Bringing everything up to date

Hey, so before I depart to Norway tomorrow night, I figured I should probably bring my blog up to date. It's been a good time full of The Mighty Boosh, 300, Fridays, Bowling, and yes Dolly Parton. Um that covers a wide range. So let's begin.

First last Sunday, I got dragged to the Dolly Parton. But then it was free tickets, so not sure how I was actually dragged... um. Anyway, when Kathleen got back to the Bridge House after being shipped home in January by her parents (I wouldn't have gotten on the plane if I was shipped home but hey), Amaya and I gave her a little welcome home party, and she had a surprise of her own. Someone her father works with has connections to Dolly Parton, or Wembley... probably Dolly Parton, and she got us free tickets. There was 5, so Kathleen wanted me, Amaya, Jenna, and Danielle to come with her. Jenna and I being New England girls kinda looked at each other, thought about it for a moment and thought what the heck. We both don't do country. Anyway, so the show was this past Sunday. I spent the day with Elyse, and Mat, her brother who was visiting. I promised to have a drink with them, but I had to back out of that when I suddenly got popular. So I went into London with them, and acted tour guide. For some reason, Elyse had trouble getting from Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square the previous day. Um I still cannot figure that one out. She kept looking for the guy on the stick, and kept finding the wrong one. She means Nelson, and instead kept finding the statue across from St. James Park, the dude of umm Marlborough/York/Buckingham?? He's the duke of something. So she was right there, but didn't know it. Sigh, oh Elyse.
So I brought Mat around, we did the usual: 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Horse Guard Academy, and yeah that's it. We had a good day, took a walk in St. James Park which is always sooo beautiful. It was fun hanging out with them, this time Mat called me 'teacup'. LOL. He knows my real nickname, but usually calls me another kitchen utensil every time he sees me. It's so funny.

So I left them at Trafalgar Square, and jumped on the Underground to Wembley which is on the Julibee, Metropolitan and Bakerloo lines. I was on the Bakerloo, and I kept thinking I should probably change to the Julibee line. Not sure why I thought that, but I should always trust my instinct. The Bakerloo line was being worked starting a few stops away from Wembley... yeah I don't read signs. I suppose there was one at the station. So now I'm in Queen's Park, up north a little bit. I really don't know that area too well, but I grabbed a bus to Finchley, and then went on the Julibee line to Wembley. I thought the show started at 7pm, that is what Kathleen told me, but yeah it started at 8pm, and I had 15 minutes to spare before the show! So Dolly Parton.. she doesn't look bad for 61, but yeah she does look a little fake. Dolly went a little techno at the beginning, big light show thing, and then switches to classical with a fiddler, and then she rose from the ground. I saw that one coming.

I guess she sang all her greats, I had a few songs on my MP3 Player to prepare, and the songs I have on it, she sang so I knew a few of them. She talked a lot about her family, and growing up in the south. It was interesting, that's usually how she opened up a song. She does put on a very good show, and her songs aren't that bad. Not that I'm going to convert to country though, I like my Shinedown, Sparks, Tool, Disturbed, and Taproot. And of course my soundtracks. It was an enjoyable evening though. I'm glad I went. Jenna had a good time too, though no one had a better time than Danielle. She goes to uni in the south, and cried during "Thank God I'm A Country Girl." Oh Danielle. Kathleen was going nuts too, right in my ear. Oh well. It was fun.

Monday evening, Danielle and I went into London, because we paid 30 quid for those Equus tickets, and we wanted autographs. So we went in early to go to Camden Town, of course we got there around the time it was closing, but we did look around, and were tempted to buy a few things. As we were walking around though, Jason texted Danielle, and asked what she was doing. They exchanged a few texts, and it ended with "I'll meet you in London." Jason was in Surbiton, but okay. So we went back down to central, and met him at Trafalgar Square. We got some dinner, and sat there for hours. Danielle and I didn't need to be at the theatre until about 9:30, and when we started eating it was around 7pm. So we had a good time just sitting, talking and eating. I convinced everyone to get desert... yummy.

So we wrapped up dinner, and Jason left. He did have a paper to write, though he had been avoiding it all day. Danielle and I, well I played on the lions in Trafalgar Square up to the time when we left to go to the theatre.

So here is the worst thing about Equus... the fans. I love Equus, I think it's a great play, I'm so glad I saw it, but then I'm also like, okay I'm in England, I need Harry Potter's autograph. But I would probably want the leading actor's autograph anyway just to put the icing on the cake of this experience of seeing Equus. I really loved it that much. So we get to the stage door, and there are already a few people waiting. Ummm. They are all men too, older men. I get so freaked out by this. They are the ones who call Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter. So there was this guy from Denmark there... um someone paid for his ticket to England just to get Daniel's autograph. He has seen this play a few times, and always gone to the stage door. The stage hands KNOW him. It's creepy. He's stalking the Harry Potter actors, he met Emma Watson a few years ago. Stalker. I do feel bad for Daniel Radcliffe. Oh side note, I told Daniel Radcliffe that he was brilliant in the play too. I had to, cause he was. He said thank you.

On the upside, we met two American girls from California. They were just in England for spring vacation, saw the play on Saturday, but couldn't get near the door to get his autograph, and some woman who works there told them to come back tonight. So the Americans formed a team, and we all got autographs. Danielle and I were in front, and we got autographs and backed out of the way. We had it all planned. It was great. So finally got his autograph, very exciting.

So now I would like to discuss a new British comedy that Jenna has brought into our lives. THE MIGHTY BOOSH! Ummmm The Mighty Boosh cannot be described, it needs to be viewed, or listened to. Go to youtube and watch it. It's amazing. They have a TV Series, and I guess they are filming Season 3 now. So exciting. But it's these two guys who work at a zoo, but apparently in season 2 they leave the zoo. Wow. Kathleen got The Mighty Boosh Live, and yeah we watched it and all died laughing. I haven't seen as much as I would like, but right now I'm downloading sound clips to put on my MP3 Player for Norway.

Let's see what else... oh yeah I saw 300. UM BRILLIANT! Love it. Need it. Will be buying that when it comes out on DVD. I will be watching parts of that film before hockey. It was just so good. David Wenham is in it, he's Faramir in LoTR. He does a voice over through most of it, since right before the final battle, the King tells him to go back and tell their story. That even though he's one of his best, he has the gift of speech, and he wants this story told. I felt so bad for him, he just wanted to fight and die. One of the best lines of the film though, the King asks how Faramir is, and yeah he lost an eye. Faramir says, "It's only a scratch. Lucky for me the gods gifted me with a spare." LOL! It's just a flesh wound. I saw it with Jenna and Danielle. But at the beginning, I heard his voice, and got really excited. He then comes on the screen, and even though he has a piece of cloth around his head to cover the missing eye, I knew it was him. Jenna leans over a little and says, "It's Faramir." I looked at her, and was like, thank you, I knew that as soon as I heard his voice. Lol, poor Jenna is just learning how obsessed I am with David Wenham.

After 300 we went to Fridays for food. Love the 50% discount we get because Danielle works there. Sooo yummy. Amaya and Kathleen joined us for that, so yeah party. Love it. After that we went back and watched the Mighty Boosh, before I went bowling with Elyse and her friends. It was Elyse and Emma's bday party. Emma is only 20, and Elyse is 21. I got Elyse chocolate and Driving Lessons, the movie with Rupert Grint and Julie Waters. It's a cute movie, and I think she will enjoy it. That's the movie with one of my favorite lines, when Julie Water's character has the bottle, has glass of wine in her hand at like 9am, and she's camping, and she goes up to a few kids, and says, "I'm Evie, and I've come camping!" LOL! Love it. Kathleen and I saw it over Christmas break on TV.

And that is my life up until today. I'm sitting in the Natural Cafe right now just downloading Dane Cook, The Mighty Boosh, and 300. Kathleen is sitting across from me laughing soooo hard. She's watching the Mighty Boosh, and laughing way too loud! Haha, love her. Well until I get back from Norway!

Thorpe Park

(STEALTH)

Hey, so on Saturday we being Amaya, Kathleen, Jenna and myself went to Thorpe Park in Staines, Surrey. It's about 50 minutes from me. Seriously we were there a little after 9:30am, when it opened. I was very patient on the bus ride, and even until we got off the bus, but as soon as I saw the entrance, I was jumpy, excited, and yeah 10 years old. So we entered the park, and went right for "No Way Out" It looked like a cool ride, it was all inside too. It looked cool, once you walked the 10 miles to it. The ride was all backwards, but it stopped like every 20 seconds. If it didn't stop, I would have liked it a lot more. Of course I was laughing hysterically, and I apologized before the ride, but I didn't go on it again. I thought it was going to be like Space Mountain, and yeah no. Oh well.

I'm not going to be able to tell you ride to ride what we did, but we went on Colossus I think next, which is a cool ride. We got in the line to go in the front... woohoo. I love being up front for rides. This ride has the most loops... 10 of them. It was amazing. It ends with the loops, and I was screaming and laughing, and it was such a good time. It was awesome to have people with me that love roller coasters. The Inferno was sweet too, our legs hung down, and we went in every direction. Love it. Samurai was good, it went upside down a lot. That was like the theme of the day.

So of course since we are doing all these roller coasters, we had lunch at Pizza Hut, the all day buffet. Hahaha. Yummy. It was good, expensive but good. So what did we do right after pizza???? STEALTH! It's this ride that wasn't opened when we first went, but they opened it, and yeah AMAZING! You go from 0-80mph in 2.3 seconds, then straight up really, really high, do a little half twist, slow down, and then drop. AMAZING! We walked by it to see when it would open, and yeah it was opened. We ran for it. The line was suppose to be 25 minutes, so we thought we were good, give our food time to digest a little... um no, like 10 minutes later we were getting on. I made a video for Mom knowing how much she loves roller coasters, and really high rides. It was just amazing. I didn't even laugh, I couldn't. I was way too busy screaming. They do take your picture when you are going from 0-80, and the first time I pretended to be asleep. HAHA! I'm good at doing stuff like that after Disney. We went on Stealth three times though, it was so awesome. It's over so quickly, but you go SO high up. It's 205 feet up!!! WOOHOO!

We also went on the Vortex, which was cool. Kathleen and Jenna didn't want to go on that ride the first time around, so Amaya and I did. Amazing. It's a big swing, that goes upside down. Way too much fun on that too. Zodiac... ummm no good. You are in a cage, and the cage has a seat belt, and you don't. And you are with someone, but there are no seats, well just one long. So Amaya and I went on it, not aware of this, and you have to double up. So we got in one, I was in the back, and I grabbed hold of her jacket when the ride started, because we were going upside down, and we didn't have seat belts. I was holding onto the bars for dear life, and holding onto Amaya to make her feel more safe. Um not good.

Of course we went on some fun, but not exciting rides. Um the Flying Fish is a roller coaster, that would amuse a 3 year old. We went on though, and we laughed through the whole thing. We just liked the name. The slower the ride is though, the longer you are on it, this ride went around 3 times! I wish the Stealth would do that! Um we also went on somewhat of a water ride... you are in a floaty thing, and you go down a big slide... yeah I won! 4 people go at once... I beat everyone! Hahaha! We also went on the Merry Go Round (I rode Nugget), the Banana Ride, Quantum (use to be my favorite ride, it's a big swing one), the teacups and yeah that's about it. The teacups were cool, we had that thing twirling so fast. Kathleen got a cramp in her arm, and a few times, I just grabbed the wheel, and turned it myself, and yeah we went flying. It was awesome. We went on every ride at least twice. It was cold though, and I wasn't completely dressed for cold. I was dressed for like 10 Celsius, it was like 5. Er. And I'm just getting over a cold, so yeah did not help it at all that day. Actually when we went, it was at it's peak, so I really didn't help it along. Oh well. It was a fun day!

Ireland Day 3

Ireland Day 3 came a little early. Well 8ish, since we all were taking showers. Jenna being the lazy one she is, let me take the first shower so she could get more sleep. HA, I got her for that. Once I was dressed and ready to go, I fell back on my air mattress and got another hour of sleep. hehe.

But that day we were going to Cashel, since the previous night we found out that you need a car to go to the southern most point where there are some cool cliffs. Oh well. Cashel though is on the way to Dublin, and has a cool castle. Now I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I was lied to. Uk.weather.com lied to me. It said as I was packing that Cork was suppose to be around 11-14 Celcius. So I packed for that kind of weather, tee-shirts, a pair of shorts, a long sleeve shirt, and a little sweatshirt for nights. I didn't check a bag, so I just had a backpack. Um. IT WAS FREEZING! Argh! I almost bought a sweatshirt, but then I just decided to suck it up, I basically live in a hockey rink, I should be able to take it.

Anyway, before we caught the bus to Cashel, which was noon I believe, we got breakfast... it was so good. I got a waffle, and tea. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, but I love Barry's Tea. It's sooooooooo good. Jenna and I both bought some, and we are going to trade a few, she has the green box, and I have red. So that was awesome, and then we caught the bus which takes an hour and a half. I adore bus rides in Ireland, it's so green, wonderful, beautiful... just amazing. I don't think I slept on the way, I was way too excited about the bus ride. We talked a lot on the bus, Tara told us how her house doesn't have a number, it's like the White House on such and such street. LOL! Jenna couldn't get over that.

So Cashel is nice, we went right up to the castle. We got food before boarding the bus, I got a healthy assortment of stuff. Bread, a donut, and a cookie. Loved all three. The donut was a lot like Dunkies... sooo good. But Cashel is a nice, little Irish town with a castle at the top. It belonged to the Church so it has a church inside of it, and then a smaller chapel. Of course it's all ruins now, and a graveyard. When we got there, we watched a short movie about Cashel, we really didn't know too much about it.

There are stories about St. Patrick going to Cashel, and by accident putting his staff right on a king's foot. Opps. But the king was getting baptized, and he thought it was part of the ordeal, so he didn't say anything. The other people who were getting baptized, were a little wary of going through the process. Hahah.

We tried to stay indoors as much as possible, or at least have walls around us, the wind and the cold were horrible. The main part of the castle has no roof... er. Cold. But after we walked around, and observed everything we tagged along on the tour, and found out a few interesting things. It was quite a time.

After the castle, we got some tea at a cafe right next to the bus stop. We had an hour to kill, and I would have liked to walk around Cashel a little bit more, but it was cold, and of course I hear the word tea and I come running. There I got a piece of cake... omg, so good. As Beth says, I am on a European tour of chocolate cake. LOL. What can I say, I'm a Fontbonne girl. I live for chocolate cake.

So we caught the bus back, and dinner was waiting for us at Elle's. Awesome. It was chicken, spicy sauce that included peppers and sweet potatoes. I ate the chicken and the sweet potatoes. It was good, kinda too spicy for me, but good. I am just so proud of myself for what I have been eating. I branched out. Round of applause please.

So we had a going away party for us, and two birthdays (Tara and Elle), so yeah quite a night. We went to the Brog, where I met Steph Rat. It was good to see her again, we sat and talked for awhile. She says she might come to London in May, at the beginning of the month. SWEET! We ended up at a club that night, which was fun. I really like Elle's friends.

Overall the trip was so fun. Just amazing. Cork is really beautiful. I would go back to Ireland in a second.

Equus

Alright so sorry to interrupt Ireland, but I had to write about last night. We, being Kathleen, Jenna, Danielle and I saw Equus starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. I found out about this play last year, and I told Monica that we should see it, and she then told me about it was about, so I backed away. Blinding horses are not my thing. But about a month ago, Jenna skyped me and asked if I wanted to see it. I thought about it more, and talked with Kathleen, Amaya and Danielle about it, and I did get talked into it.

I AM SO GLAD I DID!

I'm not big on plays, actually it's probably musicals I'm not a big fan of, because if you think about it a play is just like a movie. Me and movies get along great. I think the best way to describe my reaction, and what I thought about the play is to think back to Finding Neverland, when Peter is watching Peter Pan, and he is just so transfixed. He doesn't blink at all. I was like that, except my shoulders kept twitching because I was getting chills up my back. For those who don't know, Equus is a play about horses, and a 17 year old boy, who blinds 6 horses in one night. The whole play centres on this action, and Richard Griffiths character, who is a psychiatrist, trying to figure out why. It is so well written, and Richard Griffiths is funny, Daniel Radcliffe plays the angry teenager very well, giving me high hopes for the end of the 5th HP movie. Actually all of it, because that is all Harry does in Book 5.

But right before intermission there is a scene when Alan Strang is showing the psychiatrist what he does with Nugget the horse when he rides him at midnight, and it is a little creepy, involving some religion, and he's pretending to ride this horse, and just yelling these lines, and the only thing that I could think of, because I was focused in on this scene was, "He can act.. it's a miracle." It's so far from Harry Potter, he swears, he smokes, he yells.. it's all so amazing. Through a lot of the play he sits on stage on a bus, and there is a light on him, and his shadow has bars over it, like he's sitting on a windowsill in his little room, and not even there. There is so much attention to the little details, it was all so amazing.

Of course everyone is in an uproar because the end scene he's in his birthday suit, and it's the scene where he blinds the horses. The way he does it, reminds me of Achilles in Troy, when at the beginning, he does that running jump, and kills the other warrior, yeah that Daniel Radcliffe running around blinding six horses. But it's not that big of a deal, but everyone is so concerned cause he's Harry Potter. I did think it's amusing when parents let their little kids go to this to see Harry Potter. He's not.

I enjoyed it so much though, I was blown away. The other girls liked it, but not as much as I did. They didn't think Daniel Radcliffe did as good as a job as I thought. Richard Griffiths stole the show yes, but he held his own, he did a really good job. He's 17, and he's doing this play every night, and it's a hard part to play. I would recommend it to anyone, it was just so amazing.

After the show we went to the stage door. We all want Harry Potter's autograph. I mean how cool. Well Jenna got the autograph, I got the pictures. It was only Jenna that got an autograph too, so Kathleen and I are going back. Too much money was paid to see this play and not come away with his autograph, and Richard Griffiths. I got completely mobbed though. I was in such a good spot, I had my camera in one hand, my ticket in the other, and when he reached where I was only my arm could be send. I was under everyone, and I almost got knocked to the ground. I was not very happy at all.

But here are the pictures.

Ireland Day 1 and 2

So here we go. Ireland. Let me give you background on this trip first of all. It all started when we got an e-mail from Jen saying that the Dublin trip was back on, it was an organized trip through some company. Those going would be staying in a sweet bed and breakfast place, and it would be from like Tuesday to Sunday. We were getting ready to watch Lost when we first started talking about it, so since it was Lost that means it was Jenna, Amaya, Kathleen and myself who were planning on going. We were really excited until we saw the price. 300 pounds... aka 600 dollars. Yeah right. So then we thought, we can do it on our own. Ticket prices for airfare weren't bad, and Jenna had some connections in Dublin. Not good ones, I think it was her sister's husband is from Dublin, so they have friends, and we might have been able to stay with them... it wasn't good for 5 people. But the best airline tickets were to get there on St. Patrick's Day and leave Tuesday I believe. We also changed the location, we decided to go to Cork where we had connections and didn't have to pay for a hostel. But then Jenna and I were talking on skype a few days later though, and she admitted to me that she really did not want to miss her Monday classes, and she had missed too many already because of mix ups. I said that I would rather not miss my whole week of classes either, but I was willing to do what the group wanted. We both started looking for alternate plans, and we found that if we went Wednesday the 14 March, and left St. Patricks Day, that would be like 100 dollars. I proposed this idea to the girls, and they didn't like the idea as much, because they would be skipping their classes. It was okay for Jenna and I to skip ours, but they couldn't skip theirs... great. But Jenna and I talked about it, and we decided if no one wanted to go with us fine, we would go ourselves.

So we talked to our friends, and we decided to stay with Tara, who is Irish. Her friend Elle was willing to put us up, she has a house right outside of Cork. Sweet deal. So we went with it. I have never done anything more than a day trip with Jenna, so I was really looking forward to this. Jenna travels to see places, just like I do, and not go to shopping malls, or just hang out in pubs.

So I was really looking forward to this. We left Wednesday morning, our plane was at 12:55pm, and we got to Cork at like 2pm. Yeah it's called air rage. It was suppose to get in closer to 3pm. From the airport, we took a bus to the bus station where Tara was meeting us. She was running late, well we were running early, and it took her a while to get to us, because the Cork bus system is always late. It's kinda silly. But Tara came, and we walked to Elle's where we were staying. Elle has a sweet place, she shares it with a few girls, who are all really nice. Elle won me over in about two seconds though, well other than giving me a free room for a few nights... she offered us tea. Actually first of all, we get there, and Elle and Pamela are watching HOLLYOAKS! AHHHH! So exciting. I started watching thinking it was a new one, but this channel is about a month behind, Justin was just confessing to lying in court about his relationship with Becky who is in jail, and Amy has not had her kid yet! The power I felt over everyone... I know the future of Hollyoaks.

Anyway, so Elle offers us tea... Jenna and I were all smiles. I love Barry's tea, it's amazing. Jenna and I were in heaven. I bought two big boxes of it, but I think I might be able to get it in Waitrose. Whatever. So then they are talking about dinner, and ordering a pizza. So Irish. They do, Jenna and I both like just cheese, but when it came um it was the house special. I still do not know some of what was on it... but guess what??? I ATE IT! I ate most of the peppers, and the chicken, ham, and that thing I still do not know what it was. I didn't eat the pepperoni, I've tried it before, and I really do not like it. But the majority of it I ate. I know, go me.

So after pizza, Elle and Tara decided it was time to show off their new friends. We went down to a pub, Tom Barry's, which is the pub that Cillian Murphy loves to go to when he is in Cork. It was a sweet place. It is also a beer garden, so of course we sat outside, but under the heaters. Elle, Tara, Jenna and I talked about everything, just really getting to know each other. I can not say enough about Tara and Elle, they were amazing, wonderful hosts. I think Tara is coming to NY in July, and if so I might have to get there to see her, and buy a round or two for her, because she deserves it. She was our tour guide for the time we were there. So we had a drink there, and then went down to another bar, where some of their friends were. Their friends... amazing. My favorites were Tom and Salt. Yes that is her name... Salt. I wanted to ask if she had a relative named Pepper, but I resisted. Tom is so funny, and very ummm well let's just say he likes anything with sparkles, butterflies, or pink. But he's not gay, his girl friend is Salt. He's awesome, he has a very accent... ohhh. Love the Irish accent. So we hung out with them, and a few others, but it was so cool. Amazing night.

So the next day, we got up around 8ish, I think... maybe 9. We were going to Blarney Castle though. The night before everyone told us not to kiss the Stone, so of course we listened to them. Blarney is about 25 minutes outside of Cork. So we planned to take I think the 11am bus there, and of course we were basically running. We tried to take a bus down there, but of course it never came, so we walked which takes a half an hour. We made it thankfully, and even had 20 minutes to spare, because that is when the bus decided to show up. The ride was nice, I took some pictures. Ireland is so green and beautiful. It reminds me a little of the ride to Oxford, a lot of country, but ten times more beautiful. When we got to Blarney the first thing we did was eat. We quickly went into the first pub there, and that was a bad idea. We got basically no food for what we paid. Er. I got a BLT, and it came with 3 fries and a piece of lettuce and a cucumber. Okay that's an exaggeration, but not much of one. And service took forever. But the food was good, just I needed much more. Oh well.

So after that we went up to the castle. SO BEAUTIFUL! Love it. The castle itself was nice, we went up to the top but stopped at every door along the way and explored. I heard someone say, "Why are they getting off the stairs?" I wondered that too, but I was glad we did. We saw a lot of er empty rooms, but it was just cool. We went into the family room, the young ladies bedroom, and probably the bathroom. hahah. It was all good. The staircase was so small, and narrow. I took a video as we walked up, it's so funny. Some many people were afraid to go up the stairs, the first part of the trip took forever. But we did a lot of exploring, so we lost the scared people, and when we finished our trek we were the only ones on the stairs. At the top though, we watched everyone kiss the Blarney Stone. We went through the motions, and the picture taken of me looks convincing, but no way. I did not kiss it. Of course the next day, we met this kid Tom who said he has kissed it like three times and he is fine, and he's from Blarney, but I dunno know. I still stick with my decision not to kiss it. It was so nice up there though, looking out at the countryside and at Blarney. Amazing countryside.

The best part of the castle was the grounds though. I felt, and Jenna agreed that I was in some Disney movie. I mean I was in some mystical forest, that easily could have been a Disney ride. There was the druid's cave, the witch's kitchen, the wishing steps... that's just so magical, wonderful, and amazing. We had a good time wandering around. Our favorite of course was the sacrificial alter, we took turns killing each other. I got to kill first. It was great being with Jenna and Tara, both are so amazing. By the druid's cave there was a bird who would not stop making noise. It was so funny, maybe we were intruding on it's home. Dunno know.

After the castle, we went back to Cork, and spent a lot of time just walking around. We went past the Cathedral, and Courtney's Avenue. I have an Avenue... who knew! It's off of Roman Street. Weird. We saw the Butter Museum, another church that we were suppose to climb to the top of, but they are working on so we couldn't. Sad. Cillian Murphy climbed to the top of it in an early movie that he was in, so that why Jenna knew about it, and wanted to do it. hahah.

For dinner though, we went to Wagamama's, which is a Japanese restaurant. Wags is in England too, the girls love it. I have never been, so we went because Elle works there. Jenna told me that I can get something simple so I was all for it. Wags is so GOOD! Maybe one day I'll explore more but I basically got chicken noodle soup, it was ramon with chicken. Good stuff. And we got a big discount so yeahhh!! I love discounts.

That night was a quiet one, we saw Tara's place, watched some Irish comedies, and had pancakes. I fell asleep during the last comedian, I was just so tired, but I was awake for pancakes. They were Irish/English pancakes, so more like crepes. I find them kinda disgusting, I like things cooked a little more, but these were good. We had them with sugar, and I was on a sugar rush! Jenna was amused. We had an argument though about what kind of pancake is better. American wins hands down. I mean maple syrup... how can that not win! Ohhh man, I have to make pancakes soon, now I'm hungry for it. I have some too, got it in Ely last time I went. Tara and one of her room mates were arguing that Irish pancakes win, but noooooo, I've had both, I'm being fair, and I gotta say nothing beats an American pancake. So fluffy, with maple syrup on it, and a large glass of milk... it's to die for!

So yeah that was Day 1 and 2 in Ireland. I'll post the rest later.

Football... I officially hate it

(The evidence)


Hey, so I thought I better post before I go to Ireland, and get behind on my blog. This post is about Sunday, my homework day. I had plans to do my paper, read two novels, and pass out right after dinner. Well instead I played football. And so parents do not worry, I read the two novels (basically), and I turned in my paper today (two days early), so I made up for messing around on Sunday. Go me.

Amaya called me, they were across the street in the park, and the boys were playing, and they wanted me to join them. I couldn't turn it down, I'm still 10 years old, I love to run, jump, and play. So I dressed quickly, and went outside. After a little bit, I got in the game... well actually it was just a 5 on 1. They took shots at me, because the only way I was playing was if I was goalie. I cannot kick a ball. I'm the kid, when practice is over, or the coach decides to bring out the soccer ball, so we can practice using our feet, who falls flat on their face. And I can't kick on grass either, it really doesn't go too far. So they took shots on me, and Martin took the first shot, and he basically rolled it to me. I threw it back to him, and say that I was insulted by that. So he kicked it again, and I caught it. They shot maybe 8 or 9 times before they got a goal in... woohoo. Now when I say the boys I mean Martin, Baz (Bzzz), Nye (like the Science guy), DiPack, and Tony. I thought at first that Martin and Nye were pretty good, but um yeah they were like beginners when the big group showed up. They made me look too good. Oh well. So after shooting for awhile, we were joined by some boys aka lads, and they played half field. I did pretty well again, and then the big group came, and we played full field, and yeah I got kicked. Nye was a defensemen, my defenseman, AND I NEVER SAW HIM! Sooo many times the ball would change hands, and all a sudden four red shirts would come down on me, with no one in front of them. Oh boy. I saved it a few times, but I got overpowered, or I would play the ball, and the net is sooo big that they would pass it over, and yeah no hope.

I did make some really nice saves, my arm went numb for a little bit after I caught one ball... haha, but I also let in some stupid ones. I got a little mad at myself for that, but I did redeem myself. I think only ball went in that was at a catchable height. I raced back and forth between the posts catching everything that was shot up high, or at least getting a piece of it, and tipping it over the net. Best of all though, I was congratulated many times by the boys, all of them, they said I had good hands and eyes. I said it was all hockey. I had Nye, when he showed up near the net, to kick the ball for me. I tried to kick it a few times, and ended up giving it to the other team. Er. Some of the boys made fun of me because I could not kick it, but I threatened to beat them up, and I said that I play hockey, not football, and I would welcome the opportunity to kick them around the ice arena.

My two last saves were very impressive, I must say. First for some reason there was two of them in front of me, and this kid on the left hit it REALLY hard at me, and it hit my leg, bounced off, and went to the other kid, who shot it, and I caught it. The first kid apologized for hitting it so hard. After that though, I was done. My cheerleaders (Amaya, Kathleen, Cassie) were packing it in, and Martin, Nye, Baz and Tony were all tired and beat.

So I played for four hours. I did get a little bored by the end, as I always do with goalie. I just like being in all the action. But I can officially hate football now, because I've played it. I think it's one big mess, there are like 10 forwards and no defensemen... I guess there are suppose to be a few, but pick up football is stupid. The rules are stupid, corners are a waste of time, and you look stupid running up the field, doing a little waddle dance with a ball between your feet. At least with hockey, some skaters look graceful (Bobby Orr) as they skate the puck up the ice. But football is just weird. And I cannot move. Waist down everything kills. Er. Not happy. I haven't done that much running in awhile. OH there's another thing, the net is so HUGE, but they still miss it so often! I had to chase the ball SO many times. I kept asking if they would like the net enlarged for them.


Oh well. Tomorrow I go to Cork with Jenna. I'm wicked excited, I feel like I'm going home. I also get to see Steph Rattigan from Fontbonne, so that's cool. Jenna and I are leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday, so I get to celebrate St. Paddy's day in two cities... woohoo. Well til next time.

Jenna... I don't think we are in London anymore

So I thought I would include this pic. It's somewhat of the gang... But in front is Jenna and myself. Next row from left to right: Heather, Kathleen, Amaya, Jen, Alissa, Cassie and Jason. We were hanging at the Old Kings Head. All of us American. And I believe no one is from the same state, but not completely sure about Heather. States being represented: MASS, NY, Montana, Kansas, Virgina, Michigan, South Carolina. That's the students, Jen is from Mass/NY, but she hates Mass. ERR to her.


Alright so Jason, Jenna, Kathleen and I went to London today... Jason wanted cigars from the Pic, and Kathleen needed a British patch for her cool bag, that makes her look rugged and rough. Her words, not mine. So last night we were hanging out with Jenn, which is always a good time. First of all I just gotta say something about last night, hanging at the Old King's Head, which is across the street from the Bridge House, and Jenn was there with her best friend from Lancaster where she studied abroad. Alissa was there with Heather, who lives with Alissa, in the Bridge House, but I met for the first time last night. That was cool, and I was very amused that it was 10 to 1. 10 girls, and Jason. Gotta love it, he keeps trying to get Martin or Bas (bzzz) to go out with us, but they never do. Jenn was wearing a "M is for Massholes" shirt, and I told her I love the shirt, and then she started insulting Massholes. Excuse me? That's a compliment, and you cannot wear the shirt unless you love Massachusetts. We had a big argument about NY and Boston. It was annoying. So one little thing I forgot... Jenn is one of the study abroad officers, and cool as can be. She's like the social director. Love her to death.

So London today, we got there about 12:30ish, which was fun. We met up with Kathleen's friends, the girl's name is escaping me, but they were best friends in like the 2nd grade until Kathleen moved away. But they have seen each other since then, and are friends on facebook. Kathleen got this message the other day though from this girl saying, "I'm going to be in London, can we meet up?" So we did. This girl's friend Adam goes to school in London, so he was showing her around. We were going to the Hung, Drawn, and Quartered pub by the Monument... but yeah not big enough for our group. So we are walking down the street looking for a pub, and we go two blocks and we do not see a pub. Jason pointed this out, and I said to Jenna, "Jenna I don't think we are in London anymore!" We did see two Starbucks! Not cool. But then we passed the Monument, and there was a pub... woohoo. We went in, and we all got cheeseburgers, except for two people who got fish and chips. Ireland was playing Scotland in rugby... and yes Ireland won!!! They were losing when we left, but they pulled off the victory... YEAH IRELAND! But we had a good time eating and talking, we had a big discussion about who's state is the coolest... not sure who won. Kathleen's friend told the story about the guy who called 911, and thought he was calling Sweden.. I liked that one. Jason is from Detroit so he had a good few stories, and I brought up Whitey Bulger, the Boston Strangler, um the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Boston in general, Tom Brady, and so many others.

After we finished eating, we separated, and I got talked into climbing the Monument again. Jason and Jenna were all set to go, and then I mentioned you get a certificate when you climb down, so then Kathleen wanted to go. So we all climbed up, all 311 steps. It was so funny, we barely made it. They loved the view though, and I love how we were pointing out different buildings, and stuff. Last time I did this, I didn't know anything, but now I'm doing it with friends, and being like, "yeah that's that building, and there you can see that." It was cool.

So after the Monument, and getting our certificates, we went to see the statue by the Tower Bridge, on the other side. Kathleen said it was a boy and a dolphin, well it wasn't. It's def a girl. We had a few good laughs over that. While we were there, some stupid kids were throwing rocks into the fountain, it's a statue and fountain. We were all ready to hit them, they were just being really rude, and it was a nice view and they were spoiling it. Kathleen was making fun of them, they were dressed in sweats. No one wears sweats out in London, it's like a rule. If you do, you get labeled as like lower class, not as cool, and def not posh. Sketchy people where sweats in public. I get so many looks when I'm going to the gym, and have on like my black pants and a sweatshirt.

After that we went to Canary Wharf, which is a place Kathleen has been wanting to go to. She said that it was a cool Underground station, like the coolest. So we went, we took the Jubilee Line and yeah it's cool. There is a mall attached to it, and going up the escalator, the roof is all windows, and it has a football theme of the whole place. On the escalator it says on the side, "You are going up in one minute... you are going up in one minute... you are going up in one miiiiiiiiiinute." I of course said this out loud, and it Jenna a few seconds to realize that I wasn't making it up, and I was reading the sign. Lol. So Canary Wharf... cool place. Of course by the Thames. We went up, and then down again not realizing that we were going to the mall right next to the station. Oh well. We got Starbucks, Jenna and Kathleen needed a pick me up. After that, we looked around a little bit, and went back up to the street. We went outside by the Thames, and looked around a little. We then saw a bus stop for the Isle of Dogs. Of course we were on that bus. We said that if it was more than a half an hour away, we wouldn't go. But we got on, and were so excited. On the bus, we went upstairs, and nearly died, when the people in front of me could not pick a seat. The bus started, and we were all on the stairs. I got my hot chocolate all over me. It was just great. But we sat down, and were soooo excited. We had been going for just a second, when we saw this street light. It wasn't one though, but like 20, and they were all blinking different things, and in every direction. It was in the middle of the roundabout. I think it was just art, they blinked too often to be real. So we go in this roundabout, and yeah there is a sign, "WELCOME TO THE ISLE OF DOGS. PLEASE DRIVE CAREFULLY"
WHAT?? We were already there, we had barely sat down. So we got off at the next stop, and were in the Isle of Dogs. There were no dogs, not even hydrants. When we were discussing what we thought it was like, I thought maybe it was an isle of hydrants... but yeah nothing. Some cool looking buildings, but that's it. I was a little disappointed. So we walked down a road, and yeah ended back up where we started. Oh well.

After that, we went to Drury Lane by Covert Gardens. Yeah, we went all over the place. It was cool though. It was dark by the time we got there. At Covert Gardens the other way to get to the street is to take the lift, or stairs. So many people were going for the lift, we went for the stairs. Yep another 194 stairs. We started racing each other, and then almost collapsed. My legs were not working... it was sooo painful. But we all made it somehow... still pondering that one. We were walking to Drury Lane, when we saw a shop called, Soccer Time. It was so weird, it was a football store, but called soccer. Crazy.

We saw Drury Lane, I took a picture, and then we got dinner in Leicester Square. We went to a pasta place, it was really good. We had a good time just sitting, talking and eating. I really like Jason, he's a cool kid. I wish I knew him last semester, he basically lived in his room last semester. But yeah now he's out, and always over here. So is Jenna, but it's all good. We walked from Leicester Square to Waterloo, and then went home. On the train home we sat next to Euguene, the president of the Student Union at Kingston. Kathleen loved him at the beginning of the year, we had a few drinks with him once. Kathleen has a picture of him in her room... lol.

So yeah that was my day in London. We had a sweet time, went all over, and it was a calm day.

We also have booked most of our trip. We are going to Norway for 4 days, and going to see some fjords. We aren't going to Sweden this time, but in late May, early June when we can go for like 10 pounds round trip. Woohoo. And we are going to Italy and Greece, and spending like 45 hours on a ferry. HAHAH! Hope I don't get seasick! We are going to the island of Mykonos which is an overnight ferry. Nice. Danielle is joining us too... sweet. I cannot wait. And this Wednesday, we are going to Ireland. Well Jenna and I am. Cannot wait to go, I haven't seen Rat in a while, well since graduation.

Til next time. P.S. Pics will be up soon.

Random Thoughts

So it's 2am, and the Avalanche are on, and while listening I thought I would write. First of all, I have a new link for Photos... I will update my link section but its

http://community.webshots.com/user/feeney1723

I needed a new account because oh yeah, I used up all my free space. Um. Surprised? I'm not. I'm a picture taker, what can I say?

So Amaya's dad was here on Tuesday. He had a meeting on Wednesday in the south of France, so he came a day early, and stopped in England. He's a nice guy, I introduced myself to him. I was going to class, and Amaya was running around the flat wondering where her Dad was, because his plane was suppose to get in at like 6am. As I walked downstairs at like 8:30am, I saw this man standing by the door with a small suitcase, and I just kinda stopped and thought about it for a second. I called Amaya, who said yes she just got a call saying her Dad was downstairs, could I keep him entertained until she came? Sure, I wasn't in a hurry to get to my Narrative class, not with Norma teaching it. So I went up to him, said my name, and said that Amaya was one of my flat mates. We talked for a few seconds, and then Amaya came down. Apparently, someone from the front desk came up to the flat and saw all the girl's stuff in the hall, and flipped out. Amaya of course had not signed them in... we never do. So I signed Mara in until the 10th, and they are allowing us to let the girls stay until then. You can't stay this long usually... but no one pays attention to that rule.

Anyway I walked with Amaya and her Dad across the bridge, but then I went to class. Amaya took her Dad and her friends to Hampton Court Palace that day, and while there, they heard Prince Charles was coming, so they stayed around and got to meet him. He asked how they were enjoying Hampton Court Palace, and they said they loved it. He was joking with the crowd, and was really nice.

Martin everyday and make him tell me what happened. I was reading over my blog, and I realized I have never talked about my new favorite addiction... HOLLYOAKS! It's a really corny soap opera, but um I never miss it. We have family dinners, everyone plans to eat, or be eating at 6:30pm. Martin is always eating around 6pm because the Simpsons are on beforehand. It's a little sad. Like today I was at the library, and I called Kathleen with a question, and she asked when I would be home. It was about 5:30pm, and I said I was on my way home now, because I had to cook my dinner so it would be ready for Hollyoaks. I'm already wondering what I will do next year without it. I'll have to facebookLol. Martin has watched it for awhile, so when someone pops up who hasn't been in it for awhile, he explains the who's and what's to us.

Oh and travel plans are basically set. Well not Norway and Sweden yet... ARGH! Will have to kill Jenna. But Italy and Greece are, the next step is hostels, but we are flying to Bari, taking a ferry to Patras, spending time in Athens and Mykonos, taking a ferry back to Bari, and go to Rome. We are flying out of Rome. I cannot wait. Monica might take the ferry with us, and we are going to Mykonos with Monica, Debbie and Corynn. It's going to be a good time.

I think that's it for my random thoughts. The Avs have like 5 minutes left in the game, and they are winning, hopefully they can hold onto it. They beat the Bruins last night, but then who is surprised??? A little shocked that it was so close, but they got the win in the end. Jason saw my room today, he's from Detriot but doesn't like hockey or the DeadWings. He told me that all his friends are DeadWings fans, so he usually rooted for the Avs. Haha. Go Avs, down with the DeadWings!

I'm expecting a letter from Auntie Helen any day now, probably on Friday. It usually takes a week and a half from the time I send my letter to get one back. Love her letters so much, and so does Amaya and Kathleen. I wrote her my last letter in my break during Global English, both our letters are always so long and full of information. My last one was especially long because I was telling her about Dover.

Oh well time to go.

Headache

Hey, so I'm taking a break from planning. It's giving me a headache. I just thought I would write, and tell you about my weekend. It was fun, it involves a lot of London. Amaya's friends are here, Mara and Leslie, both from Virginia. They are both nice, a little quiet, but that's okay. Amaya and I went to go pick them up on Saturday. They got in around 10ish. So the bus ride into Heathrow was good, and after a little searching we found them. Their plane came in early, which caught us off guard, but oh well. In the airport, I had on my USM sweatshirt, and of course I had my scarf on, but as I walked by someone, I heard, "USM, you don't see that across the pond." I turned to the guy and nodded saying, "No you don't." Hahah, I was a little impressed that he could read my sweatshirt since my scarf was right over the words.

Anyway, we took the 111 home, which drops us off right in front of the Bridge House. It's a little longer than the 285, but since we have never taken the 111, we wanted to. The ride home was fun, I got to talk to Mara, she is also an English major, and right now taking Children's Lit. She told me some of the books she is reading, and yeah I like my selection much better. No Barrie, Lewis, just American authors. Nothing against American authors, but all the big classics are British. So we had a nice chat. We were sitting in one of the 4 seats facing each other, and the two people opposite us were bashing Americans so bad. They must have known, and the woman was saying that Americans are ignorant, rude, and have big mouths. That kinda described that woman though. I think it's very rude to be insulting another country when it's really obvious you have someone from that country sitting across from you, it's also ignorant, and she had the loudest voice, so yes a big mouth too. Argh oh well. She was fond of Canadians though...

Anyway, we get to Hampton Court Palace, and I get excited because I'm ready to be off this bus, when we just stop. There is traffic, a huge line of it from the ROUNDABOUT! Um like 1 mile and a half back up. We walked home, well we got off halfway home from the Palace. Argh, it was a little annoying. We were almost home, but then so far away.

So we got home, they did a few things, and then we went into London. So yeah, the weekend of hell. New Malden was closed, buses went from Kingston to Wimbledon to make up for no New Malden. Or you could go the long way around through Richmond. We went through Richmond. We finally got to London, and our first order of business was food. In Kingston we have a Slug and Lettuce, and I've always wanted to go to it. There is one right by Waterloo, so I said we had to go. We went, and yeah food service in London is slow, but this was crawling. It was so bad. We waited soooo long to get our food, and then our check. Argh it was annoying. Never going there again. So now it's like 3pm, and we have to back in Kingston by 6pm because Jenna, Danielle and Jason were coming over. Great. I took them on a quick tour of London- The Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Trafalgar, and Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge was sooo out of the way, but they wanted to see it. Big mistake. The first part was easy, it's all in walking distance of each other. We stopped and took pics of the horses by the stables, and then with the guards, went through St. James Park, saw the Queen (just kidding), and at Trafalgar caught a bus to Tower. We got to Tower, I pointed it out, and then we left. They were jet lagged, and all our walking was killing them. So we go to get on the Underground at Tower, and it's closed. The District and Circle lines are closed for the weekend. Excuse me?? I'm not even sure how that is possible. So we get on a bus and go to Charing Cross (yes, we went back to where we started from), and take the Jubilee I think to Waterloo. We get to Waterloo, and we had to wait like a half an hour for a train to Kingston. We aren't getting on a train until 6pm. I texted Kathleen, and told her this, thinking that she would be home to entertain our friends. No, she and Jessica are at Vauxhall waiting for the same train. GREAT. Martin entertained Jenna, Danielle, and Jason. Oh well.

I did forget to mention that as we were boarding the bus to go to Charing Cross, Mara had her camera stolen. There was a lot of people getting on this bus, and someone nudged Mara, and someone else got the camera. She had it on top of her purse, or sticking out of her purse as she was getting her Travelcard, and yep stolen. As we were driving away, Amaya saw someone hiding a camera in their hand, and then slipping it into their pocket, and it looked very much like Mara's camera. I felt so bad for her. I mean, she's been in London just for a few hours, and her camera was stolen.

But anyway, we came back here, and hit up Lloyds for the night. It was a good time, there was so many of us, but party on.

Sunday we got off to a late start, got Jessica to Liverpool Street so she could go to Stansted, and then the rest of us got some food, and then went to the British Museum. Kathleen, Cassie and I went downstairs, and yeah I found more statues of Marcus Aurelius, and other Romans and Greeks. Love the British Museum!!!

Um so I have to go back to planning, but right now it looks like Sweden (Stockholm), and then Norway (Oslo and maybe Tonsberg), back to England, and then to Greece with Kathleen. And then after Athens and some islands, over to Italy where we will go to ROME, and then go up Italy visiting Venice, Florence, and sometime I will return to England. Happy times!