London: DAY 5

After a lovely night playing Hinkle Finny Duster in the basement, the girls and I woke up early (no easy feat after a sleepless night caused from too much strong English tea) to go to Primark for some shopping.  I bought a sparkly black umbrella (which became useful today when it rained), a peacock feather hair barrette, seam-up-the-back black tights, and a gray satchel...all for under £15!!!

Then I went with Justin and Fornwald to Camden town to explore it in the day light.  SO MANY WONDERFUL shops!  And market places galore with ethnic foods for cheap prices and other fascinating odds and ends.  We came back to South Kensington by bus, which took about 45 minutes, due to the tube strike.  It is predicted the strike will last until wednesday.  I really hope everything gets resolved by then because my internship starts on thursday and I really want it to be an easy commute.

Tonight we're going out with some of the girls from our program to a local pub called The Prince of Wales.  Should be fun.

LONDON: Day's 2 & 3

Day 2:
During the day we had orientations for our academics and internships.  Around 4pm though we went with a bunch of the guys to a pub called The Goat's Head and split a pitcher of Pimms.  I actually became a bit "pissed" as they say.  Not really drunk, but rathhherrrr tipsy.  We also took a lot of naps.  2nd night there, first night out.  IT WAS PRETTY GREAT! We went to SoHo which is the hip area of london? (More like tourist central.  Picture Times Scquare with a bunch of British people drinking on the street)  We walked around for a bit trying to find other people from Temple but we decided to just do our own thing and went into this pub called Waxy which was what I imagine every house in the lord of the rings is like. There was a tree growing in the middle of it and they only played fabulous 90s music which we sang very loudly to all night (Bon Jovi, Journey, BSB etc.)

We met and hung out with a few British/Irish people who were super nice!  Glenn, Warren, Luke, Sam, Mary Anne etc. They reccomended we go to Fabric and Tiger Tiger (super expensive cover charge$$ though.  Not into that.)  And we spent most of the night discussing the differences between American and British culture.  People were fascinated by how large our food portions are and about how American culture is very FOR binge drinking. It was a very interesting experience. Pubs close around 11pm-12am here so we hung out there until we were kicked out and then we wandered the streets looking for a club to go to, but everything was really expensive and touristy and the Irish/British friends we made were being a little creepy so we left.

Um, let me just say.  That night, I HAD NEVER HAD TO PEE SO BADLY IN MY LIFE! I can honestly say I have never had to pee as much in my life as I did tonight.  But nothing NOTHING nothing was open and I almost peed on the streets a few times but I would pull down my pants in some shadows and then I would see some security guard guy in the distance or a car coming around the corner and i would chicken out. so we took the bus home while I quietly cried in pain and then we finally got back and I peed and it was amazing.

DAY 3:
Today we woke up early to go on a walking tour of our neighborhood.  It was really cute and our tour guide was pretty awesome.  Totally rocked the color blue, blue dress/sweater/shoes etc.  Pimpin' it up.  I wasn't feeling well so after I ate my tuna sandwich with cucumbers and lemon vinaigrette (YUM), I took a 4 hour nap.  This caused me to skip the bus tour but I definitely needed the nap.  Afterwards I felt so much better. 

Night 3 was pretty low key. We haven't done a whole bunch of bonding with the people from our program.  Just with the people we already knew before we came here. So tonight the girls and I plus Fornwald and his socially retarded/serial killer from the future roommate Patrick went to Camden, which is the punky area of London.  We bought hamburgers for dinner and then we walked around and went to this bar called Lock Tavern which was definitely hipster central and was pretty fun. Not AS FUN as last night because last night we were a little bit more drunk and we went to a more toursity pub where people were more talkative. We did strike up a conversation with this really nice lady named Ruthie who thought we were 25.  She was a political photo-journalist and she travels all over the world and was very interesting. 

We left early enough to catch the tube home but we got on the wrong one and were lost for a little while but now we're back! Tomorrow we're waking up at a resonable hour to go this thing called Speaker's Corner in Hyde park. It's where "british citizens exorcise their democratic rights." Basically people talking on soapboxes about politics and religion. Tessa says it's more along the lines of "a bunch of psychos ranting incoherently."  We also plan on going to Topshop and Primark and other shopping locales.  EXCITING! 

10 things I have learned about London so far

10 things I have learned about London so far:
1. Brits don't hate Americans.  They actually rather love them as long as they are friendly and outgoing.

2. Guns are illegal here, so I don't have to worry about being shot.  Ever.

3.  Rape is prevalent here, so I have to worry about being raped.  All the time.

4.  When going out, girls tend to dress up like Temple Freshman attending Frat parties i.e. 5 inch heels and bootylicious dresses.  This means I usually look like a casual midget in bars.

5.  People in London are REALLY tall.  The girls are tall because of the aforementioned 5 inch heels and the guys are tall because they are actually half giant.  They probably hang out with Hagrid a lot.

6.  Electricity here pretty much sucks and fuses get blown all the frickin' time for apparently no reason.

7.  House parties do not exist here.

8.  Due to a recent law that is trying to crack down on binge drinking, bouncers must check the IDs of anyone entering the bar who may look 25 or under and the bartenders are supposed to check IDs too even if you are already in the bar.  This results in having your ID checked about 3-4 times per night.

9.  They sell liquor in cans here (gin & tonic, whiskey & coke etc.)

10.  The tube is wiggety wack and confusing.  Lines split into 2 and you have to go and change back and some other stuff.  Pretty intimidating.  But other than that, their public transportation system is beautiful, punctual, clean etc. and SEPTA really needs to learn to be more like the tube.

LONDON: DAY 1

So after arriving in Heathrow 1 1/2 hours later than originally anticipated by the airline and after going through customs, I get greeted at the baggage claim by the lovely Caitlin and Fornwald.  They had even been so nice as to fetch my luggage for me before I had even arrived (I had described to them earlier just how hideous the shade of pukey olive green my suitcase was and, sure enough, they found it.  So then we found our way to the tube and made our way to Gloucester Road.  (When I went to pay for my ticket, I  tried to use these pound notes my mom found in an old purse, but it turns out they were expired!  The guy at the counter gave me such attitude about it too!  Whatever man.  In America, dollars are dollars and they be dollars 4evah!  Just kidding.)

So we arrived at our stop (fun fact: in London, you have to keep your ticket with you during the whole trip because you need it to swipe in AND out of the stations) and were assisted with our luggage up the stairs.  Then came the long an grueling walk to our check in area.  My hands are still sore and calloused from that long haul with my 64lb. suitcase.  After checking in and receiving our keys (Caitlin, Christine, and I are all sharing a room-1C!!! C FOR HARD C's!!) Caitlin and I unpacked and waited for Ms. Fisher to arrive.  Unpacking seriously took about 15 minutes.  I feel like I brought no clothes at all.  After packing we browsed some of the other rooms on our floor (an all girls floor, with a few bathrooms, a kitchen, and a study lounge for sharing).  The boys are in the basement and I swear Fornwald has a bloodstain on his carpet.  CREEPY. 

After we finished unpacking and Christine arrived, we decided to walk around and find some food to help keep us awake.  None of us slept on the flight over (instead I watched the TERRIBLE movies Letters to Juliet and The Losers) and to avoid jetlag, we're trying not to nap (although Caitlin is currently snoring above me on the top bunk, so that might not have worked out as planned).  For food we got Starbucks and Sainsbury sandwiches.  I can already tell that grocery shopping is going to be really fun here.  There are so many things I want to try and all of the packaging is WAY CUTER than it is in America.  It's going to be tough not gaining 300 lbs. while overseas.  We also bumped into Mike Rehrig (who is studying here this semester) and his bf Joe Weidman (who studied here this summer) on the street and we made tentative plans to hang out at a future date. 

Now it looks like Chris Fish is napping too.  Fornwald just came in the room to invite us to a pub but I guess we'll go later.  Though in all honesty, I'm not in the mood to drink right now.  Unless that drink happens to be coffee.

I wish I could show pictures of the room but my camera is out of battery and I still have to buy/borrow a UK adaptor.  We basically have 1 bunk bed (I snagged the ridiculously low ceiling-ed bottom bunk) and 1 single bed, 3 wardrobes, 1 dresser, and a bulletin board.  It works for us.

Upsides include:
1. we are all in 1 room
2. we have wifi!

Downsides include:
1. it's pretty cold in here
2. we don't have our own bathroom

My Last AMERIKUN Weekend

MY LAST WEEKEND IN AMERICA WAS FUCKING FABULOUS! Adam dubbed it "date weekend" and tried to fit in all these fun things for us to do.  It was also full of surprises. Some were small, like the mix CD he made me (so good).  And others were big.  Really BIG.

So on Friday he took me to Dorney Park to ride roller coasters.  Our favorite was Steel Force.  Then for our last ride before we left we decided to go on the congo rapids thing.  DUDE.  I was expecting log flume levels of wetness and instead I was fullly dumped on by a series of dirty water falls.  And I was the ONLY person under those water falls.  Adam just laughed and chatted up the adorable black kid who was sitting next to him.   Hmphh.   Later that night we had a beer taste test and watched Office Space. We tried (in order of preference) watermelon beer, blueberry beer, and pumpkin beer. The watermelon beer (Hell or High Watermelon) was sooooo good and the blueberry beer (Sea Dog) smelled like pie!  Pumpkin was eh, but I think it was just the brand that we got. 

On Saturday we kind of just hung around but then he was all, "Hey we actually have to be in the city around 3pm and you should wear something kind of dressy." I was very confused, especially because we had no real concrete plans to go to Philly. But we drove in and then he surprises me double! The first being he got a hotel room for the night at the fancy city hall Marriott! And the second being dinner at the fancy and delicious French restaurant PARC by Rittenhouse. I was sooooooooo surprised and delighted. That was awesome. And he wouldn't let me pay for anything. I really hope he didn't spend a small fortune. After dinner we hung out in the hotel room for a few hours drinking more fancy beers and then our emo friend Baurer picked us up and drove us to that hipster bar/dance hall called the Barbary. I was super nervous my ID would be rejected but it was even easier to get in this time than the first time and there was a special event called Hands and Knees that played really good music so we danced a lot and nearly puked from the heat which emanated off the sweaty dancing bodies of 10,000 hipsters.

The next day we went to the Philly zoo and fell in love w/ the naked mole rats and giraffes but once again nearly died of heat stroke.  Then we went back to his house in the burbs and ate Chinese food and watched movies until we fell asleep. 

IT WAS THE BEST WEEKEND EVER.

School Dreams

No new school year would be complete without the pre-school jitters and a plethora of anxiety dreams.  My first anxiety dream was last night, the night before the night I leave for London, and it started off semi-standard but then turned EXTREME!  And I don't mean, "oh my it was so EXTREMELY anxiety ridden."  I mean X Games EXTREME with crazy sports and physical challenges.

The dream starts off like it usually does. It's the first day of class and I cannot figure out my schedule nor where my classes are.  I forgot to print out my roster and therefore have no idea which classes I have that day or how to find them.  So I run around asking friends, "Hey, do you happen to know what my schedule is?" or "Hey, where is the Tech Center again?" or "Hey, what's the website that tells you your schedule thingy?"  I was a real mess.  I just couldn't figure anything out. I ran back and forth down various hallways for MINUTES trying to find the computer lab or a guidance counselor or ANYTHING that could help me.  Meanwhile, my class had already started and some friends from middle school set up a shoe shop in the middle of Temple's Campus.  Even though I was late for class, I still checked out the shoes.

This is when it gets EXTREME!  Various celebrities and boys from my high school start showing up.  I have no idea what they are doing there so I ask them "HEY!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"  Joseph Gordan-Levitt then proceeds to tell me that they are there to learn and that they are on the way to the same class as me.  Then I look up and see a crude paper sign that says the tech center has been moved to the basement floor of Temple's campus (I guess in my dream, all of Temple University is one building) and then below that is the word 'tits' and then Chace Crawford starts touching my tits. 

???????

So I start heading to the basement and I look down and get vertigo because there are actually one million steps and when I finally reach the bottom, there is water everywhere.  So I have to get into a raft and then I paddle and paddle, trying to find the tech center, and then the waters get rough and I realize I am white water rafting and it is super dangerous and then WHAM! another raft runs right into me!  But I make it to shore and all the way back up the steps and back to the shoe shop, which is now full of cats, and I pet the cats and then I say,"GODDAMN, I AIN'T DOING THIS SHIT ANYMORE.  I'LL JUST GO TO CLASS TOMORROW." 

And then I woke up.

Nailz done, the hairz done, everything did

I have a little tradition with myself that every time I start the new school year I like to have something different going on about my appearance.  I don't know why, I guess its just that little bit of Madonna in me that enjoys reinventing herself.  But it's hard to change EVERYTHING about your appearance.  I mean, I don't go and get plastic surgery every school year and show up with a new nose or chin.  I also don't change my clothing style to be preppy one year and punk the next (that's so middle school).  So usually I end up changing my hair.  It's easy and not permanent and just plain fun!  So I've started the new school year with anything from blond streaks to a purple tint to a choppy bob to bangs etc.  This year I decided to dye my hair red...ish.  Well I didn't dye it, I went to a salon to had it dyed professionally for the first time ever.  I would have done it myself with one of those $10 box kits but my mom insisted that I "get it done right."  It doesn't look much different from when I usually henna my hair, though it is a bit more permanent and brighter! Sometimes I think it looks like Kirsten Dunst's hair when she pays MJ in Spiderman.  It should fade a little bit with time, but for my new academic year in a new country, meeting new people, I think it's perfect.  Also, now my hair isn't multi-colored from the left over henna, bleach, and freshly grown roots.  HOORAY!