December 12, 2009
1:12 PM
It has been way too long since I’ve written about my life, so, while I should be studying for my 4 tests next week, I am going to write a little bit. Last week Mom had an open- heart surgery to repair what turned out to be a VERY leaky valve.
Luckily, everything went smoothly, and Tasha was kind enough to host me in London for a few days so that I could be a little closer to home, be with an old friend, and distract myself a little bit from what was going on at home.
First of all, London is awesome. When I stopped there on my way here (you may remember that post 1 was written from a coffee shop in Heathrow Airport, or maybe you don’t) I wanted to die. There was almost nothing that I liked. Going there to see someone who lives there, however, was awesome. Tasha was a great tour guide and kept me on my toes,
dragging me through the rain (not dragging, I went willingly) to Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s cathedral, some famous squares that I don’t know the names of, a Tea party, a tiny Christmas fair,
a cool outdoor market, a museum or two, and, most importantly, AVENUE Q! The best part was that we only paid 12.50 pounds for it (equal to approximately a million dollars with our sweet American economy) and got bumped up to a really close section. It was the most hilarious show I’ve ever seen, and despite the ridiculous fact that it’s a show with puppets, I would definitely recommend it.
Our Tea Party was also noteworthy, not only because it was my first official “tea,” but also because we unnecessarily sprinted through the rainy streets of London to get there. We arrived at the Tube stop that we were supposed to and began to walk towards the hotel where we were going to meet Tasha’s friends. We looked at the first number we saw, and it read “58,” so we began the journey down the street, looking for number 5. Unfortunately for us, what started as a light drizzle became a pounding downpour, and we began to run. When we arrived at the end of the street, the numbers stopped at 20. F.
So, sopping wet, rain still pouring down, we set out to find a solution. Eventually we realized that instead of the numbers just rising all the way up the street, with even numbers on one side and odds on the other, they actually made a kind of loop, going from 50-20 on one side and, in the other direction on the other side of the street, from 21-1. Great. We ran all the way up the street in the pouring rain only to find out that we didn’t need to.
After that episode, though, the tea was itself actually pretty fun. We each got approximately a thousand tea-cakes, sandwiches, mince pies, scones and glasses of mulled wine. And then, just before we left, a tiny cup of tea. I didn’t expect it to be like that, but I was satisfied.
On Thursday afternoon, Tash and I parted ways, only to meet up again on Friday in Cannes with Aamel! The flight, per usual, was a mess, but I don’t want to talk about it, it’s too sensitive. Really it’s just too long of a story. Anyhow, I arrived in Cannes approximately 8 hours behind schedule and met Aamel and Tash for a lovely dinner of Caesar salad (I had forgotten what vegetables taste like).
Unfortunately for everyone, all of my clothing smelled like straight up dead fish because of the bar I had eaten at the night before in Madrid. Thanks a lot Madrid. Hate you. After our dinner we headed home for a much needed shower.
The next morning we all headed off to Monaco on a train and while we were there we saw approximately 75 ferraris, 20 lambourghinis, 25 Bentleys, and maybe more Mercedes than people. Kinda nauseating.
We did, however, have a lovely lunch sitting next to a Telethon fair, and Aamel ordered two cups of hot chocolate for himself. It was a little excessive. When we got back to Cannes a few hours later, we were all tired, and instead of going out watched Beerfest. Or was it Supertroopers? Doesn’t matter, because we watched both approximately 50 times each during the course of the week. Very productive.
On Monday I headed back to Granada, which is getting pretty cold these days. We finally have snow in the Sierra Nevada, so with a little luck and money that I no longer have in my bank account, I should be able to go skiing next Saturday, my last day in Granada L. So sad. I’m trying to drag Sydney up there so that she can say that the first time she ever skied was in the Sierra Nevada in Spain, but we’ll see how that goes come next Saturday.
It’s crazy to think that our semester has basically come to an end. I’m ready to see home, but not ready to say goodbye to Spain yet. Being back in Boston and then New Orleans will be great, but will definitely be a huge culture shock. Being with family will be great, though, and I’ll make it back here some day in the not too distant
