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!!!