Cool Life

I haven't posted much lately other than pictures. Sorry about that, Madrid has been mostly homework and sleeping for me. But I will be in Barcelona tomorrow and it should be a completely different story.

I am still doing quite fine though, here is some proof...

Also, I got a new camera so I'll be able to post pictures of my own really soon.

After Punch Dancing Out My Rage

The requirements for being a great country are as follows:
1. good, cheap food
2. traditional naptime

Madrid has both so I give this country a thumbs up.

My camera broke in Stratford. Until I find a solution to my pictureless existence my friend Brad is letting me use some of the photos he takes. Luckily, he is a pretty good photographer as well as a pretty nice guy.


After punch-dancing out my rage I took a long and painful fall down this hill.

Train.




This picture just looks like a bunch of trees. But really its a picture of a bunch of trees and a tiny dog.

Minnesota:land of 1o,ooo lakes::Spain:land of 10,000 fountains

Me must have spent days playing and taking pictures on these car-blockin' stumps.





Pizza & Pita where we eat pretty much everyday and every night. Yo quierro una pizza y los papatas fritas por favor. O y une agua. Gracias.

Camera Update

My camera doesn´t have a little view-hole-thing.

Sorry About the Boring Post

Earlier today I was in Dublin, Ireland and, traveling fiascos aside, it was a wonderful place. Before I got there I imagined rolling green hills and sheep (and like, lots and lots of potatoes)...ya know, movie Ireland. But Dublin was a city with an insanely busy night life and the absolute nicest people I have ever met. Forget the midwest because "Irish nice" is the new "Minnesota nice" and that is that.

Now I´m in Madrid, Spain and so far it is quite the experience. Our hostel is far beyond comfortable, brand new and more like a gorgeous hotel than what I have experienced in the way of hostels so far (i.e. The Brewery). I don´t have much to write yet, everyone including myself, is cramming homework in tonight since class starts again tomorrow. I´ll write more later.

F.Y.stinkingI. My camera decided to up and crack its own LCD screen. Brand new and just sitting cozy in my purse and now its short life has come to an end. So I don´t know what I am going to do for pictures until I figure out how to change the function so I can look through the little camera hole thingy.

Good Luck.

Tweed Suit

Nothing better than an old English gentelman with a tweed suit and great sense of humor. Notice anything...a little off?

73% Cleaner, Warmer and More Wonderful

Here are some pictures from Stratford, where we are staying for the rest of this week. Sorry they aren't too thrilling but they reflect the town perfectly. I guess English countryside is wonderful for movies and such but in reality it is just as boring as American countryside. However, I am still in Europe so I really can't complain.

This is my bed at the new hostel (which is about 73% cleaner, warmer and more wonderful than the hostel we stayed at in London. More like a hotel with bunk beds and community bathrooms than anything else.) You can see here we have a cameo from Cleadius Cleadis (kisses, I love you Sadie).

At the train station I got this apple strudel, mostly because it was the cheapest thing in the display case and mostly because I was hungry out of my mind. Turns out it is the most delicious apple pastry in the entire world. I took a picture half way through so I could document one of the rare moments in my life that I can honestly say was nothing but perfect.
Two years ago in South Africa, I found a drink called Grapetizer (also available in Peartizer and Appletizer). It can´t be found in the United States and little bottles of it have been dancing around in my dreams ever since. Well guess what, they have it here and I'm buying up the entire country's stock of tizer.

"Shakespeare's House" though it probably isn't really his house. Just a hoax from some guy in the 1600s who thought he might be able to make a pretty pence by advertising to people with an affinity for iambic pantameter.
Swans, and lots of em. Romantic in the U.S. but here they are as plentiful as ducks. Maybe like deer in America and kangaroos in Australia.

They're mean too.

Guam

Alrighty I´m in a new hostel and it is in Guam. Well, really it is in Greenwich but it takes about a a half hour by train to get into the heart of London. Our hostel, though, is a welcome relief with huge rooms and spotless showers. The owner is this Jamaican lady named Yvonne. She calls me sweetie whenever I tall to her. Usually I don't like stuff like that but today she is going to cook us a traditional jamaican dinner so she can call me whatever she wants. We were supposed to meet some friends at a reggae club last night but we got lost so they ditched us (living without cell phones is a brand new experience). But when we got back to the hostel there was a birthday party going on and everybody was Jamaican and the music was reggae so we had our own club anyway.

Did I mention that this hostel has free wifi? Well it does. And I've been having an Internet binge since I got here.

Spam-A-Lot

I splurged some money today...and I don´t regret it, nuh uh, not one bit. I bought a ticket to Spam-a-Lot, the Monty Python musical based on the Holy Grail movie. It was fantastic and the absolute funnest thing I have done since arriving here. I am almost certian I must have six pack abs after laughing so much.

A few more pictures...

Throwing out some "litter." Notice the mid-air bottle action shot. Brilliant.

A picture of me going to Hogwarts. Cheers.

WANTED

A hostel.
Requirements:
-clean shower
-free WIFI
-breakfast
-NO weird Aussies

A Mixture of Bewilderment

Ugh finally I have some photos to put on here. But man am I a bad photographer. Most of my pictures are like fuzzy and taken from terrible angles. I guess highschool photography class was a waste in my hopeless case. Nevertheless...

Here is a lovely picture of out Hostel room. Yes, they are tiny. But so far I've had some of the greatest, most restful nights of sleep in my life.

This is some graffiti we saw near the National Theatre. It was on a 'community wall' so basically anybody could come and say whatever they felt like. Also, there was a dude break dancing and trying to video tape himself on a razr phone. It was pretty ridiculous but gave me a good laugh.

I thought all the girls from home would really appreciate this. It's an H&M and its three stories tall. I went inside and wanted to cry but instead I bought a gray sweater.

Hummus. I just finished a heaping bowl minutes ago.

I know what you're thinking....golly is that Big Ben?! And it is.
Ok, remember when I said that I almost met the queen (and by almost met the queen I mean I was in the same square mile as her). Well, here is flag flying to prove it.


And here is a terrible picture of me sitting in an English pub on our very first day in London. If you look closely in my eyes you can make out a mixture of bewilderment, exhaustion, longing for a hot shower and a realization that, dude, I am in London.

Where the Street Markets and Weirdos Are

Homeskillets. I'm still just trying to do my best over here in London. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, its been difficult to find internet that doesn't cost a whole bunch of pounds. I mean it is really hard to find anything to complain about when you are in London, but if I could pick something it would be how weak the US dollar is....which, you know what? Its not even the UK's fault, its Bush's fault. So boo on you Bush, you made my Subway sandwich cost eight US dollars today.

Here is a picture of me at St. Paul Cathedral (I'm the one on the right...). We did a pretty bad job of composing the picture, I mean we didn't even get the stinkin' cathedral in there. But at least you can see that I am alive and well...and in the habit of wearing orange moccasins with leopard print pants. This came from Brad's camera. I'm trying with a decent amount of effort to get my own pictures on here, but its gonna be a process.

Today we crashed Camden Town where the street markets and weirdos are... think Venice Beach in California but with more punks and really tiny cars. Here is a short list of things you can purchase in CT: british flag boxer shorts, gothic novelty pants, lime green skinny jeans, bowties and Chinese food. Too bad I forgot to get money out of the ATM, right?

For my Minnesota readers: The other day we went in to a clothing store in Comstock and just as we walked in Prince began to sing over the store speakers. It was super awesome. We asked the shop owner if she knew Prince lived in Minnesota. She said no. AND THEN LATER...when we were in Camden Town scoping some 80's windbreakers, Atmosphere (an indie rap group from the MN) was playing. Perfection really. I almost got homesick...but mostly it just reminded me how much music I forgot to put on my iPod.

Actual Keyboard

AHH! yea i can write this on an actual keyboard instead of the tiny touchscreen on my ipod touch (not that i don't love that little ipod with wall my heart). but for some reason capitalizing letters is especially awkward on an english keyboard, so for now i'm just going to skip the good grammer and editing. my apologies.

last night we went on a jack the ripper tour. we had this hilariously outgoing tour guide and we went into these alleyways and old buildings, to where jack's victims lived and were found. it was a little creepy but just my style (i kept thinking that sadie would like this very much). after that we hit up the ten bells, a pub where all of jack's victims were frequent customers. it was old and shabby and so so great. the bartender was this irish guy who wouldn't stop dancing, he said he could dance however he pleased because he had been managing the place for six years.

after that we came back to the hostel where they have like a little club thing. we met people from italy, argentina, paris and germany. it was so fun trying to understand their english, and trying to get them to understand our english (or in my case, really, really bad french). everyone dances really different and listens to really different music, so basically we had the time of our lives getting stared at.

all the girls out here wear boots. i left mine at home. bad news bears for me, right? i guess that means i will just have to buy some new ones in Oxford Circus, what a bummer. psych, i totally planned that so i would have to.

im having a wonderful time, snapping pictures of old buildings, meeting locals and eating hummus (yes it is still my favorite place). cheers loves.