My midterm this morning was SO Harry Potter. USC Kevin and I ran into each other in the hallway outside, and as we stepped in, we realized the room is actually called the Great Hall. And the desks were all set up just like they would be for an OWL or a NEWT, with a table for the examiners up on the stage. We decided Diff Eq would be an OWL- which it certainly was, the exam was so easy and I needn't have worried about not having sufficient time to study.
I went back to my room after my exam and called British Dell Tech Support; we tried some stuff, then he told me to fiddle around with the memory and try running more tests with the memory in certain spots. I had to go to computing services and ask for two screw drivers, and the woman there proceeded to look at me like I was a crazy person, since I completely took my computer apart and put it back together to do everything I had to.
Since I had some time to kill before Dell called back, I went to the library to start on a paper (which I'm still not remotely done with- I'm at 1200 words out of 1000, which is a huge problem, especially since I haven't actually done any writing). I ran into my friend Adib, which was nice, because we haven't talked much lately. When I came back after establishing with Dell that they are going to send me memory and a motherboard tomorrow, I was able to ask him whether Times New Roman or this other random font was standard, and where I could go in the morning to get my data backed up.
As a reward for outlining, I watched some awesome hockey fights, and discovered the fabulousness of hockeyfightsdotcom on youtube. I'm so happy.
I posted about Venice (as I'm sure you can see), and I'll write up my Switzerland travellog in the next day or two. There were no updates while I was travelling since I successfully packed in a single backpack (go me! I'm notoriously an overpacker).
Time to go edit up my paper a bit so I can go to bed soon!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Viva Venezia!
Sunday, 15 February
It is ridiculous to get to the different gates at Stansted- it took like five minutes of mostly jogging to get to our gate, just to have to wait a while.
We flew over the Alps on the airplane, and it was gorgeous. I took several photos out the window, then Vanessa and I listened to my Lord of the Dance music and pretended to Irish jig in our seats.
Customs at the airport was fantastic- the signs for 'things to claim' and 'nothing to claim' pointed through the same door... the exit. I had a realization that made me very excited, and that realization's name is GELATO.
We got off of the bus from the airport and stepped into a sea of masks and costumes, and stands selling 'helLOVEnezia' teeshirts and Carnival masks. Also, Haider got really excited about the sun, and started rummaging in his bag for a mysterious something. We were guessing sunglasses/sunscreen/hats, etc, but what he finally pulled out was... a meter to measure the wattage of the sun.
Hilary and Caitlin ended up catching up with us while we were waiting for the bus to get to the hostel, which worked out well. We found the area pretty easily, but had some issues with finding the check-in area. First, Haider talked to a German kid (who for some reason said 'cheers!' as he was walking off, so I think he was just messing with everyone). We also had this beautifully executed moment when we were looking for the entrance, and two of us went to the left of this large dome on the ground, and two to the right, and one stayed behind, and then from there we went in different directions each. It was cool, okay? After that we were yelling, 'scusi!' down the small dome (there was like a walkway under the sidewalk, I don't know) but the guy down there was doing construction so that didn't work.
There were two dogs (or "PUUUUUUUUUUUPPIES!" as Kevin would say) in the small place near our hostel we ate dinner. Quotes of the meal: Kevin- 'Your ears are so soft, I want to cut them off and take them with me!'
Haider- 'Coca s'il vous plait!'
I quickly became obsessed with Carnival masks when we went back in to the city, the displays on the carts and in the stores were so pretty! I got two scoops of gelato (yuuuuum) and some tiramisu while we wandered around. We were trying to find the places where music would be playing; the first square was supposedly jazz music, which is apparently messed up techno? Not quite what I wanted, man. We decided to try to find the other location, but got lost down some back alleyways, which was actually really fun and a good way to get a feel for Venezia. I also loved how we would turn a corner and be like 'woah!' since we'd suddenly be in a plaza with some random, huge, gorgeous buildings. It was fabulous.
So was the guy peeing in the canal. I felt bad, but it made me laugh when Vanessa was talking about some housing trouble she's having back at USC.
We got unlost really quickly, and hopped on the 12/ instead of the 12, so we didn't know that it ended at a slightly different place and didn't quite go to our hostel.
Monday, 16 February
The hostel was really nice, albeit really cold at night- we had three double rooms, each with its own toilet and shower, and a shared kitchen (with pots, pans, and whatnot included). That worked out well so that we could get up early Monday morning and go buy eggs and breakfast things, and also cold cuts and snacks for lunch. It worked out to be eight euros each for breakfast and lunch for two days, which meant more money for gelato!!
We took a gondola ride in the morning- since it wasn't busy, we bartered them down to ten euros each, rather than fourteen. It was so cool, and fun! Our gondolier didn't sing, but he was pretty chatty and seemed to enjoy the questions asked. It was a really nice, sunny morning, so it worked out really well for our gondola-ing.
After the gondola, we meandered down to San Marco, mask shopping. We all succesfully found masks that suited us very well- mine had bells on it and was sort've like a jester's hat, which served well to alert my friends to when I would be making a break to the gelato stand. It was called 'Emily's gelato jingle,' since my sashaying to the stand had a distinct frolicksome tone to it.
When we sat down to lunch, we started talking to a nice couple on the bench across from us, thanks to Haider's sun meter. When they asked what Italian we knew, Kevin responded, 'buon giorno, Principessa!' which made the woman laugh. Apparently she also likes the movie Life is Beautiful. I also enjoyed watching the pigeons- one of the males was unsuccessfully trying to woo a female; he was all fluffed up and chasing her around.
San Marco was fantastic. The area is gorgeous and busy to look at in general, but the plaza was packed, with people in fabulous costumes all over. We hit it up a few hours before sunset, so there were lots of gorgeous views with the late afternoon light over the water and cathedral. Also, there were these really cool silvery gray raptors (well, men on stilts, really) wandering around to sort've primitive music, pretending to eat people (apparently Kevin got attacked). It was such a surreal moment, especially when I snapped a picture of one of them right in front of St Mark's. I literally was speechless. That's saying something. We chased them down to get some video, which I'll be posting up on facebook once my laptop is working again.
While near St Mark's, I bought two bags of confetti for a euro. We determined that whenever we threw some, we had to shout 'Viva Venezia!' It was really fun, especially targeting small children and tour groups, who seemed (aside from my friends of course) to get the most joy out of it.
The inside of St Mark's was pretty gorgeous, and I snuck some photos on Vanessa's camera (my battery had died :-( ). We're going to maybe incorporate one or two into our papers on Westminster Cathedral, since Bentley spent a lot of time at St Mark's when he was getting ideas to design it.
We wandered over to the Ponto Rialto and had some fun taking sunset and confetti pictures there. After gazing at the sun setting over the Grand Canal, we slipped into a pizza and gelato shop to warm up and use the bathrooms and snack. After that, we went and met Keener back in San Marco... I wanted to sneak up on him, but he was up a little high so he could have a clear view and saw us coming, and was able to recognize me even with my mask on (hey, I wore it for two days solid).
After introductions, we went and checked out the tango exhibition on the other side of the plaza, then traipsed over to the Rialto again to find some food. There were some very Brick Lane moments there- Haider was literally restraining himself from haggling by using me as a shield whilst doormen offered us extra wine to eat there. We found a place (I don't know the name, sadly), toasted Venezia with vino, and ate yummy Italian food (lasagne and fish, yesplease). While we were waiting for the bill, Vanessa and I were cracking up at the juxtaposition of the cross conversations happening down the table a bit- Kev and Caitlin were discussing which movies had won Oscars in which years, and Hilary and Haider were talking about Pokemon.
After paying, we meandered a bit mroe and got gelato, and then Keener had to leave us to get back to his dorm. He never did get to see Haider's face... at any rate, my friends really liked Keens, and Keens seemed to enjoy them as well, so that was really fun.
Hilary fell asleep on her computer cord when Vanessa was using it, then half woke up a little while later and happily said she didn't want to put it away when I asked, so then I just straight-up told her mostly asleep self to do it. It was pretty funny.
Tuesday, 17 February
We were able to check our bags at the train station, which was really good (we got nervous when the lockers were out of order, but there was an alternative place). After booking our trains for later that day, we headed back to San Marco (just stopping at an artist's stand on the way), and went up the campanile. We'd been nervous there wouldn't be enough time, but luckily there was, since it was a gorgeous, panoramic view of Venice. Then we got pizza on the way back to the train station (and gelato, of course) to supplement our sandwiches so we could stretch out our packed lunches to cover dinner as well.
I really want to go back to Venice someday for Carnival, and dress up in some of those gorgeous costumes.
Also, 'Il maximus de circo ha rubato Hilary!' Haider put that in our Italian language packets, so we started saying it to Hilary without telling her what it meant (she and Caitling left before getting the phrase packs he made up). She appreciated it a lot more when she discovered it meant 'The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary!' She might not have enjoyed the, 'eh, that's a shame,' response Kevin and I decided on, though.
I limited myself to thirteen scoops of gelato my entire thirty-six-ish hours in Venice.
It is ridiculous to get to the different gates at Stansted- it took like five minutes of mostly jogging to get to our gate, just to have to wait a while.
We flew over the Alps on the airplane, and it was gorgeous. I took several photos out the window, then Vanessa and I listened to my Lord of the Dance music and pretended to Irish jig in our seats.
Customs at the airport was fantastic- the signs for 'things to claim' and 'nothing to claim' pointed through the same door... the exit. I had a realization that made me very excited, and that realization's name is GELATO.
We got off of the bus from the airport and stepped into a sea of masks and costumes, and stands selling 'helLOVEnezia' teeshirts and Carnival masks. Also, Haider got really excited about the sun, and started rummaging in his bag for a mysterious something. We were guessing sunglasses/sunscreen/hats, etc, but what he finally pulled out was... a meter to measure the wattage of the sun.
Hilary and Caitlin ended up catching up with us while we were waiting for the bus to get to the hostel, which worked out well. We found the area pretty easily, but had some issues with finding the check-in area. First, Haider talked to a German kid (who for some reason said 'cheers!' as he was walking off, so I think he was just messing with everyone). We also had this beautifully executed moment when we were looking for the entrance, and two of us went to the left of this large dome on the ground, and two to the right, and one stayed behind, and then from there we went in different directions each. It was cool, okay? After that we were yelling, 'scusi!' down the small dome (there was like a walkway under the sidewalk, I don't know) but the guy down there was doing construction so that didn't work.
There were two dogs (or "PUUUUUUUUUUUPPIES!" as Kevin would say) in the small place near our hostel we ate dinner. Quotes of the meal: Kevin- 'Your ears are so soft, I want to cut them off and take them with me!'
Haider- 'Coca s'il vous plait!'
I quickly became obsessed with Carnival masks when we went back in to the city, the displays on the carts and in the stores were so pretty! I got two scoops of gelato (yuuuuum) and some tiramisu while we wandered around. We were trying to find the places where music would be playing; the first square was supposedly jazz music, which is apparently messed up techno? Not quite what I wanted, man. We decided to try to find the other location, but got lost down some back alleyways, which was actually really fun and a good way to get a feel for Venezia. I also loved how we would turn a corner and be like 'woah!' since we'd suddenly be in a plaza with some random, huge, gorgeous buildings. It was fabulous.
So was the guy peeing in the canal. I felt bad, but it made me laugh when Vanessa was talking about some housing trouble she's having back at USC.
We got unlost really quickly, and hopped on the 12/ instead of the 12, so we didn't know that it ended at a slightly different place and didn't quite go to our hostel.
Monday, 16 February
The hostel was really nice, albeit really cold at night- we had three double rooms, each with its own toilet and shower, and a shared kitchen (with pots, pans, and whatnot included). That worked out well so that we could get up early Monday morning and go buy eggs and breakfast things, and also cold cuts and snacks for lunch. It worked out to be eight euros each for breakfast and lunch for two days, which meant more money for gelato!!
We took a gondola ride in the morning- since it wasn't busy, we bartered them down to ten euros each, rather than fourteen. It was so cool, and fun! Our gondolier didn't sing, but he was pretty chatty and seemed to enjoy the questions asked. It was a really nice, sunny morning, so it worked out really well for our gondola-ing.
After the gondola, we meandered down to San Marco, mask shopping. We all succesfully found masks that suited us very well- mine had bells on it and was sort've like a jester's hat, which served well to alert my friends to when I would be making a break to the gelato stand. It was called 'Emily's gelato jingle,' since my sashaying to the stand had a distinct frolicksome tone to it.
When we sat down to lunch, we started talking to a nice couple on the bench across from us, thanks to Haider's sun meter. When they asked what Italian we knew, Kevin responded, 'buon giorno, Principessa!' which made the woman laugh. Apparently she also likes the movie Life is Beautiful. I also enjoyed watching the pigeons- one of the males was unsuccessfully trying to woo a female; he was all fluffed up and chasing her around.
San Marco was fantastic. The area is gorgeous and busy to look at in general, but the plaza was packed, with people in fabulous costumes all over. We hit it up a few hours before sunset, so there were lots of gorgeous views with the late afternoon light over the water and cathedral. Also, there were these really cool silvery gray raptors (well, men on stilts, really) wandering around to sort've primitive music, pretending to eat people (apparently Kevin got attacked). It was such a surreal moment, especially when I snapped a picture of one of them right in front of St Mark's. I literally was speechless. That's saying something. We chased them down to get some video, which I'll be posting up on facebook once my laptop is working again.
While near St Mark's, I bought two bags of confetti for a euro. We determined that whenever we threw some, we had to shout 'Viva Venezia!' It was really fun, especially targeting small children and tour groups, who seemed (aside from my friends of course) to get the most joy out of it.
The inside of St Mark's was pretty gorgeous, and I snuck some photos on Vanessa's camera (my battery had died :-( ). We're going to maybe incorporate one or two into our papers on Westminster Cathedral, since Bentley spent a lot of time at St Mark's when he was getting ideas to design it.
We wandered over to the Ponto Rialto and had some fun taking sunset and confetti pictures there. After gazing at the sun setting over the Grand Canal, we slipped into a pizza and gelato shop to warm up and use the bathrooms and snack. After that, we went and met Keener back in San Marco... I wanted to sneak up on him, but he was up a little high so he could have a clear view and saw us coming, and was able to recognize me even with my mask on (hey, I wore it for two days solid).
After introductions, we went and checked out the tango exhibition on the other side of the plaza, then traipsed over to the Rialto again to find some food. There were some very Brick Lane moments there- Haider was literally restraining himself from haggling by using me as a shield whilst doormen offered us extra wine to eat there. We found a place (I don't know the name, sadly), toasted Venezia with vino, and ate yummy Italian food (lasagne and fish, yesplease). While we were waiting for the bill, Vanessa and I were cracking up at the juxtaposition of the cross conversations happening down the table a bit- Kev and Caitlin were discussing which movies had won Oscars in which years, and Hilary and Haider were talking about Pokemon.
After paying, we meandered a bit mroe and got gelato, and then Keener had to leave us to get back to his dorm. He never did get to see Haider's face... at any rate, my friends really liked Keens, and Keens seemed to enjoy them as well, so that was really fun.
Hilary fell asleep on her computer cord when Vanessa was using it, then half woke up a little while later and happily said she didn't want to put it away when I asked, so then I just straight-up told her mostly asleep self to do it. It was pretty funny.
Tuesday, 17 February
We were able to check our bags at the train station, which was really good (we got nervous when the lockers were out of order, but there was an alternative place). After booking our trains for later that day, we headed back to San Marco (just stopping at an artist's stand on the way), and went up the campanile. We'd been nervous there wouldn't be enough time, but luckily there was, since it was a gorgeous, panoramic view of Venice. Then we got pizza on the way back to the train station (and gelato, of course) to supplement our sandwiches so we could stretch out our packed lunches to cover dinner as well.
I really want to go back to Venice someday for Carnival, and dress up in some of those gorgeous costumes.
Also, 'Il maximus de circo ha rubato Hilary!' Haider put that in our Italian language packets, so we started saying it to Hilary without telling her what it meant (she and Caitling left before getting the phrase packs he made up). She appreciated it a lot more when she discovered it meant 'The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary!' She might not have enjoyed the, 'eh, that's a shame,' response Kevin and I decided on, though.
I limited myself to thirteen scoops of gelato my entire thirty-six-ish hours in Venice.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Skating, revisited
Operation: get recommendations for OL application was a success. I also did laundry. And printed off lots of stuff to study for my midterm while I'm on trains and planes. All in between classes! What a productive day.
I went ice skating again this evening, which was fun. The rink was a small circle though, which started to get obnoxious when I wanted to work on skating backwards or powering forward. It was still really nice to go skating again- I miss Reilly and my skates though.
Kev, Vanessa and Haider came over, and Haider had printed off a list of Italian phrases for us- including such "likely phrases" as, "Haider, stop looking like a terrorist!" "Caitlin, we love you. Please make some more brownies," "The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary," Vanessa, stop dancing, the ice on this lake is thin," "Kevin, those are not thermals, that is a mime costume!" and "Emily, what is the name of the biker on your bunkbed?" It was pretty fantastic. Kevin was fabulous and figured out most of our train schedule for us, which was nice, and we have two potential options to make sure no money is lost on the hostels in Luzern, which is encouraging.
After we had some ice cream, I went to meet Carly at the Tube station (since she was phoneless and couldn't call me when she got off). While I was waiting (she had some delays), this trio of Asians stumbled towards the handicapped exit- one girl freaking out, and one guy attempting to drag a girl who is passed out drunk. As he tried to pick her back up off the floor, he explained to a tube worker that her boyfriend had dumped her. Another Tube worker was trying to show them how to use a fireman's hold to carry her better, but the girl had called some friends to come help carry her home. By the time Carly got here, the three of them were sitting against a wall- actually, the drunk girl was passed out on the floor- and the Tube worker and I were making eye contact and laughing.
I went ice skating again this evening, which was fun. The rink was a small circle though, which started to get obnoxious when I wanted to work on skating backwards or powering forward. It was still really nice to go skating again- I miss Reilly and my skates though.
Kev, Vanessa and Haider came over, and Haider had printed off a list of Italian phrases for us- including such "likely phrases" as, "Haider, stop looking like a terrorist!" "Caitlin, we love you. Please make some more brownies," "The Circus Maximus has kidnapped Hilary," Vanessa, stop dancing, the ice on this lake is thin," "Kevin, those are not thermals, that is a mime costume!" and "Emily, what is the name of the biker on your bunkbed?" It was pretty fantastic. Kevin was fabulous and figured out most of our train schedule for us, which was nice, and we have two potential options to make sure no money is lost on the hostels in Luzern, which is encouraging.
After we had some ice cream, I went to meet Carly at the Tube station (since she was phoneless and couldn't call me when she got off). While I was waiting (she had some delays), this trio of Asians stumbled towards the handicapped exit- one girl freaking out, and one guy attempting to drag a girl who is passed out drunk. As he tried to pick her back up off the floor, he explained to a tube worker that her boyfriend had dumped her. Another Tube worker was trying to show them how to use a fireman's hold to carry her better, but the girl had called some friends to come help carry her home. By the time Carly got here, the three of them were sitting against a wall- actually, the drunk girl was passed out on the floor- and the Tube worker and I were making eye contact and laughing.
Free stuff and lots of work
Whoopsies, someone was a little overtired the last couple days and fell asleep before remembering to update. Fortunately only a couple exciting things happened, so you all didn't miss much in my life ;-)
On Wednesday, I mostly did a lot of work. I also went to this small group meeting to discuss Provide, and what's good about the club and what could use some improvement. I really like their system on this campus- there are only two groups, Provide and RAG (Raise and Give); Provide does volunteer work, and RAG is fundraising. For both clubs, if you want to get involved, you're able to get almost any placement you want. There are a lot of opportunities and minimal conflicting interests. I often wish BC was more like that- having just one place to go to if you want to volunteer, and none of this arduous application process and competitive selection. If someone wants to volunteer, then let them volunteer. When I mentioned how I thought it was great that Provide has a lot of options and opportunities, and that it was so easy to get involved, and explained why, the other students were horrified by what one often has to do at BC to be involved.
That aside, I got another mug and a comfy hoodie, so that was fun.
Later that night, when I was getting papered out (I still haven't even started the writing portion, I'm still gathering facts and quotes), I gathered Caitlin and Vanessa and we went on a chocolate-finding adventure, which resulted in delicious Budgens chocolate cake, as well as some cookies and muffins for a later date, and milk to drink with everything. Operation: Get Emily Chocolate was a huge success, and there was much happiness in the land.
I really need to go grocery shopping, but I want to wait until I'm back from my trip. As of this morning, the study abroad advisor still hadn't received a definitive answer about whether I could take my midterm at a different time, so I'm glad that I just decided to suck it up and come back Wednesday night instead of Saturday. It also relieved a lot of paper stress, since I will have almost all day Thursday, and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday that I can write said papers. I'll be spending Sunday early afternoon into sometime on Tuesday in Venice, and then will go up to Luzern with everyone and spend the night and the next day, and head to the airport early Wednesday evening. I'm really sad that I won't get to go skiing in the Alps (how fabulous would that have been??), but at the same time I'll be saving a lot of money... and won't have to buy snow pants and ski gloves and goggles, which would've been hard for me seeing as how I already own all of those, they're just in Maine and I'm a little bit far away.
Yes, I know that I am totally rationalizing my disappointment. But it's helping.
Yesterday was pretty fun- Actuarial and tutorial for that, then a couple hours to do a bit more work, and then the 1950 version of King Solomon's Mines. I find it intriguing that the romantic plotline in the book involves a white British man and a "Native," but the movie cuts that out entirely and instead introduces a white British woman. I'm thinking about writing on that for my second paper for this class, and maybe watching a couple other versions of the film.
Vanessa and I then decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre, since I've been looking for a new pair of sneakers and she needed to find rainboots and a present. We are now very mad at Haider for telling us of the existance of this magical place... it was HUGE (over 250 stores I've heard), and had these interactive directories that gave you directions to various stores. There was a string quartet chilling and playing in one of the atriums. And the stores were fantastic. Highlight of the evening, though, had to be Crepe Affaire. A Thai chicken crepe for dinner and a nutella crepe for dessert? Sooooooooooooo good. We didn't talk at all while we were eating, since we were pretty much in heaven.
We got home pretty late, and I realized I had to fill out my Orientation Leader application since that's due the day I'm getting back from my trip; Hopefully Howard and Chambers will fill out the forms for me, I shot off some emails last night and hope to forward them the forms before I leave for Venice Sunday morning.
I also had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night, so kept getting out of bed and watching weird Youtube videos. Probably not the best way to get drowsy, but it was at least entertaining.
I was going to go to the gym today, but I realized that it's an off day since I successfully went two days in a row! And now my muscles hate me a bit. But that's okay, they'll man up soon enough.
On Wednesday, I mostly did a lot of work. I also went to this small group meeting to discuss Provide, and what's good about the club and what could use some improvement. I really like their system on this campus- there are only two groups, Provide and RAG (Raise and Give); Provide does volunteer work, and RAG is fundraising. For both clubs, if you want to get involved, you're able to get almost any placement you want. There are a lot of opportunities and minimal conflicting interests. I often wish BC was more like that- having just one place to go to if you want to volunteer, and none of this arduous application process and competitive selection. If someone wants to volunteer, then let them volunteer. When I mentioned how I thought it was great that Provide has a lot of options and opportunities, and that it was so easy to get involved, and explained why, the other students were horrified by what one often has to do at BC to be involved.
That aside, I got another mug and a comfy hoodie, so that was fun.
Later that night, when I was getting papered out (I still haven't even started the writing portion, I'm still gathering facts and quotes), I gathered Caitlin and Vanessa and we went on a chocolate-finding adventure, which resulted in delicious Budgens chocolate cake, as well as some cookies and muffins for a later date, and milk to drink with everything. Operation: Get Emily Chocolate was a huge success, and there was much happiness in the land.
I really need to go grocery shopping, but I want to wait until I'm back from my trip. As of this morning, the study abroad advisor still hadn't received a definitive answer about whether I could take my midterm at a different time, so I'm glad that I just decided to suck it up and come back Wednesday night instead of Saturday. It also relieved a lot of paper stress, since I will have almost all day Thursday, and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday that I can write said papers. I'll be spending Sunday early afternoon into sometime on Tuesday in Venice, and then will go up to Luzern with everyone and spend the night and the next day, and head to the airport early Wednesday evening. I'm really sad that I won't get to go skiing in the Alps (how fabulous would that have been??), but at the same time I'll be saving a lot of money... and won't have to buy snow pants and ski gloves and goggles, which would've been hard for me seeing as how I already own all of those, they're just in Maine and I'm a little bit far away.
Yes, I know that I am totally rationalizing my disappointment. But it's helping.
Yesterday was pretty fun- Actuarial and tutorial for that, then a couple hours to do a bit more work, and then the 1950 version of King Solomon's Mines. I find it intriguing that the romantic plotline in the book involves a white British man and a "Native," but the movie cuts that out entirely and instead introduces a white British woman. I'm thinking about writing on that for my second paper for this class, and maybe watching a couple other versions of the film.
Vanessa and I then decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre, since I've been looking for a new pair of sneakers and she needed to find rainboots and a present. We are now very mad at Haider for telling us of the existance of this magical place... it was HUGE (over 250 stores I've heard), and had these interactive directories that gave you directions to various stores. There was a string quartet chilling and playing in one of the atriums. And the stores were fantastic. Highlight of the evening, though, had to be Crepe Affaire. A Thai chicken crepe for dinner and a nutella crepe for dessert? Sooooooooooooo good. We didn't talk at all while we were eating, since we were pretty much in heaven.
We got home pretty late, and I realized I had to fill out my Orientation Leader application since that's due the day I'm getting back from my trip; Hopefully Howard and Chambers will fill out the forms for me, I shot off some emails last night and hope to forward them the forms before I leave for Venice Sunday morning.
I also had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night, so kept getting out of bed and watching weird Youtube videos. Probably not the best way to get drowsy, but it was at least entertaining.
I was going to go to the gym today, but I realized that it's an off day since I successfully went two days in a row! And now my muscles hate me a bit. But that's okay, they'll man up soon enough.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bra-sil *clapclapclap*
Vanessa and I went to Westminster Cathedral today; it was pretty cool, actually. I personally think the outside of the building is rather ugly, but the inside is really pretty- I liked Bentley's marble halfway up, mosaics the rest of the way up, motif that he stole from Italy. We paid the extra two-fifty to take the lift up the tower, which had a fantastic view of Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the Gherkin- pretty much all of the really big, London-y things. I took many a picture, though a lot of them are for me to reference when I'm trying to write my Architecture paper.
I'm starting to get a decent amount of my reading done for my papers. Since I still haven't heard back from Harry (the study abroad adviser here) about what the registrar's office said regarding my midterm, I decided to assume there was no way around it, so am starting to make my plans to get back to London Wednesday night instead of Saturday. Plus side: I'll have almost all day next Thursday, and all day Fri-Sun, to work on my papers. Also, I get to sleep in as much as I want. And I'll be saving a decent chunk of money. Minus side: I don't get to go skiing in the Alps because I have a FORTY-MINUTE midterm scheduled for a week when nothing is supposed to be scheduled.
I actually think that the plus side outweighs the minus, at least.
USC Kevin, Vanessa and I went to the Brazil v. Italy game at Emirates tonight. The ride there was INSANE- the Tube was absolutely packed with people flocking to the game, and when it pulled in at Arsenal (the station) we could see a huge bottleneck at the exit... when the doors opened, you could hear the bedlam, fans for both teams were doing chants and singing songs and waving flags, it was spectacular. The Italian supporters were particularly prone to bursting out into song (so I guess I know where I got that from, eh? The Irish are singers as well, I suppose). When we finally got out into the street, it was still packed, and I just wanted out of the crowd a bit since I was getting claustrophobic... until Vanessa and I noticed the Brasil v. Italy scarves they were selling. We each bought one since it was getting cold and they were way adorable.
The Arsenal stadium was HUGE, and very cool and modern looking. Our seats were pretty high up, but we still had a good view (of a game that I understood very little of), and the atmosphere was just very fun. It looked awesome when the wave started going around. Brasil ended up winning two-nil, both the goals were down our end. The first time it was a very standard run-the-ball-down-the-field, beat-the-keeper type of shot, and then the second time was really exciting since it was more of the type where you think they've gone too far past the net and have a bad angle and there's no way they're going to be able to make it in, but they somehow miraculously sink it in the opposite corner.
We decided to catch a bus back to campus- good call, much less crowded- and it let us off right in front of Milano's Pizza. So of course we ate there. I also ran to a store really quickly to grab more cough medicine, since I sound like a dying penguin. I want this cough to just go away, kaythanks.
I'm starting to get a decent amount of my reading done for my papers. Since I still haven't heard back from Harry (the study abroad adviser here) about what the registrar's office said regarding my midterm, I decided to assume there was no way around it, so am starting to make my plans to get back to London Wednesday night instead of Saturday. Plus side: I'll have almost all day next Thursday, and all day Fri-Sun, to work on my papers. Also, I get to sleep in as much as I want. And I'll be saving a decent chunk of money. Minus side: I don't get to go skiing in the Alps because I have a FORTY-MINUTE midterm scheduled for a week when nothing is supposed to be scheduled.
I actually think that the plus side outweighs the minus, at least.
USC Kevin, Vanessa and I went to the Brazil v. Italy game at Emirates tonight. The ride there was INSANE- the Tube was absolutely packed with people flocking to the game, and when it pulled in at Arsenal (the station) we could see a huge bottleneck at the exit... when the doors opened, you could hear the bedlam, fans for both teams were doing chants and singing songs and waving flags, it was spectacular. The Italian supporters were particularly prone to bursting out into song (so I guess I know where I got that from, eh? The Irish are singers as well, I suppose). When we finally got out into the street, it was still packed, and I just wanted out of the crowd a bit since I was getting claustrophobic... until Vanessa and I noticed the Brasil v. Italy scarves they were selling. We each bought one since it was getting cold and they were way adorable.
The Arsenal stadium was HUGE, and very cool and modern looking. Our seats were pretty high up, but we still had a good view (of a game that I understood very little of), and the atmosphere was just very fun. It looked awesome when the wave started going around. Brasil ended up winning two-nil, both the goals were down our end. The first time it was a very standard run-the-ball-down-the-field, beat-the-keeper type of shot, and then the second time was really exciting since it was more of the type where you think they've gone too far past the net and have a bad angle and there's no way they're going to be able to make it in, but they somehow miraculously sink it in the opposite corner.
We decided to catch a bus back to campus- good call, much less crowded- and it let us off right in front of Milano's Pizza. So of course we ate there. I also ran to a store really quickly to grab more cough medicine, since I sound like a dying penguin. I want this cough to just go away, kaythanks.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wipeout!
In Diff Eq this morning we learned about complex numbers and some identities involving those (all of which I fortunately know thanks to Complex Variables; probably the most difficult elective I've ever taken, but the most useful).
I went adventuring after that- and by adventuring, I meant I went to Russell Square to find the Senate House Library at University of London. When I got off the Tube and started walking through the park, I had severe deja-vu, and realized that I had passed said park several times four years ago, since it was quite close to where Erin lived whilst in London, and also near the hotel we stayed in. Despite the rain, I took my time walking through said park and orienting myself.
Then I got to do several figure eights around a large section of buildings on the Uni of London campus, trying to find the hidden secret entrance (not even joking here) to the Senate House Library. I also had to sign up for a card, which they felt compelled to take my picture to put on (seriously, must everything here have my picture on it? It's worse than getting your license, since it's just like, "surprise! you look like a drowned rat, smile!"). After writing down the codes for the books I needed, I went to find them, and the most adorable old man librarian came up to me and asked if I needed help, so I decided to let him help me find my books. He suddenly went from being rather quiet and slow to spritely, running shelf to shelf and finding all of the books he possibly could on Bentley and Westminster Cathedral (way more than my list had) and talking to me about it. "Are you Roman Catholic? I am, I've been to Westminster Cathedral a few times, if you go to such-and-such a place they're exactly the same, Byzantine style..." It was really fun. I ended up having to power-read one of the shorter books while I was there (since I could only take eight out and also had a few on Pinocchio to read) and then having to buy a Senate House Library tote to get all of the books back through the rain and the Tube.
When I switched at Holborn to get back on the Central line, this man in a business suit, trench and briefcase had an epic, Indiana Jones-esque moment where he sprinted and threw himself through the narrow crack of the closing doors to land, miraculously (and briefcase still in hand) on the train. The moment was ruined a little bit by him wiping out, though. He seemed to just have a bit of injured pride in the end.
I made a massive bowl of "smashed" (ie mashed potatoes) for lunch, then met up with USC Kevin and Hilary for our field trip. We met the class in Trafalgar Square and walked to Buckingham Palace; afterwards, Kevin decided to lead us through the park to Green Park station. It was all mud, and I wasn't wearing my rainboots. The puddles would've been great fun if I had been, though.
After Actuarial, we tried to go to an acrobatics gym, but there weren't any adult classes tonight; it just ended up being a fun bus ride instead. At Hayfields, I almost beat Caitlin at Mario Kart (almost) and Caitlin and I beat Damien and James at pool (ha!). I had some spectacular shots- there was one that was legitimately epic, I dug a ball out of the middle of some others and got it to ricochet into a random pocket (kaping!)
I went adventuring after that- and by adventuring, I meant I went to Russell Square to find the Senate House Library at University of London. When I got off the Tube and started walking through the park, I had severe deja-vu, and realized that I had passed said park several times four years ago, since it was quite close to where Erin lived whilst in London, and also near the hotel we stayed in. Despite the rain, I took my time walking through said park and orienting myself.
Then I got to do several figure eights around a large section of buildings on the Uni of London campus, trying to find the hidden secret entrance (not even joking here) to the Senate House Library. I also had to sign up for a card, which they felt compelled to take my picture to put on (seriously, must everything here have my picture on it? It's worse than getting your license, since it's just like, "surprise! you look like a drowned rat, smile!"). After writing down the codes for the books I needed, I went to find them, and the most adorable old man librarian came up to me and asked if I needed help, so I decided to let him help me find my books. He suddenly went from being rather quiet and slow to spritely, running shelf to shelf and finding all of the books he possibly could on Bentley and Westminster Cathedral (way more than my list had) and talking to me about it. "Are you Roman Catholic? I am, I've been to Westminster Cathedral a few times, if you go to such-and-such a place they're exactly the same, Byzantine style..." It was really fun. I ended up having to power-read one of the shorter books while I was there (since I could only take eight out and also had a few on Pinocchio to read) and then having to buy a Senate House Library tote to get all of the books back through the rain and the Tube.
When I switched at Holborn to get back on the Central line, this man in a business suit, trench and briefcase had an epic, Indiana Jones-esque moment where he sprinted and threw himself through the narrow crack of the closing doors to land, miraculously (and briefcase still in hand) on the train. The moment was ruined a little bit by him wiping out, though. He seemed to just have a bit of injured pride in the end.
I made a massive bowl of "smashed" (ie mashed potatoes) for lunch, then met up with USC Kevin and Hilary for our field trip. We met the class in Trafalgar Square and walked to Buckingham Palace; afterwards, Kevin decided to lead us through the park to Green Park station. It was all mud, and I wasn't wearing my rainboots. The puddles would've been great fun if I had been, though.
After Actuarial, we tried to go to an acrobatics gym, but there weren't any adult classes tonight; it just ended up being a fun bus ride instead. At Hayfields, I almost beat Caitlin at Mario Kart (almost) and Caitlin and I beat Damien and James at pool (ha!). I had some spectacular shots- there was one that was legitimately epic, I dug a ball out of the middle of some others and got it to ricochet into a random pocket (kaping!)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Harrods
I had the most expensive milkshake of my life today. But it was SO good.
Caitlin, Vanessa, her friend Trisha and I went to Harrods today. Caitlin and I meandered through the shoes and evening wear sections first (sticker shock anyone?) and decided to go upstairs... to the toy department! We were in grave danger of never emerging again from THAT one, they had fantastic stuffed animals, and really cool rocking horses, and giant beautiful doll houses, and the snazziest whirly flashy things ever (like a helicopter that really flies and light up wheels to attach to your sneakers). I want to be an employee there, they get to play with everything (like said helicopter and wheels, and also two guys had to stand there and throw boomerangs at each other, and one guy was doing magic tricks). It's magical. Luckily, Vanessa and Trisha showed up before we got too sucked into that vortex (though I almost bought many of their awesome board games).
We proceeded downstairs to the food court, which was another vortex in and of itself. THE CHOCOLATE ROOM. Really, I can't say much else. It was gorgeous. I wanted to keep it. I need that room in my house. No, I really don't. (But I do). The chocolate was so pretty and yummy looking and it just smelled fantastic. And then the other room was awesome- their Chinese food looked so good, and they had a sushi bar... and then we went back upstairs (and through the sparkly pretty glassware room) and to the Harrods Chocolate Bar. I wanted the entire menu. I settled for my overpriced shake, but it was the chocolatiest best one I've had in a while.
We took a couple minutes back at campus after, so Van and Trisha could eat their cheesecake and I could do some reading, and then we went to East End Thrift (to recover from sticker shock). It was definitely a very ecclectic store, but had fantastic deals. I again exercised great restraint.
The rest of my day wasn't that exciting- I read. A lot. And I also looked up and found a bunch of books to use for my papers at the Senate House Library, which is kinda far away, but the books are at least there (contrast with the on-campus library where there is a waiting list of a million people since everyone in my classes need the same books). I'll be hitting that up tomorrow so I can get some serious work done on these papers.
Caitlin, Vanessa, her friend Trisha and I went to Harrods today. Caitlin and I meandered through the shoes and evening wear sections first (sticker shock anyone?) and decided to go upstairs... to the toy department! We were in grave danger of never emerging again from THAT one, they had fantastic stuffed animals, and really cool rocking horses, and giant beautiful doll houses, and the snazziest whirly flashy things ever (like a helicopter that really flies and light up wheels to attach to your sneakers). I want to be an employee there, they get to play with everything (like said helicopter and wheels, and also two guys had to stand there and throw boomerangs at each other, and one guy was doing magic tricks). It's magical. Luckily, Vanessa and Trisha showed up before we got too sucked into that vortex (though I almost bought many of their awesome board games).
We proceeded downstairs to the food court, which was another vortex in and of itself. THE CHOCOLATE ROOM. Really, I can't say much else. It was gorgeous. I wanted to keep it. I need that room in my house. No, I really don't. (But I do). The chocolate was so pretty and yummy looking and it just smelled fantastic. And then the other room was awesome- their Chinese food looked so good, and they had a sushi bar... and then we went back upstairs (and through the sparkly pretty glassware room) and to the Harrods Chocolate Bar. I wanted the entire menu. I settled for my overpriced shake, but it was the chocolatiest best one I've had in a while.
We took a couple minutes back at campus after, so Van and Trisha could eat their cheesecake and I could do some reading, and then we went to East End Thrift (to recover from sticker shock). It was definitely a very ecclectic store, but had fantastic deals. I again exercised great restraint.
The rest of my day wasn't that exciting- I read. A lot. And I also looked up and found a bunch of books to use for my papers at the Senate House Library, which is kinda far away, but the books are at least there (contrast with the on-campus library where there is a waiting list of a million people since everyone in my classes need the same books). I'll be hitting that up tomorrow so I can get some serious work done on these papers.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Simon Cowell
A bunch of us went for a really nice walk today. It was pretty sunny out, and not ridiculously windy. We started at the Houses of Parliament and looped our way around, and were going to go into Westminster Abbey but they were having a mass soon so weren't letting people in, and we didn't feel like going to church. I ran into Carrie who had come into town for today, which was really nice, so we chatted for a few before she and Mark went in to the Abbey (they decided to go to mass) and my friends and I moved on down the street towards Trafalgar Square.
We stopped along the way to watch and see who was going to come out to a black Bentley... it ended up being Simon Cowell, which was really cool, followed by Ant and Dec. I guess we accidentally stumbled upon an audition site for "Britain's Got Talent." It was pretty exciting, actually. We waved to his car when it U-turned and drove by our side of the road. Yes, I know I'm a tool.
I climbed on a lion in Trafalgar Square. It was a project- we made Kevin jump up on the base of Nelson's column to help pull us shorties up, and then he had to give all of us a leg up onto the lion itself, but it was SO WORTH IT. I felt SO COOL. Seriously. It was way fun, and I want to do it again someday!
We walked from there across the Thames and down along the other side, past a lot of cool street performers (their three/four person bands sound like a lot more performers than that, they're crazy good! And the living statues were pretty fun, I got a photo of a really funny one). They also had a crazyawesome book market.
We crossed the Thames again via the Jubilee walkway, and went up to St. Paul's (gorgeous in the sunset, by-the-by), and went in a little bit, but a lot was closed off due to mass. We're going to go back again sometime soon when we haven't been out walking all day, and go up all the way to the top of the dome. It's going to be killer. (Seriously, though. It's going to burn.)
Since I was starving, we went to this place called Byrons, which had good burgers and shakes (little too pricey for my liking, but I was hungry and it was yummy). After that, Vanessa, Caitlin, and Trisha (Vanessa's friend) and I went to see Revolutionary Road. It was good, but definitely quite depressing and frustrating (which I guess was the point). I still think my favorite character was the old deaf dude, especially for the scene at the end.
The ride home was fun- we got to ride at the front on the top level of the double-decker bus.
We were going to play cards with USC Kevin and his flatmate Dave (we'd knocked on their window to invite them along to the movie, and they told us to stop by after), but were all too tired (slash I can't stop coughing). We knocked to tell them we weren't coming in, and Dave answered the window with a bathrobe tie around his head (a white one with purple and pink stars on it) and told us that everyone was ninjas in there, and we had to get our own ninja head cloth things (too tired to think of the name) if we wanted to come in. He also told us that every man has a pink and purple star bathrobe.
Needless to say, entertaining day.
We stopped along the way to watch and see who was going to come out to a black Bentley... it ended up being Simon Cowell, which was really cool, followed by Ant and Dec. I guess we accidentally stumbled upon an audition site for "Britain's Got Talent." It was pretty exciting, actually. We waved to his car when it U-turned and drove by our side of the road. Yes, I know I'm a tool.
I climbed on a lion in Trafalgar Square. It was a project- we made Kevin jump up on the base of Nelson's column to help pull us shorties up, and then he had to give all of us a leg up onto the lion itself, but it was SO WORTH IT. I felt SO COOL. Seriously. It was way fun, and I want to do it again someday!
We walked from there across the Thames and down along the other side, past a lot of cool street performers (their three/four person bands sound like a lot more performers than that, they're crazy good! And the living statues were pretty fun, I got a photo of a really funny one). They also had a crazyawesome book market.
We crossed the Thames again via the Jubilee walkway, and went up to St. Paul's (gorgeous in the sunset, by-the-by), and went in a little bit, but a lot was closed off due to mass. We're going to go back again sometime soon when we haven't been out walking all day, and go up all the way to the top of the dome. It's going to be killer. (Seriously, though. It's going to burn.)
Since I was starving, we went to this place called Byrons, which had good burgers and shakes (little too pricey for my liking, but I was hungry and it was yummy). After that, Vanessa, Caitlin, and Trisha (Vanessa's friend) and I went to see Revolutionary Road. It was good, but definitely quite depressing and frustrating (which I guess was the point). I still think my favorite character was the old deaf dude, especially for the scene at the end.
The ride home was fun- we got to ride at the front on the top level of the double-decker bus.
We were going to play cards with USC Kevin and his flatmate Dave (we'd knocked on their window to invite them along to the movie, and they told us to stop by after), but were all too tired (slash I can't stop coughing). We knocked to tell them we weren't coming in, and Dave answered the window with a bathrobe tie around his head (a white one with purple and pink stars on it) and told us that everyone was ninjas in there, and we had to get our own ninja head cloth things (too tired to think of the name) if we wanted to come in. He also told us that every man has a pink and purple star bathrobe.
Needless to say, entertaining day.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Maths drama
My adventure stories class was really fun today, since we were talking about Huck Finn (and the plot of Tom Sawyer). I again had fun listening to Brits trying to read out of the book; my professor was going to have me read a chunk but we ran out of time since we got sidetracked with other conversations. It was still really interesting to hear the British take on a novel I've read at least twice for school already, and also interesting to hear their take on the language used (I assured them that being American did not make it much easier to understand it the first time I read it).
I managed to get to the gym for a little bit today, as I felt a bit healthier. I'm worried that this cough isn't going to go away for a long time, though, since that happens to me sometimes.
I chatted a bit with a girl named Millie in Actuarial today, since she came in a minute or two late and asked to look at my notes to catch up. It was a good day to have someone to talk to, two guys got into a fight on the other side of the room (I don't know what one was doing, but the other finally yelled at him to "stop messing around," and our professor threw him out; the guy who got thrown out promised repeatedly that he would be waiting outside for the one who'd been antagonizing him). It was quite shocking.
We went to Brick Lane again, since we were all craving curry and nan, and Kevin and Vanessa's friends from home were intrigued to see the haggling and try the food. Caitlin ended up getting us a good deal at Chutneys, but I felt like a star- Haider vetoed this one place since he didn't like it's atmosphere, but I got us two rounds of drinks, starters, main, nan AND rice, for eight pounds a head. We ended up with nine pounds a head and only one round of drinks at Chutneys, which did feel a bit nicer, but the guy down the street tried to steal me into the restaurant as we walked away. I don't think he understood that kidnapping people is not a good way to get business.
We went to Vanessa's for a little while to have brownies (since I made some mint ones last night) and hot cocoa. Some of her flatmates were talking about how Dixie Chicken and a brownie ended up being their tea (having gotten out of bed at three, it was, of course, tea time) and a healthier tea there had never been.
I managed to get to the gym for a little bit today, as I felt a bit healthier. I'm worried that this cough isn't going to go away for a long time, though, since that happens to me sometimes.
I chatted a bit with a girl named Millie in Actuarial today, since she came in a minute or two late and asked to look at my notes to catch up. It was a good day to have someone to talk to, two guys got into a fight on the other side of the room (I don't know what one was doing, but the other finally yelled at him to "stop messing around," and our professor threw him out; the guy who got thrown out promised repeatedly that he would be waiting outside for the one who'd been antagonizing him). It was quite shocking.
We went to Brick Lane again, since we were all craving curry and nan, and Kevin and Vanessa's friends from home were intrigued to see the haggling and try the food. Caitlin ended up getting us a good deal at Chutneys, but I felt like a star- Haider vetoed this one place since he didn't like it's atmosphere, but I got us two rounds of drinks, starters, main, nan AND rice, for eight pounds a head. We ended up with nine pounds a head and only one round of drinks at Chutneys, which did feel a bit nicer, but the guy down the street tried to steal me into the restaurant as we walked away. I don't think he understood that kidnapping people is not a good way to get business.
We went to Vanessa's for a little while to have brownies (since I made some mint ones last night) and hot cocoa. Some of her flatmates were talking about how Dixie Chicken and a brownie ended up being their tea (having gotten out of bed at three, it was, of course, tea time) and a healthier tea there had never been.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Curve of Deaths
I drank another litre of OJ in one sitting today. No good, man, no good, now I'm all out! I also had to get more medicine. This cold needs to just go away.
I was working on my Actuarial Maths homework, and I got to do a life table about rats, and write about how all of the beetles will be dead in four years. We also discussed "curve of deaths" in class this morning, which was really funny. I went to USC Kevin's Diff Eq tutorial today, since I skipped mine yesterday to get some sleep and be healthier (minor fail there), and we actually finished pretty quickly which was good.
From there I went straight to the Grand Tours screening of Huck Finn. Can we have a brief pause and discuss how even in 1993, Elijah Wood's eyes were STILL ridiculously intense? And I like that the movie made Jim out to be a lot smarter than the book gave him credit for.
Also, British people trying to read out loud Huck's narration and Jim's dialogue = fantastic. I laughed a lot, they just still sounded so very... British. After watching the movie, one of the kids in my class and I were walking in the same direction, so he was asking lots of questions about where Huck Finn starts (Missouri) and how that's a bit further north than Mississippi, and how he thought it took place in Mississippi because it was on the river, etcetc, and then had me explain where my home is ("the most northeast state, just below Canada and a bit above Boston" is my usual response). It was a nice chat, and I started laughing again when he was trying the southern accent again.
I fell asleep trying to do some more work; I guess that happens when you're sick, eh? And then our friend Damien made a bunch of us "spagbol," only it wasn't spaghetti, just some other pasta, which Haider was giving him crap about. It was really good, though, and then Caitlin and I ended up getting brownie stuff- Caitlin to make some Cadbury chocolate ones for tonight, me to make some mint ones to eat tomorrow. We all played a few card games- the Brits were laughing at Egyptian Rat Screw, and then we taught them BS (they were both horrible at it), and they "taught" us Pass the Ace (Old Maid) and a version of UNO you play with regular playing cards. I had also brought over my Would You Rather book, so we had some good laughs and conversations over that (there's still a unanimous pull for getting drunk dialed by Ghandi rather than MLK).
I was working on my Actuarial Maths homework, and I got to do a life table about rats, and write about how all of the beetles will be dead in four years. We also discussed "curve of deaths" in class this morning, which was really funny. I went to USC Kevin's Diff Eq tutorial today, since I skipped mine yesterday to get some sleep and be healthier (minor fail there), and we actually finished pretty quickly which was good.
From there I went straight to the Grand Tours screening of Huck Finn. Can we have a brief pause and discuss how even in 1993, Elijah Wood's eyes were STILL ridiculously intense? And I like that the movie made Jim out to be a lot smarter than the book gave him credit for.
Also, British people trying to read out loud Huck's narration and Jim's dialogue = fantastic. I laughed a lot, they just still sounded so very... British. After watching the movie, one of the kids in my class and I were walking in the same direction, so he was asking lots of questions about where Huck Finn starts (Missouri) and how that's a bit further north than Mississippi, and how he thought it took place in Mississippi because it was on the river, etcetc, and then had me explain where my home is ("the most northeast state, just below Canada and a bit above Boston" is my usual response). It was a nice chat, and I started laughing again when he was trying the southern accent again.
I fell asleep trying to do some more work; I guess that happens when you're sick, eh? And then our friend Damien made a bunch of us "spagbol," only it wasn't spaghetti, just some other pasta, which Haider was giving him crap about. It was really good, though, and then Caitlin and I ended up getting brownie stuff- Caitlin to make some Cadbury chocolate ones for tonight, me to make some mint ones to eat tomorrow. We all played a few card games- the Brits were laughing at Egyptian Rat Screw, and then we taught them BS (they were both horrible at it), and they "taught" us Pass the Ace (Old Maid) and a version of UNO you play with regular playing cards. I had also brought over my Would You Rather book, so we had some good laughs and conversations over that (there's still a unanimous pull for getting drunk dialed by Ghandi rather than MLK).
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Let me see your bungalow, let me see your bungalow.
Today was my last day with the Magic Me! project. It's really weird for a few different reasons... one is that I am sad I won't be seeing the other girls from QM that I worked with. They were all fantastic- Shidvash, Arrka, Amanda and Lauren, and of course Sarah and Catherine- and it will be weird not seeing them every Wednesday from now on. It's also very strange that I only got to talk to Elsie twice; she was great today, she kept falling asleep but was very chatty and actually answered the questions Sameera and I asked her, which was fantastic. I'm very sad to have only been able to see Sameera and the other children only twice, as well.
Our project today was pretty fun, Elsie doesn't like miming things so she didn't do much to act out our "picnic scene." But once we got going with making our flowers and putting five facts about each of us, and then five things the three of us have in common, she was superb. I was very impressed with Sameera, too- she was very good about repeating a question a few times, and acknowledging that sometimes Elsie didn't remember the answer, and either finding it out a different way (for example, when Elsie couldn't remember her age, Sameera asked what her birthday and year were) or just choosing a different question. These are some of the facts we came up with (I can't remember them all):
Elsie- Born in London, October 9, 1940, her favorite colour is black since it goes with everything, she likes sitting out in the sun in the garden, likes musicals
Sameera- Born in London, but her mother is from Somalia, birthday is May 27, 1999, her favorite colour is blue, she loves playing football
Me- Born in America, May 27, 1988 (I made Sameera work this out since she also likes maths; I told her I am exactly eleven years older than her), my favorite food is mashed potatoes, and I do ballet and tap
All three- like to sing, like necklaces, love chocolate, like watching TV (Elsie likes gameshows and Sameera loves the Disney channel- especially Suite Life on Board and HSM3), and like playing in the snow (it used to snow more often when Elsie was younger, and this last time was the most snow Sameera has ever seen; she really wants to go ice skating)
I guess that was a bit more for me than anyone else, sorry. When we were leaving, Elsie told us she hoped we'd visit again, and Sameera gave me a big hug and ordered me to come see her again.
The other thing that is really weird about the program being done is that it means I've already been here over a month- a bit over five weeks, actually. It's strange to think about as it doesn't really seem like it's been that long, but we're already coming up on our midterm reading week in a week and a half.
After Magic Me, I pulled a pizza out of the oven and threw it back in the freezer when Kevin suggested Spoons with his friend Katie who was visiting, and Vanessa also came along; it was delicious, and then we watched Love, Actually, and I started falling asleep which I suppose signals an early bedtime for me this evening.
Our project today was pretty fun, Elsie doesn't like miming things so she didn't do much to act out our "picnic scene." But once we got going with making our flowers and putting five facts about each of us, and then five things the three of us have in common, she was superb. I was very impressed with Sameera, too- she was very good about repeating a question a few times, and acknowledging that sometimes Elsie didn't remember the answer, and either finding it out a different way (for example, when Elsie couldn't remember her age, Sameera asked what her birthday and year were) or just choosing a different question. These are some of the facts we came up with (I can't remember them all):
Elsie- Born in London, October 9, 1940, her favorite colour is black since it goes with everything, she likes sitting out in the sun in the garden, likes musicals
Sameera- Born in London, but her mother is from Somalia, birthday is May 27, 1999, her favorite colour is blue, she loves playing football
Me- Born in America, May 27, 1988 (I made Sameera work this out since she also likes maths; I told her I am exactly eleven years older than her), my favorite food is mashed potatoes, and I do ballet and tap
All three- like to sing, like necklaces, love chocolate, like watching TV (Elsie likes gameshows and Sameera loves the Disney channel- especially Suite Life on Board and HSM3), and like playing in the snow (it used to snow more often when Elsie was younger, and this last time was the most snow Sameera has ever seen; she really wants to go ice skating)
I guess that was a bit more for me than anyone else, sorry. When we were leaving, Elsie told us she hoped we'd visit again, and Sameera gave me a big hug and ordered me to come see her again.
The other thing that is really weird about the program being done is that it means I've already been here over a month- a bit over five weeks, actually. It's strange to think about as it doesn't really seem like it's been that long, but we're already coming up on our midterm reading week in a week and a half.
After Magic Me, I pulled a pizza out of the oven and threw it back in the freezer when Kevin suggested Spoons with his friend Katie who was visiting, and Vanessa also came along; it was delicious, and then we watched Love, Actually, and I started falling asleep which I suppose signals an early bedtime for me this evening.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
It was the storm of the century....
The housecleaner woke me up today, and I just asked her if she could possibly clean the room while I stayed in bed, because I felt so crappy. It was no problem for her, so long as she could have a light... so I might do that from now on.
We had another snow day, not because it snowed but because the city is still incapacitated due to yesterday's snow. I'm not complaining at all, two days where I get to rest and not miss class? Okay.
I went to the apothecary today, and gave the woman my symptoms and she handed me a medicine- which reminds me, I get to take more right now! Huzzah! This stuff is more tolerable than the lemsip, since it's nasty in the form of a shot rather than a mug of hot lemon grossness.
I finally got to the library today to get some books for my Architecture paper; when I was checking one out, the girl at the desk asked if I was from Boston (due to my BC hat and hoodie I opted in to today). It turns out she got accepted to Northeastern's law school and is trying to decide if she wants to go, so we chatted for a minute about Boston and some pros and cons of going. It was cool.
Aside from that, I put in Ever After and fell asleep, and then did some more stuff about Er's bachelorette party. We still haven't come to any solid decisions, but it's getting there, which is good!
I'm now debating between getting some more work done or going to bed, but bed is slowly but surely winning this round...
We had another snow day, not because it snowed but because the city is still incapacitated due to yesterday's snow. I'm not complaining at all, two days where I get to rest and not miss class? Okay.
I went to the apothecary today, and gave the woman my symptoms and she handed me a medicine- which reminds me, I get to take more right now! Huzzah! This stuff is more tolerable than the lemsip, since it's nasty in the form of a shot rather than a mug of hot lemon grossness.
I finally got to the library today to get some books for my Architecture paper; when I was checking one out, the girl at the desk asked if I was from Boston (due to my BC hat and hoodie I opted in to today). It turns out she got accepted to Northeastern's law school and is trying to decide if she wants to go, so we chatted for a minute about Boston and some pros and cons of going. It was cool.
Aside from that, I put in Ever After and fell asleep, and then did some more stuff about Er's bachelorette party. We still haven't come to any solid decisions, but it's getting there, which is good!
I'm now debating between getting some more work done or going to bed, but bed is slowly but surely winning this round...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Snow day!
Apparently three to six inches of snow is enough to close the uni, and warrants headlines such as, "BLIZZARD HITS LONDON!" I am not complaining about the canceled classes- I liked my extra sleep- but honestly, just because it's more snow than you're used to does not make it a blizzard.
I went to go to my nine am, but there was a sign on the door of the building saying that "THE 9AM LECTURE IS CANCELED." THE 9AM? As in yours? Or mine? Or all of them? I was confused, so I asked someone nearby, and he said they were all canceled. I turned around, pumped my fists and said "back to bed!" Then I realized I should turn in my problem set for Diff Eq, so trekked across campus to do that. I ran into USC Kevin, who had just done the same, and convinced him to walk back (he was like ten feet away from the building) with me to drop off my set, so then we could go all the way back across campus again. On our way across the quad, we passed a professor who told us a tale of free coffee in the Curve, so we went to invetigate. Alas, after telling us there was going to be free coffee, and waiting twenty minutes, we discovered we had been deceived, and that the free coffee was indeed just a tale. Also, the snowmen from last night were long gone.
I went back to bed for a couple hours, my friends kept texting to see if I was going to go sledding with them. I really wanted to, but I stuck to my guns and got some much-needed rest, but invited them over for hot cocoa after. Some hot cocoa and brownies later, it was decided we'd go to Westminster and take snowy photos... so much fun! There were snowmen everywhere, some set up for convenient photographs with Parliament in the background, and people were having snowball fights all over. Actually, campus was even crazier- it looked like gang wars, I was watching out my window as EVERYONE wandered around with snowballs in hand, just in case, and then people would sporadically break out into mad chases. Vanessa and Caitlin had to dodge out of the way of two dozen people chasing a solitary other, pelting the unfortunate soul with snowballs all the way. Open windows were also a favoured target.
At any rate, there were huge delays heading back to campus; one train was supposed to terminate at Tower Hill, but then it decided to take us to Aldgate East, but then the buses weren't running and the Tube wasn't going to get us any further since the snow broke it hardcore; so we ended up walking a good long while in the cold (another three stops on the Tube, really) and on the packed down snow. My throat was not happy with me by the time we got back to campus, and I was sad that the Maths building was locked so I couldn't turn my Actuarial problem set in (which I had finished in the Tube on the way to Westminster).
Now I've chugged an entire litre of OJ and still feel pretty crappy, so I'm thinking I'm going to go to bed, and hope that the rumors of uni being closed tomorrow as well prove to be true!
I went to go to my nine am, but there was a sign on the door of the building saying that "THE 9AM LECTURE IS CANCELED." THE 9AM? As in yours? Or mine? Or all of them? I was confused, so I asked someone nearby, and he said they were all canceled. I turned around, pumped my fists and said "back to bed!" Then I realized I should turn in my problem set for Diff Eq, so trekked across campus to do that. I ran into USC Kevin, who had just done the same, and convinced him to walk back (he was like ten feet away from the building) with me to drop off my set, so then we could go all the way back across campus again. On our way across the quad, we passed a professor who told us a tale of free coffee in the Curve, so we went to invetigate. Alas, after telling us there was going to be free coffee, and waiting twenty minutes, we discovered we had been deceived, and that the free coffee was indeed just a tale. Also, the snowmen from last night were long gone.
I went back to bed for a couple hours, my friends kept texting to see if I was going to go sledding with them. I really wanted to, but I stuck to my guns and got some much-needed rest, but invited them over for hot cocoa after. Some hot cocoa and brownies later, it was decided we'd go to Westminster and take snowy photos... so much fun! There were snowmen everywhere, some set up for convenient photographs with Parliament in the background, and people were having snowball fights all over. Actually, campus was even crazier- it looked like gang wars, I was watching out my window as EVERYONE wandered around with snowballs in hand, just in case, and then people would sporadically break out into mad chases. Vanessa and Caitlin had to dodge out of the way of two dozen people chasing a solitary other, pelting the unfortunate soul with snowballs all the way. Open windows were also a favoured target.
At any rate, there were huge delays heading back to campus; one train was supposed to terminate at Tower Hill, but then it decided to take us to Aldgate East, but then the buses weren't running and the Tube wasn't going to get us any further since the snow broke it hardcore; so we ended up walking a good long while in the cold (another three stops on the Tube, really) and on the packed down snow. My throat was not happy with me by the time we got back to campus, and I was sad that the Maths building was locked so I couldn't turn my Actuarial problem set in (which I had finished in the Tube on the way to Westminster).
Now I've chugged an entire litre of OJ and still feel pretty crappy, so I'm thinking I'm going to go to bed, and hope that the rumors of uni being closed tomorrow as well prove to be true!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Playing in the snow
On Saturday I woke up wicked early- my alarm was set for six something- showered, packed and met up with the other BC girls at QM to go to Waterloo station. I met up with Liz and Paul, and re-met Anne. Everyone got their own seats on the bus, which was sweet; much sleeping ensued.
We stopped at Lewes and did a walking tour. Our tour guide knew a lot about Thomas Paine, which was very interesting, but it was cold and windy and we were all exhausted. We went to the "Anne of Cleaves" house. What a misnomer, she never even went there, it was a wedding gift that she didn't use. But it was very cute, the garden would be gorgeous in the spring. I guess lots of people get married there. Highlight? The dress-up room. Pictures on facebook. I really liked the bit when we were passing a bowling green, and there were a bunch of old men out bowling, and our tour guide goes, "Oh, those are friends of mine, let's go have a jeer at them!" And she called them over and talked for a moment. It was very cute.
At lunch, my fish still had scales, a tail, and a face. Eyes and jaw included. It was kinda gross, so I cut off the head and tail and put it on Paul's plate, since he'd already finished eating.
We also stopped at the Royal Pavilion, the party palace of George the fourth (I think), who was very fat and loved eating. The outside is India-inspired, the inside China-inspired. I really want the gorgeous dragon chandelier. I'm probably going to google pictures since we couldn't photograph the interior.
There was a mess up with our hostel in Brighton, so eight of us girls that were supposed to be in one room got split into fours. The first four got sent up four stories, and then the rest of us had to wait a little while... then they found us a room to go to, which had two other boarders we didn't know. Neither one was around, but there was a stuffed penguin on one bed, and the other was of course the bottom bunk by the window.
We had a really good dinner, and after, Anne, Paul, Liz and I went to the pier, and Liz and I got ice cream cones. It was an interesting flavour- sort've more the cream that the Brits like to put on everything than vanilla.
Pretty much everyone met up after that to go to a club- since that's the thing to do in Brighton- and we wandered along the waterfront. The place that was recommended to us was closed, so we were having a huge (loud) discussion on the beach when two police officers came by and told us to move it along. Some people decided it was a good idea to ask for the cops' opinions on clubs around, but the woman kindly told us, "It's Brighton. You have the beach, (gestures), and bars (gestures)." It was really funny. We finally got into this place called TRU for free, danced until the music style changed and everyone cleared into a different room, and then Liz and I called it an early night since we were exhausted and I've had a cold.
The room was really hot and I kept waking up every time someone came in. There was already a girl asleep in the bed by the window, and evetually the other two BC girls came in; really, really late, the door opened again... and it was this giant, bearded man in black leather, combat boots, and tattoos. He crawled into the bed with the stuffed penguin.
We got woken up the next morning to his ringtone- "Where are all your friends? ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD!" He sort've was chipping in to the conversation the four of us were having, but not really being audible at all; he finally stumbled down to breakfast, limping a bit and still drunk, now wearing flame pajamas. It was so weird. AND HE SLEPT WITH A PENGUIN.
We had a walking tour of Brighton this morning, which was even colder than the one yesterday, but also pretty interesting. Though when our guide was talking about the Mods versus the Rockers and describing their clothing, I couldn't help but add on in a whisper to Liz after the "wear black leather and ride motorcycles" that the Rockers also "really like penguins."
After lunch, Liz, Paul, Anne and I decided to just go get hot cocoa and stay warm until it was time to catch the bus.
I met up with USC Kevin to finish our Diff Eq homework, and left straight from there to see Slumdog Millionaire with Vanessa, Caitlin and Haider. It should NOT be called the "feel-good movie of the year," but it was definitely really good.
After that we stopped at Haider's and had hot cocoa, since it was snowing rather a lot (it's accumulated a couple inches, I'm impressed!) and on the way back to our rooms, some of Haider's friends bombarded him. Us girls decided to go get slightly more appropriately dressed and joined in the MASSIVE snowball fight that was happening (they don't really get snow in London, so it was really exciting for everyone). I decided running around in the cold wasn't the best idea, so I started a snowman. The girls stopped their snowball fights and started trying to help, and I eventually got them going with a good method. The British guys were trying to outdo us by simply mounding up snow, but I showed them the error of their ways, and got them rolling huge snowballs as well. Other British people kept coming over to have their pictures taken with us and our massive amounts of snow, it was really funny. The boys ended up with a MASSIVE snowman (I taught them well), and I think our snowwoman was still a bit taller than me. I really hope they're still there tomorrow for everyone to admire!! We got a couple pictures of those as well, unfortunately not on my camera.
Pretty much I stayed out in the cold snow WAY too late for someone with an awful cold, but it was so fun.
We stopped at Lewes and did a walking tour. Our tour guide knew a lot about Thomas Paine, which was very interesting, but it was cold and windy and we were all exhausted. We went to the "Anne of Cleaves" house. What a misnomer, she never even went there, it was a wedding gift that she didn't use. But it was very cute, the garden would be gorgeous in the spring. I guess lots of people get married there. Highlight? The dress-up room. Pictures on facebook. I really liked the bit when we were passing a bowling green, and there were a bunch of old men out bowling, and our tour guide goes, "Oh, those are friends of mine, let's go have a jeer at them!" And she called them over and talked for a moment. It was very cute.
At lunch, my fish still had scales, a tail, and a face. Eyes and jaw included. It was kinda gross, so I cut off the head and tail and put it on Paul's plate, since he'd already finished eating.
We also stopped at the Royal Pavilion, the party palace of George the fourth (I think), who was very fat and loved eating. The outside is India-inspired, the inside China-inspired. I really want the gorgeous dragon chandelier. I'm probably going to google pictures since we couldn't photograph the interior.
There was a mess up with our hostel in Brighton, so eight of us girls that were supposed to be in one room got split into fours. The first four got sent up four stories, and then the rest of us had to wait a little while... then they found us a room to go to, which had two other boarders we didn't know. Neither one was around, but there was a stuffed penguin on one bed, and the other was of course the bottom bunk by the window.
We had a really good dinner, and after, Anne, Paul, Liz and I went to the pier, and Liz and I got ice cream cones. It was an interesting flavour- sort've more the cream that the Brits like to put on everything than vanilla.
Pretty much everyone met up after that to go to a club- since that's the thing to do in Brighton- and we wandered along the waterfront. The place that was recommended to us was closed, so we were having a huge (loud) discussion on the beach when two police officers came by and told us to move it along. Some people decided it was a good idea to ask for the cops' opinions on clubs around, but the woman kindly told us, "It's Brighton. You have the beach, (gestures), and bars (gestures)." It was really funny. We finally got into this place called TRU for free, danced until the music style changed and everyone cleared into a different room, and then Liz and I called it an early night since we were exhausted and I've had a cold.
The room was really hot and I kept waking up every time someone came in. There was already a girl asleep in the bed by the window, and evetually the other two BC girls came in; really, really late, the door opened again... and it was this giant, bearded man in black leather, combat boots, and tattoos. He crawled into the bed with the stuffed penguin.
We got woken up the next morning to his ringtone- "Where are all your friends? ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD!" He sort've was chipping in to the conversation the four of us were having, but not really being audible at all; he finally stumbled down to breakfast, limping a bit and still drunk, now wearing flame pajamas. It was so weird. AND HE SLEPT WITH A PENGUIN.
We had a walking tour of Brighton this morning, which was even colder than the one yesterday, but also pretty interesting. Though when our guide was talking about the Mods versus the Rockers and describing their clothing, I couldn't help but add on in a whisper to Liz after the "wear black leather and ride motorcycles" that the Rockers also "really like penguins."
After lunch, Liz, Paul, Anne and I decided to just go get hot cocoa and stay warm until it was time to catch the bus.
I met up with USC Kevin to finish our Diff Eq homework, and left straight from there to see Slumdog Millionaire with Vanessa, Caitlin and Haider. It should NOT be called the "feel-good movie of the year," but it was definitely really good.
After that we stopped at Haider's and had hot cocoa, since it was snowing rather a lot (it's accumulated a couple inches, I'm impressed!) and on the way back to our rooms, some of Haider's friends bombarded him. Us girls decided to go get slightly more appropriately dressed and joined in the MASSIVE snowball fight that was happening (they don't really get snow in London, so it was really exciting for everyone). I decided running around in the cold wasn't the best idea, so I started a snowman. The girls stopped their snowball fights and started trying to help, and I eventually got them going with a good method. The British guys were trying to outdo us by simply mounding up snow, but I showed them the error of their ways, and got them rolling huge snowballs as well. Other British people kept coming over to have their pictures taken with us and our massive amounts of snow, it was really funny. The boys ended up with a MASSIVE snowman (I taught them well), and I think our snowwoman was still a bit taller than me. I really hope they're still there tomorrow for everyone to admire!! We got a couple pictures of those as well, unfortunately not on my camera.
Pretty much I stayed out in the cold snow WAY too late for someone with an awful cold, but it was so fun.
Last Friday
My presentation in Grand Tours went pretty well today; I was able to successfully answer a question that involved text from outside of the reading the girl I was working with and I were supposed to have done, and the professor nodded in a pleased manner. Too bad it's not graded!
I was going to do work or go to the gym after, but I'm sick, so instead I came to my room, napped, dragged myself to Diff Eq, and then went and printed some stuff at the library before Actuarial Maths. At the start of that one, we watched a clip of Matt Damon making a fool of himself talking about how the potential for Palin to become president would be one in three if McCain wins (filmed before the election, obviously) because of the "actuary tables." More interesting than his lack of knowledge was definitely seeing how the Brits reacted to the clip.
We had an "Americana" party tonight, with burgers and dogs and music by only American artists; I also enjoyed when Vanessa, Caitlin and I were playing with a balloon for a full fifteen minutes, keeping it off the ground.
When I made a face at one of my friends, he told me I looked like Voldemort.
Kevin and I disappeared for a while upon an argument about upstate New York, and then got sidetracked GoogleEarthing our houses; Vanessa came to find us and got sucked into the Vortex, and then Haider and Hilary joined. It was pretty fun, we were seeing how far houses were chimney to chimney.
Now it's time for early bed, since I have to be up at six tomorrow to go to Brighton for the day and night with BC people.
I was going to do work or go to the gym after, but I'm sick, so instead I came to my room, napped, dragged myself to Diff Eq, and then went and printed some stuff at the library before Actuarial Maths. At the start of that one, we watched a clip of Matt Damon making a fool of himself talking about how the potential for Palin to become president would be one in three if McCain wins (filmed before the election, obviously) because of the "actuary tables." More interesting than his lack of knowledge was definitely seeing how the Brits reacted to the clip.
We had an "Americana" party tonight, with burgers and dogs and music by only American artists; I also enjoyed when Vanessa, Caitlin and I were playing with a balloon for a full fifteen minutes, keeping it off the ground.
When I made a face at one of my friends, he told me I looked like Voldemort.
Kevin and I disappeared for a while upon an argument about upstate New York, and then got sidetracked GoogleEarthing our houses; Vanessa came to find us and got sucked into the Vortex, and then Haider and Hilary joined. It was pretty fun, we were seeing how far houses were chimney to chimney.
Now it's time for early bed, since I have to be up at six tomorrow to go to Brighton for the day and night with BC people.
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