Weekend of Relaxation

This weekend was the first weekend we were able to relax and not have to worry about anything. Friday we had class and we lectured for the first half and then went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was really interesting and I found the inspiration for my first tattoo. It is ironwork from the 1600-1700s. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. (I will post a picture ASAP.)

Saturday we went to the Camden Market for some shopping. Camden is A LOT like Downtown LA. All of the vendors sell the same shit so you can pretty much haggle with them on the prices. I was looking for a pipe the whole time but ended up not getting one. The lowest I found was ₤15 but Sounjew and Jessica still said that was too much. I was also on a mission to find a tattoo place so I can get my tattoo done. There were so many tattoo places in Camden and people passing out flyers for different studios. I was a little too shy to walk in and start asking questions but I managed to go into one place and got a quote that it would cost ₤80-₤90. I was actually expecting more for so much detail but I wasn’t about to complain. Since that was the only place I checked out, I think I’m going to go to a few other places this week to get more quotes. Last night we went out to a bar for Jessica and Carolyn’s co-workers going away party. It was at this really cool bar that I still haven’t figured out the name of. We got there super early and the place wasn’t even open for dinner yet so we waited out front and chatted with Mateo and his friends. They were all really nice and cool to hangout with. We got inside and got drinks and continued to chit chat. Later in the evening, around 11:30, we moved to a club called The Hoxton Pony. It was really cool and they played all this electro music but it took SOOO LONG to get drinks! (My only complaint with London is that it takes about 30 minutes to get a drink order.) We were only at the club for a little while and Sounjew and I decided to go home. So we went home and Carolyn, Jessica, and Jenn stayed. When we got home Sounjew and I made some dinner and watched TV. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up when Jessica and Carolyn came home…WITHOUT JENN! I guess they had gotten separated on their way home and Jessica and Carolyn got lost and figured Jenn would already be home. After hearing about the crazy events that had taken place after Sounjew and I left, I tried to go to bed. I woke up a couple minutes later when Jenn came strolling in. We hungout for a while and then decided to go to bed.

I was the first to wake up this morning at 10am. We were supposed to go have dim sum this morning but it didn’t look like this was going to happen. Isabel woke up around 11am and the other girls didn’t wake up till about 12:30pm. When we all got ready we decided to go shopping on Oxford Street. We headed down there and visited a few stores and then made our way to SoHo and then to China Town. We went to see if any of the restaurants were still serving Dim Sum but most of them stopped at 5pm. We just decided to have a nice dinner at one of the most reasonably priced restaurants. The food was really good but the portion sizes were barely enough for the six of us. Afterwards we walked around China Town a little more. Some of the girls wanted to do some more exploring but I wanted to go home so Isabel and Carolyn came with me. The tube was there when we got down to the tube station and right as Carolyn hopped on, the doors closed behind her before Isabel and I could get on. It was so funny. Isabel and I caught the next train and when we got home Carolyn was waiting for us in the hall. We hung out for the rest of the evening watching TV, reading, and surfing the net. Tomorrow we have class from 10am-3pm so we might have a picnic afterwards. We have been getting such beautiful weather lately. We’ll see what happens. Till next time, much love!

It's not 420 anymore...

Today was work. I showed up at Gav’s house and he informed me that we were going to go to the new warehouse and paint it. I wasn’t exactly in the proper attire to be painting but I figured I would tough it out. We were there for about 2 hours, and I thought we were making pretty good progress, when Suki and Mimi showed up to help out. A few minutes later a few more of Gav’s friends showed up to “help”. I quote help because they stood around and smoked for the majority of the time. They were really funny and entertaining but I have seriously never seen so much weed smoked in such a short amount of time. They must have rolled at LEAST 10 joints while I was there. It was funny though because as soon as they arrived two of them had bloodshot eyes like they had already been smoking. I thought to myself, how do they still have more weed when yesterday was 420? I figured they would have smoked it all or something. They did offer me some, but yet again, it would feel weird to smoke with my boss. However, they did offer me a beer to drink with my lunch which I did accept. Overall it was an ok day at work, but I was painting for 5 hours straight so I know I will be sore tomorrow. Highlight of the day: making new friends. Till next time, much love!

P.S. glad to hear that some of you are getting my postcards. If you want one send me your address aksrulevitch@gmail.com

So its 4/20...

We didn’t have school until noon today so it was the longest I’ve slept in since we’ve been here. We had British Life and Culture from 12pm-5:30pm. We lectured for a bit and then took a walk to the Globe Theater. It took about 2 hours to walk to the Globe Theater because our teacher had to stop us every 5 feet to point out some great sites of the city. When we finally got to the Globe Theater we took a small tour and then me and the roomies purchased tickets to see Romeo and Juliet next Thursday. We purchased the cheapest tickets which were only 5 pounds but we have to stand during the almost 3 hour performance. Afterwards we were walking back to the tube station to go to our flat when we stopped at Next to do some shopping. Isabel and I were shopping in Next and the other girls went to a chocolate shop down the street. When we were done Isabel and I went to meet the girls when I heard Carolyn's laugh coming from around the corner. I went to see where she was and found Jenn, Sounjew, Jessica, and Carolyn sitting on the outside patio of a restaurant sipping wine with several older men. I walked over to them and one of the men shouted "Oh look, there's more". One of the men told Isabel and I to grab some chairs and join them which we did. They were trying to schmooze the girls and make us laugh. For the most part these guys were pretty harmless but one of them was highly intoxicated and kept taking turns staring each of us dead on in the face. He also kept asking us if we were going to go back to his place for a party or where the party was. While talking to them we gave each of them nicknames based on who they reminded us of. One of the men was Bill Clinton, another was the Mad Hatter, one looked like Daniel Baldwin, and another one looked like Norman Osbourne/the Green Goblin from Spider Man. They had bought us a bottle of wine and then a bottle of champagne which was really delicious. It being 420 and all I really wanted some weed but thought that it would be inappropriate to ask this of our new friends. I also really wanted some food to go along with my champagne so that I wouldn't get too buzzed. We sat and chit chatted with them for about 2 hours and then realized that it was REALLY time to leave. We politely excused ourselves and were on our way. The rest of the night was pretty routine. We came home, made some dinner, went grocery shopping at Sainsbury's and then spent the rest of the night watching TV and working on homework. Right now we are watching Shop Girl with Claire Danes and Steve Martin which is actually turning out to be a really cute movie. We shall see what this week has in store for me. I really have the urge to go shopping and spend some money so hopefully I can fight the urge. Till next time, much love.

Trip to Another Country...

This weekend we took a trip to Wales, which I now know is a separate country from England. We took a “coach” that seated 16 people, very cozy. We woke up early Saturday morning and had to meet at the pickup location at 8:30am. We had an entire days journey to Llandudno, our final destination for the evening, with a couple of stops in other towns on the way. We drove for about 2 hours, then stopped at a rest area for a snack, drove for another hour and a half and stopped in a small town called Chester. It was a nice little town and we saw a rugby team who were all dressed up like Elvis. Weird. Sounjew and I also got pastys. No, not the kind you put over your nipples, its a food...kind of like a hot pocket. After this stop we continued on for another hour and a half to a town called Conwy. There is a famous castle here so we took some pictures and Isabel, Jen and I walked the castle walls. This is also the location of the smallest house in Wales measuring at 6ft wide and 11ft deep. The beach was also pretty in this town and we took a little hike down a nature trail. We got back in the coach and continued on to Llandudno where we checked into our hotel. The hotel was very nice and the rooms were decorated so cute. Each room was a little different and mine and Isabel's was kind of retro. We had thought we would have an ocean view but Jen, who had the single room, was the only one with the ocean view. It was so pretty but the rest of us weren't complaining, we were happy with the accommodations. After we got settled in we went to go get some dinner.

Jen, Isabel and I opted to go to a Chinese restaurant and the other girls went and got Mediterranean food. We thought we would meet up after for some drinks but when we got done with our meal we walked past the Mediterranean restaurant and didn’t see the girls. (I guess it was a good thing we didn't go with them because they had invited our tour guide Rob who turned out to be a real weirdy.) We went back to the hotel hoping they would be there or come and get us before they went out. I kept myself occupied reading the second Chelsea Handler book, "Are you there Vodka, its me Chelsea?",which I highly recommend. About an hour later I realized that the girls were not going to come back to the hotel before going out so I got ready for bed.

Today we woke up around 7:30am and got ready. Breakfast was to be served at 8am and we had to be back on the bus at 9am. While getting ready I noticed a HUGE spider on the floor and IMMEDIATELY booked it out of the room the first chance I had. When I first saw it I screamed like a girl, naturally, and jumped on the bed. Now, if it was a daddy long leg or a garden spider I would not have screamed but it was a huge f-ing spider. The girls in the other rooms heard me scream and came in to see what was going on. "Do you want me to spray it with hairspray?" Jenn asked. To which I responded "no, what if it gets bigger?". Hahaha. Everyone was making fun of me and asking if I thought spiders were radio active. Jenn attempted to put the trashcan over it but it moved away behind the vanity, so I grabbed my shit and booked it. I finished getting ready in Carolyn and Jessica’s room and then we went downstairs for a traditional English breakfast. After we finished breakfast we only had a couple of minutes to take in the beautiful ocean view from outside and then grab our shit and head out. On our way back to London we were going to continue to stop at a few towns and also take a train ride.

Much like the day before the drive was stop and go. We drove a little ways and then stopped for a photo op. Jessica hadn't put her contacts in yet and came over to us and asked "Hey guys, are those houses over there or graves?" We all though this was pretty funny but she did have a point. If dead bodies are going to be in the graves forever, I guess they double as houses also, right? Anyway we got back on the bus and drove for about 2 hours and then stopped for a snack break at a city which has the longest city name in the world. This town was called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllllantysiliogogogoch. Kid you not, I have a postcard to prove it! We walked around but a lot of the shops were closed. It was at this town that we got on a train and drove to our next destination. It was a beautiful train ride through the country and everything was so green and beautiful. On the way whenever we passed a small town people would be outside waving at us as we went passed. It was like this was the highlight of their day. We got to our destination, had a few minutes to walk around and then got back on our coach. Our driver, Trevor, had driven from where he dropped us off to this current pick-up point and it had only taken him 20 minutes while the train took 1 hour and 45 minutes. When we got back on the coach we drove another 1-2 hours and reached a rest stop where we stopped to eat dinner. I had planned to stay awake this whole time on the coach because I had slept the whole ride the day before but I was really into my Chelsea book and almost to the end and did not want to finish it just yet. I put the book away and tried to keep awake by looking at the beautiful scenery. This is when I noticed I was probably the only one still awake on the coach so I said "fuck it" and fell asleep. When we go to the rest stop Jessica informed me that she had taken a video of me while I was sleeping. I knew it couldn't be that funny because I don't snore or sleep with my mouth open or anything like that but it was so funny it brought me to tears. At every turn, which there were a lot of, I would move back and forth and bob my head around. (It is much funnier when you see the actual video.) So we stopped for dinner and then got back on the coach for another 1-2 hour ride into London. So now we're home and wondering what trips to do next. I really want to go to Ireland but I don't think that's going to happen. There is a trip to Scottland next weekend which sounds enticing and there is also one to Paris and Amsterdam. But we already booked Paris for the weekend of May 2nd. If anyone has any suggestions just let me know. Till next time, much love.

p.s. pictures coming soon!

Trip to Bath...

Monday we went to Bath. No, it is not pronounced bath like I’m going to take a bath, its pronounced Baaath, like a sheep goes baaa. We were told this specifically by our instructor a week prior to our visit. On the way there we passed by Stonehenge. I would have liked to stop and get out but unfortunately we could not. However, I will still mark that off my list of things to do/see while in London. Bath was a very nice town but the only thing to really see in it are the Roman Baths. We spent the majority of our time there because they gave us handheld audio tour guides and I felt the need to learn about every single thing in the place. When we got out of there I met up with Carolyn and Isabel and we ate at this little Italian restaurant. The food was bomb but the service was not that great. (Thank goodness people don’t tip out here.) After lunch we walked around the town and decided to go to the Museum of Fashion. On our way there we met up with Jenn, Jessica, and Sounjew who were also looking for the Museum of Fashion. It was really interesting but again we didn’t have much time to check it out. We went back on the bus for the long ride back home. Till next time, much love.

P.S. I am afraid that I may not be able to go to Liverpool and see all of the Beatles spots due to lack of time. Hopefully this changes, but that just means I’ll have to come back to London again.

Easter with the roomies...

Easter was nice. We went to church in the morning (yes, I attempted to try the church thing one more time and successfully did not burst out into laughter this time) and then decided to have a potluck dinner. Sounjew cooked chicken with sautéed onions, mushroom, and jalapenos, Carolyn made soem delicious soup, Isabel was in charge of the appetizers so she got chips (no dip was found), Jenn made cous cous, and I was in charge of dessert. We invited the other Jen over but she called us after church and told us that she wasn’t coming. Good thing I decided to buy dessert because the day earlier they had told me to just bring a board game. It was a nice meal and it was good to sit down all together. Till next time, much love!

So we're having an Easter potluck tomorrow and I'm in charge of brining...

...a board game. First I was told that I was in charge of making a dessert. Then my roommates invited the other Jen and told me that she was bringing dessert. “What am I supposed to bring then?” i asked. “You can bring a........a board game” said Jenn. WTF?! That’s not even food! You don’t bring a board game to a potluck! We were totally cracking up about the whole scenario. So, any suggestions on what board game I should bring? This will be the most interesting potluck ever. Sounjew is making chicken, Jenn is making cous cous, Jessica is making salad, Carolyn is making soup, Jen is now bringing dessert and I am in charge of the entertainment.

(This blog was written the day before Easter but I did not get around to posting it till now. Sorry for the delay.)

Day Trip...

So last Saturday we took a day trip to Leeds Castle and Canterbury. It was only 19 pounds for the day trip so we decided it would be fun. When we got to Leeds Castle (which was a 2 hour bus drive) it was an additional 15 pounds to get in so some of the girls decided not to go in. Carolyn, Isabel, Jen and her flatmates, and I decided to go. It was a long but beautiful walk to the castle. There were all types of animals and flowers on the pathway to the castle. We saw peacocks, ducks, swans, and sheep. The castle itself was not particularly that interesting. We walked from room to room and they had re-decorated the rooms to what they thought they would have looked like back in the day. The most exciting part was the maze that they had outside of the castle. We walked through it for about 10 minutes. Then we realized that we only had 20 minutes to get back to the bus so we better ask someone for help or we would be SOL. There were 2 guys who worked at the maze who helped us find the center. After we got to the center of the maze we took pictures and then walked through the grotto to get out. The grotto was really interesting but we did not have enough time to check it out. We went back to the bus and then it was another hour and a half drive to Canterbury where we were going to visit a cathedral. When we got there, instead of visiting the cathedral, Sounjew, Carolyn and I walked around looking at all of the shops. We went to the post office and got some stamps so now I can mail out my postcards to all of you. Sounjew picked up the 3rd and 4th Twilight novels which she now updates me on every night. We also got some lunch at this little pub and it was actually pretty good for what we paid. The rest of the time we spent walking around Canterbury doing what we do best; people watching (pictures coming soon).

Dancing Queen...

So Friday night we were supposed to go out to a club called Cargo to see a beat box competition that Gav told me about and see this beatbox champion named Beardyman who wears THTC apparel. Carolyn, Jessica, and Jenn ended up coming with me. Gav told us to show up around 8 or 9 but it was free all night so we didn’t show up until almost 11. When we got there the line was so long. We had come across some guys who were also looking for Cargo when we were lost, so we got in line with them. Jenn wanted to go to the front of the line to see if there was a possibility that we could get in faster. One of the guys from the other group went with her. To make a long story short he ended up getting him and his group in and leaving us outside. WTF? If we would have gotten in we would have totally taken them with us. I tried to call Gav but he didn’t pick up. I sent him a text also but got no response back till way later. The bouncer told us that it was probably going to be a 1 hour wait in line so we decided to check out some other club that we had seen on the way to Cargo and Jessica had heard some good music coming from there. This club was called Favela. We went back and got in free since we’re girls. It was pretty poppin’ in there. They were playing a sort of Cuban/Colombian jungle sounding music that was actually pretty good. We appreciated a club that played something other than the same hip-hop/rap music that LA clubs play. The more into the night the weirder the songs got. The dj went from this jungle beat music to oldies to rock to blues to reggae. We heard everything from the Beastie Boys to Queen to the Violent Femmes. It was a weird mix but it was actually pretty good.

We went to the bar to get drinks but it was sooo crowded. There was this huge chalkboard that had different drinks listed on it and a sign that said they served no tequila and no whiskey. How can a club that plays Latin music not serve tequila? (It was even weirder when later they actually played the song "Tequila".) So after we ordered our drinks we looked for some place to sit in this very crowded place.

So, EVERYONE dances in clubs over here. At home its usually guys dancing with girls and girls dancing with girls but over here even groups of guys dance together. And people actually have pretty good rhythm over here. Jessica and I spent the majority of the night people watching. There was this one girl in particular, we'll call her Dancing Queen, who was dancing crazy ALL NIGHT! Jessica and I noticed her right away dancing by herself. She seemed to be on some sort of crazy acid trip or on shrooms or something. She was wearing a red dress with a striped sweatshirt over it and a beanie. Jessica and I noticed that even the bouncer couldn't contain his laughter when he was watching her dance. Later she was dancing with these other people and it was just getting crazier. They were all holding hands and dancing in a circle like ring around the rosie. Throughout the night we noticed all these people dancing so crazy. Some people just looked plain awkward, some were acting out the lyrics, and other people were playing air instruments that coordinated with the song. This one guy noticed that we were sitting there laughing at people (I know, I'm officially going to hell) and came over and asked me if everything was alright and if I had a problem. "Why don't you go out there and dance so we can laugh at you?" were his words to us. I already had been dancing and I basically told him not to be concerned with me. There was also this guy that was totally hitting on Jessica that looked like he could be a Marine. He was asking her to dance and stuff but it was obvious that if she stood next to him she would be about 3 feet taller than him. Later, when Carolyn was dancing I took a picture of her and when I looked at it there were these two guys in the background making faces. We later made friends with them. Then Carolyn and I went outside to have a smoke this guy came up to us and asked us how it was inside and if it was worth paying 10 pounds to get it. Later when we were in the club we saw him and his friends in there. He was such a cutie and totally reminded me of Michael Cera. I was being a bad influence and trying to get Carolyn to dance with him.

So we didn't leave Favela until it actually closed at 2am and we were kicked out. Since the tube system was already closed we had to figure out what buses to take to get back home. We caught a bus going in the right direction but I think we got off at a stop too early and we ended up having to walk all the way home. Carolyn was wearing heels so I stayed behind with her. When we were a block away from home I actually gave her a piggy back ride because I felt so horrible.

We didn't get home until 3am and had to wake up the next day at 6am because we were going to Leeds Castle and Canterbury. You can read all about that in my next blog. (Ugh, I'm so behind on this thing.) Till next time, much love!

this is the dancing queen...

...and this is her and her friend (i like the bouncer watching them in the background)

i was trying to take a picture of Carolyn dancing and these two jerks got in the way

but they turned out to be pretty cool

guys shouldn't put so much shit in their back pockets

this guy was moving his booty all night

this guy with the glasses looked like our professor


this guy was dancing like he was playing the bongos


he's holding his purse behind his back

Carolyn and I

The Longest Day...

...so today I went to Birmingham with my boss to go to the warehouse and take inventory. Birmingham is about a 2 hour drive from London so Gav told me to be at his house at 9am. I got there at 9am and he went to get the "van" and bring it around. (I put quotes around van because it does not look like any van I've ever seen) He called me a minute later and said the battery wouldn't start and he was going to take it to the mechanic around the corner and would be back in 5 minutes. When he came back we were on our way. I thought the ride was going to be awkward but we actually had a lot to talk about. He actually asked me if I smoked weed and then proceed to tell me stories of his drug usage. (What a bonding experience.) What else would you expect from someone who owns an apparel company called The Hemp Trading Company.

When we got to the warehouse we were given these ugly neon yellow vests to wear so that we looked like everyone else that worked in the factory. There was SOOO much merchandise to inventory we did not even know where to start. I'm going to skip the next few hours because all we did was count and organize the stock. We had started around 12:30 and didn't leave till 7pm. Anyway, when it was time to leave, the car wouldn't start. Gav tried to get a jump from another lady who worked at the factory but the car wasn't turning over. We had 2 choices; we could wait for a service to come out and fix the problem or we could take a train back to London. The only thing is that we had boxes of merchandise that we needed to take home. I told Gav that I was fine with whatever was more convenient for him. We decided to call the car emergency service (similar to our AAA) and while we were waiting he told me we could find a nearby pub and he would buy me food and a drink. (He also mentioned that we both deserved a spliff for all we had been through. LOL.) It was funny because the car service promises to be there within 2hours and I'm so used to having AAA promise 30 minutes back at home. So, we asked the woman in the front office of the warehouse if there was a pub nearby and she said there was one about a mile away.

When we were walking to the pub he actually offered me some of his blunt but I felt weird accepting; him being my boss and all. We walked a while and when we turned the corner the first thing we saw was McDonald's. It was so funny because Gav is so anti-McDonald's. "Should we go in there and ask them if they know of any places to eat around here?" he said. It was so funny but I thought that would be a little shady. We ended up asking a worker at the petrol station (gas station) where the nearest pub was. It was a little further down the street. We walked into the pub and there were only a few people inside. It looked like one of those places that the same 5 people go to every night and hangout. Gav had warned me earlier that Birmingham was not the best part of England and referred to it as the "armpit" of the country. To which Jessica responded "what would be the vagina?...or the penis?...or the asshole?"...LOL. Back to the story, so we sat down at the pub and Gav ordered ciders for him and I. He told me that they didn't have food but we would stop at another place on the way back. He said that the car service was supposed to call 20 minutes before they came but to our surprise they called about a minute after we poured our drinks and said they were 10 minutes away. "Well, we could finish what's in our glasses and drink the rest on the way back" Gav said. "Are we allowed to do that?" was my response. Gav said that was fine around here, so we finished our drinks and he put our bottles in his backpack to drink of the way back. When we were half way back and had walked about a quarter of a mile I realized that I had left my purse at the pub. Gav said he would run back and get it for me if I continued on and met up with the guy from the car place. He gave me the keys and his backpack and sprinted back to the pub. So there I was walking down the dark dingy streets of Birmingham, a huge backpack on my back, drinking my cider out of the bottle. I must have looked like a bum. I got back to the warehouse and met the guy from the car service which was called Royal Automobile Club (RAC). He was a very nice old man named Steve. He immediately noticed my accent and asked where I was from and when I said California he asked if I knew any celebrities. To make a long story short, Gav came back with my purse (thank goodness all my money was still in there) and they got the car started again. The only thing was we couldn't shut it off because we wouldn't be able to start it again. So we loaded the boxes into the van and drove back home. I finally got home at midnight! It was such an eventful day. In all honesty Gav hadn't promised it would be a funfilled day, he say it was going to be an adventure, which it was. Till next time, much love.

Tattoos...

…so, I’ve been giving some serious thought about getting a tattoo while I’m in London. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a long time and I think it would be memorable to get my first one while I’m here. The only thing is that I would not be able to have Jen with me and I was with here when she got her first, so I apologize. I’m thinking about either getting a heart by my ear or the LA symbol by my ear as well. (I would definately not get my sleeve started while I'm here.) My roommates think the LA is lame but I think it would be totally awesome. It's just one of those things where you have to know my sense of humor to understand it. There are a couple tattoo shops on Oxford Street but we figured that they would be over priced so I asked my boss and he knows of a couple of places and said he might be able to get me a good price. Then I started to consider getting the THTC logo tattooed but I think a lot of people would definately be opposed to that. Well, I guess we'll see what happends. I mean, I have 2 months to make up my decision. If anyone has any ideas for tats let me know.

We're not in the military...

…so why does Europe use military time? I mean I have never seen a clock numbered up to 24 so why do they use this time method everywhere? I think it is very unusual that the United States is the only country (that I know of at least) that does not use military time. Even my cell phone here is on military time but thankfully Carolyn showed me how to change that. Well, I guess I'm all out of thoughts on this subject. Any comments?

Houston, we have toilette paper...

...so, our accommodations are very nice here in London. I only have a few complaints. First of all the beds are SUPER squeaky. Any little move I make you can hear the springs. They do however provide bed linens which we thought we would need to purchase on our own, so that's a plus. We were also told to bring a towel and a wash cloth, but they do provide us with 1 white towel, however I believe we have to wash it and they do not bring us new ones. We were told that there is a cleaning service that comes every Wednesday and they pick up our old bed sheets and provide us with new ones. Somewhere in the first week however we ran out of toilette paper and did not know if they would be supplying us with more, or if we needed to purchase our own. We were told that they would replace it when the cleaning service came, but then we read somewhere that they do not supply it. Last Wednesday however, no cleaning service came. This really sucked because we had stripped our beds and put the "dirty" linens in the bathtub like they had told us to do, for the cleaning service to pick up. (I quoted dirty because we had only slept in these beds for 2 nights.) So we ran out of toilette paper and it was not replaced. We thought about purchasing some but figured we would make it to the next week. I had brought a travel one for the plane or emergencies or whatever and we picked up extra napkins from restaurants and the local Starbucks. We also realized that they had a pack under the sink at the school we attend so one of my roommates, we'll call her Klepto, took the pack which contained two roles. Today when I came home from work Isabel informed me that the cleaning service had come today. "WTF? It's Tuesday not Wednesday" was my reply. So anyway my first question was "do we have toilette paper?". "Yes!" was Isabel's reply. To make the story even funnier and show how desperate we were for toilette paper, Klepto came home from work and pulled a two role pack of toilette paper out of her purse which she had taken from work. I started laughing hysterically. (Looking at this now, it's probably one of those "you had to be there" moments. In addition to our toilette paper stealing we have also taken sugar packets and napkins from restaurants. We have even debated stealing the salt and pepper shakers right off the table from restaurants but have not worked up the courage to do so yet. Isabel bought pepper at the store today anyway so I think we'll be ok for a while. We'll see what else we can "come up on" during the rest of our stay here. We're going to have this drawer full of condiments and napkins from various restaurants. Oh, it will be a hoot. LOL. Till next time, much love.

Team Leader

So the other day was our first day of school. I was a little apprehensive because I have had some past experience with our teacher and it did not go so well. Professor Ken Watson, however turned out to be a very nice man. His lecture was interesting and I did not feel like falling asleep during class. Halfway through the class he mentioned how we should all get the same grade or something like that and reach for an A. I jokingly looked at the other girls and said "just follow my lead". "What was that, Anna?" he asked. "Oh I was just joking" I said. He proceeded to ask if I was the team leader to which I responded "Oh, no" with a giggle. He then wrote down "Team Leader" next to my name on the role sheet. We all got a chuckle out of this. (I am no leader.) So now he expects me to do the best in the class or whatever, I only hope I can keep up to his expectations. (I guess this is what I get for being a smart ass.) I did however speak up and answer a few of his questions and then for the next question he told me "Team Leader, do not answer this one". So now he refers to me as Team Leader. This cracks me up because it reminds me of George Lopez's stand-up routine, and if you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you do. Well I guess that's all for now. Till next time, much love.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers...

...so, my roomates are starting to get accents. Not all of them, but two for sure. One of them has been speaking with her "accent" since the second night we got here. The other has started catching herself using British terms here and there. I have caught myself doing this as well from time to time, but I only do it so the people I speak to can understand me. For instance, instead of saying apartment, I say "flat" and instead of roomates, I say "flatmates" and the subway has turned into the "tube". I also catch myself saying "quite" a lot. Like "that's quite good" or "it's quite chilly in here". It is not half as bad however as the fake British accent my roomate has started to adopt. I have a feeling this may progressively get worse the longer we're here. Hopefully this does not become annoying. Only time will tell. Till next time, much love.

The Seven Deadly Sins Go To Church...

...so today we went to church. We needed to visit a church for our British Life and Culture class so we just decided to attend their Sunday morning mass. So today, Jessica, Carolyn, Jen, the other Jen, Isabel, and I went to church. It was a traditional Catholic mass in a traditional Catholic cathedral. (I was glad that I was not stricken by lighting the moment I stepped foot onto the church perimeter.) It was a nice service until I started laughing uncontrollably for no apparent reason. Well actually there was a reason but it goes back to last night. Last night we were watching this show titled Sex: Everything You Need to Know and it showed this guy giving himself a blow job. (British television apparently does not have any sensors.) So at church today, one of they guys in the choir looked EXACTLY like this guy. He was an older man maybe in his late 40s early 50s, grey hair, and glasses. As soon as I made the connection, I began to laugh uncontrollably. I could feel my shoulders bumping up and down. I tried to think of bad thoughts to stop myself from laughing. I finally maintained my composure. Then, when the choir was singing, the main guy stopped in the middle of the song, took a sip of water, and continued on with the song. Once again I began to laugh hysterically. I tried to think of death, car accidents, ANYTHING to get myself to stop laughing. I could not look at Jessica because her facial expressions only made me laugh harder. I finally managed to maintain my composure once again, but this was not the end of it. When people were going up to take communion, Jessica noticed this one guy who's pants were a little to tight. She leaned over to me and said "that guy's ass is eating his pants". Again I began to laugh hysterics. I was hoping people would mistake my laughter for tears of some sort but that did not seem to work. I did not want to appear rude and considered going outside for a breather. The girls kept looking over at me with confusion on their faces.

After mass, we decided to do some shopping and get some lunch. Carolyn and I opted for KFC. The KFC menu here does not have the same menu that we do back at home. I do not understand how a country that is known for potatoes does not offer mashed potatoes on their menu. After our popcorn chicken and chips (fries) we continued on back to the apartment.

Later that day we went to the Chocolate Festival in town. I was expecting some large festival with lots of booths. It was a lot smaller than I expected (that's what she said...lol...). Carolyn, Jen and I waited in line for our pancakes. When I got to the front and ordered my banana and chocolate pancake, they informed me that they were all out of bananas. HEARTBREAK. I opted for cinnamon which was not as good as I imagined chocolate and banana would have been. After the chocolate festival we went to Harrod's. Harrod's is a very upscale department store in London. It even has a gift shop which was the busiest place in the entire store because no one can afford anything other than what is offered in the gift shop.

When we got home this evening I continued reading the book Jessica lent me My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler. It is a great book and I recommend it to anyone (mainly girls). I passed out reading it and just woke up a little while ago. We were going to watch Elf but apparently the DVD players over here do not play DVDs from the United States. It flashes this things that says "wrong origin", whatever that means. Well its time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow is our first full day of school. We start at 10am and get out at 6pm. We are also in the process of planning our trip to Paris the weekend of May 2nd. YAY! Till next time, much love.

Still Awake...

...so it's 2:17am here and we're all still awake! Today was a fun day. I had the day off from work because my boss (Gav) went to Amsterdam for his birthday and a bachelor party. I just had to go hand out flyers to pubs and record stores for work. Jen and I started the day by going to Anglo American (our school) to get some stuff situated. When we left we went and had some tea at Starbucks and chatted for a while. Next we went to Argos and I got a hair straightener for 6pounds. (Don't ask what happened to mine.) We then went to Sainsbury's and got some weekly shopping done. When we got home we attempted to use the DVD player but no luck. My boss gave me several documentaries on Business Globalization to watch. Gav is very anti McDonald's and anti Wal-Mart. I think I'm really going to learn a lot from working with him, but I hope I don't get too crazy with protesting corporations. LOL. So, I did my homework and watched a documentary on McDonald's called McLibel and then took a nap. When the other girls got home from work we got ready to go out. We were supposed to go to this bar that's completely made of ice and they give you coats to wear and the drinks come in ice glasses, but we were too late. We ended up going to a pub called The Ten Pounds which was pretty fun. (Jack the Ripper actually picked up one of his victims at this pub.) After, we were looking for another pub to go to. We ended going to this other bar/club that I'm not sure of the name. They played techno music and we danced all night. There were these 2 couples totally groping each other on the dance floor (eww). We left this place and headed back to the tube (subway). We caught the tube going back home but had to switch and transfer onto another line. When we had to switch we didn't think we would make it in time because the tube stops running at 12:30 and it was like 12:25 so we had to run like crazy! We were booking it in our heels for several blocks to get to the other station, then we had to run down like 10 flights of stairs! We finally caught the tube, thank goodness, and were on our way home. It was so funny because we were all a little buzzed and were cracking up and laughing at everything. All in all, tonight was good for a Thursday. We have school tomorrow and are going on a trip to the London Museum. Not sure what we're going to do this weekend but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Goodnight everyone! Till next time, much love.

P.S. we were called American Shit on the tube today.