This is the Countdown

Well, second to last week was completed… last week. Yeah, ok that was repetitive, but it gets the point across, I guess. I’ve decided that I’m going to put up a plethora of pictures in the last post, because right now I’m waiting on everyone who has a camera to put their pictures up… and they are being very slow about it. So, yes, an update with pictures will be coming to a blog near you in the near future. Hopefully near future...

So, the last week! Well, work was pretty good last week. I spent a lot of the early part of the week doing some of my own writing due to my efficiency at completing my work (hence the blog-writing while at work as well), did some typical writing of letters, filing, client look-up stuff, and then… hell. But really. So we’ve got thousands upon thousands of books in this place, and we have a massive library behind the reception desk, and then bookshelves everywhere else. So, while they were doing a remodel or something before I started here, they boxed all the books, which I unboxed a bunch of earlier in my internship. There were also lots of books on shelves scattered about, and no one thought it would be smart, when moving all of those books into the library area, to keep them in order. So, Michael (crazy boss-man), decided he wanted them in ABC order. No joke. So Monday and Tuesday were spent in that library, hauling books around and meticulously alphabetizing them. I swear, my fingers were black from the dust of those old books by the end of the day. I mean, it was mindless work and it gave me something to do, and after a while you kind of just zone out, but still, what an annoyingly inefficient way to do something. I couldn’t fathom why they wouldn’t keep the books in order when boxing them up or putting them on all of the other shelves.

Wednesday followed it’s typical patterns- got some of my own writing done, opened and read some fan mail to make sure it wasn’t too offensive before forwarding it on, sent out a few more letters, got 3 manuscripts from one of the assistants to read and take notes on while she’s gone, so hopefully that’ll last me some time. It was also Slush Wednesday, so again we stayed in, got free lunch while reading the unsolicited manuscripts. I always love those days. Such good food and absolutely no self control on my end because the sandwiches are so good. But seriously- they take care of us- sandwich, brownie, soda, and chips. All your typical health food groups…

Thursday I got a few more tasks- some massive binder full of stuff that needs to be put in nice folders and filed away, some research for upcoming anniversaries that might make good books for the company, more reading of the manuscripts (which I’ve completed 1.5 of the 3…too quickly! I need to make them last!). I’ve been doing a lot of running around outside, dropping stuff off at publishing houses, picking things up, including an agent’s lunch of crab rolls, which I actually don’t mind because I love getting outside and stretching my legs. Getting away from the desk can be a relief, especially with the decent weather. Granted, it was also extremely bipolar, so it would look nice and then get awful… but hey, that’s London.

No recent run-ins with Michael, although you can hear him across the office, going back between muttered “I love yous” and “darlings” and screeching invective. And off he goes again right now! Such a happy, happy man.

So yes, my work week was a typical one, mixed with writing of my own stuff, reading, writing for work, researching, intern-like jobs, running around for and away from Michael, and the like. I can’t believe that I’ve only got a week left at this place! Well, actually less than a week, because it’s already Tuesday… Geez! Insanity.

The weekend was nice- Friday I went to a pub with 2 of the girls in the house and we had a fairly calm night. Saturday was the disco boat party for not getting an alcohol violation, so it was fun going out with the whole group and dancing around on a boat with a bunch of drunk non-Pepperdine people, and laughing as Carolyn took a table by the bar to make sure we didn’t get more than our allowed juice and soda. Sunday was far too beautiful to be a lazy day, so instead I took a walk over to South Kensington station, got a delicious sandwich for lunch, then hung out in Hyde Park with Vivian and read my book, trying to soak up a few rays. My poor skin will probably have a seizure from the sun, considering the complete lack it has seen in 9 months. After Hyde Park, Viv and I ran over to Harrods and then back to the house for a little relaxing before dinner at our ever-favorite Oriental Canteen.  Cheap, delicious again food… makes me so happy. We ended up hanging with the guys that evening, who had been happily consuming certain drinks all day, and that made for a VERY entertaining evening. One of the guys isn’t actually in the program, but goes to Pepperdine and is working here for the summer, and he’s been secretly living on their floor for the past four nights, which I find rather amusing.

Monday at the office dawned bright and early. Definitely didn’t want to get up. Anyhow, I finally did, made it to work, and spent some of the day reading half of the last novel that I was given to look over. The second half was spent training the new intern (look at me moving up in the world) and playing assistant for one of the head agents (this made me feel like I was in Devil Wears Prada, the way the woman fires off commands). So, an exciting last Monday. That’s weird to say… After work I hit the pub and enjoyed a shared dinner of fish and chips and a plethora of cranberry-vodkas to kick off the week. Why not?

Tuesday, today, so hot and muggy when I woke up. Seriously… like, gross muggy. So, battling that nasty early morning experience, I made it to work, finally got my new debit card (although it isn’t working so I have to call BofA and figure that out when I get home… awesome), and spent most of today in a fairly relaxed mode. I did some filing for Nell (the assistant I covered for yesterday), put together some rejection letters and sent them off for Lucy, kept doing my reading for Laura (other assistant), organized my  research for the anniversaries and did the math on about 115 of them that Lucy had found earlier to figure out which anniversary they were celebrating and which year (2012-2015)  made the number workable (such as 50^th anniversary in 2013 as opposed to 49ths in 2012). Slightly tedious, but it passed an hour of the time. By lunch, the sky was almost black, huge thunder storm occurred and then stopped for a bit while I went out to grab my food (I was starving!), and then started up again when I got back. Perfect timing. Hopefully the mugginess will go away now that the skies have basically split open in the pouring rain that has overtaken us. Ah, this kind of weather makes me wanna be back at the house, curled up and reading or watching a movie… I’ve got a little less than 3 hours left here, and I’m assuming I’m finishing up my reading and notes and then going over the anniversaries with Lucy. We’ll see if that actually fills up 3 hours… doubtful. Tonight’s our final internship class- we’re all giving presentations on what we did/learned, etc. Definitely haven’t done anything for that, so I think I’ll just go up and BS with the best of them. Maybe get a notecard and write down points on which to speak just so I have some semblance of order to my speech. We’ll see. At this point… I don’t care. It’s a pass/fail class. Probably not the best mentality, but I’m definitely not in school mode.

So, I’m going home on Saturday! I can’t believe it’s in less than a week… I’ve been here for so long and it’s kind of inconceivable to me that it’s finally ending… I love this place, but I’m also so excited to come home. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to return next summer.

London's Calling, but we've only got 3 weeks

So, I survived Tuesday, even though I was ridiculously melodramatic in that last post I made. But yeah, definitely ticked off a few clients as I asked them to repeat their names multiple times, sometimes spell them, but seriously- there are some ridiculously strong accents out there, and when they speak fast or mumble or the phone gets scratch, it’s kind of impossible for me to catch on to what they are saying- especially when I have no idea who they are to begin with, considering my new status as intern with the company. However, I did survive the day, even had a run-in with Michael-the-Angry in which he swore profusely and then demanded to know why there was a television on the board room table blocking the vision of his beautiful flowers. However, when I proceeded to tell him there’d been a meeting the following day and was to be another one this afternoon, he merely cut me off with “I don’t give a f---”. Lovely man. Last time I answer his questions for him. So, I grabbed a small table, put it in the corner of the room, dusted it off and cleaned it up, and then migrated the television to the table so the flowers could once again be the spotlight of the boardroom. Who knows if Michael was happy, but I didn’t get yelled at again, so I guess I was efficient and productive enough with my course of action.

It is funny, though, because people kept coming up to me and asking questions, as if I actually knew what I was doing as I sat behind that desk. I guess I looked smart or something. But, regardless of my above complaining and whatnot, I did manage to figure out most things, including the decrepit computer’s passwords and basic functioning abilities, which I have to admit made me feel vey proud. Among answering the phone and menial tasks such as stacking books onto shelves, I had to answer a lot of emails that came through (so much potential for disaster), sorted the hard mail (really confusing cause I had to put assistants and agents together and it’s just so unknown to me), figured out fan mail, accounting, wrong mail, etc. So, I finished up the day with some other menial tasks while working at the reception desk (although I did get to do some reading and laugh at 2 clients as they smacked each other with cricket paddles), and then gratefully escaped into the beauty (well, overcast/rain) of Covent Garden, back to the Tube, and back home. It was internship class night, so we consumed some delicious food (definitely need to cut back on the food consumption on this end), went to class, and then I hit the gym as usual for my Tuesday evenings. 

Wednesday, I was relieved from my post at the front, as the normal receptionist returned. Yahoo! I did a bit of reading in the morning, and then set out on some errands to a Bindery to get a quote on some massive ledgers that were ridiculously heavy to tote around. However, I accomplished the task, returned in time for slush Lunch (in which we were given free lunch in return for staying in during lunch and reading through unsolicited manuscripts). After the lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon in a slightly more peaceful atmosphere than the previous two days with some reading and write-ups on what I read for one of the other girls in the agency. Fun fun. I finished the night up with Wicked with Vivian, which was just as good the third time! I love that show!

Thursday, equally gloomy as the rest of the week, was met with further reading (and being told that I was far too efficient) and a manuscript from Laura to spend some time on and devise a small synopsis as I read through it. I love those tasks- the reading is super fun, but it’s really nice being able to do write-ups, even letters to clients, on the side, just to keep my writing skills in tact. And, so far, I’ve received good feedback and compliments on my work, so I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, if not working a little too fast for them to continue giving me stuff to do. Oh well. It allows for me to spend some time like today, when I take a break from the reading and work on my blog or my own writing on the sly. I got a chapter and a half written Wednesday when I didn’t have much of anything to do in the morning. So, Thursday was full of reading, the evening was relaxing enough with a group dinner at a nice pub.

Friday- the day I was looking forward to- my half day! Well, not really a half-day, cause I had to work the entire day ,but everyone else in the office was leaving at 1 for their summer party, so there wasn’t the stress of Michael stomping around like a rabid dinosaur. I spent the morning doing a bit of reading, before Michael pulled me aside and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: walking back to my desk with some magazines for the agents

Michael: (very rushed) Put those down! I have something for you to do!”

Me: “Okay.” (I look around to put the magazines down somewhere)

Michael: “Put those down! Put them down- down! Anywhere. Good. I love you. Okay, darling, darling, I need you to-”

He proceeds to give me 60 pounds in cash and then rattles off an address and a place for me to go and pick up a catalogue for him , then makes me repeat the address multiple times, as though I were an idiot.

Michael: “How many fingers do you have? Without thumbs?”

Me: “…8. Like the address. 8 King’s Road.”

Michael: “Good, good darling. I love you, I love you. Now go- go, go!”

Seriously… ridiculous man. I’m pretty sure he’s bipolar, but, regardless, I braved the rain, grabbed a cabbie who was very talkative, got the catalogue without having to pay for it (I just acted important- hopefully Michael appreciated that), and then returned in time to say goodbye to everyone and then devour my free lunch while I manned the phones at reception. Zoe, the other intern, manned the other main desk for the talent part of the agency, and it was a pretty quiet afternoon, in which I answered phones, watched tv shows, and then went out with Zoe for a few drinks and some pub-hopping to make for a very fun, relaxed evening. I can’t help but feel that I’ve been a bit antisocial, but hey, it’s nice hanging out with some other people outside of the house group from time to time. So, I made the midnight tube, got a great night’s sleep after a fun night, and then spent Saturday in Camden doing some souvenir shopping (I had a great fajita burrito thing), got some starbucks with Vivan and introduced her to the best drink in the world (Mango passion fruit), relaxed a bit that afternoon before hitting the gym (and realizing I have some sort of pseudo-shin splint that’s putting me in excruciating pain), and then got ready for the evening out. We all got dressed up (python dress, so fun!) and went to a dinner cabaret club called Circus. We had the surprise of of girl who palnned it forgetting to tell us it was ridiculous expensive and a set menu, but the food was good, the show was amusing, if not short, and it was nice being out with the house members again, so I can’t complain. Viv and I are looking into finding an actual cabaret/burlesque club for a fun evening before we leave, though.

Sunday was nice- I got to sleep in, felt well rested, and then proceeded to spend the day being lazy and watching shows running errands (well walking errands, because I could barely walk with my leg), grabbed dinner with a few girls in the house, where they messed up my meal so I got a free dessert for being accepting and eating what they mistakenly made for me, and then had a relaxing evening of reading before making it into bed before midnight. Perfect!

So, again I apologize for a complete lack of pictures. I'm going to input a bunch when I get back to the house and can steal them off facebook... just like I said last week. I need to hop to that.

Week One of Work (& other things)

Well, it’s been a decent amount of time since my last update, so my apologies on that front. Anyhow, wow, a crazy, packed week as passed and there’s quite a lot to be relayed.

So, I completed my first week of work at Peters Fraser & Dunlop Literary Agency and I can’t be happier with my internship placement. It’s an absolutely perfect place for me, especially considering my Creative Writing Major. Basically, as a bit of background on what a literary agency is, they represent authors and deal with the business side of publishing. They’re the ones you wrote to when you want to publish, and if they end up liking your submission (more often than not they reject you), then they’ll draw up contracts, figure out editing and publishing deals, foreign rights, film rights, etc. It’s actually a really complex business- I understood a basic amount of it all from my own research beforehand, but I feel far more knowledgeable about it all now, and the processes that go on, since I’ve started working here.

So, what do I do? Well, being the intern I definitely have my fair share of menial tasks, such as filing, looking up client information, transferring information, cleaning up their ridiculously messy envelope/stationary room, transporting books from packing boxes to their gloriously huge library (that’s been an ongoing task that’s carried on even into Week 2), running errands for some of the senior agents, and the likes. But then I get the fun stuff as well, like ordering books online for them, reading full manuscripts that agents have taken an interest in, and reading partial manuscripts in which they literally let me decide whether or not it’s worth giving to an agent. As in, if I reject it, that’s it. They don’t see it, they trust me, etc. And I had to do that on the first day, and I had to write three rejection letters. They definitely help you fit into your “heart breaking hat” right away here. I’ve been told I will become very cold and systematic about reading and rejecting. I’m not exactly sure if I want to become that, especially considering I know that’s what’s going to happen to my own submissions when I start trying to publish again. Oh well, like I said, it’s fantastic insight to the publishing process.

So, other little details of my working week. I’ve got a ridiculously scary “head agent” working here. Seriously, he’s like Sandra Bullock in The Proposal- yells a lot, swears a lot, basically just a terrifyingly bi-polar man that you just had to nod your head and agree with when he comes storming up towards you. My own supervisor, Lucy, is fantastic, easy to get along with, as are many of the other assistants that I’ve been working alongside of here at PFD. The atmosphere is great, especially when people aren’t too stressed and they’re being silly and fooling around. So much swearing- it’s so stereotypically British, and I love it. The other day the girl that I sit next to and I were looking at movie trailers, discussing how she cut her wedding cake with a sword because the reception took place in a Dublin Castle, and other such things like that. Gotta love it.

Wednesdays are “slush lunches” in which we receive free lunch for staying in at lunch and going through all of the unsolicited submissions- all of which are normally rejected. Again, lots of dream-killing, but last Wednesday was definitely an eye-opener for me in regards to what I should and shouldn’t do when submitting my own work, so I really can’t feel too bad. I mean, I can feel bad about rejecting people, but I can selfishly feel good about learning more and more about this subjective process. Fridays, apparently the scary boss buys everyone pizza- so that’s nice, considering I got 2 free lunches last week, and will continue to do so during my time here. Hey, every little bit counts, especially as I can’t be paid due to the fact that I’m receiving school credit for this.

Now, a little about the area I work in- I actually work on a street called

Drury Lane

(kind of awesome, even funnier because Shrek: The Musical is right down the street). This street is in Covent Garden, which is an absolutely beautiful area. Seriously- I’m in love with it. Not only are their hundreds of amazing places to eat food, but there’s an outdoor market with entertainment, lots of little stalls to browse around (especially when it’s sunny), but it’s also a quick walk from the Tube Stop through a beautiful, bustling area. I honestly couldn’t be happier about the placement, even though it is ridiculously crowded at rush hour.

Anyhow, first week down, and it was fantastic. I love the people I work with, I enjoy the work I get to do (even the typical intern tasks), I get a full hour at lunch to explore around the area, and it’s casual too, so I get to dress comfortably, and if anyone knows me- that makes me a very, very happy person.

So, week done, weekend on. Friday night was… interesting, to say in the least. Without going into too much detail, a bunch of kids from other Pepperdine programs came in, they wanted to go clubbing, so we did, and we had a great time, until half the group left early, and the rest spread out, and I was conveniently left at the club at 5:30 in the morning while rounding everyone up. Fantastic. Last time I do a good deed and try to take care of everyone… Not really though. Ugh. It was an awful experience, and needless to say, Vivian and I are going to be on high alert every time we go out now to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Definitely not one of the best evenings in London, but it was an eye-opening experience and I’m thanking God on a daily basis for getting me through it safe and sound, with only the loss of some plastic and a camera.  

Saturday? Well, considering I got in at 6am, I spent most of it sleeping, panicking over my lost items, and my roomie finally took my out to dinner to make me stop pacing. I got a little more sleep into Sunday, went to the gym to get out excess energy, and then hung out and socialized with people from the house in one of the local pubs in order to keep myself from thinking too much of the dramatics of the earlier part of the weekend. I also indulged in a decent amount of mindless television for further distraction. So You Think You Can Dance has never been better. But really, the dancing was actually awesome, and it did its job at distracting me, so, I call that a small win.

Anyhow, Sunday night the girls in the room next door contributed to my spontaneous insomnia with loud hick impersonations and obnoxious laughter, to a point where I literally got no sleep due to the paper-thin walls. Awesome. So, I went into work on Monday with the worst headache ever and feeling nauseous, because I think I’ve become slightly lactose intolerant, or at least milk-intolerant due to the lack of consuming it here… I’ve felt gross after eating cereal twice now. Ugh. But, I got over that quickly enough (I didn’t really have a choice), and got into work, before realizing that I was being “promoted” to working the front desk and answering the phones, due to the fact that the person who normally does it has a virus. And apparently I’m scheduled to do it all week. And if I screw up, the angry boss will probably consume my soul- not exaggerating. So, I was quickly taught the ropes, taught how to BS my way through it, and luckily one of the other girls who has been covering is at my beck and call when I start feeling particularly lost (thank goodness). I need to figure out her favourite candy or something and bring it to her at the end of the week, because I have no doubt that I will be utilizing her help shamelessly. So, I completed the day without too much failure, met up with Vivian to do some grocery shopping and then got savoury crepes for dinner (seriously, so good. I had a spicy Mexican one that made me go into a happy food coma). This was followed by a nice workout, some socializing, and then a decent bed… until the girls started screeching again. By 12:30, I decided to not care about being demanding and went over and told them to be quiet (in nicer terms, of course). And then I listened to them talk crap on me (about going to bed too early- really? Midnight is early? I can’t help it if they don’t have to get up at 7 am every morning) through the paper thin walls. Awesome. Whatever, I could care less. I wanted sleep. And I got some… I have a feeling I’m going to crash hard tonight.

So, there’s my extremely long-winded update, and it’s only 11am at work. At least I’m getting this phone thing down, and all the post has been delivered (I’m slowly starting to recognize and remember everyone in this office- and there are a lot of people!). So, we’ll see what else is in store today. I’m really contemplating bringing in my laptop, or maybe I can just write on this computer and email everything over. I’m not sure what else I CAN do when it’s this quiet… We’ll see what ingenious ideas I come up with today… Oh, and sorry about any typos. I didn’t feel like editing this. Oh, and the lack of pictures comes from a lack of camera. My bad. I’ll try and steal some from facebook later on- I’m not risking the wrath of the head boss by hopping on FB right now.

Zoo-Drinking and Boat-Burning

Okay, so, you have to say that it's an intriguing title. I mean, "zoo-drinking" is just a weird concept. And boat-burning? What kind of shenanigans can I be getting into over here? Well, although very exciting, no I'm not some felon of miscreant... yet. Just living like a college kid, enjoying life, those kinds of things. So, Friday- woke up, got my final out of the way, proceeded to hit the gym as I have been doing on a pretty regular basis (go me?), and then had a lovely outing with Vivian in which we gorged upon delicious asian food from my favorite (probably sketchy) asian food restaurant. Seriously. Those sketchy, on-the-corner ones are definitely the best. Following that, our house went on a tour of Parliament, which was really neat, considering that you normally have to be British to get in there. I mean, you can wait in a ridiculously long line of Saturdays, but it doesn't mean you'll get in. So, thanks to Jenny, we were able to make it in, have a lovely tour, see the House of Lords, House of Commons, and all sorts of other rooms in between. Parliament is ridiculous- it's like Versailles, all paintings and gilded and fancy, based off those earlier years. It amazes me that people work and go there on a daily basis.

Following our tour, Vivian and I broke off from the group and headed out to Camden Town, where we partook in the "Zoo Lates" phenomenon. Basically, they open the zoo after hours for adults to run around like crazy children, see animals, eat, drink, be merry, the likes. It was actually a pretty fun, albeit silly, experience. We enjoyed airplane-cheap wine, saw some animals, and rode a Carousel. Yes, we did. It really, really amused me how many adults were actually lining up to swing aboard some plastic animal and bounce around for a minute or two. I guess that's what intoxication does to you. Vivian and I thought it was fun enough sober, but maybe that's the college kids in us. After the Zoo, we made our way home and decided that we were exhausted from the final week of classes, and so instead of going out or hitting a pub, merely retired into our house. I decided to once again be a grandma and go to bed at a reasonable hour, which worked to my benefit considering my early morning for Saturday.

Saturday was.... an adventure. Let's just say that. It all began with my getting up fairly early (though not as early as class), getting ready, and heading out to the train station. But, of course the Circle line was down (when isn't the Tube having some sort of issues on the weekend?), so instead of taking a 15 minute trip to the station, I had to take a roundabout 40 minute one, missing the first train that i'd wanted to catch. But, no worry, there was another one! Except for the people in line before me had no idea how to work the ticket machines and... made me miss the second one. But, again, no worries, the trains were coming everything half hour. Oh, wait, except... there was vandalism on the line and the signals weren't working and the next train was cancelled. Right. Perfect. Exactly what I needed when I was trying to get into Oxford to meet some friends and have a full day of fun and adventuring. So, I decided to improvise, hopped a train to Reading, transferred there to another train that just so (luckily) happened to be going to a place that had Oxford as a stop on the way. So, instead of arriving at 10:30 as planned, I made it to the pub by 1:15. Great. Just a little delayed.

Anyhow, it was fantastic seeing Jenny Martin again- we hadn't really spoken since High School, so reconnecting made for a fun few hours, especially over a delicious pub lunch. After lunch (well, more of a late lunch- "Linner" kind of thing), we headed out through Oxford to meet up with James, a graduate student at Oriel college in Oxford. We hung out in his apartment complex with some of the other grad students while they made pitchers of Pimm's, and then we headed out to the river for the final day of the boat races between all the Oxford colleges. It was basically between Oriel (James' school), Pembroke, and Christ Church. They were all the forerunners, vying for the title of "Head of the River" for this year. Being that Jenny and I were with James, we were able to hang out on the Oriel boat house roof, cheering along with the rest of the students as their boys rowed into victory for the first time in about 19 years. I've gotta say- it was an absolutely surreal, and exciting, experience that we wouldn't have been able to be a part of without James' invitation, so I feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed such an event.

After the win, we headed back to the college, where Jenny and I were once again able to hang with everyone due to our "in" with James. We watched the team members bring in an old boat, throw it to the ground repeatedly as they broke it, and then stuffed it with newspaper for the later burning ritual. While the members went to their celebratory dinner, a few of us hit an Indian food place for an absolutely delicious dinner for ourselves. Around 9:15, we all congregated back in the main Quad for the actual boat-burning ritual- something that you definitely don't see everyday... or at all. I can't explain how awesome it was being able to be a part of that! It makes me wish my school had some sort of thing like that. So, we watched them light of the boat (which is like... 25 feet, by the way- it's massive), and the flames literally roared into the sky. It was insane! And made me want marshmallows... Just saying.

Following the burning, I headed back to the train station to make a train so that I might catch the tube on the other end before it closed. Luckily, there were any more transport issues and I made it home safe and sound, having had an absolutely brilliant day! After a shower, I made friends with my bed, which felt amazing after all my walking around. Seriously, I hadn't worn flip-flops in forever and my feet HURT. I'd forgotten how much it hurts to walk in those after not wearing them for many, many months. Oh well. The weather has been so nice and I'd wanted to feel like I was in some California sun, if only for a day. Looking out the window now, it's probably a good idea that I did that, because it is pouring. But that's also okay, because honestly, it's Sunday, and I enjoy relaxing and being lazy while it pours down rain. It rationalizes my current laziness as I sit in bed and write/read/watch a few episodes of shows.

But I guess I'm allowed to have a lazy day before my intense month of internship begins tomorrow. I can't explain how excited I am for this! It's going to be a full-time job, and probably a tiring one, but i'll be working in a literary agency, which can do SO much for me and any further career in writing. So, fingers crossed that it all goes well. I'd absolutely love to be able to return next summer! And, I mean, if this can help me publish a book, or at least get my foot in the door to the publishing industry/get me another internship when I return to Malibu/LA area, then that would be absolutely amazing, too. I feel like I should be nervous about all of this, since so much is riding on this intenrship in regards to my later "career" as a writer, but as of now, I'm just excited. I guess that's good, too. As for the rest of the day, well, I plan on being lazy since I already worked out, maybe being a bit social towards dinner time... and then going to bed at a decent hour so I can wake up, hit the gym, and then start my work tomorrow fresh and ready! Yahoo!

Just Another Week....

I don't normally update so frequently, but sitting here in the pub, I feel far more inspired to write on my blog than actually study. I mean, I guess if I'm going to study anywhere, with a pint and in my favorite pub (where the bartenders recognize me now) is probably the best place. And so, I will do my normal studying routine in which I procrastinate through some sort of internet involvement (this time blogging) until my food arrives, then I will consume said food (probably slowly to further the procrastination), and then I will reluctantly pull out my notes and begin studying for my final, which is tomorrow at 9am. Well, at least it isn't 8am. That's a plus.

So, this week thus far:

Monday was a ridiculously tiring day, as I mentioned in my previous post. Coming back from Paris was just... wow, we were all zombies, and so I tried to get as much sleep as possible that night, and barely succeeded. I'm pretty sure I need to sleep for a good 48 hours before I'll actually be "caught up" and capable of facing the world without massive black circles that give people around me the impression that I've been punched repeatedly in the face. But, it's okay. I've got a final tomorrow, so that means that I'll get decent sleep tonight... unless of course the girls next door decide to sing at unholy hours, as per usual. In that case, I will grumpily stumble over to their door, peek my face in, and through very squinty, sleep-desiring eyes, tell them politely to be quiet. At least, that's an ideal situation. Depends on how loud they are and how tired I am... Anyhow, Tuesday class was a bit harsh- once again I found myself impossibly tired and incapable of keeping my eyes focused, so everything kind of went blurry for half the lesson as I tried my best to at least keep my eyes open, even if I wasn't taking a single thing in. Oh well. I got some notes... although their legibility is questionable. After class I decided to take a quick nap in hopes of reviving my slowly dying body, before I moved into what I dubbed "Hell day". I went into convo, then straight into my internship class, then had a very small break before I had yet ANOTHER class which lasted almost up until my English class's play. I quickly consumed a cup of noodles (of the meals of a college kid) before viewing a rather... well... let's say interesting show. Hairy naked men, rape, swearing, crass conversations to a point where my ears were bleeding, and far too many plot twists. My english teacher was appalled, not by the blatant display of male parts, but more over the fact that the show itself was just so badly put together. Oh well. Again, win some, lose some. I think that's becoming a mantra.

After the show, two of the guys -- Chris and Nathan -- and I decided to clear our heads with a quick pint at the Hoop and Toy (the place I sit right now) and some chatting. The place is far too fun, and we ended up hanging out for about three hours and partaking in far more than a "quick pint". But you know what- regardless of being exhausted, it was an absolutely amazing evening, probably one of my favorites of both the year long program and the current summer program. There's just something so fantastic about being able to sit and talk with friends for as long as you want in a comfortable, fun environment. I'm looking forward to round 2 of that evening. It sure beats running around London like a maniac doing massive amounts of bar and club hopping (although those evenings have their charm when you aren't about to topple over from exhaustion). After returning home, I made the mistake of chatting with people online until about 2am, so, Wednesday morning class...? Well, let's just say that I was once again a zombie. You'd think I would learn by now.

Wednesday was a good day, regardless of my severe sleep deprivation. I got through class, and then decided to take a nice nap instead of going to the gym right away. After such, I met up with my good friend Amanda from high school (she's from London and therefore visits on a yearly basis). We hit up Soho and found a lovely pub in which we grabbed a delicious lunch (steak and ale pie, man!) and college stories from the past two years. 2 years! I can't believe it's been that long since I've spoken to some of the people that I practically grew up with- it's a wild thought. It makes me very excited to go back home and see people that have been absent from my life for such a long period of time. After lunch, I ran to the gym, got in my workout (since I missed out on Tuesday), and then decided to stay in from group dinner due to the sudden exhausted funk that took over me. So, instead of read a little, cleaned up, and enjoyed about an hour and a half of quiet solitude. It was perfectly lovely. You need to be a little antisocial from time to time.

Once people began returning, the talk of what shenanigans we were getting into that night commenced. Fortunately for my anti-social mood, no one really came up with anything, and we all just ended up having a quiet night at the nearby uni bar, which was perfectly fine for me as I sipped on my ice water and enjoyed the conversation of my housemates. Lots of laughs, jokes, and silliness, and then I was still able to make it into bed by midnight (it would've been earlier, but I read a view chapters while the girls next door got their shrieking and laughter out of their systems).

Today- Thursday. Well, class was decent cause I was able to stay awake, and we got out an hour early due to it being a review session for our final tomorrow. Following class... yeah, you guess it. I took a nap. A two hour one. And it was perfect. I woke up, felt far more awake and, well, healthy, than I have in a long while, and decided to gather up my stuff and head off to the H&T for this blogging session, following by whatever amount of studying I manage to get in before getting distracted again. The plan for the rest of the day? Well, I'll stay here for a bit, enjoy the atmosphere that I won't be able to indulge in anymore except for on weekends (since my internship starts Monday), head back to the house where I'll get a workout in, and then study for a bit more. Maybe I'll come back here... I'm already a regular. Might as well own it.

And, a brief update on the general other additions to my life. Well, tomorrow's the last day of class, complete with a final. It's going to be followed by a trip to Parliament and a tour, and then probably some pubbing with the group. I doubt I'll go out that evening, because I'm heading to Oxford on Saturday to see the boat races between the colleges and to see a few friends. Sunday I'm thinking about being good and actually going to church. And then, internship starts on Monday! I can't explain how ridiculously excited I am for this. I mean, excited-nervous, but also really, really excited. I don't know what doors this will open, if any, but it's going to be an amazing experience regardless! So, for now, the updates are complete. I'll try and put something up by Sunday or Monday, depending on how exciting my life is in the next few days.

Paris and Pints

So, just returned from further adventures in Paris. It was an interesting trip, to say in the least. Now, that's not to say that it was a bad trip, or a fantastic trip. It kind of held a middle ground- one really good night, one "ehhhh" night, and heinous style of travel. However, the group was good (when they weren't hung over and sleeping in until 2 while I ran around the city after waking up at 9) or when they were horribly angry and tired and bitching about the travel style. They wanted cheap- you need to understand you'll be treated like cattle if you're paying the least amount possible. Oh well. The city is an amazing place and no less beautiful each time I visit, so that in and of itself made it well worth it. Mostly... I do have to say that my first excursion to Paris with people my own age (excluding the other times with my family- those have all been great trips) back in October was, well... yeah, it was better. Oh well. We win some and lose some.

Anyhow, with that grand introduction (kind of a downer) there were some amazing moments! The start of the trip was a bit rocky, what with a 3.5 hour bus ride to the port, then the ferry, then another ridiculously long bus right into Paris (this all started at 9:30pm and we travelled all the way through the night, arriving in Paris at around 6:30am). However, once we got there, we chilled in a cafe until we were able to check into our apartment (Vivian did a fantastic job picking this place out and getting a brilliant deal- seriously, it was quite awesome). Once dropping off our bags, we walked around the Champs Elysees (we literally were staying a two minute walk from it), hit the Arc, and then found another cafe for lunch in which I indulged in a croque monsieur. Had to- I was in France. Following this, we found a supermarket, grabbed some champagne and orange juice, and finally were able to settle into our apartment and grab a few well-earned napping hours. After such, we popped the champagne, had a little pre-dinner festivities, then found a delicious little place where we got amazing pizza. Seriously... this stuff was... wow. And I don't think the obsession with it was champagne-induced. It was really that good.

Following dinner, we met up with the other group from the London house that were traveling in Paris, saw their hotel (our apartment won) an then trekked off to the Eiffel Tower for some nighttime hanging out, pictures, and overall fun. This was definitely my favorite of the two nights of the trip. We got some fantastic pictures of all of us, had a great time hanging out in a different city, and then utilized the metro to return to our apartment's area, where we were rudely declined from many clubs due to being American, and finally settled on going back to the place we all had dinner, cause apparently it worked as a club as well. So, we basically made up half their crowd (kind of a silly place, but we had fun cause we were together), danced, hung out, socialized, the like. It was a good time. Once completing our shenanigans there, we wandered around for a bit more, then decided on heading back home due to the ridiculously late hour (and we were all still pretty exhausted from our earlier journey into France). Some of the girls went out again and apparently ran around aimlessly- I opted for getting some amount of sleep.

The following morning I woke up at 9:30 and ended up playing mom for a couple of hungover people. Apparently not everyone handles champagne as well... Oh well. I got up, ran to a cafe and got some baguettes for the girls when they finally decided to crawl out of bed, and then proceeded to get a little reading done at another cafe after dropping off the food. I returned around noon, showered up, and finally saw some liveliness, although we didn't get out of the house 'til about 2pm. Ah, so much for our 1 full day in Paris. After getting out of the house, we walked all the way to the Notre Dame (a hefty feat considering out distance from it, but we got to pass the Musee d'Orsay, Louvre, and walk along the river). We grabbed lunch in another cafe, went into the Notre Dame, walked around the Latin Quarter, found the Shakespeare bookstore that's featured in a movie- Julie and Julia, I believe? After such, we actually walked around the Louvre, then back to the house, where we rested up just a bit to give our hurting feet relief, and then headed out to a nice dinner on the Champs Elysees. It was nice not worrying about prices so much as just sitting down and having a delightful time.

After dinner, we grabbed some more drinks at the market, headed back to the apartment for a quieter house party evening, where the other group joined us for a bit, and then peaced out (all but one). Regardless, we enjoyed an evening of party tricks, truth or dare, and other such silly games that were very reminiscent of sleepovers from years ago. It was fun. Another late night, but we all managed to get up at a far more decent hour the following morning. We hit the Tower in the daytime, went back to the Latin Quarter for further exploring (where I had to get a gyro, no matter how unhealthy), and then headed back to our apartment to check out. Following such, we found another cafe for a final dinner in france (I got poulet frites) and then we prepared ourselves for the evil journey home.

It was once again, a very, very long bus ride, followed by the ferry, and then a slightly less evil bus ride into London, although we got in before the tube opened, so we then had to run around with copious amounts of luggage looking for one of the few buses that was running and would get us home- we failed. So, we founds cabs, got home around 5am, and then crashed the heck out after barely managing to wash my face. I was so exhausted. I "napped" until noon, then got up, unpacked, ran to the gym, and then decided to grab my computer and go back to my favorite pub - the Hoop & Toy - and get a little writing done. One of my friends from the house ended up finding me there, so we hung over and chatted over a pint before I met up with some other people for dinner. Trying to stay awake, I headed back to the house with Vivian, bought some baking stuff, and proceeded to blog this while she created some ridiculously awesome brownies. Now? Well, now I'm helping in the process of consuming and waiting to skype my family before I go to sleep and prepare for the awfulness of tomorrow's schedule:

Class 8-10am, convo from 12-1pm, class 1-3pm, class 3-6pm, play @ 7:30. Ugh. Too much to do.

Oh well, it looks like I'll be meeting up with some friends from America soon, so I'm really excited to see some faces that I haven't seen since September. It's been far too long!

Various Updates on Summer Shenanigans

So, I obviously have failed at this whole blogging thing, keeping everyone update, yadda yadda yadda. Don't worry, I have been properly chastised by my mother, who, ironically, didn't even read my last update. I had to tell her that I updated. Love you, Mom. Anyhow, once again I have failed to surprise even myself in that I am actually updating at a recent pace, regardless of the fact that I should be reading for class or working out. Yet here I am, hopefully not boring you with the details of my London life- that is, the basically endless summer of fun I've had since September. Yeah, there were those things called classes, I've still got one every morning from 8am-10am (can't tell you how much that one sucks, considering we never get in earlier than midnight), but for the most part, this place has just been endless fun, exploring, making friends, barhopping, and immersing myself in a culture and city that I will NEVER fall out-of-love with- seriously. This place is, to be British- brilliant.

So, what's been going on since I re-arrived for my summer session? Well, I acted as tour guide for some of the new students during the whole orientation days, and then we jumped right into daily classes. I actually don't mind my morning one- it's way better than the other one that goes from 3-6 every day. No thank you. I absolutely love having my afternoons free, filling them with further exploring around London, writing in pubs (nothing better than setting up my laptop at a table with a pint to one side and a pen to the other), going to the gym, finding new and delicious places to have lunch with friends (or by myself once in a while), and all such great things. The other day the house was completely dead and so I just decided to take a 3 hour walk all around Soho. It was fantastic! I found all these great younger-crowd pubs, a lovely park with a kind of smallish market going on, and a legitimate mexican food place so satisfy any later cravings. And then I returned home, stopped by my favorite Chinese place for some amazingly delicious spring rolls and a bowl of wonton soup, and then back to the house. Such an amazing day!

And let me get started on the people in the house- I absolutely adore them. Seriously, we have such a fantastic group, we've got our Wednesday nights "hump nights" (aptly named after hump day- we're a mature bunch) where we get a decent amount of people in the house to go out and go clubbing (something I never thought I'd enjoy... and now I'm obsessed. Dance on!). Seriously, it is such an amazingly fun group and I can't think of a single day where I haven't done something with someone that wasn't, well, amazing! Each day has been full of surprises and fun and wonderful, new friends that I know I'll keep in touch with after this fantastic summer concludes. My roommate, too, is absolutely lovely and it's been such a great living arrangement. And, she's staying for the year, so it's great knowing that she'll get to experience what I did, albeit in reverse. I'm already jealous- I want to come back here!! Visiting? Hopefully.

So, in the past few weeks (can't believe how fast time is flying!) I've gone to 2 obscure plays for my english class that was actually decent, gone out almost every single night (our group is fantastic- it is so much fun), managed to not lose anything (yet! - although I did make a "friend" within the house. Whoops), perfected my club dancing skills (get low, get low), eaten some amazing Indian food, made friends with the gym people (haha), been creeped on my construction workers every day I walk to the gym (eww), been to Windsor Castle, further explored my amazing city, found far too many new, awesome bars that I want to return to, among so many other things. I can't name them all- this blog would never end. But, in essence, I kind of love this place, still. Who wouldn't? And now, tonight, i'm leaving for Paris with some of the people I'm closest with in the house. I can't wait!

Summer- London, Round 2

Well, apparently I should be writing this more often, so here goes! The summer edition of my blog. But first, a little recap on the end of the year program- sorry to have no updated on that bit. Turkey was amazing! We went to Ephesus and Istanbul and it was absolutely amazing. From the random markets, to the sites, to seeing celebrities (yes we did run into Ben Affleck), it was just an altogether fun trip. Granted, it was weird not being in London our final week, but I'm happy to say that I've been to that site now. It'll be a memory I never forget.




Anyhow, London now! Well, it's great being back (although I absolutely loved coming home for a little break and seeing everyone and spending time with my family). The new group is fantastic and we have learned how to have a good time.  I have a feeling that it's because we only have 2 months, and the second month we'll all be working ridiculously hard with our internships, and won't have half as much time or inclination to go out. So, we're getting it out of our systems now, I guess. And, heck, its' quite fun. We've been to an art "club" turned nightclub, a ridiculously rave club, many many university bars, pubs, walked around looking for new places at ungodly hours, a science club/bar that served drinks in teapots and beakers, among many other things. Seriously, it's been a blast. I can't explain how happy I am to be back here and with this new group. Anyhow, more pictures to come with the next update!

Days 80-83: A Week of Food-Driven Activities

Outdoor gym? 

Monday: I slept in again. Seriously, I love it. I think I just was ridiculously sleep deprived and I’m finally getting sleep, so all I do IS sleep. But it’s kind of amazing, so I’m not complaining at all. Anyhow, once I got my lazy  bum out of bed, I proceeded to get some studying and work done, then went out to grab a sandwich at a café with Jessica, before returning home and eating said sandwiches in the park. We searched for a bench with a moderate amount of sunlight streaming down on it, but unfortunately Sunday’s beauty kind of started fading into a more typical London gloom. After lunch came the inevitable studying, which I procrastinated on by hitting up the gym, and then kind of studying. Well, first I watched a movie while doing situps and then I studied and realized that I basically had the information memorized. Such an amazing revelation. So? Well, I went downstairs and socialized for a bit before coming back up to do one more run through of the info, shower, and crash out. Early bed? Win. 

Tuesday: Regardless of not setting an alarm, I actually woke up at 8:45 today. This was a big deal. Seriously. I mean, I actually made breakfast. Since when does that happen anymore? Never. Honestly. Anyhow, after enjoying a most delicious breakfast (haha… right) of cornflakes and wheat toast, I headed upstairs, got my situps out of the way, then prepared myself for a gym visit before my 2pm final. I hate afternoon finals. They are useless. But seriously. I’m much rather have the morning one, get it out of the way, and then have the rest of the afternoon to do whatever I want. Oh well. At least I got my exercise out of the way early. Post final – I felt as though I did well. I finished the thing in about an hour and now I am DONE with sophomore year… in March. What the heck? So weird. But, now I don’t have any stress. All I have to do is enjoy myself as we go to Turkey and then come back home. I can’t explain how excited I am to see Socal again. I love this place… but oh man… home. The word sounds so sweet! We finished up the night with a small group hitting up one of the local pubs, which was a nice, quiet evening out, while everyone else was being lame and staying in a writing their music papers. Psh, procrastination. 

Wednesday: So, I decided to ignore our awful gym hours today and sleep in (for some reason we only get a couple hours in the morning on Wednesdays to go to the gym… stupid). Whatever. Sleeping in was lovely, regardless of the ridiculously loud noises going on in my room, between drawers banging, backpacks zipping, and the like. My roomie doesn’t know the word “quiet”. Oh well. I fell back asleep. So, after getting up and moving slowly, I got myself ready, found some people in the house, and we headed out on a rather long tube trip to “Borough” stop for some delicious Chilean food for lunch. But seriously. We’ve been meaning to go to this place for weeks now, so I was SO excited to finally get out there. And, it didn’t fail us. It was delicious.  Seriously, look at my Chilean sandwich. Amazing. 

Anyhow, after lunch we headed back to the house, got some work done on our final music papers, relaxed, ran around London a bit- just a plethora of awesome last minute things. Later that evening, after group dinner, we got dressed up and FINALLY hit up the piano bar. Seriously, I’ve been meaning to go to this place for ages, and I got about 7 other people to join me. And it was so much fun! I’m bummed that we didn’t check it out earlier, but at least now I know how cool it is and I can try and grab some people this summer to hit it up a couple of times. It was a little pricey, but completely worth it as the pianist played a bunch of popular music and classic rock and got everyone singing along and the like. I cant wait to go back on a weekend evening and see how much more is going on… 

Thursday: I slept in today, preparing for what will be a heinous day of travel tomorrow. Seriously, I’m all messed up right now. My mind thinks that I’m going home, and I’m ridiculously excited, except we still have a week until home. It’s a very weird concept and something that my mind cannot seem to wrap itself around. I know Turkey will be amazing, but most of us in the house are just ready to pack up and see some California sun. Of course, we’ll probably be happy once we get to Istanbul, it’s just the whole “getting there” aspect. I spent most of today cleaning up a bit, packing for Istanbul, hitting up the gym, and finally went out to a quick dinner with Jessica and Andrew at our ever-loved Oriental Canteen. … that place is delicious. We probably go there far too much, but when you have wonton soup that is ridiculously incredible, it’s just inevitable- we keep returning and returning. After dinner, we met up with the rest of the house, managed to get the ping pong table off the deck, and set up a beer pong table out in the park.

Yes, we really did. And, I’m not sure if I should be ashamed or proud of this, but I might have been the instigator behind these actions. Maybe… Regardless, some more house bonding activities and it was a ton of fun. I left early, because unlike some of the people in this house, I actually wanted a little sleep before waking up at 3am to get ready for our day of travel to Turkey. But, all in all, a good week so far. And one more week until I’m standing in LAX. Woohoo! Note- one more picture to come from this evening... I'll put it up later. Or possibly in next week's update. 

Days 73-79: That final full week in London...

Ready for a description of Hell Week? Good. Prepare yourself. Actually, it really wasn’t a hell week. I just was sick and had lots of studying and presentations to do. So, the first part was hell week. Then it got nicer. :)

Oxford and Cambridge Club- girls!

Monday: Let’s just say that there was lots of studying on Sunday night, and it moved into this day as well. I also was sick, lost my voice, and had to give 2 presentations today as well. Awesome. Turned in one of my papers, went to the gym and almost died from not being able to breathe, and continued studying for my next presentation. Followed with dinner at My Old Dutch where I got a very, very sad excuse for a salad that also made my stomach very sad and hungry, but whatever. I got back home, continued studying and wishing I was still in Ireland/the week was already over, made a powerpoint, and then took medicine and passed out.  

Fancy at our final dinner

Tuesday: Woke up early for the gym again today, once again made a mistake and wasn’t able to breathe while running on the treadmill (you’d think I would learn), and followed that up by some more studying and finally giving my humanities presentation with Diana on the “best invention of the 20^th century” – naturally, we chose sliced bread and managed to amuse the class, so we were happy that wasn’t a fail.  I took a nap after that class, then woke up in time to fill out some paperwork before going to my history class, then followed with dinner at Da Mario’s (and there delicious swordfish pasta. Yum!). Then I went home, took a study break by watching a TV show, and then decided to work on my blog as opposed to actually preparing for my history speech. Probably not smart, but I’ve got it all written out and I’ll go over it tomorrow at the gym (while I probably suffer from further lack of breathing issues from this damn cold) and then be prepared. Hopefully. We’ll see. At this point, I just want Friday to come so I can write my two essays and be done with my first final. I could do without this cold, too.

Wednesday: I had my final presentation today and it went well. Finally, 4 presentations down, no more to go! Still slightly sick, but I woke up with a hymn stuck in my head and it kind of just made everything so much nicer and pleasant. I’ve been at peace since then, even with looming finals and papers and paperwork for Visa applications… It’s kind of nice. Anyhow, spent the rest of the day hitting the gym, studying, hanging with the friends, before a slightly early evening. Nothing too exciting. 

Thursday: Slept in again today- I’m really trying to kill this cold. I only had a museum visit, which turned out to be a really interesting experience. Apparently the tube line we were supposed to take was flooding or on fire or something (really… they said something about both over the loudspeakers at the station) so we had to change up our pathway and kind of improvise our walk to this museum that is out in the middle of nowhere. Literally. And then we ended up getting ridiculously lost because British people are awful at giving directions. One of the girls and I finally grabbed a cab when we were 20 minutes late to the beginning of the visit, got to the museum, ran in, and realized that we weren’t the only ones to have gotten lost. So, I guess that’s a plus. We were the last to find it, though. Oops. Following the visit, I came home, send some post cards, went to a meeting, made a delicious dinner of leftovers, and hit up some more studying and TV show watching before eating some snacks, studying a bit more, and then crashing out before midnight. Awesome. 

Friday: Woke up early today for a final bit of studying before my 10am final. Of course, the surprises started when there was a ridiculously small amount of food for breakfast. I mean, there was a lot of cereal… just no milk. Awesome. That made for a bunch of angry, stressed people. Anyhow, after eating my boring toast, I reviewed quickly, then flew through my two-essay final in an hour, returned to my room to research for Tuesday’s final (I was feeling very productive today), then went out to lunch and enjoyed the sun with some friends, before returning home to fill out my Visa paperwork. Honestly- I got so much done today, and I am so proud of myself. It just reduces the stress levels further, even though I’m still strangely at peace since waking up Wednesday morning. It’s great. And I’ll be going to Turkey soon and home in less than two weeks! I can’t wait! Friday night we hit up a pub for dinner, then met up with some more of the group and headed over to one of the larger bars. It was so much fun going out with a huge group again- hopefully we’ll keep that up this weekend!  

Saturday: Slept in (was a lovely experience), slowly got ready (just as lovely- I like being able to move slowly in the morning), and then headed out to the gym for a little workout before moving into the afternoon. It’s not half as sunny here today, which is kind of a bummer, but that’s okay. I’ll take it as long as it isn’t raining. California- you’d better get all the rain out of your system before I come home, because I expect SUN and WARMTH. After the gym and following situps and other such exercising productivity, I wept over the fact that the sun disappeared and London rain reappeared. No thank you.  Regardless of such, Diana, Andrew, and I headed out to Putney for the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, which stupidly started early, so we missed that bit, but at least we got to hang around with the huge amount of people that tail-gated the thing. That was cool, and we saw a new place. That night saw us to The Eagle, a really awesome pub with an ever-changing menu and steak sandwiches to die for. Very, very good.

Sunday: I slept in again, and then realized it was far later than I’d expected because a time change occurred. Whoops. After this realization, I got ready and went out with Diana, Andrew, and Alex for some Chinese food for lunch, and then a lovely walk around Westminster and Saint James’ park, all the way to Buckingham palace. Why? Because the sun was out again, the park was in bloom, the lake was gorgeous and it was just a perfect day to take a stroll. And, it’s out last Sunday in London! Such a sad, sad thought. I’m trying to ignore it. The rest of the late afternoon and evening were, unfortunately, filled with gym and studying for my Tuesday final. Almost there! 

Days 66-72: I Am the Absinthe Fairy!

Monday-Wednesday: I’m not really sure what happened during these days. There was a steady progression as my bruise got darker, and then I fell into an evil void in which I never left the room except for gym, class, and food, because I was literally bogged down by 4 presentations to prepare for, and 10 essays. I’m not even kidding. Papers left and right because of this whole “no dead week thing”. Right, that goes back to our Egypt trip being cancelled. Because we ended up having school that week, and moving our group field trip to our final week (April 1-5), we don’t actually get a week to prepare for finals and papers and all that. They were just kind of thrown upon us. So, I made a nest in my bed and wrote for 3 days straight, hence my lack of updates. And it was hell. I literally wanted to throw my computer against the wall by Wednesday night, but I refrained, and instead just stopped preparing for my Humanities exam and decided that 9 essays and 4 presentations was enough, and that I could resume work on Sunday after returning from Ireland. It was the sane decision.

Thursday: St. Patrick’s Day! And seriously, what a better plan than actually going to Ireland for the day? Nothing. So that’s exactly what we did. We being Jessica, Andrew, and me. Well, we went to class first, and then booked it to the airport, where we were quite early, consumed sandwiches, bought more for the road, and then hopped onto our plane to Cork, Ireland. We checked into our bed in breakfast (after going through the airport and getting a green stamp on our passports parked “March 17”- kind of awesome), and then proceeded to get ready for the evening. Cork is a college town, and although Ireland makes drinking a nightly habit, we figured it would still be a blast. So, Jessica and I donned our green tights, I also pulled on a green tank top and scarf and was dubbed the “absinthe fairy” by Andrew (not sure if that was a compliment or not…), and then we headed out.

It was insane.

Well, a good kind of insane. We never felt worried or anything of the like, even as people ran around. We did a good deal of bar-hopping, hitting about 8 that night, and of all sorts. The first was quite traditional, with Irish music and dancing and a very, very packed, loud atmosphere, but it was probably the best one that we found. The rest of the evening wasn’t lacking, though, and we enjoyed all of it as we ran through the city (which really isn’t all that big- it was quite easy to navigate on foot), making friends, getting into clubs, dancing, slipping on beer covered stairs an obtaining further bruises (oh yeah, that would be me again…), and all such other great things. It was a fantastic night. And, it wasn’t over. We got back to the B&B, showered ,got into bed, and then I decided it would be a good night to sleep walk for the first time in years.

No. I’m not joking. I woke up in the bathroom, completely disoriented and had no idea where I was. I had somehow managed to lock myself in there, although the doors were clearly unlocked (good job, mind, getting me all confused), and had to be rescued by the owner of the B&B. Let’s just say that I was definitely the subject of everyone’s amusement the next morning. Ah, the joys of a good evening. Actually, it was clearly not from the consumption of, er, liquids, but rather simply sleep walking. What a night to do that, though. I guess I just have to make a name for myself wherever I go…

Friday: After a delicious full Irish breakfast (which his quite similar to full-English), and living through the amusement of all the people working and staying in the B&B as they talked about my night time activities, Jessica, Andrew, and I made our way to the bus station, where we caught a bus to Blarney. There, we were gifted with an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day (no rain in Ireland for us!) and we walked through the small town to the castle. There, we first ran about the grounds, as there was a kind of nature walk with all these picturesque places. Water falls, trees, places to climb into and onto (naturally, being us, we had to climb the trees and trek through the mud to the waterfalls to get good pictures), flowers… it was all so beautiful. Following this, we made our way to the actual castle.

We climbed up to the top, where we laid on our backs, had our legs held by a guy hired to do so, and then had to lean backwards and finally upside down over the edge of the castle wall in order to kiss the Blarney Stone for the “gift of eloquence.” No joke. I leaned over the wall, which was WAY high and kissed a stone that probably has massive amounts of germs. But it was awesome. After the castle, we descended to the grounds, walked through their “poison garden” (it was full of poisonous plants, although the Irish police confiscated their marijuana plant, which we found amusing), and then found the old dungeon caves. No one was brave enough to really go all the way in, but we crouched and wriggled our way to the deepest depths of them and it was totally worth it. Seriously, these were TINY caves and anyone claustrophobic would probably hate it, but it was awesome. Dropping water, echoes, dim lighting, uneven rocks… it was totally out of a movie and very castle-esque. I loved every moment of it.

After the castle, we walked back to the village, grabbed some lunch, then hopped on the bus back into Cork, where we spent the rest of the beautiful afternoon running around the town and looking at what it had to offer. We saw some cool streets, a cathedral, and finally decided to hit up the B&B for a quick nap before dinner. Dinner took place as a rugby bar, which was quite fun and definitely a locals place. After dinner, we headed back for a semi-early evening in preparation for our VERY early morning into Dublin the following day.

Saturday: After waking up at quite the ungodly hour, we trekked back to the bus stop, grabbed our 4 hour bus into Dublin, and napped/stared aimlessly for the trip. It was a long one, but totally worth it. Again, we had great weather and the city was very fun. Definitely not as cool as London, but still a great day trip and adventure. It was much smaller than we planned, so we were able to walk around to all the places we wanted- namely, Trinity College, Temple Street and Bar (where we had a great lunch of steak and Guinness stew), Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and finally a tour of the Guinness Factory. Personally, I found the beer disgusting, and so got a coke with my free drink pass. Yeah, I know, lame, but it’s okay. I indulged in the Bulmer’s cider all of Thursday night.

After the factor, we walked back along the river to the bus stop, grabbed our bus, and traveled the long journey back home. By the time we arrived in Cork, we were all exhausted and barely made it through our showers before crashing into bed. But, it had been a fantastic day, a brilliant and well-planned weekend, and we had no regrets about the exhaustion. We’d managed to see everything we had wanted to see, and the only time it rained was while we were on the actual bus. Pretty good luck, especially considering Ireland in March.

Sunday: We woke up early, got our breakfast, and then traveled back home. We arrived at a decent hour, and so grabbed lunch at my favorite Asian food place, and then had the rest of the afternoon for get back into workout and studying routines. Ugh… talk about walking right back into a stressful pool of work for finals. But… only a bit more time and then I’ll be in Istanbul and without any work at all!