Social disease? Well, take your medicine!

I've really been slacking in my attempts to update this blog - I've started to write posts on several occasions and then either my realization that I have a mile-long list of assignments due in just 5 days, coupled with the fact that my computer caught some obnoxious trojan (thank you, big jerks) has led me to never quite get myself to write on here... plus, in my attempts to clean mass portions of my harddrive, I somehow erased my flickr account login information and I have no idea how to access my photos. Wah, wah..

Anyway, in the course of a week, I've traveled to a Sikh temple in Southall, discovered a (semi-delicious) 17pence swiss cake roll at Sainsbury's, landed the internship with City A.M., bought a dress at Camden markets (AHH and wanted to buy about 12), FINALLY met up with Zach and reunited with Ethan. Oh, and I've grown nocturnal by remaining dedicated to the Yankee games, despite the godawful time difference. (I'm currently watching the Yanks en route to making it 5 wins in a row- HECK YES)...

The Sikh temple was pretty enjoyable, despite the long journey to get there and the fact that my professor is quite certainly either a Sikh or a Hindu who is blatantly prejudiced against other faiths. I'm just saying. It's kind of hilarious because she denies it but then she makes little snide remarks that reveal she's lying through her teeth. Hey, even the educated can still be ignorant to their prejudice, I suppose. Regardless, the Sikhs were incredibly nice and I really enjoyed walking inside and witnessing all of the devouted Sikhs (and many individuals who I'm assuming weren't Sikhs) pay their respects on just a random Monday afternoon.

On Wednesday, I (while shaking in my shoes) went to Cannon Street in the cold, dismal weather, starving and with too little money to buy anything but an old Belgium chocolate brownie at Starbucks to hold me over, and finally made it over to my interview with City A.M. - a daily financial paper with a circulation of approximately 350,000. I realize now, what I had already suspected then, and that is (lucky me) I'm one of the chosen few who gets to be faced with an incredibly challenging internship... however, if I can tackle it appropriately, I truly am fortunate because the rewards could be FANTASTIC... Keep your fingers crossed :)

So, to back-track to the main story of the week thus far that I'd like to mention (as I'm getting lazier and my writing is getting poorer due to the fact that it's 3:30am and I'm rushing to get back to solely focusing on the ALCS) that Zach and I met up at Fortnum & Mason - a famous ice cream parlour /restaurant / center for shopping. We ordered Caprese salad which, oh my goodness, my stomach is growling just thinking about it... and the Knickerbocker sundae was AMAZING (which it should have been for 12 pounds). I'm pretty sure I've never tasted such an incredible combination of fruit, whipped cream and ice cream.. Delicious!

Afterwards, however, we decided to go exploring.. the first floor above us had so many beautiful Christmas displays... I waltzed in there and immediately I wanted to go home to NJ and bake cookies and blast some Johnny Mathis. As I craved a meager, homely Christmas, we walked past their plasma screen-TV yule log to check out a fairly decent (yet not elaboate) looking Santa Claus.. and as Zach walked ahead of me, I was about to follow until my eyes caught a glimpse of the pricetag.

636 pounds.

636?!?! That's over $1,000. How the HELL could this Santa, which neither sang nor danced nor did it dispense candy, how the HELL could it have cost A THOUSAND DOLLARS. And here it was just chilling on an unbalanced stack of Christmas ornaments and other overpriced yet cheaply crafted decorations.

Seeing the pricetag on our beloved Father Christmas, we explored the next floor. And the ridiculous only got more nauseating. There were hats that cost nearly $1,000 that I'm pretty sure I've seen sold by the dozen for a five and some change at Walmart. Honestly - disgusting material and even more atrocious patterns. I'd understand if you were so filthy rich that you had to buy only products that further flaunt your need to display just how materialistic you really are. But why on God's earth anyone would pay A THOUSAND DOLLARS for a polka-dotted hat with mismatching peacock feathers protruding from the top, I HAVE NO IDEA.

While the glam and the delicious food and the atmosphere made me fall in love even more-so with London, the absolute snobbiness of the other floors reminded me of what I loathe. Trust me, I even fall victim to the love for shopping and fine dining despite my incessant bragging about Ramen noodles and half-priced coleslaw, but COME ON. Travel the world, donate to a charity, provide a financial bailout to a small country, or just exchange your pounds for US dollars and roll around in a pool of your own cash but BY GOD... please don't buy the thousand-dollar peacock hats..

There Are Places I'll Remember...

Abbey Road Studios sign
Originally uploaded by awolice89

For a person who can't even function in life without a 24/7 soundtrack, and for someone who has officially been in London for over a month, I don't really know why exactly I hadn't ventured over to Abbey Road until this past Thursday..

Logistically speaking, there really isn't that much to see. In fact, dare I'd come to face the reality, the zebra crossing made infamous by the Fab 4 has actually been repainted and moved several feet from where it was in 1969. But, maybe I'm just a sucker for musicians who made an impact in the 60s and 70s (I swear if there's such a thing as past lives, I HAD to have lived in that era), or maybe there really is something magical still about going on a "pilgrimmage" to the site at which the Beates recorded the majority of their songs. I didn't elect to pay to go inside and tour the studios (from what I'm told, it literally just looks like a studio with maybe some plaques or something on the walls), but to actually go to Abbey Road, to actually see nearly 50 people at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon flock to a crosswalk simply because of an album cover made 40 years ago is something incredible.

Since the era of the British Invasion (which, I suppose they don't call it that here.. in Britain...), Abbey Road studios has welcomed recording artists like Pink Floyd, The Killers and Muse.. yet outside, the front wall serving as a fence in front of the building is covered daily in dedications written by devoted Beatles fans. It's absolutely amazing. Over 40 years later and several people, from the Beatles' generation, to my generation, to people younger than myself (can you imagine) were out there writing song lyrics and messages thanking the Beatles for all they've done for British pop culture and for everyone alive in the 60s and beyond. I know there is, unfortunately, a good handful of self-declared artists out there who I have little respect for because their music is just drab melody mixed with Hollywood controversy and words that sound as if their writer spent under an hour paging through a rhyming dictionary just to meet a deadline.. but going to Abbey Road reminds you of the impact music can really have on the world..

After leaving Abbey Road in a (failed) search for fish & chips, believe it or not I bumped into Kelly out of the blue (I've worked with Kelly for years in NJ and shes visiting from the US until tomorrow). It was absolutely hilarious, and 100 times funnier because I completely CALLED that I would bump into her. I swear I'm clairvoyant sometimes..

While I still can't express how much it meant to spend last weekend with Chris, and to see friends like Justin and Rachel.. It also felt really awesome to see a familiar face from home - not to mention I had a really great time during Kelly's visit!...

So that night, Kelly & her friends (who I LOVEEE) and I went to O'Neill's (because every first-timer to London really HAS to go there), and it was absolutely hilarious. I've never actually been there THAT late, and now I know not to be... Given that I'm obviously (very happily) accounted for, and given that most people at a bar 2am on a Thursday night are looking for something in particular, I more or less fled the dance floor at a certain point until everyone was ready to leave. Still feeling the effects of my choice beverages, I couldn't remember where my bus stop was, so I left with the girls and stayed at Regent's for the night (and God bless the girls for ordering such incredible food at 4am. OH MY GOODNESS. So delicious!)

Then, this afternoon we made our way to Camden. Gosh, every time I go there I want to cry over how many things I want to buy. I swear I'm not an overly materialistic person, but it's impossible not to be when you go to the London markets.

Unfortunately for myself (and my sanity) I still have this God-awful project due this week with NO IDEA how to tackle it.. that being said, I should probably get back to writing my homework rather than writing in my blog... UGGH.

Yo man, pick yourself off the ground..

Canstatter Volksfest @ Stuttgart
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Amidst countless al-Qaeda threats, faulty electronic plane tickets and having to confront my fear of small airplanes (and doing so with enormous amounts of cheap red wine), I not only made it to Oktoberfest (technically Cannstatter Volksfest) in Stuttgart, Germany, but oh my goodness did I have an epic time...

So, in my defense, I'm not actually a wine-o in real life. However, I have a big fear of flying and after walking the tarmac and laying my eyes on what barely even looked like a plane because of it's ridiculously small size, I of course wasn't going to pass up free refills of red wine onboard. It was a great idea and it definitely helped, unfortunately it took a good hour and a half for the other 2 glasses of wine to kick in... and the flight was only an hour and 10 minutes long.

That being said, I got off the plane alone, knowing no more than 5 words in the German language, mapless and.. oh yeah... drunk off Lufthsana's red wine. What should have taken me no more than an hour to get from the airport to our hostel took me about two hours.. and my phone took forever to pick up a signal, so needless to say when I had arrived at our (ADORABLE) hostel, I had missed everyone who had left for dinner. Nevertheless, it was a long, dull three hours in the hostel room until Chris and Steve finally arrived. Words can't express how much I've missed Chris and how happy I was to not only see him again but also to see him in GERMANY, but I had been so worn out and cranky from being alone (and hungover at 7pm) that I'm not sure he realized it until later..

That being said, despite the fact that we really did nothing but get lost and search for a restaurant for several hours that night, it was hilarious and it was so awesome to just wander around a random town in a country completely foreign to all of us. We got back, passed out for the night and woke up to a beautiful, sunny, charming Stuttgart..

So we spent our Saturday at Ludwigsburg at the Bluhendes Barock... I'm still not entirely sure what exactly that place is because none of us could understand the signs (nothing was written in English)... but the gardens were beautiful and OH MY GOODNESS the pumpkins were awesome... It reminded me of family trips to the October festivals in Pennsylvania. My mom would've been all over this place (hahaa). Not to mention had I been 10 years younger I would've loved all of the fairy tale castles and displays that they had...so awesome!

So for lunch we went to this place where everything they served incorporated pumpkins.. I had spaghetti with pumpkin sauce, Chris had some pumpkin rice dish and the others had pumpkin quiches and raviolis. SOO delicious. The beer was fabulous as well.. the awesome thing was that we bumped into quite a few Americans who were in town for military purposes... two of the peope we had spoken to on separate occasions had said that they felt that this year, the Cannstatter Volksfest was actually better than Oktoberfest in Munich had been... I have no grounds to make that statement since I've never even been to Munich, but I can't imagine how Oktoberfest could have been much better (or even much bigger?).

So, we all (of course) came back to the hostel to nap before our festivities that night... We made our way back to Bad Canstatt afterwards and OH MY GOODNESS. First off, they had amusement rides that I've never even seen before.. there were so many incredible food stands and beer EVERYWHERE. Honestly, where else are there festivals that have rollercoasters with loops in them and several ferris wheels?? I would've loved to have done a few rounds of rides, but we somehow managed to wedge our way into a beer tent that was in extremey high demand. Oh my goodness.. no words or pictures could describe how insane it was inside. It was only about 7:30pm and people were already dancing on tables and passing liters of beers and diving into huge platefuls of pork and fries (yes, they're fries again in the EU) and AHHH... so much craziness. How anyone could be a server during Oktoberfest, I have no idea. Definitely requires a lot of skill, alot of patience and a lot of energy...

We finally found a reserved table that no one was occupying and plopped ourselves down and ordered a few rounds of beer and DELICIOUS chicken. SO GOOD. It wasn't long before we made a few German friends without understanding much of what they were saying.. there was also a live band playing German drinking songs, but what I don't understand was... why on several occasions did they play "YMCA" and Robbie Williams' "Angels"??? SO weird!

La bonne vie...

Justin & I at the Eiffel Tower
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Despite the countless times I exclaimed to Justin that I don't know any French unless it's a phrase pulled from "Lady Marmalade," I not only made it to Paris but, with his help, I had one of the absolute best weekends I've ever had in recent memory..

So, being the brave-and-daring roommates that we are, Elyssa and I got up at 3am (so early that many of our friends upstairs were just coming in for the night) and we quickly readied ourselves for our near-epic journey to Kings Cross St. Pancras International Rail station in central (is it central?) London where our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave at 5:30am. We lugged our bags several blocks, even encountered a blood-thirsty fox along the way, and caught a bus not 5 minutes before 4am, then caught a second bus, then finally arrived at the train station. After discovering that our seats could hardly have been on more opposite sides of the train (I was in section 14, she however sat near the front), I missed my ipod terribly and nearly caught hypothermia - but nevertheless - made it to Paris after drifing in and out of sleep for the 2hr ride. By the way, WHY were there so many babies in my car?

When we arrived in Paris, the weather looked more like London (and, oddly enough, when we left London it was warm and dry). We dropped our bags off at our hostel - which was actually a very lovely hostel now that I look back on it - we made our way back to a store in which we got by with saying "bonjour" and "merci" and nothing else in order to buy some food. And then shortly thereafter, Justin stepped out of the metro station.

Now, I've had an incredible time thus far in London. I couldn't have lucked out more with my roommate and I've made some great friends here (and have become better friends with those on my program who I already knew). But, I was so, SO happy to finally see one of my best friends in person (NOT skype for once!), especially being that we had stepped into a country in which I knew nothing and could speak no more than 5 words of the language. Being abroad for a semester has been one of the most incredible experiences thus far, but one thing I have wanted so much was for some of my closest friends to be here to share it with me.

That being said, it wasn't more than 10 min until he convinced Elyssa, their friend Daniela and myself to eat food. Typical. We walked to the Sacre Coeur, which was absolutely beautiful even despite the misty weather. Not to mention that one of the street performers was playing "My Heart Will Go On" when I got there. I guess my obsession with that movie is blantant even in foreign lands..

Anyway, afterwards we grabbed some crepes and various baked goods. I was more than aware that the French are known for their food.. but keeping in mind that my diet has consisted of cheese sandwiches, ramen, potato & leek soup and reduced-price crisps.. even the most poorly-made pain au chocolat would have tasted divine. Oh, and it did.

So afterwards, Justin and Daniela had class obligations, so Elyssa and I made our way over to the Seine (and, as I predicted, the sun came out!). After getting proposed to (in French) by a homeless man, we took a thousand pictures by the river, then walked across to the Pont Neuf, which was absolutely beautiful in the warm sunshine.. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep right then and there, so we quickly left and mistakenly stumbled into what I'm sure was an absolutely beautiful memorial to those displaced during the Holocaust. However, being that we know next to no French and had gotten completely lost, we had no clue where we were or why we were surrounded by blank white walls at all sides until minutes after we had left. So it was kind of comical on our behalves in that sense... We also made our way over to the Jardin du Luxembourg which I absolutely LOVED (particularly the palm trees!)...

Afterwards, I reunited with (my Big!) and good friend Rachel and the group of us carried out the genius idea of a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. Not only was the weather absolutely gorgeous, and the food absolutely cheap, but it was so relaxing (and so French!) to be able to just sit there with friends and more or less stuff our faces with delicious food (and cheap wine!). Plus, I was glad I got to see the Eiffel Tower when it twinkled, because otherwise I would've missed it..

We then went to the Louvre at night to see the infamous cellist who plays absolutely beautifully (the only street performer thus far in Europe that has received a tip from myself). It made me wish I had taken up an instrument that would allow for me to be a street performer myself (for a day, of course) besides the piano... okay,so there were those years of the flute, but I like to not revisit them...

So the next day, Justin skipped class (thankfully!) and we ventured out to the Moulin Rouge (so that he could pick up an application) and then made our way over to a FABULOUS chocolate shop. Oh my goodness, if I could just lock myself there for a while, the damage I'd accomplish would be phenomenal...

Although I barely understood a word of the owner's rapid-fire French, her love for her chocolates translated beyond any language. She was absolutely hysterical. If her long blonde braided hair and the inflection in her voice wasn't enough, her hand gestures and inability to let Justin take half a second of her time to turn to me and translate was absolutely comical. Nevertheless, we bought a (very rare) chocolate bar which was double-sided: half with dark chocolate and half with milk chocolate, for a little over 10 euros.. and oh my goodness, it was DELICIOUS.

We then met up with Rachel again and headed out over towards the Eiffel Tower. To state that the weather was absolutely gorgeous was an understatement. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I haven't been able to bask in the good weather so much in London due to obligations or being sick, or maybe it was because I was with good friends, but I'm pretty sure the weather could not have been any better.

So, being the mountainmen (and women) that we are, we took the stairs to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower... which I'm actually very glad we had done, not only because it saved me a lot of money, but because I think you really get more of the experience that way. And, as Justin read t he posters on each of the landings, it gave me an opportunity to pretend that I was taking breaks to learn about French architecture (and that I wasn't stopping to catch my breath).

Finally, after a journey of an hour or more, we hopped on an elevator and made it to the top! It was absolutely beautiful and I felt like I could see all of France, even if the Eiffel Tower is actually one of the smaller observation decks I've been on.

And, a trip with Justin wouldn't be complete if it didn't involve an act or two of thievery. So, shortly afterwards, we more or less ran to the site of his program's welcome dinner... and, despite the fact that I still knew no French, I waltzed in as if Iwere a student. (Although I'm pretty sure when Anna, who I haven't seen in ages, ran up yelling "What are you doing here?!" some of the program directors may have gotten the idea. I don't think THAT got lost in translation). Regardless, it was a free (and delicious) dinner, and afterwards a busload of people ransacked a nearby grocery store and we all split bottles of wine (which somehow, the two of us ended up inheriting the latter portion of it). There's something classy about drinking on the seine, even if you do completely lose your bearings. It was absolutely hilarious and I had such an awesome time that it was sad to see Rachel and Justin have to leave early to catch their train the next morning to Nice.

Elyssa, Daniela and I then walked around in search of a bar/club and eventually settled on a very American bar, which was actually quite a lot of fun depsite the fact that both the upstairs and downstairs were booked for private parties. We then rushed out to catch the metro before closing time..

After mistakenly bumping into our new shirtless travelling musician roommate in our hostel, we stumbled out of bed in the morning to head over to the Louvre (which we ALSO snuck into) and finally saw the Mona Lisa! After a delicious second dosage of gelatos, we grabbed our bags and headed back to catch the Eurostar home.

While France in and of itself was in every way AMAZING, there were two really awesome things I learned on the trip that I hadn't quite realized I'd take away to London. The first being that even the greatest places can be 1,000 times better when you're with your best friends. The second, being that while away from London, I realized I became homesick for London. That doesn't mean I was at all sad to have been in Paris instead (I was NOT, trust me haha) BUT it means that I've finally started to really settle in here. It's certainly not home (and I rushed home to catch the finale of the Yanks/Red Sox series, which was very much NOT London haha), but nevertheless, I don't feel so much like an outsider to London, especially now that I've experienced being an outsider to Paris [from the inside haha]). That being said, while I'm here I have the unfortunate blessing of homework, and as I'm writing these incredibly long entries, my ESSAY, however, is NOT being written..

Some of History's Greatest.. Just Below Your Feet?

Westminster Abbey
Originally uploaded by awolice89

So this is a very long over-due blog post, but nonetheless I wanted to still write it.. I've more or less discovered that Westminster Abbey has become one of my absolute favorite places thus far in London. I realized that, when spending an extended period of time in Europe, you tend to have lots of opportunities to visit similar-looking Churches, and more or less it gets pretty mundane.. BUT, whatever the reason, I didn't have that experience with the abbey... perhaps it was because I had a free tour instead of a 3-hour in-class lecture but nevertheless, I LOVED it there..

Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take any photographs inside the abbey itself (the photo to the right is from a nave off to the side beyond the Church itself). I'm not sure if it's for preservation reasons or out of respect, but nevertheless there's about 120 less photos on my facebook account than there would have been...

That being said, there's just something so humbling about taking a few steps and realizing you have accidentally stepped onto the grave of Charles Dickens, or one of the Kings or Isaac Newton (although I don't believe you could physically step on Newton's grave). I realize by now - assuming that the British didn't carry out there favorite tradition of digging up corpses and placing them elsewhere - there's not much left in the graves themselves, to put it frankly. Nevertheless, I was in absolute awe. How different would world politics, scientific understanding and literature be without a quarter of those people buried in and around the abbey (I think someone blurted out a number somewhere in the low thousands, but many of those bodies are people that simply had the money to buy graves in the abbey)..

I'm not sure I completely appreciated our tour guide's remark about how "(The British) have THE tomb of the unknown soldier. It's ashame all the other countries have copied us..." I get what she meant, and one thing I've learned quickly here is the British (particularly their professional tour guides, oddly enough) like to speak with uncensored mouths. Nevertheless, the tomb of the unknown soldier has always been one of my absolute favorite places to visit in the DC area, so I'll let her remark roll off my back for now.

On the flip-side to my experiences with seeing some of the graves of those who have accomplished and contributed so much, there's the story of the grave of Queen Mary I (she's actually buried underneath Queen Elizabeth I) which kind of just proves that ANY monarch was buried in the abbey. I find it ironic to Britain that someone who burned nearly 300 Catholics at the stake would be buried in a glorious and extremely valuable grave cite in the nation's most revered Church, but I suppose they've given up their pasttime of relocating people.

To explain myself further, one of the (many) creepy stories our tourguide told us was about Oliver Cromwell, who nearly dissolved the monarchy and ruled more-or-less as the closest thing England's had to a President (save for the modern Prime Minister). Anyway, the story goes that he died in 1658 but when King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Parliament decided that Cromwell's body was ordered to be dug up from the Abbey because of his role in diminishing of the monarchy. They then beheaded his corpse and to further convey the message of what happens when you "mess with the monarch," they irrespectively stuck his head outside of Parliament where it stood on a post for nearly a year. Then, or so the story goes, the wind or some other force of nature knocked the head off the post, and someone from a travelling circus-type group stole the head from Parliament and began travelling throughout London requiring people to pay money to see the head in their little street-side performances. Over time, someone ELSE stole the head (keeping in mind, this IS a human head you're talking about) and attempted to find the best price they could receive for it. After contacting as many of Cromwell's surviving relatives/descendants as they could find, they discovered that no one was willing to pay for the head. It wasn't until 1960 that someone had successfully convinced the school at which Cromwell studied (Sidney Sussex College) to purchase the head. They then buried it, supposedly in their Church somewhere, but there are no labels because they fear that someone will dig it up again as a prank.

Absolutely crazy.

As for my other amusing story from the Abbey (also not quite as poetic and romanticized as my experiences at the famous grave sites) was seeing the coronation chair. Now, it is absolutely amazing to see King Edward's Chair, which all monarchs have sat in during their coronation since 1308. BUT, what's even more impressive (and leaves me in absolute childish envy) is the amount of names scratched into the chair by devilish little Westminster schoolboys who in the 1950s snuck into the church to write messages like "Timmy WUZ HERE" all over one of the most supreme and time-honored symbols of the British monarchy.

Amazing.

"Now the old king is dead - Long live the King!"

Last night of "Viva La Vida" tour - Wembley Stadium 9/19/09
Originally uploaded by awolice89

Insane. Absolutely insane. Every aspect from my day-long attempt to (cheaply) win tickets on the UK version of e-bay, to my epic journey to meet with the (extremely handsome) man who sold me the tickets, to the show itself and the unbelievable (and risky!) journey home afterwards was absolutely INSANE.

Now, just for the sake of shouting out to my friends back home whom I miss dearly - considering that Julie & I had tickets to a show where 70,000 PEOPLE were also in attendance, our seats were obviously no match to the free front row tickets that Katie scored us back in Camden in May (being at last night's show reminded me of how amazing that night was!). And, I know they both would've LOVED last night's show as well (and I miss them DEARLY).

That being said, I HAVE to at least use my blog as an outlet since no one ACTUALLY wants to hear me rave on and on about how much I loved last night's show. So feel free to just skip this entry if that's the case.. just don't ever tell me you did ;)

To kick off - how I got the tickets. Being that I spent the greater portion of my 4-day weekend sick and more or less stuck in bed - and thanks to quite a few people back home pointing out to me that they were seeing U2 this weekend (and that I was NOT) - I decided to spend my day stalking people on ebay. I set a mental limit of what I refused to pay for the tickets (especially considering that shipping would be difficult since the concert was less than 2 days away, AND, if that's not enough a threat, there's currently a postal strike going on and mail processing is often delayed)... I FINALLY learned the art of snaking people in the bidding process and won two (SEATED!) tickets on the top deck.

Then, after being the diligent Coldplay fan that I am, I made sure I paid everything IMMEDIATELY so my British hero who awarded me the tickets could pop those suckers in the mail ASAP. Much to my dismay, who other than BANK OF AMERICA failed me and for absolutely NO REASON at all, they left my payment as "pending" not just for the remainder of the day I purchased them, but for over 36 hours. I had called PayPal twice and Bank of America THREE TIMES. My personal plug here would have to be for PayPal because after they heard how upset I was, they verified (on their own) with bank of america that I had in fact had sufficient funds.. and then they emailed "JK2423498234" or whatever his name was and informed him that my money was on its way and they "urged him to deliver the items as soon as possible."

Then, John & I (yes, I've decided we're on first-name basis now after I called him FOUR TIMES) finally agreed to meet - Thank the Lord he lived just outside London and worked conveniently on a tube stop on the Picadilly Line. Not three hours before the doors opened to the concert did I FINALLY retrieve the tickets. ALLELUIA. No thanks to Bank of America, as usual.

Finally at Wembley..

For starters, we intentionally skipped the two openers - Girls Aloud and White Lies. No offense to anyone who may be fans of those groups, but I youtubed them beforehand and really had no urge to see them. Plus I was still running a mild fever and my epic journey to get the tickets had completely burnt out whatever slim percentage of energy I mustered through my sickness during the day.

Then, Jay-Z came on! I had completely forgotten how many of his songs were actually HIS and not someone else's. Considering Jay-Z was not only opening for quite possibly the whitest band in the history of rock music, but he also did so for quite possibly the whitest audience - he was awesome! And, after the British polished off their beer pints, people started dancing (some way more than others).

Then, Julie and I left to get beers (since it's the first concert where I could go myself to buy an overpriced lousy tap beer!) and after I slammed my elbow into a railing (thus SPILLING my beer all over the man who had sold me the tickets as well as a disgruntled rich lady who wore white to the concert), we sat down.. it started POURING on everyone who was at the center of the dome (mainly just general admission people) and when the speakers played the traditional classical song that always signifies that Coldplay's about to come on, the crowd went nuts.

While I'd have to obviously admit that I'd pick front row at Camden over "different time zone" seats (as Chris Martin called them) at Wembley, I'd also have to admit that I probably had just as much fun last night as I had back in May. There's something insane about catching a band (as big as Coldplay) in their hometown - not to mention the VERY last night of their epic tour. And, aside from Chris Marting forgetting the words to "The Hardest Part" (he literally stopped in the middle of the song, swore, and said "I'm sorry, I really can't remember the words"), I really thought they played better last night, knowing that they were home and in front of 70,000 fans.

Plus, they did "Lost" with Jay-Z, which was SO AWESOME.

The journey from the concert was just about as insane as the concert itself. Massive crowds all tried to catch the last tube of the night (why they can't run the subway system just a LITTLE past midnight on weekends, I don't know and it's really annoying, too). I literally got trampled on and someone pushed me so hard against the doors to the tube that my own elbow stabbed me right in the chest. It was so nuts, but what made it even crazier was NO ONE got angry and everyone laughed it off. And, to top it off, the drunker members of the crowd kept the "Oh-OH-oh-ohhh's" from Viva La Vida going - even so far as Gloucester Road.

SO AWESOME.

I realized last night that because I was out so late at the concert, I more or less am missing my last opportunity to catch the Changing of the guards at Buckingham today (they aren't doing it past October), but it was completely worth it. I get that London has so much history, so many castles and palaces and historical buildings.. but really, I think if you sit yourself in a 70,000-person Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium, you get a pretty good sense of British culture...

Share and share alike.. especially when it comes to germs

Big Ben
Originally uploaded by awolice89

How naiive of me to think that if I loaded up on vitamin C and sleep and an-apple-a-day and Cold-Eeze and follow all my mom's advice, it would actually work and I'd avoid catching the FIE sickness that's running rampant on all 3 of our housing developments.

It's 12:44pm on a pretty decent day here in London - one of my prized 4day-weekends which will only last for so long - and I'm lying in bed listening to a philly radio station online and staring at the wall. I don't think I have a fever (yet) but my throat is burning and I have an obnoxious cough that likes to flare up every now and then. I haven't started pitying myself enough to whine that "I want to go homeeee" but I do wish I had a better selection of soup here... and a nice mug full of Swiss Miss would be great, too.

Yesterday was pretty awesome though - for my SIS class, we went to Wembley (hopefully where I'll be going in a few days to see a certain CONCERT with a certain BAND). Anywho, my professor told us we were going to a London borough that had a large Indian population.. little did I know it would literally be like stepping into a city in India itself. It was absolutely amazing.. all of the shops were Indian, the entire area smelled of curries and masala and simosas and the PRICES -- aahh I'm tempted to go down there and buy some fresh fruits and vegetables at their shops.. they're probably 1/3 of the price we pay even at the discount racks at Sainsbury's here in Kensington. We went to a temple and saw their preparations for their upcoming festival this weekend, and then we ambushed a poor woman at the local library where all of the books were written in different languages and scripts.

To top it off - and every class should really end this way - we went to a nearby vegetarian Indian restaurant and had a free meal... I'd love to sound cultured and describe what it was that we ate, but I have NO clue what it was.. they handed us several courses and the main one looked like a massive crepe with potatos and spices - DELICIOUS. and their dessert was ice cream and some fried doughnut sort of thing that tasted so sweet...ahhh, SO GOOD. i'm already looking forward to my leftovers in the fridge (finally! a place where i didn't have to feel awkward asking for a bag to take home leftovers!)

Tomorrow - provided I'm feeling well enough (which, I have a very low standard for how healthy I need to feel to embark on a FREE trip) - I'm going to Bath & STONEHENGE! I'm so excited - particularly because I've always had this secret life-list and one of the things on my list of places I need to see has always been Stonehenge.. (the Eiffel Tower is on there too, but that'll have to wait until next week).

I really want to go to Brighton before it gets too cold - it would be nice to see something resembling a beach, just in case I can't afford to go to Malaga, Spain this semester :(