Probably my last message

It's winding down! Last night, a few of us went to Tescos around 10pm to pick up all of our food for our Christmas dinner! We got lots of vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, desserts, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and rolls. Today Courtney went to pick up a few medium sized chickens. Louis and Leo are making a apple crumble... hopefully it turns out okay. Munira made brownies, and Hugo made a crumble too!

I'm trying to write as much as I can real fast, because we are getting ready for dinner, and I am in Amy's room.

When we went to Tescos, we met Amy there, because she was coming back from a hockey match, and there were 7 of us, but 5 of us could fit in her car. So we had to leave Leo and Louis, they weren't too happy.

When we got back, we decided that we wouldn't make it out that night, because it was too late, so we played OLYMPICS!! We were divided into two teams, drawn out of a hat, black and red. The games were volleyball (with a balloon), hide and seek, and relay races. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! They said it was the best night they've had. Not everyone was there to participate, but it was a good group that did. We all hung out for a while after, and Danielle and Jenner even came to my room until 6am in the morning talking!

Tonight will be very sad, it has been so much fun meeting everyone, but it's weird to think I'll never see them again. I really will miss them SO much. Danielle and Courtney started crying when they came to my room and saw all of my stuff packed up, and my walls were bare.

Tonight will be such a nice dinner. Everyone has a place setting, and we've decorated the flat. We've been cooking all day!

I forgot to get my key deposit back this morning, so the only way I can get it is if they send it to an English bank. So Courtney is nice enough to give me 40 pounds now, and I'll have the deposit sent to her over break.

Tonight, we are off to 'Flirt', the club on campus, for the last night. It will be a big event, I think.

Tomorrow, I'm going into London with Amy to see her hockey game, and then American Danielle and her flat mate, Abby, will come and pick me up. I will stay at Abby's house that night, and then catch my flight at 11:55am. I'm so excited to go home, but I can't believe this is all over. I've been so busy trying to wrap up my time here... getting pictures from everyone, saying goodbye, packing, and wrapping up school work. I hope I don't forget everything.

Everyone has been so nice to me. They tell me everyday how much they are going to miss me and they promise they are coming to CA. Hopefully they will, and I really hope to keep in contact with all of them. That's about it.. goodbye blog... goodbye England!

Love you all!!!! Hope the flight goes well! xoxox

Last days

It's almost over, and it has gone by so fast! 16,000 words and 64 essays pages later, I'm still alive! I turned in the last of my four papers Tuesday afternoon. After my classes, I went with a few boys from my flat to Tescos. We walked there this time, and it was nice to chat with them and visit along the way. They are all SO POSITIVE they are coming out to CA... we'll see...

Tuesday night, I went to a cheerleading Christmas party at Lemon Tree. One big tradition here is to have crackers at your place setting. They taught me how to open them all together. I got a party hat, piece of paper with a joke inside and a little top to spin! It was so nice to sit down with the girls for a final time. They even said a toast to me to wish me good luck and goodbye. I ate a mushroom tart, turkey, and Christmas pudding! No one really likes the pudding here, but I thought i'd give it a try. It taste like raisin cake with a side of ice cream. After that, we went to a local club, Hippodrome, where the cheerleaders and the American football players got a VIP room to hang out in. It was nice to see those guys for a final time too. My flat came to join us at the club later that night.

Wednesday, I took it easy. I made marshmallow guns for our Christmas party on our flat on Friday. Last night, I met Nha downstairs near the school club, before she went in to say goodbye. She's so sweet, she hates to say goodbye, and started to cry. When I came back, I hung out with my flat in the kitchen and we talked and played games for a few hours. Since we all have nothing to do, we set up a table in the middle of the kitchen, stack chairs on top, and play volleyball with a balloon. We are very competitive so it's a lot of fun to play. The other day, since they were bored, they took an amp, and plugged it into the peep hole of the door, and took out the real door bell. So if you wanted to get in, you had to touch the amp, which made this HUGE noise on our flat... it was so obnoxious. Try writing 4 papers while they tap the beat to a new song they've made up on an amp. haha

This morning, I went to go see Nha to exchange pictures with her before she left. Tuesday night, I had said goodbye to Scott, because he and Chris were leaving for Barcelona, and today I said bye to Nha because she's leaving for Prague. It's now just me, Danielle, and Joey. Tonight I'll go to Tescos with the girls to pick up food to cook for our Christmas dinner tomorrow, and then we're all going out.

We'll have to get plates and whatnot at the store, because our supervisor gave us the choice to clean all the dishes yesterday, or they'd be thrown away. Since no one wanted to clean, and we were all going home over break, we let them just get thrown away.. haha.

Tomorrow will be my last day with my flat. I'm really sad that we'll never be out here again, but i am VERY excited to be home. Saturday morning I will drive to London with my flat mate, Amy, since she is playing a hockey game there. After the hockey game, Danielle and her flat mate, Abby will pick me up from the game, and I will go back to Abby's house that night. Her mom is cooking us a Sunday roast (On Saturday). Sunday morning, I'll catch my flight and come home!

Now it's time to start packing and say goodbye! Love you all!!!

Wii has taken a whole new level!

I think Project Kokoro should have a team! haha

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pzp8S_7yspM

This is Game 1, but Game 3 was better, I think.

Presents from my flat

Last night, a few people weren't able to go out with us, so tonight, my flat surprised me with gifts and cake and sang happy birthday to me! Wed night at 12pm they decorated my door and the kitchen and sang but only a few were around, so tonight it was a lot more people. They all signed a card for me and got me a pair of silver heart earrings, a little drinking game, and the best part was A RING!! Now I don't have to buy my UK ring! It has 2 hearts on it, and we agreed it will symbolize my life in the US and my life in my UK joining! I can't believe a week from today will be my last night in Colchester. I'll be in London next Saturday, and then leave on Sunday! CRAZY!

back to the papers... love you all!

Happy Birthday to ME

Yesterday was a VERY good Birthday! I went out with my Flat and Danielle and Nha. Nha made me this AMAZING fleece blanket, she even sewed on my name and my Tri Delt letters on it! I can't wait to use it. I'M 21!!!

Now back to papers.... But here are a few picturesWe went to a pub crawl in town, that's why we all have the same shirts...My flat!Me, Danielle, and Nha!

Oh ya, and we got to use RED CUPS! They don't have plastic red cups in the UK and everyone was excited when mom brought them to me. They always see Americans drinking out of red cups in movies and what not, so they were excited to get to use them too. Mom also sent me M&Ms that read 'Janelle is 21' and 'Happy Birthday'. Everyone loved them! They were a hit!

Love you all! SEE YOU SOON!

a little update

I got an Essex sweatshirt today! So now I finally have a school sweatshirt!

I also stopped by my professor's office so she can edit my essay, hopefully she doesn't think it's terrible, she's not one of the graders, though, so she can give me a lot of feedback. Our papers are graded blindly by two separate people who we don't know.

Danielle's dinner was nice, but I felt bad because we couldn't really celebrate like we would at home. Everyone had stuff to work on at home, and we only got to go to dinner and take her out for a few drinks. She'll celebrate with me again on Thursday, so that's good. My flat is really excited for my birthday, and I am too, I just have to get these papers done.

I'm glad my birthday is coming up, but just a little bummed that I can't celebrate it on the day of with friends and family from home. But it will still be a good birthday and I can still celebrate again when I get back to SB and Irvine.

That's about it for now. Love you all!

Pictures ( I took 433 of them!)

The Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum

The forum

The Arc de Constintine

Roma, Italia

Hi everyone~

We got in at about 1 am this morning, so I was not able to update the blog when I got home.

We left on Thursday night around 2:45 on the x22 bus that leaves from our school to Stansted Airport in London. That took about an hour and then we got to the airport and checked in. Ryan Air is the airline we took, and it is a VERY cheap airline, but you can see where they cut down on their costs. When we went to check in, we gave them our passport and confirmation number, and they gave us a handwritten boarding ticket... There are no assigned seats, so when we board the plane it is a mad house! Everyone is cramming towards the front to check in and to get onto the plane to get a good seat. We boarded the plane around 5:15, and took off around 6:00 am. We landed around 9:45 Rome time. I was a little nervous about the landing, because the rest of the group that I went with had taken Ryan Air before and they said the landing was terrible. They thought the pilot was going WAY to fast on the landing and said they hit the ground so hard... and I do NOT do well with landings. Luckily this landing was fine, and I tried to sleep through it so I didn't get sick. They play advertisements throughout the entire flight and try to sell food and tickets for buses during the plane ride. After we got off, we went through customs and bought a ticket for a bus to the center of Rome. Luckily we only brought backpacks so we didn't have to check in luggage. The bus took about 30 min or so, and when we got off, it was only about a 5 min walk to our hostel.

We checked in, sorted out our beds, and were ready to take off. The rooms were the nicest we've stayed in, and there was a lot of room. We even had a TV and a fridge! And they bring breakfast to you in the morning!

We left the room, and got a bite to eat at a little cafe. We got a real taste of Italy, and it was neat that it seemed like a real 'local' place, not so touristy. We kind of found it in a little off street. We saw so many things while we walked, but didn't always know what we were seeing, hopefully I can list most of the things we saw. Our first thing we went to see was the Piazza Venezia. It was a huge monument type area dedicated to King Victor Emanual II and the unknown soldier. The next thing we went to see was the Forum. That was CRAZY. They had columns and stone that had been there thousands of years! It was on the way to the Colosseum. The Colosseum was HUGE. It was really neat to go into it, and walk around. They are slowly restoring it, so that you get a better picture of what it used to look like. I bought an audio guide as well, and I got to learn a little more. We also saw the Arc de Constantine right out side of the Colosseum, and traveled up this hill to another chapel.

After the Colosseum, we wandered into a park and got a nice view of sunset and then headed back. When we got back, we rested a little, while Danielle went to and internet cafe to register for her classes at UCLA. We all got 15 free min of internet with our hostel. When she got back, we went to dinner at this little Italian restaurant that was only open for 3 weeks. It was REALLY good food, we let him order for us, and he picked all good things.

After dinner, we went to find the Trevi fountain. That was SO neat, we made sure to throw a coin in the fountain and make a wish. There were vendors all over trying to sell us roses and toys and pictures. It takes a while to get them to go away but after a while they get the hint. If they see couples, they give the girl a few roses and say they are free and then stick around a while, and then tell her that since he gave them to her for free, could she give him a little money back? And then the boyfriend is usually suckered into paying for the roses. We picked up some gelato and sat on the stairs for a while and admired the fountain. After, we went home and fell asleep. There were 2 empty beds in our room when we had left for the day, but when we got back, we'd met the two girls that were occupying them. They were from Barcelona, and were only there for the day.

Saturday, we woke up at 8:00 to leave for the Vatican. We took the metro, and found our way. There was HUGE line for the Vatican, but it didn't take too long. I saw my sorority sister, Taylor, in line with her friends! She was in Rome for the weekend, and is studying in Florence. Around the line outside the Vatican are a lot of homeless disabled people, many with physical disabilities looking for money. When we got into the Vatican it was so big and it was crazy to see paintings by Rafael and Michaelangelo. Which leads us to the Sistine Chapel. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but Chris was able to. It was SO crowed, but it was amazing! We sat around the edge and just stared for the longest time at all of it.

After we were done at the Vatican, we walked to the another little cafe for lunch, and then made our way to St. Peter's Square and chapel. There, we saw Pope John Paul I tomb and many other tombs and everything around and in it. On Sunday, Chris got to go to the top of it. He said it was an amazing view, it's the highest point in Rome, nothing is allowed to be higher. He also went Sunday morning to see the Pope as he blessed everyone from a window in the chapel, but we'd split up from him and forgot to go. He said the square was extremely crowded.

After that, we went to find the Pantelon, which again was HUGE and we got to go inside. it was really pretty.

Then, we made our way to the Spanish Steps, and on our way there was a huge shopping district with all high end shops, so we got to pass through it. The street was called Via Condotti. We climbed the steps and sat on them for a while, looking at the HUGE crowds below. At the top was a little chapel we went into and lots of artist painting on the street. We then went to another Piazza to take a few pictures and see the crowds. For some reason a lot of 'punk' type dressed kids were hanging around the area at night. Then we caught the metro home, and got dressed to go meet 2 of my sorority sisters, Brenna and Taylor at a pub crawl. Everyone that I know that has gone to Rome has done this pub crawl and really enjoyed it. It was a fun group of people, and nice pubs and clubs, and we all got shirts that said "I came, I saw, I crawled". It was really nice to see Brenna, and meet Taylor's friends. Brenna will be one of my roomates next quarter in the sorority house! She if from Irvine as well and went to middle school and high school with me.

We got home pretty late and went to bed.

Sunday, we woke up, checked out at ten, and then the girls wanted to do a little shopping, so we split up from Chris. We went to Porta Portese, this flea market we had heard of in Rome. Apparently it is the largest in Rome! It was more like a garage sale. But we found our rings from Rome, so that was exciting! We took the bus from there to another shopping street, called Via del Corso, that Brenna had told us about. I got a few souviners, we went back to the Trevi fountain to see it in the day, and it sprinkled a little throughout the day. Friday and Saturday were SO clear and sunny, but not Sunday. We had to drop our luggage off at a internet cafe/laundromat down the street from our hostel earlier that day, and met back there at 5. We used the internet for a little while, packed up the rest of the stuff we bought and headed back to the bus to take us to the airport. We took the 6:00 pm bus. We got to the airport, and checked in. We forgot that we could only carry on 100ml of liquid on our bags, and Danielle bought a small bottle of wine, just over 100ml and it got taken away. We got into the waiting area and got food. We were a little anxious because we were to land at 11 pm and we had to catch the 12 pm bus back to Colchester, or we'd be catching a cab or waiting at the airport until the 4am bus. Then our plane got pushed back from 8:15 to 8:30! And then 8:20 came around and we still hadn't boarded the plane. We knew we would have to run off the plane as soon as we got off. They opened the gate, and everyone rushed to the front. Then we had to take a bus for 5 min to the plane. Then everyone ran onto the plane and luckily we were one of the first on, so we got a front seat to run off the plane to the bus. On the plane, the lady that sat in front of me threw up the ENTIRE time, it was so bad. The landing was the smoothest landing I had ever experienced. Then when we could, we ran off the plane down this LONG path to customs. Customs took much longer than we wished, and we ran again to the bus. Chris was the first to get to the bus stop, and he got there at 11:57 and watched the 12:00 bus leave.......

SO... since it had now turned to Danielle's 21st birthday, we all decided we didn't want her to spend her first 4 hours in the airport. So we all pitched in for a cab and it took us home. It wasn't too expensive, but we were kind of bummed because we had paid for our bus ticket back, to save money...

If the plane hadn't been a half hour late we definitely would've made it.

Overall, Rome was a great trip to end on. Danielle and I both agreed we are ready to go home, and miss all this stress of traveling.

We noticed a lot of obelisks in Rome, and they all had different meanings, we think. Some looked similar. The traffic was very busy and LOTS of motorcycles and vespas. We almost rented one for 8.00 euros an hour, but then we told Brenna, and Brenna asked if we were willing to die. haha. Apparently, the traffic is too crazy for someone who doesn't know how to ride that well. The men in Italy were very aggressive and would cat call at us all the time. That wasn't very cool at all. We ate lots of gelato, pizza and paninis. It is not a big city, Paris is probably bigger, but there was much more to see. I think.

Anyway, back to my papers, I have two more to finish this week, and I have to edit my other two as well. Tonight we are going out to dinner for Danielle's birthday, and it will be the first time all 6 of us American kids have gotten together in a REALLY long time. Yesterday was my 2 week mark, only 13 more days here! It has gone so fast!

A new girl moved in yesterday. Alex, one of our flat mates left a few weeks ago, and she just took his place for the rest of the year.

Last week there was a meeting for all the flats in Bertand Russell Tower. Every flat was supposed to send one rep. Danielle couldn't go because she had class, so she chose a number and the furthest away would have to go to the meeting. They all wanted to go first to choose the number and that was fine with me. I listened to everyone's number, and then when Majid picked 7 and Courtney picked 11, I picked 9 and that way I couldn't lose. Anyway, Jenner picked some number like 80, and it was 1, so he was supposed to go to the meeting. The meeting was for the mess that everyone causes like throwing toilet paper out the window and what not, but Jenner didn't go.

So now, we have all have to go to a meeting together on Wednesday, and if you don't go you get fined 25 pounds. What a welcome gift to the new girl. haha

That's about it. Thursday there is a Christmas Pub Crawl in town and since it's my birthday, just about all of the flat is going and so are Nha and Danielle.

Off to dinner! See you all VERY soon! Love you all!!

off to rome!

I'm off to Rome now! I'm just about finished with 2 - 4000 word papers, and I have 2 to go. I'm taking some of the reading for my next paper with me. The homework always tags along, but hardly gets looked at.

Today the whole flat went out to a club in town, but I had to stay and pack and work on my papers. Majid was the first to leave, and he leaves his door open because he lost his key. Last week, the boys taped all of his trinkets like his phone and his gadgets to the ceiling. Today, they stripped his room of EVERYTHING! and he doesn't know yet.... His bed is gone, his clothes, his desk... everything. All that is left is his kiddy blanket that he still has, left on the floor, and his dresser, because they couldn't move it.. but it's empty. He has a set of little toy soccer player, and he has them all lined up.... not anymore, they are all thrown in a suitcase. His stuff is distributed throughout all the boys' rooms.. he's gonna have a fit! i'm glad i'm not here when he gets back. Why did they do it? you ask.... why do they do anything? They were bored....
Yesterday they egged a random flat.... these boys are crazy, but they are so much fun.

Got to go! Love you all!!

Before I forget...

I learned a new English thing today.. They have a slang called "cockney rhyming"... it uses substitute words, usually two, as a coded alternative for another word. The final word of the substitute phrase rhymes with the word it replaces. For example, "Are you 'avin' a bubble?" - means "Are you having a laugh?" Because bubble, refers to bubble bath, and bath and laugh rhyme.... it's SO weird.

So... the best example I found....

'Allo me old china - wot say we pop round the Jack. I'll stand you a pig and you can rabbit on about your teapots. We can 'ave some loop and tommy and be off before the dickory hits twelve.

or, to translate

Hello my old mate (china plate) - what do you say we pop around to the bar (Jack Tar). I'll buy you a beer (pig's ear) and you can talk (rabbit and pork) about your kids (teapot lids). We can have some soup (loop de loop) and supper (Tommy Tucker) and be gone before the clock (hickory dickory dock) strikes twelve.

Christmas in Flat 5!

Today after class I went to Tesco with Courtney and we picked up food, and I also bought a small 3 foot tree for only 2 pounds! And lights to put on it for only 3 pounds! The tree kind of looks like the tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it's still a tree! We also put up string lights around the window, and ate scones and made paper snowflakes! We got everyone really excited about the holidays. I also bought Christmas cards and Courtney and I are planning a Christmas dinner before the last "Flirt" night at the school club on the last Friday. We made the cards into invitations and put them under everyone's door.

To get everyone caught up....

Tuesday, November 20th, I got into London around 4:00 pm and got to Mel's around 4:15. My suitcase was FULL of things to send home with mom and dad. As soon as I got off the train to London, I looked over to the next train car, and Dan from my flat got off! Neither of us knew the other was heading to London, and took different buses to the train station. We rode on the train over an hour and didn't realize we'd been on the same train. We had to catch the same tube, so we traveled the rest of the way together, and parted at the last tube stop.

I got to Mel's dropped off my bags, and then about 30 min later, had to leave to meet up with Lisa, another sorority sister, to see the lighting of Regent's street, and Mel had to go to one more class. I met Lisa at the tube stop, and we headed down to the street. There were little light displays hanging in the streets, all turned off, and people lined on either ends of the street. The theme was "Unity" and the goal was to have the lights turn on by the parade of people, meeting in the center, from the North and South sides. We started to get into the group of people on the North side, but it got too crowded, so we left the group, and went to watch, instead, on the side.

They had drummers and people on stilts all around the streets. When they began the parade, as the group of people would walk past the lights, they would turn on. It wasn't very elaborate, but it was fun to watch. Then Lisa and I split up, and I went to shop around the street and stopped at Starbucks. I got to try my first mince pies! They're actually really good.

After that, I headed back, and Mel had just gotten home. Her flat were making pumpkin and chocolate chip pancakes and all her friends came over. They were really good. We hung out for a while, and then went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up, did a little shopping with Mel, and then met up with mom and dad. I took the tube to the hotel, and had gotten there about 15-30 min after they had checked in! It was so nice to see them!

We didn't do much, I took Mom to Claridges for her birthday for afternoon tea. It was really nice, they brought out little tea sandwhiches, and scones and cakes. They have 40 different types of teas to choose from. After that I took them to Oxford Street to see all the Christmas lights in the street, and mom and I did a little shopping. We came back, went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, and then went to bed.

Mom and I at Tea

The scones and desserts

The next morning, we went to Harrods, did a little shopping, the store is HUGE and we got to see the ring that Dodi was supposed to give to Diana. It's HUGE. Then we met up with Mel for lunch at a little cafe down the street.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to see if Jon had arrived. When we got to the room, he was already there! Then we left to go sight see. We took the tube to the center of London, and as soon as we got off, right behind us was Big Ben and Parliament! Across the street was the London Eye. We rode that, which I hadn't done yet, and we got to see all of London! Then we walked to see Westminster Abby. After that, we took the tube to Trafalgar Square and then went to the National Gallery. We had dinner at a small pub and got to eat real English food. That night, Bond Street had Christmas lights that were being lit. We took the tube to Bond Street, and got there pretty early. So we shopped around a little, and almost every shop was serving free drinks and food, so we got to sample a little. We waited for the lights to turn on, and after they turned on, with a little delay, the made it snow! It was pretty need, they had carolers, and instrumental players, and clowns and entertainers all down the street! After that, we headed home. We tried to find a pub to visit, but they were all crowded. We also checked out the mall near our hotel.

The NEXT day, we started out by going to Starbucks, where once again, my gift cards messed their computers up, and mom and I got 2 drinks and 2 desserts for FREE! After breakfast at Starbucks, we walked through Green Park and went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. There were SO many people there! They came in in two groups, starting with a marching band followed by soldiers. It was a VERY long process, but it was nice to see. Everyone was pressed against the gates.

Palace Guards

After Buckingham Palace we took the tube to the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are. That was pretty neat, and it was something I hadn't done in London yet, and right next to it was the London Bridge. We spent a pretty long time there. After that we went to Covent Garden, a part of London with lots of street shows! We went to dinner/lunch at Potter's, a restaurant we had found in a guide book. THEN, we continued our journey to the British Museum. We almost thought it was closed, but luckily, Friday was a 'late night' and they were open later than usual. We got to see lots of neat artifacts. A security guard even opened an exhibit for mom and I to see. It was the Divine Cat.

Dad, Jon and I at the Tower of London

Mom, Jon and I in front of London Bridge

After that, we headed back. Jon and I got waffles covered in chocolate. They were really good.

The next morning, we had to be out of the hotel by 5:30 to get to the train station on time for Paris. We tried to take the tube, but none of them were open, so we took a cab. When we got there, we picked up our tickets, checked in, and the train left pretty fast. I tried to do some of my school work, but ended up sleeping most of the way.

When we got to Paris, we went straight to the metro, and took it to see the Louve. It was nice to spend more time here than I had the time before. I got to see a lot more. I'm sure Jon would've liked to stay longer, but we didn't have much time.

After we left the Louve, we tried to find the Paris Nord, but got turned around, and instead ended up at the end of the Champs-Elysees. We got our first crepes. We walked the WHOLE way to the Arc de Triomphe. I can't believe mom made it all the way, it was 2 miles! We stopped at a little cafe on the way there an had baguette sandwiches and quiches. Jon was pretty good at speaking French most of the trip! After the Arc de Triomphe, we went to see Notre Dame. We took the metro there, and went inside. After Notre Dame, we got another crepe.

Then we went to see the Basilique of Sacre Coeur. I had been here before with my friends when we climbed it on our last night. This time, we went a different route, so it was neat to see it from another side. There were SO many people there, I was actually surprised. They had a few street shows going on as we passed the crowds. After we saw Sacre Coeur, we went to the artist his to see the artist and their paintings and chalk drawings. Mom and Dad bought me a painting for my birthday, I can't wait to put it up, it's a watercolor. Jon bought another crepe.

Then we tried to make it to the Eiffel tower, but the train we were supposed to take wouldn't get there early enough to get back to the train station to go home, so we had to skip that, and go back to the station to catch the train back to London. I felt really bad that I couldn't take everyone to see the Eiffel Tower.

We caught the train, and got home around 10 or so. We ate at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was pretty good food. After, Jon and I got more waffles, and then we went home.

We woke up the next morning, and went downstairs for breakfast, and by 9am, we all had to catch our separate cabs and go our separate ways. The route back to Essex is pretty routine now. The cab dropped me off at London Liverpool Station, and I already bought my ticket, so I found my train home, got to the platform, and it took me to Marks Tey Station. I took a bus from Marks Tey to Colchester North Station, and then took a taxi home. I got home by about 11, and tried to get settled back in. I unloaded all the "American food" Mom had sent up with me, and the kids on my flat have not stopped knocking on my door to get more. Everyone decided it was a good idea to keep it all in my room so we didn't trash the kitchen.

Mom gave me: beef jerky, tootsie rolls, tootsie roll pops, hershey bars, hershey kisses, red party cups (which they are so excited for), lucky charms, froot loops, hot tamales, twinkies, oreos, graham crackers, and marshmallows. Already we've made so many s'mores (which they had never tried) that we can only make 5 more, total. We went through one box of oreos. All but one bag of beef jerky is left (out of 4). All the hot tamales are gone (2 large boxes). All the twinkies are gone. One bag of tootsie roll pops are gone. One bag of kisses are gone. Two bags of hershey bars are gone. and the bag of kissables are gone. I swear, I think they will all be sick by the end of the week....

I hope I didn't leave anything out.

Thursday night at 3:00am, we will catch the bus to Stanstead airport for a 6am flight to Rome. I have 2 sorority sisters, Taylor and Brenna, and Richard, the boy who visited me 2 weeks ago, that i will get to see in Rome. We are all hoping to do the same planned pub crawl on Saturday.

I've been pretty stressed out with all my essays due on the 3rd, but I went to see one professor today, and she thought my outline was pretty good, and is willing to look over my first draft, since the teachers don't grade my essays. She even bought my coffee while I waited for another student to talk to her :).

All the kids on my flat will be going to a school club event tonight, so hopefully it will be really quiet in about 3 hours. Tomorrow I will probably do laundry, and go to the gym, and try to finish my second essay.

That's about it for now. Only 19 days until I come home! Love you all!!!!

The Adventures of the Nakano Family

I'd love to update you all on our long week, but unfortunately, I'm pretty much freaking out about writing my essays by the 10th, and I need this time to work on them. But Mom, Dad, and Jon are able to update everyone on everything we did this week; Mom took notes.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We missed you all, and it wasn't the same without you! Love you all!

Little Update

After Richard left, not much has gone on. On Sunday, I went to the American Football game, at half time, and they were losing BAD. But at least I got to see the guys I knew on the team play, they are all starters. They cheerleaders don't know a lot of cheers here, so basically, they bring their air horn, pots and pans, and noise makers and make a lot of noise when our team is on defense, so the offense can't hear the play. It was a lot of fun, but FREEZING!

I finally got most of my first paper done. At least it is almost done, so I can take a break from it, and come back to it in the next 3 weeks.

I leave for London today around 3, to get there by 4:30ish. I'm stopping by Mel's to drop off my suitcase, and then I'm meeting Lisa, another sorority sister that was a senior when I was a freshman. She's a graduate student at the London School of Economics. I'll meet her at one of the tube stops, and we're going to head down to Regent's Street together, since Mel and her house mates have class during the lighting. Then I'll come back to Mel's, sleep there for the night, and the see mom and dad in the morning!

Mom and I have reservations Wed. afternoon for tea at Claridges!

Thursday, we'll have brunch with Mel, and then Jon gets in! I'm SO excited!

We'll try to update you along they way, I'm bringing my computer! Love you all!

Richard's Visit

Parliament and Big Ben

Thursday night, around 12am, I put on my coat and was about to go downstairs to see if I could find Richard in case I got lost, and I heard a knock at my door, and it was RICHARD! I had previously given him directions, and he was able to find my flat!

That night, he pretty much met everyone on my flat, and we passed out soon after. Then a fire alarm went off, and that took about 15 min, but we got it all sorted out.

The next morning, we caught an early bus and train to London. We weren't quite sure what we wanted to see, so we just started to explore. We found the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery and then we went to lunch. It gets dark around 4:00 here, so we went to lunch to get fish and chips around 2:30, and by the time we got out, the street lights were lit up! So we went down to Oxford Street, a major street, and it was lit up with the best Christmas lights! There were hanging chandeliers, and some of the major department stores lit the entire building!

After we walked down the entire street, we found a Starbucks (of course) and got to use our gift cards. The gift cards don't take into account the exchange rate, so a $5 gift card is the same as a 5 pound gift card! Richard and I both had gift cards, so we were quite excited! There was even a bonus! The system was down and they didn't care if it accepted our cards, so basically I used a card with $0.70 for a $4.30 bill and they didn't care, AND I think I still have the $0.70 on my card! By 6:30 we headed home.

When we got home, we made tacos (the first time I've actually cooked raw meat since I've been here) and they were AMAZING. Neither one of us had had Mexican food since we've been abroad. Then, a bunch of the kids on my flat wanted to go to the club on campus, because every Friday there is a theme. This Friday it was Cops and Robbers, and Richard wanted to go. So we got tickets to that and went with the flat.

Saturday was our lazy day, and Richard just wanted to hang around Essex and with the friends on my flat. We took a tour around the campus, and on our way back we saw the men's field hockey game. I know a few girls on the women's hockey team, and they were there so they got to explain the game a little to us. We were considered the lucky charm because before we arrived, they were loosing 1-2 but after we go there, we won 3-2!

Richard treated me to pizza, and we ordered a vegetarian pizza. It was really good! It even had sweet corn on it!

We tried to stay awake until 3:30am because Richard had to catch a 3:45 am bus in order to be at the airport by 5:00 for his 7:00am flight. That was a struggle, we watched TV shows and movies to pass the time. We watched MTV's "Shot at Love"... that was interesting, and then we watched "Football Factory", about hooligans in England defending their football teams.

While Richard was here, we heard a lot of noise in the hall, and I thought it was because Rob had just come back from the club, for the second night. When we opened the door to leave, the ENTIRE hall and kitchen had been TP'ed by the boys, again, because they were bored. I guess they'll have to clean it up today...

Since I was already up at 3:45, I got to talk to Chris for a bit, which is always nice.

I got to talk to Jon yesterday, too. It was nice to talk to him since I haven't talked to him in a while, our schedules never seem to be the same. He sounds excited to come out here, but it sounds like it might be a struggle to make his flight on time. School ends at 1:30, and he has to catch a 7:00 flight at LAX!

Richard and I just found out we were in France at the same time, and probably at the Louve at the same time too! And in two weekends, we'll be in Rome at the same time, so hopefully we can meet up!

Today, there is an American Football game at 1:00pm. I'm going to try to go, since it will be the only one I am able to attend, but we'll see. It's pretty windy, and I still have a lot of coursework to do.

That was about it for my weekend. Back to my papers. Love you all!St. James' Park

Lights at Oxford Street

Me and Richard on Oxford Street

Getting back in the SB groove...

Tonight I finish my class schedule for my winter quarter at SB and I submitted my roommate requests for the Tri Delt house.... it's weird to start organizing my SB life again and think about leaving this life behind.

The little breaks I've taken from my paper to eat meals and what not, today, have made me realize how much I enjoy my flat. I hung out with some of the boys during dinner, and they are always fun to mess with. I helped Danielle figure out her costume for the "Cops and Robbers" party that the school is throwing tomorrow night. She and I always exchange costume ideas. Majid came to look at pictures from UCSB, and can't wait to visit. He's studying international economics and really wants to visit California. Rob came by to ask about America because he wants to come out this summer with a friend of his who is taking a gap year, and he came to look at converse shoes off my computer (he wears them all the time) and can't wait to buy them when they are cheap in America.
It's so true what they've said since I first got to London. Right when I get used to this place, I'm leaving.
Oh my gosh, I just remembered that I've always forgotten to mention this since I've been here.... when I first arrived, and I was staying at Rosebery Hall, and went shopping for a journal, i picked up a pretty inexpensive one, and I chose it for its cover. The cover read: "I'm just catching up on yesterday, by tomorrow I should be ready for today!" This cover is taped to my mirror and I see it everyday. I LOVE it. Everything happens so quickly here that it almost always happens where I don't appreciate it all until after it happens, such as my weekend trips.

That's about it, back to the paper. Love you all!

Look what Jon sent me!!!

Jon sent me flowers today, and it made my day! Aren't they pretty?! There are little rhinestones in the middle of the pink flowers. They are sitting next to my bed on my nightstand now. I can't wait to show them off. What a surprise! He's the best brother!

Visit from the past

It's 11:32, and I just got a knock at my door. This flat used to be all boys last year, and 3 of them came back to visit. One of them was in my room last year, so he came to see what it was like. He showed me all the engravings of his name on my walls, it was kind of cool. When I opened the door, they recognized me from the Guy Fawkes Party I went to, because they play American Football. So I met new kids today! haha

I coach cheerleading on Wednesdays, now, to whoever whats to come, since I can't coach on most fridays. They've set up a time in the gym to coach tumbling and stunting. It's cool to get back out there again.

Back to the paper, Richard comes to town around 12am tomorrow night!

Love you all!

A favorite saying and other words

"I couldn't be bothered" - They always say it out here. Basically, "I was too lazy and didn't want to do it". Such as "I was supposed to go to practice, but I couldn't be bothered"

They also say "I couldn't be asked"

trainers - tennis shoes
fancy dress - dressing up in costumes
"that's well good" - that's very good or really good ("I was well tired")

Love you all!

Things I think of that I forget to write...

One weird thing in Paris, is their "people watching". We pass restaurants, where all the chairs inside the restaurant, and all the tables, are turned to the window, towards the street. Not one person has their back turned. It's really creepy. You feel like you are putting on a show for the people eating their food.

Some new English slang:
"bollocks" - kind of a cuss word, but not one that would be censored on TV
"Are you alright?" - literally, "are you alright?", but in America usually it is said if someone doesn't look well. Here, it's just a common thing to say after you answer the phone or you say hello. It's as frequent as "how are you?". The first week I was here, I thought I must have looked sad or upset all day, but I figured out, it was just something they say.
"bin" - Trash can
"hoover" - vacuum "I need to hoover my room"
"have a shower" - not take a shower
"clean my teeth" - not brush my teeth
"kitchen roll" - paper towels
"jam" - jelly
"jelly" - jello
"Hi-ya" - hello (I even use this now, I love saying it)
"mate" - friend (they even say best mate, instead of best friend)
"trolley" - shopping cart
"laundrette" - laundromat
"hob" - stove
"wa-er" / "bu-er" - water and butter (they leave out the 't's' sometimes)
"proper" - it is used to as an adjective to describe is something is what you'd imagine to be correct, such as a "proper coat" is a nice, warm, tailored coat. A "proper nerd" would be very studious and would probably wear a nerdy outfit. They use it for anything and everything (including cuss words)
"are you sensible?" - used as an insult, kind of like are you crazy or are you stupid
"that's heavy" - "that's intense" in a good or bad way
"washin up" - cleaning the dishes. "I've done my washin up"

In school they have first year through 12th year (not grade) and then they go to college for two years (like junior college) and then uni (where I am), for three years. Many take a 'gap year' in between college and uni. It is a year where they work or travel, and don't go to school.

I'm trying to finish a paper by Thursday night (it's due 11 dec 2007). Richard, a friend from Irvine, comes into Essex around 12am Thursday night/Friday morning.

I plan on going to the lighting of Christmas lights in London down Regents Street next Tuesday, then stay at Mel's that night, and then see Mom and Dad the next day! I'm SOOO excited!

Not much else is new, went to the gym today, going to school everyday. Tomorrow is my day off. I thought I'd be working with the coaches and presidents of cheer tomorrow night from 6-8, but it sounds like they've invited the squad to learn cheers, so we'll see how that goes.....

I went to Tescos yesterday, did my laundry today. I got some good food from Tesco since Richard is coming into town. I semi cleaned my room, and put together all the stuff I'm going to send home with mom and dad. I can't believe I only have 5 more weeks here! It's been crazy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. With all the bad, I really only remember all the good! From here out, every week, I'll see a friend from home, until I get home! This week I see Richard, next week I'll see Mel and the family, the week after (Rome) I'll see my sorority sister, Brenna, the week after that I might see Mel for my birthday, and then I'm HOME!

That's about it! Back to the paper! Hope all is well. Love you all!

Amsterdam Photos

Autumn in Amsterdam

All the different leaves!

Vondel Park

Wok to Walk

A few pictures

Versaille Gardens

Eiffle Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame

View from Sainte-Chapelle

I fell in LOVE with Paris

PARIS IS AMAZING!

On Thursday night, around 7:45 pm, Danielle, Nha and I left Colchester for London because we planned on leaving London for Paris around 5:45 Friday morning, and there wasn't a train that left early enough from Colchester to get to London on time. When we arrived in London, we met up with my good friend Mel and went out on the town with Mel, her friends, and one of Chris' fraternity brothers, Austin, and his friends. That was a lot of fun, we met a boy that went to UCSB at the bar, O'Malley's, that we went to. He is now a grad student at a school linked with Pepperdine, out in London. He used to live at 6632 Del Playa, in SB, the same house that Chris' good friends live in now!

We came back and slept for about 2 hours, before we had to be out of Mel's place by 4:00 am. We caught a taxi, and headed for the station.

We took the Eurostar out of Waterloo in London, and it wasn't too bad. About 2.5 hours, and Danielle and I got to sit next to each other, by chance! When we got into Paris, we tried to find the hostel, but had no idea where to begin. We headed into one direction, looking for a map, and were so lost, we were about to hail a cab. Nha was even approached by a gypsy! The gypsies are very tricky and will try to get you to read a paper they have, and when you are helping them, another one will steal your wallet. Luckily Danielle saw what was going on, and pulled nha away. Then an American boy came up to us and asked, "Are you lost? Let me help you". I think he must have heard us speaking with an American accent, or realized I was wearing a Tri Delta sweatshirt. He helped us to find a metro station, and told us which line to take. (We were pretty far away from the hostel)

When we got to the metro station, we were a little confused on how to buy tickets, since it was all in French. There was a man helping people out, and Nha was the first to buy tickets. After he helped her and explained how to use the machine, he later explained how he was homeless, and since he helped her, he would like some money. She quickly ran away.

We got onto the metro, and found our stop. After we got a map, Chris had a small map of the area and we found our hostel. It was such a neat area! It was in the Latin Quarter, and there were little cafes and shops all around. We had crapes EVERY day, if not twice a day.

It was too early to check in, so we dropped our bags off and headed out. We stopped by a crepe place for our first crepe, and I got one with Nutella! First, we saw the Pantalon from far away, so we made our way toward the area. It was such neat architecture everywhere! We took a few pictures, and then noticed Notre Dame in the distance, and decided to venture over there! It was free to go into Notre Dame and we could take pictures! I took a lot while in there. After Notre Dame, we headed down to the Palace de la Concorde. We took the metro, and bought a pack of 10 tickets to use throughout the weekend. There was a huge obelisk in the center of the street, from Luxor. It is the beginning of the Champs Elysses. The Champs Elysses is neat because it is all lit with lights in the trees for the holidays and it is a straight street leading to the Arc de Triomphe, and we could see the Arc the whole way down. On the way down, we stopped at Sephora, to see what was going on, and they were doing a few people's hair with Big Sexy Hairspray, one of my favorite lines of hairspray. We were talking to the people there, because they were from LA, and it turns out, we were talking to the founder of the hairspray line and he used to own Carlton Hair Salons! We have one of his hair salons in Irvine!

Then we continued our way to the Arc de Triomphe. We had to go under the streets and back up because you can't cross the street to see it. It was AMAZING! It's huge, if you pay money you can go to the top, but since we were going to see the Eiffle tower, we thought we'd save the money. They have a small fire lit, filled with flowers for the "unknown soldier". It was such a bright and blue day, that the pictures turned out to be so pretty!

After this, we went to see the Eiffle Tower before the sun set, and also because if we wanted to climb it, we had to make it before 6 pm. We made it there, and it was BEAUTIFUL. I am always fearful, for reasons unknown, of elevators, or stairs if you can see below, or bridges, so climbing this thing was a struggle, I barely talked the whole way up! We walked to the 3rd level, stopping on each level to view the sites! When you get to the 3rd level, you have to pay to take an elevator to the top, which we did, and it was well worth it! Everyone crams in a little elevator and when you get to the top, it is amazing! I never realized how big Paris was until I saw the view!

It was getting pretty dark by the time we got to the bottom, and as we walked away, the Eiffle Tower lit up, and about 1 mile from the tower, at 6pm, it began to sparkle! It was AMAZING. We decide to get dinner, but near the tower, nothing is cheap, so we sat down for a nice meal. The waiter wasn't too friendly, but we didn't care. I got the Eiffle Salad and it was great!

After dinner, we wanted to go to the Louve because I had read that if you are under 26 years old, on Fridays, between 6:00 and 9:45, it's free. When we got there the pyramid was all lit up, and it was so neat. We went into the museum, and it turned out, I was right, and it was free! So we go to see the Mona Lisa (which we heard later was fake, because they are restoring the "real one" in New York. I say "real one" because it was stolen years back, and they think they recovered the real one, but they aren't sure) and the Venus de Milo. I wish I would've stayed there longer, but it was so big, and we had to get back to the hostel before 10pm to check in.

When we got back to the hostel, we checked in, met our roommates and since Danielle's friends from UCLA were in Paris as well, we tried to meet up with them. We found them at a near by metro station, and then tried to go to MyBerry, similar to PinkBerry! It took us a while, and we found it, but it was closed. So we headed back, and stopped by the crepe place, again, for dessert. After that, we called it a night.

The next morning, we woke up and got breakfast from the hostel. It was a small baguette and croissant. The plan was to go back to our rooms, take a shower and head to Versailles. There was a line directly to Versailles, but it was closed, so we had to take 2 metros and a train! On our way to the first metro, this family asked us how to get to Versailles, and we tried to tell them how, but it was so many directions, they just followed us. It took us a good amount of time to get there.

When we go to the chateaus, it was AMAZING! It is HUGE, if someone wanted to replicate it, today, not considering the historical value, it would cost over a billion dollars for sure! I loved it here. There were so many rooms to see and each room was ornate and had so much history. The gardens were amazing as well, they were never ending! I loved it! It was well worth the money. They also gave us free audio tour sets to listen to as we toured the rooms.

When we got back, Nha and I planned on getting fondue for dinner, but before, she and Danielle were going to stop at MyBerry, and Chris and I went back to the hostel. When we got back, a few roommates had checked out and we met a new kid. His name was Josh, and he was a graduate of Brooks College, in SANTA BARBARA! He studied photography and was out here just to travel. It was nice to find a kid from SB. When Danielle and Nha got back, Chris and I had just enough time to take a little nap, and then Nha and I went to go to the fondue restaurant, but it was really expensive, so we decided to get another crepe for dinner! This one was a ham and cheese (jambon frommage) with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes and cheese! Josh came out with us that night to an American bar down the street. They had red cups (a hard thing to find) and were playing an American drinking game called 'beer pong' and it attracted many American students, so we met a lot of kids all over the states.

We all went back to the hostel together, and called it a night.

The next morning, we all went out together, with Josh, to see the Louve in the day, which was really different from the Louve at night. We also went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were SO green and had surprisingly bright colors of flowers, considering it was autumn. I can't wait to get Josh's pictures from today. He had one of those real professional cameras. Then we took the metro to Basilique de Sacre Coeur, a church near the Moulin Rouge. This was a really neat part of town, it was quite a ways from where we were staying. We climbed to the top of this hill to get there, and at the top of the hill were TONS of artists selling paintings and drawing chalk portraits of the people, I was tempted to get one, but I decided to save my money. For 5 euros, we got to climb the Basilique de Sacre Coeur and see the most AMAZING views of Paris. It took forever to climb all the stairs but it was so pretty from the top. We watched this amazing soccer player below show off his juggling skills with the soccer ball, it was really neat. I wished I could've filmed him, but my battery on my camera died. I took over 200 pictures on this trip! By the end it was time to go home. On our way back, Nha and I stopped at a little shop and bought a really nice coat and dress. I had already spent so much, but you know me, I HAD to come home with some clothes from Paris. "Hey Janelle, where did you get that nice coat?" "Oh, on a weekend trip to Paris!" We also stopped to get our traditional ring from every country. I got a nice gold ring, that I love!

We came back, got a baguette/panini for the road, said goodbye to Josh, and headed for the train back to the UK. On the way back it was only about 10 pounds more to get on the Luxury class, so we upgraded and got a 3 course meal! We started with a cheese appetizer and cantelope and prosciutto and a roll. The main meal was chicken with rice, and for dessert, a lemon tart and chocolate. They kept refilling our drinks and were very nice!

When we got back, we had to catch 2 tube lines. We met a couple on one line from Texas. They were in town for business for only 4 days. We took another train back to Colchester, and had the funniest taxi driver drive us back to the Uni.

Overall, I LOVE PARIS and I can't wait to go back with the family in two weeks. It was cold, but clear skies, nice people, and GREAT pictures! Now it's time to go to bed, and wake up for class tomorrow! Hope everyone is enjoying their veteran's day, or "Remembrance Day" here. At 11:02 am, the country does a moment of silence, and they all wear a poppy on their jackets to remember the soldiers who died in the poppy fields. I wasn't able to get one, but maybe they'll sell a few extras tomorrow.

That's about all I can remember for now, love you all!!!

I got to talk to the girls!

This morning I got a phone call from Amanda, Nina, Cheryl, Hailey, and Kelly, 5 sorority sisters from Chris' room! It was so exciting and nice to hear from them!

I'm off to London tonight, to see Mel, and the Paris tomorrow morning! Have a good weekend!

Love you all!

HELLO!

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to update this lately, after we got back from Amsterdam I've just been filled with school and flat drama.

So Amsterdam.....
This was a school sponsored trip, so we only had to pay 99 pounds for travel and accomodation! And 6 of my flat mates got to come along too! So I was there with 6 flat mates and 4 American friends!

We left on Thursday night, at 12:00am. We took a bus to the ferry in Dover, and then the ferry to France, and then a bus to Amsterdam. We passed through Berlin and France on the way. We stopped a few times, but when a trip takes 12 hours, you'd rather just go through and never stop! By 8am on Friday morning, we had arrived in the Netherlands, and got our first culture shock, when it was hard to figure out what to even order at MacDonalds because it was in Dutch.

We arrived at our hostel at 12pm on Friday afternoon, yes, 12pm. Everyone got off the bus, and we tried to check in, but only a few rooms were ready. We dropped our luggage off in the storage room, and went to explore Amsterdam.

We left in a group, but then we passed the Van Gogh museum, and only Nha and I wanted to go (and my flat mate Natalie) since it costs 10 euros, so we left the group and went to the museum. It was AMAZING! They have 200 of his 900 paintings! It is in sequential order of when he painted them, so you get to see the improvement of his paintings, since he is self taught, and his influences that changed his paintings, and finally his insanity in an insane asylum in the end. We got to see the famous Sunflower and Bedroom paintings! (Stary Night is in New York) We even got to see letters to his friends, and his brother. His brother encouraged him throughout and helped him financially. I learned so much! I didn't realize he quit working with art when he was young because he was so dedicated to his religion! His father was a Protestant minister. They think he had epilepsy, and that is what made him cut off his ear, because he would have violent fits. He died when he shot himself in the chest, and died 2 DAYS LATER! His brother was by his side. The paintings were left with his brother, and then when his brother died 6 months later, they were left to his brother's wife, who passed them down to their son, and then they were kept with the Van Gogh foundation, mostly funded by the Dutch. We were there for at least 3 hours! Nha and I also bought our rings there, since we are buying rings in every country. Our ring is made out of glass, and they are only made for the museum!

After the museum, we met up with a few other girls that weren't from America, but from our school. They came with us to get lunch, and then we did a little souvenir shopping. I got a beanie with a little pom pom on top and pom poms hanging on the side, with 'Amsterdam' written across it. Total touristy thing to do; as dad would say I'm the girl who buys the Statue of Liberty crown in New York. YEA! It's cool when they go home, and it will be cool when I go home! haha

After, we went back to the hostel to check in. We quickly got our room, and staying next to us, were the rest of the kids from my flat. It was kind of sketchy at the hostel. We said we needed to get to our room, but they weren't sure which rooms were taken, and which were available, from the rooms they'd assigned us. To solve this issue, they gave us 3 keys, not knowing if these keys had been issued to others. So we took them and opened every room. Some rooms had luggage in them already (which we could have stolen!) and some were empty. We chose the room we wanted, and moved in. Since the other girls in our room were not back at the hostel, we let them know which room we had chosen, and then unpacked our things. We had previously chosen our rooms, so I was with all American UC girls.

When the girls got back, we talked for a while, and then went to get dinner. We found a cool chinese take out place. It was called Wok to Walk. They have a 3 step menu and the line is SO long. But it was well worth it! Next to this place was a food stop called "FEBU". This was the best place! It reminds me of hospitals, where you can put in coins and open the drawer to get your food! No one works there, except to replace the food. You just insert coins, and open the lid, and grab your burger, or sandwich, or dessert!

One of the American girls, Kara, was a friend from orientation in London, and she had friends from school that were visiting Amsterdam the same time we were there. So we tried to find them, and it took FOREVER. Finally, we met up with them, and they took us to the Red Light District. All I can say is WOW. We felt like we had to go, if it's one of the things Amsterdam prides itself on, but I'd rather not go back.

Amsterdam also is proud of its legalization of marijuana. We quickly learned that cafes sell coffee, coffee shops sell weed.

Soon after, we headed home, and called it an early night so we'd be able to get up early for more adventures the next day.

Saturday morning, Nha and I woke up before everyone else. We got up at 8:00 am, and the hostel had free buffet breakfast. So we got breakfast which wasn't great, but well appreciated since it was free. We were out by 9:00 am. Our first goal was to find this display of life-size letters (like California Adventure at Disneyland) which spelled out "I Amsterdam". The "AM" of Amsterdam was in different colors, so it was supposed to read "I Am Amsterdam". So we asked the front lobby where it was, and he directed us to a square (park) that we were familiar with. When we got there, we couldn't find it, even though it was supposed to be VERY obvious. Then we asked a lady at a flower shop where it was, and she directed us to the same spot and said we couldn't miss it. But we couldn't find it. Then we finally asked a 3rd lady walking her dog, and she informed us that the display no longer existed. Great, thanks Amsterdam, 40 minutes of looking for something that wasn't there!

Our next planned stop was the Anne Frank Huis (House). THAT was amazing! We took the tram (for free, but wasn't supposed to be) to the closest stop, and then followed the signs to her house. We stood in line for an HOUR, but it was well worth it. We got to travel through the actual house, and see ID badges, and where she hid, and the bookshelf the moved to expose a door to the annex, and testimonials of people who helped her hide. It was SO cool! When we were leaving the house, the church bells started to ring, and Nha said, "What's that song the bells are playing?" I was so confused, but as I listened harder, the church bells were ringing "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. I have a video of it if you don't believe me.

After that, Nha and I went to search for a park that we had heard had AMAZING colors on the leaves. On the way there, we found a street fair, with TONS of booths, I wanted to buy everything, but had to stop myself. It took us about 45 min of asking people where the park was and walking there to finally find it, and it was well worth it. It was a simple park, but we saw trees with red leaves, orange leaves, green leave and yellow leaves. You never get anything like that in So Cal. In the park was a little cafe that we found, and sat down to try 'bitterballen'. It's like a Dutch croquet. After eating, we headed to another cafe that was mentioned in her travel book and sat there to eat Apple Tart, a traditional Dutch dessert, and have hot chocolate. Then we headed home to relax a little and catch up with the rest of the group.

When we left we saw police on horses and stopped to see why. There was a protest going on against animal cruelty. It was in Dutch, but we quickly figured out what the signs said through pictures.....

That night, my flat mates wanted to go to a nice sit down dinner instead of ordering fast food, and I went with them, while the Americans went back to Wok to Walk. It was nice to sit with my flat for a nice dinner in another country. We headed back home to get everyone together to go out.

When everyone finally met up, we headed out to a club we had heard of. It was pretty far, but when we got there, we expected it to cost us 15 euros, but it only cost us 5 and we were really excited! It wasn't as exciting as we had expected though. Then Nha had to use the restroom and was talking to another girl and found out that we weren't at the club we had planned on going. The club we wanted was around the corner. But by that time, we were pretty tired and decided to head home.

By Sunday morning, we were all ready to go home. We had to check out by 11 am, but our bus didn't leave until 2:30. So the girls and I decide to kill time at any restaurant/cafe that we could go to that would let us order a few things and sit for a while. Soon enough, 2:30 came around and it was time to go home.

It took us 10 hours to go home, and I got a stamp in my passport, but since they didn't check them on the way to Amsterdam, only on the way back, I have another UK stamp, not an Amsterdam one. Oh well...

When we got home.... WHAT A MESS! Majid, one of the boys, threw a party for himself because it was his birthday, and we came back and the front door was egged and had flour all over it! I couldn't be bothered to deal with it that late at night (12am) so I just went right through to my room. The next morning he was cleaning it up, because the cleaning lady refused to, and he was given a letter from the supervisor. It said that he needed a meeting with the supervisor, and they have been having problems with him. He was very scared.

Later that day, he went to his meeting, and came back to tell us that he had been kicked out of dorm because he was causing so much trouble and was being sent to another dorm. We planned on throwing him a goodbye dinner, and then I had to go to class with Leo.

When Leo and I got to the elevator, Leo said, "You know he's lying, right?" I told him I thought Majid was serious, but now I was going to get him back. So I sent Majid a text saying that I was sorry he got kicked out, and that I felt it was unfair and that I was going to make an appointment with the supervisor to try to get him back on our flat.

After class I had to go straight to cheer practice, and then right after we were going to one of the coach's houses to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes Day is in celebration of Guy Fawkes' failure in blowing up parliament. To celebrate, fireworks are set off, and they burn scarecrows (in place of Guy Fawkes). So we went to Katie's house and set of ground fireworks, like we do at Grandma's.

After that, I came home with some cheerleaders and went to bed. The next day, the flat informed me that Majid had told the truth about not being kicked off the flat, but that he also thought it would be funny for me to make a fool of myself in front of the supervisor (even though I knew). So in return, I sent another text later saying that I went to my meeting, and I wish he would've told me about the lie, because now the supervisor is actually thinking of sending him to the South Courts (the really quite, boring dorms) since Majid thought it was such a joke. Majid got really nervous and ran to Louis' room to see if it was a joke. Louis played along, so Majid came to my room to see if I was joking. I told him it was payback for trying to trick me.... he messed with the wrong girl!

Nothing happened Tuesday night.

Today I didn't have class, so I've been trying to work on my essay. I have 4 essays due at the end of the quarter, each 4000 words each. It's hard to get a lot done here, there is no wireless, so if I want to use a computer, I pretty much have to do it in my room, and my room is like a prison cell, and everyone is SO loud in the halls.

At 4:30 pm, I had a meeting with my UC advisor that I met during orientation in London. He came to check over my classes and see how I was doing. It was nice to see him again. At 6:15, we met for dinner (his treat) and it was AMAZING. It was so nice to sit down and have a good meal and not worry about how much it cost. I got to have a nice plate of salmon and noodles and for dessert I had tiramisu..... ahhh... just thinking about it is nice.

Tonight I'm going to try to work some more on my essay. Tomorrow morning around 8 am (12pm your time) Chris and girls from Tri Delt are going to try to call me on Skype. Chris' fraternity and Tri Delt are having a social tonight at Sig Ep, and so they are going to try to call during it. I'm SOOOO excited! I've talked to a few of them, but this time I can finally see them.

I talked to Kerry online and it was nice to get caught up on her life at UCSD. I heard all of Kaycee's acceptances to colleges! That's SO cool, I'm so excited and proud of her!

Tomorrow I have class from 10-3 with a few breaks, but at night, we're heading down to London. We are leaving for Paris at 5:45 am on Friday, and there isn't a train that leaves early enough from Colchester to London, so we have to stay a few hours at my friend, Mel's, place for a bit.

I think that's about it for now. I wanted to get all the Amsterdam info to you on Sunday, but by the time I got back it was so late and I was so tired. And then Monday and Tuesday have just been packed. Hope all of you are doing well! I can't wait to see you all for New Years and Christmas! Tonight they lit the Christmas lights down Oxford Street in London, like they light the tree in Times Square. I'm going to try to go to the lighting on the 20th, on Regents Street!

Love you all!!!!

For your enjoyment and laughs....

You're welcome! Laugh it up now! I talked to Lauren Kamiyama today on Facebook, she sounds like she's doing well. How was everyone's Halloween?? Love you all!

bad news

Spoke too soon.... we're robots.... Happy Halloween everyone!

Good news (for me), bad news (for other people)

Good news.... NO MORE ROBOTS!.... we think.... So maybe 80s flash dance tonight?? We'll see!! Exciting!!!

Bad news... lots of people on my flat didn't get tickets to the school Halloween party, so we can't all go out together tonight, and that's why we aren't robots. Bad news for Danielle, too. She has 12 laundry baskets now...

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy Halloween!

We've had 2 birthdays this week, and our flat makes sure to make each of their birthdays special. So at 12 am on Sunday night, we decorated the kitchen with balloons and then brought Leo out of his room and sang happy birthday. His ex girlfriend came into town on Monday for his birthday and at night we brought out a cake and his present. It's really cute, everyone on the flat puts in a pound into the birthday fund for each person and then we have 16 pounds to spend on everyone for each of their birthdays!

Then yesterday it was Danielle's birthday (English Danielle) and we had another cake and we got her a teddy bear and a mug that you can write on and then bake it so it stays permanent. One of the girls, Maniera, decorated it. Danielle was really excited. Then we went to Hippodrome for her birthday, a club in town. There were a few of us that wanted to call it an early night, so we went for her and then came back early together. At Hippodrome, the bouncer recognizes me now because the first time I went, he had a hard time finding my birthday on my drivers license and we talked while I was in line. So yesterday, I got to skip the whole line with my friends and he lets us in. My flat mates were pretty proud of me haha.

I have had to sign up for classes at UCSB while I'm out here, but my times to sign up are late at night, around 8:45 pm US time, so I have to wait until 3:45 am UK time to sign up. My pass time was on 30 Oct at 8:45, so I thought, ok... 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3:45 ok I'll sign up on the 30th at 3:45 am. So I waited, and waited. And then tried to sign up, and it didn't work. DUH, Janelle, it's 3:45 the next day, so I needed to sign up at 3:45 on the 31st! So again, I had to stay up. I can only sign up for 3 classes, out of 4, each time, so so far, I have no classes on Fridays, and the earliest I wake up would be 9:30 if all 4 classes work out. I'm taking 3 economics classes, and one journalism writing class.

Since it was Danielle's birthday last night, we decided as a flat we would all dress the same tonight, and she could pick our costumes.... BAD IDEA. Her first idea was to be smirfs, and paint our faces blue. LUCKILY, the Rugby boys dressed like this during initiation and she didn't want to look like we were copying them. whew! So what did she decide instead??? ROBOTS! So tonight, not only am I missing UCSB Halloween, but I'm going to have a collapsable laundry basket around my body and wear aluminum foil on my arms..... yay.... (fake smile)....But we'll have fun tonight, and I'm pretty sure we'll be the only robots..... Louis got lucky, he opted to be the 'mechanic' and Danielle thought that would be a good idea. I wish I could be the mechanic... haha The best part is that NO one on our flat, besides 2 boys think it's a good idea. Oh well... Happy Birthday Danielle!

Tomorrow we leave for Amsterdam at 12am that night. We'll get into town early Friday morning, and leave Sunday afternoon and get back around 12 am on Sunday night. We are taking a coach, to a ferry, to another coach. When we went to Edinburgh, we swore we would never take a coach again... that came to kick us in the butt. It will take about 8 hours to get there. Hopefully I'll get to see the I Amsterdam sign and the Van Gogh museum and the Heineken Experience!

That's about it! Love you all!

Bummin around today

Not much going on today, I was able to catch up on some reading, and made an appointment to meet with one of my professors on Thursday, right before we leave for Amsterdam.

We spent 1.5 hours cleaning the kitchen... again. Every week, dishes get put into the sink and pots and pans and dishes are never washed. So, in order of us to feel comfortable in the kitchen again, whoever is around has to clean it up. No one ever says it is their dish, or their pan. One girl, refuses to clean the kitchen because she says she always cleans up her stuff. I do too, so I feel if you don't clean the kitchen, you shouldn't get to sit in it when it is clean because it would still be dirty, if it weren't for us who do clean it. Oh well.

Two of the loudest boys are playing video games right now. I swear they never study, but I can hear through their door, down the hall, through my door, whenever someone loses or gets killed in the game. Still love them though.

I realized I've told you about my American friends, but not my flat mates!

Danielle - Danielle is very outgoing. She is doing cheerleading with me. She is friends with everyone and loves to dress up for themed events. She has a boyfriend who is 3 years older, and he's come to visit once, but mostly she goes to see him on the weekends.

Natalie - Natalie is a sweet girl. She is very shy, but always wants to hang out with everyone. Just recently she got to meet the Duke of Edinburgh (the Queen's husband) because she did a traveling challenge, where she spent time in the jungle and traveled the world with a group at the highest level!

Louis - Louis is very outgoing. He is one of the loud boys. He is from Wales. There are two boys from Whales, I can understand Louis better than the other boy, but both are hard to understand.

Rob - Rob is a fun guy. He loves to hang with the girls, he'll even watch the Notebook with us. He has a sweet girlfriend, Ellie, who is one year younger than him. She comes to visit a few times.

Hardeep - Hardeep is one of my neighbors. He has just recently brought his drum set.... yes.... his drum set. Luckily he's pretty respectful and doesn't play it too loud or often. He keeps his room EXTREMELY clean... kind of crazy clean. He is a really nice guy, and easy to talk to. He goes home every weekend to see him family and girlfriend.

Jenner - Jenner is the other loud boy. He is really funny and outgoing. His famous line is "That's jokes" (that's funny). His girlfriend Amy just came up to visit, she's a year younger than him. She was here for a whole week.

Dan - Dan is my other neighbor. He is training for the Army now, and has to go into London every Tuesday and every weekend. He's a very nice guy. He makes me laugh because he digs himself a lot of holes when he talks, and is constantly trying to back himself out.

"Hugo" (real name Hueges) - Hugo is from France. He is very quiet, mostly because it's hard for him to communicate to us. It takes a few tries to have a full on conversation with him. He is very particular with his belongings. He got really sick one week, we think because of food poisoning, because he only cooks his meat on the outside (every time) and the inside is PINK! But he does this with every meal.

Lauren - Lauren is our quietest girl. The first week, I didn't even know she was on our flat! Apparently she used to hang out on another flat, and always come in and go straight to her room. Now, she stays more on our flat, and I've gotten to talk to her more. She's really nice, but very shy. Her boyfriend is always on our flat, but they talk to us now. Before she didn't say anything, but she has opened up more.

Leo - Leo is our genius. He knows everything and is well educated, especially about American history and current events. He is that rebel type though, who listens to rock bands and plays the guitar. I love hanging out with Leo, he has so much to discuss and talk about. I relate to Leo the most.

Amy - Amy is very nice, and very busy. She plays on two field hockey teams, and works at her job. She has spent a year in China, teaching English to Chinese kids.

Majid - Majid is known around the school for making kids mad. He is very proud that he is from Whales and not from England, and he makes sure everyone knows it. You can hear him from a mile away cursing the English. He does it jokingly, but if you don't know it, you just think he's causing a ruckus. The first day I met him, I didn't know a word he was saying. Now he's much better. He tells the best stories.

Courtney - Courtney is one of my favorites. She reminds me of the proper English girl. She is who I go to when I want to know where to shop or get tea. She is the sweetest, and is the nicest to everyone. Natalie leans a lot on her for guidance and friendship, and at times it gets on Courtney's nerves, but she is always nice about it. Her sister also goes to Essex. I really want Courtney to visit in America.

Maniera - Maniera isn't always around but she's very nice and outgoing. She is a very strong minded girl, but if you stay on her good side, she's a good friend.

Alex - Alex is really nice, but doesn't hang out with us often because ever since college (they call this uni, college is before uni) he hasn't been able to sleep at night. So he's always asleep in the day. He is enjoying the flat, but isn't enjoying uni and has decided to drop out. In the winter quarter they will probably get two new students instead of just replacing me.

And with me, that makes 16 kids on this flat. All sharing one kitchen.

I got to talk to mom for a little today, it's always nice to talk to her. Especially when I'm having frustrating days. It was daylight savings out here, so now we are only 7 hrs apart... until next week...

I went to go see the Miami v. NY game today at Top Bar, especially since it was being played in London, but they played the Arsenal v. Liverpool soccer game instead. Even though they were playing it in the main bar as well. I went by myself, with a flat mate that was going with me to learn about the game. I usually go with two boys from America, Joey and Chris, but they were in Norway for the weekend. Why do I even try to keep up with American football... haha.

I went to the gym today with Danielle. It is always fun to catch up on our weeks at the gym, especially because we live on different ends of campus and don't see each other in class.

That's about it, I'm going to try to catch up on my reading and get to bed early. Love you all!