Christmas Has Gone to the Dogs: A Letter From the Desk of Mr. Burbs and Ms. Bailey

Dear Humans,

As we’re sure many of you are aware (or at least we hope you are aware because if you are not, then there is most likely something seriously wrong with your head...) Christmas time is here. Yes, it is time for happiness and cheer, and oh, by gosh, by golly it's time for mistletoe and holly, tasty pheasants, Christmas presents, and countrysides covered with snow. Yes it is most definitely that time of year once again.

While tasty pheasants and countrysides covered with snow may not be something you have hopes of encountering this Christmas, we would like to make you on offer that just may soothe those pangs of sadness you are sure to be experiencing due to the before mentioned lack of tasty pheasant and snow to enjoy right this second. Presents. Move over baby Jesus, we all know Christmas is not about you anymore. It’s all about the presents. There is actually a motion to change the name of Christmas to Presentmas, that way people can truly understand what they are celebrating each year. But we digress. In keeping with the holiday spirit, it is customary to give gifts to people in your life. Yes, we know what you are thinking. For a holiday called Presentmas, why do I have to give gifts? Shouldn’t I simply sit back and graciously accept all the wonderful presents I am offered that I ever so deserve?! Yes, dear reader, we understand your pain, but it is a pain that is sadly unavoidable. We have been trying for years to find a way to receive gifts without actually having to give any so we can truly celebrate the day the way it is meant to be celebrated, but alas, it is not possible. Somehow, people have come to the conclusion that in order to receive presents one must give presents. We say bah humbug! to that. It pains us to admit, but this is the only way. We must swallow our grinchy pride. As we so dearly wish to receive many a bright colored package this year, we must give out many a gift in return.

This brings us to the reason for our longwinded message. What would you like for Christmas? We would say Presentmas as it so rightly deserves to be called, but we have surmised that the way to receive maximum amounts of presents is to be as politically correct as possible, that way, people from all realms of society, even the ones who (gasp) do not celebrate Presentmas, will give us giftys. Therefore, with as much joy and love as we can manage to pretend to have without passing out from the effort of appearing oh so kind and generous and not at all our natural green grinchy selves, what would you like to receive under your holiday tree on one December 25th 2009? If someone were to sing to you, on the twelfth day of the holiday season, some person gave to meeee: (what would you put here?). For example, one might say: Bring us a figgy pudding and bring it right now or it’s Christmas and I want everything. But if you could be specific, as in leaning more towards the figgy pudding than everything, we would greatly appreciate it.

Alright dear friend, this seems to be all we have to say at the moment. We do hope this letter of joy finds you well. We have been working hard all day to make your holidays more enjoyable. Yes, after waking up at twelve, we lounged around and thought about what you wanted for Christmas/Presentmas/Grinchmas before it became too much for our fragile minds to handle. Now we are currently napping and writing this letter to you. We are multi-taskers, yes we are!

With Lots of Licks,
Your Own Personal Grinchy Monsters,
Mr. Herbs and Demon Dog
AKA Burbs and Bailey, Inc.

PS- We pooped in the refrigerator. Are you mad or are you amazed? We are inclined to think you are amazed.

So that's why I'm always cold!

Why do women always feel colder than men? - Times Online

Where Did the Rain Go?

Today, I made an oath to myself to get as much work done as humanly possibly. Since making this oath at about, say, 10am this morning, I have done absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing productive that is. Actually, I would like to say that productivity is a relative term; it is quite duplicitous in its meaning. To some, what I did today was in fact very, very productive. I made my bed. I ate lunch. I did the dishes. I started watching season 1 of Dollhouse. I wrote out a to-do list. I created a sparknotes version of my to-do list, only including the very important to-dos. I also, somehow, came across this fairly awesome blog called "Ethel the Frog". Read the list I have expertly cut-and-pasted below. Hilarity will ensue.

* Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
* I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?
* I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
* There is a great need for a “sarcasm font”.
* How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
* I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
* I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
* I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
* Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
* How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
* Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”
* What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
* MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
* Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
* I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
* I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
* Bad decisions make good stories.
* Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
* Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
* You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
* Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
* There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
* I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
* “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
* I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
* I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
* Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
* It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
* I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
* Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.
* Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my butt everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
* I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
* I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
* I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Where's Herbie when you need him?

Chivalry is Dead

http://myfirstfail.com/
This site will make you smile. Baby-haters not included.

Picture of the Day

The Most Awesome Lost Bike Sign EVER.

The Tale of the Golden Kermit Buddha

About a year ago (give or take a few months), I was wandering aimlessly through Ross, perusing the store’s very strange and very unorganized assortment of household items, when I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was amazing. It was ridiculous. It was perfect. It was a frog; a golden Buddha frog and I had to have it. No price was too great (as long as it was under twenty bucks that is) and I soon become the proud owner of the Kermit Buddha for approximately $7.99. Oh happy day.

I placed my Kermit Buddha in a location where it was sure to get the praise and recognition it deserved. Kermit Buddha found a home on the back of the toilet where he conveniently held matches in his hands for those people wishing to light candles in his honor. He lived there with great poise and dignity. He was the prized possession of the bathroom, proudly resting on the porcelain throne. He was magnificent.

But like most good things, the happiness of the Buddha frog had to end. Kermit Buddha’s reign over the hallway bathroom was abruptly ruined by tragedy. One morning it was discovered that Kermit Buddha had inexplicably been assassinated during the night. It was a dark day. Kermit Buddha lay in pieces on the back of the toilet, hastily and inaccurately put back together by the unknown perpetrator. There was no chance for survival. Not even super glue could have cured him. Kermit Buddha was dead.

For many months after the Frog Incident I was quite sad every time I walked into the hallway bathroom. It just was not the same without the golden frog to hold matches for me. It had lost its spark. But there was nothing to be done. No Ross I could find had any replacement Buddha Frog and I eventually gave up my search.

Yesterday, truly a day to remember, I found myself sleepily wandering through the aisles of Ross, absently looking for cheap treasures to decorate my apartment with, when once again I found myself frozen in my tracks. There on the shelf, a vision of gold meditation, sat my Buddha Frog. He was unbroken and just as brilliant as before and even better, this time he was only $6.99!!!

Buddha Frog Reincarnated proudly sits on top of my TV. He serves as an example of how meditation conquers death. He also is there to make people feel a tiny bit guilty about the amount of time spent watching classy TV shows, time which they should spend in mediation of the wonders of small golden frogs.

Picture of the Day

Jumping off cliffs in Wales. In February. Maaybe not the smartest decision of my life...but definitely one to remember!

Invasion of Privacy Via Webcams: Fact or Fiction?

This just in: I have reason to believe that there are people in the world who are under the impression that their are other people in the world spying on them through the web cams of their shiny Macbooks. Is this paranoia of a very deep and very sad level? OR is there the distinct possibility that government agents are at this very moment watching your every move, laughing at the view of you and your three chins that appear when you lay in bed with your computer on your stomach? All I can say is this: people of the world who have webcams, beware! While government agents may technically have more important things to do with their time than watch you stare at your computer screen oh so attractively, who’s to say they won’t do it anyway?

The truth will set you free. Some famous person said that once I think.

THE REAL STORY


I have a confession to make. It is slightly embarrassing, thoroughly aggravating, and oddly motivating. There is a very specific reason as to why I have finally kicked the anti-blogging syndrome that set in the moment I returned home from England. It is a reason that is both horribly maddening and oddly liberating.

My Facebook locked me out.

Yes, it’s true, for some yet to be discovered reason, my wonderful facespace decided that my password no longer worked and thus refused me entry to the site. I have been severely information-deprived for almost a week now. The first few days were pretty hard—so much free time and no access to profiles of random strangers and/or friends I no longer know to stalk and check up on. I did not know what to do with myself. I may never know what all those people did last week. Oh, the horror.

Monday night I hit very low point. I was hacking into my sister’s account (an account I conveniently know the password to) in order to placate some of the stalking withdrawals. It helped a little. But it wasn’t enough. As she and I are not actually the same person, we do not have all the same friends, so many of my friends and/or people I would like to be friends with or simply want to look at pretty pretty pictures of are blocked from her viewing. While I know that there is a strange euphoria involved when stalking people online, it is soo much more rewarding when you actually know, or at least know of, the people whom you are passively reviewing, judging, and sighing over. Looking at info concerning people I really did not know at all, while entertaining for a while, made my cry a little bit for myself. Pathetic. I decided that stalking, just for the sake of stalking, was where I had to draw the line. No more! I am swearing off Facebook for good. Or, well, at least until my site starts working again.

You might ask why I did not simply reset my own password, because you know, that is what an intelligent human being might do. And I say, I did! I discovered that the help section of Facebook.com is in fact quite the opposite of what it claims to be. It is entirely unhelpful, if not useless all-together. I began by simply resetting the password. When two days passed and no new password arrived, I decided to send a more in depth problem report. When I received a confirmation email that said my “concern” had been filed, but another two days passed with no beacon of hope for my poor site, anger set it. I searched the entire site, digging around like a bloodhound for any sign of an email address I could send some raging hate mail to. I failed in this attempt. It was probably a good thing, as I am sure many of the things I would have said likely would have encouraged the receiver to actually delete my site entirely and say it was an accident instead of helping me. It would have made me feel better though I’m sure.

It was after all of this turmoil that I decided to do something productive with my stalking time that was no longer being used. I created a Twitter account. Twitter is the new cool thing to do, after all. I will love my Twitter as I loved my Facebook and my Twitter will love me back.

I very quickly came to the realization that Tweeting on Twitter does not take that long and gets boring quickly. Especially when you have no followers. Why will no one follow me? The idea of having followers can be taken two ways. One: in the sense of a cult, as in multitudes of people following one person who is stronger, more outspoken, opinionated, and overall more convincing at making people think he or she is cooler than the rest us or Two: being followed, as in oh my god someone is following me and I think that I am going to be kidnapped pretty soon. Personally, I prefer interpretation number one. Either way, being Followed through Tweets on Twitter sounds cool, but it apparently takes time to make a name for yourself. As I am trying to replace the instantly gratifying process of stalking people via their Facebook profiles, Twitter is not enough. Helpful, but not a sustaining form of online nourishment. It’s like a tasty snack that is only one, or two bites tops. Not Enough.

And that, my friends, is the real reason I have once again graced the Internet with my talented expertise and overall aptitude towards blogging like a pro. Feel free to thank my dead facebook page for my new found desire to share my life stories once again.

Picture of the Day

I have been struck by brilliance once again. Along with whatever snippets of inspired words I post here, I have decided to also post a Picture of the Day. Of the thousands of photos I have taken, there are a few that stand out for one reason or another. These photos are ones that I personally go back to time and again to appreciate. Whether it is because of the moment or light caught in the frame, the story behind the photo, or simply the hilarity of the pose, these captured flashes make me smile, laugh, cry, and sigh. So there you have it. Prepare to be impressed, or you know, entertained or bored to death, whichever you please.

To Begin, I will post a few...simply because I could not decide which photo was important enough to be photo numero uno.

Sitting next to the lake=amazing. No other explanation needed.

Frog's Leap Winery, Napa Valley California. Fun times with the girls enjoying spectacular views while sipping on amazing wines. Definitely a weekend to remember.


The aftermath of a New Years Eve party where someone let just a little confetti go loose inside.


Kensington Gardens, how I miss you...


Pensacola Beach. Long walks by the ocean are good for the soul.

I've got the gift of one liners

I have decided that it is officially time to reinstate the blog.
Be excited, be very excited.

While I realize life is somewhat less extraordinary when one is not gallivanting around fascinating countries, doing exciting things, surrounded by people who speak with charming accents (accents that are so much more entertaining and indubitably sexier than that of the everyday American), my reality is not completely lacking in things fascinating, entertaining, and charming. It has been recently brought to my attention that there are still wondrous exploits possible to blog on about. These exploits demand recognition. Here they will be discovered, experienced, analyzed, and shared.

Aside from the recording of exploits, I am not positive what the purpose of this blog will be. Maybe I will post this one time and never again. Maybe I will spew genius on a daily basis. Maybe said genius will change lives. Maybe I will become world-famous. Maybe the only person who will read this will be my dog. Actually, if that happens, I say amen! It's a miracle. I mean, wow, the first ever blogging-dog. It would be impressive.

No matter, my point here is this: sporadic moments of brilliance are a very likely possibility yet cannot be promised. As they cannot in any way be predicted, you should probably just check in every few minutes of every day, that way if I do happen to say something life changing and/or so beautifully poetic it evokes an onslaught of tears, you will be privy to it ASAP. These moments, moments of marvel if you will, should be cherished, as they are probably the closest thing to direct advice and messages from heaven you will ever experience. These are the only words of wisdom I can offer at this time. I pray you heed my advice.

I am deeply looking forward to our promising future together, a future of wondrous exploits and moments of marvel.

Eiffel Tower!

This is meant to be a group shot in front of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, when I stole the picture from Melissa, it shrunk...

Jenna, Melissa, Mary, and I in front of the inside entrance to the Louvre.

The Mona Lisa is very tiny...

Group shot in Endinburgh (Branden, Me, Jenna, Melissa, Josh, Dani, Mary, and Cameron.)

Another group shot, plus James on the end. He was basically our personal tour guide. It was awesome.

In Durham.

Durham again.





More Paris photos to come later, along with pics from St. Patrick's Day and Ireland!!!

I am no longer in LONDON! I cannot believe this whole extravaganza is almost over. It is craaazy. Right now, I am currently on a train that is taking me to the airport, which will take me to Ireland where I will be gallivanting around the green countryside in search of leprechauns and pots of gold. Hopefully I will come back with a nice sack of lucky coins to spend =)

These past few weeks have been insane. I was not joking when said I would have no extra time for anything (sleeping was even cut back much to my dismay). I have basically been traveling for three weeks straight with yet another week to go. I have never in my life been on so many different trains, planes, taxis, busses, and various means of transportation. I am very much looking forward to driving a car when I get home. I might even drive to class.

Soo, the end of the study tour was not as fun as the beginning. This was due to the fact that everyone was beginning to get a wee bit cranky and tired. As for me, traveling with a suitcase that has a broken handle is not ideal. In order to roll it on its little roll-y wheels I had to hunch my back down reeal far in order to reach the handle that refused to go up any farther than about three, maybe four inches. It was awesome.

I do have to say the Liverpool was interesting. It was the last city we hit on the tour (right after Manchester (which was swarming with crazy football fans because of the match the day we left)). Basically, it is a city dedicated to the life and works of the Beatles. It was very cool to see some of the streets and places the “Fab Four” frequented back in their days as Liverpudlians. And yes, a person from Liverpool is considered a Liverpudlian. This is because a nickname for a pool of water is a puddle and OBVIOUSLY that is what you would change Liverpool to. Haha Puddlians. I wanted to buy a shirt that said that on it….but I could not find one. Sigh. I digress. Yes, the Beatles were a large topic of interest. Many of the different names in their songs can be traced back to street names in Liverpool (Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, etc… (Abbey Road is in London)).

(HAHAHA A little kid in the seat across from me totally just peeked his head up over the back of the seat and growled at Melissa. It was funny.)

Anyway, Liverpool was entertaining. Unfortunately a slight damper was placed on the end of the trip due to other circumstances relating to drama-filled situations back at SCU. It never fails to amaze me how efficient drama is at following people around. I am on the other side of the globe and I still have to deal with this stuff. Wonderful.

We returned to London Friday afternoon. Completely exhausted, we had to unpack our bags, rush to do laundry, repack, and leave for Paris the next morning. And by morning I mean middle of the night. We left at 4am on Saturday. SO TIRED. But it was worth it. Paris was amazing. We went to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tour, The Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame Cathedral and many many other places. We met up with out two French friends Diane and Souad who took us out to dinner where we had the most amazing Crepes. Mmmm it was good. It would almost be worth going back to France simply to eat the food. After dinner, Diane took as on a walking tour of the city by night. It was beautiful. We saw almost everything there is to see and it was all lit up. It was awesome. We even saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle! (which it does every hour for five minutes—it was very cool). By the time we got back to the hotel/hostel we were so tired we all passed out within minutes. Sunday, we basically re-did everything we had done Saturday night, just during the day. We went to church at Notre Dame Cathedral. The church is amazing—inside and out. We lucked out with the weather as well—it was absolutely lovely out! I even got sunburned! Shocking, I know. Sunday night we found a little French restaurant that had been recommended to us by a friend. I would definitely suggest eating the duck at Chez Papa at one point in your life. The sauce was amaaazing. And for dessert, we had authentic French Crème Brule. HEAVEN.

We had to leave Monday morning at another ungodly hour in the morning—getting up at four to make our 6 o’clock train back to London, only to go to class right afterwards. We were sooo tired when we got back, I literally thought I was going to fall asleep walking. But I survived, and amazingly I am not sick. I am extremely impressed with my flu-fighting skills.

Basically Monday and Tuesday were spent napping, packing and studying for our final. Tuesday, we did take a break from the chaos to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Us SCU chicas and chicos brought the kitchen table into our hallway so we could do a few Irish Car Bombs—a classic St. Patty’s Day treat! It was lots of fun. We were really able to bond with each other over the study tour and I am pretty sure that we will all be hanging out a lot when we get back to Santa Clara. The SCU London crew turned out to be a really awesome group of people. I am so happy that we experienced London (and various other locations) together! We dubbed ourselves MGM DCJ2 (Melissa, Gabby, Mary, Dani, Cameron, and J squared (Josh and Jenna))!! It is an awesome name.

So that brings me to right now. Which is me, typing whilst riding on the train. I am going to have to take a short break from my blogging here to turn my computer off and fly to Ireland. This will be continued later tonight.


It’s later tonight! I am in Ireland and about to go to sleep. The airport was annoying as usual. I don’t think it matters how early we get there to check in, we will ALWAYS have to end up speed walking/jogging to make it to the gate on time. People say that if there is one thing the British know how to do, it is to queue (line) up properly. This is not true. Getting into a line in England is utter chaos and pandemonium. We were there over an hour early, waited in a massive and disorganized line for about forty minutes, only to be told when we got to the front of the line that we had been in fact waiting in the wrong place. Joy. Because we would have missed our flight if we had gone to a different line, the woman (who was very cranky I might add) let us call the other location from where we were to give our credit and check-in information over the phone. It worked out fine, but was extremely stressful. This is the third time we’ve almost missed a flight or train. It happened on our way to Sweden, on the train back from Paris, and now. I HATE AIRPORTS. And somehow, I don’t understand why, I seem to set the alarm off EVERY time I go through security. I haven’t yet discovered what it is that makes it go beep…but it is quite aggravating. There are only so many times you want to let someone pat you down and search you while you are about to miss your flight!

Aside from the running to the plane in order to get on it in time for taking off (which is generally an important thing when flying) things went smoothly. The flight was uneventful…I bought a water bottle….and listened to music. That about sums up the flight. Grainne met Melissa and I at the airport when we landed, which was very nice. I am sooo over taking trains and busses when carrying bags. And yes, we have multiple bags each for this next week. It was our bright idea to bring as much stuff as allowed on the plane, so we would not be charged more than necessary for storing our bags. This means that both Melissa and I have large suitcases and a duffle bag…and we are only going to be here for six days. It looks like we are moving in!!

I am not too sure what the plan is going to be for the next week. We are staying at Grainne’s house in Bunratty. We might go to Dublin for the weekend…and at some point visit Melissa’s relatives (but I can’t recall at the moment where they are from). No matter what we do, I am sure it will be lots of fun!

ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL I COME HOME!!!!!!

The SCU London crew!
(From left to right: Josh, Branden, Cameron, Mary, Me, Dani, Jenna, and Melissa)

My mood is directly linked to how much sunshine I get.

I am very annoyed right now. The Internet is not working, the sun is not shining, the mall is closed, and my room has no food in it. Gabby is not a happy person at the moment. I don’t think I like Glasgow…

Well as long as I have nothing else to do at the moment (what with the internet being spaztastic) I figured I may as well attempt to go through a few of the things we’ve been doing. Unfortunately, my descriptions of them may be tainted by my adverse mood…but I will try not to sound too cranky. I’ll try…I cannot guarantee anything though.

So… where to start. As you know, I went to Sweden last weekend. It was a lot of fun. It was really really great to see Nina and Emma and hang out where they live and see how things work at a Swedish school. It was very cool—the little city we were in (Lund) is basically a college town built around an ancient cathedral. It was an extremely cute little place with cobblestone roads and old style houses. We almost didn’t make it there though. Melissa and I had a final on Thursday that did not end until 4 and our flight was at 5:30. We convinced our professor to let us leave early so we could take the tube to the train, which would take us to the airport. The train was supposed to take exactly 30 minutes, but for some unknown reason it kept stopping and it took almost 50 mins to get to the airport. We then got stuck in a giant line to go through security (which is much less efficient than in the US…and somehow almost EVERY single person set of the alarm). At that point it was about 4:58 and our flight stopped boarding at 5:10. It was baad. I didn’t think we were going to make it. We SPRINTED through entire airport and as we were running heard over the speakers that it was last call for our flight. Ours was the last flight to Sweden for the day so if we missed it, it would have been crappy crappy crappy. Fortunately we made it just as they were closing the gates. The two of us were ready to pass out or have a heart attack when we finally got on board. It was very stressful. Hehe anyways, the weekend turned out really great other than that slight hiccup.

We returned to London Sunday night at about 11 and had to unpack…just to repack our stuff right back up again to leave at 8:30 the next morning. Not very much sleep was had that night.

Monday morning we all took the train to Newcastle. And yes, Newcastle is in England. We were there for three nights (three nights I might add, that I had my own room!). The day we got there we pretty much just checked into the hotel, went out to dinner, and then went to bed. Day two, we took a walking tour of the city—going around to look at all of their cool bridges and buildings. It was interesting…but not overly exciting. We had a free evening so the 8 of us went out to dinner and watched a Football match at a sports bar.

Wednesday we took the train to Durham, which is a really pretty little town that is famous for its University and its Cathedral. The architecture there was amazing. The university looked like a castle, and the Cathedral was massive and beautiful! It was a very cool little place.

Wednesday night was the Newcastle vs Manchester United football match. I am not generally much of a soccer fan…but I have to say that it was an awesome experience. People are sooooo into soccer here, it is insane. We had really good seats too so we could pretty much see everything that was going on. The people around us cheered like mad the entire match. I recorded the reaction when Newcastle scored its first goal—it’s pretty loud!

Thursday morning we checked out of the hotel to meet our second group leader at the train station to take the train to Edinburgh, Scotland. I have to say that Edinburgh is probably one of the coolest/prettiest places I’ve been so far. Everything is so green and the castle is amazing! I mean what kind of place can you say you went for a walk after dinner and strolled through a massive castle?! It was cool. We stayed in this very cozy and cute bed and breakfast that was owned by a family who all worked there. Right after we checked in, we took an open bus tour of the city, driving all around the city learning all the historical details behind it all. After that, we went out to dinner to a place called “The Dogs” which was basically a very hip, fancy, yet laid back restaurant. James, our professor/team leader/really-really-funny-Scottish-man-who-acts-like-he-is-only-25, insisted that we all order what ever we wanted, including a starter, main courses, wine, dessert, and dessert wine. It was so much fun! After dinner we went on a ghost tour. It was hilarious because the woman was hard core trying to be creepy, while the boys were all trying to scare us, yet at the same time nobody could stop laughing—including the professor. After the walk we trekked up a hill to walk by the front of the castle, which was all lit up and AWESOME looking. It was super cool. We got a good group shot while we were there—I’ll post a copy when I get one (it’s not on my camera because this was still at the time when my camera was having issues with life).

Friday morning, we hiked up to the castle again—this time going in and paying for headsets that took you all around telling what each thing was. It was very interesting and entertaining. The views were amazing! After that we got food and coffee (which was necessary…I’m seriously surprised I have not yet died of sleep deprivation at this point. I amaze myself sometimes!) and then kept on walking. We went into the Parliament building and then went on a hike. We trekked up a hill to check out a few of the monuments they had at the top, which gave stunning views of the entire city. Even though we were all exhausted, it was still amazing. Some of the pictures turned out really good. After that we were free for the rest of the day and all day Saturday. It was nice to have some free time—which was definitely used for napping and sleeping.

Saturday, we went to all of the little shops along the Royal Mile (a street leading down from the castle), got lunch, and pretty much just wandered around the city exploring. Melissa, Josh, and I went to church Saturday night at St. Mary’s Cathedral (one of the ONLY Catholic churches I could find within walking distance. I was slightly disappointed that we did not have a Scottish priest =( haha but it was cool. The church was very pretty. Saturday night we went out to dinner at a very good Chinese place. There was tons of food and it was good too, so we were all in pretty good moods when we went to bed.

Sunday morning we had to pack up again to catch the train to Glasgow. The train took about 45 minutes, so that wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I do not have very many good things to say about Glasgow… it is cold, dark, and wet—not a good combination. Last night we went to a pro-basketball game, which was entertaining. It was like watching a high school game! Hehe but people were still very very into it. After that we went out to another fancy dinner, this time at a place called “The Left Bank”. The food was amazing! I ordered duck. Haha it was good. I’ve been attempting to branch out in my food ordering habits while here—some items of interest include rabbit, lamb, and duck. Yes, I am making my way down the list of furry and cute animals…its sad. All I need to add to my list of Thumper, Lambsy and Donald is Bambi and I’ll be set. Anyway, the dinner was great—and James kept the wine and food coming the entire night. I think we were at the restaurant for about 3 and a half hours!

This morning, after stumbling down to breakfast at the horrifying hour of 8 am… we went on an open roof bus tour of Glasgow. All I can say is it was FREEEZING and RAINING. Not that much fun was had… We all pretty much just wanted to go inside the entire time. We did get off the bus at one point to look around the University of Glasgow. The most interesting thing there was the Kelvin Museum. It had all of Kelvin’s experiments and discoveries—some of which were interactive, so it was entertaining.

After that, we got back on the bus, finished the tour, and then got lunch. The rest of the day was free. Naps were taken. We did attempt to go shopping, but unfortunately, everything seems to close at exactly six o’clock, so pretty much there is nothing to do right now. And the Internet is not even working. Yes, I am not a happy camper at the moment. I am sure once I get some food things will seem a little bit better…but the weather is really not helping. It is yucky outside.

I hope this post was not too boring. I pretty much was just listing things in an uninteresting way…but I do not seem to be mentally capable of doing more than that at the moment! Tomorrow we leave James to meet the next professor in Manchester. If anything interesting goes on, I’ll be sure to let you know =) I hope you liked the pictures I posted yesterday!

Glasgow does not believe in sunshine. Only rain and snow are allowed here!

Helloo! Greetings from sunny Scotland. NOT. It is gray, rainy (sometime snowy) and c-c-c-cold! We left Edinburgh this morning...which I was very sad to do. It is soo pretty there! Hopefully there will be some cool things to be done here as well even if the weather is slightly less than pleasant. Tonight is a pro basketball game...which should be interesting if only for the fact that most of their players are reject Americans. Ha! After the game we are going to go out to a shnazzy dinner complements of FIE. The food should be good! I'll post more later to let you know whats a goin' on! We've had some fun times in the past few days... castles and heiland coo's aplenty!

ALSO, you will be happy to learn that some pictures have finally been posted. I know, this is an amazing thing. Information like this should not be sprung upon people...but there is no other way around it. Enjoy... here are the links:

Sverige...aka Sweden =)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080690&id=7102721&l=71068

Newcastle and Durham
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080691&id=7102721&l=cb34f

I <3 Edinburgh!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080692&id=7102721&l=9a0d8

Blogger.com sucks at loading pictures.

Don't think that I forgot you people. I've been trying to load pictures for the last half hour...but it does not seem to be working =( I will try again tomorrow. And if if it still does not work, well, then I'll just have to post a facebook album. Try to live without the visuals for a day or so. I know it will be hard...but I have faith in you!!!!

I <3 you!

I <3 Edinburgh

There are so many things to say right now, the most important of which being this: I LOVE SCOTLAND. It is my favorite. I want to live here. Seriously.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, I am going to disappoint you by saying this is going to be brief and un-entertaining compared to my usual standards of bragging about the super cool places I go. In the past week I’ve been in four countries (England, Sweden, Denmark (the airport SO counts!), and Scotland) and 8 different cities (London, Copenhagen, Lund, Malmo, Ystad, Newcastle, Durham and Edinburgh). It has been awesome…in a very tiring sort of way. We have gone to so many cool places and learned so many new (well…technically very old) things, that I do not even know where to start talking about it all. Plains, trains, busses, subways, and most often our own feet, have been our means of transportation. We’ve met Brits and Geordies, Scotts and Swedes—all of which want to know what the hell a group of Californians are doing in this part of the world at this time of year. One Scottish man nicely put it like this: “Whet are ye doo’in here for sprring brek? Tey call it sprring brek fer a reson. Doo’nt ye kno’ that Spring is broo’ken here? The sen doo’nt shaine.” That was the most concise and accurate description of the weather in Northern England and Scotland I have heard thus far.

Museums, bridges, hotel rooms, giant hikes up hills, giant hikes down hills, awesomely ancient cathedrals, castles, walls, graveyards, pubs, football matches, Scottish boys, English boys, and Irish boys, massive castles, snowy streets, and weird foods are just a few things we’ve seen, done, and experienced in the past few days—so many new and exciting things to do with barely any time to do them. My camera also conveniently decided to go into a coma right in the middle of this. One second it was happily snapping shots of a castle, and then the next it refused to see anything but a black screen. Its temporary loss of brain power lasted for a whole day, a day in which I prayed for its little camera life every time I saw someone posing for a picture that I could not take, which BELIEVE ME added up to a LOT of praying time. Miraculously, the little-camera-that-could resurrected itself this morning much to my great joy, and is currently working with minimal residual damage. I have a feeling, however, that this is going to be a recurring problem.

I will load pictures tonight. Be ready.*





*pleeease don't kill me if I do not =) I am going to do my best... but sometimes it just doesn't happen no matter how hard i try!

I do my work at the same time each day - the last minute.

Well, it's almost that time. That time… you know… where… I tell you I am leaving London. Yes its true, I am leaving tomorrow! Actually when I wrote that ("it's almost that time") I honestly did not know where I was going with that statement...it just kind of flowed out as I began typing. Pretty much I am procrastinating HARD CORE right now. I have a paper to write, a final to study for, and a bag to pack. Have I done any of these things? Nooo. What time is it? Almost bed time! Yep, things are not going according to plan at the moment. I just can't quite bring myself to study for anything. It is really quite annoying. Regardless of my productivity this evening, I am leaving tomorrow after my final. Melissa and I are going to Sweden for the weekend to visit Nina. We return Sunday night only to leave again Monday morning for the study tour. I have a lot of laundry, organizing and packing to do. Yay. But as you may have surmised, I am not doing any of that right now! Yes, I am writing a blog instead, playing around with photo-editing, making tea, counting my money (don't laugh, it's true...I counted it...and it is a sad sad little number!), and various other things that could not in anyway be called appropriate time management activities. But I think it is really for the best...you get an extra post that you would not have otherwise received!

So, Tuesday we took our BLC midterm. There was a multiple-choice section and a written part. The written part was easypeasy... I think I passed it... most likely.... but the MC section on the other hand will probably be something in the area of an F-... -... it was not pretty. But I take solace in the fact that everyone else did just as badly as I did on that section so I am not worrying about it! hahah As I'm sure you all saw (and read thoroughly!) in my last post, we FINALLY received the study tour schedule. We are going to have a jam-packed two weeks ahead of us! It should be fun. After receiving the schedule, one of the "Team Leaders" emailed us with the room breakdown for Newcastle, our first stop. We are going to be staying in a hotel split between three rooms: A quadruple, a triple, and a single. He ended the email with this: "Would you please confer with each other and decide who will be rooming with whom for the Newcastle part of the trip. I require a rooming list or breakdown. I am nominating Gabriel as the coordinator for this task. Gabriel - please confer with the group and email me with the rooming list no later than 5.oo p.m. tomorrow." First of all, Gabriel? Really?! Did he neeed to use my full name? MOTHER I blame you for giving me a boy's name!!! I had to go through the entire thing alll over again with the whole "yeah yeah whatever, yes it is really spelled like that. Yes, I know it is a dominantly male name. blah blahblah There is no angel Gabrielle in the Bible. I am authentic. yadda yadda yadda". Hahaha it's actually funny. ANYways... yes, somehow I have been nominated as the unofficial liaison for the SCU students. Whenever they need to contact one of us, who they gonna call? Yes, that would be me (not ghostbusters). I think it is probably because I am such an awesome person or maybe because I am just so responsible and smart…. I haven’t decided yet. It is amusing. So, as I had the power to decide who was rooming with whom and most importantly…who got the single, I made the most logical and fair decision I could think of: I gave myself the single! Hahah I did let people tell me what/where they wanted to go first…and surprisingly no one wanted to be in the single! Weird, I know. So the breakdown of the rooms is: boys in the triple, girls in the quad, and one girl in the single. I had no qualms with the end result. I get to have my own room for three nights. I am extremely excited about this…like…more excited than I should be. It is going to be AWESOME. People are under the impression that the single room will not be as fun because it does not have four people in it…. I however, think that they are wrong. When I wake up each morning bright eyed from a night of uninterrupted beauty sleep and see them stumbling blearily out of a room comparing notes on who snores the loudest, they will be sorry. I am really looking forward to Newcastle.

Well, what else can I say? Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, known here as Pancake Day. Yes, they eat pancakes. And by pancakes I mean crepes. Unfortunately, I did not get any of these said crepes. We did go out to dinner though- Punjab! I am not sure how Indian food was appropriate for the occasion… but it was good nonetheless. That was pretty much the extent of my celebration. Woo hoo.

Today, I woke up sounding like a croaky frog— it is very attractive. I had my last Shakespeare class this afternoon. We went on a giant walk with the class. We started at Embankment by the Thames, then went to various locations where famous things have happened (like where Oscar Wilde was put on trial, where Charles Dickens worked, and where Scotland Yard Originated (which is where they worked on the affairs of one Mr. J Ripper ) ), as well as walking through Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and past where the original London Bridge used to be (all that is left is one tower… the rest of it is apparently in Arizona or something… because some rich guy bought it. Strange.) It was an entertaining walk and it was nice to be out and about in London for the day as it is likely one of the last times I will be walking around here. Sad!

That is pretty much all I have done recently. I am so proud of myself…I totally just wasted a whole 35 minutes—go me! I probably will not be able to post anything until Sunday night… and even then it is not a sure thing. I will do my best to keep things updated on here over the next few weeks—but it is going to be tough because I do not know what the internet situation will be whilst we are a-traveling. I hope everything is going good for you people back in the US of A. Send me emails with how you all are doing, being sure to mention how miserable you are without me of course =) Okay, enough procrastination for me. I need to get some work done. Blurgh. Maybe I will just go to bed. Ooh that’s a good idea, I like it. A lot. Hopefully tomorrow my voice will be less smoker-esque because despite what I said earlier, I am fairly sure it is not in fact attractive.

Study Tour Schedule!

Santa Clara Spring 2009 UK Tour
Monday 2nd March – Friday 13th March 09

Monday 2nd

9.30am Meet Tour Leader (1) John Pearson at Gloucester Road Tube Station
11.00am Depart London Kings Cross
1.55pm Arrive Newcastle

Accommodation – Royal Station Hotel, Neville St, Newcastle, NE1 5D11
T: 0191 232 0781 W: www.royalstationhotel.com

3.00pm Meeting with TL (1) & City Host (CH), Paul, in hotel lobby. Details of the
evenings Group Dinner will be confirmed at the meeting.

Tuesday 3rd

9.30am Meet TL (1) & CH in hotel lobby (HL) for a guided walking tour of Newcastle
Afternoon Project directed work followed by FREE evening

Wednesday 4th

9.30am Meet TL (1) & CH in HL for a guided day trip to Durham
6.45pm Meet TL (1) in HL to walk to St.James’ Park, home of Newcastle United FC
7.45pm Kick-off – Newcastle United v Manchester United (Premier League Football) .

Thursday 5th

Morning FREE
11.30am Meet TL (1) in HL and walk to Newcastle Railway Station
12.05pm Meet TL (2) James Cameron-Cooper and Depart Newcastle
1.38pm Arrive Edinburgh, Waverley Station

Accommodation – 53 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1LH
T: 0131 226 2752 W: www.53frederickstreet.com

3.00pm Meet TL (2) in HL for a guided tour of Edinburgh by open top bus
6.00pm Group Dinner – The Dogs, 110 Hanover Street, Edinburgh
8.30pm ‘City of the Dead Ghost Walk’ from St.Giles Cathedral, Royal Mile .

Friday 6th

9.30am Meet TL (2) in HL for a guided walking tour of Edinburgh including the
Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh Castle
Evening FREE

Saturday 7th

Edinburgh – FREE DAY

Sunday 8th

Morning FREE
11.15am Meet TL (1) in HL and walk to Edinburgh Railway Station
Midday Depart Edinburgh, Waverley Station
12.55pm Arrive Glasgow, Queen Street

Accommodation – The Merchant Lodge, 52 Virginia Street, Glasgow, G1 1TY
T: 0141 552 2424 W: www.merchantlodgehotel.com

4.00pm Meet TL (2) in HL to go to Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
5.00pm Kelvin Hall – Scottish Rocks v Everton Tigers (Premier League Basketball)
7.30pm Group Dinner – The Left Bank, 33 Gibson Street, Glasgow

Monday 9th

9.30am Meet TL (2) in HL for a guided tour of Glasgow
Evening FREE

Tuesday 10th

10.00am Meet TL (2) in HL and walk to Glasgow Railway Station
10.40am Depart Glasgow 10.40am arrive Preston 12.50pm
1.10pm Depart Preston 1.10pm arrive Manchester 1.56pm - Meet TL (3) John Makey .

Accommodation – Gardens Hotel, 55 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 2AP
T: 0161 228 7287 W: www.gardenshotelmanchester.com

3.00pm Meet TL (3) in HL for a guided walking tour followed by Group Dinner
FREE evening (7.45pm Liverpool v Real Madrid – Champions League Football)

Wed 11th

9.30am Meet TL (3) in HL for a guided visit to the Lowry Centre & Imperial War
Museum North before getting the train to Liverpool
4.37pm Depart Manchester, Piccadilly
5.31pm Arrive Liverpool, Lime Street

Acc – Express by Holiday Inn, Britannia Pavilion, Albert Docks, Liverpool, L3 4AD
T: 0845 345 0000 W: www.exliverpool.com

FREE evening (7.45pm Manchester United v Inter Milan – Champions League Football)

Friday 13th

9.00am Meet TL (3) in HL to go to Liverpool Railway Station
9.52am Depart Liverpool, Lime Street, arrive Manchester, Piccadilly 10.41am
11.15am Depart Manchester, Piccadilly, arrive London, Euston 1.23pm

Water pics from Wales!

(Okay, so it may not look that high from this ANGLE...but it's a looong way down!)

(Kayaking!)

(The pretty cliffs we were paddling through...)

(Me in my kayak...it was very cold.)

(Melissa and I before heading out into the water.)

(Right at the end of coasteering. We were very happy to be done. I am pretty sure none of us could feel our hands and feet at that point...)

(Me jumping. Note the pink tennis shoes.)

(Melissa, Me, Jenna, and the instructor. Right after we almost died.)

here is the link to melissa's album: Facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092829&id=7304082&l=bb235

Enjoy!

Okay people I am going to try and make this quick. Next week is the last week of classes so all the profs are laying on the homework. Needless to say, I will probably be hiding in the computer lab all day tomorrow in an attempt to get my stuff done ASAP so I can still have some semblance of a fun weekend.

The craziness started about a week ago. As I mentioned in my last post, all the rest of my weekends are booked to the max with hardly any free time added in. I am super excited that all of the traveling is so quickly approaching… but I am also worried about my survival—I am pretty sure little to no sleeping is going to happen! This is my last free weekend, so I am going to try to take advantage of it and sleep as much as I can in between writing/studying and trying to do all of the last London-y things that we can fit in.

So, you all are probably wondering how Wales was. AWESOME! It was really cool to get out of London for the weekend and experience the extreme rural/country area that is around the coast of Wales. We drove up (by coach (bus) ) on Friday and got to Preseli Venture Lodge at about seven PM. The lodge is right next to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park—we could see the sea from the dining room window. It was beautiful! The weather was not exactly the kind that made you want to go jumping into the ocean… but that is what we did! Saturday morning was coasteering. We geared up in wetsuits, lifejackets, helmets, tennis shoes and gloves and headed out to the coast to rock climb, swim, and cliff jump. The water was sooooo cold; the kind of cold where you get in and you feel like you cannot breath because your body is instantly freezing the second you hit the water. Regardless, we swam right out from the beach towards the rocky/cliffy areas. It was actually pretty cool. There was one point however, that got a teensy bit scary…I was only praying for my life for a few seconds though, so it may not have been thaaat bad...only a minor near drowing incident. We had reached a cove area that had little islands of rocks scattered around. Our intent was to climb up onto the biggest rock and rest for a few minutes (swimming through the icy water with all of the wetsuit paraphernalia on is extremely tiring...). Unfortunately, right as the last few people in our group were climbing up (myself, Melissa, and Jenna included) a massive wave came and knocked us all down. When these waves come there is nothing you can do but let it take you wherever it wants you to go—if you try to fight it you will a. become way too tired to continue swimming and b. your sense of self preservation and hysteria can kick in when you realize that there is nothing you can do to get away from the wave. So we all just tried not to breath in too much water and attempted to steer away from the cliffs. It was a tiny bit terrifying. Right after the giant wave crashed on top of your head, and as soon as you came up to gulp in air, it would re-crash onto you after it had bounced off of the cliff walls. It was unfortunate that we all got caught in the rough waves because it kind of put a damper on the rest of the trek. I think we scared the instructor a little bit too! He kept coming over to us saying “You’re okay right? That wasn’t too bad? You’re alright!”. Haha he even commented that I looked extremely pale…I guess that’s what almost DROWNING will do to you! Anyways, after that minor incident things were smooth sailing for the rest of the swim. We climbed our way to a lagoon/calm cove area where you could climb up the various cliffs and slide, run, or jump off of them. It was actually really really cool. There were three jumps: a ten-foot, twenty foot, and a thirty-foot. I did the ten and twenty footers… but couldn’t quite bring myself to jump off the thirty foot one as by that point I was practically hypothermic from the cold. All in all, it was quite an experience. I am not sure if I’d do it again…but I can always say that Valentines Day 2009 I was jumping off cliffs in Wales!

After we de-wetsuited (which let me tell you, is not an easy task when all of your extremities are completely numb and useless and you are standing on a freezing foggy beach in only a swimsuit) we ate lunch and then went on a hike. Melissa and I opted for the 4 mile hike vs the seven mile one as we were both so exhausted from the coasteering. The hike was interesting. I have to say that I was not really in the mindset to do anything besides sleep and nurse my wounds from the morning (yes their were wounds…we all came out quite battered from our coasteering experience. Bruises and scrapes a plenty!) so a long and winding hike was not on the top of my to-do list. It was really pretty though. I got some great pics of the coast and surrounding hills and fields. We were slightly worried about making it through the hike without getting lost as the only instructions we received were fairly ambiguous. Basically they dropped us off and told us to find our way home. Right. Oh and the best part was when they said turn right through the gate when you pass a beach a reach a large green field. The ENTIRE hike was made up of beaches and green fields!!!! Those Welsh people…they crazy! We did end up getting slightly lost towards the end…but we eventually found our way home through an extremely muddy muddy path. It was an adventure =)

Sunday morning Melissa and I went sea kayaking. It was awesome!!! Amazingly, the sun was actually out for like a whole hour so we totally lucked out. We did the wetsuit thing all over again, minus the tennis shoes and gloves. The kayaking was so much fun. We paddled around the craggy cliffy areas, went through a few rough patches, but pretty much just drifted around for a few hours. Each of us had our own kayak so there was no worry of someone else tipping your boat over. One girl capsized within the first three minutes. I really don’t know how she did it so fast….it was pretty funny!

After kayaking we went back to the lodge, ate an amazing meal, showered, packed, and headed home. It was a really great weekend. Not only was it nice to do something different and mix things up a bit ( you know how I find near death experiences invigorating…) but it was amaaazing to have home cooked meals and dining room table to eat at. We all came back exhausted and slightly beat up… but very happy.

Anyways, this site is being stupid and the internet here is ridiculously slow…so I unfortunately cannot post pictures. However, I did manage to get them onto facebook, so if you would like to check them out, follow the links! The more exciting photos have yet to be developed… we brought a water proof camera along with us while we were jumping swimming and paddling… so hopefully a few of those turned out. I will post them as soon as I get them!

Here are the links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079393&id=7102721&l=77ef4

Melissa also posted an album… she is not here at the moment so I can’t get the link, but I will post that too probably later tonight.

Here is the link to another album, but not from Wales… it’s just random stuff that I never got a chance to post.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079392&id=7102721&l=9bc1e

A quick note...

Hola Muchachos,

I am off to Wales to go adventuring. Hopefully I will not freeze to death as it is supposed to be quite snowy. I probably will not get a chance to post on here over the weekend...sooo you will just have to sit patiently and wait until I have a free moment before you get to partake mentally in my adventures. We are leaving in about an hour- unfortunately it takes six hours to get there, so I'm hoping either for some quality sleep time or maybe trying to actually get a little bit of work done though, if I were a betting person I would go with option number one. The weekend will consist of sea kayaking, coasteerting, and hiking. We are all going to stay in the cute little lodge and get homecooked meals the entire weekend! I think it is going to be lots of fun...but just a teensy bit cold. Here is a link to the locations website if you wish to further peruse what exactly it is I will be doing until Sunday afternoon! --> http://www.preseliventure.com enjoy!

Okay, I believe that is all for now. When I post pictures of this weekend I will also go through Wed and Thurs night here as well (if you recall, those two nights were the Five Pound night at the Union and the Jack the Ripper Tour, which actually was not in fact a Jack the Ripper Tour...)

Hopefully I can talk to you soon and if not, well I hope you appreciated this post. It almost didn't happen =)


<3 Gabby



PS- Happy Valentines day tomorrow! I love you!!!!!!

I've been busy, I'm sorry!

This week has gone by extremely slow…yet very fast at the same time. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t have class due to the snow, but I was also sick so the days off were not taken advantage of in an ideal way. They mostly consisted of sleeping and sniffling (as I may have mentioned in my earlier post). Wednesday was class as usual- no snow, just a lot of ice everywhere. Ice in my opinion is very annoying. You have to walk like a crippled turtle (slow and goofy…) in order not to fall. I only learned this after I had in fact slipped on my way to class. It was a very smooth fall though, if I do say so myself. It probably just looked like I decided to go down on one knee suddenly…at least that’s what I’m telling myself. While it was only my knee that hit the ground, it was still very very not fun. I have a MASSIVE bruise on the top of my kneecap and a tiny bloody spot. I think I bruised the bone. It hurt a lot. But I’m thinking that it’s likely I will survive, so no worries there.

Wednesday night we all decided to go to the Union (Imperial College pub). We (Melissa, Jenna, Mary, Danni, and I (all of the SCU girls) ) all hung out in my room for about an hour chatting and listening to music and what not before heading over to the Union. Wednesday night is usually very crowded because all pints are only 1.50 a pound (which is a NICE deal compared to how much they are at other places i.e. 4 pounds…. which is A LOT). Anyways, my point is it was very crowded, but fun. All of the football players (soccer players…you get yelled at if you say soccer here) are obsessed with this game called matchbox. It is a very confusing game with lots yelling and seemingly never-ending amounts of rules. Basically, as simply as I can put it with my limited understanding of the game, it consists of tossing a matchbox over the top of your drink in an attempt to have it land on one of its sides or making it into someone else’s drink. It is extremely entertaining to watch…but I refuse to play due to my hypersensitive gag reflex. Yes, I am allergic to chugging and that does not go over well if you play the game. All in all, the night was very amusing.

(Melissa, Jenna, Me, Mary, and Danni)


Thursday was a long day. We were all very tired from staying out late the night before so sleeping in was a necessity. At 1, we had our Design class which I HATE. Again, I’m going to say that if it were taught any other way by any other professor it would be immensely interesting. But no, it is taught by a woman who looks (and talks) like Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter. She pretty much thinks that her class is the most important thing we will be experiencing while we are in this country. … I do not even know how to respond to that. Because we missed class for the snow day, she is trying to convince us all that it is necessary to stay an extra hour after all of the remaining classes we have. This would make the already painful three-hour class into a death sentence of four. I will refuse. To make matters worse, I went and got a coffee during the break and brought it back to class in hopes of making the remaining hour somewhat bearable. I had also not yet had my caffeine for the day. As soon as I sat down… she (the soul-sucking professor) walked over to me and said I could not drink my coffee because nothing besides water is permitted in the building. !!!! . While technically this is true, it is not enforced by any other person in the entire building. One of my other professors is the co-director of the entire program, and he brings coffee with him every day and encourages us to do the same. I was not happy. This could possibly be part of the reason why I dislike that professor so much. This, and the fact the she’s evil.

On a lighter note, Thursday night was the Shakespeare play. My whole class went to see Twelfth Night and it was amazing. I am so glad that I was able to go! Apparently one of the leading actors is pretty famous, and is actually winning the highest British award possible for a stage actor. It was pretty cool. The theatre was very beautiful also. It was old fashioned and tiered, with narrow rows of seating. There was no legroom at all, so I felt bad for anyone taller than me…but it was still definitely worth going.

Friday, almost everyone in our end of the hall (and pretty much everyone else in the entire building) went away for the weekend. Jenna went to the north end of England to visit some family friends. It was just me, Melissa, and Josh (another SCU student) left. Melissa and I went shopping Friday afternoon. We found a mall. I have no money left. Just kidding! Kind of… But yes, we found a mall and it was huge! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mall that big before- it was a bit overwhelming. The architecture was very modern as well- all of the maps were touch screens and the ceiling was made out of wavy blue glass. It felt like we were in some sort of mix between a huge airport and a fish tank. It was cool. Friday night, we tried to go to a movie, but unfortunately it was sold out =( However, the night did not end on a sad note due to the arrival of a GIANT heart shaped box full of See’s Candy, compliments of my mommy =) I have been enjoying them immensely and even shared a little bit.

Saturday Melissa, Josh, and I went to the London Eye which is definitely a must do thing. It is one of those, you HAVE to do it at least once, but you will probably never do it again. It is a giant ferris wheel type thing that has viewing pods that can fit about fifteen people. From the top, you have an amazing view of London. It is right on the River Thames directly across from the House of Parliament and Big Ben. You can even see St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace in the distance. We went right as the sun was going down so the view was spectacular. After The Eye we followed the river down to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is a massive church- it’s dome is the second largest in the world after Saint Peters in Rome. A less historical reason to recognize the Cathedral is known to those who watch Marry Poppins. Yes, this is the church where the “Feed the Bird’s” song takes place. I didn’t see any birds though…=) We stayed for a little bit to hear the choir sing which was very beautiful.

(At the top of the London Eye. Big Ben in background as wells as Westminster Bridge and the River Thames)

(The viewing pods...)

(Our pod. Melissa, Josh, and I are standing on the bench in the back.)

(Waterloo Bridge and St. Paul's right along the Thames)

(What is special about this sign??)

(They love me so much here... they've even named a wharf after me!)

(The London Eye and Big Ben)

(St. Paul's Cathedral)


Saturday night, we attempted to branch out of the Kensington bubble to find a pub a bit farther away. We looked up a place called “The Palm Tree” online and which was supposedly a cool place to hang out—live music, good atmosphere, cool building. Unfortunately, we had a difficult time finding it. We walked down the road it was on with no luck and finally asked a girl if she knew where it was. She said yes, she did but she had no idea why we wanted to go there, as it was not very lively. She invited us to go with her, to a place called the Angel Arms. Unfortunately, when we got there, there were only about two other people in the entire place. It was actually kind of funny. We ordered a pint, played a game of pool, and went back out to find the other place. We had to ask for directions again because we STILL could not find it. Eventually, after being directed to walk through a dark and empty park, we saw it. It is an old old building situated in the middle of the park off the main road. How they ever expect people to fin this place is beyond me… but I have to admit it was pretty cool looking. At this point it was about eleven. It had taken us too long to find the pub so all we did was walk in and walk out because we had to make it back home before the tube closed at 12 (it was definitely a necessity to take the tube as this place was far away and Melissa and I are notoriously bad at navigating ourselves through the bus system). All in all… the night did not go as originally planned, but was entertaining and was definitely and adventure.

Sunday was a lazy day. I slept in, went to the grocery store to buy food, cooked a GIANT pot of spaghetti which was amazing if I do say so myself, went to church at 7, did homework, and then went to bed. Nothing too exciting there.

Monday I was basically in class all day. And had a lot of work to do when I got out at 8. It is really annoying that the professors actually give us a lot of homework… you know, its not like we have anything better to do right? Hehe anyways, Monday night I could not fall asleep, I have no idea why. It was horrible. I work up this morning feeling like a train had run me over. Seriously. But I had class at nine, so I had to be a good student and wake up. After class I was beautifully able to take a nap before heading over to the Student Travel Center to get my International Student ID (which gives me discounts on planes tickets, hotels, food at some places, etc). I then booked my trip to Paris! I’ll go into more detail about that in a minute.

After the STATravel arrangements, Melissa, Jenna, Josh, Mary and I all cooked a giant feast together. We made burritos, like hard core burritos—meat, rice, beans, homemade salsa, soured cream (yeah…weird, but they don’t have regular sour cream here), green and red peppers and onions cooked with taco seasoning and cilantro. Mmm it was very tasty. But now I smell like onions and peppers. Anyways, that’s about it now for the updates on the past week or so.

Soooo, the next few weeks are going to be insanely busy. Pretty much every free minute of time is booked up. Here is a general rundown of what it supposed to be happening:

‡ Feb 11:
o Morning: Geffrye Museum for class. (The Geffrye Museum is one of London's best-loved museums. It shows the changing style of the English domestic interior in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day blah blah blah or as the English say, waffle waffle waffle)
o Evening: All you can eat/drink for 5pounds at the Union.

‡ Feb 12:
o Morning: Class field trip to Tate Britain (museum; home of British art from 1500 to the present)
o Evening: Jack the Ripper walking night tour. Yes I know, this sounds horrible…but apparently it is supposed to be very interesting. I probably won’t be sleeping too much Thursday night…

‡ Feb 13-15 (Fri-Sun):
o Wales: Adventure Weekend (will consist of Kayaking, Coasteering, Bike Riding, Hiking, and trying not to freeze to death)

‡ Feb 19-22 (Thurs-Sun):
o Was supossed to be the Paris weekend… however, we did not book things soon enough and all the good deals were taken, we are going to go later instead. Which leaves this weekend open. I’m thinking I am going to do my best to either go to Cambridge or Oxford. That’s my goal for the weekend. I also think that we are going to try to get the last few London touristy things out of the way…as this is really our last chance to do so.

‡ Feb 26- 1st (Thurs-Sun):
o Sweden to visit Nina.

‡ March 2-13:
o Study Tour with British Life and Culture Class. Details have not yet been given to us, but we are going to be touring through the Northern parts of England and part of Scotland.

‡ March 14-16 (Sat-Mon):
o Paris! And all of the things to do around that area that can be done in two days…

‡ March 16-18 (Mon-Wed):
o Last three days of BLC class.

‡ March 18-24 (Wed-Tues):
o Ireland. Visiting Irish friend Grainne and Melissa’s Irish relatives. Will be going to multiple locations of which I’m not yet sure—but Dublin is definitely one. We fly back to London on the 24th and will have to either get a hotel room or go to a hostel…I am not sure what we are going to do with all of our stuff during that week, as the dorms are closed… We will probably try to find a cheap place to store them.

‡ March 25 (Wed):
o FLYING HOME!!!


So yeah, there you have it. A brief outline of what is going to happen over the next few weeks. Most of these are already booked so there will not be too much change. There is plenty of stuff going on during the week over our remaining three weeks of classes…so I am pretty much going to be go go going for the rest of my time here!