An American in Paris

Now for some adventures in Paris. Sunday we stayed in and relaxed, well I stayed in and relaxed. Naomi went with her sister to the hospital because they couldn't figure out why her cheeks had swollen. It's okay, she only had mumps and is still alive and I didn't catch the mumps. Also, my mother would be so proud of me, I went to church that night.

Monday we went for a bike ride around Croissy sur Seine (the surburb of Paris where Naomi lives). It was rather chilly and I hadn't really done too much physical exercise for about 3 weeks but it was a good way to see Croissy. Also there was a circus on our route and they had an adorable baby tiger. Then the reality that I have coursework due the day I get back set in and I spent all of Tuesday attempting to work on that, I didn't get too far.

Wednesday we went to La Defense and saw the Grande Arch, which looks like a big hallowed out square and if you look one way you see the Arch de Triumph and if you look the other way you see french things (most people don't bother to look the other way). We also did some shopping, window shopping. Oh, I almost forgot I took a French train, they aren't much different than any other train, they're just French. While at La Defense we went and saw Twilight: New Moon 1 1/2 times. We didn't have a clock on us so we weren't sure what time it was but we went to the cinema and ended up walking in on the last 45 minutes-1 hour of the movie before we realized that we had the time wrong. So we went to the actual showing we paid for as well.

Finally I made into Paris on Thursday. We were going to go to the Catacombs, which would have been amazingly cool, but when we got there (which took some time because we didn't think to look across the street) it was closed to due to vandalism. So we went to the Effiel Tower and yes I walked up the stairs. We didn't go clear to the top but I'm not so sure I could have made it. I'm not so good with heights, and I was fine walking up and I could walk clear to the edge, but taking the stairs down is SCARY! especially when a pigeon flys toward you. The we went to the Arch de Triumph and the famous shopping street of Paris (I cannot for the life of me remember what it's called, nor could I probably spell it).

Friday we went to Naomi's school (The Bristish School of Paris) to see her friends and watch a Talent show...of sorts. I met a few of her friends and then one of them came back to help us build a snowman because Anna and I were having a competition to see who could build the best snowman even though we were in different countries. Unfortunately the snow was all wrong for snowman and we just ended up throwing it at each other and drawing stick figures in the snow. Naomi, her friend Alex, her sister Bethany, and I then went to see a Christmas Carol at the cinema. Alex tried to convince us it was written by Jim Carrey because he didn't know who Charles Dickens was. What are they teach students at the British School of Paris? Anyway, we got on the train to go to the movie and met some nice Austrailian students who were touring Paris...and a little drunk.

Naomi's parents left Saturday morning for something or other and we decided to stay inside. Alex came back over and we played some games and talked and had a little sleepover in general. I went to sleep around 6 in the morning and was up quite early at 10:30. Stayed in most of the day on Sunday as well, but we did go out for dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Croissy. Monday, being typical girls, we went shopping and it was absolutely mad with the Christmas rush. And I got Hagen Daas ice cream, YUM! And we went to...get this McDonalds. I know I can get McDonalds in the States, but it some how tastes different and by different I really mean better and not nearly as greasy.

To be honest with you I'm not really missing Christmas in the States too much. I do however miss having an endless supply of Chex mix, cookies, and fudge at my disposal. As well as Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I'm almost sick of mince pies and Christmas puddings (which aren't that nice or pudding like). Anna had actually bought a box of mince pies for me to try when we were back at college, she ended up eating most of them before I even got 1. Mince pies are almost like a British holiday answer to Americans and apple pies.

Alright that's all for now, I promise that I'll try and be better at updating in the new year!

SHAG Week, The Christmas Ball, and Recovery Week

HELLO BLOG LOVERS! Welcome to the Dana can't seem to be bothered to update her blog show. Last time we meet I'd just been to London and now we're back at Uni (I'm not actually, I'm on Christmas break, but at this point in the blog we're at the RAC). The week after London was SHAG week at the RAC, which is about safe shagging! The condom fairy passed out free condoms and there free Chlamydia testing for anyone who hadn't being shagging safely.

To celebrate SHAG week the Student Union had arranged for a Ladies/Lads night on Monday. So the girls went to AV8 while the boys headed off to the Tunnel. Once at AV8 there were people selling sexy lingerie, a variety bedroom toys, and things of that sort. They also served girly cocktails such as Sex on the Beach, Peeping Toms, and something else that had to do with the male anatomy and being sparkly. But the highlight of the night for both sexes (at their own parties of course) was the..."exotic dancer." Not gonna lie, the "dancer" took forever to get ready and all he had to do was take his clothes, also I found it quite weird that he came out in an American Marine uniform and with a British flag.

After AV8 we all went to the Tunnel for a Christmas party. There were bucking reindeer and dancing and most importantly of all a bonfire. I miss standing around in the cold watching logs burn. And then some guys decided to try and walk through the fire, can you believe they were drunk? Well they are Ciren students, they're always drunk.

Tuesday was uneventful, but on Wednesday we went to the rock for Red, White, Short, and Tight night. Had a good time and get this I met some new people. I've also determined that if I were to update this blog more regularly I would remember more of what I did during the week and therefore make this blog longer because once again Thursday I did nothing.

Friday however, was the Christmas Ball which was awesome! Everyone looked so pretty in their formal wear and penguin suits and the Scots wore their kilts. They had a scrambler...which word to the wise is not probably the best ride to go on while drunk. There was also sumo santas and a live band which was much better than the one they had at the Freshers ball. And there was literally mistletoe everywhere! It was a late night and I got about two hours of sleep and then decided to get up and do some work.

Saturday I did my laundry and then went to Anna's room for a picnic lunch of chocolate, Goldfish (sent to me from the States), decorated a gingerbread snowman, and watched The Mighty Boosh (which is a great show by the way). Then Liana and her brother came over and we went to the Tunnel for dinner.

Sunday had another little picnic with Anna and went ice skating in Swindon. It was a really good time and it was cold at the skating rink. You might never believe this, because I've probably never mentioned it, but I miss the freezing, dry, and snowy winters I grew up with. This mild and rainy English winter weather is useless. Anyway, after ice skating it was time for Top Gear.

Monday there was a Christmas Carol service at the college. A traditional English Candle-lit Christmas Carol service. So everyone is in their formal dress with all these lit candles...I could see a disaster waiting to happen. The service was really good, everyone was in the Christmas spirit and even though some of the tunes were not the proper one (at least not for the American) I had a lot of fun. After the service we had a traditional English Christmas dinner in the dining center. Turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, veggies, chicken liver patte, cranberry sauce, wine, and Christmas pudding in brandy sauce. They also had Christmas crackers and a bagpiper. Pretty much if everyone had a jolly good time. And then we went to the Tythe for some more socializing.

Tuesday I had a late lecture and got to miss dinner! But other than that and spending the evening socializing in the Tythe nothing much happened. And then Wednesday, Oh Wednesday. It was the last night at the Rock and lets just say I might not really remember to much of what happened. But I had a good time, or so I'm told.

We went to the Tunnel on Thursday as normal but it was quite sad as it was our last night before we left for Christmas break. And I wasn't in the best condition so I wasn't much good with the whole using words to form sentences thing. I might have fallen asleep on the table, but ya know, its whatever.

Finally Friday was here and Naomi's mother came and picked us up and took us to Paris. And that is where I am now. Didn't do much that night, but we went and got a real Christmas tree on Saturday. Quite an exciting time considering you're reading the blog of a 19 year old whose never had a real tree in her life, so it's not that exciting because we didn't go out and chop it down ourselves. It came pre-cut and wraped up in plastic netting.

That's all for now, if I put anymore in you'll be here forever reading it.

NOTE: Due to my internet failures I will be posting a new blog everyday until you are updated on the past...I think its about 5 weeks now.

Computer Troubles

I am not able to update as I am having computer trouble. Will do it as soon as I am able too!

xx DANA

The London Chronicles: Part 1

Alright, so I've been really bad about keeping this up-to-date lately, but that's all about to change. So when we last left our heroine she'd just returned from Suffolk and went as Jesus to the Rock. The rest of her week had passed on as normal, the tunnel on Thursday after going Scottish Reeling, nights out at the Tythe, the usual list of entertainment. And then Friday came...

I can't do my whole blog like that, its gonna drive me crazy. Anyway, on Friday Naomi and I went to Kemble to catch a train to London Paddington Station where we caught, get this...the TUBE! to get us closer to our hostel. And as your guide to everything typical and american touristy-like over here in Jolly Ol' England I cannot hide the excitement of my first ride on the London Underground. Once we were off the Tube and start our search for the magical Hostel we were to be staying in we managed to get lost. And I don't mean "we took a wrong turn lets turn around and go back" lost, I mean we got lost as in "Bejing...that's right next to London correct?" sort of way. We spent three hours trying to find our hostel in Kensington and spent two of those three hours walking every street in Notting Hill and the third hour was spent trying to figure out the bus system...which we failed at. But we did eventually find and it was just hostel a bed to lay my head on.

We called it a night pretty early as we were going to start our day by 9 AM and had to be up at 8. Although we were woken up in the middle of the night when someone staying on the top bunk fell to the floor, while this would seem to be rather amusing to anyone who it didn't happen to the fact that it was 3 am was not amusing...to anyone.

Now the first day we went to Starbucks to plan our route for the day and determine where we were going to start. We then headed off to the tube station...once again I was an excited American! We decided to go the to Musem of Brands first, which as its name implies was all about brand names and their development through history. It was actually quite interesting and we had a good laugh at the fact that we felt the need to whisper, even though the only people there was Naomi and myself.

We fought our way down Portobello market, which was packed, and went to Subway for lunch...and I was extremely sad to realize that the greatest Subway sauce is only available in my little corner of Iowa...not even just the world but it's not available in the whole of Iowa. Gosh I really miss dill spread. When I return home...after my Mexican buffet...because i miss real mexican food as well...I'm getting a Subway sub with extra dill spread.

Next stop was the Tower of London and it was really quite cool. I saw the crown jewels and the armour of Henry the VIII and I saw what I believe to be the worlds largest ravens. They were gigantic!

We ended our tours with a trip to Madame Tussauds. The queue to look at a bunch of wax statues is amazingly long, it took us 45 minutes and we went during the "slow" part of the day. It was good however. I got to see lots of famous people, have dinner with George Clooney, almost be run over by a giant disco ball with Indiana Jones, gave Steven Speilburg ( I know i can't spell and I can't be bothered to look it up right now) some advice on his movies, kissed Orlando Bloom...and several others as well, and I rocked out with Miley Cyrus.

Day 1 in London done and we headed to the hostel to try and find somewhere for dinner. We ended up going to this restaurant and ordered pizza. It was lovely except that the olives where not pitted...that was rather annoying. But I kept my leftover for dinner the next night when we would be on a train. We called it another early night and this time no one fell out of bed.

The next day we decided to just "look" at places, and of course it decided to rain and we had to carry all of our luggage with us once we left the hostel. It was probably not the most pleasant of days but I got to see all the London sights. We went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye (although we didn't ride it), all the places you'd expect to see on one of those expensive tourist trap bus tours, but instead of 25 quid we paid 5 quid for an all day Underground ticket.

Soon it was time to return to campus and watch some Top Gear. Top Gear, for those who don't know, is not just an amazing show but also a major social event at the RAC.

I know there isn't much detail this week but I also told you I've been way behind at keeping it updated so I've forgetten some things.

Adventures in Suffolk

Okay, so I didn't post an entry last week. Sorry? Wait why am I apologizing? I've been to busy to post anything, and now that I need to do some coursework I can think of nothing better than to let you know about my weekend I spent in Suffolk with Anna.

So, to start off with, and to better explain the time it takes to travel across England, Suffolk is a county on the complete opposite side of the country from where I am. It only took about 3 hours to get from Cirencester to the village where Anna lives in her awesome beach house. The first night we went to a local pub and had some, then I received a tour of the house, watched some TV, and called it a night. Oh, I also met her family and her grandparents, who'd invited us to see a play with them on Saturdaay.

Saturday we woke up, had some breakfast and then Anna drove us (me, Anna, and Anna's sister Helen) to the train station to meet her Grandparents. I rode my first train, which was rather exciting and I found out some rather interesting things about where I was. For starters there was an old American air base not far from where Anna lives. Anyway, when we finally reached our destination, Lowestoft, we went to grab a tea and I had my first scone. We then proceeded to do what most girls do when set loose in area where there are these things called stores, we shopped.

While waiting for the play to start we also walked down by the sea. Apparently Lowestoft 1) is the furtherest most eastern point in the UK and 2) used to be a major port in its hayday, even though now it seems to be slowly dying. At the sea we did what any tourist would do and take lots of pictures of the brownish water of the North Sea, and then we went and played games in an arcade.

Finally, we met back up with the Grandparents for some lunch and then we were of the see "My Dog Has No Nose." It was meant to be a comedy, and the first half was very funny, but somewhere around the middle of the second half it took a very dark turn, down a very dark alley, in a very shady neighborhood. And I think most of the little old ladies who were there, which would be most of the audience, were a little shocked. Actually everyone was a little shocked, the little old ladies where very shocked!

When then went and grab another cup of tea from the restaurant where we went when we first arrived. Which maybe this is the nostalgia for the lost of department stores and the slow decay of shopping malls that my generation secretly keeps tucked away behind our xboxes, porn, and buried underneath our alcohol drenched party clothes we don't want our mother to find out about, but I was really excited that this restaurant was actually part of a real department store. Now, before you argue that Wal-mart had departments and restaurants and cafes and nail salon and photographers and hairdressers and opticians it's just not the same as a real department store or a mall. Maybe it's because I grew up shopping at places like Younkers, Sears (before Kmart took over and it was actually good), Von Maurs, and does anyone else remember Montgomery Wards? Don't get me wrong, I am a Wal-mart Shopper and a frequent one at that, but I still miss real department stores.

Sorry, I got really of track there. Back on the train we ate the remainder of our lunch because we are just that cool. We learned old school ways to remember things from a book Helen had bought, launched some sheep from Anna's iPhone, and then we were back. Watch some more TV, and an in depth conversation about the rise and fall of Girl Power and Boy Bands and Simon Cowell's global domination, ate some sausage plait (aka sausage braid), watch some more TV, and went to bed again for another busy day.

Now, Sunday was kinda a special day. We went to Aldeburgh, another seaside city. Aldeburgh is apparently the place to get fish and chips, so we got up early and drove there so I could have my first real fish and chips. OH YEAH! As were driving we past through at town called...Snape. I being a huge Harry Potter nerd 1) laugh in an insanely silly giggle and 2) started singing Snape Snape, Severus Snape, Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Anna and Helen also joined in. The car ride was full of Wurzels and Old school music provided by Helen from the iPhone. And we brought Primrose (the neighbors dog) with us.

Once in Aldeburgh we checked to see when the fryer started and then went for a walk along the beach. There was some kinda of old military post there that we went to see, but road (because it was quite far away and we were lazy and drove) was so bumpy we were practically off-roading. We also went to an antique shop and saw some duck and some swans and the House in the Clouds. It's not really in the clouds, just really tall.

FINALLY it was time to get my fish and chips. And they were delicious and proper like. I even had a pineapple fritter, which is basically deep fried pineapple (I say basically, it is deep fried pineapple) but it's not true deep fried pineapple in my mind because it wasn't served on a stick.

It was then time to go back. We drove through Snape again and I of course had to sing the song, again. Anna and I packed, and then we played with her new Macbook and I went and saw her chickens. But my time in Suffolk was slowly drawing to a close, but not before I had a proper roast dinner. And it was delicious, the whole family had gotten together again and Anna's mom even attempted a pumpkin pie in honour of me being American and celebrating this weird holiday called Thanksgiving, and being away from Thanksgiving just made it seem like an even weirder thing to celebrate.

Finally we were back at college and back to normal. Well as normal as my life can get.

One last thing before I end this blog, mainly because I think it's sheer genius! I went to the Rock again Monday night with Anna. It was superhero themed. Anna was Wellie Woman and I...I went as Jesus. Someone asked if Jesus was a superhero, and being at the RAC and knowing that they like nothing better than drinking I responded with. "Yeah, his superpower is turning water into wine." The response I received "Did he really do that?" I had a good laugh.