Finding Pemo

Now I'm REALLY GRADUATED!!!

2010-08-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

For real this time, summer classes all done, Microsoft internship went awesome, moving up to Seattle in September to do full time...

Crap, reality hits me like a train.

...I need a brown paper bag

(picture of me after catching a fish thrown at me during my interview in February just cuz)

I graduated!!!

2010-05-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

(well, technically not till summer but...)

Yay me!!! and Michelle, John, Jen, Ray, Sunny, Tommy, Braden, Brie, Dan, Torrey, and everyone I love, but forgot to mention (which I fear is a lot)!!!

Lots of love and good luck everyone!

Salt Lake Running Comp 5K!

2010-05-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Distance: 5K
Time: 28.00

So in snow/hail/rain/cold this morning was the Salt Lake Running Company's grand opening celebration, and what's a better way to celebrate than its own 5K race? The course was awesome! Well, in the it was flat, head straight north then turn around and come straight back kind of way. Thanks to the amazing volunteers who helped run the event in the cold and rain and the cops who donated there time to stop traffic for us! I ran a great race and shattered my PR!!! No more 32:30's for me!

Warning, possibly way WAY TMI, but feel free to continue

2010-04-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday April 21, 4 miles

mile 1: great
mile 2: pretty great
mile 3: not quite so great
mile 4: not great... as in get me to a bush and FAST not great

Result:

I do so solemnly swear to never again consume sugary slushy substances within 60 minutes of a run for as long as I live

Hey, it's been a while, but... Run Like Health 5K!

2010-04-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, my first real 5K race!

April 10th, 2010

distance: 5K
time: 32.10.47

Not bad for my very first 5k considering it was 75% uphill! Started at Rice Eccles, around the stadium, down a bit, up to Merril Engineering, up and around the union, down a bit, up to the Museum of Fine Arts, down and around the library and down and up back to Rice Eccles. Had an awesome time considering I had only gotten an hour of sleep the night before and worked the rest of the day away on our senior project, but awesome! (and made some new friends, too!)

Next on my calendar, Salt Lake Running Company 5K on May 1st!

Happy Birthday Nikki!!

2009-07-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, not that I really need to say it via blog since I'll see you in about 10 minutes, but hey, Happy Birthday!!!!

Luv~ Petite <3

I'm baaaack!

2009-07-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Woot! Well, it's been an awesome year, but I'm finally back home for good! Thanks for staying with me all the way and don't worry, I'll be shortly posting all the many... many photos from my trip (and the last one too for that matter)

lots of love!
Patty

Almost Done!

2009-07-06T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Woot, I found free internet in Athens airport and, since my flight back to London's been delayed about an hour, thought I'd drop a quick post before I headed home. Well, justly as a quicky, after hitting Rome and Florence, our next stop was Athens and finally FINALLY, the real vacation in Santorini! Now, Athens was really cool, but Santonini was the vacation I'd been needing. After more than 3 and a half weeks of travel, Santorini was awesome! Picture'll have to wait until I'm on a faster connection, but it was great!

But anyway, where'd that all go? *sigh, today I split up from the gang and after spending a grad total of 11 hours waiting in airports, I'll be spending one last night in London before finally coming home for good!

As sad as it is to say goodbye, I can't wait to see everyone again!

lots of love!
~Pemo

Hey, though I'd post some pictures of the Loire

2009-06-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry I don't have a ton of time but I thought I'd just post some pictures of some of the chateaus we've visited today and yesterday...

Here's yesterday when we visited Chateau Amboise and today when we visited Chenonceau (sorry they were doing construction work on the side) The place had some awesome gardens...and a really cute 18th century farm!and finally here's a shot of Langeais. The chateau itself was closing, so we didn't get to explore, but we went up a little hill and got a great shot of the little cathedral as well as the chateau and bridge in the background!ahhh, Christie, you'd love it here!

France + Yay, it's Nikki!!!

2009-06-20T02:52:00.000-07:00

Yay, so London was a blast. Dad and I spent a couple days hitting a bunch of major museums like the British, Science, and Victoria and Albert Museums. And boy were they HUGE!!!! On average we limited ourselves to about three hours at each one, roughly about when our feet would give out.

But then it was on to Paris via the Chunnel!!!! (chanel + tunnel) ...which wasn't all that amazing. But hey, at least we can say we've been through it. Anyway, the next day we picked up Nikki and hit Versailles and the Eiffel Tower before finally letting her crash. The next day we hit the Louvre where we checked out the Mona Lisa and after stopped by at the famous Notre Dame cathedral. For dinner we took an awesome dinner cruise where Dad insisted I post this photo for you all... Finally, yesterday we rented a car and now we're in Tours within the beautiful Loire river valley! Time to hit some Chateaus!

Last day in Swansea...

2009-06-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

sigh, sad day...

Swansea, you've been fabulous!! Goodbye Kerry, goodbye Rosie, goodbye Naomi, goodbye James, goodbye Martin, goodbye Charlotte, goodbye Mia, goodbye Austin, goodbye Britiney, goodbye Whitney, goodbye Will, goodbye other Rosie, and Bernie, Jodie, Emma, and Emilie!!

Love you guys lots!!
~Patricia

Stonehenge!!

2009-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

...couldn't leave the UK without seeing it

So Dad and I took a day trip out to the town of Salisbury to hit the all famous site, Stonehenge. Although lots of people I'd talked to over the year all said Stonehenge was kind of a drag, I though it was really cool! We got lucky with yet another gorgeous day (who knows how long that'll last) and Dad finally brought his camera and insisted on sending me a couple photos and insisted that I put them on my blog (oh ya, am I getting back at you for rubbing salt in the wound all day long with the camera cord incident... you watch your back...)

*grphpmmphs... so here's Stonehenge... grudgingly I guess it's a pretty good shotAnd here's a shot of a little bit of Salisbury itself. It's really a beautiful little townand oh look, it's Dad with that one kid who keeps getting in all my photos! (hmph, it's not enough that he had to harass me all day, but he had to insist on making me post a shot with her and her crazy hair...)I love you, Dad <3

Well, we're still in Swansea and lovin' it!

2009-06-12T13:36:00.001-07:00

Hi all!

Now, while we were originally supposed to have left Swansea by now, Dad and I decided to stay a few days extra before heading out for good just cuz Swansea's so awesome! Yesterday, being granted a beautiful warm sunny day, Dad and I walked from Swansea down to the Mumbles following the coast and kept going... and going... and going. And man was it amazing!! We found this really cool little coastal trail that went all the way down to Langland and Caswell Bays at which, both of us suffering from rather nasty blisters on our feet, decided to call it a successful day. It wasn't until I sat down at my computer though when I realized that the camera cord for transferring pictures to my computer... was at that moment being shipped to the states after mistakenly identified as the cord for my Wacom tablet... which kind of stunk... cuz now I have to wonder where THAT cord is. I promise we took some great pictures though, and I'm not just trying to get out of posting picture of me with my old man!

So, the tragedy unveiled, I chose to continue my life as best I could, the next day, being today (I'm updating promptly for once!) taking the special Gower Bus on a tour of the Gower penninsula (quite a bit of which, I must say, I slept through having not gotten much sleep the night before thanks to a bad case of hay fever). At the end of the line, we ended up at Rhossili bay, a huge, clean beach surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs. Although we got rained on towards the end, it was an amazing site! On the eastern most point was Worm's Head, a little cliff jutting out into the ocean. It's cool because it's only reachable when the tide is at its lowest, giving only a small window of time to cross the rocks, have a look around (not that there's really much to see) and scrambling back to safety. Out of consideration for our wounded feet, Dad and I didn't bother with the crossing, but we certainly enjoyed the view! (*sob, sob... my... *sob... precious... *sob... pictures... *sob, sob)

Welcome to Swansea, Dad!!

2009-06-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, well I guess the welcome to you directly has already been given, but for everyone else out there, my Dad just got into the UK today and thus my last trip before heading home officially begins!!!

Next stop, Munich!

2009-06-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

Alright! I'm trying to cram these all in before I leave, so here's Munich. We didn't stay for very long, just a day and a half, but we took a cool (aka free) walking tour around the snowy city. We thought we had thrown off the snow by coming back to Germany, but guess not... Anyway, take a look! Munich was famous for meticulously photographing every part of the city, so when/if it was destroyed in the WWII bombings, it could be restored to its original glory.Here's one of the cathedrals that has a rather interesting story behind it. Sorry, you'll have to google it if you're curious, but it involves its architect making a deal with the devil about not being able to see any windows...hm... honestly I didn't take all that many pictures in MunichHmph, oh well, then it was on to Rome via night train! (a rather... interesting experience I must say)

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-06-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you have a fun birthday and I'll see you Wednesday!!

Love,
Patty

Okay, it's about time I moved on to Salzburg

2009-06-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Ah... I think Salzburg was my favorite city...

We started out by taking a Sound of Music tour (yes I know it was about the cheesiest thing we could have done, but hey, it took us to a ton of really cool places!) where we hit a bunch of locations where Hollywood filmed the movie. See how much you can recognize...

This first one may be a little trickyBut how about this one?or this one? (no not the person in it. It you can't get that one I'm not sure you should be reading this blog...)try this oneThink you got them? Well here's the answers: first, the back of the Von Trapp family's home, or more specifically the lake behind the home (a different location was used for the front); second, the family's rather romantic gazebo; third, where Maria and the children did that last bit of the Do-Re-Me sequence; and lastly, the church where Maria and the Captain were married, which is actually not in Salzburg at all, but a little village outside the city.

Oooh, but that same day, we took a tour of the salt mines of which Salzburg get's it's name (Salzburg translating to 'city of salt'). Check out these, um, cool (?) suits we got to wear!And we got to slide down these cool shafts in order to get to the deeper levels! They snapped a photo of us as we went down. Mia has the original, but I conveniently snapped a picture of it before parting ways... somehow I got stuck being in front...But the next day we finally got a break from the snow and I took some time exploring the city on my own in order to hit a couple museums. I spent most of my time though, getting sidetracked by the beautiful scenery (although I did in fact eventually make it to the museum of modern art). Take a look at how gorgeus the city was!and some moreand more
And I found the graveyard where Mozart was buried. I know that sounds creepy, but trust me, the cemetery was beautiful! (a lot better than the one on Edinburgh that's for sure!)Oh, and here's Nonnburg Abbey!Okay, one last shot of the city and I'm done...Awe shoot, but I need to show you the fortress too!We all had a great time! (I think I was laughing at someone in the background in this one...)And next up, it's back to Germany for Munich!

Six days to go plus my first taste of the NHS!

2009-06-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

The countdown continues and only six days remain :(

Not to much to report only that the last few days I've been packing my things to be shipped out Tuesday. Mostly though, I've been spending as much time as I can with my awesome AWESOME friends, Kerry and Naomi. They're rather adamant about getting out of pictures for me to post, but gosh darn it, I'm determined! At least Naomi got a few pictures in when I was invited down to her home a few months back, but I still need to get Kerry! Kerry, if you're reading this, be warned!!!!

But anyway, a few days ago (okay, more than a few... like last Monday) I got my first taste of the UK's National Health Service, or NHS (no, not the National Honors Society, that's for US High Schools...). It wasn't anything serious, just that my knee had been bothering me for a few weeks and I finally gave in and decided it was time to get it checked out. So anyway, back to the story, the NHS is amazing! For those of you who are unfamiliar, the NHS offers free health service to anyone in the country, including foreign students. You just walk right in, register with the doctor (which, rather alarming, though, doesn't even require a valid ID) and away you go, no co-payment or anything! It's really amazing that anyone and everyone has access to free health care.

Although the NHS gets a lot of hike about having bad doctors, the ones on campus were great. After a very educational discussion with my doctor, I came out with a bad case of runners knee (google it if you're curious) which was causing me a fair bit of pain and worry. Unfortunately, while I normally would have been referred directly to a physiotherapist for some helpful exercises to strengthen my knee, since I was leaving, I just kind of have to grin and bear it (and google those helpful exercies). The good news is that it's slowing but surely on the mend and it should be fine for my last big trip to Greece with my folks next week!

Exam 3: Ancient Technology and Engineering

2009-06-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

O... M... G... !... !... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yep! Went swell and now I'm all done...

... and the countdown to goodbye begins... :(

Exam 2: Computer Graphics I

2009-05-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

Woot! Went great!

now it's two down, one to go!

(and no, it's not a type-o, yes, I did in fact already take cg II last semester. That's just how it worked out... it did make the test somewhat easier. No wait, let me rephrase that; I shouldn't say it made the test easier, but instead that it helped me perform better)

What's this? ANOTHER POST?!

2009-05-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's true! Now on to Berlin!

Here's us at the starting point of our free walking tour, the Brandenburg Gate... we were very coldAnd then it started snowingAnd then it got sunny again once we hit the Holocaust memorial...Look carefully and you'll see a certain someone exhibiting her latent spiderman powers...the Berlin wall... actually not all that interestingDoh, I can't remember exactly which church/cathedral this one was. I'm pretty sure the one one the left was an art museum...?And our final stop, museum island!
Load of fun! Now on to Salzburg, Austria!!

Alright alright!!

2009-05-21T09:31:00.002-07:00

Urgh, fine, I'll update. As I said, starting with London...

Here's Mia and me at Camden MarketAnd hey, the London eye!The blossoms were in full bloom at Hyde Park!It was a gorgeous day, so we went exploring!and found Platform 9 3/4!! ...I was having trouble getting through the wall, thoughThat's really it for London. We hit a few shows, Les Mis and Avenue Q, had some awesome ethnic foods and Camden Market, and chilled out before heading to Berlin!

Exam 1: Operating Systems

2009-05-21T09:31:00.001-07:00

Went swell!

one down, two to go!!

Happy Birthday Laine!!! (...ya, I'm still alive)

2009-05-17T13:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Monkey!!

6 years eh? Hope you have a fun birthday and I can't wait to see you, luv!

Mwah!
~Pemo

(and for everyone else out there, I know, I know, I'll update...)

Happy Birthday Christie!

2009-04-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Many happy returns Christie!!

Lots of love!
Patty

Thank you gods of electronics!

2009-04-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! So I'm back in Swansea (okay, well have been for a week now) and after a brutal battle with an exploded jar on honey, my camera cord finally works again and I can finally upload some pictures!!! I have a ton, so here's the plan: today I'm just uploading pictures from all around the trip, but then I'll go post by post for all the places we visited! (well, I'll combine some but...)

Here's a certain someone at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin
then to gorgeous Salzburg
then the beer halls of Munich! (okay, this one's actually a mall strangely enough but...)
and hey, it's the Colosseum!and the, um... city full of character (and cars and mopeds and buses all of which, again strangely enough, seem to have escaped this photo), Naples!but Pompeii was fantastic! And hey, here were some milling stones I learned about in my Ancient Technology class just a few weeks before! who knew?Ooooh, and then there was France! (the water was freezing but gosh darn it I was determined!)And then on to supposed to be (but not) so sunny Barcelona!And finally onto... wait, what the heck, warm AND sunny Amsterdam? Amsterdam?! (no no really, it was!)
And then after a little bump in our final destination, it was back home to Swansea! ...and school papers... and exams... and presentations... and drunk students stumbling home at night...

Happy Birthday James!!

2009-04-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, two whole years eh? Gosh little man, stop growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday with lots of love, James!!

Pemo<3

hm... it's been a while

2009-04-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

hi all! It's been a while hasn't it? well, I'm still alive and kicking in the, well, currently rainy wet beaches of Barcelona! Man, I wish I could update you guys with some pictures but unfortunately you can't upload any pictures via msds, so that'll have to wait until I get back!

But let's see, so where did I leave off? Rome I think? that was cool, we did the coloseum, forum, paladin hill, and all your typical tourist stuff. Then we hit Naples which was, well, let's just say it had its charm. Luckily we only toured the city for a day before jutting off to Pompei which was AMAZING!!! you were allowed to walk around the entire ruined city which was huge! We were lucky and evaded the rain for the first time since that start of the trip and had a gorgeous sunny day before heading off to southern France, and oh my was that beautiful! By far my favorite place so far, we stayed in Nice and took a day trip to Monte Carlo where the water was crystal clear blue... but freazing cold. But that certainly didn't stop me from spending a couple hours in the water before being dragged out by my travel buddies. But for now, we'll see what Barcelona has to offer!!

Salzburg and Munich!

2009-03-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

Hallo again! (no not a type-o, this is 'hello' in German)

So we finished up in Salzburg and just got into Munich where we've been greeted with a beautiful sunny day unlike the snowy, rainy, cold days we had in Salzburg (well, except for yesterday evening) sorry this one has to be a quicky and again I can't upload any pictures which stinks cuz I had some great ones of the city. But just an update: in Salzburg we hit a skyline tour where we hit all the places where they filmed the Sound of Music and next we hit a tour of the salt mines, which was awesome since we got to wear awesome gear and everything!! But anyway, this is costing me a ton, so just saying hi!

OMG what the heckäs wrong with this kezboard__

2009-03-24T03:56:00.001-07:00

zaz so zesterdaz we arrived in Berlin where we#re stazing with Rosie#s familz for a couple dazs before we head out to salyburgh on Wednesdaz. Sorrz I can#t upload anz pictures right now but I#m on a public computer without anz USB plugs, so itäs gonna have to be a verbal update todaz.

But enough ranting. Anyone notice anything something weird about the text above? Hehe, I'm on a German kezboard so I just wanted to point out the subtle differences I face whenever I try to type something. It's really not the different. The biggest thing is that the y and z are swapped with is reallz annozing.

Anyway, so a quick update on my weekend in London. Mia, Rosie and I stayed with a friend of a friend, where we spent saturday watching Les Mis and Avenue Q, both of which were awesome!! What is Avenue Q you ask? Think of it as an R rated version of sesame street. Oooh and all it's goodness... But it was a lot of fun and had great music :) Oooooooh and Saturday I went to visit platform 9 and 3\4!!! Man, I wish I could show you the awesome picture of me pushing a trolley through a wall, but you'll have to wait for now.

Okay, now time for a 3.5 hour walking tour around a blizzarding Berlin and then on the Salzburg tomorrow!

I'm off!

2009-03-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

Yay! So I finished my project (here at 7 am), finished my packing (somewhat), finished my mental preparations, and finished the rest of my milk which means...

OFF TO EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, well, technically we start off in London today and leave for Germany Monday where we'll be staying with the ever so awesome Rosie's grandparents. WOOCHA! take a look at the awesome backpack I get to lug around like a real hardcore traveler!Okay, bye for now! We'll try to hit an internet cafe every couple days to let people know we're still alive :)

Just a quicky...

2009-03-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

Just as an update, I'm leaving for my 3 week Europe trip on Friday! But before I can celebrate, I have a couple really REALLY big courseworks I have to finish before I can leave with peace of mind. The biggest one by far is my computer graphics coursework, where I have to, ahem, get to, research fur modeling with some different graphical environments. Just because I liked it, here's a sneak peak at what I've been working on with one of them :)

Don't freak out but...

2009-03-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

I got a tattoo! (pause for effect...?)

So what sparked this strange rebellious unPatty-like behavior you ask? No, I'm not rebelling against anything, no, this isn't the start of some wild rampage of body art and piercings, and yes, there is in fact a legitimate, believable story that goes behind it.

So the story? Well I guess honestly it's not really a story, but anyway, over the course of my year here in Swansea, I've made some really awesome friends, but there are a few in particular who I've become particularly close to. You may recognize them from my Bath and Edinburgh posts as Rosie and Mia. Well we all really wanted to do something special that would always remind us of each other, so of course, what better way to remember a friendship than all getting inked together! And no, we didn't all get the same one, but I did get the honor of designing all our tattoos! I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of my pals', but for Rosie I made a little cupcake for her foot and Mia a feather in the moon for the back of her neck. You can take a look at the concept art though! Here's Rosie's, we ended up going for one like number 7 but without the inside swirlsAnd here's Mia's! We used the feather from number 3 but changed the quill bit to look more like the top bit of feather C and flipped it upside-down.And... um... I guess I can only describe mine as swirly, wispy, smoky designs for my foot. Here's a photo of mine! (it's based on my right foot) Now flip it around and upside down and voila! Since it's technically upside-down at this angle, you'll have to wait until you see me in person for the real deal. I got a lot of hype from my friends and tattoo artist about how much it was going to hurt since it was on my foot, but it actually wasn't that bad. Mine took a good hour to do, but our artist, William, was really cool and the four of us chatted the whole way through. When he finished, William just put a lot of moisturizer over it, covered it with a paper towel bandage, and I was able to walk right out of there! It takes a good week for it to heal completely; the tattoo actually scabs over, so you can feel the lines if you were to touch it. But anyway, I'm really happy with it since I can cover it whenever I need to and I think it looks pretty cool! I just have to wait a couple weeks to wear socks again since you're not supposed to cover it until it's fully healed...

Bath!!! (again)

2009-03-05T08:28:00.001-08:00

So a couple days ago my travel buddies, Mia and Rosie, and I took another day trip to the awesome city of Bath! This time around we took a double decker bus tour around the city and skyline and up to the University of Bath and it was gorgeous!! I don't really have a lot to say about this one, just that I had another great adventure with my buddies so take a look!
and moreand moreand moreand somehow that random person snuck her way into this one againAnd that's it for this one but stay tuned for... um... the next update, I guess.

Oh, you're actually curious about... me?

2009-02-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've gotten a few complaints that I don't really talk about how I am. So here it goes... I'm doing GREAT!! I'm loving my classes, my friends (both British and American, and for that matter the German, Brazilian, Chinese, and French ones too), and surprisingly the weather!! We've had an amazing string of beautiful warm sunny days here in Swansea, which is FANTASTIC!!!

Classes you ask? Okay, so I'm taking computer graphics I (I know, I already took cgII last semester, so what am I thinking? Well, I really liked the professor (I had him for database systems in the fall) and we're coding our own version of photoshop, so how could I resist?), operating systems, I'm still in the computer graphics lab, ancient science and technology (which ROCKS!!), and social psychology and brain behavior (which I just found out that 100% of my grade rests on a single essay and no exam. Woot!!) As you can see I'm still a very diligent note taker.Oh, yes, very diligent indeed (I took these in brain behavior today ^_^)Oooh, and Dad guess what? You know the pen twirlly thing you taught me (like a few years back)? And then taught me to spin it backwards? I've ALMOST got the backwards part down! I'll try recording it when I really have it :)

But other than that, some friends and I are planning an awesome three week backpack across German/Mediterranean adventure over our month long easter break! Okay, I guess that's about it.

Amsterdam!!!

2009-02-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

So last weekend some friends and I signed up for a school offered trip to Amsterdam!! And after the 15 hour bus ride we arrived exhausted bright and early Friday morning to begin our two day tour of the city. Take a look, the city was sooo beautiful!But that morning was rainy... (you can see my friends in this one, from left to right, we have Rosie, Austin in the grey jacket, Mia, and Courtney with the umbrella)
On our way to our first stop we found this!! (It's the I am/sterdam sign!)We started with the Van Gogh museum where we were just in time to experience the grand opening of "Colors of the Night" exhibition where Van Gogh's Starry Night and other night/twilight themed painting were on display. Since we weren't allowed to take photos inside here's some pictures of us outside enjoying the rain/ice/snow! Some of us enjoyed it more than others :)
The rest of that night we just took it easy and walked around the city taking pictures... we loved the canals and how everyone rode these cute one speed carrier bikesand moreand moreThe next morning we took this awesome three hour walking tour around the city. We started at the National Monumentand Royal PalaceThen stopped at the Old Church at the center of the red light district (more on that later for those of you who don't know what that is)And stopped at places like the biggest house in Amsterdam (it's cool cuz housing taxes were based on the width of the front of your house, not the back or how tall it was. So Dutch houses were really skinny in front, a bit wider in the back, and really tall)And learned some cool facts! We were all wondering why all the houses were leaning forward, and learned this cool fact. In Amsterdam, they don't have cellars because since Amsterdam was created by draining water through dikes, everything underground becomes really really damp. As a result, the driest place to store anything was at the very top of the house. But since the houses were super narrow, how the heck did they plan on actually getting anything up there? Well, the solution was to install a hook at the top of the house, get some rope, and hoist everything up to the top and pull it through a window, a practice still used today. But if the houses weren't leaning, everything would bump against the house on the way up. Cool huh? Here's one of the hooks on some random house...and some hoisting in live action! (kind of...)We even stopped at the Amsterdam's most famous coffee shop (aka marijuana joints, and no Dad, we didn't try any) featured in Ocean's Twelve (not that I've seen it, but hey)And just to clear up some facts, the possession of marijuana is NOT legal in Amsterdam, but it is tolerated. Meaning it has to fall under three criteria. It cannot promote harm (well, if you smoke it, that's your choice and walking around with it in your pocket isn't hurting anyone), it has to be subtle (shops can't openly advertise the marijuana on their signs. Instead if you see things like "Coffee: Feels Good!" and pictures of Bob Marley, it's probably a marijuana joint), and finally, it has to make good business (well, that's kind of obvious).

Here's just some more cool pictures of the cityand moreand more
After we finished up with that one, we came back a few hours later to hit a tour of the Red Light District. And for those who don't know what that means, let me explain via the quote of a resident kindergartener; it's where girls sell boys kisses. Out of respect for the girls' privacy, we were asked not to take any pictures, so sorry, but I do have some cool facts about it. Amsterdam legalized such selling of such kisses because they realized that even if they made it illegal, it would still go on anyway, and if anything, they would have virtually no power to protect the women. So by legalizing it, the city was able to provide each woman with security and medical assistance, along with other things.

We all had a really great time but we all wished we could stay another day or two since we didn't have a chance to hit the Anne Frank house or take a bike tour. It was such a cool city and we all met some really great people!

Weekend at Naomi's

2009-02-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

Yay, I finally found my camera cord (it had fallen under my bed and I was panicking cuz I KNEW I had brought it back to Swansea) and yay to Apple's iPhoto. It's some really cool software (most of it excessive and never used, but still, some really cool features) . You can sort photos based on its recognition of people's faces and how similar photos look. Like if you've taken a bunch of pictures in a field and have a bunch inside a building, it can recognize that they're different events and automatically separate them (I actually ended up turning this off because it got really annoying when I wanted to group my weekend's photos together, but still, it's pretty cool!)

But okay, so this trip was actually the weekend before last...

So my awesome friend Naomi invited me to stay with her and her family in outer Swansea for the weekend (we took the bus north for about an hour) and I had a GREAT time!! First off, it was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous (the pictures don't do it justice)!! Her parents took me to one of the many castles (unfortunately the name escapes me) close by and we lucked out with a rare sunny day. Take a look, this is from the top of the castle...And here's me and Naomi! (I tried to get her parents in it too, but they insisted it be just the two of us)Some pictures of the castleHa! I got her parents too!more of the castle (because it was really cool!)Oop, here we are again, now how'd that get in there?And more of the countryside because it was just so amazing...But the best part it yet to come!! (well, for me anyway) Naomi's ultra talented dad makes violins and he was gracious enough to let me try them out! And not only that, Naomi's little sister, Abby, a very talented violinist herself, and I spend the afternoon dishing out our best on these amazing violins. It was fantastic. Naomi's dad snapped a quick picture of us doing the Vivaldi..And after two and a half days of watching british movies, making pancakes, and dishing out Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, and Wieniawski together, I though things couldn't get better until... Naomi's dad let me take home a violin!!!!!!! AHHH!!!!! It's so amazing!! as you can see, I was extatic. I snapped a photo of it as soon as I got back. So now I'm an official member of Swansea University's musician's society.I can't tell you enough just how fantastic, amazing, and loving everyone in Naomi's family was. Thanks guys, you're the best!!

Whahahaha!!

2009-01-23T03:44:00.002-08:00

I'm all done with exams!!!!!!!!!

I had graphics yesterday which was really hard, but I think I did really well, and Egyptian history this morning and that went pretty well too!! I'm 95% sure I passed both of them...

Whahahaha!!

2009-01-23T03:44:00.000-08:00

Because no one seems to believe me...

2009-01-20T04:41:00.001-08:00

Now, when I tell everybody just how bad the view from my room is, everyone's like, 'okay, ya, ya, okay, I understand.' But no, they don't understand. So to make it clear, here's another picture. Now keep in mind there's 9 stories of drab, ugly concrete 5 feet behind me...Notice how my window is 5 feet INTO the building in addition to having the other wing right there. *sob. This is the one and only thing I really hate...

But on a lighter note, I finally picked up a new duvet as a late Christmas present for myself for 5 pounds at Wilkinsons and some extra pillows for reading comfort! (Hey, I just realized they match my lamp!) My last duvet was just brown... and cold. I think there's a picture of it somewhere in one of my earlier blogs
And there's more!! So when we get one of our (MANY!!!) sunny days, I usually like to go out walking instead of taking the bus. My favorite route is to take the beach road which heads straight into town. The western view is prettier, but that heads away from town towards Mumbles, which is kind of far... This first one's the western view at about 10 in the morningAnd here's the west
*sigh, now I'm out of excuses not to study... fine then universe, you win.

Oh, but just to let you know, these were all taken by my phone! Technology may have come a long way, but these were still a pain in the rear to transfer to my computer

Exam 1: Database Systems

2009-01-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

Success!!

notes on well-being: still wake up with crusty eyes; getting better though

Of all the things I could possible catch...

2009-01-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

Pink eye?! How'd I manage to catch THAT? Ya, so unfortunately I've been ill (careful not to say sick in front of my British friends since sick actually means 'vomit' and not really used so much for when you've caught some foul disease. You say 'I've been sick' and they're all like 'wha...?') since Saturday and right in time for my first exam tomorrow (wish me luck!) Luckily though the oozing in my eyes has gone down a ton the last couple days, so I'm pretty sure I'm just about over it. But come on, pink eye? It just seems so random...

Back to Wales...

2009-01-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Hiya all! Hope you don't mind, I'm taking the opportunity to welcome myself back to the blogosphere with my very first post of 2009! Okay, well, unlike the header says, I'm not exactly back in Wales yet, but sitting in the absolutely gargantuan San Fransisco airport fondly waiting for my 11 hour flight back to London and 3 hour train back to Swansea.

But, anyway, just hoping you all had a great holiday and I am officially off blogging break!

Home for the holidays!

2008-12-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

Hiya everybody, I'm home for the holidays! Well, I guess that kind of about sums it up. So if you don't hear from me for a while, that's what I'm up to. No I'm not dead or anything, just relaxing at home... studying for exams. Oh, but after a sad diagnosis of my hp from the geek squad at best buy, my poor computer remains completely fried. So, after 2 months of not having my own computer, I finally gave in and got a mac!!! *sigh... it's so beautiful... Happy Holidays everybody!!

Edinburgh!!!

2008-12-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

So last weekend some friends and I took a last minute trip to Edinburgh, the world's most haunted city. And oh boy did it live up to that description. I arrived a day later than my friends because I'm such a good student and didn't want to miss my lecture, but when I arrived, we went straight to a ghost tour where we toured the world's most haunted graveyard. It was really REALLY spooky. But more on that later (because I wasn't the one who took the awesome photos that show what happened, but I'll give you a verbal description at the end since it's REALLY scary and you may not want little kids reading it alone at night) For now, take a look at how cool the city was!!You didn't see any kind of modern buildings anywhere! (okay, well only one or two, but you REALLY had to look) Everything was made out of old stone and all the streets were cobblestone.We stumbled on a little Christmas market where they sold everything from hats and gloves to mulled wine and toys. We had funWe actually tried the mulled wine, and it wasn't too bad. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's pretty much hot wine with a few unknown spices in it. Not bad.

Oh, but then we went up the castle!

And toured the inside!

and toured some more and some more There were some cool cannons too! (In this one you can see where I was attacked my the ghost of George McKenzie. More on that later though...) Anyway, the castle was on the very top of the hill (hehe, those silly people called it a mountain!) So you could see the entire city from the top! In the castle, we also saw the Scotish crown jewels, but unfortunately you weren't allowed to take picture of them. But they were really cool; you'll just have to take my word for it.

After the castle we went to a really cool hat shop

And then we tried haggis and cranachan! I'll let you google haggis, but cranachan is when you get some kind of fruit, usually strawberries or rasberries (in our case rasberries) and you bake them in whisky. Yum... ? The haggis really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (after I got over what it was made from) and the cranachan? well, let's just say somehow we finished it without getting drunk or too sick. (haggis is on the far left, cranachan on top (served with cream) and on the bottom was our safety food: a good old lemon and lime cheesecake. We knew we'd at least like that one) On our last day, we hit Edinburgh Zoo, the home of the only koala in the UK! It was fun. And REALLY cold. But take a look . I can't remember what this one was called, but it's pretty much a mini deer. Awwwwww....... There were lots of cool birds Some were jerks (you can see it in his eyes...) And we played with the penguins (if you're wondering who's the girl in the video with the British accent, no, it's not me trying to be British, it's my friend Mia who actually IS British. I actually have no speaking role in this vid)

And of course there were tigers, zebras, and monkey, but I think it's about time to hear the ghost story. Please note, proceed with caution. This is a SCARY story...

Okay, so here's the scoop. In this most haunted graveyard in the world, there are more people burried there than there are people living in Edinburgh today. When we first arrived at the graveyard, we went up a little hill thinking, oh, how nice, they burried the dead on the hill top, how nice. But no, in reality, it's a hill because they needed more room to burry the dead bodies, so they piled earth on top of the old graves and built up. In addition, this graveyard was the site of several illegal plague dumpings.

So the story of George McKenzie. He apparently was not the nicest of all guys. But he and his family were burried in the cemetary until some kids came and desecrated his grave. The details are a little fishy but I can only assume they did what all young vandals do. I'll leave it up to your imagination. But anyway, after that, the incidents started happening. At first, only boys were attacked. People would find kids unconcious in the gated part of the graveyard with burn marks around their necks. No one could wake the kids up, but as soon as they left the gated area they would immediately wake up and could only remember dissembodied hands trying to strangle them.

So this happended for a REALLY long time. Today, people still get attacked. The most haunted part of the graveyard is actually gated and walled off, and you are given a strong warning that if you choose it enter it on the tour, you do so at your own discretion. The tour guide will NOT let anyone be isolated at any time. If someone needs to leave, the whole group has to go because he will not allow anyone to go off by himself, even just around a corner. If McKenzie is near, they say that you'll feel the air go very cold VERY fast. But only around you. The best defense for this is just to move a step over. But the most prominent thing about McKenzie is that he learns and experiments how to get a person isolated from the group because he only attacks one person at a time. So now, you'll feel the cold chill, move a step away, and a couple minutes later feel another cold chill, step away, and then another, and another, every time moving farther and farther away from the group. And as soon as your just barely out of eye sight, he gets you. The group will hear a scream, and find the victim unconscious with burns around his or her neck, and as soon as they pass the gate, the victim will wake up only remebering disembodies hands trying to strangle him or her.

But he doesn't always full out attack you. The most common attacks are in the form of pinching, ripping clothes, cuts, and other pranks. Which is where I come in. So here's my story. When I entered the graveyard, there is actual physical proof that my jacket was fine, no rips, nothing at all. We have this proof because my friend snapped a random picture and I happened to be in it. No rip, nothing. But just after we left the graveyard, there was a huge rip down the side of my jacket. I hadn't walked into, bumped, fallen, snagged it on anything. But there it was, a good 6 inches down the side of my jacket. Physical proof that it hadn't been there when we first entered the graveyard and suddenly discovered less thay 5 minutes after we left... My friend Mia had nightmares that night and had to sleep with the light on.

But don't worry, I'm still safe and sound!

Oh, one more...

2008-12-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, this one's from my friend Rosie:

20. Yes, we do have music in the US

Just some ettiquite rules all should be aware of

2008-12-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm fine with people coming up to me asking where I'm from and what-not, but for future reference, my fellow exchange students and I would appreciate it if those who wished to do so followed these 19 simple rules of ettiquite.

1. please do not interrupt us mid sentence. Wait for a proper moment of entry before introducing yourself and starting a conversation.
2. rule number one is especially true regarding cell phones and study groups.
3. please refrain from overly excessive physical contact. Unless you are super good looking, it is unwanted.
4. please note we do not accept marriage proposals just so you can become an American citizen.
5. please refrain from insulting comments regarding gender, nationality, and accents. They are not appreciated and will be dealt with swiftly and excessively.
6. please refrain from asking what number wife I am when I say I'm from Utah. Again, such comments are not appreciated and will be dealt with swiftly and excessively.
7. no, Thanksgiving is not the American word for Christmas.
8. no, we do not know your second cousin who lives in Montana.
9. or your nephew who goes to school in Oregon.
10. no I will not deliver that package to him when I go back to the states
11. yes, it does stink having to pay double for everything (British pound to US dollar conversion issue)
12. no, I did not vote for Bush.
13. no, I don't like him either.
14. yes, I am looking forward to his leave in January
15. no, I will not argue with you about politics
16. no, I am not Chinese.
17. no, I do not understand Chinese.
18. no, I do not speak Chinese.
and finally,
19. no, I am not interested in going back to your place.

Hope this was educational!

Forgot one...

2008-12-03T05:57:00.001-08:00

Oh, and curry. I've seen a couple of those, too.

the British have some CRAZY tastes

2008-12-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

Every time I go grocery shopping I never get over the shock/revulsion/amazement of all the different flavors of potato chips (or, as the British like to say 'crisps') the locals enjoy. Instead of NORMAL flavors like sour cream, ranch, nacho cheese, etc, here are a list of all the crazy flavours I've discovered...

bacon
prawns
roast chicken (this one's just disgusting)
roast beef
salt and vinegar (okay, they have this one in the states, too, but I still think it's weird)
extra salted
extra vinegar
sweet caramel (on POTATO CHIPS?! come on, that's just wrong!)
extra cheese (this one's not SO bad, but it's just cheese and no spicy goodness)
chile (not too bad, but you have to get used to it)

That just about covers it. Now, off to class!

Happy Thanksgiving! (no, the British DON'T celebrate it, but WE did!)

2008-11-28T05:31:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!! I know I did. A bunch of American exchange students (and a couple British... and one French) got together and made a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody brought a little something; a few girls made the turkey, others made stuffing, casseroles, pies, cookies, ham, you name it, it was there (and that includes alcohol... which I brought... Dad, don't give me that look!) I helped my friend Sharadon make sweat potatoe casserole which, for those of you who haven't tried it, is pretty much sweat potatoes baked with sugar, a couple eggs, more sugar, and marshmellows on top. it turned out like thisNo, don't look at me like that, it was really good and that's what REALLY matters!!

And here's the helpers me and Francois trying to scrape off all the melted marshmellows at the bottom of the bowl. We didn't get very much, but we tried REALLY hard...

I tried to get a picture of all the food, but everyone got in the way. There were about 17 of us. (sorry I'm at the library again so you'll have to turn your head side-ways) The food goes ALL the way down the counter

I had to put 3 layers of food on my plate to make everything fit!

pretty much everyone ate and ate and just had a good time...

Those things in our hands were little party favors. You yank on both ends and a little item pops out. Who knows what you'll get. I got a tape measure. Other people got a shoe horn, magic trick, mini drum, a fortune teller fish (remeber the red celafane fortune teller fish we used to have when we were kids, the ones you hold on your palms and depending on which way it flops you may be sick or happy or whatnot? Remember those?)

Everyone also got a silver paper crown and a joke. I don't remeber mine, it was too lame so I repressed it...

ya, we had a good time...

a really good time...
happy Black Friday everybody!

Finally, a... library?

2008-11-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

So after a few weeks of effort, I finally located Swansea's tiny public library. And tiny it is. I think I was really spoiled by Salt Lake's public library cuz this one's just so... British? Almost all the books are sappy British soap operas with pretty much nothing else. Sure it has some science fiction, but the collection is pretty disappointing. Again, everything there seems to consist of sappy British soap operas, but in space... or with dragons...? I grabbed a few books that looked somewhat promising by random, so I guess we'll see how it goes. One that seems to have the most promise is the chronicles of blarnia, apparently a spoof on the lion the witch and the wardrobe. We'll see...

It's so...dark

2008-11-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Just in case any one's interested, it gets very dark very quickly up here. By 4, the sun's down and by 5 it's pitch black. And it's not even the winter solstice yet! According to the locals, by December it'll start getting dark by three. Oh joy. I may be a night owl, but this is just ridiculous...

Venice!!!

2008-11-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

Ah... so amazing. So last week, thanks again to some cheap ryanair tickets, some friends and I took a trip to Venice. And... it... was... awesome... As in, what the heck made me want to study in Wales kind of awesome... enough said, there's going to be a ton of pictures.

Well, so we happened to get there right in the middle of flood season. Hence, the two feet of water we had the privilege of trudging through. But, they provided planks to walk on, so that helped.

Sorry but all the pictures of the canals are going to have to wait. I'm using a computer in the library as mine is still in a coma, which stops responding every time I try to rotate a picture. But here's just some pictures of the buildings. There were a ton of shops everywhere! Everything from cafes to jewelry and clothing stores but more than anything, shops that sold masks! So for those of you who aren’t familiar, Venice is famous for Carnival, a big celebration where people dress up in amazingly intricate masks and costumes. So of course such masks are provided at almost every street corner for the unwary tourist. But some shops specialized in the creation of some absolutely amazing masks that sold up to 500 Euros (roughly 750 USD) take a look. We even found some made with swarovski kristalls! A shot of me in the flood waters. I'm standing just outside the Piazza San Marco. We all just really liked the pink street lampsI would have like to show you some pictures of the inside of St. Mark's Basilica, but unfortunately cameras weren't allowed inside. But here's a shot of the Piazza San Marco in all its floodwater glory And the outside of the Basilica

And a more improved one (ya, it was raining REALLY hard)

Gondola rides were uber expensive, as in about 80 Euros a ride, but we did one across the Grand Canal for 50 cents. There were no seats, so you got to stand and hope you had REALLY good balance.

The food was amazing! Dinners were kind of weird because if you didn't order at least three courses (each of which costing around 10-15 Euros) the waiters would get really mad at you. So for the most part we settled to dieting on gelatos, paninis, and hot chocolate. Now, don't go thinking that this hot chocolate was your typical chocolate powder in water concoction you get back in the states. No, this was pure melted cocolate goodness. That you drink in a tiny little cup without a lid. Christie, you would know this one, I think even Starbucks attempted it once with something called, what was it, like chantika or something? Take a look

Oh, but due to the incessant rain, a friend and I finally broke down and admitted to the practicality of owning a good pair of genuine Wellie. Rainboots (oh, and an umbrella, too. The blue one a couple picture up). I took a picture of only my feet to avoid further embarrassment.

But, day TWO!! we hopped on a train for 6,50 Euros and spend a gorgeous, sunny day in Verona (home of Romeo and Juliet. We didn't go in, but it was there) It was a really different feel from Venice, but absolutely gorgeous with all the leaves. I hesitate to say this, cuz it's not exactly true, but what made Venice so beautiful was perhaps its more rural setting? We got a good look at rolling hills with old churches on the top and the Alps in the background on the train. Everything was so green and beautiful. *Sigh, the pictures don't do it justice...

Our first stop in Verona was the Arena. Think of it as a slightly smaller version of the Roman Colosseum.

Here's a look at the inside

And that darn random person again (sorry, you'll have to turn your head for this one). Boy is she persistent!

Ah, but the city itself...

and more of it...

and more...

But back to Venice for our third and final day. This time it was sunny and fabulous!! (sorry, you'll have to turn your head for the next)

and more...

and more (look closely and you might recognize someone)...

the Rialto Bridge (lined with tons of shops)

and tons and tons of bloodthirsty pigeons...
Well, that concludes our tour of Venice, and man, I still need to do the cafe one I've been meaning to post for a while now. Hmph, too bad the photos are all still stuck on my broken laptop...

Bonfire Night

2008-11-06T05:46:00.000-08:00

So over here on November 5th, the British celebrate Bonfire Night in commemoration the famous gunpowder plot of 1605 where conspirator Guy Fawkes failed to blow up Parliament. Now 400 years later, people still celebrate the night with fireworks and bonfires. Children stuff paper into their old clothes to create effigies of Guy Fawkes, creatively named 'the Guy'. After or during the height of the fireworks celebration 'the Guy' is unceremoniously burned. Here are some pictures!

Not so great quality, but the fireworks! (I made a movie so you could see them better, it's long, don't feel you have to watch the whole thing)

Here's us at the beach with our cider. We tried to get a bonfire going, but the driftwood was all too damp, so no luck there

our Guy effigy quite enjoying his cider
And his unceremonious tourching
Happy Bonfire Night everybody!

Yes, I know Halloween was last week but...

2008-11-06T05:30:00.000-08:00

Yay! here it it, my Halloween post. Well, not that it's really exciting at all, but I had fun. So kids here don't really celebrate Halloween like we do in the US, or at least, not that we saw. No one really went trick or treating or carved pumpkins and whatnot, which was kind of sad. But those were just the little kids. Now the BIG kids went out and partied all night in 'costume'. I say 'costume' because about 90% of the party goers either dressed up as scantily clad devils or scantily bloody nurses. yes, even the guys. So I'm not sure if I should really call those Halloween costumes because it's not really any different than how party goers dress up on a normal night out. With the exception of all the ketchup smears. Now if only I had brought some french fries...

But here's my group with our 'somewhat' more imaginitive costume! We had a happy night of spooking until someone lost her phone and three other people wore really ouchy shoes and this really drunk guy wouldn't leave us alone...

Happy 4th Birthday Eve!!

2008-10-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday monkey! I'm glad you got a certain package in time :)

Lots of love,
Pemo <3 (<-this is supposed to be a heart for all you chat illiterate people)

Ya I'm fine, why?

2008-10-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

This one threw me off for the longest time, and still gets me :)

You know how back home, normal people say, 'hey, how's it going?' when they greet familiar faces? Well here, you say, 'hiya, you 'right?' (translation: hello, you alright?) and the proper response seems to be, 'ya, you?' As simple as that. My flat mates (the people who live with me on my floor) say that to me all the time whenever they see me, and it throws me off all the time. The first couple times had me clutching my face thinking 'ya I'm... fine, I think. Should I NOT be?' and making a complete fool out of myself, but now I've learned. But for all it's worth, I threw off all my flatmates by saying 'hey, how's it going?' None of them really knew how to respond to that either. Good times...

British English is so weird!

2008-10-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

So I finally caved in and got some books for recreational reading, but some are just so hard to follow! At first I just thought the author had failed high school English or something, but after plowing through a couple volumes, I noticed it's a common trend among many different authors. So here's a few things that really bug me about British editing:

1. For example, if I were to say, "why hello, I just bumped into my friend and she said 'go away, I'm busy' and then stomped away into the mist," the British would say 'why hello, I just bumped into my friends and she said "go away, I'm busy" and then stomped away into the mist' The use of double and single quotes are backwards!!!! It throws me off.
2. They like to use the same word back to back all the time. For example, had had, has has, have has, been being are common phrases. I find myself backtracking all the time to make sure I'm not misreading anything.
3. The use of dead words is celebrated. Thus, I find myself reading things like; 'wow, that adventure was very fun!' and 'i like very big seashells'. Very invigorating.
4. Rather than explain something while it's happening, authors tend to explain an action far after its occurance. For example, commonly, an author will say 'such and such looked up' blah blah blah, talking about something totally unrelated, blah blah blah 'oh, and by the way, such and such looked up because she saw a cat in the window.' I feel blind.

But don't get me wrong, the plots themselves are ok. The editors are just very very british. Hm, I should grab a copy of terry goodkind or something and see if it's really just the editing or more just crappy authors who failed at effective creative writing. Happy reading!

Why thank you yes, I do speak English very well

2008-10-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

So in all the computer confusion, I forgot to post about a rather funny conversation I got into with a cab driver. When I was heading to London last Friday, I grabbed a cab to the train station to catch the 12:30 train after class got out at 12:00. Ya, cutting it close, but hey, it worked out in my favor that time. But anyway, we're chatting about how I'm going to London, and how I'm an exchanged student when suddenly the cab driver says 'Wow, I'm impressed, your English is really good!' Ummmm... ooookaaaay? thanks? Apparently he had mistaken me for an exchange student from an Asian university. We had a good laugh over that one.

Let me explain, growing up in California, it took convincing for people to believe that I was even PART Asian, and then in Utah the attitude was 'oh, okay, I can see that' and then here to 'really, you're only HALF?' It's just funny how different the attitudes are here compared to back home. Here everyone only sees my Asian aspects, and back home most people focused on my Caucasion ones. Silly huh? But yes, I imagine that my English is very good. Thanks for noticing Mr. Cab Driver.

Aaaaaaaaaah my computer crashed!!!!!

2008-10-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well, that about sums it up. Not sure why, not sure how, but my computer is currently under the weather ever since I updated it with vista's new service pack. So, off to vista's website to see if I can atleast turn it back on in safe mode or something and restore it to a previous version. Not cool at all. *grrrrrrrrrrr...

London take TWO!!

2008-10-24T11:00:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the late update. My computer's wireless lan driver decided to completely vanish overnight somehow, so I've been doing all my online stuff at the library for the past while. Before I resort to actually calling customer support, anyone got any suggestions?

Okay, so unfortunately there'll be no pictures this round, but I'll post them when my computer's back up and running I'll get those up.

But, back to the good stuff. My totally awesome friends Michelle and Audrey (note back to the pancake party the night before I left) came up the England during their fall break and I got to hang out with them last weekend in London before they left. It was AWESOME!! So now, we had all already done the cheesy touristy things so we spend friday and saturday shopping!! (well, or atleast window shopping) We stopped at London's center of all shopping centers Harrods where we spend a good part of the day dreaming and admiring all the designer labels. They had pretty much anything and everything, from clothes, to furniture, you name it. That part was fun, but we were all more concerned with Harrod's FOOD center. It was amazing; cheeses, chocolates, olives, bread, jams, teas, pastries, sausages, seafood, you name it! And best of all, they let you sample everything! They even let you have whole chocolate truffles for tasters. Not just the kind where they get a truffle, smash it up, and give you a crumb, no, they gave you the whole thing! *drool... amazing. So we left Harrods with a good armload of chocolates, cheeses, and jams, and hoped they would last the trip home.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip, though, was Friday night's performance of Chicago! We got cheap reduced tickets at a place called tkts (note for anyone interested in taking trips to London any time soon, hint hint) and grabbed some half priced tickets in the nosebleed section and sat through an awesome performance that evening. The best part about London is that there are always tons of shows playing any night. On Friday there was Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, the Lion King (which we wanted to see but they weren't offering reduced tickets), and a few others that didn't really catch our eye. Amazing. And, best yet, we found some great little hole in the wall sandwhich and falafal shops that were fantastic. Oh, and some gelato shops, too.

On Saturday, we stopped at shakespeare's globe (man, I really wish I could show you the pictures) and got a cool guided tour through the theatre and later wandered around the museum. The theatre itself was a modern recreation, but it was built exactly as it would have back in Shakespeare's day. It even had a thatched roof! After shakespeare, we wandered around Covent Garden, a cool market with tea shops, toy stores, and jewelry stands. There were always a ton of street musicians on the street, and most of them were actually pretty good. My favorite was a celtic string group that played a bunch of Irish gigs and whatnot.

Okay, the library's kicking me out now (can't use the computers past 7:30) but see you later!

Pictures of campus, and come to think of it, have I shown you the beach?

2008-10-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

This time around, some pictures of campus and a walk through tour of the beach. Since yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day (you get more of them than you think), I took the opportunity that evening to take a nice long walk. First, here's the main view of campus.Then turn around and walk 20m to the main road
Then head onto the overpass. Looking east, you can kind of see the City Center (downtown) in the distance.Down to the other side (this is a great little path by the way, it goes up and down the beach for miles so it's my favorite place to run!)Then head up through the trees on your right
And voila! le beach...I personally like the west view better. In the top left where the bay curves around south is Mumbles, that cute little town with the really good ice cream.
Keep in mind, this is high(er) tide. Wales actually has one of the largest tidal zones in the world, so when it goes out, it goes out around two miles! This is a picture on a different day, but this kind of shows you how far it goes out. Think the distance between us and the shore, plus another 100m.
The water isn't really THAT cold, but it's like San Fransisco. No one really goes swimming, but a lot of people just grab a ball and play sports, run, or just take a stroll down the shoreline whenever they get great weather like yesterday. At this area, there are a lot of sea shells and kelp, which makes it kind of hard to run around barefoot, but it sure is pretty!But for now, back to campus! The blue building in the back is Faraday Tower, computer science headquarters (this scene's just off to the right of the very first shot)
Now walking up to the front of the long building closest to us in the first shot, turn right and we have about 60 percent of the buildings on campus (there are a few more behind me, but the sun was in my eyes, so none of the pictures turned out) There are more there than it looksWalk down to that first pole and turn 90 degrees to the left. That unsuccessful attempt at modern architecture is my dorm. That should give you an idea of just how close I am to my classes :)
Well, that concludes our tour for today and next time, shops and cafes!

As promised, some pictures of my dorm

2008-10-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

So finally, here are a few pictures of my dorm. It's great being on campus because unlike at the U, instead of having to take a bus from the dorms to campus, your classes are literally 100m away from the dorms. The buildings on campus are all jam packed together instead of having nice grassy areas between classes, which is both good and bad. Good because it takes 1o seconds to get from building to building, and bad if there ever was a fire. But it's raining, so I'll take pictures of campus for next time.

For now though, pictures of my dorm. I'm up on the seventh floor, which is nice because it's relatively quiet, but bad when the fire alarm goes off (at least once a day) and you have to trudge up and down the stairs. But I have my own bathroom, which is great! Everyone shares a kitchen which is nice because then I get to mooch off pots and pans from my flatmate Kerry, who, unfortunately is not present in the picture below. From left to right, we have my flatmates Berne, Emma, Emilie, and Siaphone (I'm not quite sure how to spell that one, but it's pronounced Sha-fon)
Next, my room. If you look carefully, you'll see a familiar face peaking out of the covers (yes, I brought her with me)And, the jail cell view out my windowBut on the bright side, my own bathroom!But other than that, classes are going swell. I made a few changes so now I'm taking computer graphics II and a graphics lab instead of psychology and computability theory, but I'm still taking database systems and intro to ancient egyptian history.

By the way, for anyone who's interested, missionaries can now use email (honestly, about time!) and so Brandon Gibson asked me to post his email for anyone who wants to chat with him: it's Brandon.L.Gibson.FT@myldsmail.net.

Where in the world are the drinking fountains?

2008-10-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

I think my biggest annoyance here is the fact that there are absolute no drinking fountains. Anywhere. Not in the dorms, buildings, cafeterias. Absolutely nowhere. Where in the world are they? The dorms have clean drinking water, so I can deal with that, but elsewhere? Nothing. It may just be me being weird, but seriously, not a single one anywhere. I feel so deprived...

Dublin, Dublin, Dublin...

2008-09-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, if I could only describe all the things that either went wrong or was just annoying... but don't get me wrong, it was an AWESOME trip, but here's a list of everything... strange... that happened. And the bright sides of them too!

1- our flight was delayed an hour an a half and two of my friends were delayed five hours due to "fog"
-well, at least the plane tickets were only 1 pound. (plus fees and stuff it actually turned out to be 18 ($36) but hey, what can you do?)
2- when buying a ticket for the shuttle to the airport, the clerk refused to accept the signature on my credit card receipt even though I had valid identification because the signature on the receipt didn't look like the one on my Utah drivers license. (?!)
-well, good thing I had the signature my passport. The clerk said it wasn't much better, but he'd let slide go THIS time (?!)
3- four out of six of us had colds
-I wasn't one of them
4- the RyanAir check in lady made my friend check in her bag and shell out 24 pounds ($52) even though it would CLEARLY fit into the overhead compartments because when she put it in one of those bins that say "if you're bag doesn't fit in here, you have to check it in" one of the wheels stuck out two inches. And if you're a certain someone who I KNOW will be thinking, "well maybe that WOULD in fact be a problem if that wheel prevented the overhead bin from closing completely" don't, because there were plenty of other bags much bigger than hers that were allowed on board and fit just fine.
-well, at least the bag got to Dublin ok
5- on the to the airport back to England, another friend lost her passport in the taxi
-good news is we got security to notify anyone who might have picked it up and the people who were in the taxi after us brought it back to the airport for her. She had to book a later flight, but she got home safe.
6- our flight back circuled around the Bristol airport for 2 hours due to "fog" (well, I'm pretty sure they were telling the truth this time) until we were finally diverted to Cardiff airport, but RyanAir offered no kind of compensation for anyone who was majorly inconvenienced, which happened to be a lot of people who missed connection flights. (now we know why the tickets were one pound)
-well, for us, it's actually faster to get back to Swansea via Cardiff than it is Bristol, so we didn't mind the change

But end of story, I'm back home safe and the time actually in Dublin was amazing! We stayed at a student run youth hostel, which I didn't think of taking a picture of now that I think about it, and one of the girls who worked there turned out to be from my hometown of San Jose, CA! So we chatted for a while. We rode around on one of those double decker bus tours like we did in London and went to Trinity college, the Guiness (a super famous beer) Factory, an old prison, and walked around some great parks and churches! But enough talk, here's some awesome pictures!

Here's Trinity College. It was a small campus, but the buildings were amazing! This is a picture in the Trinity College plaza, so imagine this kind of building surrounding you all 360 degrees...Here's St. Stephen's Green, a HUGE park in the middle of the cityI can't quite remember which one this was, but I think this it's Christ Church CathedralAnd a picture of temple bar, a really cool outdoor shoping center, but with a ton of locally own shops, icecream stores, and cafes.
We took a cool tour around the old Kilmainham prison, which was cool, but kind of depressing. Here's a shot of the more victorian era wing whose design, intersting fact, actually is used all the time in modern shopping malls. It has a special name, but I forgot what it was. The goal, though, is to be able to see anything and everything in the room no matter where you're standing. Makes scense for a prison.Here's a look at the Guiness factory. Everything was really touristy so you couldn't actually see them making beer. All you saw were a bunch of big huge LCD screens with movies about how Guiness made their beer so great... through all 8 floors. But you did get a free beer at the very top at the Gravity Bar where you had an amazing 360 degree view of all of Dublin. But here's a picture from the very center of the factory just to show you how big it was.
Here's some pictures at the Gravity bar. And no, I passed on my free beer because Guiness is really dark and frankly, I'm not a big fan of it. I got in about three forced sips and called it good.But just to show you a bit of the city itself, Dublin was home to some amazing architecture, street performers, and really friendly people
Here's another picture of the main streetAnd just to show I'm never too far from the luxuries of home
And as of today, classes have begun! More on that next time... and maybe a picture of my dorm.

duck beak helmet

2008-09-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

So I've had a couple people ask me why the helmet I was wearing in my previous post was shaped like a duck beak. The answer is that if it was ever hit by an oncoming arrow, the curve of the mouthpiece deflected the arrows better than it would if it were flat. As a result, this became one of the most efficient helms during the middle ages and its design lasted for hundreds of year!

What to do when you're REALLY bored during orientation plus some other cool places

2008-09-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm finally moved into my permanent housing and once I get settled I'll snap some shots of my place. It's pretty nice; I have my own bathroom and everything's brand new since it's a new building, but my view out my window is completely obstructed by the surrounding buildings, which isn't very cool. But, what can you do. So far, we've had three fire alarms go off even just today because the alarms in our rooms are heat sensitive, not smoke, so if some unlucky person has the bathroom door open when they take a shower, off goes the alarm. Ya, THREE times today. And the sad part is, we didn't even HAVE hot water until noon yesterday (I've been here since Friday morning) and the internet kept shutting off every few minutes. Gah, but it's mostly all better now.

So anyway, back to the story, what to do when you're really bored during orientation. Easy, take very thorough notes. See below for further detailsBut, now to update you on all the cools stuff I did during the last week. First, we took a trip up to Chepstow Castle and Tintern abbey on Sunday, and then a trip to the AWESOME city of Bath (pronounced Both) on Wednesday where unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries half an hour into the trip, but I got a few shots in while it was still alive.

First, Chepstow Castle. We were lucky enough to stop by during some Medieval Reenactments, so we got to watch weapons melees and learn about what life was like. The castle was built over the course of hundreds of years, so there were lots of cool examples of different kinds of architecture. I can't tell you which is which, but take a look. This is just the front of the castle. The rest actually extends really far back.This is where the main arches were. Obviously they're not still standing, but you could still see where the pillars that held it up were.
The castle overlooked a river up on a cliff side which prevented invaders from ever successfully conquering the castle. Here's a look from the side with that random person blocking our view again
And of course characters from the Medieval reenactmentWe got to try on their armor, too!And I got to try out some weapons!
This was my target (don't worry, we were using rubber tipped arrows)
And here's Tintern Abbey. This was a really cool place with some fantastic architecture!
And, as if this post wasn't long enough, Bath! This absolutely amazing city was home to some fantastic architecture, shops, cafes, and cathedrals and in my opinion, it was way better than London. Unfortunately we only had a few hours to spend in this fantastic city, so we're all planning a return visit. But here a shot of the actual Roman baths I took before my camera battery died
So, now that I've posted all the fun stuff I'm doing, here's an academic update for anyone interested. For the past two weeks I've been participating in the pre-sessional, which is a course on British culture and politics after WWII, but now that's finished (except for the 2500 word paper I have to write) so all next week it's time to finally enroll in my actual classes (and I'm going the Dublan on Thursday!)

London!!

2008-09-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today some friends and I took the bus to London where we spent the entire day touring the city on a double decker open top bus. We saw all the major touristy sites; Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and its clock tower, the Parliament building, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge and London Bridge, you name it! Since it was out first time in London, we decided to see all the cliched tourist spots in one go, and the next time we take a trip out there, then we would hit all the museums and shopping districts. So this time around we didn't actually go into the Tower of London or Westminster, (*cough cough, you had to pay) but we got a good look at the outside. While I don't think I could ever live in such a crowded city as London, the city itself was AMAZING!! Take a look

To start, here's Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately the cool guards are only there on even numbered days (?!) and since today was the 13th, we missed them and the cool ceremony they perform at the changing of the guard! Boo hoo... next time.
Next, Westminster AbbeyA picture of some random person and the Parliament building along with Big Ben in the background. The river behind me is the Thames. I had better shots of the Parliament building, but that random person was just so awesome...
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower Bridge, which is the one can lift up its walkway to let taller boats through underneath. We were lucky enough to see it open while we were on a boat tour along the ThamesHere's a shot of it actually opening (well, actually, I think it was closing as this point)We saw amazing sites and learned a lot of cool history and random facts on our tour. We even passed by Margaret Thatcher's house and the houses of lots of famour writers, actors, and other politicians. Next time we come, though, it's time to hit the museums!

Oh, and who could resist getting it on with James Bond?

Happy Birthday Chris!!

2008-09-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the title pretty much sums it up, but happy birthday!!

Field trip to Big Pit and St. Fagan's

2008-09-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, our group took a field trip to the Big Pit coal mine and a beautiful historic village called St. Fagan's. At St. Fagan's we got to go into the mine and have a guided tour inside the pit. We got a first hand look at how awful the conditions were in the early 1900's and how the coal was actually mined. It was a really cool tour and we got to where miners helmets, lights, and safety gear, but unfortunately for safety reasons cameras and ANYTHING with a dry cell battery wasn't allowed inside the mine, including my watch, so I didn't get any pictures during the tour. But I did get a picture of the outside of the mine.
Keep in mind, this is a VERY small part of it. The rest of it is to the left and there's a lot more, but I thought this water pump was pretty cool. There was also a museum with the history of early mining up to the miners strikes in the 70's and 80's that was really cool. I thought this was pretty funny
After touring the mine, we headed down to a 16th century village known as St. Fagan's. Or, I should say more specifically, St. Fagan's Castle, which was built in 1580, and the surrounding town. An interesting fact is that many of the buildings were dismantled from other sites and rebuilt around the castle. The castle itself was ok, but the surrounding landscape was amazing! We even got some sunshine! Take a look, here's the outside of the gardens
Here's the castle itself, not quite what I was expecting, but yet, still a castle (I was expecting the ruins of stone walls or something) And hey, who's that silly person blocking its view?
the gardens themselves
and the absolute BEST chocolate orange fudge I have ever had!There were a bunch of other old historic buildings such as a school house, bakery, farm house, and what not with a bunch of cool 15-1600's furniture inside. It was an awesome little place, and seriously one of the most beautiful villages ever. But now, to bed for tomorrow is London!

And here's a picture of the gorgeous flowers Nikki sent me so I could have a little bit of sunshine in my room even when it's gloomy. Thanks Nikki, you're the best and I love you!!

Afternoon at the Mumbles

2008-09-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday some friends and I went down to Mumbles, a popular little town about 10 minutes bus ride west of the University. Here one can find coffee shops, souvenirs, a marina, and lots of other cute little shops and bed and breakfasts. Our group took a walk down the coast line to the Mumbles Pier, where the lighthouse and other little shops were located. Here's a picture of us by the PierAnd the lighthouse was pretty cool, too, but we weren't allowed to go into it. So we admired from afar.Back in town, we sampled what was referred to us as 'the best ice cream you'll ever have' at Joe's ice cream parlor, and wow, it really WAS the best ice cream I'd ever had! The flavors you'll see below are mint chocolate and turkish delight. Ya, it was awesome!
And what better way to feel welcome in a new town than to be presented with your very own boat!

Day 2, touring the Gower Peninsula

2008-09-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

So today we all got a tour of the beautiful Gower Peninsula, but unfortunately, we actually didn't get to see very much because, well, the roads were all flooded. See below...But we did get to go to Oxwald(?) Beach, which was quite pretty. I know in the picture it looks like we're all freezing, but compared to some Utah weather I've experienced, the temperature was actually quite nice except for the wind. Here's me and my friends Mellisa and Lauren with part of the beach in the background.
And for those of you curious as to what scrumptious British food I've been eating, well, I took the liberty of taking some pictures of some of the local delicacies I've been tasting. First, yesterday's lunch: deep fried chicken strips, something you see sold at almost any street corner take out restraunt. Actually pretty good, they were seasoned with who knows what, but not at all bad. Take a look.And today for dinner, who could go without Fish and Chips! This deep fried cod was piled along with a side of chips (here in the US known as French Fries) and for some reason, peas. Interesting combination. It was suggested to me that eating the chips with vinegar was common, however, I decided to pass and go strait for good old Ketchup (sorry no fry-sauce available). Again, maybe not the most spectacular thing I've ever eaten, but the tartar sauce helped.
And no, that is NOT my beer next to the plate. But to answer another question left by a certain person, no I did not try a shanty, but did in fact try a Strongbow, which it half cider, half Guineas(?) which is a type of dark beer. Ok, but still, I mean, it's beer, and... nasty.

Out on the town!

2008-09-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today the weather was better, we even got a little blue sky!

Okay, so after a hearty 'English Breakfast' at my B&B, which consisted of runny eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, and two fatty slices of ham and sausages, I headed down to Swansea Campus, where at I was greeted by my somewhat old but still cozy dorm room high up on the 9th floor of what is fondly known as the Kilvey residence. It's fun, I have my own sink, fridge, and phone, which sort of works. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm sure I get it... soon. Here's a picture of my room!
So now, being only about 10, I had many hours to spend before meeting up with the rest of the pre-sessional study abroad students, so I took this opportunity to walk around town. My first stop was the gorgeous Singleton Park, located directly behind my building and stretching all throughout the east side of campus. Take a look, here's Singleton Abbey
And here's just some random pictures of the park: A nice tree
random stonespossibly Christie's dream houseand a cute baby girl named Hannah
My next stop was the city and it was awesome! There was a great mix of old, European style building and great shopping centers along with what smelled to be great local restraunts! Take a look
I also ran into some old castles/abbeys, but these pictures are taking too long to load so I'll post them some other time. But meanwhile, at around 6 pm, I met up with the other study abroad students to go out to a joint called the pub by the pond. Everyone's great and I'm excited to be spending the next two weeks with them all! Here's one last picture of me and just a few of the other girls at the pub that I'll grit my teeth and load.And don't worry, Dad, I resisted the peer pressure to get drunk.

New Title

2008-09-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

He he, Nemo was the one who came up with this one.

Okay, so for all you folk out there who have no idea what a Pemo is, allow me to explain. In Korea, one calls your mother's sister Emo (no, not the death loving attitudes that some strange people find appealing). So in the case of me and my sister, when my oldest sister had kids, there were TWO Emos, Nikki Emo (my older sister) and me, Patty Emo. So, we came up with the nick-names Nemo and Pemo. So there, the title of this blog is from now on 'Finding Pemo'

phew, made it!

2008-09-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Oh what a fun trip that was. First, I got on three planes and gave up my seat for some person so I could score a free ticket, resulting in my going to Denver then Washington DC instead of Chicago to Washington DC. That part was fine. The airplane from Washington DC to London, mostly fine. I just had to race from one end of the terminal to the other, but no big. 7 sleepless hours later when I get to London Heathrow airport, the fun begins. Remember how I said I only needed to go on two trains? Well, it ended up being 6. Turns out being cheap with train tickets is not in fact the most brilliant thing to do if you don't know the area. So I go from London Heathrow to, get this, Kings Cross Station, when what I really needed was Paddington Station, but this particular line didn't stop directly there so I had to improvise. So then I wandered around asking directions from security guards to businessmen, none of whom gave me accurate directions. And no, I did NOT follow their directions wrong. When the security guard said platform one, I WENT to platform one only to find it was in fact going the wrong direction. Just an example for ya. So finally, I happened to bump into a man who had JUST COME from Paddington Station, and managed to give me some accurate directions. So at Paddington, I get my ticket to Swansea and three hours later, I arrive safely only to find it pouring outside. But that's okay. I got to see a good chunk of the city center during the taxi ride to my Bed and Breakfast, and there's some fun stuff! I would have taken pictures on the way, but with lugging three heavy bags around, not going to happen. But, I did take some pictures of my B&B and the rain!
And now, time to just crash...

1 day left: holy cow this is it!

2008-09-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

One day left! Then onward onto three planes, two trains, and hopefully only one taxi. Excuse me while I go net the butterfly that just flew out of my stomach.

So the goodbyes are finishing. I've said goodbye to the Belzers (the kids I babysit). We took some fun pictures on my last day with them. This one's my favorite :)and I've said goodbye to the Ypsilon. My boss bought me a farewell cake and everything. It was scrumptious! Here's what's left of itAnd speaking of food, I took one last visit to my favorite Boba joint, which, if any of you are not familiar, is a refreshing beverage, usually iced teas and smoothies, with small chunks of black tapioca. Trust me, it's actually really good. Takes some getting used to, though. If you're curious, it looks like this (the black stuff's the tapioca)
And last but not least, my pals through me an awesome last minute pancake party this evening consisting of many, many small, light, buttery pancakes covered in everything from yogurt and jam to corn syrup and ground chocolate. Thanks guys, you rock!
Wish me luck!

5 Days to Go: My Goodbyes Begin

2008-08-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the next five days, I get to say my goodbyes. Things to say goodbye to are the following: my family :(, my friends :(, my job at Ypsilon :(, my job babysitting the Belzers :(, the Beehive Tea Room :(, Cafe Rio :(, Utah drivers :), and many, many other things. But the first goodbye was given to my wonderful, beautiful, sexy bike. As an unfortunate slight, the costs were simply too great for me to take it with me. As a result, I sold my bike on craigslist. Here is a small tribute to my noble mode of transportationA moment of silence, please...

One Week Left: The Countdown Begins!

2008-08-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all, so the countdown begins! One week left, well, since it's 12:03, I guess there's only six days left. So now that I've gotten my visa, housing, and flight all set and ready to go, the packing and moving all my books into storage begins...*shudder, shudder. So that means I have one week/six days to turn thisinto thisinto this

... ya, wish me luck. But you have to admit, those two boxes are pretty awesomely packed :)