got a bad knee now and the doctor said to stay off of it so back off. We get to Memorial just in time for the sea of bodies to come tsunami-ing towards us, so like good little water dwelling creatures we joined in and ride the wave all the way to the circle, avoiding every professional looking camera I saw in order to avoid having my face all over the internet. My mom reads the OC Register, she knows what day it is.

Though this was my first time running scantily clad through Old Town, I have read up on past episodes enough to know that last time my comrades damaged the Old Town fountain, sorry Mr. Mayor. But to be fair, Chapman paid for the near $20,000 worth of repairs, and I find that to be the best use of my tuition to date whether I was there or not. This year every fountain on campus and off was roped off like a sloppy murder scene. Instead we had a very contained orgy/naked dance party in the gym... by that I mean I saw a wiener. One lap around the gym and I was ready to go home and roll around in my bed, alone, in about 1,000 peoples sweat. Not exaggerating, there was 1,000 of us. I woke up smelly and in desperate need of a shower, except my apartment has no hot water... awesome.

The thing is, this Undie Run wasn't just a run for me, oh no, it somehow sparked something in me that even turning in a hard copy of my thesis a day early couldn't do... it made me realize that college is over. In a few short days I'll start my grown-up job working for the county and have to stop acting like a retard in public. The mayor of Orange isn't going to strip down to his underwear and run around City Hall with me, and even if he was willing, that would just be creepy and highly unprofessional... one picture of that and his far reaching political ambitions are crushed. Mine aren't, but I don't really have ambitions (I mean, that's kind of a lie, but there are pictures of me in a bra on Glassell St. so if I think I'm going to be the next county supervisor I should check my camera at the door.)

Something changed when I started that sprint down the sidewalk. Maybe it was the burning in my chest from that one shot of Bacardi, or maybe it's the fact that I know there's an old dude with a photo of me in his personal collection, but whatever it is I know I'll never be the same... especially not after tomorrow morning at around 10:45AM. I'll be a college graduate. I will never be an undergrad again. I can't do stupid crap anymore. I mean, I can, but it's going to be far less expected of me now that I'm supposed to be "mature." People keep saying how proud they are of me, and it just makes me feel weird, but since that run I've realized what an accomplishment it really is. I spent five years of my life reading tons of books and writing more essays than I can count to learn how to write and research and, well, think. I loved what I studied and I loved the people I studied with. Rather than feeling awkward I think I'm going to start responding to people by smiling and admitting it, "Yeah, I'm proud too."

Dream On, Dreamer.

I'm in the mood to dream.  Any form of dreaming will do.  My unconscious dreams usually have me waking up in a pretty good mood.  This morning I woke up from a dream where Ryan and I were being chased by killer bees and, naturally, took refuge in his parents dental office.  We decided it was a good idea to meet Amy at KFC, forcing us to run for our lives.  I like my night-dreams.

My day dreams are just as wonderful, though decidedly more realistic.  My dreams, though, are about a far off time/place.  A time when I'm no longer in college, a place where I have a career.  A time when I'm much more sure about the direction I'm headed and where that leads.  A place with a little room to breathe.  I want financial stability, job security, stimulation and passion (in no particular order).  

I need to find my niche.  The niche I dream about all day long and that same niche that manifests itself abstractly while I sleep.  

On an almost entirely unrelated note, I read an article on Cracked.com today that was talking about the 5 Ways Your Brain is Messing with Your Head.  One of the items mentioned is that a study of the brain showed that when faced with a decision, you have actually made a decision before you make it.  In other words, before you are conscious of having decided on a given choice, a part of your brain already "knows" the decision you're going to make.  The article then questions what that implies about free will.  I'm not sure what I think about that, but it's interesting to think that God could be in my head guiding my hand (or even finished guiding my hand, for the moment) as I type.  Besides that interesting point, I'm now addicted to Cracked because their articles are altogether informative, relevant, and witty (maybe they'll hire me).

I'll leave you now with a picture from last weekend's Big Bear trip. Fortunately our cabin was full of amazing props for this picture...

Conditional Love

I've been thinking about this the past two days. The notions of conditional versus unconditional love are complicated, when you think about it. The only unconditional love that is absolute is God's love for us. Sure we can say that we love someone unconditionally, but how true to form is that? Will we really be around when the going gets tough, I mean, reaaaaaaallly tough.

To expand on that, I guess I feel like people sometimes walk on the opposite side of the fence and, to a certain extent, tell it how it is. What ends up happening is that people put too many conditions on love. We ask questions like, "Would you still love me if I laughed like Fran Drescher?" "Nope!" Now, is that necessarily true? No, but on a slightly more serious note, what happens when the question becomes, "Would you still love me if I got in a horrible car accident and lost both of my legs and my ability to speak?" Well... would you? That's a tough question, Ryan had a point when he said that you probably couldn't accurately answer that question until it happened, but what about if you know that the answer is no? Can you still profess your love for that person knowing it's not unconditional? I suppose it's hard to answer the bigger question when you're going off of examples, but my point is that sometimes we get so caught up in asking, "Will you love me if..." That our relationship becomes more of a shell, with nothing inside. We create a set of conditions that make us comfortable and anything outside of that is mutually unsavory... we don't like it, we don't want it, we won't have it. We leave no room for the unexpected. Where's the chaos and the dirt? The bumps and bruises create dimension, add a little flare.

What are we so scared of?

New Year in February

Sooooo I haven't posted anything new because I haven't written anything new. Tragic, I know. With all of the resolutions people have been blogging about I realize I never blogged about mine, though I just like to call them goals, I feel like if I call them resolutions I won't keep them. Among the obvious and surefire goals (graduate from college, for example), I've also decided that I need to write more. I don't expect to be the next Maya Angelou, but before I die I want to publish SOMETHING and the only way to do that is to write until I've written something publishable.

I could probably even write a bit here and there at work, but alas I spend my days on monster.com, college job sites, and searching for publishing companies (to work for)... and reading all of the blogs I subscribe to, but let's not get into THAT obsession. I've come to the hard realization that I can't afford to go straight back to school. This creates a lot of new directions for me because if my path takes me down the road to becoming a professor, then there aren't really "entry level" positions I can take on in the meantime. You're either a professor or you're not. Jumping into any job in the educational field would certainly help, but that's not necessarily the only road I can go down.

I've been looking into publishing jobs hoping that I can jump into a company and do copy editing or another form of entry level editorial work and become a corporate worker bee. The more I read the more I find mistakes, or disconnects, or ways that, if tweaked, a story could be that much better. I think that if I can cultivate that, I'd like it even more than being the writer. I'd be able to work with people and read all day! Okay, so it's not THAT simple, and perhaps I won't always be reading something of interest, or even something with merit, but I'll be reading and reading and reading and that's exactly what I love.

The problem is that I was born on the wrong coast for book publishing (magazines and newspapers are, of course, a different story since there are locals and regionals everywhere). The best place for book publishing, especially for powerhouses like Penguin and Random House (which basically house almost all other, smaller and slightly less well known publishers), is New York, followed by Boston. That's quite a move. If I'm lucky I can get in with a smaller book publisher around here or get a job with any number of magazines. The economic state of this country has me a bit discouraged though, what a crap time to graduate college when there are no jobs. I'm going to Chapman's career office tomorrow to spruce up my resume and see if they can help me with a job search so fingers crossed!

Tag!

I've been tagged by Mel, which means that you all (by all I mean the 3 people who read my blog) get to read 6 oddball facts about me and thus receive a small glimpse of my quirky nature.

1. Every night, almost without fail, I have really ridiculous dreams. I can almost always pin them to conversations or events that have happened the day before. Last night I had a dream that I was in Mexico at a Nacho stand where a shirtless boy was serving me custom nachos with olives and extra fresh squeezed limes on top. The olives kept falling through the bottom of the thatched bowl. The whole dream likely stemmed from the in depth research Ryan and I did into the calorie count of a new nacho plate at Taco Bell. (ask me about the green hanger, I'll laugh so hard I cry)

2. I'm super afraid of balloons. When I was in 3rd grade I went to a birthday party and participated in a relay race. My leg of the race required me to run to the other end of the yard and sit on a balloon until it popped. Instead I did a half squat and cried hysterically... my team lost.

3. I hate having my belly button touched. Even the mental image of (or blogging about) a finger in my belly button makes me want to gag. It makes me think of umbilical cords and abortions, both of which I cannot stomach. When I have a kid I'm closing my eyes until the cord is gone, I'd feel really bad if I puked on my baby.

4. I love lists. I am so scatter-brained and they make me feel a bit sorted. I have lists for everything. Lists of things to write. Lists of authors I like. Lists of things to do. Lists of quotes. Lists of goals. Lists of qualities I want in a relationship. Lists and lists and lists, most of which are saved on my computer in a folder labeled "lists," which is quite full and might soon require a subfolder.

5. I can't stand meatloaf. I don't know that anything else needs to be said about that because, well, it's meatloaf. Yuck.

6. I don't watch TV. Unlike most people who say they don't watch TV, I REALLY don't watch TV. The closest I get is my Sex and the City dvds, which is a show I started watching while working at Conroys, well after the show was off the air. Contrary to TV, I regularly watch waaaaay too many YouTube videos. In fact, here's one of my favorites.

Eye Candy

For a solid month now the weather has been changing.  So have the leaves.  There are two trees across the street that I stare at every morning when I pull out of my driveway, excited to see the daily progress of the leaves as they change from greens to yellows to oranges to reds.  Right now they are a deep crimson color, I have three of them sitting on my kitchen table.  I snagged them yesterday on my walk.  I decided that since the semester is over and I now have a large amount of free time that didn't exist before, that I would do things like that.  You know, walk.  And cook.  Sometimes both.  

So yesterday I looked up some recipes for basil chicken in addition to trying to mimic Chipotle's cilantro and lime rice (except with brown rice... verdict: not as good).  There were, of course, things I needed from the store, because why would I harbor a stash of fresh cilantro in my fridge?  I walked across the street making my way to Albertsons, but I didn't get far at all because I realized I didn't have my camera (or a sweatshirt and it was quite chilly), so I went home and retrieved both.  There were so many moments where I would stop on my trail to capture the contrast or how the light hit a tree at just the right angle.  A green tree next to a red one, or a bare tree next to a full one.  I love snapping pictures of all this fall, I have so many from years past but they never get old to me. 

I suppose my love of fall has a lot to do with the vibrant colors.  One of the things that I thank God most for is color (some might find that trivial, but I think when He made me that He knew it would be crucial to my happiness).  Often when I see fresh fruit or a healthy flower or a loud outfit I'm reminded that color is one of the recreational aspects of existence.  What I mean is that God could have made the world cold and gray, a sweater serves its purpose of warmth just as well in charcoal as it does in turquoise.  But God didn't create the world in shades of gray, He filled it with brilliant eye candy.  The beauty that leaves embody as they change is a wonderful reminder that He loves me, which is why I love fall oh so much.

On the Heels of Discovery

The following is a photo project I did with a piece I wrote.  The idea was to take a small portion of a piece and take it outside the confines of the medium (paper).  The photos are not in order of the stanzas.  Also, please forgive the horrible photo editing, consider the cause my and iphotos combined lack of skills.

The original piece reads as follows:

I sleep in heels, crossing my legs like a lady while I dream of dark things, looking and feeling

like a lady of the night, but still a lady.

I run in heels, catching the night bus at 3am outside the club in Camden Town so that I don't have to wait in the cold looking like a lady of the night, but still a lady.

I trip in heels, falling flat on my back and sullying my new dress, showcasing my goods to the 

world like a lady of the night, but still a lady.

I cook in heels, dancing and stirring and seasoning, playing the role of a proper and contented

housewife, fantasizing about the life of a lady of the night.

There's a Theorem that Says:

There's a theorem that says:

The shortest distance between two points is a point.

At a point I am on a plane with 

wings made of feathers and

a captain who speaks in

a language I can't understand.

At another point I wake up in

a toxic cloud, surrounded

by tainted dreams where

vacuums turn to snakes and

leave me cornered on 

the bathroom counter.

At some point I am

wandering along a hikers path trying

to find whatever point

I'm looking for.

All I find are bees.

I hate bees.

I'm still confused

about which one is which.

The Dawn of a New Era...

So we all know I'm not in Kansas anymore... or London, as the case may be (mere semantics).  So I've finally decided what I'm going to do with this here blog, aside from the obvious occasional updates on pivotal moments in my life.  This includes, but is not limited to: sweet trips I intend on taking, embarrassing moments that will inevitably occur at various points in my future, and important meals I may consume (because let's not kid ourselves about the importance of food in my life).  Oh, and when, by a miracle of God, I graduate from college, you'll all hear something about that too.

I've been doing a lot of writing, as is customary for any Lit. major.  But beyond writing critically, which I'm forced to do on a far too frequent basis, I've been writing a lot more creatively; if I don't want to be poor for the rest of my life I should attempt to make something of these random and tiny bursts of creativity, so from time to time I will be posting and thus sharing them with any and all of you who may continue to read this.  

The more I write, the more I love writing.  I am learning about the process in general and specifically learning so much about my own process.  I no longer look at my writing as simply a "before" and "after" because I'm actually grasping some of what happens in between.  Lately I've been writing a lot of poetry (which is weird, because approximately 16 weeks ago I was dreading taking "Intro to Poetry" and now I love it).  Poetry has previously never been my thing, but somehow it's managed to turn into it.  That said, poetry isn't for everyone, I certainly never thought it was for me and therefore will not be hurt if you have absolutely nothing to say on the matter.  But because the people who read this are people I love so much, I thought I'd be a little vulnerable and put it out there anyway.  Happy reading!

Always with love,

Ashley

I Run Like A Girl

     Two days ago, October 19, 2008, I ran a marathon.  Simultaneously the best, worst and most painful decision I've ever made in my life.  Saturday afternoon Brittany and I flew to San Francisco (apparently it was JetBlue's first flight so we got free cake!!!).  Ryan few in shortly after us.  Nike had some awesome things going on, though I didn't want to wait for 3 hours to take advantage of any of them, so massages and pedicures were skipped in favor of our own personal pre-marathon food marathon.  We went to Italian street and had some pasta, then I ate Ryan's pasta, then we somehow got free tiramisu, then we went to this really delicious pizza place (3 bites in we were all feeling mighty sick), then I wanted gelato... let's just say that between the two marathons I completed this weekend that my body pretty much hates me.

     6am Sunday, dark and early, we got up, I ate the random pickings I could find (luna gummies, an apple, water) and jumped in the crowd of 20,000 runners clustered in Union Square.  Being that this was the Nike Women's Marathon, there was a LOT of estrogen (just over 1,000 men and that was it!).  The first 2/3 of the run can be described as a LOT of eating, surprised?  About every 2 miles there were food stations, orange slices, bananas, luna bars, more really gross gummies that I couldn't pass up, and I'm pretty sure I stole some pretzels from some random people along the way.  At the (very obvious) split between half and full marathon runners I seriously contemplated unofficially switching.  It was a good thing that I didn't because, though I couldn't see them, Ryan and Brittany could see me and probably would have jumped on the track and turned me back around.  

     Around mile 17 I hit my first wall (yeah, there was more than one) where I started mumbling profanities and talking to myself.  Around mile 21 I thought I was going to die, but I figured if I ran just one more mile than I could walk the last 4.  Approaching mile 22 I saw a giant sign that said, "Ghirardelli mile," which basically meant that I was handed the most delicious piece of chocolate I've ever eaten, and could thus stop running to eat it (Caramelized almond, if you must know).  I walked that whole mile, realized that it was still possible for me to MAYBE hit my goal of 4:30 and so I ran... all the while wondering if I might involuntarily break into sobs or vomit, or both.  Luckily I never actually cramped up to the point of incapacitating myself, which was nice, I crossed the finish line when the official clock read 4:36, but had yet to figure out my official time since I'd crossed the starting line after the clock had started running, I just didn't know how long after.

     At the finish line there were "hot firefighters in tuxedos" with little blue boxes on silver platters.  These little boxes held my Tiffany's necklace that I received for finishing the race.  I say "hot firefighters in tuxedos" in quotes because, though I'd read about and was excited for this before the race, I took no notice of them and basically headed straight for the bagel table.  By the time Brittany and Ryan got to me I had most of the chocolate chip bagel in (or around) my mouth, a jamba juice in the other hand, and was attempting, unsuccessfully, to pick up a bowl of granola.  

     I'm fairly certain that after such physical exertion that your body goes into a panicky survival mode, I think for about the first half hour post race that I was pretty out of it.  We basically went home to shower, got food, napped for 4 hours (being a spectator is hard work... just ask my two fans), went out and ate again, and then slept until morning.  It was amazing.  I found out that my official finishing time was 4:29:58, which means I hit my goal!  Now as I start day two my walk is reduced to a waddle, and likely will be for a while.  Though this post might, to some, sound like one big complaint, I really am SO happy that I did it, as I slowly regain mental capacity I'm more and more proud of myself for finishing the thing, overlooking the pain it is such an awesome feeling.  I don't know that I'll ever run a marathon again by myself, but it would definitely be fun to do with someone and apparently I was so encouraging (not) about the process that Ryan might entertain the notion... we shall see!

So this is me pointing to my name on the wall, I'm ALMOST tall enough to reach it!
Me crossing the finish line in the gray, don't I look happy?
And me after the race... eating.

Coming Home Again

     And so the end is upon me, at least for now.  At the moment I'm sitting in a coffee shop in London (not ideal for my last day here, but if you could feel how heavy my backpack is you'd understand why I'm being stationary).  Paul's cousin Matt is coming to meet me when he gets off work and then we'll meet up with Chris and Cat at his place so that I can shower and change into an outfit that I HAVEN'T been wearing over and over for the last month.  After that we're meeting up with Paula and some other Wood Greeners for my last supper at Wagamama's in Covent Garden followed, hopefully, by Ben's Cookies and perhaps a bit of dancing at KoKo as long as Chris is up for it.  Otherwise, perhaps we'll just have drinks at Punch and Judy's and watch the street performers from a safe enough distance so as not to feel obligated to give money.  

     This morning I left Kyle in Amsterdam, thus ending my month of backpacking through Europe with him, Darryl and Veronica.  We had a fabulous time, saw so many sights, went so many places, experienced so many languages and met so many new people.  So many things, in fact, that I won't even attempt to explain them all here because you'll get bored about 1/6 of the way through.  Considering that I'll be home tomorrow evening, I suggest asking me about any and everything.  Partly because it's always better to hear it straight from the horses mouth and partly because I'll be dying to talk about it all.  This particular trip was to Edinburgh, Stockholm, Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Zermatt, Cologne, Amsterdam.  I think I met the best people in Edinburgh and Stockholm (excluding, of course, Darryl's lovely friends who played host while we were in Germany).  I'd also have to say that Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  We did a lot of climbing this trip, St. Peter's Basilica, the Duomo (or rather, the building next to it), the hills of Cinque Terre, castles and towers in Germany, etc.  Unfortunately we did not have time to climb the Leaning Tower (though we tried), or hike through Zermatt due to rain (instead we sat in a pub with Guinness... lazy!).  As a result I have a renewed love for hiking (and hopefully a good foundation for training hills for the SF marathon).  

     Veronica and I really got to have some lady bonding time, especially when it came to sampling the food, which we were all about (let's be honest, you can't fully experience any culture without experiencing the food).  I'm not sure if I've actually written about it, I'm sure I've talked about it, and I'm sure I'll continue to talk about it, because this little gem of knowledge has become very important to me: Hospitality.  Throughout the last 6 months I have experienced the true meaning of the word.  Everywhere I go, no matter what country I'm in I'm amazed at how gracious people are. and I want to make sure I make an effort to learn from that and try to repay others in kind as best I can.  I won't say anymore about that because then I'll feel like I'm repeating myself too much when I brag about how lucky I am to have met the people I have and been treated as well as I have been.  You can all look forward to meeting many new friends from abroad as I finally get to play home team and show a little American hospitality.

     I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself, I can't play host until I have my own place, and to get my own place I have to come home, which is what I'll be doing tomorrow from 3:10pm London time until 6:45pm California time.  I can't wait to see everyone, I'll be a busy bee next week trying to get back into the swing of things, be responsible and still see everyone so give me some time and we'll all get to eat, drink and be merry!  I'm going to miss London so much, but coming home was inevitable and I have no turned my focus onto how excited I am to see everyone that I've been missing oh so much!

Why do you call pork pigs?

     Today was a very happy surprise.  It's been a long week of goodbyes; Wednesday night Chris, Liz and I spent the night bonding before Chris skipped off to Paris with his mom and sisters and Thursday night Liz and I got wings for the last time.  Yesterday I took her to the airport (as her mass amount of luggage prevented the operation from being a one woman job) and spent the rest of the day consoling myself by exercising my wallet (during which I realized that if smoking crack were my coping mechanism it would probably be a lot cheaper).  This morning I went and met my friend Jon for tea and he informed me that it was the Queen's birthday today and that I should head to Buckingham when we were done.  I did so, forced myself like the pushy little girl I am to the front of the "queue" aka massive crowd of people and clung to the gates of Buckingham Palace (after walking from Charing Cross... CHAMP!) until the royal family came out onto the balcony.  It was so fantastic!  So many different jets flying overhead and thanks to the super zoom on my camera I got some awesome pictures of Prince Harry (and Prince William, the decidedly less gorgeous future King).  Now I'm awaiting the arrival of Kyle, who should be starting his journey on the Piccadilly line right about now.

     Now that the quick recap of my week is over I will attempt to give a brief description of my absolutely incredible trip to Salzburg, Vienna and Prague.  For the first time I feel like there is no way for me to accurately describe my trip (but now that I type that I feel like I've probably said something like that before).  I hope that, if any of you are even slightly interested in my trip, that the first question you ask me is "How was Austria?"  While I have yet to experience my upcoming adventures with family, I must say that Vienna is, without a doubt, my favorite European city thus far.  The architecture is beautiful and consistent, the palace is gorgeous, everything in the city is so accessible, the food is fabulous (even the pizza was pretty top notch, thank God), they have lovely traditions and the most important and wonderful thing about it is that the people there are indescribable.  However, knowing me you know I'll attempt to describe them anyway.  

     We had the good fortune of getting in contact with Rick's cousin and staying with him.  He picked us up from the train station and took us to his home where he'd prepared a room, bought food and drinks, a map for us and he even wrote his address on three separate pieces of paper in case we got lost so that we could give it to a cabby.  He was the most gracious host, he even set out a little jar of water in the bedroom.  That night his cousin Sebastian and their friends Michael and Nikolaus came over and we all went out to some bars and had such a good time.  I've had some pretty amazing nights in the last six months, and some pretty funny ones, and I can't remember the last time I laughed as much as I did that night.  The next day we went and got wiener schnitzel at a local place that gives you such large portions that it spills off your plate, if you ever get a chance to go I suggest you try it because it's delicious even if it stops your heart in the process.  

     After lunch Martin (who took off the day of work for us) and Michael gave us a tour of the city.  We saw the university, parliament, the supreme court (we even went on the roof where there's a view of the whole city), they showed us the spot where Hitler gave his famous speech (you know, the one you always see pictures of?), we had coffee and these pastries with "surprises" inside, Austrian chocolates, etc, it was a great way to experience the culture.  I prefer that to seeing a city from a tourist perspective, this way we actually got to see what their culture is like from a more realistic perspective.  That night Martin stayed in since he had to work early but Michael and a friend of his, Jakob came and took us out again that night.  On our way out we got little bottles of jagger from a hot dog stand and apparently it's tradition to wear the cap on your nose and then the person with the lowest number on the bottom of their bottle (yes, there are numbers) has to buy the next shot.  So here's a picture for your viewing pleasure of that little experience.
     After that we went to a local bar that Michael promised had "odd" people, he was right, we sat next to a group of garbage collectors still wearing their bright orange uniforms (mind you it's about 11 at night) and this guy Arnold starts talking to us about Fraternities (but I should be saying thanks Arnold, because he paid for all our drinks), and then there was a guy behind Liz who was really old and asleep in the corner.  We moved on to a club that was playing nothing but Austrian music, which to me was so much better than your average pop club because I can find one of those anywhere.  There was a conga line during one song, it was quite funny.  Before catching the bus the next day I walked to the palace, which is modeled after Versailles, it's beautiful, I wish I'd have had more time to wander but I was in a bit of a hurry.  That's where the Austrian Zoo is where there's a baby panda.  The maze was so tempting but I knew better than to go get myself lost right before I was supposed to head to Prague.

     Here are a couple of pictures of us on our tour of Vienna.  This one is in front of the Supreme Court with Michael and Martin.  
     This picture is of me on top of the Supreme Court building overlooking the city.
     Once we got to Prague and found Hamilton, my elementary school friend who offered us a place to stay, we got ready and decided to go out.  Before we went out we got some Bekerovka, which is a popular Czech liquor and had some drinks at the house.  Then Ham's friend came over and we all went out to a couple different clubs where his friend was djing.  It was such a fun night!  The next day Ham took us across the Charles Bridge and showed us the Lennon Wall, which is a tribute to John Lennon (and is also the wall I'm standing in front of in the picture below)
     After the Lennon Wall Ham had to leave us to go meet his new roommates while we wandered the city for the day.  Dre went to a museum while Liz and I opted to relax at the top of one of the parks near the castle.  Prague is a very hilly city so once we got to the top we had a great view.  Liz opted out of climbing the abundance of steps it took to get to the palace once we got down so I made the trek alone before meeting up with them at the Charles Bridge, it was beautiful inside!  We then went to meet Ham and headed to the beer garden, which is an outdoor area in the middle of a park on the opposite side of the city from where we'd been all day.  By the time we got there we were so pooped from having 4 late nights in a row and a whole lot of sight seeing (plus my allergies don't agree with Prague AT ALL and I was about ready to flood the park with my snot) so we grabbed the keys from Ham like big party poopers and attempted to find our way home.  Now in saying attempted I don't mean that we got lost, rather that it was just ridiculously far from where we were and probably took close to an hour to walk to.  I was so hungry so I stopped at a mexican restaurant (I realized all too late that it was the last place likely to have food before we got home and it ended up being really expensive, but I had no other options).  It had started to rain, which was weird because it was such a beautiful and hot day up until that point.  Once inside the restaurant we looked outside and it was literally pouring rain, luckily we were right around the corner from Ham's place and Liz and I spent the rest of the night in.  Dre, at this point, went to a friend's place who was also studying in Prague and we didn't see him until the train back to Salzburg.

     The next day Liz and I were in the ultimate poop mode and went to the movies to see Iron Man over doing more sight seeing (to be fair, we'd walked for no less than 9 hours the day before).  To make myself feel less guilty I braved another massive set of stairs to get to a very old church that overlooked the city from yet another angle.  Liz sat half way on a bench and enjoyed the view from there.  Here's a picture of the Charles Bridge during the beautiful weather we had (about 15 minutes before Hurricane Prague hit).
     At this point Kyle should be arriving in about 45 minutes, I can't wait for all of our traveling, if any of it is even remotely as wonderful as Austria was then I think we're all in for a treat.  First stop is a day trip to Cardiff (a 3 hour bus ride that equates to $10 each way, AMAZING!) on Wednesday.  Then next Sunday we're off to Edinburgh, Stockholm, Rome, Venice, Chinque Terre, Zermatt, Cologne, Amsterdam and then I'll have one night in London before coming home.  I figured I'd write in the itinerary here in case this is my last blog before I head out.  28 days until I come home, crazy isn't it?!  See you all soon!

Markets, Meridians and Mayhem

     This week was a really calm week.  I didn't do much other than read and go to the gym a lot until about Friday.  Wait, that's a lie, I feel like I always say that the week was uneventful and then I remember everything that I did!  Okay, so Paul left a little over a week ago, but not before we spent a bit of time with his cousin Matt one afternoon.  This was to my good fortune because I now have another friend in the London area.  We met up Monday to go to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Tudors and to otherwise count how many people we knew in each room (not many); our attention spans got us through a whole hour and 20 minutes before we called it a day and headed for the nearest coffee shop (Starbucks... go figure).  We got lost in Trocadero trying to find a place to sit and then went to Covent Garden for a drink and some WAGAMAMAS!  Oh man, I'm going to miss that place so much.  Saw the new Indy with my friend Chris, his girlfriend and Liz, I must say, a bit disappointing.  Oh well!

     Wednesday I attempted to go back to the Portrait Gallery to see the Vanity Fair exhibit only to find out that it had ended Monday (hence Matt and I seeing a "sold out" sign for it).  A bit bummed but not deterred I spent the afternoon in Camden Town wondering why I hadn't spent more time there in the first place.  It's basically a free for all of every kind of person you can think of, dressed any way you can imagine and it's wonderful.  There are a lot of street markets, vintage shops and food stalls so I had a fantastic time wandering and buying myself a very small medley of salmon sushi for £4, thanks Camden.  

     Friday Liz and I met up with Pete and Sharon at Borough Market and tasted quite a bit of yummy food.  It's like free samples at Costco but better.  We all had lunch together and then Liz and I wandered around Brick Lane for a while, took lots of pictures of graffiti (perhaps a Banksey in there?) and bought a few little things at some of the stalls.  On our way back we saw a shop that was selling prints of Banksey's graffiti and Liz is actually going to go back and buy one, they're so interesting!  This picture is of Liz and I with some of the "wall art" around Brick Lane, it doesn't do the wall justice, but we look cute so whatever!

     Saturday was really the big day out.  In the morning Liz and I got up and headed across the river to Greenwich.  We walked around the market stalls there (I found the most wonderful Rosary, I've been looking for one for ages!) and had a delicious crepe for lunch.  Then we walked over to the Maritime Museum and, more importantly, the Observatory.  We basically made a b-line for the Prime Meridian and had a mini photoshoot doing various poses to display all of the ways you can stand on or around a Meridian, pretty fantastic.
     That night we put on our cocktail dresses and jumped on the tube for the last Circle Line Party ever.  As of June 1, 2008 alcohol is banned on all of London's public transport so we made sure we were there to make history (or something like that).  The party was mainly organized through Facebook and had over 9,000 Londoners attending (I reckon there were far more than that).  At 9pm Liz and I got to Liverpool Street Station right onto the platform where everyone was geared up to party on the tube.  Officers had closed off the station by 9:20 and were not letting people onto the platform.  We hopped on the next train and wandered through the madness trying to find fun people to hang out with.  (Side note:  When we got on the tube at Wood Green we assumed the people in cocktail outfits were going to the same place as us so we went to sit with them, turns out they weren't but they're the most lovely people and they live in Wood Green!  We exchanged information with one of the girls so I may have new friends as more and more people go home before me)  Not long after we switched cars Liz and I got separated, right before Kensington (I think it was Kensington) we got stuck in the tunnel for over a half hour with SO many people and it was super sweaty and gross, I stood on one of the chairs to see if I could see Liz but no luck.  Little did I know she had gotten off already and onto another tube car, so to her good fortune she missed being stuck.  I had met a nice group of guys who were turning football cheers into Anti-Boris songs (Booooooris Johnson, he's a wanker, what a wanker... etc.)  Good fun, although at one point we thought that a guy in very close proximity to us was going to puke all over the place and considering our current stationary position we were really dreading such an event.  Luckily he kept it together for us all, thanks bud.

     It was amazing, people were ripping down adverts and tube maps and wearing them around their clothes.  There were people dressed up as super heros, alcohol bottles, and Boris Johnson (mainly funny blonde wigs).  It was supposed to be a cocktail theme (if you hadn't guessed) so there were a lot of people in fancy clothes and some tuxes.  By the time the train was moving again all of the boys I had made friends with had to pee and really the sweatiness was rather unbearable so we got off at the next stop and found a pub to hang out in.  I called Liz but she was, by that time, at home safe and sound.  The next morning I read about the party and there were 17 arrests and 6 trains taken off of the platforms due to vandalization and damage.  Apparently it got even more rowdy after we left!  Here's one of the few pictures Liz and I got before we got separated, hopefully it gives you even a fraction of a picture of the amount of people involved.  I have pictures of the platform as well, nothing but a sea of bodies!  I'm so glad we went, it really was a fabulous thing to witness.

     So there is my amazing story about the tube party, I suppose reading about such an event is not the same as witnessing it, but believe me when I say it was like nothing I've ever been to before.  Tomorrow Andreas, Liz and I are off to Austria and Czech Rep. for 6 nights.  I'm really excited because Rick Mohr got me in contact with his cousins so we will be meeting up with and staying with them in Vienna and then we will be staying with my elementary school friend, Hamilton in Prague!  It's always so much more fun when you have people to show you around or at least tell you where to go so we're really excited to have some locals on our side!  Hopefully I'll have plenty more to share when I get back!

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!!!

What's the definition of Juxtaposition?

     At the moment life is much more boring than "business as usual."  I've been stuck inside the past week writing papers (or rather, doing the preliminary sit-in-front-of-my-computer-and-get-distracted ritual that I go through for about a week before my mind is ready to do any actual work).  My papers are due the 6th so now I've actually got to do something about it.  However, not before I write this exceedingly boring little update.  

     So what do people talk about when they have nothing to say?  The weather, which, as it were, has made paper writing all the more difficult because it's been absolutely beautiful out.  Paul, Liz, Erica, Chris and I walked to the top of Alexandra park the other day just because it was a wonderfully nice day out.  Now that classes are done (ended last Friday) I've been filling my free time with the gym, I'm really glad I got a pass when I did because otherwise I'd have no structure in my life after these papers.  At this point I'm actually craving structure, I'm done flying free and lacking productivity.  I want to get on with my travels (which I'm so excited about) and get home to start my last year at Chapman.  I registered last week and I'm really excited about my classes: Major Authors: Tolstoy; American lit from 1950 to present; Writing about Diverse Cultures (with Van Meter, yeay!); Intro to Poetry.  All of the professors are men and women I've had before and they're all quite brilliant so it should be a pretty challenging and interesting semester.  It will also be my first semester (not counting this one since I'm in another country) living near campus versus at home and I'm really quite pleased that I'll have the opportunity to do so, and with Erica, who is a really neat girl so I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together.  We're both big nerds and have already sat down and discussed "house rules."

     Speaking of travels (so I digress...) I got an email the other day from EasyCruise saying our cruise was cancelled because the boat wasn't ready!!!  I'm so upset!  BUT, we do get a full refund, plus refunded for any "reasonable" travel accommodations (ie my flights) and a complimentary cruise, so I'm going to try and rebook Paul and I for a 4 night cruise running the same weekend.  That's all up in the air based on availability though, since it's so close to now.  

     OOOH, found a new area last weekend.  Went to dinner off the Angel tube stop and it's a really great, trendy little area with antique and vintage shops, lots of bars, coffee shops, pastry shops and interesting people.  I actually ended up talking to the owner of one of the little vintage stores for near an hour on Sunday.

     Saturday I met Chris at the Natural History Museum to see the photography exhibit there, we also watched the end of the Man U. and Chelsea game, yahoo.  Chris's friend went with us to the exhibit, quite a character, we actually lost him at one point and never found him.

     Anyway, that's the long and short of it, Paul gets here the 7th so that will be a nice way to celebrate turning all of my papers in and then hopefully life will be much more fun and interesting.  Miss you all and really can't wait to see you!!

Half the clothes and twice the cash

     Last week my parents were here.  It was really great to see and spend time with them and finally share my life here with someone from back home.  We did a lot of walking (far more than they anticipated) and I am happy to say that both they and I got to see a lot of great stuff.  After picking them up from the airport and having their first (very long) tube experience, we got them checked in, went to Pret for some sandwiches and wandered the city.  Their hotel was right by Green Park, which connects to Buckingham Palace, so we went there, then through St. James Park and saw the Horse Guard Quarters, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, and then walked into Trafalgar Square to find a pub.  This was at about, well, it was before dusk anyway.  So we go in and get drinks, sit down and a very nice, very drunk man starts talking to us, particularly to my mother about the US and shepherds pie, at one point we thought he was actually going to order her one.  That night we ate at Wagamama's and then went down the street to meet some of my friends at the Sports Cafe because Thursdays are £3 wing night (20 of them!).  They got to meet Liz, Paul, Chris and Ben before they knocked out for the evening.

     Next day after class they met me at Wood Green so I could show them around where I live, we never got to my campus but no biggy because I don't spend much time there anyway.  Mother packed me an entire suitcase full of goodies, homemade cookies, pretzels, wheat thins, See's chocolates, clothes, toiletries etc.  I hope she knows how much that meant to me because I still look at my shelves stocked with nonperishable food and get really excited!  They got to see my 5 star accommodations (which, amazingly enough, lost hot water for 2 days right when they left).  We attempted to find dad a scarf at the Wood Green mall before heading to the Tower of London.  We got there and realized we wouldn't have time to see it before it closed so instead we walked (and walked) to Cafe Pacifico (amazing mexican food in Covent Garden), ate our hearts out and met up with Andreas for some Ben's Cookies before we parted ways so that Andreas and I could go see Chromeo at KoKo.  Chromeo put on a phenomenal show.  Their sound is very electro/funk type music, they're two best friends who claim they are the only successful Jewish/Muslim duo in the music industry.  Afterwards Dave 1 and P-Thugg (the two guys in the band... obviously) were signing autographs and if the pictures would load you'd be able to see the picture Matt and I got with Dave 1.

     Saturday we actually met at the Tower of London and had a fabulous audio tour before seeing the crown jewels.  That was my 3rd trip to the tower and I still learned new things, I love it.  Another bit of walking and we were at St. Paul's Cathedral where we spent a bit of time looking around before heading over towards Harrods.  Before going in we sat down for afternoon tea (I'm definitely going to miss clotted cream, so delicious!) and scones.  We ate and set up a meeting point with Dad so that he could go off and be spared a tour of Harrods.  Mom and I wandered the chocolate (thank God we were full so we didn't buy any) got some sweets and then spent a lot of time in the shoe department.  Typical. :)  If I recall we weren't very hungry after the tea and scones so we headed to Oxford Circus, dropped my Dad off at Bonds, which is where Liz worked (I say worked because that was actually her last night) and Mom and I did a bit of shopping along Oxford Street.  After that we went and ate at Bonds with Dad and they left while I waited for Chris and Paul to come hang out.  After Liz got off work we left and stayed up all night watching youtube videos, wild Saturday night.  

     Woke up at 6 on Sunday to meet the parents for our big day of bus touring.  First stop was Windsor Castle, which is very beautiful.  The Queen was expected later in the day but she wasn't in her apartments while we were touring, we got to tour the state apartments and caught the end of the changing of the guards there.  Mom and Dad took a not so silly picture with the not so silly guards.  Next stop was Bath to visit the Roman Baths, I found them quite interesting but I wish that I hadn't stayed up so late because I retained next to nothing as far as learned information goes.  The Romans were phenomenal with the things that they did, especially considering the time period (and they were everywhere!).  Last stop was my personal favorite (and my Dad's, I think) Stonehenge.  Mom was decidedly less impressed.  I've wanted to go and see Stonehenge for a very long time so I'm really glad that I finally got to experience it and do so with my parents (Dad wanted to see them since he was a kid so that made it even better).  We met Chris for dinner for sushi attempt #1, closed, so we went to Bella Italia for what was definitely the best meal of the trip.  After eating The Godfather Parts I and II Chris and I sent my parents on their way and headed back to Wood Green.

     Our last full day was a bit of a lazy day, I finally met up with my parents around 2:30.  Mom and I set up a meeting point with Dad at Covent Garden and Mom and I went to the National Gallery to meet up with Paul.  We did a quick walk through and then headed to Covent Garden to attempt some more shopping and really just ended up in a coffee shop until it was dinner time.  Sushi attempt #2, sushi joint was open to reveal the ultimate 7/11 of sushi bars.  We ended up having Spaghetti House instead before parting from paul to see Jersey Boys.   Jersey Boys was an absolutely brilliant production, the Brits nailed the Jersey accent (as commented on by a woman from Jersey in the bathroom).  The guy who played Frankie Valli had a wonderful voice and definitely brought the Four Season to life.  I'm really glad that we ended up seeing that instead of Les Mis.

     Our last day we met at Oxford Circus, walked a bit and then checked them out.  I was a bit sad to see them go but I'm so happy that they got to come and see London.  Now I'm on my last week of classes and then finals/final papers are due the week after that.  I have so much reading and writing to do it's insane!!!  But it will be great when it's over because a few days after my deadline I'm off to Greece!!!

Merci. De Nada.

     Okay, bare with me because these pictures, for whatever reason, didn't upload in order.  Right, now that that's been discussed we can move on amicably.  For the first time since I've been traveling I can honestly say that words cannot describe how beautiful my trip was.  The Loire Valley was beautiful in its entirety.  It seems that every town we entered, every chateau we visited, was more beautiful than the last.  I kept thinking that the next one would surely disappoint (and, my add getting the better of me, the last one did... but I think that was more my attention span's fault than anything else).  

     We arrived in Tours Monday and walked outside realizing we hadn't figured out how to get from the airport (so small that there was only one flight in and one flight out... we're talking middle of nowhere tiny airport, so cute) to our hotel.  Luckily I had Jenni with me and she speaks a bit of french.  We got a taxi to the main train station in Tours thinking that we'd have to take a bus somewhere and found out that our hotel was around the corner from the station, which was really convenient.  We immediately found some yummy French pastries to eat and dropped our stuff off before wandering the town for a few hours.  Like true party animals we ended up in bed and asleep at 7pm... how sad.  There were full intentions of waking up at 10 and going out, we just never actually got up when the alarm went off.  Needless to say we were well rested for our first full day of exploration.

     We attempted to prod the tourism office for wine tasting information and were largely unsuccessful.  While we received a map of vineyards as well as wine houses we didn't receive any information on how to get there or any tours that might run there.  We were actually told that the best way to do wine tasting, because of their spread out locations, would be to rent a car (who rents a car to spend a day with alcohol?!).  So we picked Saumur from the map, known for their red wines, and took a train there hoping to figure it out.  We got there and saw the Chateau Saumur from the station at the top of the city and it looked absolutely stunning.  We got a glass of wine in a local bar and found both liquor and wine tasting venues on our place mats so we asked the bartender how to get to them.  Before heading there we hiked to the chateau and walked around a bit.  After that we went to the liquor house, which turned out to be a really neat experience because we tried some local spirits and learned a bit about how the French enjoy their alcohol compared to how others do so.  I ended up buying a bottle of Fruits des Bois, which is a dark mixed berry liquor that is typically mixed with white or sparkling wines, delicious.  After that we realized we didn't have time to venture to the winery, which was a bit further away, so we just shared a bottle of wine at a bar before catching our train home to have crepes for dinner. (SO GOOD!)

     Our last full day was our big day as we'd booked an all day tour of the chateaus.  From 9:30 to 7:00 we took a van to 5 chateaus around the Loire Valley region.  It was really the most amazing experience.  Our first stop was probably my favorite because of the gardens.  The Chateau Villandry is also known as "Little Versailles" because the gardens were constructed to mimic those of Versailles.  Both places are typical of Renaissance structures in that they mimic the Greek/Roman styles by being very geometric.  The gardens weren't in full bloom but even so I could have wandered them all day.  The second stop was Azay-le-Rideau, there was a beautiful lake and Jenni and I got to sit and eat our gummy eggs on the water.  The nice thing about the morning tour was that we were the only two in the van so we left when we were done and got back to Tours to eat lunch and wait for the afternoon portion of the tour to start.  

     In the afternoon there were 5 others with us, two sisters from Australia were among them and were really fun to hang out with and talk a bit with later in the day.  We visited some of the bigger and more famous chateaus in the afternoon.  First we went to my other favorite, (mainly because of it's really rich history) Chenonceau.  It's also called the Chateau of the Dames because of the many famous women who, at one time or another, lived there (including Diane de Poitier and Catherine de Medici).  One of the most interesting rooms was Louise of Lorraine's room where she stayed after the assassination of King Henry III.  It was her mourning room and it was decorated entirely in black: black walls, ceiling, bedding, rug... yeah, everything.  She was known as the White Queen because, as customary for royals in mourning, she was always seen in white.  Anyways, point being... the room was pretty amazing.  This particular chateau is built over the water and has archways allowing the water to flow through, very beautiful.  Jenni and I went running through the maze in the forrest, she beat me out.  The fourth house was the Chateau du Clos Luce, which was Da Vinci's place.  There were replicas of a lot of his inventions all over the gardens and it was so interesting to read all about them.  The man was such a genius!  Last we went to the Chateau Roal D'Amboise, where there is the bust of Da Vinci in the garden.  The view from this place was amazing but by then it was unfortunately a bit cloudy.  At the end we had a mini wine tasting session that was included with the tour but we weren't impressed by the wines.

     We got home and relaxed a bit, had pizza for dinner and drank a bit more wine.  We figured since we missed the wine tasting we'd make up for it by independently sampling the local wines throughout our vacation... none were all that good (clearly because we didn't buy any to bring home).  The weekend wasn't without minor incident, really more just minor embarrassment (because when do I NOT embarrass myself somehow?).  So we went to a pizza place for dinner the last night and I had to use the toilet so Jenni asked where it was and relayed that it was the second on the right.  So I go into the other room and the first door says toilettes above it, so I turn the handle and it doesn't open.  Remembering Jenni's words I continue walking and turn the corner rather fast and run straight into an antique stove that was clearly there just for decoration.  Not so bad, but as I turn around our waiter takes my arm and guides me to the bathroom, where he opens the door for me as though I'm one of the dumbest people he's ever met (which, at that moment, I might be).  I sat down and told Jenni we should leave... but instead we stayed for dessert.

     Which reminds me, last week I went out with Phoebe for high tea and left her at Tottenham Court Road station.  I walk down the stairs into the station and somehow decided that the last step didn't exist and I kid you not I did a complete face plant during rush hour in the middle of a huge central station, skinned my knees and everything.  I'm pretty sure I was laughing before I even hit the floor.  Unfortunately, no one I know was there to see it, although hundreds of people I DON'T know got a very clear view.  Enjoy my minor misfortunes!  In other news, I came home to an email from Nike saying that I have officially been picked to be in the Nike women's marathon in San Francisco on October 19th so I'm super excited to start training for that!  Mom and Dad get here next Thursday and I can't wait to see them.  I'm pretty sure Jenni got sick of me mentioning how excited I was every time I thought about it... On to the pictures!

This is Jenni and I in front of Chenonceau, aka the Chateau of the Dames.
The back of Jenni in front of Da Vinci's country home.  There were children everywhere screaming like banshees... grrr.
The Chateau Royal D'Amboise.  This is where my attention span failed me, I blame the weather...
One of the town squares in Tours where we had most of our evening meals.  It seemed that most of the young people were here either in the restaurants or bars so it was a great place to be and the building were so neat!  You can't really see, but just to the left there was a really neat black building in the corner of the square, very cool.
My snobby-flared-nostril-wine-tasting face.  Too bad we weren't ACTUALLY wine tasting. :)
These are some beautiful tulips outside the Chateau Saumur, they were such a vibrant red and looked wonderful surrounding the grey stones of the chateau walls.
My favorite, Chateau Villandry, none of my pictures even do this place justice.  It's not fair that not everyone gets to see a place like this, I was in absolute awe.
The Chateau D'Azay Le Rideau.  Also wonderful.  The ceilings above the staircases had faces carved into it... creepy.