[20] something

First Days at NYU

2011-06-12T23:52:00.000-04:00

Hi all!
I am currently living in NYC!
How did I get here you ask?
Well.
It all started with me applying to three summer publishing programs back in February: NYU, Columbia, and University of Denver.

After a couple weeks, I got accepted by NYU to go to their Summer Publishing Institute. #huzzah

Then I graduated college.

And then I went to Aruba.

And then I flew home from Aruba, landing in DC at 11:30 p.m., drove home, went to bed at 2:00 a.m., woke up at 6:00 a.m., left for Philly with Brent at 7:00 a.m...

got on a bus in Philly for NYC at 10:30 a.m...

and got to NYC at 12:30 p.m.

Following arrival at NYC, I proceeded to freak out, move in to Gramercy Green dorm...

freak out, say goodbye to Brent, freak out, and finally get settled.

The dorm is really nice, with a full kitchen and a freaking touch-screen microwave.

I also lucked into a single room, which I am a big fan of.

(different city, same dorm furniture)

And while I'm only on the second floor I don't have an amazing view of the city, I do have a view!

I go to school pretty much in the financial district in the Woolworth Tower, which is a pretty awesome building.

We have class pretty much 8:30-5:30 straight, mon-fri, many times ending later than scheduled. It's pretty grueling and intensive but we've already had so many smart & important (and young!!) people from the industry talk to us, from magazines like InStyle and Real Simple to Popular Science and Newsweek. We also get magazines before every session for people coming in, so I've accumulated quite a few only one week in.

I've also accumulated one snap bracelet.

There's this great park down the block from Woolworth where I eat lunch almost every day.

It's also the same park that I saw White Collar being filmed. #notbluecollar

In addition to the lectures from people in the industry, the 103 of us in the program are split into 10 groups to start magazine launches, which we worked on all week and are due at the end of the magazine session. We all have roles (I'm the executive editor) and get critiqued throughout the week from people from the industry.

While it can be awfully tiring to sit in the same room for 9-10 hours a day, this program is a pretty amazing opportunity...getting to live in NYC for 6 weeks, having the most important people in the magazine & book industry basically downloading their brains to you, getting to tour places like Time Out New York as well as just being around people who are as passionate about magazines and books as you are is pretty cool. The hours are crazy long and you get so exhausted by the end of each day, but it's been great so far.

Senior Year Wrap-Up: Phone pics version

2011-05-21T10:24:00.000-04:00

As of last Saturday, I am officially a graduate of Lebanon Valley College. The four years went fast, but I think this past year went the fastest. I could show a recap with my favorite pictures throughout the year, but I think it'd be more interesting to see the year through the moments I deemed worthy enough to capture with my camera phone.

My crazy roommate, Sarah

Roommate Emily, displaying crazy prices at the C-Store

Roommate Erin snuggling

Ann Marie & Sean at the bar

Football games

Fall on campus

Hairstyle for Play #1: And Then There Were None

Halloween pumpkin in the hallway of the dorm

NYC with Brent

Again, the crazy prices of the C-Store

Roses for my anniversary

Cone's Christmas festivities

The ship on the toilet

Drinking games with Carrie and Sean

Juicy Juice for college students

Sending in my applications for summer publishing programs at NYU, Columbia, and Denver

Fish bowls at West Chester

Playing guitar on couches in the 2nd floor kitchen

The chairs from our late nights around the fountain

Straws were different heights! I found this astonishing.

Going to Philly

Ohh roommates...

Dancing on the lounge table

St. Patty's Day

Hairstyle for Play #2: You Can't Take It With You

Dutchmen Day

Spring at the Valley

Late-night macaroni/Ramen cooking

Accomplishing my goal of owning an LVC shirt in every color

Late night guitar-playing/homework seshs

Adam's 21st

Buying these awesome shoes...which I have yet to wear

Yup, mah friends.

Driving with Marky Mark's dog, Cooper

Tony and his zipper hoodie

Bar with the roommates

Fitting TWO couches in the Dell kitchen...I don't know how we did that.

Meeting up with old co-workers for Epic Meal Time

My car window :(

Drinking games to Twilight

~~Last~~ Second-To-Last Chicken Finger Thursday

Cinco de Mayo

"Oh no! We always get chicken!!! I guess i'm getting beef" texts to my cousin

Running out of gas in Sam's bug

Brent graduating

Setting up my graduation

Yumkabobs

Bringing the lounge table into our room...

...And Sarah dancing on it.

And finally, my diploma

This year has been a blast, between all the Thursday nights, late night cooking, study sessions, plays, senior week festivities, fountain running, Dutchmen Day, ValleyFest, Chicken Finger Thursdays, Karaoke nights, Taco Tuesdays, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patty's Day, game nights, Indian Jones & Star Wars marathons, women's basketball games, The Snow Night, and so much more. An unforgettable year and the best way to finish 4 awesome years at LVC.

Stationery card

2011-05-05T01:39:00.002-04:00

Modern Notebook Aqua Graduation Announcement

Click here to browse our most popular graduation announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

My grad announcements!!

Pros and Cons of the Last 3 Weeks of College

2011-04-22T22:45:00.000-04:00

Pros:
Cinco de Mayo
Sure-to-be-epic Thursdays (e.g. Cinco de Mayo)
Nice weather (hopefully) to sit outside and hang with friends
More guitar jamming sessions
Crossing things off our bucket list...like grilling at Mt. Gretna and wine tasting
Senior week & all the fun things that go along with it
English department partay
That much closer to going to Aruba
That much closer to going to NYU's Summer Publishing Institute
That much closer to getting out the real world and seeing what I end up doing and where

Cons:
Finals week
The last Thursday night out
The last chicken finger Thursday
The last everything
Saying good bye to everyone
Moving out for the last time
Leaving LVC for the last time
Not being sure about what the future holds
Graduating...in general.

AHHHHH!

Making Sugar Cookies

2011-01-11T16:43:00.001-05:00

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen I was not satisfied with my Christmas cookie count for the year.

Soooo Mom and I decided to change that and make Grandma’s sugar cookies.

The thing about G-ma’s sugar cookies are that they’re kind of hard to make. You have to follow the directions exactly, or they end up tasting like baking soda. We set out to finally get them right this time.

Yayyyy cheesin.The mess.Yummm. They ended up tasting awesome.

For the comments: What’s your favorite cookie? Christmas or otherwise.

Fav things of 2010

2010-12-31T14:28:00.001-05:00

Well, 2010 is coming to a close. It’s probably been one of my best and worst years yet. (Worst because this year has been pretty stressful!) However, many a good time was had and I discovered many new favorites. Here’s a list of some of them:

[Book: The Knife of Never Letting Go]

I love discovering new books and series, and while I just read this one in the past month, I’m still going to say it was my favorite to discover this year.

Todd grows up in Prentisstown, where everyone can hear each other's thoughts. There are no secrets, or so he believes. The book follows his journey of finding out what really happened in his town before he was born and how he tries to escape the aftermath of it.

The voice of the author, interesting aspects of the story, character relationships, and use of typography all made this book a really fun and enjoyable read. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the sequels as much, but I really really loved this book.

[Hobby: Learning guitar]

My favorite new hobby for the year was learning to play guitar.

I’ve always been pretty musical (I’ve played piano since I was 5) so it’s been pretty easy to pick it up. I only have one song memorized…but I’m able to sight read a bunch more! Including “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.”

[TV Show: Modern Family]

This show. I haven’t found anyone who’s watched this show at least once and doesn’t love it.

Brent just bought me the Season 1 DVD for Christmas and it’s been awesome watching them all back. If you haven’t seen this show, please watch it asap!! You can read more of what I think about Modern Fam here.

[Movie: Avatar]

I was going to say HP7 Part 1, but I did not see HP7 three times in theaters, two of those times in IMAX 3-D. And while HP7 hasn’t come out on DVD yet, I think ordering Avatar on Amazon as soon as I could, realizing I got Blu-ray by mistake, and making a mad rush to Wal-Mart to buy the correct DVD at 10:00 at night on a school night when my car is parked almost a mile away from my dorm is saying something.

[Place to visit: Rittenhouse Square]

(via)

While visiting Brent one day this fall, we decided to spend the day in Philly. We looked online for fun, cheap things to do, and Rittenhouse Square came up.

We found it easily, and it was so pretty. I love little parks inside of cities, and this one was great. The weather was a beautiful fall day, there were tons of people and dogs to watch, and many benches and patches of grass to sit on.

It was a really fun and relaxing afternoon. I only wish I’d brought my camera!

[Music: Anything by Greg Laswell]

2010 will always go down as the year I discovered the music love of my life, Greg Laswell.

One of the main reasons I wanted to learn how to play guitar was so I could play his songs. Brent and I saw him in Philly and really want to see him again. Love love love. Here’s one of his best songs:

[Drink: Boxed Wine]

While I only had boxed wine once this year, I see it becoming very prominent in my future.

Courtesy of my always-classy roommate, Sarah.

[Pictures]

Lastly, I’ll wrap up the post with my favorite pictures and memories from this year. Have a safe and happy new year!

Christmas Card Help

2010-12-07T22:43:00.001-05:00

So Shutterfly.com is doing a fun promotion just for bloggers: Blog about their awesome Christmas card collection, and get some of said Christmas cards fo free! Problem is, I need your help picking which one is best.

In order to help me pick, I’ll provide you with some sample pictures. I figured I’d be nice and offer them up as family Christmas cards to my mom, so these are pictures of my family.

While I’d love to use this picture,

Mom would probably want to use something more along these lines…

Or perhaps a new one taken in winter, and not summer, clothes. You get the idea.

Option # 1: Pretty Poinsettia

I love the little designs at the bottom and the fact that it opens up.

Option #2: Peppermint Gift Wrap

Cute idea with the stripes. I also like the font.

Option #3: Confetti Flowers

I love the little flower things. And the colorful “Merry Christmas.”

Option #4: Elegant Cranberry Damask

I love me some damask. And the cursive. And the cute kids. But they don’t come with the card.

Help me out! Which design do you like best? Also, if you’re a blogger, here’s the link to the promotion!

Best day ever.

2010-11-18T15:33:00.001-05:00

This is why today rocks.

1. Chicken Finger Thursday

Every Thursday, it’s become a tradition for the caf to serve chicken tenders, mac n cheese, and waffle fries for lunch, or as it’s affectionately called, “Chicken Finger Thursday.”

Today, my friends, was Chicken Finger Thursday.

2. No PR class

As Emily can attest, our PR class is a joke. Bah! I strongly dislike it a lot.

Today, my friends, we did not have PR class.

This is what Happy Alyssa looks like.

3. Thanksgiving Dinner

Each year before Thanksgiving, the cafeteria holds a Thanksgiving dinner for the students, where professors and faculty serve the students turkey and biscuits and other stuff I don’t particularly like but will eat because I know it would make my mom happy.

Also, warm apple cider.

4. Camelot…fo free.

One of the perks of my awesome internship (which I love and will miss dearly when I leave in a couple weeks) is that we’re located right beside a community theater, which loves to give us free tix to their shows. Sooo the girls of Del 206 and our friend Carrie are going to go see Camelot tonight, fo free! I have no idea if this is a good or bad musical, but I don’t currrr, cuz it’s free!!!!

5. HP 7.1

And finally, as the world knows (or they should), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 comes out tonight at midnight.

SO.FREAKING.EXCITED.

For the comments: What do you think of Chicken Finger Thursdays? What do you think of warm apple cider? Have you ever seen Camelot? Did you like it? Are you seeing HP tonight? How much did I embarrass myself with that last picture?

And Then There Were None

2010-10-29T17:00:00.001-04:00

So, it’s almost November. As I have zero posts so far for October (…whoops!), I figured it was ’bout that time. Here’s what’s been keeping me busy this semester.

And Then There Were None is a play based off Agatha Christie’s novel Ten Little Indians. It’s full of murder and mystery and tinned tongue and British accents which = good times.

The show has really been a blast; the director is one of my bff’s, a lot of good friends are in the show (and I made some new friends/got closer to old ones), and it’s been fun to play a lead!

Here are some of my favorite backstage looking-suspicious pics from the show. Enjoy!

Backstage with the lovely Eric, playing Justice Wargrave

Matt, who plays Blore, and Eric. Love this one.

Me and Jamie, the director

Me as Vera Claythorne, looking suspicious!

Suspicious…with a drink in hand!

Even more suspicious!

Suspicious…again!

The set…with many suspicious people!!

I just like this one cuz it shows off my gorg dress.

This weekend is the last full weekend, then one more show next weekend. Fun times!

To see what else I’ve been up to, check out the Del 206 blog!

Great Scott! I finally saw Back to the Future.

2010-09-16T19:56:00.001-04:00

I know I’m way behind on this one (read: 25 years), but hopefully the nostalgic factor will entice you to keep reading.

This post is going to be about Back to the Future, a franchise I had never seen before Monday, September 13 (and 14 and 15), 2010.

I don’t know how this happened; it wasn’t held back from me intentionally and I had nothing against it. I guess the opportunity just never presented itself.

(I had ridden the ride at Disneyworld, if that counts for anything.)

When bff Sean found out I had never seen any of the movies, he promptly picked his jaw up off the floor and declared we would have a marathon-watching.

Monday, Sept. 13: Back to the Future

Oh my goodness, the campy-ness. I loved it. It seems like the writers just couldn’t help sticking in call-backs to earlier moments in the movie whenever they could, and then putting even more call-backs to the previous call-backs. Seriously, the whole movie is just a freaking circle that just keeps coming back on itself. I loved it.

Tuesday, Sept. 14: Back to the Future Part II

Sigh. This movie. Not quite there. I think this franchise is at it’s best when it goes for the time joke (over and over and over again), and Part II couldn’t really do that…since it was set in the future. #fail

One thing I did love was just how wrong the writers were about the future. If only we would have the technology of flying cars and self-adjusting jackets in 5 years. Sigh.

Wednesday, Sept. 15: Back to the Future Part III

First of all, I love how the movie starts with the scene we’ve seen about 5 different times from different angles: Marty’s attempt to leave 1955 during the storm. They obviously didn’t take into account the 20-something college student who never saw the movies watching all three back-to-back and remembering where we left off. #fail

All in all though, this movie was great. They went into the past again (#win) and were thus able to make time joke on top of time joke on top of time joke, even continuing jokes from the first movie. So great.

With this one, it seemed like the writers had a game going trying to make viewers think “Oh my god, I know how this is going to end” as many times as they could, as early in the movie as they could. I think I had the thought about 6 times, although credit goes to the writers to making me think of a different conclusion each time.

In conclusion, I loved the series. So much campy, cheesy, punny, oh-my-god-they’re-going-for-that-joke-again awesomeness.

…And next up: Indiana Jones.

For the comments: How do you feel about Back to the Future? What series do you love that I need to see?

Moved in!

2010-08-31T16:11:00.001-04:00

Well, I’m all moved into college again! I’m thinking this is going to be the best year yet. Why? Read:

1. Senior Year
Well, it’s my senior year of college. Yeah. That went fast. Only one more year of pretending to be responsible until I actually have to be.

I have very mixed feelings about this year. On the one hand, I’m pretty nervous about the actually-graduating thing. On the other hand, this year is going to be amazing. I’m living in a suite with 3 of my bffs, we’ve been friends since freshmen year.

*BLOG PLUG AHEAD* Emily of SplendidEm is one of my roommates, and we decided to start a joint blog about the adventures of our suite. Emily just made our first post, you should probably check it out.

http://del206.blogspot.com

2. New internship
In other news, I started my internship at a local magazine yesterday, and I had such a fun time. I had an internship over the summer where I learned a lot, but I didn’t have nearly as much fun as I did yesterday. I went to a couple photo shoots, proofread a little, wrote some copy, did a bunch of things. I really like the people I work with too, they’re really nice.

3. Hardly any classes
Since my internship counts for credits, I will only be taking 8 additional credits this semester. That’s two regular classes and two 1-credit classes. Yup. Easy peasy. And it seems like I won’t have too much homework either. Yay!

Happy new school year!

For the comments: If you’re in school, what are you looking forward to this year? Also, check out the new blog! http://del206.blogspot.com. Emily and I will love you forever.

Look what I did! Look what I did!

2010-08-15T18:18:00.001-04:00

My mom picked up these shelves from a yard sale one day.

I knew I’d need them for my room this year, but they were this ugly shade of brown. Sooo, I went to Lowe’s and bought some blue spray paint and painted them!

I was going to just keep them like this, but I got an idea from this blog I read (she was actually painting a cabinet blue too) to put some paper down on the shelves. Finished product:

Voila!

Ps, it’s wrapping paper.

Bah ha ha ha.

St. Michaels, MD

2010-08-05T17:18:00.001-04:00

For my aunt’s 60th bday, she wanted to go somewhere, just the girls, and picked St. Michaels, MD.

1. The Group
“The Girls” is a small group comprised of my grandma,

Me and my cousin, And my mom and aunt.

2. The Hotel
We went for a long weekend and stayed at the Harbor Inn.

We had a great view from our room, right into the harbor and all the boats.
3. The Massage
My grandma decided to get my aunt a massage from the hotel while we were there, but my aunt surprised us and offered to get all of us a 30-min Swedish massage.

I had never had a massage before, and it was an interesting experience. I mean, it was very relaxing and it stopped my neck and back from cracking for days, but while I was getting it done all I could think about awkward the situation was (maybe it was because it was completely silent with relaxing music interrupted by the masseuse clearing her throat every minutes).

It was fun to feel pampered, though.

4. The crabs
When you’re staying in the Chesapeake, it would be pretty much sacrilegious to eat dinner anywhere other than a sea food restaurant.

Maryland is known for their blue crabs, and they show up everywhere, even in the oysters.

The second night, my cousin and aunt decided to try the blue crabs (which aren’t very blue after they’re cooked…).

It started out just fine, but as they tore apart the crabs more and more, it got pretty….disgusting.

My aunt and Diana did eventually get used to them and ate all 12. I, however, could not finish my chicken parmesan, since ever since I saw the crab guts, everything seemed to have lost its flavor. #seafoodsuxx

5. The conclusion
All in all, St. Michaels is a really really cute town and harbor and is perfect for short get-a-ways. There’s a downtown area with really awesome shops, none of them chintzy. There was a pool at the hotel, but we never used it, opting to hang out in the room, overlooking the boats and having wine and cheese. Great weekend with the fam!

Mom, hair blowing in the wind.

How creepy is this?? This was in an ice cream shop.

Grandma talking to a mannequin in a restaurant.
I don’t know why there was a mannequin in the restaurant.

My aunt on her makeshift bed, with her “bed extensions.”
(She didn’t have a bed because we had 5 people staying in the room, instead of the 2 that we told the hotel…Illegal much?)

Me and Di.

For the comments: Have you ever been to St. Michaels? What’s your favorite place for a weekend get-a-way?

Jack Johnson

2010-07-18T08:28:00.001-04:00

So. Last weekend Brent, my cousin Diana, and two of her friends went to Camden to see Jack Johnson!

To be honest, by the time of the concert Brent and I weren’t really feeling like going. We hadn’t listened to Jack Johnson in at least a year, and could have really used the money we spent on the other tickets for other things.

However, we weren’t able to sell the tickets, so we still went.

The day was gorgeous. We had lawn seats, which were kinda far back, but we knew we wouldn’t really be able to see him.

Turns out, Jack Johnson is amazeballs in concert. And amphitheaters in the summer are the ultimate ultimate way to see him perform.

I’d never been to a concert where there were so many people actually dancing to the music. It was so fun and chill—everyone was singing along and dancing.

The atmosphere was just perfect. Aside from all the pot everyone and their mother seemed to be smoking.

Usually after a concert, I’ve had music overload, and I don’t listen to the artist for awhile to get some space from them. This is the first concert where the concert made me want to go home and listen to his music more.

If you are or once were a Jack Johnson fan, see him in concert asap!

For the comments: Do you like Jack Johnson? What’s your favorite concert that you’ve been to?

That other Twilight movie

2010-07-06T23:22:00.001-04:00

Let me take you on a Twilight trip through time.

November 21st, 2008, 12:01 am: Me and some other Twilight fan friends drag a group of about 12 to see Twilight at the midnight showing. I was in love with the books and absolutely couldn’t wait to see the movie. I recall numerous Facebook statuses about it.

November 20th, 2009, 12:01 am: I desperately want to go to the New Moon midnight showing, but I have a trip to Amsterdam planned for early the next morning. I didn’t go to the midnight showing, but I did see the movie as soon as possible. And wore my “Team Edward” t-shirt and Twilight-themed pins.

June 30th, 2010, 12:01 am: Theaters all over the country are holding midnight premieres for Eclipse. And I don’t care.

What could change so fast? In the span of a year and half—no, more like 7 months, I went from being an avid fangirl, checking six different Twilight fansites daily and watching any interview on Youtube, to just reading the twitters, occasionally watching a random interview, and not even caring about going to see the midnight premiere.

Somewhere along the line, Twilight made me hate it.

I’ve known from the beginning that the books aren’t the best quality, but there was still something appealing and fun about them, and I legitimately enjoyed reading them. When the movies started being made, every piece of news was so exciting, because my favorite characters were coming to life.

Now, Twilight is so oversaturated. They’re pumping out movies like there’s no tomorrow, you can’t walk into a Borders without being inundated with Twilight merchandise, and you can’t turn on the TV without Burger King telling you that it’s time for Bella to make a choice.

I don’t get excited when a see a TV spot for Eclipse. I wasn’t waiting in line to see the first midnight showing of the movie. I didn’t even see it the next day, or the next. I just don’t care enough.

However, I still care a little. I’ll be seeing Eclipse tomorrow night with mis amigos. I’ve heard it’s good, but it’ll have to be pretty darn good to revive the fangirl in me.

I’ll keep you posted.

For the comments: Do you like Twilight? Do you hate Twilight? Have you seen Eclipse, and what did you think?

HHI ’10

2010-07-03T20:57:00.002-04:00

Somewhere along the line in the past two/three weeks, I completely forgot to make a post about Hilton Head.
My family has been going down to Hilton Head Island, SC, for over 20 years. We kinda like it.

We’ve started this thing where we go down every other year in June with the rest of my mom’s side of the family. We has good times. Here are the highlights.
1. Biking in the AM
Every morning Brent and I would go on a morning bike ride around the plantation or on the beach. We try to be healthy. It was fun.

2. Go beach…
Then the two of us would join up with my cousin Diana and go to the beach. We had these sweet chair-backpacks so that we could carry them when we rode our bikes there.
I seriously think they’re awesome, and I know people are envious when they see us walking down the beach with those on.
The water was pretty warm, and if it wasn’t warm, it was just the right temperature to be refreshing.

3. Go pool…
After spending the morning at the beach, we’d go back to the condo, have lunch, make up some drinks, and head to the pool.

It was so hot outside the the only way to be comfortable was to just sit in the pool all day. That’s ok with me though.
4. Go dinner…
Every night we went somewhere different for dinner, like the Crazy Crab,
where Brent took this awesome picture,
and Japanese.

Om nom nom

5. Go to Savannah…

We went to Savannah one day too and took a tour.

We found this really yummy Cajun place called the Bayou Cafe, where I had jambalaya and it was delish.

6. Shelter Cove
Shelter Cove is a cool place where you can see big yachts and eat good foodz.

And of course, Brent and I can't always take srs pictures.

7. Have fun with the family…
Pretty much every day or night we played games like Catchphrase, Dumb Ass, Wits and Wagers, and even Beer Pong.

Brent attempting to stack cups…

My legally-blind aunt in particular excelled at Beer Pong.
When we weren’t playing games, my mom brought DVDs from when Diana and I were toddlers, which was pretty hilarious.

Guess who!!

It was fun times.

For the comments: Where’s your favorite vacation place? Do you have a place you always go with your family? Have you ever been to HHI?

Weekend Update

2010-06-26T19:42:00.001-04:00

Sigh. I haven’t written in so long. And I apologize. I’ve just been leading a pretty un-interesting life. Quick highlights.

[1. Still interning]

I’m still working at the magazine publishing company (reading about radiology and dieticians and social workers) and still learning a good bit about copy editing (and learning how much more there is to learn).

[2. Still not making any money]

So…the aforementioned internship is unpaid. Annnnnddddd I wasn’t able to find more than a one-Saturday-a-month catering job. Sooooooo I’ll be making the 2 hr trek home every other week to work for Daddy-o :-\. Kinda stinks that things didn’t work out like I’d hoped.

[3. Watching summer TV]

The Boyfriend and I are lovin the new True Bloods and SYTYCD (which Brent actually admits he likes now). In return, he got me hooked on Entourage (season premiere tomorrow night!). And watching NCIS and Criminal Minds whenever I can find a repeat.
Also, best new show ever = Bert the Conqueror on Travel Channel. The guy is hilarious.

[4. Watching World Cup]

Like everyone else. Watched today’s game in a bar in downtown WC and it was nuts. Crazy when we scored, sad when we lost. :-\

[5. Dog sitting fun]

Got to dog sit again last night/today! This time Jada got in the pool with us.

She has this thing where she thinks it’s so fun to swim up to you, dig in her claws, then use you to push off of you. Not so fun if you’re being pushed off-of.

[6. And upcoming: friends coming for bar hopping fun]

Five amigos from Leb Val are comin up tonight! We’re talkin roof-top bars, $5 fish bowls, and $3 beer tubs (whatever they are). Can’t wait to parrrrtayyyy!

[This much fun, but without the New Years]

For the comments: Have you experienced the awesome that is Bert the Conqueror? What are your plans this weekend?

“I hate romance.”

2010-06-04T10:43:00.001-04:00

Phew, it’s been a while. And by that I mean it’s been a week and half since I’ve written last which doesn’t seem all that long but by the standards I’ve been writing it’s been a little while.

Anyways. Quick updates!!

[1. We’z Workin]

The BF and I feel very grown up with our internships/jobs. We dress classy.

He looks so grown up and cute.

[2. Calzones]

I made homemade calzones!

I didn’t have flour or a rolling pin, sooooo I stretched the dough with my hands (and it stuck to everything). Put on some mozzarella/ricotta cheese mix, pepperoni, and ham, and voila!

Cocoons of yummy.

The recipe made…a lot. 16 to be specific. All for just the BF and me!

In the words of the BF: “They’re effing delish.”

[3. Greg Laswell]

The BF and I dressed up all fancy for the concert. Well I dressed up fancy, the BF was just smokin’.

Then we drove into Philly.

We found the venue, which looked like this!

For realzies. It was tiny. When all those tables filled up, there couldn’t have been more than 75 people in there. It was awesome.

G. Lass! It was a bangin’ concert. The BF and I were in love.

[4.The BF finished Twilight]

More on this in another post. His thoughts, in summary:
“I hate romance.”

[5. HHI]

I neglected to mention in my “What I’m Excited for this Summer” post that the fam is going to Hilton Head!

We leave TODAY!! 7.5 hours in the car today, 4 tomorrow. Bah. But it’ll be worth it. The BF is coming and so is my cousin …

…and her fam and the g-ma and her Ed and it’ll be funzies!

Catch ya in a week! Unless I have free time and decide to blog. Who knows.

The Wonderfulness that is NCIS

2010-05-25T19:47:00.001-04:00

Tonight, my friends, is the NCIS finale.

I’m going to take this opportunity to enlighten you on the awesomeness that is NCIS.

[Plot isn’t ~~entirely~~ predictable]

Like any crime show on TV, after you’ve watched enough episodes, you kind of get the gist of the formula the show uses. While NCIS has a loose formula—you generally know the first suspect they accuse isn’t the real one—the show is pretty hard to guess. There’s usually a big twist you didn’t see coming, and the show does a good job of explaining the twist too.

They also have a good mix of crime-solving and character building. Some shows have episodes of all one or the other, but with NCIS if the episode involves character building, it is always built through solving a crime.

[Mix of drama and comedy]

While it has its fair share of fast-paced action and suspense, one of the great things about NCIS is that it still has humor. It’s not just silly catchphrases placed here and there either; the characters all have very developed personalities (see below) and thus joke around with each other. Another thing: the characters are all normal people. They make normal goofs and mistakes, which are usually funny. Now, this is still a drama crime show, so don’t expect to be cracking up. It just has a little more humor in it than a lot of other shows in the genre.

[Characters]

Definitely my favorite aspect of the show are the characters. My favs:

Gibbs

Gibbs is the father figure of the team, who will never admit how much he cares about the other agents (…which is a lot). He goes by his gut, has a list of rules he lives by (Rule #22: Never, ever bother Gibbs in Interrogation), and has a troubled past which has recently come back to haunt him, particularly in this season’s finale. I <3 Gibbs.

Ducky

Ducky (aka Dr. Mallard) always intersperses trivia facts throughout everything he has to say. For example, last night I learned where the term “red herring” came from from him (if you’re interested…British hunters used to drag dead red herrings along fox trails when training their hounds to disregard false scents). He’s the loving medical examiner who likes to have one-sided conversations with the dead people he is cutting open.

DiNozzo

Om nom nom. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Commonly refers to himself as Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. And for this I love him. He is a movie aficionado and is one of the funniest characters on the show. He’s also damn good looking (although I recently found out he’s 41…sad face!! He doesn’t look it…) Love him long time. Maybe because he looks like C. Pine…

Om nom nom.

Watch the finale on CBS tonight at 8pm!

For the comments: Do you watch NCIS? If so, what’s your favorite thing about it? If not, what’s your favorite show?

What I’m excited for this summer

2010-05-21T17:51:00.001-04:00

I’ve had this post planned for a little, but other things have come up that I wanted to tell you guys about. Because of this, some (most…) of these things have already started. But that’s ok!! Here is what I'm excited for this summer.

Internships

[Not my desk. My desk is way cooler. It has a Mac.]

I’ve now started both internships for the summer, one at a magazine publisher and another with an independent book publisher. These are super exciting because they’re in the field I want to go in—publishing—and I’ve already learned a lot. I even have my own cubicle at the magazine publisher!! #excited

Living with the BF

As evidenced by earlier posts, this has already started too. It’s been really fun so far, and we’re learning a lot about each other. Such as, we drink milk like it’s nobody’s business. And, we really enjoying cooking meals together. Also, I am a hoarder of emotion. And the BF doesn’t like when my internal clock wakes me up at 8:00 am and he is definitely not ready to start the day.
But,
we’re working through whatever problems come up and are thoroughly enjoying being grown-ups and living on our own.

Concerts

These haven’t happened yet, and I am super de duper excited for them. First up this coming Wednesday night is…
Greg Laswell BAHHHHHHH I am so freaking excited for this concert. It’s in a small venue which is always intimate and awesome. And I am so completely in love with his music right now, it’ll be great.

Thennn, in July,
Jack Johnson
This one should be pretty good too. I’m not as in to Jack Johnson as I used to be, but he has a new album coming out which will hopefully be good. His music is still great summer music, and it’s an outdoor venue, so it should still be a really fun time.

More NCIS

I introduced Brent to NCIS a couple years ago, and ever since it’s a show we really like to watch together. I’m kind of on an NCIS binge right now, turning it on wherever I can find it on a channel, all hours of the day. In fact, I’m probably going to write a blog post about it. Because I love this freaking show.
[There’s a marathon on tonight, soooo you know where I’ll be….]

Bar-in It Up

West Chester has a pretty good bar scene. Brent and I have been out a couple times for the different specials they have on (the aforementioned $5 fishbowls, $2-You-Call-Its). Can’t wait for the friendzies to come visit in June so we can go bar hopping!

For the comments: What are you excited for this summer?

Cookie Fail

2010-05-18T20:02:00.001-04:00

Brent and I had the awesome idea this weekend to make cookies.

Brent was in charge of mixing the ingredients. He put the egg and butter in the mix, but the butter was still cold and it wasn’t mixing. So I suggested to Brent to stick the mix in the microwave to melt the butter.

Bad idea.

The microwave melted the butter….but it also melted the chocolate chips.

Poop cookies :(

[Don’t mind the pictures of almost naked women in the background. Those are just Brent and his roommate’s idea of tasteful wall hangings.]

So instead of scrumptious choco chip cookies, we have flat, brownie-like-yet-not-quite-brownie cookies.

[Note to self: don’t microwave the cookie mix. It WILL melt the choco chips.]

For the comments: Do you have any good food fails to share?

Move-In Weekend

2010-05-17T20:53:00.001-04:00

This weekend was a big weekend. This weekend I moved in with the BF for the summer!

After moving in and making some mac n cheese quick for dinner, we went out to a bar a block down to celebrate with $5 fish bowls. And when I say fish bowls, they’re actually fish bowls.

Om nom nom.

Yesterday, we went into Philly to check out where I’ll be going for my one internship.

Ps, my internship is NOT here.

We decided to go to the Art Museum while we were there.

We didn’t actually go in the art museum, we just sat on the steps for a good hour and took in the view.

And took pics of ourselves.

Srs bznss.

Quote from Brent pretty much sums up how we’ve been feeling all weekend:
“You know what’s awesome? You’re gonna be here tomorrow too.”
Yup! I am :)

My weekend was really fun, how was yours?

Book Spotlight: Maggie Stiefvater's "Shiver" and "Linger"

2010-05-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

I recently found an author whom a love: Maggie Stiefvater. She has a blog she actively keeps up, a twitter, a Goodreads account, and she wrote an awesome book called Shiver, which I'm currently re-reading.

[Synopsis]

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Watch the trailer (made by the author herself!) here:

The book is really great and what's even better, a sequel, Linger, is coming out this summer! Check out the trailer for it here.

Three down, one to go

2010-05-12T21:38:00.001-04:00

Cannot believe how fast this semester went. I only have one more year left at LVC, and since I don’t really want to think about that, I’ll share the fun-ness that was my last week on campus!

Since days of the week are pretty much useless during Finals Week, the friends and I didn’t let them stop us from going to the bar. Multiple times.

Wednesday: Cinco de Mayo!

Got free leis!! Just shows it pays to stay til last call (which was WAY too early, I could have so partied it up for longer).

Friday: Dan’s in town!

My friend Dan just got back from studying in Italy, so of course we celebrate.

Long Island Ice Teas!! Andddd they were only $6. Yup. You heard me. Andddd Sarah may have snuck my glass (can you even call that a glass?) in her purse for me…so I maybe might have gotten a glass for that $6 too. Shh.

Went out Saturday too, but didn’t take el camera.

And now…I’m home. Trying to earn some extra $$ before moving to West Chester for the summer with The Boyfriend.

SWAHHH!?!? With The Boyfriend??
Yup, I get to live with his guy all summer :)

Cookin with the BF

2010-05-02T19:35:00.001-04:00

Ever since my mom bought the BF a cookbook for Christmas, whenever I visit him we try to cook a meal together.
This weekend, we picked chicken enchiladas.

This was no easy recipe. It took us 1 hr and 45 min (and two calls to my mom) to prep and cook these suckers. I must say though…it was worth it!!
We cataloged our process along the way.

Brent shredded the chicken.

I added some spices into ze dish.

Brent snuck a piece of chicken.

Since we were making such a Latin meal, we decided to make Latin drinks as well…

Mojitos!!

We snuck a peek of the enchiladas in the oven. Om nom nom.

All done! Warm and gooey.

Tada! Finished enchiladas, Spanish rice, and mojito!

Brent thought they were yumtastic.

I thought they were amazeballs!

Success!
Recipe here if you’re interested!

Also, on a slightly related note, Brent was dog sitting a pug this weekend. Her name is Jada. She reminds me of a certain Star Wars character.

The end.

For the comments: My weekend was fun! How was yours? Do you like enchiladas? Do you like mojitos? Do you like pugs that look like Nute Gunray?

Why??? Vol. 2

2010-04-29T23:17:00.001-04:00

I think it’s only fitting that I continue with the second installment of this series about one year after I started it.

Nevertheless, I present to you.

Why??? Vol. 2

1. Why are you not wearing shoes??

Guy, when I saw you in Psych class last week without any shoes on, I thought maybe it was a fluke and you forgot to put on your shoes. But then I saw you today, again with no shoes. Where are your shoes???

2. Why did I only tonight figure out I can send text messages by typing the name, not looking up the number?

Phone, I’ve had you for a year now. But I’ve only now discovered by setting it to “abc” mode, I can start typing the person’s name in the screen to send them a text. Just figured this out, tonight. Whyyy??

3. Mother Nature, why must you tease me so?

Nature, It was so nice and hot on Dutchmen Day, why has it not been warmer than 60 degrees since?!?!? Whyyyyy??

4. Speaking of this picture…

Student Affairs, WHY in the world would this picture of us end up on the cover of the new meal plan packet?? (The one that’s distributed to every student on campus. Yeah, that one.) Just wonderin.

For the comments: Can you help me answer any of these questions? Or do you have any questions of your own?

Happy 1st birthday, blog!

2010-04-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

You’re special. And because you’re special, I gift you a new header.

Happy Birthday!

For the comments: To commemorate Bloggy’s first birthday, tell me what your favorite post has been!

Cock’s passion!

2010-04-27T01:04:00.001-04:00

This weekend wrapped up my latest theatrical endeavor, playing the servant Grumio in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Photo highlights:

Cast members and director sneaking some Italian Ice before a show.

Silly cast picture. I is in the red!

Oh ps, didn’t I tell you? I played a man.
What up, sideburns.
Also, Becca is creeptastic.

Just chillin in the La Vie office, no bigz.

My favorite fellow-servant, Becca.

My man pose. Holla (ho).

Great run Shrew!

Reminiscing Europe

2010-04-21T23:29:00.001-04:00

Was inspired by The Swede Records and made this vid. Enjoy!

For the comments: If you make/made one of these vids too, leave me the link in my comments! I wanna see!

The BF’s Twilight thoughts

2010-04-19T19:15:00.001-04:00

So as I’ve mentioned, the BF is reading Twilight. He tells me that he is kind of enjoying it, but there’s one thing that bothers him. Really bothers him.

He thinks that Robert Pattinson is the worst Edward Cullen that ever is or was.

I asked him to elaborate, and thus, what follows is my BF’s thoughts on why Robert Pattinson should never have been cast as Edward Cullen (all pictures and commentary complimentary of the BF, with quotes from the book in italic).

1. Greek God? No.

“He looked more like a Greek god than anyone had a right to.”

That definitely does not describe R. Pattz. And he has too much lipstick on.

2. Jimmy Neutron

“I couldn’t imagine how an angel could be anymore glorious.”

He looks like an alien, or a devil. Or Jimmy Neutron.

3. No contours

“I inched closer, stretched out my whole hand now, to trace the contours of his forearm with my fingertips.”

Do you see any contours? Absolutely not.

4. Seriously disgusting and scrawny

“He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.”

Sculpted, incandescent chest. Look at his body dude, it’s not it! He’s hideous, and his abs are spray painted.

5. Smiling is good

He should be smiling like this throughout the whole movie.

(The BF leaves me with these thoughts…) We can talk about how gay Bella is too…

For the comments: Do you agree with my BF’s thoughts? If you don’t, pick a fight with him.

Greg Laswell slays me

2010-04-12T09:43:00.001-04:00

Way back when I was in London, I saw Ingrid Michaelson in concert with Greg Laswell. Nothing stood out to me then about him, and although Emily gave me his cd, I didn’t listen to it.

Well. Friday night I put it on for the first time.

And let me tell you.

Out of this much,

I love him this much.

Which equals this.

Love with me.

For the comments: What do you think of Greg Laswell? Any band/singer you’ve recently discovered and love?

I <3 Guitar

2010-04-10T20:56:00.001-04:00

I’ve picked up a new hobby.

My bff Sean has been teaching me some chords.
And as of tonight, I can officially play one whole song.
(Ingrid Michaelson’s “Everybody”)
And PS. yeah that’s a Dutchmen tattoo on my hand. What up.

Dutchmen Day!!

2010-04-07T22:15:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, my friends, was DUTCHMEN DAY!! A little bit about Dutchmen Day.
Dutchmen Day is supposed to be a surprise day of cancelled classes, outdoor games, food, and general fun-ness. Key word being “surprise.”
Here’s the deal with Dutchmen Day.

It’s never a surprise.

While throughout the 2nd semester there are a couple times when rumors start that Dutchmen Day is going to be the next day, there’s usually one night where everyone gets a text from a friend saying “I’m 99% sure tomorrow is Dutchmen Day.”

Monday night was that night.

Sure enough, at 4:00 am Tuesday I got a text from a friend in Student Government saying it was indeed Dutchmen Day. The roommate and I set our alarms for 6:15am.

Here’s another thing about Dutchmen Day. At 6:30 am, Student Govt. goes around with blow horns and whistles to wake everyone up. Those who get to the social quad early enough have the chance of getting a free Dutchmen Day t-shirt.

However, people are crazy about their t-shirts. Hence the roommate and I setting our alarms for 6:15. At 6:15, we put on our sweatpants and sweat shirts (which were already waiting beside our beds…we were prepared) and went down to the social quad. There were already a bunch of people down there.

Dutchmen Day morning is always fun, because you get to see everyone at their finest: bleary eyed, in pj’s, many times hung over. Good times.
We wait in line, hoping we still have a chance to get a t-shirt. At about quarter ’til, the president of student government stands on a chair to make an announcement, saying to know your t-shirt size, get in the right line, blah blah, and oh yeah, “The t-shirts are over at the library.”

WTF!?

About 250 students sprint towards the library, losing shoes, cell phones, dodging people and plants.

I’m sure we looked ridiculous.

However, our sprinting paid off. Roommate and I were 8th in our line for our dorm and got some sweet t-shirts.

This is my special face.

We continued later that day with the Dutchmen Day tradition of putting on Dutchmen tattoos.

PS. I’m not sure why I look particularly Asian in this picture…
but I’m not.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the sun!!

PS. Sean is most definitely resting his head on Emily’s breastses.

We ate yummy picnic food!

Yay for special faces!!

And played some more in the sun!

And did this:

Our school had a webcam set up, so I called up The Boyfriend and had him screen shot Emily and I!

Can’t see us? Here we are!!

The most epic part of the day, however, was the water balloon fight. I hadn’t participated in a water balloon fight since I was probably 6, and let me tell you, if you haven’t either, MAKE IT HAPPEN. There were about 30 people just chucking balloons at each other. We got sufficiently soaked and it rocked.

After-the-fight pose

Out of all the pictures taken yesterday, I have a clear favorite. And it is this one.

The end.

My favoritist dish in the world

2010-04-02T20:34:00.001-04:00

To the uninitiated, I present to you:

Macaroni & Cheese Soup

( I would have taken a cooler picture, but I didn’t think of this blog post until I’d already put the mac & cheese in the fridge…)

How to make:
Ps. My dad made up this culinary concoction, hence the measurements are not specific.

Line the bottom of a big pot with salt, and boil a lot of water.
Put in a lot of macaroni noodles. Boil until they’re really really soft.
Drain. After you put them back in the pot, fill the pot with milk until it comes up to the line of macaroni.
Add in 2 tablespoons of margarine. (Tablespoons? However much is 2 of the lines on a stick of margarine)
Add in like 6 slices of American cheese.
Add in half a …“brick”…(what do you call those??) of Velveeta cheese, sliced.
Stir until all is melted and then = YUMTASTIC.

Yay for next year!

2010-03-31T01:35:00.001-04:00

Room sign ups for our last year here at LVC were tonight, and let me tell you, next year is going to be epic.

Here are the future-roomies outside of Dellinger!
Sarah, Emily, me, and Erin.

We have a kitchen, laundry, lobby, and balcony on our end of the floor, plus a bathroom and common area in the suite…it’s gonna be SWEET!

I excite.

Here are the future roomies just joshin’ around in our suite.

Here we are playing in the shower! We’re silly.

Yay for next year!

My very own unicorn

2010-03-29T00:50:00.001-04:00

According to the ladies over at Letters to Twilight:

A unicorn refers to a mythical creature… meaning a person we’ve only heard to exist but have never seen in real life, i.e.: a man reading Twilight/A male Twilight fan

Ladies and gents, I’ve got my very own unicorn.

Meet Brent. He’s my bf. He just started reading Twilight.
I will log his progress.

Bananas and Barry Manilow

2010-03-16T22:47:00.002-04:00

I found this site called Learn Something Everyday. Every day of the year, they post random facts with funny pictures.

Tried it, it’s true.

STRONGBOW!!

Ha. I detest Barry Manilow.

….Swahh!??

This one is true on so many levels.

Who knew?

R. Pattz can act!

2010-03-16T01:08:00.001-04:00

Hold the phone.
Swahhh!?

This past weekend, some gf’s and I saw Remember Me (Emily wrote up a good review here).

In the movie, Rob Pattinson plays a moody, anger-issues, drinks-and-smokes-too-much kind of guy.

Many would say this is not much of a stretch.

However, R. Pattz is not really a moody, angsty guy.
He’s more of a he’s-so-out-there-what-the-eff-is-he-talking-about kind of guy. Take this vid, for instance.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

So…I guess he actually acted the part pretty well!

While I’m still not completely sure what I think of Remember Me (I waiver between absolute detestation and complete adoration on a daily basis), I can say that it did nothing but foster my infatuation with R. Pattz.

For the comments: Have you seen Remember Me? What was your reaction? How do you think Rob did?

Success

2010-03-08T20:43:00.001-05:00

Number 1.

Number 2.

Yes’m, Brent and I finally succeeded in seeing Avatar in IMAX 3-D as well as seeing Muse live in concert. All in one weekend. Both of which rocked.

Let’s talk about this sweet weekend. Picked up Brent from work and we sped to KOP to see Avatar. Picked up our reserved tix, walked into the biggest IMAX theater I’ve ever seen in my life, and pooped our pants for how cool Avatar looks in IMAX 3-D.

Next day, woke up and headed to NYC for the day. Went to Central Park and took some pics on rocks.

Found a fun Thai restaurant and ate this amazingness.

Found an Irish pub, where I first ordered ~~the most disgusting drink I’ve ever had~~ a mango-tini, then found out they had Irish Cider (ummmz, hello London!!) and got one of my favs, Magner’s.
Don’t you worry though, Brent and I still managed to finish the ~~glass of pure vodka~~ martini.

Then…..we saw Muse!!

The concert was epic. Srsly.

I may have poopty-peupty-pants-ed my pants.

We spent the next two days watching True Blood and NCIS.
Like I said, sweet effing weekend.

Musatar Bad Luck

2010-03-03T11:39:00.002-05:00

(Ps. Let’s just skip over the fact I haven’t blogged in almost a month)
I have come to the conclusion that Brent and I have very bad luck when it comes to things we want to see, such as concerts or movies.
As mentioned in this post, Brent and I had bought tickets to see Muse in Spain (while I was studying in Europe), only to be disappointed when the venue changed the concert date.
Disappointment # 1.

A couple weeks back, Brent and I decided we were going to see Avatar in IMAX 3-D (because it is amazeballs in IMAX 3-D). The closest IMAX theater was 50 min away, but we were determined to go see it. We were siked the whole way there, only to find that every single showing for the day was sold out. We saw Lovely Bones instead.
Disappointment #2.

Now, this weekend may or may not be epic. Thursday night, Brent and I have tickets to see the very last showing of Avatar in IMAX 3-D at King of Prussia. Friday night, we have tickets to see Muse at Madison Square Garden. What’s gonna happen!??!

Avatar

2010-02-04T00:38:00.002-05:00

It seems like every 5 months or so I get obsessed with a new movie. This time, it’s James Cameron’s Avatar.

I saw this movie in probably it’s second wave of popularity. I had heard from others that the story was just like Pocahontas but with super cool effects.
And, it is just like Pocahontas with super cool effects.
But, it rocks.

100 years in the future, humans have found a moon, Pandora, with a natural resource that could be extremely profitable—if only the native Na’vi didn’t live on top of the hugest pile of it. Injured marine Jake Sully is sent to negotiate with the Na’vi through an avatar that looks like the native people—9 ft tall, blue skin, tail, etc. Jake finds him self falling in love with the Na’vi princess, however, which = uh oh!
The picture above perfectly captures the magic of the movie, I think. The blue/green/purple color palette is so cool looking, as are the design of the Na’vi. They have these super cool sparkles on their face, plus some intense barely-there clothing items.

Badass Neytiri.

Although the love story is kind of predictable, James Cameron’s story telling abilities still made it really enjoyable to watch. It’s amazing how you flawlessly went from live action to digital stuff and back again without realizing it. The characters and the world look so real.

Above moment was awesome. Jake + Neytiri = Luv4eva.
The first time I saw Avatar, I saw it in 3-D, and thought it was pretty spectacular. However, the best way to see this movie is IMAX 3-D. It’s an experience that is incredible and overwhelming and amazing. All you can see in front of you is the movie and the 3-D pulls you into it even more.
I was hesitant about the 3-D, because I hate when you go on those Disney rides and things pop out and scare you, but this 3-D is different. Instead of popping out, it pulls you in. It gives things more of a dimension depth-wise into the picture, not out of it.
This whole movie just transfixes you and pulls you in. Admittedly, when I first saw the preview I was extremely doubtful, but I’ve been proved wrong. This movie is amazing and a must see.

Ps. This girl is way badass.
For the comments: Have you seen Avatar? What did you think? Does it deserve the praise (or in some cases criticism) that it’s getting?

Why I don’t have time to blog anymore.

2010-01-12T16:13:00.001-05:00

Modern Family

2010-01-07T23:37:00.001-05:00

So let’s talk about my new favorite show.

Modern Family

I realize it’s already halfway through it’s first season, but as I was in the UK for 3 months, I’m a little behind on US pop culture.

The show follows three different families: a sometimes dysfunctional 2 parent 3 kid family, a multicultural family, and a homosexual family, all in a quick half hour format.

So. Why this show is awesome.

1. Mockumentary format

It’s one of the reasons The Office is so funny—characters react and sometimes interact with the cameras, and you get more inside the character’s head with “confessionals.” As with The Office, characters in Modern Family will sit down in front of the camera by themselves or with other members of the family,and confide their side of a story or situation. These always provide funny quotes.

2. Awesome characters

With 6 main adult characters and 4 main kid characters, there are many personalities to draw from. Favorites:

Phil

Phil is the dad of the Dunphy family and is amazing. He is kind of the Michael Scott of Modern Family, but you never hate him. He is usually entirely clueless and is definitely an 8 year old at heart. Phil typically has the best lines of the show.

Luke

Luke is Phil’s son and is probably the quirkiest character of the show—from shots showing him jumping on a trampoline with nothing on but boxers and a bag over his head, to deciding he might like a belt for his birthday because the electrical cord around his waist just isn’t cutting it anymore. He is the neglected child of the Dunphy family whose birthday is nearly always forgotten, but Luke doesn’t really know better. He has some great lines and is just cute.

3. Cute lessons in the end

While this show is a comedy, it is ultimately a show about family. No matter what antics the characters get in, by the end of the half hour it is all neatly wrapped and shows how important family is to each character. The show always has a feel good ending.

Here’s a clip from last night’s show to give you an idea what the show and my fav character Phil is like.

Modern Family is on ABC Wednesdays at 9pm.

For the comments: What’s your favorite new show this year?

Board Games!

2010-01-01T23:47:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!!
Hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve! I partied it up in the Schuylkill Co with some aweshome LVC besties!

Yeahhhh twas goot times.

Also since my last blog post was Christmas!
Me and The Boyfriend showing off some goods. I scored some sweet books, socks, candy, and many new board games.
Speaking of boards games, I’ve decided to dedicate this blog post to a review of my new games!

Review of my new games!

1. Charades-in-a-Box: Celebrity Edition

I got this game from one of my LVC friends, Ben, in a Pollyanna gift exchange. Each card has three people/items/places etc to act out, with a chili pepper rating beside them. The more the chili peppers, the hard the clue is to guess. You chose one from the card to act out to your team.
Charades is always fun, and it’s nice to have it in a box rather than make up the clues. The only thing bad about this game is that some of the clues are seemingly impossible to act out. This one, for instance:

“Picking dumb names for your children.”

Hmm. Ok. How would you ever act this out?? Plz help me here.
Other than this, the game is fun! I give it a B.
2. Scrabble SLAM!
My aunt gave me this game. It is really easy and has a playing time of no more than 10 min. If you’ve every played the card game ‘Spit’, it has a similar concept: you have cards that have a letter of the alphabet on the front and back. You pick a four-letter word to start with, and have to build on it by changing one letter at a time from the cards in your hand. First person to use all their cards wins. You can play this game with 2-4 people.

I’m a big fan of word games, and this is a great, easy, portable one. Game play is really quick and it gets you thinking. It’s really easy to get the hang of, too. This is a new fam favorite. A!
3. Wits & Wagers
This game is a trivia game where you don’t actually have to know your trivia. Each round starts with a question everyone answers, with usually very obscure answers that it’s unlikely to know. Everyone shows their guesses, and the players proceed to bet on which guess they think is the closest without going over.
Thus, the way to win the game is not to know all your trivia, but rather be able to bet on which answers are closest.
This game was really different and fun. Since winning doesn’t solely depend on trivia, anyone can play it and easily have an equal chance of winning. It’s a good game for players spanning a wide range of ages and is a fun game to play with family. I give it an A.
4. Party-Tini
Partini, or as it’s also known Party-Tini, is a little like Cranium—it consists of multiple little games like charades, clay sculpting, or guess-that-tune that your team has to complete in order to win. There are some added games that Cranium doesn’t have—Bouncers, which consists of mini games using little cups and 2 balls; What Not, where you have to get your team to guess the clue by saying what it is not; and Straight Up, where you write true or funny sentences about your team mates.

There is no board, but rather you collect the coasters which state the games on them. First team to collect 7 coasters wins.
I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this game. I’ve played it twice so far: once with 4 family members, and once with 10 friends. The family members game was low key but still fun, and I thought the game had a lot of potential. However, when I played it with friends, it was slow moving since the rules for each game had to be explained every time.
I think the game still has a lot of potential if everyone (or most everyone) would know how to play it. There are a couple other flaws though, one being the “Humdinger” cards; they are by decade, so many time you have to go through a couple songs until you find one where you know the songs. This category also presents a problem when playing with different age groups, in that many times one player will know the songs but other team members won’t. I do like that it’s a lot more flexible than Cranium—if you don't like a game, you can take out the coasters for it. Overall, I think I’ll give this game a B+.
5. Smart Ass
The set-up of this game is pretty simple: a card is read describing either a person, place, or thing. The reader reads down the list of clues and whoever thinks they know what is being described chimes in with their answer. If they are right, they get to roll the die. If they lose, they can’t guess on the card anymore, and the reader continues with the clues until someone guesses it correctly.
The clues start very vague and become more specific the more you read. This game is great for the person who hates when they know the answer to another team’s question—i.e. me—but can’t answer because its’ not their turn. In this game, anyone can guess, anytime. On top of that, the game includes game pieces of donkeys. Score.
I played this game with family and we all loved it. The clues on the cards cover a wide range of topics, so that an 18-year-old to an 80-year-old were able to play and guess cards. This is another new fam favorite. A.

Yay for new games! I think I have to say though, even with these new additions, that my all-time favorite game ever ever ever is Catchphrase.
For the comments: Do you have any great games to recommend? Also, please help me out in describing how you’d act out “Picking dumb names for your children.”

Ho ho ho

2009-12-25T00:41:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! xoxo

Snow Storm of ‘09

2009-12-21T23:13:00.001-05:00

So you know that huuuuge snow storm that hit the east coast this weekend? The one that dumped 7.5 inches in Newark, a foot of snow in DC and 16 inches in Philly?

Yeah, that one.
Funny story. We London study-abroaders were supposed to land in Newark, DC, and Philly on Saturday.
I’d say 7 out of the 19 flying that day actually landed where they were supposed to.
Luckily, I was one of the 7.
I know people who ended up stranded in Chicago, Boston, Newark, and the worst yet, Emily is still stranded in England. (She has a flight home tomorrow though, thankfully.)
We were lucky in that Newark didn’t get hit as hard as DC and Philly did, so our flight wasn’t cancelled or rerouted. It was just an hour late, but hellllo I can definitely deal with that.
Brent was going to pick me up from Newark and drive me back to his apt in West Chester and we’d drive the rest of the way the next day, but the roads were nottttt good, so we decided to find a hotel in Newark. Yeah right—we had to drive 30 min in a freakin blizzard until we could find a hotel with rooms.
Lamespice.
We eventually found a hotel motel Econolodge Inn in Jersey City and were able to drive home the next day.

But, moral of the story is….

I’M HOME!!

Fun-filled week of unpacking, last minute gift shopping, and printing pics in time for when family visits. I’m almost ready for Christmas, are you?

London, it’s been real

2009-12-18T17:12:00.003-05:00

Well, that went fast. Seems like yesterday we landed in London, explored our flat and the town and went out to our first pub together. I really can’t believe that tomorrow I’ll be going home! It’s very bittersweet, in that I can’t wait to go home and see everyone and for my life to be normal again, but then again it’s going to be real tough leaving this city that we’ve all grown so attached to.
We’ve spent this last week doing all the touristy things we hadn’t done yet, going back to our favorite restaurants/bars/clubs, generally just trying to fit in as much of London as we can before leaving.
In order to recap the time spent here, I’ve made a couple lists. Some sum up the cool things I’ve seen and did here, while others may not mean much to readers, however will be my way of remembering all the awesome times I’ve had here with my friends.
First, the serious list.
Awesome sites/things I’ve done

Countries I’ve been to
1. England
2. Scotland
3. Spain
4. The Netherlands
5. Belgium
6. France
Parts of England I’ve visited
1. London
2. Stonehenge
3. Bath
4. Salisbury
5. Hastings
6. Cotswolds
7. Dover
I’ve met people from…
1. Pennsylvania
2. NY
3. Wisconsin
4. New Jersey
5. Illinois
6. Tennessee
7. California
8. Holland
9. Norway
10. Portugal
11. England
12. Australia
13. Japan
Number of shows I’ve seen in London
1. 12
Galleries/museums I’ve visited
1. 7
Concerts I’ve been to
1. 2
Buildings/Sites I’ve been to
1. Tower of London (built in 1078)
2. Windsor Castle (c. 1070)
3. Edinburgh Castle (c. 1140)
4. Salisbury Cathedral (1258)
5. Notre Dame (1345)
6. Catedral de Barcelona (1450)
7. Hampton Court (c. 1514)
8. Palace of Versailles (1682)
9. Houses of Parliament (1834)
10. Arc de Triomphe (1836)
11. Buckingham Palace (1850)
12. Big Ben (1859)
13. Sagrada Familia (1882, still under construction)
14. Tower Bridge (1894)
15. Sacre Coeur (1914)
16. London Eye (1999)
Cool things I’ve seen
1. Crown Jewels of England
2. Crown Jewels of Scotland
3. Gutenberg Bible
4. One of Shakespeare’s original folios
5. Magna Carta
6. Original handwritten Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte
7. Handwritten Beatle’s lyrics
8. Mummy of Cleopatra
9. Rosetta Stone
10. Mona Lisa
11. Venus de Milo
12. Works by Picasso, Turner, Botticelli, Monet
13. Buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi

Now the less serious list.
Fun things/memories

Clubs/bars we’ve gone to in London
1. 15+
Drinks
1. Magners
2. Strongbow
3. Bulmers
4. Snakebite
5. Rum and Coke
6. Screwdriver
7. Sex on the Beach
8. Shots
9. Bailey’s & hot chocolate
10. SoCo
11. Becks
12. Jaeger bomb
13. Concoctions by Rachel
Roommates with Tylenol for hangovers on the nightstand
1. 2 out 3
Number of shot glasses Flat 18 started with
1. 0
Number accumulated
1. 10
Number of glasses Flat 18 started with
1. 3
Number by the end of the semester
1. 12
Number of times at Karaoke
1. 8
Glasses broken at Karaoke
1. 3
Number of nicknames we have for people
1. 10, including Crazy Glasses Girl, Joby, Climate Change, Yuhhhsortoffff, Social Problems, Hagrid, etc
Great stories
1. Rachel sleepwalking
2. The 3 roommates sleep talking
3. Gauguin
4. Sarah lost in London
5. Sarah falling in Palace of Versailles
6. Rachel falling off bus
7. Me faceplanting
8. Mark slipping in Scotland (x2)
9. Mark & I’s walk back from karaoke
10. Mark and I freaking out in elevator of Eiffel Tower
11. Racing down stairs playing Spoons
12. Big dance move
13. Mark’s roommate’s grocery purchases
14. Halloween night bus
15. Rachel’s receipt usage
16. Sarah’s ticket usage
17. Rachel’s toilet paper in shoes
18. Carrots in the purse
19. Pregaming the breakup
20. Epic night--The karaoke video
21. (whispered) “Hi, how are you”
22. Being twins
23. Sarah’s goose laugh
24. “I have to pee!”…Every time.
25. Social problems, Ozzy & Greek guy at karaoke
26. Night bus. Full stop.
27. Strongbow, kebabs, ChopChop
28. McFlurries
29. Mark and Rachel’s 3-7 night bus adventure home
30. Rachel’s late-night cooking
31. Eating eggs with fingers and noodles with knives
32. Stealing glasses from pubs
33. Stealing glasses from pubs with drink still in them
34. Chatting up random Norwegian guy(Rrrrrrrramon) to get his glass
35. Whisky tasting
36. Tractor….red.
37. Yuhsortofffff and Hair
38. Sexist Russian
39. Playing “Turrets”
40. Black pudding
41. Eating baby food
42. Last night of clubbing
43. Last karaoke
44. The mornings after
Number of times we made Mark watch twilight things
1. 4
Number of times Mark felt gay watching twilight things
1. 4…000000000000000000000000000
Number of meals I can now make
1. 8
Packs of shortbread cookies consumed
1. 25+
Number of guys the flat mates made out with combined
1. At least 20
Bottles of alchy we went through
1. 35+
Seminars/lectures skipped
1. 7
Tube lines
1. 9
Stations
1. 30+
London theme songs
1. “American Boy”
2. “Down”
3. “Sexy Bitch”
4. “When Love Takes Over”
5. “Blame It”
6. “Hotel Room Service”
Celebrity Encounters
1. Jamie Campbell Bower (Caius and Grindlewald), in concert in Hyde Park
2. Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley), in Mother Courage
3. Henry Melling (Dudley Dursley), in Mother Courage
4. Kevin Spacey, in Inherit the Wind (with autograph!)
Tweets from London
1. 200+
Levels completed in Farmville
1. 22
Times we had to call maintenance
1. 5+
British foods I’ve tried
1. Black pudding
2. Chicken and leek pie
3. Sunday roast
4. Ciders
5. Cheese & tomato sandwich
Number of bad nights between the four of us
1. 5
Number of great nights between the four of us
1. Too many to count
Number of languages I saw New Moon posters/books in
1. 4*

*see: London Underground

Bruges, Belgium

Barcelona, Spain

Paris, France

This whole trip has been so so cool and an amazing opportunity. I think when I go home it will feel so surreal that I actually lived in London for almost 3 months. I’m so glad I did it though, because it’s not something that everyone has the opportunity to do. I learned that I can in fact live in a city (although still not sure if I actually want to!) and I learned a lot about different countries and their different cultures. I will never ever take LVC for granted (London Met sux!!) and, as much as it pains me to say it, I will never take Wal-Mart for granted either.
I’ve seen some amazing places and made some awesome friends. As you can see from the lists above I have so so so many great memories I’m taking back with me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. London, thanks for the amazing semester!

Next post will be from the states! For the comments: If you want me to elaborate on a “great story”, pick one or two in the comments, and I may or may not answer it. Depends which one it is.

J’adore Paris: Days 2 and 3

2009-12-13T20:02:00.002-05:00

I have finished all my final papers, so I can continue my Paris post! Hooray.
Day 1 (con’t)
Here’s a super short vid I made of the Eiffel Tower from the first day in Paris.

Day 2
We started out day 2 by hiking up Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur, a well-known cathedral.
It was pretty cool looking on the outside and inside. Unfortunately, it started pouring while we were up there. Lamespice. There was a great view from the city from the top of the hill, where on a clear day you can see every landmark of Paris (except the Eiffel Tower).

It wasn’t the clearest of days, but it was still a cool view.
Went back down the hill and saw Moulin Rouge on the way. Sarah forgot her umbrella and rocked the poncho.

She didn’t realize she was standing on a vent until her poncho smothered her.
Love the lady in the background.
Also love when Sarah couldn’t get it off.

Next stop was to see Notre Dame. If you’re wondering if I’m posing as a hunchback in front of Notre Dame, the answer is absolutely.
This cathedral was wayyy cool. The outside looked awesome (and they had a Christmas tree up!) and the inside was huuuuuuge.
There’s no way you can capture how big this place is in a picture. Way cool.
After Notre Dame, we had some time to kill so we went down to pose for pics by the River Seine.
Ummz, can we talk about the angle that Emily is leaning right now??

130 degrees! Dayum girl.

Next, the four of us took an excursion to the palace Versailles.

I’ve been to a few palaces in England, but none were as ornate as this one. Crazy gold gilding, tapestries everywhere, huge paintings on the ceilings, etc. The Hall of Mirrors alone was pretty impressive.

The only bad part was that they didn’t have many rooms actually open to tour. The ones they did have were awesome enough though.
We got back to Paris and were determined to eat at a French restaurant. We found an awesome one by Notre Dame, called Le Chat Qui Peche.
Ps. I have no idea what that means.
They had a special for I think 12 Euros where you got an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Awesome! I had (French) onion soup for my appetizer and it was amazeballs.

Om nom nom!

Also ordered steak. The place was so cute! We definitely had a great time eating there. Except for the fact that we all ordered a drink because it seems in Europe they never give you anything for free…and after we ordered our drinks they came with complimentary water. Gosh darn it. Especially sucked for Emily, since she had ordered bottled water. Whoops!

Spent the night walking around a big Christmas market, which looked nicer than it actually was. There were tons of different shops, but like I’ve encountered in other cities the stuff they sell is just … crap. Oh well! The lights were pretty.

Day 3
Our last day in Paris was spent in a visit to The Louvre. Since it’s free to everyone on the first Sunday of the month, we had to wait about 50 min in line to actually get in.

The tour guide took us straight to the main attraction, Mona Lisa.

What you can’t see in the above picture are the throngs of people trying to get a picture of it.
This painting is protected by first a barrier holding the viewers back, then by a second wooden barrier, then covered in glass. Srsly!?? #1, You can’t even get close enough to appreciate the work of art, and #2, Even from far away…it doesn’t look that great!
We next looked for another famous piece of art housed in The Louvre, Venus de Milo.
This was preeeetty cool, since this sculpture is uuber famous.
There is no way that the 2 hours we had in The Louvre were enough to actually see the place, I think we saw about 15 out of 100+ rooms. Ridiculous. Wish we could have had time to stay longer, but had to head home!
Soo, story time about bus ride home. After eating lunch, Emily and I wanted a snack to take back on the bus with us. We looked in a convenience store, and saw these liquid fruit packets next to yogurt. They kinda looked like the squeezable yogurt, so we got them. When I checked out, the lady gave me a weird look, but I disregarded it. I bought it and unscrewed the lid, commenting that the top was awfully child proof. Took a sip….and it was most definitely positively absolutely baby food.
Dude, where’s the baby on the packaging?!? How was I supposed to know this packet (entirely in French) was baby food? I looked at the packaging again, and in tiny tiny small print on the back was:

Tenir le bouchon revissable hors d la portee des enfants de moins de 36 mois.

Which means, this is suitable for children up to 36 months. Gahh! It was the most liquidy, sicknast applesauce I’ve ever eaten in my life.
I ate the whole thing.
All in all, I absolutely loved Paris! Most definitely my favorite city I’ve travelled to so far. May also be my favorite trip…It’s tied with Scotland, which was a totally different kind of trip so it’s hard to compare. I definitely want to go back sometime!
So, I actually only have 5 days (woww) left in London, which is absolutely nuts to think about. These past 2.5 months have been so surreal and I don’t want to think about leaving this place I’ve grown so attached to and have had so many awesome memories in. However, on the same note I cannot wait to get home and see my family, Brent, and friends. Look for a post in the coming week recapping my time here in London town.

J'adore Paris: Day 1

2009-12-09T08:10:00.001-05:00

Since I’m attempting to write 2 papers by this Friday, I don’t have time to write a complete Paris post. But instead of keeping you waiting, I present to you: Day 1!

This past weekend, Sarah, Emily, Mark and I took a 3-day trip to Paris!

Although we left London at 6:05 am, we didn’t get to Paris until about 6 pm. We checked into our hotel (which was pretty nice, except for some open-shower water-spraying-everywhere problems) and then took a bus tour of the city. It was dark, but luckily Paris looks amazeballs at night.

Ummz, I don’t remember what this building was. But I know it didn’t have any windows.

Christmas (? maybe? or maybe it’s always there) Ferris wheel and the Obelisk

Arc de Triomphe

We next took a night river cruise down the River Seine.

From the water, we had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

After the cruise, we braved the cold and waited in line to go up in the Eiffel Tower.

Terrible camera positioning…

While waiting, a French security guard heard me speaking English and his face lit up and he asked, “English!?!?” And I said “…Yeah!” and he proceed to vigorously shake my hand and ask with a heavy accent “How are you doing?” and I answered “Good! How are you?” but he had nothing more to say because that was the extent of his English. Good times.
After about an hour and half of waiting, we were able to buy our tickets and get on the elevator. I didn’t know that I was afraid of elevators until I got in it and could see out and see how high were were going and I freaked out a ~~little~~ lot. I’m not afraid of heights—just elevators dropping me from heights. However, they were safe (hurray!), and we made it up all 990 feet of it. And the view was entirely worth it.

Sorry I don’t have time to finish the post, days 2 and 3 coming soon!

Amsterugelona

2009-12-01T22:00:00.003-05:00

As predicted, November was crazy busy, what with friends and The Boyfriend visiting, along with trips every weekend…but since I have a wee bit of free time (and since Mom is demanding it) I’m making time for a new post!
Two weekends ago (sigh…getting behind is the worst) I took a trip through a tour group to Amsterdam and Bruges.

The trip took forrrevvverrrr to get there—we drove by coach to Dover, took a ferry to Calais, France, then coached through France and Belgium to the Netherlands. We left London at 6:15 am, got to Amsterdam around 6:15 pm.
Arrived, checked into the hostel, and discovered it is located smack dab in the middle of the red light district, which was ~~grosskies~~ ~~sicknast~~ interesting. We took a red light district tour that night, and were introduced to the joys that are hookers in windows and coffee shops selling “space brownies.”
The next day we went to a Dutch heritage center where we saw wooden clogs being made and lots of windmills.

We came back to Amsterdam and took a canal cruise (if you didn’t know, Amsterdam has tons of canals, hence all the blue…)
The cruise was pretty neat, as it gave a pretty awesome view of the city.
After the cruise, some people with the group and I visited the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house.
In short…
The Van Gogh museum was not worth the €12.50 I paid for it.
The Anne Frank house was well worth whatever I paid for it—it was amazing, completely in tact (save for the furniture, which was removed at the request of Anne’s father) and was very moving.
The hostel we stayed at was pretty cool; the bar was banging, and so were the murals in the rooms.
(Although falling asleep with this above my head was a little weird.)
Also, the hostel had a cute black cat :)

Left Amsterdam Sunday morning to head to Bruges, Belgium.
Bruges was a really really neat city and they had a Christmas Market going on in the square which was fun.
I couldn’t go to Belgium without trying some Belgium waffles.
The waffles and hot chocolate were amazeballs.
I think I would have rather had a day less in Amsterdam and an extra day in Bruges; the city was much nicer to explore and a lot cleaner (i.e. no hookers or pot brownies).

Another thing that kept me busy was The Boyfriend came to visit!!

I mished him.
I took him to see all the cool sites in London, as well as all my favorite spots to eat, drink, have fun, etc. We packed sooo much into the few days that he was here, but we had a blast.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Brent and I had booked plane tickets and a hostel for Barcelona to see Muse play there. Unfortunately, they had to change the concert date, but Brent and I still went and made the most of it. We decided to make a vlog of the trip!

Overall, the city was pretty cool, although it just didn’t seem very friendly, which was kinda lamespice. I’d like to go back in the summer sometime, because it is a beach city (we didn’t have time to actually see the beach) and apparently the city is just rockin then.

Sculpture down by the docks.

You can just see the city through the trees.

Two buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi.

Catedral de Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, by Gaudi. After over 100 years, the cathedral is still unfinished. Services will be able to be held in 2010 (I think), but the entire cathedral won’t be finished until 2030. The detail on the building was amazeballs.
Along with Brent visiting, two of the LVC besties visited over T-Giving break as well—Erin and Sean! It was awesome to see them.
Other things of note from the past week:
Saw Ingrid Michaelson in concert for the third time! She was amazing, as always.
Saw New Moon!!! Yeah. Amazeballs.

This weekend will be my last big trip in Europe to Paris. Going with Mark, Sarah, and Emily, so it should be a good time! Will post about it when I get back.

Quickie Post

2009-11-24T21:02:00.001-05:00

This weekend I went to Amsterdam!

I would write more about how pretty the canals were, or how weirdspice is was to stay in (literally) the middle of the red-light district but…..

Brent’s coming tomorrow!!!!

To be continued,
after spending some good quality time with The Boyfriend :)

Scotland is amazeballs

2009-11-16T18:48:00.004-05:00

This past weekend I made my first trip out of England to bonny Scotland!

I’m not sure what expectations I had of Scotland, but the trip definitely surpassed them. We started off taking a train to Edinburgh on Thursday night to explore, and because our tour left early the next morning.
We stayed in the Old Town which was so cool looking. Went to a pub for dinner, walked around the town a little after.
We stayed in the Castle Rock Hostel…which let me tell you, was pretty skeezy.
It had good ratings on HostelWorld.com, but it turned out to be a little…questionable.

Thank you, Mark, for looking directly at the camera.

The place was filled with some…interesting people. The one redeeming quality was nice, hot showers, which we learned to not take for granted.

We were pretty beat from a 4 hour train ride so we went to bed early. I kind of regret this now, since I totally forgot Edinburgh has a hidden underground city you can take a ghost tour through. Guess I’ll have to go back!
Saw Castle Rock while in Edinburgh, which is built on top of huge rocks.

Friday morning we met at the tour group place to start our Wild & Sexy tour of the Scottish Highlands!
We had a for real Scottish tour guide who made us say “aye” instead of “yes.” I felt a little like a pirate.
The tour was set up to stop at a bunch of little places on the way to bigger places. Our tour route:

At one place we saw some pretty old burial tombs made of stones. Also, got our very first view of Loch Ness!
No monster, though.
We eventually made it to our hostel, which was wayyy better than the one the night before (this one was set up by the tour).
The room housed 6 people—we actually roomed with two girls from Australia who had been backpacking around Europe for the past couple months. Everything was clean and the hostel was cool…except since about 50 people would come back around the same time each day, the showers were FREEEEEEEZING. Some people lucked out and got a semi-lukewarm shower. I didn’t have such luck. Not cool.
Being adventurous, a bunch of us signed up to do a £10 whisky tasting. And not the blended whisky stuff they have in the states and elsewhere….this is the fo rizzle single-malt whisky made in Scotland.
Even though the guy only gave us a “wee dram,” it was possibly the worst thing I have ever drank. We first went through the proper preparation steps, like smelling it, swirling it, etc. From the smell, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. I was wrong. Whisky is a very strong-tasting drink. Especially when straight. Although we were able to dilute it with water….ughhh. Didn’t help much. Still, it was an experience!
The next morning we were able to go back to Loch Ness to see it in the daylight.
We also stopped at Scotland Loch, which actually resembles the shape of Scotland.
I learned that there are a LOT of lochs in Scotland, especially in the Highlands. We were constantly driving along them.
We stopped at the famous Eilean Donan Castle, on the shores of Loch Duich. The castle is featured on many a postcard.
The Scottish love their legends about wee people, fairies, stuff like that. One of the rivers we stopped at supposedly has magical powers.
According to legend, one time a lady had a disfigured face and wanted to marry a guy but he wouldn’t because of her face, etc etc, and a fairy told her that if she put her face into this river for 7 seconds, she would have eternal youth. And she did.
And now I will too.
Tour guide Scottish Stevie took us on a wee hike where we got to see some prettty cool views from the Isle of Skye.

Took some rockin pics as well.
We wrapped up the day with another legend: if you took a drink from a particular waterfall, then took another gulp in your mouth, ran down the hill, touched a certain stone, made a wish, and swallowed the water, your wish would come true.
I got the drink and had the other gulp in my mouth, however I couldn’t stop laughing on the way down the hill from the sounds Mark made with his mouth full…and I choked and had to swallow it. No wish for me. I was just going to wish for eternal youth anyways, and I already got that covered.
That night at the hostel we went to a Scottish Highlander show, which this creepy guy in a kilt held in his creepy house and was pretty creepy when dressing up people in Scottish wear. All in all, pretty creepy. But when we went back, a fiddle and accordion player (both girls in their 20’s) played at the hostel and they were awesome. They taught some Scottish dances, which Emily and I kicked butt in.
Hands down, highlight of our last day on the tour…
HAIRY COOS!!
Tour guide took a little detour when we heard there were some Highland cows out on the road. They were possibly the cutest animals ever.

Baby coo!!
We ended the tour with an awesome drive back through the Scottish highlands to Edinburgh, while listening to traditional Scottish music. Pretty awesome.
Scotland has most def been my favorite trip so far while across the pond. It was so cool to travel around see a place I’d never been to before.
This coming weekend I leave for Amsterdam/Bruges! I’m actually going by myself on this trip, although it is through a tour company. I’m looking forward to it, as I’ve heard Amsterdam is beautiful.
For the comments: Where is one place you hope to go in your lifetime?

Parents and karaoke are fun but Barcelona tennis teams are lamespice.

2009-11-09T18:53:00.001-05:00

Chello. I’m using this post to put off doing homework. Hurray!
My parents were here this week, so I was tres busy showing them around, travelling with them, etc, but we had a fun time. We went to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and saw the fuzzy hats.

I also took them to Hastings; it wasn’t quite as nice of weather as the first time I was there, but oh well.

We toured the Tower Bridge, which was pretty neat because it had lots of info about the bridge and about London as well.

We also went to the British Museum which is huuuuuuge and we saw some mummies, including Cleopatra. Let me tell you, mummies are creepy.as.ish.

Even though the rents were here, I couldn’t miss out on Karaoke Night.

Here’s an awesome half-group pic from the tube.

Although I’m not entirely sure where Laura’s other leg is.

Awesome group shot from inside Karaoke.

Ummmz, can we please notice Sarah creepin’ in the corner?

Kthnx.

Before the rents left, they took me out shopping to buy me boots for Christmas. After about 3 hrs of not even finding one pair I wanted to try on, I found these.

Yayy! Now I won’t be cold and wet when it rains. And they rock because they look great with jeans or leggings.

Update time. Way back when, I wrote a post about my goals for London, and one of them was to attend the London New Moon premiere. Well lo and behold, Summit has decided to not have a premiere for the movie in London, but just to have a fan event with Rob, Kristen, Taylor, and Chris Weitz in attendance. The date for the event is November 11….as in 2 days away. The only way to get tickets is to enter contests.
I have entered 3 contests so far. I best be winning one of them. I will keep you updated.

Story time. In the same post as above I mentioned one of my goals was to see Muse in concert (and then proceeded to post a picture of Coldplay….???). Welllll Muse was going to be playing in Spain while Brent was visiting, so we bought tickets! We booked our plane, hostel, everything. We even spent a little extra money to change the flight because it was going to be cutting it too close to the concert.
Well. Yesterday I log into my Twitter and see a tweet from Muse stating that the Barcelona date had to be changed due to a tennis team needing to use the space. We can’t go anymore. I am tres bummed.

On a lighter note, this weekend we’re making our first big trip out of England to visit Scotland for 4 days!

We’re taking a train there Thursday then a guided bus tour Friday-Sunday. I’m preeeeeety excited.

Questions for the comments: Where is Laura’s leg? What do you think Sarah is thinking in the background of the picture? What do you think are my chances of making it to a premiere…slim to none, or just none?

Twenty-One in London Town

2009-11-04T10:46:00.002-05:00

It’s Wednesday, and I finally have time to post. School work is picking up (booo) and my parents are here, and they make me go places with them and show them around and they run me down.
Kidding. Except for the run me down part. They are doing that.
One awesome thing that happened this week is that there are some new, sweet movie promo posters in the Underground…like…
Shazam! There are New Moon posters allllll over, and it is awesome. Also found one on a bus.
Ohhhh yeah. And yes, I fan girl squeal every time I see a poster. Every time.
Let’s break down the week, shall we?

1. Camden Market
We found a cool market in Camden. Some parts were a little skeezy, where the vendors come up and hassle you and ask you to try on stuff, but then we found a cooler part.
Tonnnns of places to eat for cheap, and a lot of small, cool shops. Bought a scarf for £2.50, and also a cute ~~overpriced~~ dress.
Yes, I am taking this picture in the bathroom mirror by standing on a chair because we don’t have a full-length mirror in the flat. So what.
You can’t tell too well from the pic, but the dress has some sheep-sheep and hearts and a house on it. So cute!
2. Of course…Karaoke
Another Thursday, another night of rocking karaoke at ISH bar. We had originally signed up for “It’s Raining Men,” but dang it someone took it, so we signed up for “Since You’ve Been Gone.”
By the middle of the first verse, Rachel was hatin on us and had no confidence in our singing ability.
And she was probably right. We did suck. But it was good times!
3. Parents are here!
On Saturday my parents got here! They’re here for a week and staying in a flat. I’m having a fun time showing them around the city to my favorite places and showing them my flat, etc. We’ve gone on a couple day trips out of the city, one to Windsor Castle,
and to Dover, where we saw the Dover Castle and the white cliffs. It was a hiiiiike to get to the Dover Castle. Here are the rents on the steps.
Had a great view of the English Channel and could even see a little of France.
And of course…
The White Cliffs of Dover.
4. Halloween in London
Since we’re all cheap-o, and also didn’t think ahead, none of us had Halloween costumes….so we improvised! Rachel and I were twins (and I think we managed to convince at least 3 people of the fact).
Emily was Audrey Hepburn.
And Mark started out as a Fashion Statement, but ended the night just Gay.
He wore two vests, two of Emily’s fashion rings, three of my scarves, and my two Twilight bracelets, one of which says “I like boys so sparkle.”
We went to this place called The World’s End in Camden, which was packed and pretty fun.
We learned that in the UK, people don’t dress up as famous people or characters, they mostly dress up as clowns and bloody monks.
Don’t know this guy.
And of course…
5. 21st Bday!
On Monday I turned 21!! Woke up in the morning with flowers from the roomie, some texts and facebook wall posts from home friends and new London friends, and an email from the bf, which all made me feel shpecial. Mom and Dad took me out to dinner at a really cute Italian restaurant, and then my friends took me out on the town to celebrate.

Unfortunately, my bday fell on a Monday night, so two of the places we tried to go were empty, but then we went to Zoo Bar in Leicester Square, and I got in fo free, yo.
Ps. I do not know those guys in the background. Props to them for creepin.
According to all my pics, I made this face all night.

This pic is a particular fav.

And so ends another week in London town. Questions for the comments: What were you for Halloween? What song should we sing for karaoke this week? It has to be the best song ever. No lie. Thoughts on the new dress? What color tights would look best with it?

Bubble Wrap and Ocean City Hastings

2009-10-26T21:03:00.002-04:00

Another week has passed, equally if not more busy than the last. Classes were all right, not the highlight of my week for sure. They’re a bit ridiculous, really. In my last 19th Century Fiction class, the instructor yelled at a kid, and asked him if he would like to leave for disrupting the class. Seriously, I hadn’t heard of a teacher asking a student to leave since early high school at the latest. We learned from a pub crawl tour guide that London Met doesn’t have the best reputation; I quote:

“It’s where intellect goes to die.”

Srsly, that’s what he said.
Highlights of the week
1. Cymbeline
My theater class got to see another show this week, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. The instructor gave us a looooong synopsis (it’s impossible to give a short synopsis of a Shakespeare play) and I looked the play up on line, and it was SO much easier to understand when I knew what to expect. The show was put on by the National Youth Theater, so that was really cool because everyone was under 21. Only thing I’m confused about was the poster. I can assure you, there was no girl wrapped in bubble wrap in the production.

2. Hastings
The day before, I was talking to a girl in my theater class, and she told me she had just been to Hastings and it was beautiful. Plus, the train ticket had been £10 return (round trip). Talked it up with everyone, and we decided to go the next day. We even found tickets for £7.50.
And let me tell you.
Hastings is awesome.
It’s right on the British Channel, which was cool to see. It also has the remains of an old castle built in 1066 by William the Conqueror. The town is nestled in between two big hills, one of which has the castle and the other has a 606 acre park.
The weather was beautiful, which made it awesome. The beach was really stony, and of course we had to take pictures on it.
After walking through the town for awhile and relaxing and reading in the park on the hill, we found a coffee house to take afternoon tea.
I ordered a pot of tea with a tea cake (flaky biscuit thing with nuts—toasted, butter, and jammed). OM NOM NOM so tasty.
3. Jamie & friends visited from Spain
Jamie, a friend from college back home, is studying in Spain right now, and she and her two friends (one LVCer and one not) visited London for the weekend. It was really fun to see her and we all went on a pub crawl the last night she was here.

Pic with the pub crawl guide

And ps, if you’re wondering…

I don’t know these people.

4. Chop Chop Noodle Bar

We found this cheap-o noodle bar near King’s Cross station and tried it one night and it rocked. Sarah and I went back and decided to order something we had never had before: a bowl of Chinese flat noodle soup. Kind of looked like this:
But without the dumplings. We get served, and we’re kind of staring at it…we don’t really know where to start. Then this little oriental lady beside us asks

“Do you know how to eat those?”

And of course we don’t. She proceeds to explain that you use chopsticks to pick up the long noodles to set in the spoon so that it doesn’t burn your mouth, then eat them from the spoon.
Like we could have figured that out ourselves.
It worked, and the little lady was sweet, telling us to enjoy our meal. And we did. It was sooo filling, neither Sarah nor I could finish our whole bowl of soup, which was only £3.90. Hooray for cheap meals.
5. Rainbows and R. Pattz
On Sunday, we went on a trip to the Cotswolds with ISH.
Cotswolds is a region known for rolling hills and buildings made out of Cotswold stone.

Got to see a lot of the English countryside on the tour, which was pretty cool.

Also, saw an awesome rainbow.
Highlight of the trip was visiting a store and finding this gem. Can you spot it?
Srlsy?
So second-hand embarrassed.
Another week of classes await, and then on Saturday the ‘rents will be here!! I’m tres excited to show them around and go on trips with them. I have the whole week planned, can’t wait!

Tower, Karaoke, Harrods, Hampton Court, Fun-ness.

2009-10-19T14:57:00.002-04:00

Another week down in London! Started off on Monday visiting Tower of London with Sarah and Wes.
This was pretty neat, since the first part of the tower was built in 1078. It continues to amaze me how old everything is over here. We went inside and toured around; saw the crown jewels and some armor used by Henry VIII. All in all though, I was a little disappointed with the trip. The tour was only about 30 min long and while it was really informative it was way too short. It was still a neat thing to see since there is so much history there.

Then came classes on Tuesday and Wednesday (booo). Tuesday we visited the National Gallery with my art class, so that was neat. I’d never actually been in a gallery to see original works of art, so that was cool. The journal we have to keep for the class is a little annoying…500-800 words per visit. Wednesday my theater class went to our first show, “Miss Julie,” which was outside of London. You’d think the teacher would MapQuest where the theater was, right? She didn’t. We all ran around this town asking anyone we passed where the theater was. We got there on time, eventually, and the show was interesting.
Thursday night we got to see another show (fo free) called “An Inspector Calls.” The set was awesome; it included a house that literally turned itself over, making all the dishes and such inside crash on the stage.

And of course, you know what Thursday night means….
KARAOKE AT ISH BAR!!!

The most classy picture of the bunch…

Brought some new (American) friends there which was fun. We sang “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi, and I’m pretty sure we rocked the house. Great times were had.

On Friday, Mark, Rachel, Sarah and I went to Harrods, which is a big Macy’s-like department store in London. We found a fur jacket worth £17,000, along with some other interesting stuff.

1. Ridiculously overpriced bear

As Mark pointed out, this stuffed bear is worth more than a week’s tube pass on the London Underground in Zones 1 and 2. It was £75.

2. Edward Cullen

I’d like to know when Edward grew out his hair. I’d also like to know when he became creepy as ish.

3. New Moon awesomeness
While in the children’s book section, I found the New Moon movie companion and skimmed through it. And by skimmed through it, I mean I studied every picture on every page. And found this gem.

K. Stew’s cross-eyed!

To round out the week, Sarah, Mark, and I took a day trip to Hampton Court Palace, which was the official residence of King Henry VIII (they are all about him over here) and other royalty. This place was rockin.

From inside Hampton Court Palace

We be rockin’ dem audio tours

Throne and chandelier

Elaborate paintings in one of the rooms

Ummz, what the eff are these??

A toilet!

Balanced the camera on a statue for this one.

That rounds up Week 3! I don’t have any big trips planned for this weekend (all my trips are in November), but will definitely take the time to see more of the city. Until next time (which will probably be next Monday, at this rate…), cheers!
For the comments: What are those nymph things in that painting?!? Kthnxbai.

Week Two in London

2009-10-12T19:57:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the un-creative title. Another week has passed, and classes have started. The first week of classes were pretty easy (considering I only have class 2 days a week….whaa??). Classes started on Tuesday with “Social Problems” in Ladbroke house, which was not too easy to get to. For all my other classes, I can take the tube right to the campus. However, Ladbroke House isn’t close to campus. It’s close to nothing.
As you can see, there’s a tube station, Holloway Road, right by all the buildings at North Campus. Except Ladbroke house. There’s only a bus station there. I thought I had it figured out which bus station we needed to get to to catch the right bus, but we ended up running around the rain for 5 min looking for it, only to miss it by a minute. We had to wait for 15 more minutes until the next bus came in time. Somehow, we still made it to class 5 minutes early.
The actual class was really easy and the instructor seems really cool. The only assignment for the entire semester is one 2,000 word essay, due the last day of class. I think I can manage that.
The way the classes are set up is you have a lecture for the first hour, and then the class is divided up into smaller “seminar” classes for the last 2 hours. We didn’t have a seminar in the class the first week, which rocked.
Later that afternoon I had a study-abroad-only program, “Art in London.” Each week, the class visits a different art gallery in London, fo free. The only downside to this class is that it will probably be the most work; we have to keep a journal for each exhibit we visit, and talk about pieces we saw, etc. However it should be really cool to have a non-traditional class like that, and it’ll also be a great opportunity to see art.
My last day of classes for the week (ha!) is Wednesday, which starts off with “19th Century Fiction”…i.e. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, etc….i.e. right up my alley. The three novels I’ll be reading this semester are Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and She by H. Rider Haggard.

Technically, this class will probably have more out-of-class work involved than Art in London, but srsly reading novels is not work to me. I’ve never read any of these books, so it’s even more enjoyable.
Last class of the week is the one I’d been looking forward to the most, “Theatre in London.” Like in “Art in London,” we’ll be going to a different play/musical each week. Not fo free, but that’s ok. I’m so excited for the class, as I’m a big big theater fan. I’ve never heard of some of the plays we’re going to see, but I love learning about new shows so it’s awesome. Two I had heard of that I’ll be seeing are Annie, Get Your Gun and Inherit the Wind, which is apparently staring Kevin Spacey.

This week I also got to experience some more quintessential London things, such as seeing a play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.

This was the last weekend of shows at the theater, and as we wouldn’t be going to any with my theatre class we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. We saw “Love’s Labours Lost,” which was a Shakespeare comedy. The play was great, it really was funny and the actors were awesome. The only thing was I wish I had read a summary of the play beforehand; with the actors’ British accents and on top of that the Shakespearean language, it was a little hard to follow sometimes. It all worked out in the end though, and it was a really fun experience.

On Sunday, while some friends took a trip to Oxford, Rachel and I decided to spend the day in Hyde park. It was a little misty, but it was really nice to walk through the park, which is HUGE by the way. Rachel and I had a cup of tea and enjoyed the scenery. Fun times.

This past weekend we also made a day trip to Bath/Stonehenge/Salisbury, which was great. The weather was beautiful. Bath and Salisbury were really cool towns. Bath has the Roman Baths there, but it was also cool to just walk around there and see old churches and buildings. Same with Salisbury, which had a church built in 1200 AD. Stonehenge was neat to see too, although I wouldn’t go back. I would def go back to Bath.

The Roman baths in Bath

Natural hot spring bath, discovered by the Romans

Bath Abbey

Stonehenge

Salisbury Cathedral

Me at Stonehenge…doing a dance.

On the agenda for this week is classes (obvs), figuring out and booking the rest of the trips for this sem., and then taking a trip to the Lake District and Manchester/Liverpool this weekend.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2009-10-05T17:10:00.003-04:00

My classes start tomorrow, so we’ve all been enjoying the free week, trying to get as much into it as possible. Here are some of the highlights from the weekend.

1. Karaoke night at ISH Bar
The girls who went last year raved about karaoke night and how they would go there every Thursday night, so we decided to check it out. It was free since we’re full-time students in London, which was awesome, since a lot of the cool places have cover charges. Here are my two flat mates and me waiting for the tube.

Rockin the leggings

Let me tell you. Karaoke was a blast. Drinks were really cheap (£1.90 for a pint of Strongbow ale, which would be about $3), karaoke was really bad, and there were lots of international and British students in there to talk to. Most of the bars we’d been to so far never had many students in them, and if there were, they were usually in groups and not really open to talking to other people. This place was a perfect place to meet new people; since it was student bar, everyone was friendly and were there to talk to people they didn’t know, so it was fun. I didn’t sing this time (although Sarah and Emily did), but next time I will fo sho.

2. Leicester Square
When I pictured London before I got here, I saw it as more of a NYC city than it turned out to be. Leicester Square is more like what I saw London as looking like.

It was a really cool place. We found a cool pub to eat dinner at and all ordered a quintessential English dish. I ordered Chicken and Leek Pie with an ale.

It was very tasty, but really really filling. I could only eat half of it. The others got fish and chips or sausage. It was really fun to eat the traditional food, I’m definitely going to try to order traditional dishes when we go out.

3. Shopping in Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus is another place that looks how I imagined all of London to look like: busy streets, tons of shops, huge department stores, etc. [I didn’t take a picture of Oxford Circus, lo siento. Next time I’m there I will.] That section of London is so different than from the areas we’re usually around, which sometimes have heavy car traffic but not too much foot traffic.
We went to H&M there, where I bought a ~~slightly overpriced~~ really cute new outfit.

Likey? I’ll wear it going out some night to a club or nicer bar. Although I have seen girls walking around town in these kinds of skirts…I don’t think I’m there yet.
Also found a department store called Primark, which was nuts. It was pretty big (although only 2 floors) and PACKED with people. There were clothes and hangers all over the floor and lines for the dressing room and check out were over 30 customers long each, but the prices were so low. I bought a plaid shirt for £9 and another shirt for £7. They had sweaters for £3. It was nuts, cheaper than in the states. Emily and I were changing in the middle of the store in front of mirrors so we didn’t have to wait in line. It was crazy, but the deals were amazing.

4. Flower Market on Columbia
Every Sunday morning there are various markets open all over the city, so we decided to first go to Brick Lane, which we had heard good reviews of. Uhhh, no. It was a creepy city-street version of a neighborhood yard sale. The food and fruit stands were cool, but the rest was shadyspice.
We saw a sign for the Flower Market on Columbia and decided to go there instead.

It was really cool. There were vendors lining a whole street selling plants and flowers I’d seen before and a lot that I hadn’t.

5. Emirates Stadium
So a block down from our campus is Emirates Stadium, home to the Arsenal football team. The stadium is huuuge.

Yesterday was a game day, and we were walking down the street towards the stadium to check it out. All of a sudden there is a huge ROARRRRRR from the stadium, guessing Arsenal had scored. It was so loud. It was awesome. We decided then that we are most definitely going to game.
Today Sarah and I spent about 2 hours trying to find where our classrooms are. The place is a maze. There are multiple buildings at each campus site, and not necessarily in close proximity to each other. We found the rooms though in time for our first classes tomorrow.
That concludes my Weekend Update. I’ll post a new entry after my first classes. For the comments: I’ll have many opportunities to travel while here. Where’s one place you recommend I go?

Whilst I have free time…

2009-10-01T16:50:00.002-04:00

Phew!! I have been in London for 4 days and have only now had the time to sit down and write a proper blog post.
I’ve been having a pretty fun time, although I’ve been pretty busy with orientation for the University I’ll be attending, as well as spending a lot of time getting to know as much of the city as we can. I’d like to share with you

Things I’ve learned in London so far.

1. Flats can be kind of small, but are still cute.
I’m sharing my flat with two other girls from my school. All the kids from LVC are in the same “complex”, although ours is separated from them by a courtyard. Here’s the outside of the flat.

Unlike the other flats, ours is three stories. Bedroom is on the ground floor,

[ We hadn’t unpacked yet at this point. ]

bathroom and living room on first floor,

[The TV has 4 channels, and is turned on by pressing the power button, followed by the channel button…]

and the kitchen and another bathroom in the basement.

We love our flat :)

2. The Underground is really easy to use.
Here are some general observations about the tube system.
a. You must stand on the right side of the escalator, or else you will get run over.

[Ps. The escalators are also SUPER steep, especially in Kings Cross]

b. The temperature varies about 30 degrees between lines.
For instance, we have determined that the Victoria line is officially the hottest place on earth. It also happens to be the most crowded subway line on earth. Hence,

[The only place Emily’s head fit was between Wes and Mark’s hands.]

However, there are other lines that are a little bit cooler in temperature, sometimes because the ventilation windows are open. Hence,

[Emily experiencing her own person wind storm in the Circle line.]

c. Don’t EVER EVER take the steps at Russell Sq. station.
There are 162 steps. And they are spiraled.
Not fun.
3. Seeing a Twilight actor play acoustic in Hyde Park is awesome.
Jamie Campbell Bower, who has been in Sweeney Todd and is going to be in the upcoming New Moon and Harry Potter 7 movies has a band, The Darling Buds. Yesterday, I saw that he sent a tweet saying they’d be playing an acoustic set in Hyde Park that night at 7:30. So we went.

They played under a lamppost to about 50 people seated in the leaves/grass.

[The guy on the left is totes Jamie Campbell Bower.]

The whole thing was just really fun. It was something really unique and we would never have had the chance to do that anywhere at home. We were all really glad we went.
4. 20-year-olds still have fun with gummy worms.
Mark has basically been subsisting on the gummy worms his g-ma gave him before leaving, and was kind enough to share them on the boat tour on the River Thames (pronounced “Tems”).
5. London is just plain awesome.
As evidenced by the following.

Piccadilly Circus

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Parliament and Big Ben

London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Tomorrow is a get schedule/relaxation day, shopping at Oxford Circus on Saturday, and then planning on going to a street market on Sunday morning on Brick Lane. Until next time, cheerio!

‘ello love

2009-09-29T19:53:00.002-04:00

I’m in London.
Arrived in London yesterday morning! This week is full of orientation stuff so haven’t had time to make a proper blog post. Hope to within the week!
Ps. I probably should have put on a picture with me in it. Making a note of that...

Two Suitcases and a Backpack

2009-09-25T20:00:00.004-04:00

This marks my last post written in the States before I fly to England on Sunday. As the day gets closer, I’m getting really nervous but really really excited. I’m ready for a change which I know London will give me.
Today I finally accomplished what I’d been putting off for over a week: I am completely packed. My life for the next three months is stuffed into two suitcases and a backpack.
In those two suitcases and a backpack are two jackets, six pairs of jeans, 4 scarves, 4 pairs of shoes, and countless shirts, socks, underwear, etc.
However, these are not the most important items.

These are:

1. Favy fav purse
Self explanatory. It’s my favy fav.

2. 3 Boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese
I live on this stuff. I want to come prepared.

3. Granola Bars
Om nom nom. Easy b-fast.

4. Twilight & Pride and Prejudice DVD’s
In my book, probably the worst and the best movie ever made, although both equally awesome. I admit that Twilight sucks. But there’s no way I’m leaving it home when New Moon comes out in November!
And I’m definitely taking Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightly version) because a.) Fav movie and
b.) I want to try my darndest to find that cliff she stands on.

5. Peanut Butter
I heard peanut butter is just not the same in the UK as in the states. I should probably bring more.

6. Catchphrase
BEST GAME EVER. I wasn’t going to bring it, but after a 2 sec debate with myself I came to the conclusion there was no way I’d leave home without it.
Unfortunately, there are some items near and dear to my heart that I am forced to leave behind.

The Left-Behinds

1. Hunger Games and Catching Fire
I so wanted to bring these books with me. However, as you can see from the above pictures, I have no room left in either suitcase or backpack. They have to stay home :(
Ps. If you haven’t read these, please go out and buy them NOW! They are amazing. Team Peeta 4-EVA.

2. The Host
Ever since Emily bought this for me for my birthday last year, I’ve read it every single Finals Week (mostly because it’s AWESOME, but also to distract me from Finals Week).
No room. Sadface.

3. WALL-E
WALL-E’s staying home. He’s sadface.

[Extra credit to the first person who can correctly identify all five books behind WALL-E. Click on picture to make it bigger]
[Ps. Since the 5th is almost impossible, four is acceptable. If you get the 5th, you get an extra big gold star]

4. GQ Cover of R.Pattz
Sigh. I really wanted to take you, GQ R. Pattz, but I didn’t want to 1st-hand embarrass myself after I ~~stalked~~ randomly ran into your real-life counterpart in London and ~~forced~~ persuaded him to come back to my flat for a nice makey-outy session.
Ps. Rob, it’s totally ok that I have a boyfriend because you’re on my Celeb To Do list and Brent says that’s ok.

And last but not least…
5. The Boyfriend
Sadface. By far the hardest part about leaving is leaving Brent behind. We kind of had a test-run of the sitch last summer when he went to Mexico for six weeks. It was hard, but we figured out how to make it work and it was completely fine.
This will be twice as long as Mexico. Although I am 100% positive I am going to lose it when he drops me off at the airport, I know that other couples have been away from each other for even longer periods of time and came out of it just fine. I’m confident we’ll be able to make this work too.

Next post will be from across the pond! Not sure when I’ll have time to write the first one, however once I get a cell I should be updating my Twitter. Follow me here.

Show & Tell: New Stuff for London

2009-09-22T21:37:00.002-04:00

It is now 5 days until I make the big jump over the Atlantic! I’ve been busy these past few weeks shopping for new outfits, shoes, purses, etc, because I’m tired of the clothes I’ve been wearing since junior year of high school.
This is by no means the end of my fashion make-over; I plan on spending a considerable sum in London on new purses, shoes, shirts, etc. However, I need some pieces to start with, so I bought some stuff while still home.
As my mom or boyfriend or past roommates can attest to, one of my favorite things about going shopping is getting to Show & Tell with them afterward!! So I hereby present to you:
My London Purchases Show & Tell!
1. Scarves

Scarves are definitely getting bigger as a fashion accessory in the US, but not quite as big as in Europe. So I bought 3 new scarves. The blue and beige ones are from Old Navy (fav store) and the pink one my mom found in Christopher and Banks. And yes I will most definitely wear all of them at once.
2. Long Sweater

This is one thing I never saw myself wearing. The girls who came back from London said that wearing leggings and a long sweater was pretty in, but I wasn’t planning on buying that outfit while here.
However, while shopping at Old Navy, I saw it on the rack and wanted to give it a try. And I.love.it. It looks rockin with skinny jeans. Now I just need a big belt to wear around it.

[side note: bought the big belt]

Follow the jump for more of my new London purchases.
3. Skinny Jeans

Ok so skinny jeans are my new favorite thing. They are another item that a couple years ago I would have never seen myself wearing. I bought myself my first pair last semester and liked them well enough. Then I bought 3 more pairs this summer and fell in love them. Especially my Levi’s; they are by far my favs. Also, I love how skinny jeans look with flats.
4. Flats

I had a couple pairs of flats, but meh I don’t really like them anymore.
I found this pair at Penny’s and loooove them. They have a good sole, which will definitely be helpful when walking around a lot. And duh they’re superdeduper cute.
5. Chucks

My first pair of Chucks! I was looking for a shoe that would be comfortable to walk in but didn’t look like a sporty sneaker. These are my solution.
6. Bags

Bag on left is a laptop bag. I’m not sure if I’ll actually need a laptop bag while I’m there, but this one was cute and I couldn’t pass it up. Got it at Kohl’s for $35. I may use it as a book bag too, although it’s a little big for that.
Now, about purses. When you go to college, it’s annoying to carry a purse everywhere—and there’s no need—so I’ve just been using a Vera Bradley key chain. Which means that I didn’t have any more good winter purses. That's something I would need as soon as I got to London. So while I was in Hilton Head, Mom and I went shopping on a cloudy day and went to a Belk (which I’d never been to). They had an awesome selection of purses, and I found this one.

Regularly $54, then 50% off of that, then 30% off of that.
I got it for $20. Score. And, I loves it.
7. Jewelry
I bought a bunch of new cool earrings, but my fav piece I got from Forever 21.

It’s an owl!!! I love it.
For the comments: Which piece/article do you like best?
You can still leave a comment even if you don’t have a Blogger account! I’m talking to you, Mom and Brent.

London and Newburg: A Comparison

2009-09-15T00:59:00.001-04:00

I’m am now just under the 2 week mark until a board my plane to London to study abroad for the semester. This trip will be a lot of firsts for me, for example:

First time traveling to Europe.
First time living in Europe.
First time living in a town with more than 5000 people.

Population of…

Newburg	372
Annville	4,518
London	7,556,900

I’d like to take this time to illustrate the differences between the town I grew up in, Newburg, PA, and the city I will be living in in less than 2 weeks, London.

Guess which one’s which!

1. Area
According to Wikipedia, London has an area of 659 square miles.
According to the latest census, the borough of Newburg has a whopping total area of .3 square miles.

2. Ethnicity
In London, 69.4% of the population is White, 13.1% is South Asian, 10.7% is Black, and 3.5% is of mixed race.
In Newburg, 97.04% of the population is White, 2.69% is Native American (Uhhh, who are you?!?? We haven’t met), and .27% are from 2 or more races. (Newburg isn’t known for its diversity)

3. Leisure and Entertainment
In London, there are many ways to entertain oneself. There is the West End (London’s theater district), Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, endless shopping opportunities, as well as visiting famous historical sites like Buckingham Palace or the Tower of London.
In Newburg, natives enjoying hunting (during the season or in their back yards any time of year), going to tractor pulls (if you have escaped this phenomena, please see here), and going to tractor twang. Another popular attraction—the annual Memorial Day Parade.

4. Transportation
London has one of the longest and most expansive metro systems in the world. The city also has a bus transportation system as well as taxis.
Newburg has a wide variety of vehicles one can encounter on the road, including but not limited to tractors, horse & buggies, and Amish men on scooters.

5. Dining
London has about 12,000 restaurants, with everything from McDonalds to Mediterranean to Indian food.
Newburg has 2 restaurants: Johnnies (right off the turnpike, owned by my cousin) and the Newburg Pizza Shop (formerly Newburg Country Store, serves slightly under par pizza).

More awesome facts about Newburg:
The closest gas station is 12 minutes away.
The closest grocery store is 15 minutes away.
The town basically consists of 3 big families, one of which is Bender (ie. my family).
Home of the “Bent & Dent Grocery”, our very own Amish bulk store.

More awesome facts about London:
It’s not Newburg.

Twelve days until I board the plane to England! Still have mucho packing and preparations to do. I plan on having at least one more post before I leave.