...Back in the U.S.S.A.

Why hello there! You must think I'd forgotten to wrap up this 4-month-long ramblefest, but never fear, I wouldn't do that to you. Even though evil packing-and-flying-and-traffic-and-unpacking-and-getting-reaquainted-with-home would prefer that I did. Sorry, guys, but the blog wouldn't be complete without a goodbye.

Before leaving London, we did our best to say farewell appropriately. Meaning, we begrudgingly topped up our Oyster cards and painted the town red.

I don't know that I mentioned the End of Term Party on 3 May, but I must. It was fabulous, though the food was not much to sniff at and really was a poor attempt on ISH's part to stuff me full. Aside from the lack of food and nearly cheese-less mozzerella sticks (gasp in horror!), I enjoyed the effort of the London Center to put together such a great event for everyone. There were raffles (I won an orange Bill bag!!!) and prizes and recognitions and a slide show which Bill narrated. Artie K, a fellow student, DJed while we danced the night away; Bill and Maggie even danced with us!

Sunday day, the girls from downstairs and Jessie and Meg and I went up to Hampstead Heath for a picnic in the park. The sun went away once we stepped out of the tube, but even though it was cloudy and windy, we had a fun time anyway. Later that evening we went down to enjoy waffles for the last time at the Waffle House (the original) and splurged on the best combinations we could come up with, paying in change so we wouldn't have to lug coins home in our already too heavy luggage. I got a waffle with strawberries, bananas, Belgian chocolate and whipped cream, if you're wondering. Everyone stayed in our flat for a while and, one by one, we said our goodbyes. But just until Ithaca in August, of course.

Just Jessie and Meg and I remained on Monday as everyone had left early that morning. We packed and brought donations to ICLC and bought last minute souvenirs and spent a lot of time waiting around for the landlord. He finally came and gave back our deposit minus a 40 pound cleaning fee and another 40 pounds to paint our bedroom wall. Here's a tip: Don't ever use blue-tack on your wall. Meg and I looked along Queensway for someone who would cash the check he gave us, but to no avail. We changed the money part, and wow, did US dollars look so new and different.

After the landlord left, we complained a bit over drinks to finish up all the alcohol donated to us by our loving already-gone friends and headed out for our last walk along the Thames for a long long while. We stopped at Young's Founders Arms, where they serve Double Chocolate Stout so Meg could try it, and hung out until last call and we just barely missed the last tube ride home. But, phew!, we made it.

Jessie woke us up at 3am as she headed out to Luton for a flight to Germany, but we really woke up at 6 for our own flight to the States. I'm not a big fan of luggage, especially 100 lbs worth on the tube in two awkwardly large bags and far too many stairs. Thankfully, nice British men took pity on us a few times and lugged them up and down stairs for us. Gatwick was all a twitter with our impending departure - everyone would miss us! - and we ran into a few minor problems with them letting us go. The flight was better than coming, only because Continental had nicer seats and more movies to choose from (even though they weren't new ones) and the food tasted better, but the TVs didn't actually work for the first hour or so because of some issue in the system. Doesn't that make me feel safe flying over the ocean? Anyways, we got into the country without a hitch: Border time = 1 minute, baggage = 5 minutes, and declaring at customs = half a minute. Nice. It felt good to be home. And to have someone to help with my too much luggage.

As I was working yesterday, I found myself taking a little too long to count change and, because the sandwiches there are all named after areas and streets here and in NYC, I kept thinking of tube stops and places in London. I even said something cost pounds today at the store! (Though, thankfully, it was in dollars!) Ah, jolly old London, I'll miss you. Hopefully I'll see you soon. :)

Before & After

Before London:

After London:

Still a long way to go, but I'm getting there...

Shakespeare, Brighton, and the Circle

To open this year's season at The Globe, Othello was being shown. Lucky me, it's the only Shakespeare play I actually enjoy, so I was a bit more than excited to get to go see it on opening night. Meg, Jessie, her friend Kat, and I paid just £5 each to stand in the ground and watch like peasants. Yay! After about an hour, the fun of being groundlings and standing the entire time got a little old. Furthermore, somehow May has become colder than February and, in the open air of The Globe, we were freezing. At intermission, we sat and watched people bring out elaborate picnics to eat, wishing we'd thought to do the same. Though mostly we just enjoyed sitting. Intermission lasted for only 15 minutes (we want more sitting!), so we got up and endured the last 2 acts for another almost 2 hours. I honestly loved Othello a lot more before I was made to stand for 4 hours and watch a production of it in the cold; I just don't see how this works for people. The production itself wasn't bad, though it was obvious at some points that it was their first night - Iago had to call out for lines twice and the bed canopy had a heck of a time coming down, which was great comedic relief by the time 3 and a half hours had gone by. I loved the play and the atmosphere and everything about the evening, but I'm just saying that The Globe wouldn't suffer from a couple of space heaters.

Meg, Jessie, and I spent the better part of Saturday in Brighton at the beach. We actually didn't spend much of it on the beach, but Brighton's at the beach and there you go. I have quite a knack for accidentally planning excursions that occur at the same time as fun festivals. Cinco de Mayo happened to be the first day of the Brighton Festival, so we were greeted with a children's parade and lots of festivities. We wandered the streets looking at shops, bought some candy by the kilogram (gummy bears!) as well as amazing milkshakes from Shakaway, and saw all the little kiddies being parade-y. We finally found the boardwalk and the beach and the Brighton Pier. We spent lots of 10p and 2p coins in all the machines that look like you'll win if you just try one more time. We did, I must point out, win a 10p and a 2p, and I won't mention that we chucked them right back in the games to try to win some more. Shh, it's fun. We bought fish and chips (and mushy peas for me - mmmm) and sat on the beach to eat them. The beach is rocky instead of sandy, proving much better for lunch-eating. We strolled along the beach on the side with all the shops and bought some things that broke our rules for money-spending, but those rules were too strict anyway. We also stopped into an old-fashioned penny machine place and got our fortunes told to us and played fun games with Victorian-style pennies (huge!). We struggled to take some Brighton pictures with all 3 of us in them and sort of succeeded, meaning the best one of us doesn't have any of Brighton in it except for the sky. But we tried.

Once back in London, we didn't have too much time but quickly made some pasta and gathered the troops for our randomly organized Circle Line pub crawl. Jessie, Jennie and Megan (from downstairs), Alyssa and Tim, and I started at the Prince Alfred at our stop in Bayswater with shots of Tequila, to honor the Mexicans and everything. On the way to Notting Hill Gate, we began the tube surfing challenges with Alyssa vs. Tim. I forget who won in the end, but Alyssa and I really did the best of everyone, so that's all that counts. We got to Notting Hill and went to a purple pub where we split a pitcher of Pimms. We lost Jennie after Notting Hill (she had to chase Dan Radcliffe down one last time), but picked up Francia at Sloane Square. There we went to the Royal Court Bar - not a pub, I know - and got various beers. At Embankment we went to Queen Mary, a pub on a boat on the Thames that Alyssa knew about. The bartender was crazy, we were on a boat, and it was a great stop. We then walked to Temple and took our faithful friend the Circle, which was actually behaving itself and being relatively punctual that evening, to Tower Hill which yielded no open pubs. We turned around and ran back to the tube to pick up the next coming Circle and rode it to Liverpool St. where we found a traditional pub called, A Traditional Pub, and thought it appropriate. We got a round of snakebites, stayed past last call, and kind of caused a scene just before leaving. Oops. On our way to Baker St., Alyssa and I decided McDonalds was in order, so the whole group of us just stayed on until Bayswater again to spend our last drink's money on cheeseburgers and fries. They were delicious, and we probably didn't need any more drinks anyway. Despite all of the Circle's faults - forgetting where it's going and severe delays all the time and being the one of the slowest lines in London among them - there's not a better line for a pub crawl.

Europe Loves Me

Proof is everywhere! Example 1: The store right across the street from our flat has my initials! And they think I'm number one! Right? Right.


Example 2: Scotland's most famous cannon ever is the Mons Meg.


Example 3: A French car company, Renault, has a car with my name (almost), the Megane. And it's so cute!


Finally, example 4: As featured in a Maltese appliance store, a whole line of products called Smeg!


Seriously, f that hasn't convinced you, I don't know what will.

Concluding Classes

You know the semester's over when you feel the sweet relief of completing your last final. For me that was yesterday and, as reality sets in, home is coming in less than a week. I can't say that I wasn't happy to see my classes go. The only one I'll truly miss will be British Pop, but I guess the other ones weren't so so bad.

My first final, thankfully, was British Youth Culture, meaning all the annoyingness that was that class ended a week earlier than all the rest. We took our final, 2 in-class essays, during the last week of classes, something that really helped me enjoy my weekend in Malta.

Next was Sport Marketing, on Monday evening of finals week in the form of presentations on sport-y things (Guinness Premiership Rugby for my group). They took far too long, but Clive made it up to us by taking the lot of us out to dinner at Zizzi's (but not at this one, thank heavens). We enjoyed wine, beer, pasta, bread and olives, and dessert while saying goodbye to our Tuesday mornings at MLB. Except that during our usual class time on Tuesday morning - and, in fact, a little earlier - we were summoned to Times House, home of The Times. We talked to the editor and one of the sports writers before being kicked out of the conference room for their actual conference, and then afterward we went on a tour of the press. The highlight was the robots (which almost ran me over), but it wasn't very useful as far as marketing goes. Ah well, such was the entirety of Sport Marketing.

Modern British History presented the most stress of all of my finals, as I hadn't done much of anything for the class during the semester, to be honest. I studied the best I could though my studying skills aren't up to snuff, and by the time it rolled around, I was freaking out. I did okay, maybe, but I'm mostly just glad it's over. I got back my last essay and did much better than expected, so I could possibly squeeze a good grade out of the class.

And, finally, British Pop. This is a class and professor I will truly miss, the best one I took in all of ICLC. Our final required learning all about the ska movement and talking about our London music experience. Not really super fun, but because it's Emer, I won't complain. Wednesday mornings won't be the same.

Now the only thing left is the End of Term Party this evening for which I am getting fancily dressed and enjoying the buffet for all it's worth. I know I've said this a dozen times, but it's so weird that next week I won't be in London. Semesters just fly by.

Malta in Beaches and Fireworks

What do you get when you point at a map and land on Malta? A vacation on a whim and an amazing weekend, that's what.

Alyssa, Tim, and I headed to Malta on Friday morning/afternoon on two separate flights from two separate airports because AirMalta has a bit of an issue with their online ticket sales. Still, being that it was my first proper flight since landing in here in January, I was excited about it. And, of course, Malta. We got to watch a not-so-great movie, Rebound, while eating delicious chicken and cake and crackers and rolls and tea. I've decided I love real airlines. Ryanair and their pay-for-everything menu just doesn't cut it. Sometimes I like free pretzels and a drink.

Anyways, Tim and I landed in Malta around 4pm where we were greeted with a terribly happy Alyssa, got some Maltese Lira from the ATM, and hopped into a taxi for our hostel. Our hostel, in fact, was a guest house. A guest house run by the sweetest woman, Sundra, who hugged us all upon arrival, showed us the highlights of Malta, and cooked breakfast for us every morning. Just another one of the pros of Malta. We wandered to the promenade to see the Mediterranean and got snacks for Tim and Alyssa at a little shop and me at McDonalds. (Having finished my McDonalds tour of Europe, my verdict is that Malta has the best food, by the way.) We spent the remainder of the night being lazy and resting up for the next few days.

On Saturday, after a lovely breakfast, we hopped aboard a bus with a very nice driver (whose niceness ended up causing a lot of stress for the remainder of the weekend over our tickets) and headed to Ta'Qali, Malta's craft village. We walked through "hut" after "hut" to look at all of the homemade crafts Malta has to offer, most notably laces, hand-blown glass, and silver. Next stop was Mdina, which used to be the old capital of Malta and is called the "Silent City." It's inside of walls and, because of the narrow streets, there weren't many cars - just horse-drawn buggies. It reminded me of Capri minus the steep hills and Venice minus all the canals. And it was gorgeous. Tim went into a sort of freak-out coma because he's Tim and Mdina is that cool; Alyssa and I made due. Over the walls, you can see an amazing views of Malta (the main reason we came, on recommendation from Sundra) and at a particular restaurant, Fontanella's Tearooms, you can dine overlooking Malta. Again on Sundra's suggestion ("all the locals even go there, on Sunday afternoons"), we popped in to eat and had some of the most amazing cake ever. The restaurant's renowned for their yumminess, enough said.

After Mmmmdina, we found the beach. Golden Bay, to be precise. The bus ride was long, but getting out, it was worth it. The beach wasn't crowded (yay for not going in season!) and the water was so clear you could see right down to the little fishies at the bottom. The few little fishies there were. We spent a grand total of 4 hours lying on the beach and swimming in the not-so-warm Mediterranean. Relaxing and wonderful. After showering off the beach, we headed out into Paceville, the only spot on Malta with any nightlife, so says Sundra. We walked all the way there, thinking it was closer than it actually was, but it still wasn't too bad of a walk. When we finally arrived it was very obvious - there were teenagers everywhere, blocking the entrance to every club, bar, and restaurant and spilling into the streets. Malta, by the way, has a drinking age of 16, which I'd say is going a bit too far and also is very annoying when you're trying to enjoy a night out. We found some dinner at a restaurant with a balcony and watched all the craziness on the street below as we ate. Afterwards, we walked along the street looking for a suitable club and finally settled on one with far too many 16-year-olds in it; we stayed for a shot and a few songs before leaving.

Sunday morning we woke up to more breakfast and the best weather of our whole stay. We went to the Blue Grotto on the Southwest part of Malta (we traveled along almost the entirety of the island during the weekend). From above, it's absolutely gorgeous. Malta is the truly most beautiful place I've visited this semester. We bought tickets for the boats, and with about 5 other people, we explored the Blue Grotto and the other smaller caves. The water was just SO blue. We'd heard something about touching it turning you blue, so I put my hand in, but nothing happened. I was a bit disappointed, but it's probably better to be without blue hands anyway. Blue Grotto = amazing.

A taxi driver talked us into taking his taxi to the fishing village we planned on seeing because he said the bus wouldn't get us there for over an hour. Once in Marsaxlokk, the fish smell was overwhelming. We wandered through the market until it became very flea-market-y and turned around for lunch. Alyssa and I wanted hotdogs, but the place was out. Boo. After lunch, we looked at the map and began the walk to the nearest beach, Pretty Bay (actually the second-nearest beach, but it had a nicer name). Years later, so it seemed, we arrived on the poorly named beach. Somehow it was very industrial and our nicest view was of a shipyard or noisy boys throwing wet sand at each other, but not caring too much, we plopped down on our towels to relax. The water was colder than yesterday, I would swear, so only Tim dared go in while Alyssa and I soaked up the sun. Malta, it seems, is the only place where I'm able to tan without burning much at all and without using sunscreen (because I'm forgetful). I'm not too tan since my skin's pretty resistant to it, but the fact that Malta could achieve something makes me love it even more.

The wind picked up, and we left the beach in preparation for Malta's Food & Fireworks Festival in Valetta. The buses were super crowded as we headed over, but when we got out our job of finding the place was easier because we could simply follow the masses. Malta fails on the knowing when to shut down roads for festivals, but it gets points of having good American food at really cheap prices. Within an hour of getting there, I happily bought and ate 1 sugared donut, a piece of pizza, a hotdog, Pepsi from a glass bottle, popcorn, and 1 chocolate-covered donut with bitsy nuts sprinkled on top. Then we took a break from all the eating for the first set of fireworks, since we found out that this is a competition and competitors 3 and 4 would be participating that night. We sat on the edge of the Grand Harbour, our feet dangling over the water, and watched them go off across the water. They were beautiful. Seeing fireworks twice in as many weekends, I've come to realize I love them. We should have displays of them every night. The next set wouldn't be on until nearly 11, so we grabbed some Chinese food and Sangria and headed back to the Comfort Inn Guesthouse for the last time. Though we fully intended to watch them from the rooftop, we got caught up in packing and our own exhaustion and were falling asleep just as they began to go off.

With a 4:30am wake-up call and a taxi driver picking us up at 5, we left Malta entirely too early in the morning. Tim and Alyssa left on a seven o'clock-ish flight, so I sat in the airport for a total of 5 hours before boarding my 10:00 plane. But I made friends with a very nice couple who made me eat a banana and a granola bar, talked to me for 45 minutes and wished me luck on finals. They were adorable. Getting home from the airport was ever the hassle and being back really made me realize I would no longer be gallavanting all over Europe on the weekends and home was getting oh-so-close. A bit sad really, but Malta made a good last destination and now I can just soak up all the London-ness before Tuesday. Easier said than done.

Pictures of all the pretty and sunny, here.

On Scene Showing

Back from Malta yesterday, finals all week, and I don't have a lot of time until I finally study for Brit Pop, but...

I just wanted to mention that last Thursday evening ICLC had a scene showing featuring both Stage Acting classes and the Stage Combat class that some lucky students were invited to see. Thankfully, I got a ticket to go support my two flatmates, Jessie and Erin, in their scenes. I was extremely impressed with everyone's scenes that evening; I got really into them and so many of them were so funny. Also, the stage combat was amazing - seeing people fighting so close to you onstage is a bit disconcerting, but absolutely great. I loved every minute of the performances, and I wanted to acknowledge everyone's excellent work and thank them for putting on a really good, entertaining (and free!) show.