RIP

It makes me sad how Liberated-Mashed-HeartShaped-Puttering-Dandelions has ceased to exist.
Maybs I'll post on it in SF :D

Move like a gypsy and find quasimodo.

After awakening from our beauty sleep in the Louvre, I wanted to stop by some of the Egyptian exhibits before moving on and out. We walked along the river, trying to be as non-touristy as possible towards the Notre Dame--only whipping out our maps when it was absolutely imperative. Parisians are interesting people... they're the proudest Europeans and the craziest, too. Twice in an hour some men walked past us making obtuse arm gestures and barking things in French. Needless to say, I kept my umbrella ready and close to me the entire day. Vintage posters, hand paintings and live music filled the streets of Paris and it led us all the way to the gorgeous Notre Dame. The arquitecture was just mindblowing, and I had to stand there in awe for a couple of minutes before we could proceed to line up to enter. I won't bore you with details of the stained glass... but it truly was magnificient. We spent a good 2 hours in there and took the tolling of the bells as our cue to start heading out. We walked on a downstairs path closer to the river for the journey back, and we were amazed to find sand. Sand? At the riverfront? Striped beach chairs and people in their swimsuits? I flung my sandals off and ran for that sand, and it felt great. I stood there with my feet immersed in the sand, feeling every grain on my skin for a good minute, and then sadly had to leave because the schedule was beckoning us.

So What If I'm a Robert Langdon Wannabe?

A 9 hour long bus ride from London to Paris is not the ideal way to travel. Trust me. But if you're going to travel by coach anywhere and make it worth it: Paris is the way to go. I woke up to the view above at 5:30 a.m. and a butt ache like I've never experienced before, but it was instantaneously numbed by the magnificence of the city. They dropped us off and let us go at it. Here is what my day was like.

Eiffel Tower: Being the financially conscious and healthy young adults that we all are, we decided to walk up the Eiffel Tower instead of taking the lift up (3 euros versus 17... um, yeah). Now let me tell you something, it's big. Not "big" like Big Ben--this thing is a beast. We trekked up 700 steps and had only gone a tad more than halfway, but my god was it worth it. The view of the Seine River flowing throughout the city, the buildings, the ornate pillars on the Alexander Bridge... everything was breathtaking. Post Eiffel Tower hike, we decided to go on a hunt for crepes, and French whatnots around the city. The people were, not particularly nice... especially if you don't speak French. Thankfully, whatever nonsensical French I picked up over years of listening to cousins and aunts got me through the day with nothing but smiles and help. I even managed to inquire the whereabouts of Beauxbatons and if anyone had seen my sister Fleur... apparently we had been parted at the train station, and since I am an incoming student, I do not know how to get there on my own...

Let's just say, I felt bad for the people actually believed me, and had a good laugh out of the ones that thought I was mentally unstable. Thanks, Dgao. You're really looking out for me.

In addition to the fun task of the country, we wandered over to the Louvre in attempts to discover some age old secret cult. The amount of artwork and history that is in there is unbelievable; I felt like I was Nicholas Cage in National Treasure when he sets his eyes on the hidden treasure. Everything was fascinating, everything was important and grand, but nothing beat the Louvre's shining star: the Mona Lisa. I journeyed over there, half expecting it to be located in a dark and ominous hallway... oh how quickly I was proven wrong. There was a MOB of people around the 16" x 20". I stealthily tried to sneak through the crevices between people and successfully captured a picture of it. Phew. Now that I got that done, there really wasn't anything left to do but nap. So we napped. Right in the middle of the Louvre. The best 10 minutes of sleep all weekend.

Bonjour, parlez vous francais?

There is a reason why people come to Paris every year. I now know why. My account of crepes, french-speaking, shady Asians and more...coming soon. :]

TASKS #17-20

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DONE!

#17: Eat at least one more cone of ice cream. BECAUSE ICE CREAM IN EUROPE IS THE BEST. And take a picture. Please!

#18: If possible, climb the Eiffel Tower. Stand against it with a friend, and scream at the top of your lungs in infamous Titanic line, "I'm the King of the World". You may change the gender of this line :)

#19: See the Moulin Rouge. Start parading around singing "Lady Marmalade"

#20: Eat pastries, and a lot of them. Then write some food erotica about how delicious it is :)

FIN. Have a great time :D

Germany: Now that's a castle

July 25, 2009. We decided to pick up the pace on Saturday, and headed out for a tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps. We dragged our feet to the Hofbahnhaus (main train station), and signed ourselves up for a tour that cost 49 euros. For some reason, spending euros felt SO much better than spending pounds, even though it really was not a big difference. We met some Brazilian students on the train there, and it was amazing how easily inferior I felt in their presence. I suddenly realized something. These kids are crazy. They learn a language at home, and off they go to that country for six months like it's nothing in order to improve their skills. Here I am complaining about my two month stay in a country that speaks the same language as me while these kids go off from home to all the ends of the earth, learning languages left and right.

We got off the train, and found ourselves in the Bavarian Alps. We made it up to the castle at the top of the Alps, and the view was breathtaking. I couldn't believe what I saw at the moment: clear sky, lakes the color of sapphires, and the dark blue mountain ranges in the back; how can you feel anything but the joy of being alive at the sight of something like that? The work of man nestled in the work of nature... it was just amazing.

After a tour of the castle, we decided to take a different path back down to the gorge. We continued to bask in the beauty of nature around us and climbed down the side of the mountains beside the streams of clear water rushing down. We journeyed down on a metal bridge wide as the size of my macbook in silence and all around, I could hear the splashing of the water; below me, all I saw was the water crashing vehemently against that big ol' rock I was clinging onto. It was definitely worth the 49 euros.

We got home around 5ish, napped and then headed out to Augustiner Bierhalle for some German grub. I ordered "Beef Olive." Sounded pretty sketch to me, but it came out to be like rolled up steak with carrots and other questionable things on the inside, served with mushrooms sauteed in a chive cream sauce and the best stankin' mashed potatoes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. OHMYGOD. 2 points for Europe.

We ended the night with some street gelato in chocolate WAFFLE (because they're better than cake) cones, strolling down lit paths of Marienplatz listening to the echoes of live street classical music.

Now, that is what I was expecting.

Germany Continued...

dang, I've been lazy. Okay, so last time, I had just arrived in Germany. We spent five days and four nights there, and we still didn't get to see all of Munich. Friday was a day of relaxation for our minds after all the brain power we used trying to find our way from the airport to the hotel. It was our first morning at the breakfast buffet-now before you get too excited, let's take a moment to think about what breakfast buffets entail: A bar of scrambled eggs, bacon, taters in some form, ham, fluffy pancakes, perfect waffles and maple syrup. We didn't have that... well let's not cry too much because the European breakfast was good, too. Unlimited amounts of salami, hams, creamy mozzarella, brie, olives, cucumber slices, tomatoes, the best toast of my life, the freshest strawberry jam ever, hard-boiled eggs (ohhh yahhh), a pot of tea, little packs of nutella (perfect for stealing) and some damn good orange juice. Not too shabby, Germany. That's one point for Europe. So after stuffing our faces full of a "lite breakfast," we headed out to town, and strolled around.

"This is what happens when you get a B.A. in liberal arts"

THURSDAY, 23 July. The plane left around one o'clock, and oh my god, I swear my ears have never popped so badly before. Prior to leaving England, the five of us contemplated getting a German phrase book, and I'm not going to lie... I really wanted one. They decided against it, and then we entered the war without shields. Stepping out of the plane and walking through the airport was the first culture shock that I've experienced this entire time. After walking a good five minutes, I noticed something was really strange. We all decided to hush for a moment, and we realized what the strange thing was: it was silent-everything, everyone was SILENT. ZIP. ZAP. NADA. Not a single peep, let alone the roars of laughter that we were all naturally producing. It was the first time I've felt out of place over here. So we shuffled our way through the airport, and while we were sitting and waiting for the train to come and take us to the main plaza in Munich, we see a man collecting plastic bottles and cans. Tiffany hands him her plastic bottle and the conversation starts like this:
Man: Now that's a good woman!
We all laughed and noticed that he had an American accent.
Man: But you know what? You can't recycle this one.
He approached us with the bottle in hand, pointing to a symbol on another bottle...
Man: You need this symbol on it.
Tiffany: Oh, we didn't know, sorry about that!
Man: Aw now, don't worry about it. Hey! You guys speak American English! Where are you all from?
All of us: California...
Man: Well, where in California?
All of us: L.A.! Orange County! San Diego! San Francisco!
Man: I went to UCLA! Let me tell you guys something... this is what happens when you get a B.A. in liberal arts. I was an English major...

Everyone turns their heads and immediately looks at me. He came onto the same train as us, and it turns out that he's been in Germany since 1983 when he graduated from UCLA. We sat there and talked to him throughout the entire train ride about black talk, roadie work, tennis and life since he left the States. We parted with him at our stop and headed off on our own journey towards the hotel, when it started to hail out of no where.

Our hotel ended up being smack dab in the center of Munich's red light district; that explained all the weird looks I got when I asked how to get to Schillister St. We finally made it safely to the hotel, promptly dropped our bags and headed out for some food. After five minutes of walking past cabarets and strip clubs, we saw VIET-THAI GARDEN. It was fate. I couldn't even remember the last time I used chopsticks, let alone eat Vietnamese food... it was amazing. We walked back to our hotel room, our blood flowing with MSG. Ah... heaven. Halo, Germany.

Sprechen Sie Deutsches?... this is going to be a long one.

Nien. I don't sprechen sie deutsch. halo, dankeschon and auf wiedersen: Munich was amazing, and it has to be the best decision/destination by far. Hope y'all are ready because the breakdown is coming.

Tasks 14-16

Ok so there's been a bit of a hiatus so I figure it was a sign to move on to other countries.

14. Either take a picture with someone wearing a kilt on a normal day basis, or better yet, buy your own kilt.

15. If you go to France, ask everyone where Beauxbatons is. If you don't go, try speaking with a French accent one day and telling everyone that you're a transfer student from Beauxbatons and you can't find your sister Fleur.

16. Have Belgian Waffles. Hurl lavish praises on whoever serves them to you.

Tasks #11 and #12!...and #13!

Okay, fine, I already told you one of them, but I need to put it in writing to make it count.
10: take a picture of you holding Stonehenge in your hand!
11: FIND A CORGI AND TAKE A PICTURE WITH IT. Official dog of the royal family. Represent.
12: Find a jukebox somewhere if you can (do they know what jukeboxes are?) and blast an Elton John jam. Preferably Tiny Dancer.

Operation Captain Task #10

I have officially begun my "Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince" craze! And in its honor, I dedicate your 10th task captain.

Task #10: While waiting in line for a showing of HP6: HBP in England, engage in a wizard's duel with a fellow spell-user. Some must-uses: expelliarmus, avada kedavra, crucio, aguamenti, tarantallegro, petrificus totalus, sectumsempra (signature HP6 move), engorgio, and last, but not least, wingardium leviosar! Blogspot is obviously American because half of these spells are underlined red.

Wish you a bloody brilliant time at HP in England. You can't even imagine how badly I wish I was there to bask in the HarryPotter-ness.

Task #6: I <3 TOPSHOP

TOPSHOP anyone? I went to the one in Brighton... and it was pretty cool, they had a Top Man right next door. Planning to go to the one in London next week! I ended up buying that skirt. :] Now that was an awesome task.

Task #4: Hershey Got it Right

Cadbury, smazbury...it ain't got nothing on you, Hershey. 4 pack from the 99 pence store. what am I going to do with 3 1/2 uneaten bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars?

Hello, London! (the one that would have been saturday)

If it was anything that woke me up to the fact that I'm in England, it would be the day-trip to London. We spent 14 hours walking around the city, soaking all of it in, and I feel like there's still so much more to cover. I ventured into Westminster Abbey with our group as a 17 year old so that I could get a discounted price :] 6 pounds, people... history ain't cheap. But after all of that, I honestly would have paid full price because of how amazing it is. I've never been surrounded by so much historical and architectural richness. I got lost in there with the audio as my guide, and sat there in awe for a moment as I passed all the great (and not so great) monarchs of England. The writers, the poets, the musicians, kings and queens... it was real, guys. Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Charles Darwin... it was in your face history, and I loved it. It was time to go, and I sadly left the Abbey onto Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. After admiring the grandeur of the sights, we all decided to go on the Eye, where I decided that I was 15 for the day. 8.50 pounds instead of 20 pounds or something like that... hell yeah, I was going to try to be 15! I walked up to the kiosk, and calmly asked for one child admission and the lady goes, "Do you have I.D.?"... what kind of a 15 year old has I.D.? the rest of the dialogue went something like this:

"No, I don't have any I.D."
"Well then, I'm afraid I can't sell you a ticket..."
"Then could I just pay for regular admission?"
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
"WHY NOT?!"
"...Well first of all, you don't look fifteen, and secondly, I can't let you on without a guardian..."
(apparently ferris wheels in England are equivalent to rated R movies in America)

haha, I never thought I would have to try so hard to convince someone that I was younger than I actually am. But I got a child admission, and the view from the eye was pretty fantastic. The rest of the day consisted of trying to get through the last two things for the day: Platform 9 and 3/4 and Abbey Road. We got lost and ended up paying about 3 pounds to get to it when it was free. I ran around asking policemen if they happened to know where platorm 9 and 3/4 was.. heh. Abbey Road is coming up next, friends.

Headed back to school on the train, and witnessed two drunk Brits arguing about a cockblock incident over a Spanish girl...

i'm definitely not in california anymore,
captain

the one that would have been thursday

I've never realized how much of a drag it is to take summer school, especially in England. Note to all: if you want to study abroad, summer's probably not the best time, particularly if you're used to being lazy and slacking off during the summer like moi. Class has been a constant droning of discussion, the kind where only the teacher discusses and when she pauses for input, all she gets is blank stares.

I finally stopped being anti-social and decided to jump in on school sponsored social events: the pub crawl. oh my god. about 6 groups of 40 american college students on a supervised field trip to three pubs in Brighton and a club at the very end. needless to say, it was a whole bunch of KUHRAZY. Kevin and I had a shot of absinthe each... I hadn't even heard of absinthe prior to - no, I didn't see any fairies. We headed over to the club and spent about two hours dancing away, getting stepped on, and exchanging sweat with all the other crazies until we just couldn't handle it anymore. Apparently my Mama-esque role takes on here too, because I ran after drunk kevin as we left the club, and he was shouting, "I WANNA TOUCH THE OCEAN"- in the pouring rain. After agreeing to dip my feet into the Atlantic Ocean with him, we ran and ran under the bullets of rain, roaring thunder and striking lightning to the bus stop... and being the graceful person that I am, I slid on that slippery sucker of a sidewalk. While examining my wonderful bruises and scratch on the side of my thigh at the bus stop, I overheard one of my friends telling some guy that she was going to jizz on him... they should have warning labels on that alcohol stuff.

But boy, was it lovely. Running barefoot through the streets of Brighton under the rain - past all the beautiful buildings and the reflections of the street lights on the pavement. I don't think I'll ever forget that night.

thankful of not catching pneumonia,
captain

oh sh*t, it's been a week.

first of all, i would like to discuss how strangely complicated everything is over here. i have to work twice as hard here as i would at home to get the same thing done. I last left y'all off on Tuesday, and boy have I had an eventful week. In attempts to recap everything...

Let's Make You a Cool Kid and Teach You British Slang

So, I was browsing through Youtube, doing my usual, "I'm bored. I don't know what to do with myself, even though it's 3AM in the morning and I shouldn't be doing anything but sleeping..." I came across this and immediately thought of you. It seems useful?? I enjoyed the part about fannies, hahah. And "we don't pet...we stroke" because I'm oddly amused by dirty humor at this hour, apparently.






Now you can adopt the persona of a cool, British...20-something by simply utilizing their very, very, VERY...and did I mention very? odd slang! I like that he attempts to speak Spanish, hehe.

Love you! And Happy 4th of July :)

Operation Captain Tasks 7-9

7. Hit on a Brit using the American-est of all American pick up lines. The cornier, the better. The geekier (science/math status)...double the brownie points!

8. Depending on whether or not you read this early enough to do it, wish everyone a "Happy 4th of July!" (or "Happy Independence Day") and gauge the reaction on their faces. Duck for cover if they come after you with muskets, while clad in red coats and pretty gold buttons.

9. Use the words "fiddlesticks" and "poppycock"...all the time, in a British accent, whether it be in the "Oh (insert word here)" context, or something way more creative and equally as enjoyable. Because I just tried it and they sound super funny, hahah.

Operation Captain Tasks 5-6

5. DRINK TEA AND EAT CRUMPETS. This is honestly the only way to integrate into true U.K. culture. Also, you must have a British magazine or amazing British book with you.

6. Please visit a Top Shop, so the girls are able to live through your shopping eyes.

... MORE TO COME!

The Great Britain Pound Kills

So these past few days have been alcohol-filled and interesting. I've managed to meet some nice people, and it's starting to feel a little like the days are going by a little faster. I went into Brighton today and Kevin and I found the 99 pence store!!! I also discovered a milkshake place that has over 150 flavors... yeah, that's right. A MILKSHAKE PLACE. I'm definitely coming back there. It was karaoke night tonight, but a group of us ended up going to eat fish and chips instead. The portion as bloody huge. I've taken more public transportation within the last two days than I've ever taken in my entire life, and I think I might almost be getting used to it. The people on the bus kind of smell funny though, but the best part is getting on and off the bus and hearing the bus driver say, "Cheers!". I'm think about getting on and off buses for fun just so I can hear it over and over again. On the ride back, I tried to say it to one of them as I was getting off, and it just sounds retarded in my American accent: So I faked a British one. I was like "CHEERS TO YOU!!" and just jumped off the bus. Weekdays are kind of a drag though because there really isn't much to do on campus. All of the places to eat close at 5, and everyone seems to be consumed by the physics program. I thinking about buying a bus pass, and taking the bus into town by myself when I get bored. I sure wish everyone were here with me, so that we can all lounge around together and head to the pebbly beaches. But the pound makes me depressed... tickets to Spain cost about 80 pounds... that's almost 160 dollars. But I guess it's like traveling in the states. The girl next door to me came with her friends, and as I am typing, they're over there laughing and having a ball. I miss you guys like no other.... Never thought I would have such major withdrawals. Even lounging around with other people doesn't feel the same as whitening my teeth, dying my hair, playing spades, eating til I want to puke and napping with you guys. In addition to that, food here just isn't the same. I hope you guys will be up for an American food binge when I get back... because man do I miss it all. No wonder the people here are so skinny. Oi. BUT I did have a decent meal, and it was at the Queen's Head! I had a traditional English breakfast for 6 pounds... and it was SCRUMPCIOUS. Eggs that were poached/sunny side up, English sausage, ham and baked beans with this fried tomato thing.. and toast too! That was the first meal that filled my up since I've been here.

Might I add that the toilets are hard to flush...

Despite lack of good food, yet still gaining weight from random alcoholic binges,
captain

Operation Captain England Tasks 1-4

1. Meet someone named Seamus. Calmly remark that you supported Bulgaria in the Quidditch World Cup.

2. Take a picture on Abbey Road in the Beatles pose. Be the first in line and wear all white.

3. When there is an awkward pause in a conversation with someone from England, shift your eyes around nervously and in a low drone, mutter "bluhhhdyyyy" in a stretched-out fashion. This should last at least 3-4 seconds, and make sure to avoid eye contact.

4. Get some Cadbury's Dairy Milk. Determine if they are better than standard American chocolate.

Scratched: Among a group of soccer fans, say "I'm really glad David Beckham went to the LA Galaxy. He deserved to play in a place where fans actually appreciate him and genuinely understand the game."

Cheers! from Brighton

Hello, mates. Cheers from a place where their beaches have rocks instead of sand, they drive on the wrong side of the road, sit on the wrong side of the car, have way too many coins for their currency, and where the people have the strangest spoken version of English ever.

I arrived at Heathrow yesterday morning totally unprepared for the wrath of public transportation. Okay fine, it's not that bad. But when you're travelling by yourself, you're a little asian girl in a crowd of white people, and the combination of all your luggage bigger than you--public transportation is not your friend. But back to my adventures! I got to Heathrow Airport, which is in London, went through customs and all that and found my way to the NationalExpress central bus station, where I purchased a coach ticket down to the vacation/seaport town of Brighton.

When I got here, I climbed onto the local double decker bus and went about 10 miles down the opposite way that I was supposed to be going. I reached some town that reminded me of The Shire. I started sweating a bit, and so I asked someone sitting next to me--he confirmed that I had gone the wrong way. So, I ended up staying on the bus and going back around... not knowing which stop to get off at. Once we got towards the seafront, I walked up to the busdriver and asked him if he knew where my street was, and just my luck, he said no. I decided to get off and walk right there, and I found my way to the hostel (that doesn't even look like a hostel) by asking people, and inevitably looking like a stupid American tourist.

I walked in thinking that it was going to be some scary, old, rickety place, but it's not like that at all. The walls of the entrance hall were yellow, the kitchen is like a maroon (as is the common room) and my room is lavender! The people aren't shady either, although some of them are quite douche-y... must be a European thing. I've already been called Chinese. Haha. But my roommates were three other girls, one from Canada, one from England, and one from Australia. I went on a walk through Brighton with a guy from Spain: I got to walk through little alley ways with restaurants and pubs everywhere-it was way too cute for words. And a used book store!! I'm definitely hitting that up before I head off to Sussex for school tomorrow.

Food has been terrible. I haven't found anything good, but maybe that's also because I'm trying to save as much money as possible. The GBP is seriously killing me already. BUT I just bought a bottle of white wine today that I plan on drinking whilst watching more episodes of FRIENDS thanks to the lovely Princess.

Tomorrow will be a long day of moving into the dorms at school, but I'm excited! Hopefully, my internet will work there; otherwise, I'm going to have an aneurysm. Everyone at the hostel gets wifi except for me, and the internet cafe is like a hike from the hostel. But it's worth it because I honestly miss you guys.

off to decipher what's under the Brit accent,
captain at sea.

Great Britain: In The Season They Call Summer, 2009