Anything but a white Christmas

Merry Christmas again. So I'm in my dorm, not too long ago I left my Mom and siblings at the hotel. It was funny, when we left Little Italy, my Mom wanted to walk me back to the Bridge House, and I just laughed. The Bridge House is not very far from the hotel, and I told her that I walk alone all the time, I mean I don't have a babysitter. She let me go unwillingly I think. Anyway, so let's go back to the weekend...

Saturday I went to Ely for the weekend to stay with Arthur and Jenn. I went to Waitrose first to pick up a gift for them, just some chocolate and wine. As I was paying for it, I got carded, so no big deal, I gave them my ID but they didn't know what to do with it. They looked at it, looked at me, back at the card, and then asked for my Drivers License. I said that's it, and that I'm from the States. They looked at it again, back at me, back at the card, and then gave in and said you can be over 21. Wow, it was amazing.

So then I made my way to Kings Cross (I did not go to Platform 9 3/4), waited about an hour and go on the train. I fell asleep almost at once, but woke up around Cambridge. What I saw of Cambridge, well I like Oxford better. I only saw it from the train, but it didn't look as nice as Oxford, but I'm not sure I saw the colleges of Cambridge. Anyway, so I'm sitting there, and all a sudden I hear that anyone going further than Cambridge had to be in the first four coaches. I was in the back. So I packed up, moved my heavy bag and went to the front. It was a pain in the butt. Anyway, so not very long after leaving Cambridge, maybe a half an hour, little bit more we get to Ely. I was not expecting to be there so soon, and I got off the train and saw country. Um. I called Jenn and was like, "I'm in the middle of nowhere." She asked where I was, and I just said, "The train station." She just laughed.

So they came and picked me up, and we went back to their house. It was really nice, the neighborhood was very Harry Potterish. All the houses were the same, British style so small with little driveways, and all the houses were the same color. I like their house a lot, and of course love the bed. It was very comfortable, and I knew it as soon as I sat down on the end of it. So we got there, and not long after being there we went down to Ely and got dinner.

Ely is a small town, it has the same stores as Kingston just a small amount of people, and not as many stores. It was so nice, that is a small little English town. Not like Kingston which is a big shopping centre. After dinner we went to base and went to the grocery store. OMG! It's an American grocery store, and I got donuts, Mac n Cheese, chips, cereal, JIF, popcorn, and Chicken Doodle Soup. I'm soooo excited. After that, we went to the base's version of Walmart, and yeah they bought a TV. A plasma, it's SWEET! So we drove around and picked it up, and of course it wouldn't fit in the trunk, so it was put next to me. I'm helping to put it in from my seat and directing it's movements, "Keep it coming... keep it coming... oh that's the door. Yep I'm up against the door." Hahaha. I thought for a moment I would be riding in the trunk, and the TV would get the back seat. But we both fit (barely), and so we went back to the house. The TV is nice, and if it wasn't so nice, I would have minded a little bit being squished, but no, it's cool. We actually didn't think that the TV would fit in the entertainment system, but it proved us wrong. Good times.

Sunday and Christmas Day was our big movie marathon. I didn't leave the house at all on Sunday. I helped Jenn cook pumpkin cookies and dinner. I did the stirring. It was sweet. But then we just watched movies. A Christmas Story (like 3 times), Elf, RV, Gladiator, A Christmas Carol with Disney characters, 8 Below (SO SAD!), and I'm sure a few more movies but I forget. It was nice. We played Monopoly too, and I warned them that I've lost like twice in my lifetime, and I've been playing for a good number of years, but they still wanted to play. It was Monopoly that got hit with inflation... for example the $500 bills with $5 million. I of course bought everything in sight, and then got really low on money so I landed on what should have been Boardwalk, mortgaged a lot to buy it, and then slowly started to lose. Hahah. If I had landed on one of their properties that had a hotel I would have been out. Jenn owned the poorer side of the board, and I landed on what should have been Baltic, and that nearly did me in. But I owned the Green and Orange, got the Yellow, and then I landed on Free Parking that had like $20 million in it. Jackpot! I bought hotels for my properties and never looked back. Arthur landed on one of my yellows, and lost. I tried to warn them.

So Christmas morning was fun, I slept in and around 10:30am I got up. I loved the bed.. it was so comfortable! Anyway, for presents I got some clothes, Pirates 2, a DVD set about Match Game, Hogans Heroes 4 (actually a Christmas present to myself), a Lost calendar, chocolate, some things from Bath and Body, and the Little Mermaid. Dad thought I needed it, which of course I do. Love that movie. It was a nice and quiet. A little weird since this is my first Christmas away from home, but Jenn and Arthur made it cool. I wasn't alone or anything for it, so it was cool. We continued watching movies after presents, this was when we watched Gladiator. I was looking at Jenn's computer when he turned it on, and I heard the music and said, "Love Gladiator." Arthur was a little confused that I knew what movie it was just by the music, but of course I listen to Gladiator before I play hockey, and I idolize Maximus. So during Gladiator, I got an idea for my paper, and during the movie I was writing it. Sweet! Hopefully it's good, I'll look at it when I get back from my trip.

Christmas dinner was spent at their friends who are also American. They have a cute little puppy who loved my hand, wrist and sweater. He was so adorable though, and of course dogs can tell a dog lover a mile away so I spent a lot of time petting him. They also have a 5 year old who's name is escaping me at this moment, but she was cute, and we got along great. She was a little bossy... must be a first born thing. Dinner was great though, ham with sweet potatoes, stuffing, bread, some corn dish... yummy. I ate a lot, and then of course the pumpkin cookies for dessert were good. During dinner I couldn't help but think how weird it was not to be at Nashua, sitting at the long table, and having to do drinks. I think MJ had to do them this year, but maybe I'll ask who took my job that I cannot wait to get rid of. After dinner the 5 year old kidnapped me, and we played in her room for like 4-5 hours. We played on a little hand held game she had. She showed me her Polly Pockets, which are no longer pocket size so not as cool as when I had them. We talked about Disney for a while, she's a big fan, and then we built a 'robot'. Yeah it was a little weird. We made Christmas cards for everyone, and Valentine Day cards. She wanted to give them all out, but I convinced her not to, and save the Valentine Day ones. She agreed. It was fun. When we went downstairs, CSI Season 5 finale was on, so I sat down and the puppy jumped onto my lap, so I sat and watched one of my favorite shows. It was great. The adults (hahah feel old) were amazed that I stayed up in her room for so long, but I did have a good time.

So that was my Christmas. I so missed the family, and everyone at Nashua, especially this year since Auntie Helen came to NH, but oh well. What can you do? I did talk to them Christmas Eve, and my grandmother. It was a different Christmas, and I enjoyed it, but of course the fun was just about to begin. The American invasion was about to occur, and that could only mean fun times.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope Santa was good to everyone!
I'm up in Ely right now with Jenn and Arthur, and I actually cannot write long, because it is very difficult to type and watch Gladiator. What a wholeseome Christmas movie! There is no cable here, so its been movies 24/7. We have watched A Story Christmas 3 times, RV, Elf, Pirates 2, and now Gladiator. We played Monopoly last night and I won!!! Woohoo!
So Merry Christmas all, I will tell of my adventures in Ely later!

What a week

So I'm just in my room, it's cold, so I'm warming my hands by typing. I never had control of the heat in my room before, and now I'm wishing for the Towers. You have a certain amount of heat a day, and actually let me just say that I just turned on my heat for the first time this week. So anyway, I put it on really low last night, because why waste heat, my window is wide open. I like sleeping in the cold, you get to snuggle up. Anyway, so it is cold today, and I have heat on, but yeah it's still cold. My heat is up too, but still cold. Oh well.

What a week. Um starting Sunday, it was just Kathleen and myself. It was GREAT! The boys were gone aka, no one left the light on in the bathroom, there was no dirty dishes, and the kitchen was clean! Also Cassie was gone, so all that applies and no singing. It was heaven. Kathleen and I don't make noise, actually Kathleen makes noise when Amaya is here. So we worked on papers, well I worked on papers, Kathleen was too busy dying. She's ok now, but for a few days she didn't get out of bed.

So Monday came, and it was paper week. The theme of the week was:
Me: Hey Kathleen, wanna go to the gym tomorrow??? Say like 10ish?
Kathleen: Sure, I'll set my alarm!
Me: Me too! See you tomorrow morning.

The next morning..

Me: (wake up) OMG! It's 11am! I missed my date to the gym with Kathleen!
I go out to the hall, her door is closed, there is no one in the kitchen or bathroom. I come back to my room.

An hour later...

Kathleen: (comes to my door) I think I overslept.

Yep that is the theme of the week. We tried to go to the gym, it never happened. I won't go to the gym without her. There is no way I'm walking 15 minutes down the road to the gym, just to come back here, get ready and walk to the library. Yeah no.

So I did go to the library Monday-Wednesday. I brought my laptop, my books, paper... and I worked. The internet kicked me off every 2 seconds, so today, I didn't go to the library. I stayed here, I was getting a little sick of getting kicked off the internet. You might ask, why I need the internet, but dictionary.com or sparknotes.com for a quick little fact, or if I need to find something in a book, and I don't know what part it is, I look at sparknotes, there are summaries of all the chapters. It's much easier than flipping through the book, wasting time that the wheels in my brain are moving. But when it takes you 15 minutes to look up something at sparknotes.com, it takes all the fun out of it.

So I have 2 papers somewhat done, 1300 words on each of them, and research done for another paper. Not bad. I have time when I'm done traveling to finish them, so I'm not worried. Tomorrow I'll start my 19th century paper. As long as I do something on all of them, I'm happy.
Also I'm going to Germany with Monica. Well Berlin, Munich, and then Austria (Salzburg and Vienna), and then going to Frankfurt and taking a plane from there. We got Eurorail passes because it was 300 euros to go places on the train like we want to. So we cut down the cost a little bit. We are going the 2nd of Jan to the 10th. Sweet! Cannot wait to travel with Monica. We are so slumming it the whole way.

So I have no news, I've been having no life. Monday is Christmas, and it doesn't even feel like it. Oh well.

If I don't write before I go to Ely, which I probably won't... MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!

Quietness in the Bridge House

Hey
So my week of papers begins tomorrow, er later this morning since it is 1am. I actually spent all day working on my 18th century paper, but I need to go to the library, because I need a copy of The Odyssey, the Sparknotes copy is not cutting it. The translation is not good. It is so hard, I know what I want to say, but I can't say it, so I just looked for quotes, and read more about the authors I really do not like. My paper is on the mock epic, and I'm using Pope, Fielding and the great Homer. I had to write about Homer, who would pass up a chance to talk about Odysseus???

Um so since the last time I wrote, it's been a good time. We had Farewell Drinks on Friday, and Philip ate lunch with us! I love Philip! So I said good bye to my friends from classes, I'm going to miss them. That night I also went out with Jenna, Cassie, Vern, Harry, Nick, Alex, and some other kids. Harry and I played Spook for like more than an hour. You have three coins in your hand behind your back, your other hand is out in front with how many coins you want, and you have to guess how many coins there are between the two of you. I killed Harry. I also had somewhat of my hockey face on, it was so funny. We talked a lot too, and he made a Harry Potter reference, about when he came out of the bathroom there were so many doors he had no idea which one led back upstairs, and he thought he was in the big hallway of just doors in HP5. I got the reference. Jenna scared all of us though with her conversation with some kid about computer games. She won the geeky award that night. I said I liked Oregon Trail... So yeah I had to say good bye to more people... I no longer have friends outside the Bridge House. Well okay I have Jenna.

So on Saturday Cassie left for Ireland, she went by herself. Amaya left today for the States, Martin went home last night, and then Baz left today. And then there was two. Kathleen leaves wicked early Thursday morning, but by that time Cassie will be home, but away a lot because her father will be here. So it will just be me. Sad.

Kathleen and I watched Robin Hood today... HAHAH! We love Robin Hood, it is a little corny sometimes, but the guy who plays Robin Hood makes it alright. We watched it on the computer because it's on the TV right now, but like 10 episodes into it. But we could only watch one episode because the second episode wasn't up. So sad. But we only pizza and celebrated the two of us alone in the Bridge House... well it made sense to us.

Later we watched Driving Lessons with Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Julie Waters (Mrs. Weasley), and it was so good. The beginning was weird, and I was scared but once Julie Waters entered, it was so good. Rupert Grint wasn't his usual Ron self at all, it was a little weird, but he was good.

Wow, what an interesting post, unfortunately it's been calm around here, starting to do a lot of work for my papers, tomorrow I start living in the library.

Oh well, I'm going back to the Avalanche game. I think the Avs want to lose tonight, Theodore is in the net... sigh. I wish they would put in Budaj, but since he's played the last few nights I guess they thought they would give him a rest. Not that Budaj is the best goalie in the league, but he's better than Theodore. Sometimes, well okay, all the time I wish Patrick Roy was immortal and would just play forever. The Avs haven't had a good goalie since he retired.

Last Day of Classes

Hey so today was it. Last day of classes for the semester. I had 18th Century today, and the only class I am happy to leave behind. Well wait, Brycchan is awesome, I think he's a great teacher and I enjoyed being a student of his. But the subject... ahhhh I do not like the 18th Century. Well maybe I would like it more if we did not focus on "Satire and Sensibility" but since that is part of the class title, well I had no idea what I was getting into.

Today's class was interesting, we went over the grading system in England, and got back our essay plans. I got a 55, which is a C. Which is pretty good, because his comments said that I was very informal in the essay and well sarcastic. I know, be surprised. I read it right before I passed it in, and yes I was very sarcastic. I don't do essay plans, I write essays as it comes to me. I always write them out first and then type them, but on the essay plan I just typed it. When I type something, I sometimes whisper what I'm going to say as I type it, so of course it's sarcastic. Like he wanted us to write our thesis statement... oh that's a laugh. I have no idea what my thesis is going to be, and I could write it, but it will change 5 times before it reaches my computer. So after my thesis I said, "This is probably a run on sentence and will change at least 5 times before I come up with something that is not junk." That's not that sarcastic, and he had a problem with the word probably. Um, guess that's the informal part. Oh well, he did say at the end that he has high hopes for my paper since I write well, and under all the sarcasm he says I have a good argument. YES! I so worried because he gave us a grammar lesson... hahah.

In seminar we talked about anything but Sense and Sensibility since no one in the room was writing their paper about it. Instead we just talked about our papers, topics and how we were going to go about doing them. It wasn't bad, we had an interesting conversation about the 18th century.

But the end of classes... my thoughts on my first semester done, um well it was very interesting. I've never had a seminar class, in the US teachers lecture the whole time and you are lucky if you get to say if you liked the novel or not. Here they dedicate a whole hour to talking about the different novels. I love that, and I had a great 19th century seminar. Jane got so into it, we got really into, and conversation never died down. Matt was interesting, he did more work on finding passages about this and that, but he had to because no one was as vocal as Jane's seminar.

I think I learned a lot, I learned so much about the 19th Century haha, and I think I can read novels better. Well with the 18th and 19th centuries there is hidden meanings in everything, and I've gotten better and reading about a storm, and thinking, "wait that's not just a storm!" It was a cool experience in these classes, I enjoyed going to class, and I look forward to next semester. I am thankful for Core, it gave me an edge on the others in 18th Century and sometimes in Renaissance Drama. I swear people tried to scare me about the British educational system but that was stupid. You have a lot of independent work to do, but I'm an English major, independent work is reading. That's easy, except if it's like Joseph Andrews, then it's just brutal.

So we have Farewell Drinks on Friday, and then by the end of next week all the semester long students are gone. Sad. Martin and Baz will be leaving soon for home, Kathleen is traveling, Amaya is going home, and Cassie is traveling too. That leaves just me and 5 papers! If I didn't finish my script a month ago it would be 6. Go me. Next week is paper week, yeah I'm so excited.

P.S Happy Birthday Baz! He almost didn't tell us, and I'm sure he regrets it. We sang Happy Birthday to him! He loved every second of it.

Sad

Hey
So end of term. Um, it doesn't feel like the end of term. End of term means STRESS, well for most people, me I just do paper after paper, and for fun a paper. But here in England, there is no stress. Everything is due after Christmas, well Baz had a 1,500 paper due today and as of last night he had 500 words done, so he might have had some stress. Cassie had some group projects due, but I had nothing.

I had my last Scriptwriting class yesterday, and Christopher Hampton came to talk to us. He wrote Dangerous Liaisons, The Quiet American, and almost did Schindler's List, but got left behind in the scramble of directors. He was really good, he talked about the theatre, his new projects, writing Dangerous Liaisons... it was awesome. I enjoyed listening to him.

Today was the end of Renaissance Drama and 19th Century. I just kinda left Renaissance Drama around noon, we didn't have seminar and the last hour of class was for 1 on 1 with Matt, and I'll e-mail Matt later when I have a better idea about my paper and my actual topic. So Megan and I went out to eat as a good bye. We went to Lloyds, and we just sat, talked and ate. It was fun, but omg I hate saying good bye. She isn't sure if she is coming to Farewell Drinks on Friday, so just in case this was good bye. It stinks because I've met all these cool kids from different parts of the US and now they are going back home. Um. I've met some cool people from England, but of course they aren't going anywhere.

19th Century was sad because I love Jane! Omg! She's so cool! She reminds me a lot of Jura my advisor in Maine. Jane is just awesome, she picked a lot of good novels to read, and I love how she gets so into them! She was cursing Thomas Hardy for the end of Tess of the D'Ordevilles, which of course is justified. She's really smart too, so I'm going to miss her and that class. At the end of seminar she thanked the Americans because we were very vocal and kept the discussion going. She said that maybe it was because we were braver than the British, because we always spoke out no matter if we had a idea completely formulated or not... um that wasn't me. Not at all.

I'm really glad I am here for the year, I am not ready to go home, and there is still so much I want to do. I also am not ready to say good bye to my flat mates but especially Amaya and Kathleen. I feel like I've known them forever, and not just 4 months. Baz and Martin have a special place in my heart too, haha, I love those two. Baz still gets me with his "alright?" because I still sometimes also respond, "yeah you alright?" and no that is the wrong answer. He's just saying hi. They are both leaving this weekend, and will miss their quiet presence around the flat. Will not miss their dirty dishes!

I can't believe this time tomorrow term is over for me... wow, where has it gone?

Oh P.S. Another fire alarm this morning, this time at 8:51am... 9 minutes before my alarm! We seriously have one every week... AH

Hail? You're kidding me right?

Hey
So Cardiff. A very nice place, the weather we had not so nice. Of course Monica and I always said that no matter the weather we would go and have a good time. Well we sure got tested.

We started our day early, um like 6am early. We got 5 hours of sleep, no joke. With the fire alarm we went to bed around 1am, and 6am came too soon. I felt like I never fell asleep. So we got up, dressed, and left around 6:20ish. 6am in England does not smell like 6am in Mass. There is a certain smell, actually it's all of New England, because Maine has the same smell. I'm not weird or anything, but I spent four years being up at 6am, and there is a certain, lovely smell about it. Kinda like a 6am practice. England though, no special smell. Sad really.

We got to Victoria by 7:30am, got some breakfast and got on the bus. It's a 3 hour bus ride to Cardiff, which is not bad at all. As soon as the bus got going, I turned on my MP3 Player and fell asleep. I'm no longer a fan of 6am, so I was a little tired. I woke up a few times on the way though, and every time the weather was different. One time it was sunny, then raining, then just cloudy and back to rain. It was insane. I missed the English countryside, but according to Monica it wasn't great. I did wake up once though to see a little town, like 5 buildings, and all the buildings were surrounding an old church maybe. Like a ruin of a church. It was pretty.

So we get to Cardiff, and look at the bus station for a few minutes just to make sure we can recognize it later. And then we go off. We went to the Cardiff Castle, the main attraction in Cardiff. We walked past the Stadium that is HUGE and they built it for some big thing a few years ago... um must brush up on England sports. Anyway, we are walking down this street and it starts POURING! Omg, I was drenched in two seconds, and you can't take out your umbrella because you would pull a Mary Poppins. The wind was just as bad as the rain. So we walked very quickly, found the castle and went in. We kinda just stood there in the gift shop trying to catch our breaths and figure out where that rain came from. Anyway, we got tickets for the castle, you have to do a tour, which was fine. Our tour began at noon, so when it stopped raining, we went into the grounds of the castle, and were shown into the Regiment Museum, because it started raining again. While waiting for our tour we looked around there, it was really interesting. It had artifacts from all the wars that the Welsh Regiment Guys were apart of, and also some artifacts from other countries, like for WWII, there was some Nazi stuff, but the main focus was the Welsh. It wasn't just about the battles either, but their families, a lot of photographs, and personal stories. It was so interesting because I don't know much about Wales and their involvement in any war. Um what I loved most was the goat, which is their mascot. Every group has their goat mascot, and a few of them were there and stuffed. In Wales there are sheep and goats, and that's it. Goats have horns, they are more fierce, so the goats win.

So at about 11:45am we went in search of our tour, and back outside, but under a roof, it was raining again. We stopped and took a few pictures of The Keep, and knew at once that we would be visiting that Keep rain or not. It's so cool looking, on top of the little hill. Anyway the castle. We saw the dining room, kid's room, bedroom (not the master but a dressing room with a bed in it), library, and a sitting room. The castle was redecorated in the 19th century and it's very symbolic and Christian. One of the rooms has the four seasons, night and day, another the days of week, the bedroom is an old confessional. I wish I was kidding. It's next to the fireplace and door of the bathroom. It's all extremely well done, so beautiful and my mouth was wide opened, jaw on ground for a lot of it. The kid's room I liked the most, on the walls were fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Jack and Beanstalk, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Gullivan, and a few others. Maybe I liked it so much since in that list the majority of them are Disney. (DISNEY CULT) There was a photograph of the four children, and we learned their names, and what their day was like. There was a Christmas tree in the room too (well done Cardiff castle). The fireplace had a few statues to always remind the children to never gloat about their wealth, it involved the goddess of wisdom and blah um something else. And one of the goddess had donkey ears coming out of her head, being like, yeah she gloated, she looks silly. It was so interesting.

I loved the castle. The library was cool, there was cupids and the cupids were holding name tags of all the most famous writers, and this went all the way around the room. The banquet hall was cool too, you can rent it for weddings. Monica had a far away look on her face when this was said, (you did, don't deny it, or our conversation afterwards. Hahah) It's actually kinda cheap, minimum of 3 hours, and each hour is 250 pounds. The banquet hall, the wallpaper told a story, which was cool. Everything in this castle was just so well thought out, and designed to impress. Which it did!

So when our tour was over, we were told you can either leave or go to the tea room. Well Monica heard tea room and so we went down. Not that anyone was dragging me down there... haha. Um so we had tea, and actually we just got lunch too. I got a BLT (with the B) and Monica got a cheese plate, and it was really good. We had Welsh tea too, which didn't taste any different to me, but it was fun to say, 'yes I went to Wales and had Welsh tea'. When we were eating, a peacock kept staring at us from outside the window. I think it wanted in because it was raining so hard. I didn't blame it.

And then we went to the Keep. It stopped raining for two seconds, so we took some pictures, and then ventured up into the Keep. We quoted Lord of the Rings all the way there, and even afterwards. Monica said I took it too far... um so what if I did. It was fun. The Keep is just stone in ruins, but we climbed the stairs and there are all these little rooms, and of course we stopped at every one. Some gave us great views of the castle. But we got to the top, and we had to hold on because that stupid wind. I swore the flag was going to rip. We got some great pictures though of the wall, the castle, the view... it was unbelievable. It's weird, there's this old castle, and then the new Stadium is just beyond it. Another mix of the old and new.

After the Keep, we hit the gift shop, got some postcards and Christmas gifts, and then went off. I believe it was not raining at this point. So we were thinking where shall we go, and I thought why not hit the Bay. We were both raised near the Atlantic Ocean, so why not see the other side of it... so we just starting walking in that direction. We went past the bus station, and saw a sign for the Bay, when it started... what did it start you ask? Not raining... it was hailing! I looked up at the sky and thought, "You gotta me kidding me." I decided once you see an ocean, they are all the same. We decided shelter was best, and we found an alleyway that was covered, and there was stores so that was fine. We walked down one, and now I can't remember when we found this store, but I might as well put it here. We were walking past this one store, and of course I have a radar for anything hockey. I saw a Rangers jersey.... WHAT! It was a rollerblading/hockey store. We went in. They had hockey equipment... REAL hockey equipment. Not this field hockey junk, but hockey. Skates that were pretty good Bauers, 70 pounds! I was almost tempted to buy a stick since I've broken all three of mine. I was so amazed, when we left I took a picture, just to prove that it exists and I didn't get hit with hail and have a hallucination.

So we found a pub, got some tea, and just talked for awhile. We had passed this coffee shop, and after being in the pub for awhile, we decided to try and find it, but we couldn't. We instead found a coffee shop right near the bus station so we went there, and got hot chocolate. There was this cake there that called to me. OMG! It was chocolate fudge cake, and it was calling my name. I ignored it for awhile, but I finally got it. Monica had a bite, but I ate it all! It was soooo rich! We sat here for awhile, it kept pouring out, and hailing, and I cursed the people who came in or out because they let the wind/rain and hail in, and our backs were to the door. We were sitting in these really comfortable seats though... oh it was awesome.

So we really only saw the castle, but the weather was against us. We did have a good time though. The Castle was amazing, and so was the Keep. I would like to go back to Wales and see the countryside, it looks so amazing.

Not Even Lucky Charms are worth $13

Hey, so let me tell you about my week. Classes went well, we are reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy in 19th Century Novel, and I love it! What a good book, and a way to end the term. Scriptwriting, Renaissance Drama and 18th Century were good too, and only a week left. Sad, I really enjoy my classes.

But Wednesday was the day that things happened. After class, I went into London to see Monica and Corynn. I met them in Sloane Square, which I had never been to before so this was quite an adventure. I got off at Wimbledon and took the District line there, instead of going all the way in to Waterloo and then back out again. So at Sloane Square, I followed Monica's directions to where she was, which was the back of a grocery store where this was this little cafe. I thought she said they were outside, so I was looking for them, and I passed the window of the grocery store and stopped dead in my tracks. I saw Fruit by the Foot! I looked closer and saw Lucky Charms, Gushers (which I don't like but whatever) and all this American food. I rushed in, went right to it and nearly died. There was Kraft Mac and Cheese, Tuna Fish, Miracle Whip, real Pickles... everything I love in this world. I was so excited. And then I saw the price... 7 pounds for a box of Lucky Charms! WHAT! Are you nuts! Lucky Charms isn't even worth that! Now JIF maybe worth it's price, but I forget what it was. England lacks good peanut butter. There was Fluff too... Mac and Cheese was like 2 pounds for a box... ahhhhh. So sad. Oh well.

So we just walked up this street, and then down it, looking at all the shops and the lack of decorations in London. Until Monica pointed it out, I hadn't noticed, but I haven't seen many Christmas decorations in London. I was around Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Pic Circus and I didn't see any lights. Harrods just has the usual lights, and Harvey Nichols isn't impressive either. It was really sad.

So we ate at the Chelsea Kitchen, because that's where we were- Chelsea. Nothing like Chelsea, MA... this is more like Newton, MA. Well this whole area is, um Kensington, Knightsbridge it's all rich and just proves how much money I do not have. Chelsea Kitchen was GOOD though, I got pork chops with apple sauce and a salad. And of course no British meal is complete without chips. It was a good choice.

After we ate, we walked around a little more, and then in the square some Church group was singing Christmas carols. Now Monica was interested because last time she heard Christmas carols at Oxford, she didn't know any of the songs. But this time around, we knew them all, they were all the usual. She was telling me though that one of her British friends Hannah has never seen Charlie Brown Christmas or Rodolph! WHAT! Her childhood was a sad one I think. But anyway, it was nice to hear the carols, and then we parted company. Well Monica came back to Kingston, and Corynn went to Oxford.

So Elizabeth Street wins for the most decorations, and nothing of importance is on that street. Expect of course the Chocolate Society. That was nicely decorated... yummy. Oxford and Kingston have much more Christmas lights than London, it's kinda sad. Oxford's lights have been up since Halloween according to Monica.

Monica and I got to the Bridge House, and I was thinking, Um we haven't had a fire alarm this week. Yep, just as we were going to bed we had one. So she got to meet Nye (not the science guy) and Victor. It was the first floor again... it is so annoying to have a fire alarm like every week.

So we went to bed for 5 hours and got up early to go to Cardiff, but I think that will be it's own post. Til then.

Ouch

A preview to what is to come!

Alright so skating. Oh boy. We (the girls, Mitch, Patrick, Monica and I went skating at Hampton Court Palace on Sunday. Let me start this story from the beginning. Monica came early Sunday morning, like I was still sleeping when she called from Clapham Junction. I told her I would be up so calling was okay, but not when she called. I still had 20 minutes on the alarm. So I got up, showered, and by the time I was ready to go grocery shopping, because I had nothing in the house, she is at the Bridge House. We went shopping together. We then came back to the good old Bridge House and I made breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast and tea), and we went skating.

Now Mitch said that he could out skate me... I laughed. I've been skating since I was 7 years old, and he only played for 5 years. I was like a little kid in a candy store on the way to Hampton Court Palace... I was so excited and I couldn't stop smiling. I had on my Avs jersey, my FbA hat, jeans and a sweater. Didn't need the sweater. Oh well. So we get there, and the outdoor rink is right in front of the palace. So coool! We went through our entrance of course, walked past the maze and to the rink. We got there with like 10 minutes until our ice time. Um, the zamboni was on when we got there, and of course I started singing, "I wanna drive the zamboni!" As I'm singing, the zamboni hit the boards... they needed a new zamboni driver, this one couldn't drive. So we got our skates, and of course I advised everyone on the sizes, and of course they didn't have my size. I said 5 and a half, which is what I am, a half of size up, and I'd be wearing senior skates, and be paying 200 more dollars for them. They didn't have half sizes, so I got a six. They fit, a little big, but no big deal. I put them on, they didn't tie, just three straps, fixed my hat, and went onto the ice.

I went around a few times, no problem. It felt awesome to be on the ice! I did my whole Maximus thing, I put my hand on the ice, and then wipe my hands a few times. I don't sniff my hand, like he sniffs the dirt, I find no reason to do that, but I did my thing. I caught up with Monica and the other girls, and then went off again. I was skating by myself... all smiles, and I hit the ice. I fell. HARD! Of course, I got up before most people realized I had fallen, but I still fell. I went over to the boards to see why, I was thinking that maybe something was on my skates, and yes there was. It's called a toepick. My blades were figure skater blades! WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I'm not a figure skater, I need real hockey blades! After some experimenting (which really hurt) every time I took a stride, I went ouch. Hockey skates do not have toepicks, and the way I skate, I drag my toe when I stride, and yep I either fell or came very close to falling. NOT FUN!

No one else fell because they didn't know any better. Mitch and Patrick didn't have toepicks. Mitch almost did, but he got his skates bigger than usual just to avoid the toepicks. I was so mad! I had to skate like a beginner so I wouldn't fall, but still I almost fell a few times just skating with Monica. No offense Monica when you read this, but I like speed! That's why I play hockey, and everyone's pace was too slow for me. Of course every time I did almost fall I had to announce it to everyone. I would yell TOEPICK! Just like that movie with Jessica Biel, and the plot is a former hockey player is now a figure skater but he can't skate for a half the movie because of the toe pick, and every time he falls, Jessica Biel's character skates up to him and says, "Toepick." Yep that was me. Though I believe that guy wore a DeadWing jersey, which you would never catch me dead in!

So yeah I couldn't skate. The ice wasn't bad, I mean I fell in every puddle at least once, it was warm out so the ice was frozen, but somewhat melting. England is killing my love for hockey. I swear, I'm going back to the States and going right to a hockey rink! I did have fun, I mean I was on the ice. But I fell so many times, and it hurt. I have huge bruises on my elbows, knees and um I fell face first, and I did this at least 5 times, so yeah I'm just in pain. The last time it was my right skate that made me fall and I twisted and landed on my right shoulder. That one hurt. The other times, it was my left foot, because I drag that one... I've never really thought about how I skate. I ended up skating backwards for like 20 minutes because that was safe, but with so many people who can't skate it's not good to go backwards. Especially when I was going backwards and this guy grabbed my arm because he was falling. Great, just bring me down with you. I planted my feet on the ice though, bent my knees and prayed to the hockey gods. I kept him and me on our feet! Stupid idiot though, I would never try and grab onto someone if I was falling, just take the fall.

I doubt I will try another one of these rinks, unless I go there and demand to see the skates. It was funny cause the others were complaining that their feet hurt, and I didn't even notice it for awhile because I'm so use to it. That's kinda sad actually.

So it was a good day but it also was horrible. After we skated Monica and I walked around Hampton Court Palace, well the outside. It was beautiful, but I was cold and limping so we only were there for like an hour and then we walked home.

Hey, without injuries life isn't as exciting. I'll just keep telling myself that until all my bruises go away.

Oh P.S... big anniversary for me... between the days of 2 Dec- 5 Dec... it marks my 11th year of being an Avalanche fan! 11 years ago Patrick Roy left the Montreal Canadians, joined the Avalanche and I went with him. And I've never looked back.

Seeing all of London on foot

Hey
So let me tell you about Saturday. Oh Saturday. I had plans of reading all day, and doing nothing, well other than waking up at 10:30am and going to the gym. But my alarm went off 15 minutes early, which really confused me, so I picked up my phone and saw that I had a text message from Jenn. Wow! I read it, and it basically said that she and Arthur were going into London, would I care to join them? Is the Pope a Catholic? I called her back, and said of course I do, but I'll skip the Tower of London since my Mom is taking me there and call me when you're done. So I got up, made myself breakfast and then found out that Mitch, Patrick and Kathleen were going into London.

Oh before I continue, I never introduced Patrick and Mitch. Nice guys, they are studying abroad in France, and they go to school with Kathleen. I guess Kathleen and Patrick don't know each other, well they do now, but they didn't before. So they came on Friday, and we had a good time. Mitch played hockey for about 5 years, and Patrick saw Peter the Great on a plane going to Sweden. JEALOUS!

So back to story, so I joined them in going to London, but they wanted to get food from Sainsburys, so I said I would join them down there, I needed a few more minutes to get ready. I went down there and couldn't find them of course. I was standing by the door, and I heard it... Hans Zimmer. My ears shot up like Sam's and I went in search of the music. Well it was just coming from basically right outside, and there was a band attempting to play Pirates music. I say attempting because of course I started humming along and there would be a pause in the music where I know there isn't. They weren't bad though, but it could have been a lot better. But I'm standing outside, and the others come up to me, they went to the German market first. Okay cool. So they get food, and then we went off to London. The train ride in was funny, Patrick and Mitch had too much strawberry milk and it was not sitting well with them, but for the most part it was a quiet ride in.

We went to the National Gallery AGAIN! All of Kathleen's friends want to go there... not sure why. I hate art, but I went in, and we all separated basically as soon as we got there. Kathleen and I stayed together, and we went from room to room. At one painting, it was about Odysseus and his crew fighting the Cyclops... yep didn't see the Cyclops. Apollo was in his chariot in the sky, yep didn't really see that. I saw Odysseus's boat. That's about it. It was so sad, we almost set off the alarm we were so close just trying to see something! Oh well. We did stop at one of the tours, this guy was really good. He was talking about a painting that had three goddess, and Paris, and Paris is choosing who is the most beautiful. So the tour guy talked about each woman, and how they know who each one is, and then he got to Paris, said his name, and was like, "Now I know what you are all thinking... it's not the city Paris." Um actually I was thinking of Paris... Orlando Bloom... Hector's brother. I never think of the city, but always of the coward from The Iliad. But he so interesting, but I didn't see half the things he was talking about. Oh well, some people aren't made to enjoy and see art.

So we walked around more, and then met up with Mitch. They went down to see Monet, but I lost service on my phone half way down, so I backed out. I was waiting for a call from Jenn. I went outside, and just stared out at Trafalgar Square, the ultimate symbol of London to me. You got Nelson's column, other statues of generals, the lions, Big Ben in the distance and then a lot of people. I dunno know, I could stand on the steps of the National Gallery forever and just people watch there. To me London is not Buckingham Palace, but Trafalgar Square. It's just nice.

So I got the call, and I said I would meet them at Tower Hill. I jumped on the Underground, well somewhat, and made my way there. I'm quite proud of myself, before I came to London I couldn't make heads or tails of any Underground system. I could to to South Station via the Commuter Rail, but I always nervous about taking the T. Of course I've only been on it like 5 times in my life, but now I'm an expert at the Underground. I still hold my map close to me, but just for the best possible ways, I know what line to take for different places. So I got to Tower Hill, I'm going down some stairs, I look to my left and there is the Roman wall with a statue of Trajan in front of it. WHAT? I didn't see that before. I must have looked at the other side of the wall. So I stared for a few seconds, and kept going. I found Jenn and Arthur and our day began. Um I also saw the rink at Tower of London.. it's okay. It's in a moat.

We went to the British Museum and spent a while in the Medieval and later periods. It was awesome, I had never been in those parts before. We did walk through the Greek and Rome sections, and I saw a half a of head of Julius Caesar. I didn't see that last time... and I showed them my favorite Emperor... oh Marcus Aurelius. But we continued on and the Medieval stuff was so interesting. I think we were in the 18th century stuff, and there was a big display of jewelry. Of course I wasn't looking at that, but Jenn came over and asked what I wanted, and I pointed to the sword next to the jewelry. Hehe. Sword cooler. So we were in the Life and Death section, and they had a display of all the pills some woman took in her life. WOW... it was huge! Kinda disgusting actually, who thinks about all the pills they take, but they had this display.

So after the British Museum we went to Pic Circus, my idea because I wanted to see more of it. Last time we went right to Chinatown... er street. It was so crowded! We tried to walk one way, and yeah it wasn't happening. No one was moving, so we walked down the other way for like 10 minutes, turned around, came back, and then walked to Leicester Square where we got food. We went to an Italian place... hey they let me pick. Of course Arthur is going on about Domino's so now I'm hungry for pizza, so we went to an Italian restaurant that was more of a fancy pizza place. It was good though. I had to cut my pizza again, it takes half the fun out of eating pizza, and if you pick it up you should just put a big sign on your head that says American. Oh well. This area we were in, Jenn remembered it from her last visit, from when she was like 16 years old, and some things are no longer there, and she felt old. Hehehe. Arthur laughed at her for that. So then we walked to Trafalgar Square, and here is where things get weird. They kept making me choose where to go, but down by the Thames I've been there a hundred times, so first we went to the Thames, and then Buckingham Palace, and then Hyde Park. We would get to one place and be like, 'Okay well where now?' So we could have gone from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham, because it's down the street, but no. We walked soooo much, and then we walked halfway through Hyde Park to the bridge, and then found the nearest Underground Station which was not close. Our legs KILLED! I was dragging my feet. We had a good time though, we talked a lot, laughed a lot, and walked a lot.

Never again am I walking that much. I felt like Jack from Miracle, when he gets asked, "How's your legs" and he replies, "I'll let you know when I can feel them."

After Hyde Park we went our separate ways on the Underground, I went to Wimbledon and then got on the train home to Hampton Wick. I got here, got some tea and collapsed on my bed. The girls, Mitch and Patrick were going out, but I would not have been able to get up. My legs hurt that much. But it was fun, awesome to see them again.

So next post... the day I skated aka the day I made a complete fool out of myself. Stay tuned.