in-house competition will probably take the life of at least 1 comm design major at 32 brendon street

today was our first individual presentation in our comm design/industrial design class. this is the one where i went to the apple store and took video and studied how everything went down. well, the assignment was to come back and present the location and describe every characteristic about it, which is pretty simple, but the 5 of us in the house took it way beyond the parameters (which is a good thing). lets start off by saying that paul, an industrial designer, came in with no visual aids whatso ever, another girl did the same thing. a few people had short slide shows of images. our house, on the other hand, produced 5 keynote presentations, with videos, images, audio, everything! people were up till the wee hours of the morning working on this project (i was the first to bed) (and my project was excellently recieved)! it was crazy! it leads me to believe that its going to be a very competitive house. we'll see how things go later on.

and i don't mean to be mean here, but industrial design students have a totally different work-ethic than cmd kids. they are much more "wing it" "play it by ear" "lets just see what happens" people, whereas people of the cmd persuasion are detail oriented, know how to be productive, don't waste time "thinking," and get right to work, because we know time is money. paul, for instance, takes a lot of breaks. our group plans a lot, and i hope it doesn't come back to haunt us.

other than that, we went to the british museum today for masterpieces of london, got my first assignment in that class - 750 page essay... this lady thinks we're in middle school. not jsut because she gives short papers, but because she talks really slowly to us, liek we're stupid. but the class is very enjoyable.

tomorrow its to the victoria&albert museum, which will be a hoot. not really sure what thats all about, but i'll fill everyone in.

i think im going to invest in a hair trimmer,instead of paying for haircuts, which are extremely expensive. at argos they go for about 15-20 pounds, which isn't bad, considering what haircuts would add up to. also, i'm thinking of growing a little beard, to fit in with everyone. lots of people have long hair, and facial hair.

still waiting on the internet! im going to be mad if it doesnt come by tomorrow because i really want to use it to listen to the su game! it would work perfectly because i dont have class thursday!

anyways- i think thats pretty much it for now. i came back to the studio to check out directions on how to make mouse au chocolat, which i will be preparing as a special dessert on wednesday, which is my day to cook. also, its going to be bangers and mash, a tru london classic.

until next time-cheerio!

Fight at the Apple Store

today i went to the apple store, to do more observing for tomorrow's class, took a little video, and when iwas done, i decided to sit down and look on a computer. as i was checking the score of last night's su game (su lost to seton hall, terrible, just terrible), i noticed a verbal disagreement starting up between a customer and an employee. alot of yelling, i still don't know what was going on, but the guy got kicked out, and i got it all on video. its going to fit perfectly in with my presentation! the guy was so mad, he said he kicked people's asses for a living, and he wanted people to know who he was... "do you have any idea who i am???" he looked kind of like samuel l. jackson, but i dont think it was him. in other celebrity news, apparently brad pitt and angelina jolie are in london right now. and also, one of the girls in industrial design went to high school with lindsey lohan. thats pretty cool.

tonight i kindof have alot of work to do, with this presentation tomorrow... and im the only person with keynote (a presentation program like pwrpnt), so people might be wanting to use my comp. of course, i get to finish my stuff first.

tonight is max's night to cook.... nobody knows what he's making, last week it was pizza, and this week it could be anything. pretty sure he doesn't really know how to cook, so its going to be something easy, which means its probably going to be something good.

oh, last night-last night andrew made his own sausage, his own vodka sauce to put on noodles, and his own lentel soup! he also had spinache. everything was amazing! (minus the lentel soup which i didn't try) this kid is a master chef! i love sunday nights now, just for the food.

got my new student oyster card in the mail at the faraday house (oystercard= subway card). i have so many cards in my wallet its crazy! grocery cards, id cards, cards with passwords, cards for access, cards for everything... and in the end they will all make good suvenirs. but im excited to finally get the student discount card for oyster, so i can look like a real londoner and not a tourist on a 1 week pass.

so last night the previous owner of our appt came by to pick up any mail that had come to the place. he was from canada, and lived in the appt with only 2 other people! but his rent was really expensive, so i think we're getting a good deal. because the appartment is just to sleep in, we dont need anything too fancy.

well anyways, not too much more to report.
i've been collecting photos from other people so my collection is vast, and i'll have more to post up on the web by wednesday i reckon. but for now, im going to go grab dinner and work on the presentation.
cheers!
p.s. the presentation we made today went great! paul is a great character, he's in our group, along with me and lindsey. we suspect that he's about 30, he's got grey hair, and he's just a good guy. the group has good a good vibe. paul does have the tendancy to be stuck in his ways sometimes tho.

some more pictures!!

ok everybody, here's the first floor, right as you walk in. as always, click for a bigger picture.


and here's a shot of the backyard terrace:


here's the guys room:


here's our wonderful, beautiful kitchen!


and for now, here's the view from the roof. click to make it bigger.


i gotta get home for dinner! i think this week the internet will be at our flat, so expect more pics more often. i wish there was a way to do videos too...

cheers!

Weekend Update

I'm sorry that its been so long since my last updte, but i've been unable to get my hands on the internet! having no internet at the house sucks! but that is supposed to change this week (cross your fingers). Friday was the all-day field trip, and yesterday the faraday house was closed. so today is my first real chance.

lets start with friday. several of the people in the house had interviews (3 people, 1 position) for an internship on friday and they missed the field trip to stonehenge and salisbury. so the only people going from the house were me, court, max, andrew and michelle. not a bad group at all... so we all woke up early in the morning and took the rush-hour tube to the school to catch the bus at faraday. we got there in time and it was great, felt like i was getting paid since i had to put a 10 pound deposit on the trip, and they gave it back to us before leaving.

the bus ride took about 2 hours, and we had this great tour guide rockin the mic and telling us all sorts of interesting stories about everything as we drove along. great for people who are interested - not so great for people who were tired and wanted to sleep. i put on the ipod for a majority of the trip, but low volume so i could catch the interesting facts.

got to stonehenge and it must have been 10 degrees (f) and the wind must have been blowing at about 40mph. my fingers suffered a great deal as i took them out on many occasions to take pictures. stonehenge is really in the middle of nowhere.

but its really really cool to get to see in person, and the rocks are so big. you're just driving along the highway out in the english countryside, and then you see the formation about 50 yards off the road, take a right, pull into the lot and walk under the road and come out next to the rocks. then you walk around them in a cirlce, and make your way back to the bus. stonehenge was great... tough to take pictures with.


Salisbury is an old town that we went to next... very pretty. everything was really old, including the cathedral, which is the main draw. we went to a pub called the old ale house for lunch, i had a beef burger with cheese, and then we went on a little tour of the cathedral. it was very pretty but because of the darkness, it was difficult to take good pictures. i have an enormous amount of video from this day. actually, from everyday so far. when i get back im going to make a long movie of all the clips taken with my dig. camera, and it will be a great video. so the main draw of the cathedral is the fact that its the home of one of the only 4 existing copies of the magna carta (1215). the magna carta was like an early form of laws for england, much like our dec. of independance.

so the plan was to come back to faraday house and use the computers, and then come back to the house from there, but we got running late, and it was snowing, and the bus had to go right thru our neighborhood to get to faraday, so we just asked if we could get right off. it saved us a bunch of time but we werent able to use to internet unfortunately.

when we got home we were exhausted, and michelle had to cook dinner. she made stirfry vegetables and chicken, chinese food. the only issue is that she cooked an entire bag of rice, because she didnt know it would expand, so we have an enormous quantity of rice in the fridge. i think tonights meal might have a little bit to do with rice.

other house funnies: we've been washing our clothes with fabric softner ever since we've been here. the bottle doesnt really say what it is in a convenient locaition. people have been complaining that the washer does a poor job at getting stains out, well, there's your answer.

on to friday night, we decided to take the tube to an area that we hadnt been before. we went out and walked around, and because the tube closes at 1230am, we had to take the bus home. what an adventure that was, having to switch busses a couple times, and its drk, so its not like you can look out the window and spot something you recognize.. we couldnt even spot anything we recognized in the light of day! needless to say it was a huge relief to get home! plus the city is full of sketchy people! you dont know who to trust, its very scary at night! only in some areas tho. right to bed we went, because big plans followed on saturday morning.

well, we woke up early to go to the faraday house to use the internet. turns out the farady house was closed! never been so p-o'd in my life. it gets worse. we get off for faraday at the holbourn tube stop, we were able to get off, but when we went to get back on, the gates were closed, and you couldnt get on. plus the road that the tube stop was on was completely deserted except for police cars, and it was all taped off for a few blocks. dont know what happened, but the met (cop) said "there was an incident last night." very interesting.

our main goal for sat was to do all the touristy stuff that goes with london. so we went to westminster which is where you've got parliament, big ben, the river, westminster abbey, and the london eye. it was just me and courtney to start out with, and we grabbed lunch in parliament square and just sat and took everything in. it was very enjoyable, the only thing that was weird is that there are absolutely no trash cans anywhere in this city! i walked for a good 15 minutes just looking for a place to chuck my lunch, and ended up finding a guy sweeping the street and just gave it to him. very annoying. another thing - the birds! my goodness, the birds. especially the pigeons! EVERYWHERE. and annoying! they're not afraid to come up to you either.

here's some pictures from the visit, me gazing into the distance (thats my new british hat - no words, jsut a pattern. all grey. very chic), and one of big ben with the london eye in the background...



we walked around, took some pictures and made our way to the abbey. we had to pay for the tour but it was worth it. so much history involved here. so many famous people are buried in westminster abbey! winston churchill, sir issac newton, FDR, handel, robert browning, charles dickens,oliver cromwell... not to mention all the kings and queens. and all the kings and queens have been corinated there too. unfortunately tho, they are extremely strict about taking pictures in there, so i dont have any, but still a very great visit! but i did take extensiv videos in and around this area.

we didnt do the london eye (which is the big wheel) because it was a saturday, and the place was crazy. we figure to come back and do it sometime during the week.

after going to westmisnter we went thru portabella market. that place was pretty cool. everyone was selling antiques, alot of jewelry, lots of dumb little trinkits and stuff, i dont know, i'll probably head back sometime before i leave and pick up some memorabelia. but this market is in the area of london called notting hill, there wasa movie filmed here, i never saw it, but alot of people were taking pictures of this one row of houses, totally random, so i think it might be out of the movie. anyways, even at the market everythign was really expensive. its not possible to try and make it by converting pounds to USD. you have to spend more, theres nothing here for as cheap as it is in America. at least in syracuse.

so patrick cooked dinner saturday night, he had been marinating chicken in salsa, and made mashed potatos to go with it, and it was extremely delish!

after dinner we hung out for a little, it was gettign late, and the girls had gone out for girls night (i was very skeptical and nervous aboutt them in the city alone, but they made it ok), and the other 2 guys had gone to some party, so me and patrick went on a night time photo excursion. we walked from our place, down thrru marble arch, along side hyde park, by buckingham palace, and all the way to westminster to photograph parliament, big ben, and the abbey at night! and boy were we cold, and tired!! we did get some great shots, i got video of the clock striking midnight, but much to our dismay, at a little after midnight, all the spotlights in the square that light up the buildings turn off! this city really dies around midnight!! pubs close at 11, lights off at 12. early to bed early to rise i guess.

and early to rise is exactly what we did today. today, january 29, 2006, me, courtney, lindsey, and patrick went to mass at westminster abbey. very fun! not a whoe lot of people tho, i mean there were alot, but it wasnt crazy!in fact, for some int he group it might become a regular thing. i think its actually protestant tho, which is like roman catholic, alot of the things were the same, but some were different. they dunk their bread in the wine. i didnt tho, i just bypassed the wine like i usually do, and i think thats considered wrong, but i didnt know. they handed out little booklets to read during the mass, which i kept. it was a good memory. the building is absolutely gorgeous!!

th enext cathedral we want to visit is st. pauls, which you can climb to the top of the tower... its another protestant, but i dont think it hurts to go once or twice. we're still looking for the closest roman cath. church around edgware rd... next weekend we'll go to a catholic one, don't worry. but as long as you're praying to God, and talk about Jesus, and everything like that, I think its all set. there was alot of music at this mass which was great, they had a nice choir.

then for the rest of the day today we did work. we went to faraday, worked on a presentation, then i went back home, then to the apple store to do some ethnography stuff, then i wound up back here. its andrews night to cook, and last weekend he did a clean-up job, so im really excited for that, because im starving! so, i'm going to just post some pics of the house, and then head for home.

i really cant wait until i have internet at home!!!!!!

cheers mates!

photo montage... you've waited long enough!

alright ladies and gentlemen, i don't know where to start!

i guess, here's a picture from my room of the royal national sign.


and here's the room i shared with "brad"


ok, here's the flat, this is Brendan Street (thats the real spelling).. and ours is the dark, unpainted brick one. this is a panorama i made by stitching together several images.

Thursday Daytime Updates

So its thursday, my day off.
felt good to sleep in today, but i still had alot to do.
woke up around 11 and noticed that my cereal box had been crushed... well, me and my roomate andrew are having a "fight" via our food, because i put a "you touch, you die" sign on my pop tarts. well, he put black on his fingers and put fingerprints all over the box, so i wrote 'tosser' all over his box of honey hoops. so thats why he smashed my box.
well, i got him back good. i cut the bottom of his box of honey hoops off, and taped the inner-bag to the top of the fridge. so when he goes to pick up his box of honey hoops tomorrow morning.. uh-oh! the bag is going to stay there! its genious. we're really immature.

anyways, my new style is going to be a line break between changes of thoughts, due to some complaining.

so yesterday went well, 2 3-hour classes, but they seem interesting. the advertising one in the morning is newhouse based, so theres lots of NH kids, which is interesting. the class is less creative, and more business. then theres the art history class about design. this one seems pretty good. we'll be traveling to different museums. no tests, just papers. same thing with the earlier one. next week we're going to the victoria and albert museum.

after classes, i came home and it was my night to cook, as you all know.
it went well, people really enjoyed the soup, i had just enough, and people really liked the toasted cheese also. the little grill/george forman type thing we bought does a heck of a job on cooking stuff. and its non-stick. its going to be seeing alot of action.

last night after dinner and a little shopping at somerfields, 3 of us, patrick, michelle and i went to a pub behind our house. the area behind our house gets even better thr further back you go. its very quaint, and classic london. the pub was called 'the larrick,' and they had a big screen tv with some futbol on, so we st and watched with the natives. pint of stella cost me 3 quids, which isnt too bad. it tasted way better than the guiness i had at the other pub last week. tonight is 'student quiz night' at 'the victory' which is the other pub on our street. i dont know if im going to make it, because it starts at 8, and i have a group meeting at faraday at 7. but i really want to check out what 'student quiz night' is. maybe some other time.

im going to keep this one short, because i have a meeting about travel at 5:30, and its 4:55 and i really want to post some pictures!! so im going to drop another blog in a little bit.

tomorrow is stonehenge! it should be fun, but 3 of our roomates, in comm design, had to drop out of the trip because they all have an interview tomorrow for internship at some design firm during the day. all of them are very mad that they have to miss the trip, especially because only 1 of them will get the position. im glad i didnt do an internship. you're only in london once, and it would be a 9-5 thing, so i wouldnt want to miss that much time, even tho the opportunity is really good.

so i'll be posting probably saturday sometime, whenwhich i'll be putting up pictures of stonehenge hopefully!

see you in a bit!
cheers!

Day 2 of classes, first trip to the british museum

Its safe to say that by now, a week into my experience in UK, I’ve become completely comfortable with the currency. Its exactly the same as in US, except dollars are pounds, and cents are pence. The way you’d say 3.50 here tho is “3 pound 50.” Pence are also known as “p,” so if it costs .20, its “20 p.” Also, there is no 1 pound bill, the smallest bill is 5, and the biggest I’ve seen yet is a 50. As a result, you end up with a ton of change in your pocket. The pence pieces come in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 pence, and you can also get a 2 pounder, or of course, the 1 pounder. I empty my pockets out each night onto my small nightstand, and there’s at least 10 coins. Its ridiculous.
So the house problems are getting solved here and there. The internet is going to be wireless, its going to be installed “soon” our estate agent said. The heat is fixed, for the first time last night the radiator next to my bed was pumping the room with heat! And the best part is, you can now take a shower while the heat is on, simultaneously, its amazing. And I took one tonight, and it was my first in the house (ive taken 2 others) that wasn’t cold. Very encourageable. Im excited to put pictures up!! I’ve also been taking a lot of pretty high quality video with my little digital camera, so I wonder if theres a way to put that up… I really want to display it, its amazing stuff.
So today was day 2. Yesterday I had class at 1040, today at 915 in the morning. That means I had to leave at 830, which is the HEART of the early morning rush. I swear, we were packed in the tube this morning like sardines. And they were handing out free samples of this energy drink called “shark” so I had that half open, and it was down to my side, and it was just an uncomfortable situation. Fortunately tho, we weren’t late, infact we were pretty early… so tomorrow I’ve got class at 9 (advertising), and that will be another early morning experience.. but tomorrow I plan to record the rush- video style. By the way, just remembered – theres a contest for the best video/photography/writing about our experience in London (its thru dipa, I might try the contest and try and pick up some extra cash. Anyways, back to the morning commute seeing the packed tube made me think about how devastating the 7/7 bombings really were. When they happened, it didn’t really have much meaning to my life, but today I tried to figure some more out about that day. What I found out was very disturbing. Its all very sad, i feel absolutely horrible now that I’ve been riding the trains and enjoying the city. I cant believe anyone would possibly do this. So, it turns out that the bus that was bombed that day exploded RIGHT outside of the hotel we were staying at, the royal national. Even more, theres a couple tube stops in our geographic area, and the first day we came out here to check out the flats, we took the “circle line” which goes in a circle. And on 7/7 a bomb went off at that exact stop that we took, the edgware road stop. Now, we don’t take the circle line daily, we take the central line and get off at marble arch, because its on the same train line as the faraday house for class. One other bomb happened between russel square and kings court on the picadilly line, which is very familiar to all of us, it too is right near the hotel. So that’s all very scary, I hope that doesn’t freak people out too much back in the states, but I think we can say that its not going to happen in the same place if it does happen again, God forbid. But the whole thing is, over the summer I was visiting Courtney at the time, and they didn’t really effect me that much, but now, its all too powerful. I don’t feel too scared tho, I think we’re all set, at least I hope so.
Lets talk about the beggers for a mnute. The beggers in this city are very strange. They’ll sit on the ground against buildings…. But they won’t say a word! They don’t beg! Some of them have magazines or cds that they sell, but even then, they don’t say “buy this” or anything, its all mum. And theres not that many of them, only a few. Its different, than what I thought would happen in a big city like this.
Totally off topic, but funny: we live on Brendan street, there’s 8 of us, 4 boys, 4 girls, sound familiar??? We now go by: The Brendan Bunch. I’m greg, the older one, Courtney is Marcia, and Patrick and michelle, are the parents, since they are the 2 that live together. But it works perfect, cuz we have 2 rooms with the 3 kids in each sex. We’re going to print out pictures and everything, but that’s another day.
Speaking of the bunch, we’re starting to think about trips we want to take. We’re thinking of going to italy over spring break, and Greece over the 5 days off that we have for easter. The rest of the weekends we’re going to just do little trips, and go to france a lot. The thing is, I want to go to france a lot, and we might be going to italy for comm. Design on a field trip (our teacher, Francesco, is from Venice). But Its only 2.5 hours on the train to paris, which is unbelievable. I want to get all over the continent while I’m here.
So tomorrow (weds) is my day to cook…. Little nervous, but I think I’ve got it under control. We’re talking soup – 3 cans for 99 pounds, and I got 9 cans, and then a little grilled cheese and crackers. Sounds really easy, pretty cheap, and good for everyone. We’ve got a couple of picky eaters (not me, actually, I eat whatever they give me, i.e. the cal or whatever that green leafy was, I’m doin good), so you have to be careful about what you cook.
Today for the masterpieces of London class, the one with all the trouble, but everything is officially fixed today! we went to the british museum! which is FREEEEEE! So im going to go there alottttt! Because it’s the coolest building! I took so many pictures of the outside (it looks kind of greek, with pillars and stuff), and I took videos, which I’d love to share! But anyways, theres lots of stories around the museum, but theres a lot of famous stuff there. Pretty amazing! But all the museums in London are free, which is wonderful.
So last night I made myself a sandwich, bought juice boxes at the somerfield’s, and put some of my granola bars all in the fridge, to take to class today, but I forgot it this morning! It was a very early morning! So me and a group member/house mate, Lindsey, went to an Italian sandwich shop near faraday house, and it was a great experience. They jipped me on my sandwich bill, tho, they over charged, but we argued and got the right price. I had a baguet (a big one) with chicken, basil, and mazzerella cheese for only 3 pound 50. It was nice, before the trip to the museum. today was the cmd450 class, which is the same one that I took last semester, and I’ll take next year as well. This one seems ok, not as busy as it would be in syr, but it will keep me busy. Time management is going to be huge! Tomorrows class is advertising, and art history. Yes, 2 art history classes, one meets at the national gallery and the british museum, and the one tomorrow goes all over I’ve heard. I’ve heard its very fun.
So I think that’s whats going on.
Courtney bought me pop tarts today because I said I wanted some if anybody found them, which I’m really excited about. If I don’t get internet by Thursday, I’ll be bringing my pictures to the faraday house to post, because I feel like I’m leaving everyone with my crappy verbal descriptions, so I want to get some real pictures in my readers’ heads.
Hope everything is going well back in the salt city,
Till the next time,
Cheers!
Jamie

ITS MONDAY!

today was the first day of classes.
what a diasator. it goes something like this:
first let me get this off my chest: dipa is retarted. dipa is a tosser (a the brits say)...
i signed up for this class, art history:mastepieces of london, and along with it there are 3 sections you have to choose 1 from, which are trips to a museum (weekly). only one of those fit in my schedule, so i said to myself "i'm going to take the last one available"
there are 2 lecture sections of the class, and only the earlier one fits in my schedule today, its the one i'm enrolled in.
when the time comes to sign up for your museum tip group, the teacher says that because we're only in the early class, we can only sign up for the first 2 trips, and she's going to make a thrid and fourth museum trip for the later lecture.
but that wouldn't work with my schedule!
BUT NO WHERE DID IT SAY THAT I NEEDED TO BE IN THE FIRST 2 MUSEUM SECTIONS WITH THE EARLIER CLASS!!!!
OHHHH MANNNN how frustrating.
so she said to come back at th eend of the later class, and she'll see if anybody in that class wants to switch to the earlier one. the only way it would work out is if someone swithces out of the later one so i can join the later lecture and therefore have access to the 2 later museum visit sections.
so i get to the end of her 2nd class, 1:50pm on the clock, i have a class at 2... and this lady's class ends up running late. turns out theres also 6 people in my position, and only 4 spots to fill. 4 generous people took the earlier class from the later class, which is great, but anyways, only 4 were getting in. so we did it the way our forefathers did... we drew names out of a hat. ha ha, and i felt so bad because i got picked, because the 2 people who didnt get picked have to drop the class and find another, and they were almost on the verge of tears. but im staying in, and everything is ok.
second class seems really cool, its the one where the Industrial design kids and the comm design kids do stuff together. we're working on a project for the faraday house (which is where i am now, where the classes are. basically the su London campus), involving the signage and navigational devices in the building. because the faraday house is actually 2 buildings that are each confusing, and when you throw in a connecting hall, its 10x more complicated.
but the class is going to have guest speakers, field trips, and sounds very cool. the masterpieces of london class offers a trip to italy to go to art museums too, which they have 15 spots, and they're kind of following the same "pull the name out of the hat" method - they're having a contest to see who the first 15 people to email the professor are, and if you're the first 15, you're going. i'm interested. i know i can email quickly.
the design class today is also going on a trip to italy, but its going to design firms and stuff, either to milan or venice, which should be very cool.
the design studio which i am in right now is so sweet. its the dodge bolocks. 4 G5s, 2 PCs, a phaser printer to use at our own will, and couches, light colored wood with metal (similar to our kitchen) and a special code to get in. its very smashing, i love it already.
tonight is max's turn to cook and he's going to get pizza i heard, so that sunds fun.
tomorrow we have our cmd 450 class at 915 in the am, and then i'm going to the british museum with the class a 2.
finally got my faraday house id card made today. right infront of my eyes, the guy just took my picture, took an orange piece of paper, wrote my name, made me sign it, glued the picture to it, and laminated it. there you go, ID card. also picked up my University of London library card today that will allow me to use there library (called the senate house)... so my wallet is overflowing with cards.
worked well today making a ham and chees sandwhich, but i had to buy a drink, so i think i'll go to somerfield (our grocery store) tonight and buy a box of juice boxes or something. we also run out of milk quickly in this house.... i had some honey hoops (honey nut cheerios) this morning with a small bit of milk on them.
we just walked all around trying to buy books, but the book we need seems t be out at every bookstore. kind of annoying but we saw some areas of london that are nice (covet garden, and charing cross)... covet garden is by the national gallery, which looks amazing, we're going to be going there for the masterpieces of london class and i am excited!!!
and someone told me today that london is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and she said that when you blow your nose after being on the tube for a long time, it comes out black. very disgusting. its the air that must be polluted, because the streets and everything dont have alot on them.
and one cool thing about the tube is that there are officially licensed people who play music for money in the halls. today i could have sworn that eric clapton was around the corner. these guys are good. i can see why they are licensed. they make a good deal of money too.
so i think everything is updated!!! im going to try and be more efficient at bloggin'
until the next time i write.
this is jamie signing off.
cheerio!

report from the past few days....

Haven’t been able to get my hands on a keyboard connected to the internet in a while, so im just going to type this into Microsoft word, and paste it into a blog entry later. But trust me, its Sunday night, and dog-gone-it, I’ve got class tomorrow.

Friday night me and the roomates went out to dinner on oxford street near picadilly circus. we went to an all you can eat pizza place for £5.99, so i had 7 pieces, and some noodles, and some corn, to make sure that i ate enough so that i wasn't getting the raw end of th deal. after dinner we walked around for a little bit and went back to the hotel. this was when courtney's oney situation went a little crazy and she ended up getting money from her parents so everything worked out. when we got back, we played a little cards and watched british movies on the tv, very relaxing, because the next day was big... the movie we watched was about 2 couples, where each guy in the couple liked the opposite girl, it was crazy... but i couldn't turn it off.
So I’m going to pick things up with Saturday morning. Woke up for my last free breakfast at the royal national hotel, took my last shower there, and got myself dressed and packed, for today we would move to our apartment! The problem was how to get our luggage to from the hotel to the place, and for some the solution involved a taxi. For me on the other hand, I used the transportation which I had already paid for, the tube. Since by now I am a pro- I figured – “how hard could it be to lug a 65lb bag of luggage through the streets and sub streets of London?” I may have looked like the biggest tourist in the world, but I strapped my backpack on, and took one bag of luggage with me (left one to come back to). The trip is something like this: bout a block and half walk to the russel square tube stop. There are over 150 stairs down to the subway platform from there, so they offer a lift for the masses. Then I take the subway westbound to holbourn, where I go switch lines from the central line to the picadilly line and take the second subway 3 stops to marble arch. Marble arch is home to a giant marble arch, which is right on the skirts of hyde park, and that’s our tube stop. We know exactly that it’s a 10 minute walk down oxford street/edgware road to our turn, which is at the corner with the argos (a store that’s all catologue shopping, where you find what you want, go up to the desk, ask for it, and they go back to the warehouse and get it for you). Theres also a casino on the corner called ‘victoria.’ So we turn and walk a block to brendon st. and then go to #32. And there we are. So with a suitcase rolling behind you, its quite a struggle. But me and Patrick did it, and everyone else took the taxi, and we beat them, so we went to the estate agent’s, which is around the corner, and we got the key. Moved a bunch of stuff in, thankfully they put 8 single beds in instead of the few double that’s lingered about... but they stored one in our fabulous kitchen. Only 3 sets of keys, and we have to get the others made ourselves. But its nice, because we’re good business. And they know it, so we have the upper hand – see, su London puts out a list of realtors that are good and trustworthy.. and since we bought from them, they know that they’re on the list. So they want to keep us happy so we don’t give a bad report and they end up OFF the list. So hopefully that will be used to our advantage.
So I got there, sweating, because I put on the clothes that wouldn’t fit in my bag. Thankfully it hasn’t downpoured at all yet (knock on wood), so I haven’t had to worry much about the weather. Actually Friday and Saturday were both gorgeous, but today, Sunday, was a bit grey. So it was a nice day to move, so I unloaded all my crap, kind of organized and by now everyone else was here, so they were unpacking.
I got lost on the way back to the hotel, which was very unfortunate. London is a big city. One wrong turn, and you’re screwed. Unfortunately, I tried to be a little adventurous and get off at a different tube stop than the regular one, that’s still close to the hotel, but had no Idea how to get back. I ended up walking in circles and made it back to the original stop I got off at, and went over to the tube stop right by the hotel.
Made it back to the place, and got everything unpacked. Living with Andrew and max will be interesting. Max brought tons of stuff. He puts everything on hangers. Sweatshirts, t shirts, whatever – all hung. As a result, by the time I got back with my 2nd suitcase, all the hangers were gone. I had to scrounge around and find some to use for at least my nice shirts which had severe creases from being in the suitcase all day. Andrew brought a lot too, but we’re all troopers and will get through it.
So when everyone was done unpacking in the house, we got together and constructed a list of everything we needed. And we shopped. We shopped so much that by the end of the day we were wheeling a cart back to the house with groceries. Its nice splitting a bill 8 ways tho! Only paid 8 pounds this week, and we got a lot of things that will last a while. You’re probably wondering how we’re going to deal with meals? Well, we’ve got a pretty good system.. breakfast and lunch are up to everyone individually, so everyone bought some ‘personal items’ which are initialed and stored on personal shelves in the kitchen. Dinner runs on a 7 day schedule, where everyone has a night except for 1 person. 3 of the 7 people cook 4 nights (same day) in the month. The other 4 cook only 3 of the 4 days that come up in the month. Then the 8th person does the 4 other random days left over by the people who cook only 3 days. Its confusing, but we have a whiteboard whith a schedule! And you must write down what you’re cooking, so we don’t have doubles day after day. My day is Wednesday. And Patrick got lucky day number 1, Saturday, so he had to cook tonight. We went all out. Well, we knew that we had 2 bottles of wine, a huge kitchen table (2 put together), and it was a special day, so we went all out. Everybody dressed up. We lit candles, and the kitchen looked fab. As the brits are saying these days, it was the dodge bollocks. So Patrick fixed us a wonderful dish of penne pasta with tomato sauce and parm cheese. We had everything. It was very awesome! A great way to kick in the new house. After that we chatted and shared some laughs, and then stayed in for the night. No internet, and by then we had realized that thhe heat wasn’t on. What a disastor. We had no idea how to get it to work! It was the coldest night since I camped outside! Even with my sheets and huge comforter! Very cod, and we couldn’t figure out the hot water either – you have to turn something on, and we think you cant have both the heat and hot water on at the same time. Still pending – we’re going to the landlord early tomorrow to get that straightened out. Another thing is the tv – we get awesome satellite tv, its really spectacular, over 400 channels – the only problem is, EVERY CHANNEL IS OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST! We scanned them all! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in English. Not even british stuff. We have to turn the satellite off to get local channels, and the quality is less than healthy.
Anyways, had some ice cream for dessert, very good, and then went to bed after more chatting and stuff. Oh and we arranged the furniture in the living room on the diagonal, and it looks fantastic. The house is gorgeous.
This morning we all slept in late because it was our first morning with no responsibilities (free breakfast). We all cracked open our cereals and had that. Today (Sunday) we bought a toaster, george forman like grill, and a tea water warmer-upper, so those should come in handy. So we slept in, and figured out the hot water – and it turns out we have about 25 minutes of hot water before the tank runs dry. Not so hot, but we’ll see what happens. I think im going to be taking my showers at night.
So people got ready, and we cleaned up a little more, and then went shopping again, where we got that toaster and stuff, some people had some other stuff they needed. All I wanted to get was gum and a hat. So I got my gum at Woolworth around the corner, and then went down to oxford street which is for shopping. Shopping carts have a unique system here, you put in a pound, and get the cart, and the pound stays in the handle, but you cant get it. You have to put it back in the queue with the other carts for it to dispense the pound, so it prevents theft. And it works, because there is no way whatsoever to get the pound out unless the cart in queue infront of yours clicks into yours in the right way. Anyways – all I had to get was my hat so I split up with everyone and went down the street to get it. Lots to choose from. I spent 5 pounds at marks and spencers on this grey painter-like hat. Its very chic, and I think its pretty british. No words or logos, which is definitely European, and its grey so it matches a lot. Then my objective was to make sure I was gone long enough so that someone whould be home when I got back, because I didn’t have a key. It felt good to be on my own for a while. But I quickly got lost. The thing is, you go into a store, maybe a corner store, and you shop (I went into the nike store, and watched a little futball), and you come out and don’t remember which way to turn! So I got lost, yea, but it was worth it. I end up back on oxford, but going in the wrong direction and I hear this loud music infront of this old old building with pillars and big windows… and I look inside, and se a dj playing off an ipod. Look up, and I see an enormous apple logo! I GOT LOST AND MY INSTINCTS TOOK ME TOO THE LONDON APPLE STORE! Amazing. Also, and amazing store. 2 stories, with glass steps, a theatre in back with wireless internet and live demonstrations. A “genious bar” for advice and trouble shooting, not to mention the music and overall atmosphere – all simply amazing. It was a great place to wind up. And I ended up making my way back to the house ok.
So tonight was Andrews night to cook – and man, Andrew may be the best cook we have. What a meal this kid cooked. He got pork from the supermarket, spiced it up with something amazing, kind of breaded it, cut up some potatos and made seasoned French fries, and then fixed up some Kal, or Cal, it’s a green leafy vegetable, that’s pretty good. But overall, the meal was incredible! He’s Italian, so he’s been cooking a while, and it shows. Everything was delicious!
After dinner we talked about schedules and stuff, and hung out a little, enjoyed our last few hours of life before school starts, and now im headed to bed! I took an iceburgh shower, which was horrible, but I needed to get clean. Tomorrow at the faraday house I will be checking emails and maybe I’ll post this! I think I’ll take it in on my thumb drive! Oh good idea. Anyways, class tomorrow at 1040, but it takes 20 minutes to get to th faraday house, so I need to get up around 930. Hopefully internet will be in the house soon, so I can start some daily entries, but for now I guess this will have to do.
Until the next time – cheers!
Jamie

sunshine on my shouldrs

todays weather forcast, according to almost everybody, was pouring rain all day. fortunately, the weather ended up being the best it has throughout the entire trip so far! it wa ssunny and mild, and a great day to take pictures.
no responsibilities today except to pick up some luggage that was mandatory to be stored until today at noon. no idea why, but very annoying, but we got it, and thats good. also woke myself up at 9:30 just in time for the free breakfast. toast, juice, rolls. simple. filling. tasty.
also had to register for classes at the faraday house, which is where i am right now. picked up some syllabi for my classes and now im just taking care of some business. probablygoing to buy an orange phone after i leave here.

YESTERDAY we woke up for the free b-fast then went to the american express to get our perdiem. 1090 pounds, and all of it went towards the appartment. then we went to the postoffice to get a money order, which is all that we can use for this student discount card that gives us 1/3 off alot of things, which will be def useful.
we met our student guide who helped us find the appt at the realtors office today. they dont call it real estate over here. jsut estate. they wonder if there is pretend estate in the states also? its kind of funny. anyways, the woman that works there's name is miriam, and she helped us out, we all got copies of the lease, we'll be staying there till the 10th of may, and we can pick up our deposit then, or they said they would put it into one of our accounts if we wernt going to be there to pick up the cash.
we checked out the appt again, took MILIONS of pictures to provethe state that its in right now, figured out exactly what'sgoing on, and we actually convinced the park estate people that it woul;d be a good idea to get bunk beds in the rooms with 3 people, so they might buy them for us, which would be sweet.
tons of cups, dishes, silverware, pots and pans, and all of the stuff we need. and if we dont have anything that we need, there are tons of stores around the neighborhood that offer everythng we could possibly need.
so after officiallly signing th elease we went to the pub thats down the street. there are 2 to choose from, the victory, and this other one. it has multiple names. i figured "when in rome" right, so i had some bangers and mash which eneded up being delicious. 2 huge pieces of saussage, and mashed potatos, but apparently, the sausage part changes every so often to a different kind of meat. with it, i had a half pint of guiness. not too bad, but nothing too impressive, but it felt good to have an official london meal. the owner of the pub recognized that we were new, and actually gave us a house warming gift of 2 bottles of wine, which was very thoughtful of him! we will have a toast once wemove in, but until then, the wine is in storage.
we did a little shopping after that and instead of taking the tube home like we normallywould, we took the bus, which was free with our oyster card as well. the bus was fun. we went down oxford street which has oxford circus on it which is like a big thing like times square (not a circus){look, im sorry but the space bar on this computer is very very annopying}. oxford street is a shopping mecca, and theres lots of stores. nike, addiddas, h&m is big, theres a huge apple store!!! we will surely explore it later on! theres also a movie theatre a few blocks from our place that offers 2 for 1 ticket deals onwednesdays with anorange phone. thats pretty good.
the area we live in is very convenient. everything we need is so close, and its going to be great i can tell.
last night we took the tube to picaddily circus which is even more like times square! there are huge screens and ads everywhere, but mixed with the old ancient architecture is a site to see. we ventured into this trendy club type place, and it was clear that we were american, but the people there liked it. kindof weird, but it was a true london scene...
when we got back i got online a little, but then went upstairs and watched alittle london tv.
i dont know if you know anything about london game shows, but they are HILARIOUS! one game show late at night was called the sudoku chanllenge. they had a sudoku board, but not 1-9,it was numbers 1-6, and it was completely full except for like 4 squares. in the empty squares were different amounts of money, like £50, £100, but not too much. there was a telephone number to call and if you could tell her what one of the spaces was, you would win the money, its that simple!! its so cheesy tho! here's an excerpt.. "hello! and welcome to the sudoku challenge! if you're jsut joing us, we have 3 spaces left! each one is worth £50! if you know what number belongs in theses squares, call me up right now at the number below!" and then to make it easier, they would help you out if you didnt know what to do "lets take a look at this square, shall we? theres only 1 space un known in the row. the numbers that are there are:1, 3, 4, 5,and 6. what could possibily go in there???" and people would call it up and actually get it wrong sometimes!! i dont know if theyre stupid or something but it was hilarious!! and then today, we were watching ashow about words, and numbers, and there were live contestants in the studio, and call-in ones too. one of the call in ones had a studio full of manicans, full dressed with cards around there necks with numbers on them. the object of the game ws to call in, and pick a manican, and hopefully the one you picked was the one with the prize on the back of the card! so funny. it must be jsut americans that think its funny., because everyone else is really into it. and then the people in the studio would be given a series of 3 letters, and they had to give a word, and spell the word that the letters appear in the same order in. basically a spelling test. the people are pathetic tho. i'll try and find an email link for the tv channle tho.
the tv channels are pathetic too, theres only like 11 different channels, and theyre all the same arund the country - channel 1= BBC 1, channel 2=BBC 2, channel 4 is just called "channel 4", same with some of the others. so you see ads in the streets for like, big brother (which is ENORMOUS out here, on everynight, everybody talks about it) and it says "big brother, tonight at 9 on channel 4". kind of strange.
so thats basically everything going on for now. tomorrow we finally moving in!! and i can have internet all day long hopefully, if all goes according to plan. ifnot, i wont have internet for a while unless i go to the faraday house.
no bloody noses today! or yesterday! hurray!
hope the weather stays nice, here, no one likes rain!
and whats this, maria sharapova and andy roddick are dating???2tennis stars together??thats crazy!
so i guess i'll be bloggin later- to all of my loyal readers, i miss you, hope everything is going well back home, and i'll be talking to you soon!!
cheers,
jamie

last one tonight

is it hard to read white on black? i can change it to a dark color on a light one...

just finally got internet

my airport on the pwrbk wasnt working earlier so i just now got a chance to come down to the lobby and get this stuff posted and check my email.

this city reminds me a lot of san Francisco, in terms of climate, feel. It looks a lot like any city in America, its just cool that its across the atlantic.

Also – had another bloody nose today. Very annoying.

also, rode the subway for the first time today, and its very cool. very clean, friendly, but apparently, our little helper that we used to find a flat (from su london) says that there are alot of subway related deaths everyday, so many that they dont keep track of the names. but its all good if you just stay behind the yellow line.

feels so good to have the appartment done!!! everyone down here is searching online and calling people!!!

cheers!

Dream analysis: having a dream where a polar bear pees on your back = you’re going to find a smashing flat the next day!

Well, from the title you know 2 things – 1. I had a dream last night that a polar bear (similar to the one on the island on the tv show, lost) peed on my back; and 2. We found an unbelievable (UN BE LEAVABLE) flat today.

Woke up this morning around 830 thanks to the new alarm clock. Worked perfectly, I was a little nervous. My roommate never came back last night but im not really concerned. He hasn’t been around much. Oh well.
This morning we had a presentation about finding a house, finding a flat, whatever, things to look out for, things to keep in mind. It helped, they had some kids who had done it before help out and share their experience. They gave us all the info, including the list of places that they like, and the kids liked. So we began our search – phone calls (I still don’t have a phone yet but it looks like im going to get an orange phone tomorrow), and visits with landlords took up our day. Bear in mind that the per diem, which comes in 2 lump sums, figures out to be about 130 pounds a week. So that was our budget that we knew going into the search. By the way, the first check for the first lump sum of the per diem is 1090 pounds.
First flat was by the landlord known as blix. The flat was nice – 10 people tho, and we have 8 now, so we’d have to find more people or pay more money to get to the price, and that would be way more than the perdiem. With 10 it would be about 135 a week. This place had a lot of nice stuff – all stuff included, including wireless internet, satellite tv, washer, dryer, bran new kitchen, 3 floors, and the neighborhood was nice. To get to class it would be a trip on the tube with 1 switch. We really liked what we saw but everybody says to wait and not take your first one, so we said goodbye, saying that we were really interested, and we went to the next one.
The next place was in an area known as the red mansions. A street with red brick houses, like row houses made into appts. This place wa very luxurious, with chandeliers and all sorts of stuff, no internet, no tv tho, but the rent was cheap. The landlord was very sketchy however, and there were some weird things going on so we told him we liked it, told him what we’d be willing to pay, and left. He kept bothering us for the rest of the day. Very annoying.
The next few events ended up being very important. We went to a place called park estates or something in an area near marble arch, called edgeware. Edgeware street is like the main drag of the area. They said they had some good stuff for 8 people and they thought we’d really dig it, but they couldn’t show until tomorrow. Well, that didn’t work for us so we went outside to think about what to do. While we were outside for like 30 minutes, the lady came out from inside and said that she just heard of a great place for 8 that just opened up! So we said, we’ll see it and boy were we happy we did. This was amazing. She took us down a quiet 1 way street with row houses on 1 side and the back side of a woolworths on the other side, just off of edgeware. Brendon street. 32 is the house number. Goodness. 2 families on the sides of it, very very nice neighborhood, amazing. And this lady knew our rent limit was 130, so it was in our budget. Oh my goodness. This place is GORGEOUS. Bottom floor is all open, about 20 feet on a side and maybe 40 deep? Im just guessing, but I’ll have pictures up soon. So the bottom has satellite tv, fireplace, wood floors and is furnished with red furniture, it looks really good. A picture of san Francisco hangs over the fireplace. Small little backyard patio with bricks and shrubs and flowers and a BBQ! The back of the house is kind of split level where you can go up to the first floor, or down to the basement which is a finished kitchen! BRAND NEW! Dishwasher – new appliances, all modern light wood and brushed metal. Brand new kitchen table still covered in plastic! ½ bath down there, and another tv with satellite. This place has motion sensors all over so we think it has a security system. So from the basement its half staircase to the patio, then ½ staircase to the first floor, then staircase up to the second floor which has 2 full baths and 1 huge room for 3. Then up another staircase to the 3rd floor which has 1 3 person room like on the 2nd floor, and 1 2 person room. 8 people total. Theres nice wooden furniture in all of the rooms, it looks great. Then it just got better. From the 3rd floor there is a SPIRAL STAIRCASE to the TERRACE on the ROOF!! Oh goodness, this place is unreal! This terrace is amazing, the views are incredible! And the rent is 130, tomorrow we have to pay 2 months rent, and a deposit of 1 months rent, which is a lot, but we wont have to be paying that much afterwards. So that money that took out before coming will be put to use tomorrow. Then the last perdiem should cover the last 2 months (have the place until may 10th) and the security deposit should come back. All utils are included, including wireless internet (I can lounge on the roof and do work), and tv, and heat, and elec, and everything else I may have forgotten. Yes there is a landline. And the pub is down the street, called ‘the victory.’ The closest tube station is actual the edgeware street station but to get to class we will be taking the marble arch station which is on the same line as the stop for the faraday house, which is where the classes are. So theres no switching of subways, it’s a 1 shot deal. Its also only a short walk, and is cycle-able, so im still looking into that.
So that’s where we just got back from! We’re about to go to a “mixer” party for people to try and meet people to live with but we’re set. Last night we had a general dinner meeting thing to learn some rules and stuff about London. And today we bought an oyster pass which allows you to ride the public transportation as much as you want to, whenever, wherever. Tonight we’re gonna check out this party thing and then we might do some exploring or something.
Anyways, battery is dying on the laptop, im going to charge it but I haven’t plugged it in yet because im nervous! I have to go down to the lobby later tonight to get the wireless network, im just killing time in my room before the thing tonight, and typing this up on word.
So, its been a very productive day – more to come later in the week im sure but I cant waste too much time on the computer! Cheers!

Greetings From London

wellllllll i made it.
no plane crashes, no casualties, but-no sleep.
i'm gonna go thru the experience moment by moment here, so bare with me.

anyways - quick recap:
left hancock (which turned out to be potentially the most pitiful airport in the world, based on future airports) late on the jet blue flight. the departure was rough. tears were definitely shed, and it was a very emotional trip. the plane was full. no free seats. lots of annoying creatures. i say creatures because there was a yippy little dog about 2 rows infront of me. so i listened to my ipod all the way. this was a hard choice, because the tvs on the back of the seat infront of me offered 35 channels of direct tv, including espn and all the good ones (at this point i was optimistic about possibly being able to watch the su game on the virgin flight). but i went with the music, and i dont know if i even turned my camera off for the flight. lots of pictures, videos of the landing, everyone must have thought i was annoying, but its ok. they served drinks and snacks on the flight and had a nice little map on the screen of where we were. got some great views of NYC because it was a beautiful day. the real news was that the flight was 30 minutes late. instead of landing at 1230 like planned, we got in at 108, so while i was down getting my bags from carousel 1, courtney was also en route to the baggage claim, which made meeting each other very easy.
no trouble getting the luggage, but getting from 1 terminal to the other was nearly impossible. obviously the "airtrain" that shuttles from terminal to terminal ina complete circle was out of commission. we were forced to take the train into a main station, then get back on it going in the opposite direction, just to get from 1 terminal to the next. walking around with 2 huge bags was no piece of cake either. its very hard to maneuvre them on elevators/escalators, which there were alot of.
so we went to check in our bags but the virgin booth wasnt open, unfortuantely. we ended up sitting at a table in the terminal by mcdonalds with a mound of suitcases playing gin with the ludwig van beethoven playing cards purchased at the duty free. it passed some time but it was pretty boring. then we got to check in our bags, and the line for this was enormous. dipa is so unorganized. it was ridiculous.
we met up with courtneys friend and went to the terminal for the virgin flight. can i just say how bad i am at going thru the security? i hate to take everything off, and take my computer out, the belt, the shoes, the whole ordeal - i hate it! but we just wanted to get it over with.
the plane was huge, and because me and courtney went to different tellars at the virgin booth, our seats werent close. so we had to switch, which was pretty easy. neither of us were window seats. the window seat in our group of 3 on the left side of the plane belonged to a nice little asian girl studying to be a social worker. she took lots of pictures which will never come out because it was dark. poor girl. anyways, we had dinner on the flight - bbq chicken strips (breaded) and mashed potatos, and corn. ALL IN THE SAME DISH. bbq corn??? is that how they do it in london? BBQ MASHED POTATOS??? i ate it anyways because i was hungry.
virgin gives you tons of choices for entertainment. unfortunately tho, there was no live tv so i missed the su game, and i just found out that they lost. played a little black jack, a little tetris, watched some taped tv shows, watched some of wedding crashers, all on a screen infront of me. they gave alot of nice stuff away too. i had wine with dinner to try and knock me out. it worked for the most partt, but i didnt get a full nights sleep due to the fact that they turned the cabin lights on pretty early. they flight was entertaining, but the seats were very close together, so i didnt have much legroom and it was uncomfy. that also made it hard to sleep.
so we landed at hethrow which i learned is 4 times bigger than jfk. and jfk is huge. so hethrow is gigantic. they had people guiding us where to go, and we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to get on the busses this morning. they told us about some helpful tips ont he bus ride in, but they realized we were drowsy.
came in, got my room key, went in and dropped off my stuff, and then met the roomate. he's brad, from chicago, studying public relations or something. we'll get to know each other more later. little bit nervous about my stuff in the room with him, but its ok im sure. oh, forgot to mention - went to the bathroom in hetrhrow and got a bloody nose, and of course thye dont have any napkins or anything, so i had to use my jetblue napkin to mop up the blod. the disastor continued when i met the roomate with a tissue on my nose. felt kind of dumb.
anyways, i cant stay here longer. dinner is at 5. i need to rest some and get organized. havin a pretty good time so far, tomorrow we begin the hunt for an appartment.
until the next time -- cheers!

My Last Night in America

So I'm all packed up except for the stuff I need tomorrow morning.
Lots of extra space going over, so that means lots of suveniers coming back!
I don't think I trust myself that I've put everything I need in there, so I keep second guessing and checking to make sure that everything is packed ok.
Nervous- yea.
Excited- definitely.
Today was dedicated to saying goodbye to people and packing.
Just got done saying Goodbye to Aunt Sue, and before that I spent an enjoyable evening down at Grandma and Grandpa's to say goodbye.
Tried to go up to SU today to say bye to everybody but the room was locked. I didn't get to meet the new roomate. Very dissappointing, I wasted a good hour. Darn.
So all thats left to do is sleep, which will be tough tonight.
Then tomorrow its wake up > shower > finishing a little packing > breakfast > go.
We'll stop by Roma to pick up my mom, and then off to Hancock.
Flying JetBlue to NYC, should get in around 12:30, then 9:10 flight to London Heethrow. Its a 7 hour flight, and the time difference is going to be 5 hours. So tomorrow when I land in London, it will be 9 in the morning, but it will feel to me like 4 in the morning, so it could make for a tiring day. And the worst part about it is I'm missing the Uconn/SU game at 9. I'm praying that somehow the game will be televised on the plane. I think SU has a good chance.

So, time for bed.
Last night sleep in the US of A.
Lets hope its a good one!

4 days to go!

Thursday night.
There's no turning back now.
Am I packed?
No.
I have bigger things to worry about than packing. Still workin on the portfolio/resume/cover letter for a summer internship. Tomorrow will be reminiscent of last semester as I wake myself up early and drive up to EPC to see Mary Beth's smiling face and make some prints- - not very exciting.
Still have to watch the London videos that my dad borrowed, still have to pack, clean my computer, buy some supplies, and I still have to figure out what exactly is going on... I have no idea how me and Courtney are going to meet in JFK without cell phones, but it seems so messed up to be saying that because - how would people do it in the years before cell phones? Just another thing to figure out, but its important we figure it out because I'm excited to see her!
My last day at work was yesterday, when we were informed that a co-worker had the flu, so we had to watch out. Just what I needed to worry about - how would flying 7 hours at night be, with a cough, fever and upset stomach? peachy.
But it was sort of sad to leave the cage. Almost like leaving a family. I just hope I don't get sick. Everyone's been sick lately except for me.
But I've got to get goin', I'll be back in the summer, and next year, its not like I'm leaving for good.
Tonight we ate with Villani and then played an entertaining game of poker which was a great way to spend one of my last few days here.
Just as a heads up - I'm going to be blogging hopefully on a regular basis, hopefully posting some pictures, hopefully posting some fun stuff, hopefully it won't always be boring to read, but it will almost be like you're with me in London and wherever I go.

So until next time- cheers!