Hey Everyone,
This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.
1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on album: "Ireland Trip..."
Cheers :)
Sarah
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
P-P-P-Poker Face M-My Poker Face (subtitle: Mostly Ireland)
Hello!
I know it's been awhile, but I feel like 20-ish days isn't so bad, considering I just got back from February break yesterday night. But let's back up...
These last few weeks in London have been great (besides the brutality of the freezing cold weather). I have been hanging out a lot with my housemates, and they have really grown on me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them to come home to and have cups of tea with here in London. They are my saving grace, really. Them and Adam (of Ireland fame). So, that is my little shout out to 10 Salisbury :)
Nothing too exciting has been happening lately, just a lot of working, a lot of job applications, and a lot of rejections. I THOUGHT about taking pictures of all of my rejection letters ("We are sorry to inform you that you have not been shortlisted for a job with us at this time.) but I decided that was just a bit too depressing. Honestly, I'm not that fussed by all the rejection, but it is frustrating that I feel like I will never get through the first round of applications in England because I have to write on the first page of all of my applications "Certification Pending." I mean really, my certification is NOT pending, I am SO certified to teach secondary school, but, alas, England hates me. (For those of you hoping for my return to the States next year...give yourselves a point.)
In other job news, I will be spending the remainder of the school year at a school called Globe Academy. I will be primarily in the younger grades, but I will also have the opportunity to fill in for teachers in the secondary school (which, of course, will look great on my resume). Basically, I will be the "permanent substitute" for the school. I will be filling in for teachers during their preparation time, and I will be with the same students often. This is awesome because I was getting really bored of jumping from school to school, and now I will have some continuity. I am also going to be helping with planning literacy lessons for the school. (My education is good for something!) I had to do a RIDICULOUS interview for this job (complete with a sample lesson and a writing assignment), and they hired me. It was a nice reminder (after all of the rejections) that if a school looks past the fact that I am not technically certified in the UK, I'm actually a good teacher! I think that I fit really well with the ideals of the school, so I'm looking forward to this a lot. I will keep everyone posted about how it goes. Don't worry, I'm still getting paid a substitute teachers wage (but I'm going to ask for a raise)!
SO, before I get to the account of my amazing (always) trip to Ireland, I should mention that I won a fancy-dress contest that my teaching agency put on last week. It was valentine's themed...and I won a prize. (It was a gift certificate to this travel agency called Top Deck.) I might use it to subsidize my "pending" learn-how-to-not-look-like-a-complete-idiot-snowboarding-vacation that I may be taking over April vacation.
Here's a photo. I went out with Adam after the teacher-party...It's funny to be dressed up when NO one else is...luckily...some people in London dress like this all the time...so I wasn't THAT out of place.
Now for Ireland. Sarah Caufield met me in London, and we traveled to Ireland for a week. Her cousin Trish traveled with us, and her VERY old friend Heike was with us for a couple days. I got to see a lot of Ireland that I hadn't seen yet...and of course I re-fell in love with the country. It really is enchanting...and I am fully under it's spell. (I'm still working on marriage proposals for a visa...I mean...if a certain family member of mine did it...I can too, right?)
We started out in Dublin, and hung out with Paddy, Joe, and Emm-o. Luckily...those lads are single, so they were able to keep us company for valentine's day :)
We went to the Guinness factory (it's Ireland's Disney world!!) and we pulled our own perfect pints. (I know I did it a few years ago, on my very first visit to Ireland...but I think I'm a true expert now.) Then, we whisked away to Belfast. In Belfast, we took my "very favorite tour ever." It's the "Black Taxi Cab Tour" which takes you around to the catholic and protestant hot-spots of the troubles. (Basically, Shankill and Falls Road.) I have done the tour before, but I really think it is SO informative, and highly, HIGHLY recommended if any of you ever make it to Belfast.
Here is a photo of the wall that separates the two sections of Belfast. Our taxi driver said that it will probably still be another 35 years until the wall comes down because, to be honest, there are still some very serious hostilities on both sides. People still live in their respective sections of the city, and some of the "gates" in the wall still open at six in the morning and close at six at night so that people cannot travel between the catholic and protestant sides of the city.
While in Belfast, we subscribed to what I like to call the "Marisa Antos Fallon" mentality of needing to get to the highest point in a city, and we rode the Belfast wheel. It was not there the last time I was in the city, and it gave pretty spectacular views. (Marisa, we all deeply and sincerely thank you for the inspiration.)
We headed out to Giant's Causeway after Belfast. We embarked on a six mile hike to the Causeway, which actually turned out to be a ten mile hike. Go figure! We got to the Causeway just in time for sunset. Apparently, Giant's Causeway is touted as the 8th wonder of the world...and deservedly so.
Then, we went to Derry. Many people from the Republic of Ireland (and the majority of my friends in Dublin) have never been to Derry, which is such a shame. It is a GREAT, lively city, with a very tortured historical past. But, the historical past is what makes it a special and important part of Ireland. Derry, for those of you that don't know, is also in Northern Ireland, and it was the last strong-hold when the English were fighting to make Northern Ireland a part of the UK. Derry is also where "Bloody Sunday" took place. We were taken on a walking tour by the Bogside Artists who grew up in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry during the height of the troubles. Kevin took us around and told us the stories of the murals that they painted. Take some time and check out the website because they tell their own stories much better than I can. The young girl Annette pictured in one of the murals is Kevin's cousin. It was intense to be given a tour of the area by someone who not only painted the murals, but painted the murals out of such a direct, first-hand experience.
From Derry we headed back into the Republic of Ireland, but we stayed in the Northern part of the Republic and went to County Donegal. We stayed in Donegal Town, population 2,500 which proved to be a little bit of a shock after being in much bigger cities! Donegal is STUNNING, though. We went on two hikes while we were in Donegal. We drove along gorgeous scenery from Donegal Town to Slieve League. We hiked in Slieve League (which was SUPPOSED to be an easy hike, but, we got a little bit lost). Picture Sarah, Trish, and I climbing up a steep rock face with only the ocean crashing against the rocks below us. Okay, wait. Don't picture that. It was scary. Beautiful, but scary. From Slieve League we went to Glen Colum Cille for another hike.
The hike in Glen Colum Cille was a bit calmer, and sent us to an ancient tower, complete with beautiful ocean view and ubiquitous sheep. (It is said that Americans LOVE taking sheep photos...and unfortunately, we were unable to prove this stereotype wrong.) We ended our long day in Ardara, at Nancy's famous Bar. We were ALMOST convinced to stay the night at Nancy's for pub-quiz (apparently, there is a room to let), but we decided it was better to get on the road home. Shockingly, the Irish love their pub-quizzes ALMOST as much as Sarah Caufield :)
Our last day in Ireland was spent on the road. Trish had to go to a Medieval banquet in Bunratty castle (what???) so we drove her down to Limerick county. The drive was lovely, though tiring, and then we drove back up to Dublin for one last night.
WHELANS!! All the lads and ladies came out to Whelans (my favorite bar in Ireland) and we had SUCH a blast. We were "wrecked" (tired, for those of you needing translation), but we danced the night away anyway. It was there that Paddy and Dave's friend Jon Mahon proposed to me and put a ring on my finger so that we can get married and have duel-citizenship...we will see what happens ;)
And that, dear friends, brings us back to the present. Sarah and I came back to London last night...and after having her PAGED in the airport, we finally got back to my house, had a late dinner, and went out on the town.
If you made it to the end of this blog, you earn two points. (You earn FOUR points if you actually leave me a comment. What does a girl have to DO?)
Loooove, Hammer
PS: If you are curious about the Lady Gaga title reference...it is the number one hit on Irish radio right now...and since we rented a car but didn't have any cd's, we heard it about 1,000,000,000 times. It kinda grows on you! (Brendan Sullivan, One point to you for having your finger on the pulse of crappy dance music :) )
I know it's been awhile, but I feel like 20-ish days isn't so bad, considering I just got back from February break yesterday night. But let's back up...
These last few weeks in London have been great (besides the brutality of the freezing cold weather). I have been hanging out a lot with my housemates, and they have really grown on me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them to come home to and have cups of tea with here in London. They are my saving grace, really. Them and Adam (of Ireland fame). So, that is my little shout out to 10 Salisbury :)
Nothing too exciting has been happening lately, just a lot of working, a lot of job applications, and a lot of rejections. I THOUGHT about taking pictures of all of my rejection letters ("We are sorry to inform you that you have not been shortlisted for a job with us at this time.) but I decided that was just a bit too depressing. Honestly, I'm not that fussed by all the rejection, but it is frustrating that I feel like I will never get through the first round of applications in England because I have to write on the first page of all of my applications "Certification Pending." I mean really, my certification is NOT pending, I am SO certified to teach secondary school, but, alas, England hates me. (For those of you hoping for my return to the States next year...give yourselves a point.)
In other job news, I will be spending the remainder of the school year at a school called Globe Academy. I will be primarily in the younger grades, but I will also have the opportunity to fill in for teachers in the secondary school (which, of course, will look great on my resume). Basically, I will be the "permanent substitute" for the school. I will be filling in for teachers during their preparation time, and I will be with the same students often. This is awesome because I was getting really bored of jumping from school to school, and now I will have some continuity. I am also going to be helping with planning literacy lessons for the school. (My education is good for something!) I had to do a RIDICULOUS interview for this job (complete with a sample lesson and a writing assignment), and they hired me. It was a nice reminder (after all of the rejections) that if a school looks past the fact that I am not technically certified in the UK, I'm actually a good teacher! I think that I fit really well with the ideals of the school, so I'm looking forward to this a lot. I will keep everyone posted about how it goes. Don't worry, I'm still getting paid a substitute teachers wage (but I'm going to ask for a raise)!
SO, before I get to the account of my amazing (always) trip to Ireland, I should mention that I won a fancy-dress contest that my teaching agency put on last week. It was valentine's themed...and I won a prize. (It was a gift certificate to this travel agency called Top Deck.) I might use it to subsidize my "pending" learn-how-to-not-look-like-a-complete-idiot-snowboarding-vacation that I may be taking over April vacation.
Here's a photo. I went out with Adam after the teacher-party...It's funny to be dressed up when NO one else is...luckily...some people in London dress like this all the time...so I wasn't THAT out of place.Now for Ireland. Sarah Caufield met me in London, and we traveled to Ireland for a week. Her cousin Trish traveled with us, and her VERY old friend Heike was with us for a couple days. I got to see a lot of Ireland that I hadn't seen yet...and of course I re-fell in love with the country. It really is enchanting...and I am fully under it's spell. (I'm still working on marriage proposals for a visa...I mean...if a certain family member of mine did it...I can too, right?)
We started out in Dublin, and hung out with Paddy, Joe, and Emm-o. Luckily...those lads are single, so they were able to keep us company for valentine's day :)
We went to the Guinness factory (it's Ireland's Disney world!!) and we pulled our own perfect pints. (I know I did it a few years ago, on my very first visit to Ireland...but I think I'm a true expert now.) Then, we whisked away to Belfast. In Belfast, we took my "very favorite tour ever." It's the "Black Taxi Cab Tour" which takes you around to the catholic and protestant hot-spots of the troubles. (Basically, Shankill and Falls Road.) I have done the tour before, but I really think it is SO informative, and highly, HIGHLY recommended if any of you ever make it to Belfast.
Here is a photo of the wall that separates the two sections of Belfast. Our taxi driver said that it will probably still be another 35 years until the wall comes down because, to be honest, there are still some very serious hostilities on both sides. People still live in their respective sections of the city, and some of the "gates" in the wall still open at six in the morning and close at six at night so that people cannot travel between the catholic and protestant sides of the city.
While in Belfast, we subscribed to what I like to call the "Marisa Antos Fallon" mentality of needing to get to the highest point in a city, and we rode the Belfast wheel. It was not there the last time I was in the city, and it gave pretty spectacular views. (Marisa, we all deeply and sincerely thank you for the inspiration.)
We headed out to Giant's Causeway after Belfast. We embarked on a six mile hike to the Causeway, which actually turned out to be a ten mile hike. Go figure! We got to the Causeway just in time for sunset. Apparently, Giant's Causeway is touted as the 8th wonder of the world...and deservedly so.
Then, we went to Derry. Many people from the Republic of Ireland (and the majority of my friends in Dublin) have never been to Derry, which is such a shame. It is a GREAT, lively city, with a very tortured historical past. But, the historical past is what makes it a special and important part of Ireland. Derry, for those of you that don't know, is also in Northern Ireland, and it was the last strong-hold when the English were fighting to make Northern Ireland a part of the UK. Derry is also where "Bloody Sunday" took place. We were taken on a walking tour by the Bogside Artists who grew up in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry during the height of the troubles. Kevin took us around and told us the stories of the murals that they painted. Take some time and check out the website because they tell their own stories much better than I can. The young girl Annette pictured in one of the murals is Kevin's cousin. It was intense to be given a tour of the area by someone who not only painted the murals, but painted the murals out of such a direct, first-hand experience.From Derry we headed back into the Republic of Ireland, but we stayed in the Northern part of the Republic and went to County Donegal. We stayed in Donegal Town, population 2,500 which proved to be a little bit of a shock after being in much bigger cities! Donegal is STUNNING, though. We went on two hikes while we were in Donegal. We drove along gorgeous scenery from Donegal Town to Slieve League. We hiked in Slieve League (which was SUPPOSED to be an easy hike, but, we got a little bit lost). Picture Sarah, Trish, and I climbing up a steep rock face with only the ocean crashing against the rocks below us. Okay, wait. Don't picture that. It was scary. Beautiful, but scary. From Slieve League we went to Glen Colum Cille for another hike.
The hike in Glen Colum Cille was a bit calmer, and sent us to an ancient tower, complete with beautiful ocean view and ubiquitous sheep. (It is said that Americans LOVE taking sheep photos...and unfortunately, we were unable to prove this stereotype wrong.) We ended our long day in Ardara, at Nancy's famous Bar. We were ALMOST convinced to stay the night at Nancy's for pub-quiz (apparently, there is a room to let), but we decided it was better to get on the road home. Shockingly, the Irish love their pub-quizzes ALMOST as much as Sarah Caufield :)Our last day in Ireland was spent on the road. Trish had to go to a Medieval banquet in Bunratty castle (what???) so we drove her down to Limerick county. The drive was lovely, though tiring, and then we drove back up to Dublin for one last night.
WHELANS!! All the lads and ladies came out to Whelans (my favorite bar in Ireland) and we had SUCH a blast. We were "wrecked" (tired, for those of you needing translation), but we danced the night away anyway. It was there that Paddy and Dave's friend Jon Mahon proposed to me and put a ring on my finger so that we can get married and have duel-citizenship...we will see what happens ;)And that, dear friends, brings us back to the present. Sarah and I came back to London last night...and after having her PAGED in the airport, we finally got back to my house, had a late dinner, and went out on the town.
If you made it to the end of this blog, you earn two points. (You earn FOUR points if you actually leave me a comment. What does a girl have to DO?)
Loooove, Hammer
PS: If you are curious about the Lady Gaga title reference...it is the number one hit on Irish radio right now...and since we rented a car but didn't have any cd's, we heard it about 1,000,000,000 times. It kinda grows on you! (Brendan Sullivan, One point to you for having your finger on the pulse of crappy dance music :) )
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
New Photos...Housewarming and Snowy London
Hey Everyone,
This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.
1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on "Go To Photos" in the sort of middle of the page.
5) Click on "Friends' albums" on the left side of the page.
6) Click on 2009 to view the new pictures in the album "London in Wintertime, 2009."
Cheers :)
Sarah
This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.
1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on "Go To Photos" in the sort of middle of the page.
5) Click on "Friends' albums" on the left side of the page.
6) Click on 2009 to view the new pictures in the album "London in Wintertime, 2009."
Cheers :)
Sarah
Monday, February 2, 2009
"So this is the new year..."
Hey everyone!
England in the new year has been really great so far...so great in fact that I've hardly had a chance to blog. I'm realizing that the reason I was so consistent about writing in Ireland was, CLEARLY, because I had no job! Ha. And now that I have a job, I'm busy busy busy with no time to write. BUT here I am, on a SNOW DAY, all ready to catch up. Buttt....we'll get to that.
After I got home from Berlin two weeks ago, MAndrew and Alex came to visit. I, as most of you well know, had been sort of down on London, and having them here as soon as I returned was really good for me. I was able to see London with mates from home, and I was reminded, once again, that yes, I CAN live here and be happy.
Here's Juliet, Andrew, Alex, and I all smarted-up. We went out dancing with my Irish girls, Jill and Sadbh, and ended up at this really great indie-dance club. It's definitely going to be a regular dancing haunt of mine, now that it has been discovered. We also saw some amazing exhibits at a couple of museums (reminder--London has a GREAT museum scene...oh yes, it is a scene), ate great British food, drank great British beer at my local, and had an all around good time. (Thanks for coming to visit guys...I think it really set the bar for a spectacular year in England!)
After Andrew and Alex left, I promptly got really, really sick. In fact, I started getting sick sometime around Berlin, and I am still sick now (horrible cough that won't go away) but I actually missed work a bit during that week after the boys left because I was too sick to move. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics, but it didn't really do much good, to be honest. I completely lost my voice, but couldn't afford to take too many days off...so I taught with no voice for about a week. Imagine, me who never shuts up, with absolutely no voice, trying to manage a classroom of kids I don't know. You all wish you could have been a fly on the wall, I know :)
SPEAKING of "classrooms of kids I don't know," I have officially lost not one but TWO jobs in two weeks. (Don't worry, only ONE of them was a teaching job. ha.) I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to be doing a position in an elementary school near my house, so I was going to be in the same place four days a week...without a commute. Well, basically, it didn't work out. I went to the school for ONE day...and it SUCKED. It was definitely not the kind of school I would ideally like to be in (bad administration, crappy antiquated teachers...), but I thought hey, I'll give it a chance anyway. Well, I got sick the next day, and they fired me. I DIDN'T WANT TO WORK THERE ANYWAY :) I'm not for want of jobs though, so don't worry about me, not that you were.
The second lost job? How did you do THAT, you must be wondering? Well...I decided during a brief stint of insanity, that I should also wait tables in the evenings, to make some extra money...like I did back in my youthful heyday. HA. Well...I ended up getting a job at this AWESOME retro bowling alley, waiting tables/lanes. I went for my training day, and it was easy work, but, I told them I didn't want to give up my Friday AND Saturday nights...and basically, that was what they were looking for, so that was that. I absolutely am NOT in this country to work until 4am on my weekends....so...no second job for me!
Hmmmm....what else...also in terms of jobs (and my future), I don't know what I'm doing with my life. (How many times have you all heard THAT from me before? Luckily, I know lots of you also say that about your own lives quite often...and that makes me feel less insane.) I feel like I change my mind about where I want to be and what I want to do at least once a week these days. I am currently applying for jobs for September in London, BUT, I'm also in the process of starting my applications for teaching jobs in some undisclosed locations around the United States. (YES, undisclosed! A girl's got to have SOME secrets right?!) Really, though, I'd like the perfect job to fall into my lap without having to work at it. Lately I've been feeling like I just want to have a good REASON to stay somewhere. I'm getting tired of moving around...but I need a REALLY good excuse to just stay. Somewhere. Anywhere. And Ireland is out, by the way. The government released the rules about the new visa, and I'm not eligible. And I'm not getting married anytime soon. SO, if anybody wants to give me a reason to settle in somewhere for awhile, let me know ;)
My house FINALLY had a housewarming two weeks ago, and it was a blast. I was so nervous about the whole "throwing a first party" thing, but it worked out really well. A bunch of people I knew showed up...which was really nice, because to be honest, I don't even know that many people here! With the six of us, we ended up having a good amount of people, and everyone's friends meshed really well. The house was really well decorated with cool lighting and christmas lights, and it was the first time I thought to myself, "Wow. Our house is REALLY awesome." It helped that everyone else thought so too :)
Here's a picture of Xan and I at the party...this was towards the end of the night when things had cooled down a bit, and there weren't quite so many people.
Adam came back to London last week (thank goodness!!) and I FINALLY got to see him last night. He and his housemate (and lovely guy) Jev, just moved to Stoke Newington...which is the neighborhood that I want to live in next year. It's MUCH closer to Manor House, so we are practically neighbors now. Last night was, by far, my favorite night so far that I have lived in London. It SNOWED...and it STUCK! This NEVER happens in London, so we took advantage of it by having a snowball fight at midnight when it started snowing really hard...even though we all "had to work." Hopefully, I'll get some pictures from Adam of the snowy madness, and post them, because I think he got some pretty brilliant photographs. Turns out that I actually had a SNOW DAY today...definitely my first snow day since I was in high school!! I felt like a school kid again.
This is the view from my bedroom window, before sunrise this morning. Yay snow!
I went with Juliet to Finsbury Park, and we ended up having a snowball fight with some randomers...Irish of course. It's days like these and nights like last night that make me feel like London could be an alright place to be for awhile....we will see how I feel about it next week. (My thoughts change with the wind, apparently.)
Pretty much, that sums up what I've been up to these past two weeks. I haven't been keeping in touch with everyone as well as I'd like to lately, so if you want to drop me a proper email, I promise promise promise to respond right away. (COLIN, you are on the TOP of my list. I have been thinking about how you are an amazing email-er and I've been a sub-par correspondent. I'll get on it! You and my mom can get together and chat about how "I never write or call or anything." haha.)
Comment? :)
Love Sarah
England in the new year has been really great so far...so great in fact that I've hardly had a chance to blog. I'm realizing that the reason I was so consistent about writing in Ireland was, CLEARLY, because I had no job! Ha. And now that I have a job, I'm busy busy busy with no time to write. BUT here I am, on a SNOW DAY, all ready to catch up. Buttt....we'll get to that.
After I got home from Berlin two weeks ago, MAndrew and Alex came to visit. I, as most of you well know, had been sort of down on London, and having them here as soon as I returned was really good for me. I was able to see London with mates from home, and I was reminded, once again, that yes, I CAN live here and be happy.
Here's Juliet, Andrew, Alex, and I all smarted-up. We went out dancing with my Irish girls, Jill and Sadbh, and ended up at this really great indie-dance club. It's definitely going to be a regular dancing haunt of mine, now that it has been discovered. We also saw some amazing exhibits at a couple of museums (reminder--London has a GREAT museum scene...oh yes, it is a scene), ate great British food, drank great British beer at my local, and had an all around good time. (Thanks for coming to visit guys...I think it really set the bar for a spectacular year in England!)After Andrew and Alex left, I promptly got really, really sick. In fact, I started getting sick sometime around Berlin, and I am still sick now (horrible cough that won't go away) but I actually missed work a bit during that week after the boys left because I was too sick to move. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics, but it didn't really do much good, to be honest. I completely lost my voice, but couldn't afford to take too many days off...so I taught with no voice for about a week. Imagine, me who never shuts up, with absolutely no voice, trying to manage a classroom of kids I don't know. You all wish you could have been a fly on the wall, I know :)
SPEAKING of "classrooms of kids I don't know," I have officially lost not one but TWO jobs in two weeks. (Don't worry, only ONE of them was a teaching job. ha.) I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to be doing a position in an elementary school near my house, so I was going to be in the same place four days a week...without a commute. Well, basically, it didn't work out. I went to the school for ONE day...and it SUCKED. It was definitely not the kind of school I would ideally like to be in (bad administration, crappy antiquated teachers...), but I thought hey, I'll give it a chance anyway. Well, I got sick the next day, and they fired me. I DIDN'T WANT TO WORK THERE ANYWAY :) I'm not for want of jobs though, so don't worry about me, not that you were.
The second lost job? How did you do THAT, you must be wondering? Well...I decided during a brief stint of insanity, that I should also wait tables in the evenings, to make some extra money...like I did back in my youthful heyday. HA. Well...I ended up getting a job at this AWESOME retro bowling alley, waiting tables/lanes. I went for my training day, and it was easy work, but, I told them I didn't want to give up my Friday AND Saturday nights...and basically, that was what they were looking for, so that was that. I absolutely am NOT in this country to work until 4am on my weekends....so...no second job for me!
Hmmmm....what else...also in terms of jobs (and my future), I don't know what I'm doing with my life. (How many times have you all heard THAT from me before? Luckily, I know lots of you also say that about your own lives quite often...and that makes me feel less insane.) I feel like I change my mind about where I want to be and what I want to do at least once a week these days. I am currently applying for jobs for September in London, BUT, I'm also in the process of starting my applications for teaching jobs in some undisclosed locations around the United States. (YES, undisclosed! A girl's got to have SOME secrets right?!) Really, though, I'd like the perfect job to fall into my lap without having to work at it. Lately I've been feeling like I just want to have a good REASON to stay somewhere. I'm getting tired of moving around...but I need a REALLY good excuse to just stay. Somewhere. Anywhere. And Ireland is out, by the way. The government released the rules about the new visa, and I'm not eligible. And I'm not getting married anytime soon. SO, if anybody wants to give me a reason to settle in somewhere for awhile, let me know ;)
My house FINALLY had a housewarming two weeks ago, and it was a blast. I was so nervous about the whole "throwing a first party" thing, but it worked out really well. A bunch of people I knew showed up...which was really nice, because to be honest, I don't even know that many people here! With the six of us, we ended up having a good amount of people, and everyone's friends meshed really well. The house was really well decorated with cool lighting and christmas lights, and it was the first time I thought to myself, "Wow. Our house is REALLY awesome." It helped that everyone else thought so too :)
Here's a picture of Xan and I at the party...this was towards the end of the night when things had cooled down a bit, and there weren't quite so many people.Adam came back to London last week (thank goodness!!) and I FINALLY got to see him last night. He and his housemate (and lovely guy) Jev, just moved to Stoke Newington...which is the neighborhood that I want to live in next year. It's MUCH closer to Manor House, so we are practically neighbors now. Last night was, by far, my favorite night so far that I have lived in London. It SNOWED...and it STUCK! This NEVER happens in London, so we took advantage of it by having a snowball fight at midnight when it started snowing really hard...even though we all "had to work." Hopefully, I'll get some pictures from Adam of the snowy madness, and post them, because I think he got some pretty brilliant photographs. Turns out that I actually had a SNOW DAY today...definitely my first snow day since I was in high school!! I felt like a school kid again.
This is the view from my bedroom window, before sunrise this morning. Yay snow!
I went with Juliet to Finsbury Park, and we ended up having a snowball fight with some randomers...Irish of course. It's days like these and nights like last night that make me feel like London could be an alright place to be for awhile....we will see how I feel about it next week. (My thoughts change with the wind, apparently.)Pretty much, that sums up what I've been up to these past two weeks. I haven't been keeping in touch with everyone as well as I'd like to lately, so if you want to drop me a proper email, I promise promise promise to respond right away. (COLIN, you are on the TOP of my list. I have been thinking about how you are an amazing email-er and I've been a sub-par correspondent. I'll get on it! You and my mom can get together and chat about how "I never write or call or anything." haha.)
Comment? :)
Love Sarah
Monday, January 19, 2009
New Years, Ireland, and Berlin
Hey kids :)
If I can get this blog done, I'll actually be caught up! (For the record, I wrote that line nearly two weeks ago. whoops!)
So first off, HAPPY NEW YEAR. This is the year of balance. I think perhaps towards the end of last year I made some ridiculous decisions that were not so balanced, so I've decided that this year I'm going to practice weighing the pros and cons of things before I go and make important decisions about my life. Furthermore, when I have a list of bigger cons than pros, I'm going to try and actually follow the list and heed the cons. In other words, I'm going to practice making more informed choices about "what-not-to-do" when the odds are against me. (AND, I recommend everyone else tries this, if you don't do it already.)
I got back to London on NYE, and I was really not looking forward to New Years because I really wanted to spend it in the States with my tried-and-true friends. Everyone always says that the best New Years Eves always happen when you don't have high expectations. Well, my expectations were lower than low this year, and I had a COMPLETE blast! The Irish Lads, and Eimear were over from Ireland, and we spent New Years together.
First, we went to the Embankment/London Bridge area and watched the famous London fireworks. Much in the same way that people go to Times Square to watch the ball drop, people here go to the fireworks.
Here we are in the only group picture of the night, which of course has to be fuzzy. UGH. We were freezing our asses off, and I guess so was our photographer. (We brought the New Year in FREEZING cold, which has since been a theme of my year.)
Afterwards, we went to a party in a club. I thought it was going to be lame, as clubs are, but one of the floors of the club played really crappy 80's music, so it was great. (Really crappy 80's music=uninhibited crazy dancing!) The theme of the night was red and white, hence the wrist band and feathers. Paddy was wearing a red and white tie, but most of the boys ditched them before the evening was over.
This is an end of the night photo. The girls without the feathers are not our friends. I don't know who they are!
After new years, I went to Dublin for a couple days to hang out with the lads some more, see Mariel and celebrate Eimear's birthday, and to see 2manydjs.
This is an amazing crowd shot of 2manydjs. We were in the VIP section (oh yea!) so we had a really good view of everything. I'm not a huge fan of electronic music, as you all know, but this is the second time I've seen them, and they always make me want to dance my pants off. (Luckily, I wasn't wearing any pants to begin with, in order to minimize the scandal.)
We are pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Can I be an honorary Irish person and stay forever? Please, pretty please with a cherry on top? It's not that I don't like England, I do!, but I just love Ireland so much BETTER! Stupid visa rules are the bane of my existence.
I stayed with Mariel while I was in Ireland, but I still wish we could have caught up some more! She's the best, have I mentioned that lately? Here she is being cutsie-pants with her boyfriend Ciaran. (How come SHE gets to have an Irish boyfriend after I leave?!!!!)
Then, my travels led me to Berlin, Germany with Marisa. Let me just start out by saying that I WILL be back. Five days was NOT long enough. Berlin, for all it's bombed out history, has come back with a cultural vengeance. It has 141 museums/galleries--more than any other city in the WORLD. And there is just SO much to see. We didn't even get a dent into the monumental list of "must sees and must do-s" in Berlin.
Here is a photo of Marisa and I, half-dead of frostbite. Our first day there we went on a four hour walking tour. Let me just tell you, I have NEVER been so cold. Not hiking in the Patagonias. Not skiing in the Adirondacks. Not being without power and having no heat. Never, NEVER have I been this cold. Apparently, Germany just happened to be getting a cold front from Siberia. Okay. RIGHT. So, we saw a bunch of the things you are "supposed" to see when you visit Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Wall, crazy new-ish architecture, and lots of cool war/struggle monuments.
This is one monument that I thought was particularly awesome. It has had it's name changed many times, but now it is just a Memorial to fallen veterans. The artist put the woman with child sculpture in a room with no ceiling, so she "feels" the elements just like everyone else. Of course, when we went to visit, she was feeling the crazy cold front, and snow.
The next day we went to the Jewish Museum. It is one of the best museums I've ever been to. SO informative and thorough. (Apparently, the German stereotype of extreme organization proved itself to us during our stay in Berlin, through the AMAZING amount of information we inhaled through various museum plaques and "audioguides." (Marisa loves the audioguides...and I may have become a convert in my old age.) The Jewish Museum took us through history from the Kabbalah all the way to present day. Oddly, I found that there was no section in the museum about the creation of Israel. Is that some sort of German political stance? I definitely think so. We also went to the TV Tower and got some cool views of the city.
On day three we went to the Altes Museum and the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is just a fairly well-preserved section of the Berlin Wall. It has some great (and not so great) graffiti on it.
Some of the graffiti is political, like in this photo, but a lot of it is just crappy artists trying to get their crappy art seen. I preferred the political stuff.
The Altes Museum has one of the largest collections of Egyptian art in the world. (Probably, I'm really just making that statistic up.) Again, it took us about 4 hours to get through the museum, due to the high content of audio-guide information. I swear, Marisa and I are the slowest museum go-ers EVER.
The highlight of the Altes Museum, obviously, is the Bust of Nefertiti. I never knew she was unfinished, and thus has a freaky eye-hole. Oh yea. Gotta love the fun-facts.
Our last full day in Berlin we went to a modern art museum, the Reichstag, and the best darn Chip shop that side of Ireland. In case you were wondering, the Reichstag dome is NOT inside. It is just a dome with no sides...in other words, it is COLD. (Surprise, surprise!)
Our last night also happens to be the only night we went out in Berlin, seeing as it was SO cold! We ended up at this really awesome bar, recommended to us by our lovely hostel bartender. The bar (Kharma Noia) had a labyrinth inside of it! You had to get down to the secret room in the bar, and once there, you could get a ticket for the maze. Marisa was too chicken to go (sorry M!), but I figured that we had trekked all the way there, I might as well do it. New York should jump on the bar/entertainment bandwagon, cause it was AWESOME. Afterwards, we went to a crappy indie-rock club, but we felt very old, so we left.
All in all, Berlin was a fantastic, albeit freezing, experience. The people that we met were great, everyone was very friendly, and there is just so so so much to do! (If anyone ever wants to go back...let me know!)
Comment!
Love Sarah
If I can get this blog done, I'll actually be caught up! (For the record, I wrote that line nearly two weeks ago. whoops!)
So first off, HAPPY NEW YEAR. This is the year of balance. I think perhaps towards the end of last year I made some ridiculous decisions that were not so balanced, so I've decided that this year I'm going to practice weighing the pros and cons of things before I go and make important decisions about my life. Furthermore, when I have a list of bigger cons than pros, I'm going to try and actually follow the list and heed the cons. In other words, I'm going to practice making more informed choices about "what-not-to-do" when the odds are against me. (AND, I recommend everyone else tries this, if you don't do it already.)
I got back to London on NYE, and I was really not looking forward to New Years because I really wanted to spend it in the States with my tried-and-true friends. Everyone always says that the best New Years Eves always happen when you don't have high expectations. Well, my expectations were lower than low this year, and I had a COMPLETE blast! The Irish Lads, and Eimear were over from Ireland, and we spent New Years together.
First, we went to the Embankment/London Bridge area and watched the famous London fireworks. Much in the same way that people go to Times Square to watch the ball drop, people here go to the fireworks.
Here we are in the only group picture of the night, which of course has to be fuzzy. UGH. We were freezing our asses off, and I guess so was our photographer. (We brought the New Year in FREEZING cold, which has since been a theme of my year.)
Afterwards, we went to a party in a club. I thought it was going to be lame, as clubs are, but one of the floors of the club played really crappy 80's music, so it was great. (Really crappy 80's music=uninhibited crazy dancing!) The theme of the night was red and white, hence the wrist band and feathers. Paddy was wearing a red and white tie, but most of the boys ditched them before the evening was over.
This is an end of the night photo. The girls without the feathers are not our friends. I don't know who they are!After new years, I went to Dublin for a couple days to hang out with the lads some more, see Mariel and celebrate Eimear's birthday, and to see 2manydjs.
This is an amazing crowd shot of 2manydjs. We were in the VIP section (oh yea!) so we had a really good view of everything. I'm not a huge fan of electronic music, as you all know, but this is the second time I've seen them, and they always make me want to dance my pants off. (Luckily, I wasn't wearing any pants to begin with, in order to minimize the scandal.)
We are pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Can I be an honorary Irish person and stay forever? Please, pretty please with a cherry on top? It's not that I don't like England, I do!, but I just love Ireland so much BETTER! Stupid visa rules are the bane of my existence.
I stayed with Mariel while I was in Ireland, but I still wish we could have caught up some more! She's the best, have I mentioned that lately? Here she is being cutsie-pants with her boyfriend Ciaran. (How come SHE gets to have an Irish boyfriend after I leave?!!!!)Then, my travels led me to Berlin, Germany with Marisa. Let me just start out by saying that I WILL be back. Five days was NOT long enough. Berlin, for all it's bombed out history, has come back with a cultural vengeance. It has 141 museums/galleries--more than any other city in the WORLD. And there is just SO much to see. We didn't even get a dent into the monumental list of "must sees and must do-s" in Berlin.
Here is a photo of Marisa and I, half-dead of frostbite. Our first day there we went on a four hour walking tour. Let me just tell you, I have NEVER been so cold. Not hiking in the Patagonias. Not skiing in the Adirondacks. Not being without power and having no heat. Never, NEVER have I been this cold. Apparently, Germany just happened to be getting a cold front from Siberia. Okay. RIGHT. So, we saw a bunch of the things you are "supposed" to see when you visit Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Wall, crazy new-ish architecture, and lots of cool war/struggle monuments.
This is one monument that I thought was particularly awesome. It has had it's name changed many times, but now it is just a Memorial to fallen veterans. The artist put the woman with child sculpture in a room with no ceiling, so she "feels" the elements just like everyone else. Of course, when we went to visit, she was feeling the crazy cold front, and snow.The next day we went to the Jewish Museum. It is one of the best museums I've ever been to. SO informative and thorough. (Apparently, the German stereotype of extreme organization proved itself to us during our stay in Berlin, through the AMAZING amount of information we inhaled through various museum plaques and "audioguides." (Marisa loves the audioguides...and I may have become a convert in my old age.) The Jewish Museum took us through history from the Kabbalah all the way to present day. Oddly, I found that there was no section in the museum about the creation of Israel. Is that some sort of German political stance? I definitely think so. We also went to the TV Tower and got some cool views of the city.
On day three we went to the Altes Museum and the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is just a fairly well-preserved section of the Berlin Wall. It has some great (and not so great) graffiti on it.
Some of the graffiti is political, like in this photo, but a lot of it is just crappy artists trying to get their crappy art seen. I preferred the political stuff.The Altes Museum has one of the largest collections of Egyptian art in the world. (Probably, I'm really just making that statistic up.) Again, it took us about 4 hours to get through the museum, due to the high content of audio-guide information. I swear, Marisa and I are the slowest museum go-ers EVER.
The highlight of the Altes Museum, obviously, is the Bust of Nefertiti. I never knew she was unfinished, and thus has a freaky eye-hole. Oh yea. Gotta love the fun-facts.Our last full day in Berlin we went to a modern art museum, the Reichstag, and the best darn Chip shop that side of Ireland. In case you were wondering, the Reichstag dome is NOT inside. It is just a dome with no sides...in other words, it is COLD. (Surprise, surprise!)
Our last night also happens to be the only night we went out in Berlin, seeing as it was SO cold! We ended up at this really awesome bar, recommended to us by our lovely hostel bartender. The bar (Kharma Noia) had a labyrinth inside of it! You had to get down to the secret room in the bar, and once there, you could get a ticket for the maze. Marisa was too chicken to go (sorry M!), but I figured that we had trekked all the way there, I might as well do it. New York should jump on the bar/entertainment bandwagon, cause it was AWESOME. Afterwards, we went to a crappy indie-rock club, but we felt very old, so we left.
All in all, Berlin was a fantastic, albeit freezing, experience. The people that we met were great, everyone was very friendly, and there is just so so so much to do! (If anyone ever wants to go back...let me know!)
Comment!
Love Sarah
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
PHOTO LINK
Hey Everyone,
This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.
1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on "Go To Photos" in the sort of middle of the page.
5) Click on "Friends' albums" on the left side of the page.
6) Click on 2008 to view the new albums titled "London in Wintertime" and "Home for the Holidays." Then Click on 2009 to view the new albums titled "Berlin 2009" and "London in Wintertime, 2009."
I'll let people know via email as I add more photos.
Cheers :)
Sarah
This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.
1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on "Go To Photos" in the sort of middle of the page.
5) Click on "Friends' albums" on the left side of the page.
6) Click on 2008 to view the new albums titled "London in Wintertime" and "Home for the Holidays." Then Click on 2009 to view the new albums titled "Berlin 2009" and "London in Wintertime, 2009."
I'll let people know via email as I add more photos.
Cheers :)
Sarah
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Christmas-ish-ness
Hey all,
It's been a month since my last blog (this is what happens when you go on vacation), so I'm going to break it up into two parts, for your reading pleasure. The first part is leading up to Christmas/Christmas vacation. I feel like this post MIGHT be kind of lacking emotion since everything happened so long ago and is no longer fresh, so, sorry!! :)
Right-O, so, I went to my first concert in England--Jamie Lidell. It was a complete blast. London is known for its fantastic music scene, but there isn't a lot playing in the upcoming months that I really want to see, so it was great to be able to see Jamie. He is super diverse and a great performer. He even did a bit of a DJ set and people were really into it. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera so I have no pictures of it.
We (I) finally got down to decorating our house, at least a little bit. I got tired of waiting for everyone to come to a consensus, so I just made some dictatorial decisions. (Coffee table, photos on the walls, candles in specific locations, etc.) Living in a hippy-household has it's advantages, but getting things done in a timely fashion is NOT one of those things. People like to deliberate. and deliberate. and deliberate. You get the idea.
This picture was taken before the photos were hung. Also, I came home yesterday and we had a giant television. So, that tiny one doesn't exist anymore. (Now all we need is a DVD player that plays American DVDs and I will be ALL set. I brought back the best movie EVER--Wet Hot American Summer--and I can't even show my housemates because we don't have a DVD player that plays it!)
The night before I left London to go home for Christmas, we had a house Christmas dinner, and it was so, SO great. It is amazing how dedicated Vegans can make such wonderful food. I will never again have meat-envy on Thanksgiving, but instead will make a nut-roast like the one that Ed made. I was SICK from eating so much food. (And THAT, my friends, is a good thing!)
This plate contains the following items: Yorkshire pudding, 2 veggie mash with apples (I made it, YUM), green beans, nut-roast, roasted potatoes, and cabbage. A right proper English meal, minus the meat roast.
This is what the table looked like all pretty and decorated.
And THIS is a picture of the aftermath of Christmas Crackers. For those of you unfamiliar with this English/Irish tradition, you have these crackers and you open them and they pop. The person who gets the bigger side wins the cracker. Inside you have a fortune, a toy, and a ridiculous paper hat.
Look! Juliet and I and ridiculous paper hats!
Well, I went home to the states for Christmas. I wasn't there nearly as long as I would have liked, but flight prices are a bit crazy these days, so I took what I could get. I was feeling MAJOR homesickness, as I've mentioned before, and it was so so so good to be home. Really. However, before I got home, I got bumped from my flight. (Which, by the way, meant that the airline gave me lots and lots of money. SWEET.)
I spent a lot of time in Heathrow airport on the 23rd of December, and I decided that if all airports were like this one, it wouldn't be so bad to get bumped from your flight! (It's a comfy chair to sleep on! I was hovering over this couple, trying to sketch them out so that they would get up and I could have the chair. It did not work.)
Let's see. In summary, while I was home what did I do? Primarily, I ate. Sickening amounts.
Here I am, eating. Surprise, Surprise. This is the Uccello's annual Christmas Eve party. We came, we ate. We conquered. AND, we sang Christmas Carols!
What IS it with vacation and food? Why do we associate gluttony with happiness. (Deep thought for the day.) After eating, I hung out with the fam, and saw my awesome Connecticut friends. (Shout out to all of you reading this!) I think that the following two photos sum up my family all too well ;) (LOVE YOU GUYS!)
Here is my sistie-pants appreciating the gift I gave her. Oh yea. Best. Picture. Ever.
And here is her daughter, following in her footsteps. Dance Party at the Hammer House! (In further photo news, I decided NOT to include the picture of my parents smootching. Ewww ;) !)
Besides family things, I spent the majority of the vacation with my girl friends. (This is Myself, Aly, and Meredith.) It was nice to be hanging out with the ladies again. We really only see each other once a year at this point, and I'm always sad when we all go our separate ways again!
Finally, what would a trip home be without an obligatory china pan run. Robby, Sarah, Lisa, and I went for lunch and stayed SO long, we thought about ordering dinner, too! Whoops!
So that, my friends, leads us to blog part two, New years and European Travels. I will end this blog with a couple of lists:
A quick list of things that suck about London:
1. Bagels--Do I want butter AND cream cheese? What the hell? Who would ASK such a thing. (Yes, I have a food problem.)
2. My mom's lack of a passport. (SO she has too many fake names and the government thinks she is a terrorist. Come on. My mom. A terrorist? I guess this doesn't really suck about London, but it sucks that currently my parents can't visit.)
3. Eamonn. Well, he doesn't suck (good guy, blabla. bad situation. blabla.) but I thought I should mention for the sake of blog-honesty that our unofficial relationship had a very official break-up. Merry Christmas to me.
4. Grid-less-ness. I like cities that have a grid. Or really, the grid is completely unnecessary, but could the city at least have SOME semblance of organization! I canNOT get around without getting lost EVERY time I go to Central London. (In the words of Brandon Karrow: Can I LIVE?)
5. The fact that I may, MAY, have bed-bugs. I'll keep you posted on this. Outcome--Yet to be determined.
A top-five awesome things about London:
1. My hockey team
2. The fact that I just scored a job 4 days a week until June/July at the same school everyday. NINE MINUTES BIKE RIDE AWAY. Goodbye commute, hello enhanced quality of life! (I start on Tuesday so further news to come.)
3. It's cheaper than Ireland now that the pound is SO weak, and it's close enough that I can hop-over if I want to.
4. My room. It IS amazing.
5. Multi-cultural-ness.
Comment, dudes :)
Love, Sarah
It's been a month since my last blog (this is what happens when you go on vacation), so I'm going to break it up into two parts, for your reading pleasure. The first part is leading up to Christmas/Christmas vacation. I feel like this post MIGHT be kind of lacking emotion since everything happened so long ago and is no longer fresh, so, sorry!! :)
Right-O, so, I went to my first concert in England--Jamie Lidell. It was a complete blast. London is known for its fantastic music scene, but there isn't a lot playing in the upcoming months that I really want to see, so it was great to be able to see Jamie. He is super diverse and a great performer. He even did a bit of a DJ set and people were really into it. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera so I have no pictures of it.
We (I) finally got down to decorating our house, at least a little bit. I got tired of waiting for everyone to come to a consensus, so I just made some dictatorial decisions. (Coffee table, photos on the walls, candles in specific locations, etc.) Living in a hippy-household has it's advantages, but getting things done in a timely fashion is NOT one of those things. People like to deliberate. and deliberate. and deliberate. You get the idea.
This picture was taken before the photos were hung. Also, I came home yesterday and we had a giant television. So, that tiny one doesn't exist anymore. (Now all we need is a DVD player that plays American DVDs and I will be ALL set. I brought back the best movie EVER--Wet Hot American Summer--and I can't even show my housemates because we don't have a DVD player that plays it!)The night before I left London to go home for Christmas, we had a house Christmas dinner, and it was so, SO great. It is amazing how dedicated Vegans can make such wonderful food. I will never again have meat-envy on Thanksgiving, but instead will make a nut-roast like the one that Ed made. I was SICK from eating so much food. (And THAT, my friends, is a good thing!)
This plate contains the following items: Yorkshire pudding, 2 veggie mash with apples (I made it, YUM), green beans, nut-roast, roasted potatoes, and cabbage. A right proper English meal, minus the meat roast.
This is what the table looked like all pretty and decorated.
And THIS is a picture of the aftermath of Christmas Crackers. For those of you unfamiliar with this English/Irish tradition, you have these crackers and you open them and they pop. The person who gets the bigger side wins the cracker. Inside you have a fortune, a toy, and a ridiculous paper hat.
Look! Juliet and I and ridiculous paper hats!Well, I went home to the states for Christmas. I wasn't there nearly as long as I would have liked, but flight prices are a bit crazy these days, so I took what I could get. I was feeling MAJOR homesickness, as I've mentioned before, and it was so so so good to be home. Really. However, before I got home, I got bumped from my flight. (Which, by the way, meant that the airline gave me lots and lots of money. SWEET.)
I spent a lot of time in Heathrow airport on the 23rd of December, and I decided that if all airports were like this one, it wouldn't be so bad to get bumped from your flight! (It's a comfy chair to sleep on! I was hovering over this couple, trying to sketch them out so that they would get up and I could have the chair. It did not work.)Let's see. In summary, while I was home what did I do? Primarily, I ate. Sickening amounts.
Here I am, eating. Surprise, Surprise. This is the Uccello's annual Christmas Eve party. We came, we ate. We conquered. AND, we sang Christmas Carols!What IS it with vacation and food? Why do we associate gluttony with happiness. (Deep thought for the day.) After eating, I hung out with the fam, and saw my awesome Connecticut friends. (Shout out to all of you reading this!) I think that the following two photos sum up my family all too well ;) (LOVE YOU GUYS!)
Here is my sistie-pants appreciating the gift I gave her. Oh yea. Best. Picture. Ever.
And here is her daughter, following in her footsteps. Dance Party at the Hammer House! (In further photo news, I decided NOT to include the picture of my parents smootching. Ewww ;) !)
Besides family things, I spent the majority of the vacation with my girl friends. (This is Myself, Aly, and Meredith.) It was nice to be hanging out with the ladies again. We really only see each other once a year at this point, and I'm always sad when we all go our separate ways again!
Finally, what would a trip home be without an obligatory china pan run. Robby, Sarah, Lisa, and I went for lunch and stayed SO long, we thought about ordering dinner, too! Whoops!So that, my friends, leads us to blog part two, New years and European Travels. I will end this blog with a couple of lists:
A quick list of things that suck about London:
1. Bagels--Do I want butter AND cream cheese? What the hell? Who would ASK such a thing. (Yes, I have a food problem.)
2. My mom's lack of a passport. (SO she has too many fake names and the government thinks she is a terrorist. Come on. My mom. A terrorist? I guess this doesn't really suck about London, but it sucks that currently my parents can't visit.)
3. Eamonn. Well, he doesn't suck (good guy, blabla. bad situation. blabla.) but I thought I should mention for the sake of blog-honesty that our unofficial relationship had a very official break-up. Merry Christmas to me.
4. Grid-less-ness. I like cities that have a grid. Or really, the grid is completely unnecessary, but could the city at least have SOME semblance of organization! I canNOT get around without getting lost EVERY time I go to Central London. (In the words of Brandon Karrow: Can I LIVE?)
5. The fact that I may, MAY, have bed-bugs. I'll keep you posted on this. Outcome--Yet to be determined.
A top-five awesome things about London:
1. My hockey team
2. The fact that I just scored a job 4 days a week until June/July at the same school everyday. NINE MINUTES BIKE RIDE AWAY. Goodbye commute, hello enhanced quality of life! (I start on Tuesday so further news to come.)
3. It's cheaper than Ireland now that the pound is SO weak, and it's close enough that I can hop-over if I want to.
4. My room. It IS amazing.
5. Multi-cultural-ness.
Comment, dudes :)
Love, Sarah
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