Lasagna: Now With More Carbs

Naturally, this happens when I leave the UK.

It just came out that food giant Tescos has just started making lasagna sandwiches for their premade food section. Now I don't know how good this would be cold, but you guys! I mean, this is a Friday night drunk food miracle for kids at uni all throughout the UK! I'm mad jealous right now.

Sing Us A Song, Random Piano Man

I'm sort of bummed I'm not in London for this, but apparently there's this artist that's putting pianos all over the cities of London and New York City so that people can just sit down and play.

The whole thing is supposed to encourage creativity, and honestly, the idea is pretty fantastic. Just having the chance to see an amateur busker going for it on a street corner - or see Cyndi Lauper jamming in Time Square, as she supposedly did.

My only fear is the road hazard. I hope no one gets mowed down halfway through like Fur Elise or anything. Like you're driving down the street and whoops! Street musician roadkill.

Girl Going Back Home

So unfortunately, my journey here to Jolly Ole is coming to an end. I have met 4 cabinet members (including Gordon Brown), traveled thousands of miles on National Rail, been to 6 countries (UK, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, the Vatican, and Italy), spent far too much money because of the crappy exchange rate, stayed up for 48 hours to watch an election play out that I helped shape in a very small way, and had more fun than I've ever had before.

I am so sad to leave here, and yet I really want to see my family. I have never felt so safe or at home in a foreign country, and I cannot WAIT until I can come back here for a longer time. So thank you, London, for showing me a fantastic 4 months.

Finals vs. Prime Minister

I was given a pretty easy choice around 10 PM last night. I could go to class this morning and take my British Comedy final, proctored by Mr. Bill, which consisted of watching a show and analyzing it for why it was funny. Or I could go to Basildon, wave a "Vote Labour" sign with a mob of excited supporters, and shake hands with Gordon Brown.

Naturally, I chose door #2 (not Number 10, although that would be awesome). I just had to manage to convince Bevan Jooooooones and Mr. Bill that I would make up my final and be back that afternoon to do so.

After a few frantic e-mails around 10:30ish, I decided to wake up early (7:30 AM) and go bother Bill when he got there at 8. I jumped around the front door a little until he strolled up to unlock at 8:10. I asked him, and he took a second to mumble, "Sure, yeah, have a good time."

My next order of business was to make it down to Basildon on time. Kevin said that I should get to Basildon station at 9:15, so that I could hitch a ride with him and Ian. The issue here is that Basildon is halfway to Southend - meaning it would take at least a half an hour to get there. Furthermore, it takes a half an hour to get to Fenchurch St, via Tower Hill. So essentially, I had to leave Fenchurch St. by 8:45 - meaning there had to be a train like as soon as I got there.

Clearly, the powers that be were smiling on me today and as soon as I got my ticket, I saw that there was a train leaving in 3 minutes to Shoeburyness (which I fortunately made it on to). Made it to the station literally at 9:14.

And the rest was rainy history. I made it to the office, got to hold up a "Vote Labour" sign and shake Gordon Brown's hand. We also got to yell at some Conservatives who showed up late to taunt him and get some press. Unfortunately for them, they showed up 20 minutes too late.

ETA: Am I the only one who thinks that Gordon Brown looks a little like Victor Garber?

Now If He Sold Thin Mints, He'd Be In Business

"Hello there, I'm your prime minister. Are there any local issues you're worried about?"

I mean, what would you do if Gordon Brown showed up on your doorstep? Obviously offer him tea, sure, but I think I would like squeal. Even if I didn't like him, that's sort of awesome that the Prime Minister of your country popped up on your stoop.

Labour's unfortunately not doing too great in the polls right now, so Brown has a ways to go before he catches up some lost ground.

Now if he were selling cookies, I think he'd do great.

And Dennnnnnnnnnnn?

So as Elise and I were sitting here ready for a chill Friday night as our roommates plus 12 others were pregaming for a bar of some sort. I had a drink myself to make them slightly less annoying (it didn't work). Out of nowhere, Elise has a Harold and Kumar food craving moment (Only without the pot).

"I really want Chinese food right now," said Elise.

Thus began the very difficult journey of finding decent Chinese food places that were open at 10:50 on Easter weekend in London. I gotta tell you, it's about as easy as finding a close by Catholic church in this city. Which is not easy.

We finally found a place that is open. But it's 20 minutes away in Putney, which means the delivery will take forever. And when we ordered the sweet and sour chicken, they asked us if we wanted the meal or sweet & sour chicken balls.

We ordered the balls, and I'm really hoping we don't get sweet and sour chicken testicles.

And You Thought The Puerto Rico Voting Laws Were Weird

So on the ride home from work yesterday, while the radio played crap soft rock from the 90s, Kevin explained to me why the Zimbabwean population in Southend is so important. I didn't realize that they can actually vote.

Over here in the UK, the law says that if you live anywhere in the Commonwealth of the UK - former colonies, not including the US - you can vote in national elections and vote in local elections, but not in EU elections. Furthermore, UK nationals living abroad can vote in EU and national elections, but not local ones. So while our country is going on about immigration issues, these immigrants can actually vote on how the laws will affect them.

And that's leaving out Scotland and Wales. Both parts of the country have their own parliaments now, thanks to Tony Blair. But both are also still represented with seats in British Parliament.

Open Letter to Train Jumpers and Gang Bangers

Dear suicidals and murderers -

It has come to my attention over the past few weeks that you seem to favor trains and train stations as a method of killing either yourself or your rivals. I ask this of you: please refrain from using these methods.

Not to sound selfish or anything but it's really rude to disrupt people's transportation because you feel the need to off someone.

For example, me and 300 of my closest fellow London commuters took an extra 2 plus hours to get home from all corners of the Southeast because someone thought it was a good idea to bump someone in the way of an oncoming train. We had to get off at Shenfield, wait an hour, take a bus to Gidea Park, wait a half hour, and then take the slow train up to London Liverpool Street, from where it took me another half hour or so to get home.

Thursday transport was disrupted when some teenage gang bangers thought it was a great idea to stab their fellow school chum in the ticketing area of Victoria station on the London Underground. My journey wasn't held up, but tons of other people had issues getting to places - like Gatwick Airport - because the entire station was shut down.

So the moral of this story is this: if you're going to kill yourself, please don't do it in front of a train. It's quick, but it disrupts so many people's lives. Especially the poor driver! You don't want to be a burden to anyone, and yet you just scarred the guy for life!

Furthermore, if you're planning on commiting a homicide, please don't do it in or around a train or tube station. There are plenty of back alleys in the UK, please make use of them instead.

Fall Back, British Summer Ahead

Turns out that they do have time changes in Britain. I just didn't realize it because of the name.

Over here, when they "spring ahead" it's called British Summer Time, or Greenwich Daylight Savings Time. Apparently they started doing this in 1916 to save energy or what have you, just like we do in the good old US of A.

Problem is, I didn't realize this and ended up having to call the bosses to let them know that I was running an hour late for work. Ian got a pretty good laugh about it.

And By "Trim," I Mean Half My Hair

In the past two weekends, I've been to Ireland, Stratford, and Oxford. But what have I focused on?

My hair. Because I'm vain that way.

Before this past Thursday, I had hair that I could in theory Lady Godiva over my bosom should I so chose to do so, but I hadn't had it cut since Christmas break. Which normally isn't a big deal, but it had gotten to the point where I was sitting in class and peeling apart the split ends. I decided to make a venture to one of London's cheaper salons (which are still more expensive than the Schilling-Douglas I'm used to frequenting back home). I went to Supercuts first because I figured they were cheap and, well, super. Turns out their water was screwed up and they were waiting for a plumber. Being the impatient girl that I am, I decided to hit up Abella's Hair & Beauty on Cromwell, because that was the only other cheap(ish) looking salon I had seen around. I wandered in, sat down, and asked for a trim from the tiny Arabic man inside. I can only assume he was Abella. He showed me what he was trimming off.

He then proceeded to chop of 6 more inches of my hair.

Odd enough, he shampooed me after he hacked off my locks. And then blow dried it and over charged me. Weird. But I honestly can't complain too much, I sort of love it. I didn't want short hair, but considering the last time I had hair this short was senior year of high school, it's sort of fun.

4 Countries in 10 Days: Me Finally Writing about Spring Break

Oh, so about those 10 days where I wasn't in the UK. Forgot about that.

(All my pictures are on Facebook, so really, go to there for better stories and photos)

So we decided for our Spring Break to hit 4 cities in 10 days: Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Venice (Italy) and Rome (also Italy). First up was Berlin, which we were supposed to fly into on Thursday, March 4th. First we had to get to the airport. There's a train to Stansted, the Stansted Express, from Liverpool Street. Unfortunately, because a few people were running late, we had to take a later train than expected and therefore got to the airport about 15 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off. By some miracle (and a sprint through the airport in my socks), we made it onto the plane, which had been delayed by some miracle of God. We landed and tried to get a train, and I ended up finding the one German guy who spoke perfect English and was going in our direction. So as we were getting off the S-Bahn, Steph decided to pay him for his services with a fruit cookie. We made it to the Heart of Gold in Berlin (best hostel ever? I think so) and ended up taking an epic 4 hour free tour of the city. Got to see the Brandenburg Gate (which is the picture up there, at Pariser Platz), a few memorials, and pretty much all of Berlin in one day.

The next day we were off to Prague, and after a really sort of sketchy uncomfortable bus trip, we reached Prague/Praha by 11:30ish. Once again, we didn't know the language - this time we didn't even have Paloma, who spoke the language. Now without Paloma or Sabina (who decided to go to Munich instead of go to Prague), we were at the train station with metro passes, koruny, and no idea where we were going. Steph ran into another guy who spoke English and led us directly to our hostel's street. She wasn't too quick with the cookies, though, and he left before we could properly say thank you. We figured out (we being me, Steph, and Carrie) that the koruny is weak against the dollar - meaning we could actually eat a real meal in Prague rather than eating street food like in Berlin - and then we set off for another set of free tours. We took two, taking the whole day and covering the entire city (including Prague Castle), ate dinner, and generally decided that Prague was amazing and fully worth picking over Vienna.

Next up was Venice. After a rather amusing train trip on the Hogwarts Express from Prague to Salzburg and then from Salzburg to Venice San Marcos (with the last leg being a nerve-wracking transfer in Austria), we reached one of the more beautiful cities I've ever seen.

And then it fucking SNOWED.

Dead serious! We were expecting 50 degrees and sunny. Turned out to be 30 or less and 4 inches of snow/slush that the Italians were completely unprepared for. We were also unprepared, me with non waterproof boots, Steph with Keds, and Carrie with my Chuck Taylors on (which was great for packing my bag but bad for keeping your feet dry). It didn't stop us from eating gelato every day (which is unreal, it's so delicious) or trudging through the city to see San Marcos Cathedral and the Modern Art Museum. But it did stop us from staying out past like 7, because we were tired and freezing our asses off. This was the city we chose to spend 2 full days in rather than any other, and I don't know if that was the right choice or not. Anyway.

Next up was Rome, with no transportation issues getting there (oddly enough). We got to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Pantheon on our first day there. Unfortunately, I found out later from Dave that the Via Della Palombella, or "Palombo Street," was right behind the Pantehon. Bummer. The next day we hit the biggies: The Colluseum (beyond awesome) and the Forum (even better), as well as the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. We literally went to another country by crossing a road. Got some great pictures, had some yummy pasta/pizza, got to keep a giant bottle of Coke, and (other than some difficulty getting to Ciampino airport via the train), we got out just fine and back to London.

And when I got back, I was still sort of on break because my parents and sister came to come visit. I had to take classes, sure, but I also got to go on the London Eye, in the Tower of London, in the Tower Bridge, in Westminster Abbey, in the Imperial Warm Museum, in Wimbledon, and other wonderful places that I didn't get to go to before without them here. I also got to show them around a country/continent they had never been to before. Mom needed some help figuring out the money (she didn't know what all the coins were, so anytime she had to pay, she needed me there), and Dad didn't have much luck with the beer or the coffee over here (warm and too frothy, respectively). Corinne seemed a little bored, but she's not a huge traveler like me. They all seemed to like the London Eye and the views, and we all thought Wimbledon was awesome too. Sort of funny the first day, they were all falling asleep on the London Eye (they were pretty freaking tired after that flight).

But the spring break didn't end there! Not only was I playing tour guide for my family for the week after I got back (which was really really fun), but the girls and I had booked Ireland for the weekend afterwards. Not only did we not realize how close to Spring Break our trip was, but we also didn't realize that we decided to go to Ireland on St. Patrick's Day weekend. We oddly didn't go out to the pubs (we wanted to, but they were expensive) because we had to wake up all the mornings we were there. The first night we got there we were just tired. The next we went to the Cliffs of Moher (where they shot the Cliffs of Insanity for The Princess Bride, part of Harry Potter, and the segment of Late Night with Conan O'Brien where he went in search of his Irish heritage). And the next day my alarm didn't go off and we almost missed our flight back to London (sense a theme?) because we had to get on the plane by 7:40 AM GMT. We made it and made it back all in one piece (very very tired), and it was fun.

That's it. That's my whole spring break rolled into one very long blog entry.

You're Going to Get Robbed. But Enjoy Yourself.

"You'll have your passports stolen in Prague, your credit cards stolen in Barcelona have your pockets picked by those skillful Roma children..." - Bevan
"We're going to al those places." - Addison
"Well, at least you know ahead of time." - Bevan
"I'll cancel everything accordingly." - Addison
"Oh, I know the feeling. I got my whole wallet stolen in Beirut. At least there's police in Barcelona, I suppose. So! Monty Python!" - Bevan

Midterms, Unfortunately, are International

I gotta tell you, I'm really not feeling this whole "midterm" thing.

See, it's not as bad in the US when I have to write them because I have the class more than once a week, and therefore feel like I've learned enough about what to write about (and enough about the teacher to know how they would like it written so as to ensure me a good grade).

Here you meet the teacher once a week. So after 6 classes with these people, they're like "Right, so. Paper."

Hey, I Live There!

I got really excited that Peter's Friends mentions Gloucester Road in "The Underground Song."

"There Are A Lot of Cocks in Southend"

I cannot tell you how difficult it is to keep a straight face when canvassing sometimes.

We were out and about in Kursaal yesterday door knocking and talking to everyone who was even thinking about voting, and we found a family house with about 4 people in it with the last name "Cock."

And it wasn't pronounced any weird way or whatever, it was just Cock.

Which is funny to anyone over the age of 12, including my boss (as well as he hides it).

Even funnier when we were in a different ward of Southend today (Milton) and there was another house of 4 with the last name "Cock." One of the houses that I was responsible for talking to. So I went up to the door and knocked, and as I waited for Mr. Cock to answer, I noticed that there were a bunch of roosters around the front. A key hanger, a name plate, all with roosters. Or cocks, if you will.

So as we were walking away and we noticed that there were 8 people with the last name Cock living in Southend, it was Kevin who remarked "Wow, there are a lot of cocks in Southend."

I love my job.

Tuesday: The Best Day Ever?

So I haven't actually been through Tuesday yet, but I'm thinking it's in the running for Best Day Ever.

Parliament in the morning, then Imperial War Musem at night. Wonderful!

I Found My Stamps (!!!!)

My day was made by the postal service.

I took a field trip over to the Museum of Everything, which was the strangest thing I've seen in a while. Part of it was like the Magic Garden, and the rest of it was just weird. It was up near the Chalk Fields tube stop, which really, I want to live in this city and that would be a great place. Cute neighborhood, really nice, not terribly far from everything.

I decided on an impulse to check in the tiny-ass post office up that way, in the back of the convenience mart. I asked the little Indian man behind the counter if they had the Coldplay stamps. Two of them were confused, just like everyone else I've asked about them, and then the third pulled out exactly the ones I wanted.

FULLY worth the month long search and the money I paid for them.

Dress for Success

Last night was the big fundraising dinner for Kevin and his Labour crew. It was at a fish and chips restaurant down in Southend, right on the water, really pretty (well, I'm sure it would be if it were warm out rather than freezing in February), and as Kevin was adjusting his tie, he mentioned he was wearing the "Labour uniform."

Meaning a navy suit, shirt, then red tie. And then I noticed that he really wasn't kidding. Lord Adonis, the head of transportation for the UK, was wearing the same thing. And then I thought back to the Progress talks where people were wearing the same thing there. And then I found this picture of Tony Blair.

It's like a school uniform!

The Jubilee Line is Out. TFL.

Last night was Sarah's birthday, and we decided to celebrate by forcing Stephanie to cook. Actually, she volunteered to make mac & cheese, which was delicious, and we brought salad and wine/schnapps/soda/juice. After we finished up, it was karaoke time.

We headed over to Belushi's by Borough, but not before finding out that the Jubilee line was out right when we needed it.

"You know like FML? It's TFL [Transport for London, for all non-London dwellers]," Carrie said. "Like, the Jubilee line is out and I'm late for work, TFL."

Edited to add: See? Even the Mayor of London is pissed.

5 Cities in 2 Days

I have been to some of the most beautiful towns that no one cares about in England.

So first up on the tour was Avebury, which is this ancient rock formation made at the same time and on the same plain as Stonehenge. Which begs the question "Why two random rock formations?" but whatever. At that point, we didn't really get it and it was pouring rain and cold, so as we slipped through the mud and froze our asses off, we were taking joke pictures and mocking the fact that we went to go see big rocks. Woo hoo, right?

The rocks there weren't as smooth as the ones at Stonehenge, and were dragged a longer distance by another Celtic tribe hoping for fertility from big ass rocks in circles with ditches. I wonder if it worked out.

Next up was Glastonbury and the remains of its Abbey (church where the abbott lives). It was burnt down, rebuilt, then knocked down by Normans, then rebuilt, and then knocked down again, but there are still remains there. We had the best guide ever, this hobbit dude that told us everything we wanted to know about the place, and some we didn't. Apparently they faked King Arthur being buried there, and there's rumors of Joseph of Arimethea and Jesus and Mary going there, but if you look at dates, someone did some crap math.

We got to climb the Tor, AKA the really big hill in the town, and got to see the entire outlook of the area, which if my Facebook loads it, is GORGEOUS. The view was fantastic, and even though it was a crazy long walk, it was totally worth it.

Wells was after Glastonbury, where we saw yet another church (absolutely beautiful) and shopped around a little bit. Saw dog that looked so much like Zeus I teared up a little bit, and then we were off to the Bath YMCA for the night. Sarah made a joke that it would snow when we got there, and lo and behold, it totally did. Not for long, but the whole time we were waiting outside to get into the place it did. Thanks, Sarah.

We got to tour Bath the next day and look around the Roman Bath ruins still in the town. The baths were still hot to this day (albeit untreated), and it was really tempting to escape the 30 degree temperatures and jump in. We also got to see other stuff around the town, like the Royal Circus and Royal Crescent, as well as a family with a baby in a bar (more on that in another post).


Stonehenge was last, and I gotta tell you, it was more impressive in pictures than up close. We of course took the photos where it looked like we were carrying it (me and Steph) or placing stones in certain places (Sarah and Carrie) or jumping (Sarah and I) or grinning like an idiot really excited to see more rocks (Elise). But you aren't allowed to get close to it at all, and it's a much smaller circle than I thought it would be. And by that point, it's built up and something of a disappointment. Still cool, though.

Overall, it was a great trip. The bus was comfortable (except to sleep on), my iPod held out miraculously through the whole ordeal, as did my camera (others weren't so lucky). And I got some fun photos and such out of it.