ketchup
It has been far too long since I've posted in here. My apologies to my future self who wishes I'd invested more time recording this semester and to whoever else may read this.
Not this past Friday but the one before was Pirate Night. A couple of flatmates of mine stole (no, "knicked") a shopping cart from Tesco and turned it into a pirate ship via cardboard and Sharpies. How they got that thing on the third floor where we live is beyond me. How they got it back down the three floors is also beyond me. The guys rolled up to the club (henceforth referred to as Rubix) in it and, despite being denied entry, gave the bouncers a good laugh. The following Sunday was Ola's pub crawl. I don't think we even made it to ten pubs. (It's really difficult to be pub-crawl-efficient with about fifteen people.) Alas, good times were had. One of our stops was an Australian bar where my Australian friend assured me that the kangaroo burger would be awesome. :-X He said that kangaroos are overpopulated and a nuisance in Australia, so these burgers were not a new concept for him. I don't know why the idea of a kangaroo burger gives me the heebie jeebies so much... but it does. Moving on...
This past Tuesday I went to a nation-wide "uni" event called Carnage. Basically you purchase a t shirt for ten pounds and you go on a four-pub-crawl of sorts. It was Barbie and Action Man (basically G.I. Joe) themed, and since I look more like Barbie's brunette friend Stacy, I went with the Action Man persona. To be honest I was underwhelmed and wondering what it was about this event that made it worth it to be beat for class in the morning. At 1:30am I called it a night "early" and headed home. I know that everything I do in Europe isn't going to be epiphany-enducing and world-rocking. I also know I'd rather do something and be mildly disappointed then wonder what it would have been like if I had gone. All in all it was a fun night out with friends. Other than Tuesday night, last week was a pretty uneventful, typical school week.
I have, however, become quite good at making and folding omelets! Nerd Alert!:
On Friday I woke up feeling pretty crappy. I rested all day because I had a plan I couldn't flake out on: My friend John (from Arlington, teaches English in Spain, dates a good friend of mine) was in town this past Saturday, so I went to London to spend the day with him. Upon arrival he informed me that the hostel he had stayed at the night before was full for the coming night and, to make a long story short, we had to stay out all night in London. Fortunately, this was something I had done before. Unfortunately, I was (or felt) unprepared and was still fighting off getting sick. There was not really anything else to be done but stick it out with my friend so I accepted what I could not change and put a smile on my face. The first thing we did was take the London Underground (LU) to Camden Town. I have been told innumerable times that I would love Camden Town, "You can't miss Camden Town!", etc. and I have got to say that it was quite a disappointment. I expected artsy weirdos in every stall offering something unique- kind of like a physical Etsy website, or something. Instead I saw I <3 London t shirts, key chains, creepy memorabilia of Kate and Prince William, postcards, bongs, trashy t shirts and furry handcuffs over and over and OVER again. The weirdest things I saw were an old man selling peacock feathers and an embarrassing dude that was too good at imitating bird calls. *yawn* Maybe I just didn't know where to go, but I felt like I was in Times Square in New York City- something I suppose everyone should see once, but after that you realize it is a ridiculous, circus of a tourist trap you from then on make a point to steer clear of. John and I ate some okay Thai food and some okay chocolate and went on our merry way to an area called Shoreditch. Shoreditch seems to be where it's at on the bar scene in London, however while we were walking around I couldn't help but feel bored by what seems like the majority of people our age do during their free time. Putting on a dress that's too short, some sexy heels you got for nights like these and a little bit too much make up to go drink overpriced alcohol gets so tired after a while. I always say this but: maybe it's a phase, or maybe I truly am growing out of it. There was a point in time where John and I stood- illegal paper bagged beverage in hand- where we could see the girl's line outside of a club and he narrated the girls. 'Twas hilarious. He told me what each one of them was there for and all about their insecurities. Yes, we were being kind of tacky but HEY- we had to be creative in order to frugally entertain ourselves on the streets of London for an entire night. We then witnessed something truly tragic- a girl who was so drunk she couldn't talk (we asked her if we could help her), who then proceeded to stumble down an alley, and eat it HARD in some mud all while flashing us her panties. (I tried to save some of her dignity by turning away.) It was half hilarious and half horrible. Maybe 3/4 hilarious and 1/4 horrible. The coolest people we met all day were a few English bros we overheard telling a bouncer they were hermaphrodites in order to (be counted as a woman and) get into the club. I think the best part about that situation was the bouncer who took his job seriously enough to keep a straight face and tell them "not to joke about that" and turn them away. What a wet mop! While walking around we came across a health food store (Finally! I've been looking for one of these!) and I stocked up on some organic things I had run out of. The man working the register gave me a bar of chocolate for being "the prettiest girl in the store all day". :) Very sweet, no pun intended. We ate some more Asian food for dinner, did some more street drinking, shared the chocolate on the LU and finally turned in to my EXTREMELY generous flatmate's London home. After an hour and a half of sleep John had to get up to make his way to the airport, poor guy. He ended up having to sit in Portugal until 10pm the next night and I ended up with a fever, a vicious cough and a pink eye threat (lovely) but we had a good time. Recovery session is now in order and I'm doing a lot better. This past week has been the only/first time I've wished I had my car- so I could drive myself to get sick person necessities instead of having to walk in the frigid outdoors. Other than that I think I could get used to this whole take public transit or walk everywhere lifestyle, it's good for my hiney. :]
Fortunately I don't have classes Mondays or Tuesdays so I've had these past two days to recover from ye olde deathbed. I'm feeling a lot better- good thing, cause I have a full day tomorrow.
G'night y'all,
Bailey
Not this past Friday but the one before was Pirate Night. A couple of flatmates of mine stole (no, "knicked") a shopping cart from Tesco and turned it into a pirate ship via cardboard and Sharpies. How they got that thing on the third floor where we live is beyond me. How they got it back down the three floors is also beyond me. The guys rolled up to the club (henceforth referred to as Rubix) in it and, despite being denied entry, gave the bouncers a good laugh. The following Sunday was Ola's pub crawl. I don't think we even made it to ten pubs. (It's really difficult to be pub-crawl-efficient with about fifteen people.) Alas, good times were had. One of our stops was an Australian bar where my Australian friend assured me that the kangaroo burger would be awesome. :-X He said that kangaroos are overpopulated and a nuisance in Australia, so these burgers were not a new concept for him. I don't know why the idea of a kangaroo burger gives me the heebie jeebies so much... but it does. Moving on...
This past Tuesday I went to a nation-wide "uni" event called Carnage. Basically you purchase a t shirt for ten pounds and you go on a four-pub-crawl of sorts. It was Barbie and Action Man (basically G.I. Joe) themed, and since I look more like Barbie's brunette friend Stacy, I went with the Action Man persona. To be honest I was underwhelmed and wondering what it was about this event that made it worth it to be beat for class in the morning. At 1:30am I called it a night "early" and headed home. I know that everything I do in Europe isn't going to be epiphany-enducing and world-rocking. I also know I'd rather do something and be mildly disappointed then wonder what it would have been like if I had gone. All in all it was a fun night out with friends. Other than Tuesday night, last week was a pretty uneventful, typical school week.
I have, however, become quite good at making and folding omelets! Nerd Alert!:
On Friday I woke up feeling pretty crappy. I rested all day because I had a plan I couldn't flake out on: My friend John (from Arlington, teaches English in Spain, dates a good friend of mine) was in town this past Saturday, so I went to London to spend the day with him. Upon arrival he informed me that the hostel he had stayed at the night before was full for the coming night and, to make a long story short, we had to stay out all night in London. Fortunately, this was something I had done before. Unfortunately, I was (or felt) unprepared and was still fighting off getting sick. There was not really anything else to be done but stick it out with my friend so I accepted what I could not change and put a smile on my face. The first thing we did was take the London Underground (LU) to Camden Town. I have been told innumerable times that I would love Camden Town, "You can't miss Camden Town!", etc. and I have got to say that it was quite a disappointment. I expected artsy weirdos in every stall offering something unique- kind of like a physical Etsy website, or something. Instead I saw I <3 London t shirts, key chains, creepy memorabilia of Kate and Prince William, postcards, bongs, trashy t shirts and furry handcuffs over and over and OVER again. The weirdest things I saw were an old man selling peacock feathers and an embarrassing dude that was too good at imitating bird calls. *yawn* Maybe I just didn't know where to go, but I felt like I was in Times Square in New York City- something I suppose everyone should see once, but after that you realize it is a ridiculous, circus of a tourist trap you from then on make a point to steer clear of. John and I ate some okay Thai food and some okay chocolate and went on our merry way to an area called Shoreditch. Shoreditch seems to be where it's at on the bar scene in London, however while we were walking around I couldn't help but feel bored by what seems like the majority of people our age do during their free time. Putting on a dress that's too short, some sexy heels you got for nights like these and a little bit too much make up to go drink overpriced alcohol gets so tired after a while. I always say this but: maybe it's a phase, or maybe I truly am growing out of it. There was a point in time where John and I stood- illegal paper bagged beverage in hand- where we could see the girl's line outside of a club and he narrated the girls. 'Twas hilarious. He told me what each one of them was there for and all about their insecurities. Yes, we were being kind of tacky but HEY- we had to be creative in order to frugally entertain ourselves on the streets of London for an entire night. We then witnessed something truly tragic- a girl who was so drunk she couldn't talk (we asked her if we could help her), who then proceeded to stumble down an alley, and eat it HARD in some mud all while flashing us her panties. (I tried to save some of her dignity by turning away.) It was half hilarious and half horrible. Maybe 3/4 hilarious and 1/4 horrible. The coolest people we met all day were a few English bros we overheard telling a bouncer they were hermaphrodites in order to (be counted as a woman and) get into the club. I think the best part about that situation was the bouncer who took his job seriously enough to keep a straight face and tell them "not to joke about that" and turn them away. What a wet mop! While walking around we came across a health food store (Finally! I've been looking for one of these!) and I stocked up on some organic things I had run out of. The man working the register gave me a bar of chocolate for being "the prettiest girl in the store all day". :) Very sweet, no pun intended. We ate some more Asian food for dinner, did some more street drinking, shared the chocolate on the LU and finally turned in to my EXTREMELY generous flatmate's London home. After an hour and a half of sleep John had to get up to make his way to the airport, poor guy. He ended up having to sit in Portugal until 10pm the next night and I ended up with a fever, a vicious cough and a pink eye threat (lovely) but we had a good time. Recovery session is now in order and I'm doing a lot better. This past week has been the only/first time I've wished I had my car- so I could drive myself to get sick person necessities instead of having to walk in the frigid outdoors. Other than that I think I could get used to this whole take public transit or walk everywhere lifestyle, it's good for my hiney. :]
Fortunately I don't have classes Mondays or Tuesdays so I've had these past two days to recover from ye olde deathbed. I'm feeling a lot better- good thing, cause I have a full day tomorrow.
G'night y'all,
Bailey