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!!