Days 86-89: What Up, Newport?

Monday: 

Oh, Monday, Monday, Monday… the last Monday of this semester. I woke up to my alarm and I did not want to get out of bed- I was so fast asleep. Ugh. So, I got up, rather grudgingly, woke Kalie up (who apparently was having a weird dream and tried to swat me… haha), and got ready for my Modern Middle East final. And… well, let’s just say my studying went a long way and I finished writing 3 essays in an hour and a half and felt very, very confident about them. So, let’s hope my grades reflect the work. After that? Well… I was DONE! No more finals. Just hanging around and packing until I go home. Woohoo! So I watched a Christmas movie with Kalie, then relaxed a bit before going out for some last minute trinket shopping with my roomie, then returned home, socialized a bit, went downstairs for dinner (I actually ate pizza with sauce and enjoyed it… what has the world come to?), and then proceeded to hang in the kitchen and socialize with a bunch of people for 3.5 hours. And it was awesome. I like this whole not having anything to do thing, especially when other people are free as well and not all-consumed by studying and procrastinating. After chatting for a bit, I headed back upstairs for a little relaxation and movie time before bed. All in all? A lovely Monday. Never thought I’d say that…

Tuesday: 

So, after being unable to fall asleep until 3:30 in the morning, I passed out and ignored my alarm this morning. I finally got out of bed around 11:15, feeling a little more refreshed than my slightly delirious moment at 3 am when Kalie came in. At least I was coherent when we spoke last night… Anyhow, having missed my gym hours due to a desire to sleep in, I decided to get packing so I didn’t have to deal with it on Wednesday. Good news? I’m bringing a bunch home so I should have a lighter suitcase coming back. And I should be able to pack everything up at the end of second semester without a problem. Bad news? My suitcase is freaking heavy and I couldn’t get all the stuff I wanted to bring back due to the amount of space that xmas presents took up. Oh well. Hopefully it won’t go over the weight limit… that would make me cry a little inside. After packing, I hung out with Kalie in the room while she continued packing up. Bah, craziness. I couldn’t imagine packing everything up right now. No thank you. After packing, or almost finishing up Kalie’s packing, we took a breather and relaxed before going to dinner (and braving the cold) at Byron’s for the second to last group dinner this semester. Craziness! But, at least we got delicious burgers. And I am continuing to add to my waistline with crazy amounts of food. Ugh, salad time when I get home, thank you very much. After dinner, we headed back to the house, where quite a few people continued studying and I bounced around the house and socialized, and then watched a movie because I really had nothing better to do with my time. At least tomorrow I’ll get some last minute shopping in and keep myself occupied and get out of the house. Woohoo! 

Wednesday: 

I got up early today to go out shopping with Diana and Katie. We split up when they decided to go back to the house after getting all their souvenirs. Me? Well, I had a few little adventures I wanted to have first, so I hopped on the tube and dropped by Piccadilly Circus to get my final souvenirs for people, and then walked to Leicester Square to get a picture of the Christmas tree before it’s taken down. After battling the bitter cold, I headed back to the house, finished up my packing and last minute things, made a list so I wouldn’t forget anything Thursday morning, relaxed a bit, and then got ready for the group trip to the London Eye and dinner. The Eye was quite fun at night with the group, and then dinner afterwards wasn’t half bad.  I didn’t have high expectations, so it was way better than I figured it would be. After dinner and good conversation with a group of people I didn’t normally hang with, we got a huge group (finally!!) to hit up a bar. We ended up at the new favorite, Trafalgar, and it was quite a bit of fun with everyone there. And the bartender rememebered me… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least I’ll have a friend when I get back next semester. Wow… that’s so weird to say. We’re done with this semester! Walking back was so strange- I can’t believe I’m leaving London. This place has become a home. I can totally understand how people fall in love and stay here… Anyhow, at least I get to come back in a month and fall in love again!

Thursday: 

Leaving London... of course it was sunny.

After an eventful night and very little sleep, I growled at my alarm when it alerted me to the time. So I put the finishing touches on packing, stripped my bed sheets, cleaned up a bit, grabbed a really quick breakfast and consumed it in a slightly monstrous way when I realized I was running behind, and finally made my way to the Tube station with Craig and Sarah. 50 pound bags and lots of stairs? Not really my thing. But whatever. We managed it, got through the airport, dealt with our bags (I had to remove 3 shoes from mine to get it underweight, and it was still slightly over but I think the woman was so exasperated with me that she just let it slide), got through security, enjoyed a quick breakfast at Giraffe, and then got some snacks for the plane. As Craig was purchasing his, I realized that our gate was closing (that would happen, considering we’d given ourselves adequate time), so we dashed to our gate, and hopped on our bus. I have to say, I think we were both delirious that it was just a hilarious moment. Well, Craig was stressed… I was cracking up. Oh well, we made it onto the plane, I had a window seat and the middle seat was left open, leaving a bit of space between me and the Athenian guy that smelled funny and was looking at naked girls in a magazine. Brilliant plane partner right there. After consuming my sandwich and a couple glasses of wine, I managed to nap intermittently until the last 3 hours of the flight. I passed those with a few tv shows (including my absolute favorite episode of How I Met Your Mother- too bad Elise wasn’t there to share it) and the movie Big (Tom Hanks is so young!).

And home! Nothing really changed :) But I got flowers...

As we began descending, the Greek guy started making casual conversation and took the middle seat before finally asking for my number. I informed him that phones were too expensive and that I didn’t have one. He moved back to the aisle seat. After landing, I went through the intense amounts of security and customs checked, got my bag, and met my mom and sister, who were waiting with flowers! Such a lovely welcome. The ride back was filled with traffic and it was so strange because it was as though nothing had changed and that I had never left… it was all so familiar, like London had just been a really good dream. So glad that I get to go back. Anyhow, I reached home, enjoyed some conversation with the family, changed, and then hit up a dinner of real Mexican food, followed my some champagne with the family, and then a beautiful crash-out in my own bed, in my own bedroom. What up, California? I’m back. 

Days 79-85: Study, Study to Party, Party

Monday-Tuesday:

Bday dinner (yes, the picture is early in the blog)

 So, this update probably will be severely lacking in any sort of awesomeness. Why? Because we have reached home stretch, people! We've got less than 2 weeks in the semester here in London before "London Calling" turns into "California Love." Yes, I know, just referenced two polar opposite songs. The world will get over it eventually. Anyhow, this week... Well, let's just say it's pre-finals week, with the added bonus of actually having a final on Friday... a day that we don't normally have classes. Yeah, gotta love that nonsense. So anyhow, the week began, Monday, early morning, with a severe lack of breakfast foods (thank goodness I have developed a fondness for small bowls of cornflakes), then an hour-late teacher for Modern Middle East, in which we were alerted to our 3-essay final to be completed in 3 hours. Yeah, that sounds like a grand load of fun, now doesn't it? Please, note the sarcasm that develops at 1am in the morning (since I'm writing it now so I don't forget the extraordinary amount of awesome things that occurred this week... again, sarcasm). 

Anyhow, after Middle East, I hit the gym, came back for a small lunch of leftover food, then Fine Arts class in which we visited "Treasures From Budapest", which was actually a pretty cool exhibition with this quirky little British guy that led it- a bit lengthy, and man, could that guy talk, but it was interesting. We battled the cold, and a bunch of people for places on the buses, on the way back since there was yet another Tube strike, and I grabbed a sandwich on the way home considering my severe lack of food items. Yes, I have become extremely lazy in the whole buying-food aspect of my life. I'd rather scrounge around or eat people's leftovers that actually battle a 15/20 minute walk in the cold to the most reasonably-priced market. Sue me. Anyhow, that night concluded with a complete lack of motivation (since I spent all of Sunday working on Humanities notes) but after a little persuasion from my mother via skype, I was coerced into sitting down and actually getting my Modern Middle East preparation out of the way. Yeah, I have to say that I am slightly happy with this forced bout of productivity, because honestly, now I have a little less to stress over later this week. 

Tuesday was nothing remarkable- it FINALLY snowed, so that was a fun way to wake up, and then fall back asleep. I got up for a breakfast burrito made my Sinjin (see, look at me being awful and stealing people's food. I really should learn how to contribute...), then hit up our last convo of the semester, and then proceeded to "forget" about the last museum visit for Humanities and go to the gym and study instead. I consider it a fair trade. While some people were battling the cold, I was running on a treadmill reading about the Council of Trent and comparing Renaissance versus Baroque versions of the statue David. Welcome to the rest of my week- it's going to be lots of studying. After the gym, I ran back up to my room, watched a movie, did some more studying, watched another movie in parts while studying and doing sit-ups in between, went down to Taco Night dinner as prepared by our house family (yum) then ran back upstairs for some more studying, a little chatting, followed by even more studying, and then a warm shower to get away from the awful coldness that is Kalie's and my room (thank you badly-sealed windows). I have a feeling that I'm going to get to know my desk and chair very, very well this week. Oh well- bring on the studying! 

Wednesday:

So, Wednesday began with a slightly larger breakfast than Monday, some reviewing in Middle East (thank goodness I already got those notes done- it made adding to them during class so much more efficient and stress-free), then I took the break between classes to hit the gym and study Trent and the Davids some more (I like this whole gym and studying thing- I feel super productive, although it sucks when the guy next to me has God-awful BO. Seriously, it's called deodorant. Bring it to the gym if you sweat that much.). This was followed by a quick lunch of apples and almonds, a little more studying for the humanities final, a review for my humanities presentation, and then Humanities class itself where I gave my presentation with Kelsey on Holbein and the Dance of Death engravings (actually very interesting, albeit dark, pieces of art). Last project- DONE. Beautiful thing. Anyhow, Humanities was followed by a short breather and dinner, before, yes, you guessed it- more studying for the humanities final essays on Friday. Geez. Long week already? Yeah, you're telling me. But I am going to get these subjects memorized so I don't have to stress when writing the essay at all. My goal's to make the information flow seamlessly from brain to pen to paper. Yeah, watch me rock that eloquence. Again... midnight blogging = probably not the best idea. Oh well. At least I got to watch a movie or two in-between study sessions... That's always the nice thing about starting the studies early. Lots of break times, especially once the info is ingrained on my mind. I'd better do well on this thing. I'm actually ready for Friday to come around just so I can be done with it... and then start studying for Middle East essays. Ugh. Whatever. Time to hit the warm bed in preparation for an earlier morning of gym and studying. Woohoo? I think not, but we can pretend. 

Thursday:

Putting the birthday pictures earlier in this account
so I can post more...

So, I actually woke up a decent hour (probably due to the fact that I've been going to bed a decent hours when the studying bores me too much), and I was all for getting out of bed and going to the gym until I saw the lovely ayer of snow covering the ground. My reaction? Way to pretty to tromp across in running shoes. So I enjoyed the warmth of my bed and about 20 interruptions from people in the house who were trying to get together a massive snow ball fight. Yes, I was slightly antisocial and decided not to partake, but I actually needed to get up and start some more studying. Why? Because I want to do well on my finals. I'll have all of January when I come back to this amazing place to build the greatest snowman ever. And it shall be built. Possibly. I might just make a smallish one and say it was the greatest. We'll see. Anyhow, after starting my day, I realized my ipod wasn't charged and I'd have to wait for the gym to reopen (they have awful hours for us Pepperdine people) anyhow. Awesome. So, well, I just began studying again. I swear, "study" defines my life today. But at least I've got another movie buffering for a nice break.... haha. Whatever. I'm going to own Humanities from all this preparation! But seriously, the council of Trent has literally become my mind. And don't get me started on Renaissance versus Baroque Davids. Anyhow, after a bit of studying I headed downstairs, realized I had no food, came back upstairs and ate half a bag of goldfish, came back and took a small break from the studies and watched my movie while doing situps (cause I decided that I didn't want to brave the cold and go to the gym), reviewed a bit more, had a late dinner of a bagel I found (super healthy, I know. I wear I'm buying apples tomorrow), and once again made it to bed by a decent hour. Final tomorrow? Totally ready! Let's go! 

Friday:

So, I got up early, did a quick review while eating a deliciously nutritious breakfast of a bagel, and then hit up my Humanities exam. All that studying? Excellent. I flew through the 2 essays, felt confident in my writing, and was able to hit up the gym after I finished with an hour and a half to spare. Lovely. I’m going to remember this whole don’t-procrastinate on studying tactic. Anyhow, after the gym I enjoyed a quick snack-food lunch of whatever I could find, a little relaxation, before Kalie and I braved the snow to mail a letter and check out some souvenir shops. We got back to the house and I finally ran to the convenience store to get myself more food (Ritz crackers and apples, anyone? Oh yeah.), then settled into my freezing room, wrapped the covers around me, and watched What Women Want until dinner at the Mexican cantina we found! Yum yum carne asada. After that delicious and extremely filling meal, most of the group went out. Surprise, surprise. I went out with a smaller group to a new bar that I hadn’t yet gone too, and Jenny came with us! Finally, we got her to go out. We didn’t stay at the bar very long, because most of us wanted to get back and study a bit more, which kind of happened once I got home. I got one round of looking over my notes in before I was distracted by conversation, then realized it was 1 am in the morning. So, deciding the studying could wait til tomorrow, I crashed out in my lovely, warm bed.

Saturday: 

I actually set my alarm for a decent hour today, and due to the fact that I’ve been getting adequate sleep, I woke up before it at 9. So I got to relax in bed for a bit before I got up, grabbed some breakfast and then hit up the gym for a workout and some studying. I came back, realized someone forgot to put the breakfast food away, got a free lunch (woohoo! Free food!), had some nice conversation in the kitchen, then headed upstairs for a quick mental break before I hit up the studying again and basically got my Middle East stuff memorized! Well, actually, I’m feeling very, very confident in it, yeah… very happy about this. Again, the whole not-procrastinating-and-study-at-the-gym thing? Fantastic discovery. It works extremely well. It’s got this whole lovely no-stress thing about it. Anyhow, after my second round of studying I took another study break and watched Jungle 2 Jungle (oh old Tim Allen movies), got ready for tonight, had another quick study session, then hit up dinner for some American BBQ. So good. After dinner? Well, we hit up the park for some mimosas in the cold weather, then made a move to Trafalgar bar to ring in my birthday! Cosmos and champagne! I feel like such a girl, and I’m loving it. It was a fantastic night! The whole ringing in 20 years thing? Well… let’s just say I can’t believe I’m not a teen anymore. And we’ll leave it at that.  But the night itself was lovely. All the guys were gentlemen and bought me drinks, as did my roomie (who also put up a lovely sign on my wall wishing me happy birthday). After Trafalgar we ran around London for a bit, got back to the house, climbed up on the roof and chilled there until it got too cold, then I went back inside and had a lovely skype date with one of my best friends, and then bed! All in all? A lovely way to ring in number 20!

Sunday:

I got to sleep in until 10:30 today, which was absolutely lovely. I spent the morning in a very lazy manner, staying in bed to watch a movie. After the movie I went over my notes, realized that I had my 3 essays for tomorrow memorized… which means… I’m done studying! Gotta love that. Anyhow, after the movie I uploaded my photos from last night (thanks to Nick for being a fantastic documenter of the evening, although he did drop my camera…). And I have to say, they are a fantastic bunch of photos. This took a while, because facebook decided to be a little jerk and take forever, so I chatted with my friend Emily for a bit while it had it’s temper tantrum, then I ran downstairs for a little socializing, which was followed by a run back upstairs to skype the family! This was followed by, well, another movie. Because honestly- everyone else in the house is studying so I just decided to give myself a super lazy birthday. It was weird. It didn’t really feel like a birthday, probably because of how calm and quiet this place was- but no matter. I’ll be home soon… and maybe the parents will have an ice cream cake waiting… just a thought… After my movie, I decided to forgo the gym, went over my notes again just because I felt like I needed to study a little, and then had dinner- carne asada prepared by Sinjin.Yumyum. I’ve got such amazing friends here. After that? Well, some more laziness, actually. Whatever. I can go out tomorrow and be productive after my final.