recap on my last few days

my last week in London is one i'll remember the most out of my entire experience abroad. i'm sure you all are aware of how lazy i am on summarizing my experiences--i will only focus on the highlights!

after weeks of nauseous anxiety, i finally got my debit card in the mail monday afternoon. because i didn't have money, i was trapped in my room, doing nothing (except watch countless movies every day)

on monday, we celeberated becca's graduation with delicious drinks, a walk around regent's park at night (while becca drank with her toes dipped in the fountains), and a crazy photoshoot on a monument. ending the night with some delicious thin crust pizza. GREAT NIGHT.

on tuesday, i finished my stupid art history paper. what a mess.

wednesday, i went out on my final "tourist" adventure, visiting Kensington Palace, Kensington Park, the Albert Memorial, Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, etc...

candace came to visit me on thursday! candace, tess, and i went to hampstead heath, went up to parliament hill, which is the highest natural point in London, where we looked down on the city (that was an awful sentence). you could see St. Paul's, the Gherkin, the BT Tower, and other unidentifiable tall buildings.

 top of Parliament Hill

we then proceeded to Covent Garden, a marketplace where a bunch of street performers congregate. we also went to a worship service at Westminster Abbey (though it was in the smaller church next to the abbey) and then Candace and I strolled around Parliament Square. after dinner on the riverside, where we had some amazing Pimm's Lemonade, we ended up going back home early, taking a nap, and having some amazing girl talk :)

 street performer inviting my up on his stand

at Covent Garden

 Pimm's Lemonade and Candace

Westminster Abbey

friday, i started packing, got bored so i went to the national gallery to buy a poster, bought some percy pigs, and then recommenced packing. then my friends and i went out for some delicious Moroccan food. becca and yagna had to leave early, but beth, victoria, and i had an amazing time exploring the riverside at night. we went a little overboard, taking pictures of Big Ben, Parliament, and the Eye. it was so beautiful :)

 

and the night ended with yummy smoothies at Giraffe. 

yeah...i can't believe i'm home already. it is unbelievably dull here. and i miss my room in London

 

up next: some other thoughts about studying abroad.

unfair departure

i am flying back to Vancouver tomorrow morning. already! i'm a bit annoyed with myself for hopping aboard the internship train just because all my other peers seemed to be doing it. this internship just stole and entire month of London from me (i was supposed to stay till June 18, but now i leave tomorrow -__-). this 9 to 5 job better be worth it.

this entire semester = greatest epic holiday of my life/probably the last epic holiday i'll have in a while.

i'm happy to say that i felt very much at home in London for the past few weeks. i wouldn't be surprised if i ended up coming back :)

Philadelphia--you have some large shoes to fill this summer.

Global Humour

went to watch Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It, at the Globe Theatre tonight.

i didn't think i was going to enjoy it so much!! we stood in the pit, where the poor people back in Shakespeare's day (aka "groundlings") used to pay only a penny to watch a performance. my poor friends and i paid 5.50

 the stage

side observation: jokes about sex are understood by all ages, all races, and all genders, no matter how old the english may be.

FAILBLOG

i dedicate this entry to those brilliant people who contribute to fail blog.

one thing that the dorms here have in common with my experience living at haverford are the evil firealarms that always go off at the most unfortunate time in the day/night because some idiot was either smoking pot, or some amateur cook managed to burn popcorn in the microwave.  most of the firealarms here go off because many of the British students, if not all, like to smoke cigarettes in their rooms. but last week, it was a slightly different scenario...

someone obviously has very poor aiming. who can't

aim their deodorant toward their armspits? British students. 

fail. 

Below are two other fails.

1. Drunken cooking is NEVER a good idea. this goes to show that most of the students here are drunk most of the time. fail.

2. the line that is underlined in red is actually an edited sentence. before this edited letter from the warden made its debut, the original letter said "Smoking is only permitted in your bedrooms." can you believe it? fail.

inconsistencies

i noticed something very strange today while i was working on my paper.

i write my "O"s counter-clockwise.
but when i draw circles, i draw them clockwise.

and then it made me think about the other inconsistent things i do.

1. i pronounce "orange" differently, depending on the context that i am using it.
i.e. "aw-range" when i refer to the color. "O-range" when i am referring to the fruit that you eat.

2. i use my left-hand to write, eat, brush my teeth, cut with a knife, and play tennis. i use my right hand to throw a ball, brush my hair, cut with scissors, open/lock my door with keys, flip cards during a game of Egyptian Ratscrew, open bottles, and nearly everything else...

3. i enjoy cracking every possible joint on my body (that may be an extreme sentence, but you know what i mean). but i kind of get grossed out when i hear other people doing it.

4. i can do the Vulcan Salute with my left hand just fine, but my right hand gets confused...


what are some of your inconsistencies? an inquiring mind wants to know...

wellcome

last week, i went to the Wellcome Collection to get some inspiration for my art history paper. it might seem like an odd choice to some people because it's a "science" museum on medicine, health, the body, and social issues, but after my visit, i knew i made the right decision. my visit was less about learning (although i learned TONS! i think this might be my favorite museum after the Victoria&Albert), and more about observing the modes of display that were chosen. my final paper asks these questions: how can truth be displayed? is there a right way to present it? what's the best way to do it? what is the history behind the display methods?

i've been meaning to visit the Wellcome Collection ever since i found out it was within 5 minute walking distance from where i live! i think i mentioned in a past entry that i wrote a history paper on John Thomson's photography from his journey around China. he left his collection for his good friend Henry Wellcome, who was an extraordinary man. bizarre, but extraordinary. i think i would have fallen in love with him, had i met him in the 1800s.

this weird man collected anything that was related to the human body. japanese sex aids, mummified bodies, shrunken heads, Napoleon's toothbrush, "tools" for amputation, chairs, Darwin's walking sticks, photography of various ethnic groups and much more. the collection is absolutely fascinating.

there were also special exhibits focusing on major health topics, such as malaria in the developing world, obesity, and the human genome. 

now, i just need to figure out how to incorporate my experience at the collection in my paper...

 Library of the Human Genome

These large volumes are filled with an almost complete copy of the human genetic sequence.  Each volume represents the 22 chromosomes (and the sex chromosomes are at the top...x&y...right? this is way beyond my realm of understanding, to be honest...)

 Alastair Mackie

Mosquito Coast, 2002

yup. this map of the world is made with mosquitos...sewn on to the canvas.

above is a close up on the mosquitos.

 among Wellcome's crazy things are eye baths. when your eyeball needs some down time, away from you socket.

 one of John Thomson's photos taken in China. saw this one in like...all of the books i read about him.

Angela Palmer

Breathing In, 2007

The flask on the left contains the purest air in the world, from Cape Grim, Tasmania

The flask on the right contains the most polluted air in the world, from Linfen, Shanxi Province, China

8 o'clock music

some of the blogs i read dedicate a post now and then to featuring music.

i think i want to start doing that. i'll call these posts: 8 o'clock Music.

i came across this song a while before the music video came out and fell in love with it. i could see myself singing it. i just saw the video this afternoon, i'll have to say i'm disappointed by it. but i still love the song. it's sweet and sad.

this is a song i wish i wrote. listening to it now makes me feel excited for this summer, upset that my friends at Haverford are graduating, and already nostalgic about my time in europe!

on other blogs

during this busy time of finals and papers, i have found great joy in discovering new blogs. one particular favorite of mine is Dads are the Original Hipsters.  it is brilliant. it is nasty. it is absolutely rude.  it is the type of humor that i revere.  i wish all of my friends would appreciate this kind of humor--sarcasm, cynicism, and bluntness.  at this point in my life, i've found that people are surprised at the kind of things i appreciate...i'm bad at giving people a true impression of myself...

what i love about this blog is that it is exactly the type of humor i enjoy, and it bashes on today's lame generation of hipsters.

random anecdote: i have an awful friend who once asked me if i was a hipster (he will not be named). i wanted to punch him for insulting me with such a stupid question, then attack him with the following questions: do i smell like pot? do i look like i haven't washed my hair in a week? do i have a glazed look in my eyes? do i wear clothes that look like i inherited them from a homeless father? do i talk about existential philosophy? do i carry a worn out messenger bag? what the heck?

but i didn't. i just told him no.

anyway. today's entry on this blog is particularly relevant to my time abroad. enjoy!!

high fives to all those awesome dads. it is currently my goal in life to immortalize my dad on the internet by submitting a picture of him on this blog. i'll update you if i have any progress with it :)

you lose some, and you gain much

the sentence below made me snort/smirk/chuckle when i wrote it:

being happy is when all the glitter in your life comes together to form one big, sparkly disco ball.

HAHAHAHAHAA!! but you gotta admit--you love it. and you agree with it.

i'm not sure how in touch with reality i am right now. i say this because something awful happened to me on sunday, and i should have been upset, but for some reason i was able to shrug it off way to easily. and then since sunday, only good things have been happening to me.

my shirt matches the flowers :)

rewind:

sunday--after eating brunch, i got ready to leave for church. i realized i had no cash and my oyster card had no money, so i stopped by an ATM machine. the machine ate my debit card. it pretended nothing happened and went straight back to its default starting screen. and i stood there for a good five minutes, wondering what mode of emotion would be appropriate for the situation. i tried a few--panic, sadness, frustration, anger. but i decided a combination of startled and nervous was what i needed to express. the timing for this to happen to me was awful too, because banks are closed on sundays and it was closed on monday too, due to May Day in London. so i called and cancelled my card, ordered a new one, wrote a letter of liability, and faxed it to my bank. i thought i was going to be all right though, because i could at least use my credit card--so i thought.

nope.

i went out to dinner that night for sushi with some friends. and i swiped my card. and lo and behold, my card did not work. why? because the card expired, exactly that day. the expiration date was April 2011. that sunday was May 1st. what an epic fail! 

so now i am officially broke. with no money to my name in London. it is a good thing i have wonderful, caring friends who are lending me cash until my new card comes! but despite the bad news, i had such a silly time making fun of my situation, and laughing about it with my friends. laughter is definitely the best medicine.

since then, it's only been good happening one after the other.

monday--i got an internship in Philly for the summer! already, it looks like a busy summer meeting with friends, going on weekend trips, and hanging out with old buds!! CAN NOT WAIT. shoot me an email if you're around Philly this summer :)

tuesday--last semester, my job was literally to blog. i got paid by my school to blog for a national art show that our school was participating in. so i did a couple reviews here and there, on artists in the Philly area who were participating in the People's Biennial. well, for some reason, one artist was particularly fond of my review of his photography. i got an email from him a month ago, thanking me for my review on his work. the email itself was exciting to receive--it's always cool getting compliments on something you write [edit: it's hardly a "review" if you think about it...just my silly thoughts]. but on tuesday morning, i found a package waiting for me in the mailroom. when i opened it, i found myself holding one of his original photos, framed and signed. sent all the way to me in London. holy cow. that made me tear up. some people are just ridiculously way too kind. 

in the afternoon, i went to the Kew Gardens because it was my friend's birthday. 

happy birthday, beth! 

 GIANT LILY PADS

how beautiful! all the colorful flowers and the trees were such natural energy boosters. i had too much (many?) happy vibes in me and i had to let it out somehow. cartwheels are good happy vibe releasers.