Flee For Ipseity

Untitled as of yet edit Title: To You Who Waited At Home

2009-05-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

I came home after two years abroad

and expected you to be different--I was.

But you are steady and patient

like stone and mortar, built piece by piece

and dried in the sun,

and I am always all aflutter

like lacewings above petals or book pages

in the wind.

I hate time because it shapes me

like clay and so quickly I don't know

who I was two years ago.

It was a wrong I did to you,

but always I'll remember: you,

solid in the road, like a pillar of an old temple,

still standing after all the people have died

or gone away.

--Kimberly Wang 5/17/09

Old Family Pictures

2009-02-09T02:52:00.001-08:00

Oh, the nostalgia of viewing these photos.

A Blog Re-Vamped V. 2.0

2008-09-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Blog,

So now that I am back and settled from my EuroTrip, I don't have any more fascinating posts about my travels. Thus, I think it's time for my blog to get a bit of an update. Now, if only my camera didn't take forever to upload photos....

Stay tuned!

Kimi

Paris Day Two (Part Two of Two)

2008-08-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Late in Paris on the first night, despite our exhaustion, my friends decided that we had to go to spent the evening in Paris. So we dressed up and headed out. My camera died at the end of the first night so thank you to Xochitl for the pictures!

The girls all dressed up and ready to go. Cheers!

The Eiffel Tower by night! It was lit up blue to celebrate the European Union.

The group at the foot of the tower.

The infamous carousel.

On the carousel. It was amazing.

Carnival Food! I had a banana and chocolate (Nutella) crepe. Yum!

Versailles! Look how beautiful the grounds are!

The palace.

Fountains for days.

The group.

Fountain with the horses emerging from the water.

Symphony of water. The water spills over the ledges. It's really a sight to behold when the whole thing is going.

Fountain of Victory

Fountain of a god emerging from the earth. It's pretty sick actually. Very cool.

We then went to this charming little outdoor market and they had lots of CHEESE. Stinky cheese.

Xoch and I enjoying our baguettes and cheese. Yum.

Sorry this post is so short, I had to steal all the pictures because I had no camera. But that was Paris. Yay! My next post will most likely be from the comforts of my own apartment in Irvine. Tomorrow we go to London and then we go HOME!

Stay tuned.

Paris Day One (Part One of Two)

2008-08-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

I have returned from Paris and I am reconciling myself to the fact that this is my last week in Europe. I can hardly believe it but in four short days, I will be back home in sunny, sunny California. I miss home like crazy but I will miss it here too. It's been a wonderful trip but before I launch into my farewells, I'm going to talk about Paris.

Paris really is just as wonderful as it's cracked up to be. It did not disappoint in any way and it's so beautiful I KNOW I must return someday. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, the river Seine, Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, and all the sights.

Paris really is for lovers and I have made a vow to return there someday for my honeymoon at least.

A first glance of the river Seine and beautiful Paris.

The Latin Quarter.

The tiniest house in Paris! It's just that door and the window.

The tower! I will never, ever, ever get sick of looking at this tower. So, expect about a hundred pictures of this tower. It's lovely.

Another view.

Yet another view.

And another. It's like artwork, really. You get the point.

Whee! I can't believe I'm in Paris!!

The girls blowing kisses.

Viv and I. Love ya. :)

The metro station for the Eiffel Tower

The metro line

The streets of Paris are so charming. Everywhere you look is a scene out of Ratatouille. Haha.

Viv and I chowing down our first crepe. Cheesy but delicious.

Notre Dame!

There was this guy who would give you a madeleine for 50 cents and you could feed the sparrows. And there were lots of sparrows!

In the words of Simon, our tour guide, "A-MAY-SING!"

We're hunchbacks. What? You can't tell?

Condemning blank stares from the apostles.

Pretty church

The museum of modern art in Paris. It's built inside out. Ahh...how artistic.

A cool fountain outside the MoMA but it wasn't working. :(

We got flower shaped gelato. I got fragula (strawberry) and mango! I'd like some right now.

To the Louvre! Anyone seen "The Da Vinci Code"?

Winged victory.

Botticelli.

Very typical piece of church artwork. These are everywhere in all the museums.

Very cool.

The Coronation of Napoleon. It's HUGE!!

Psyche and Eros

The Venus de Milo

Da Vinci

John the Baptist

More Da Vinci

Yep. That's her. Mona Lisa. They made us all stand 20 feet away and they covered her with a glass box so this is the clearest shot I could get.

Hermaphrodite! But I do wonder how the artist managed to make that marble cushion look more comfortable than my dorm bed.

Cassatt

More Casssatt

Degas.

Monet.

Vermeer. It's tiny!

More Vermeer.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Louvre.

...and my lunch! It was delicious!

The Arc de Triomphe. Napoleon promised his soldiers they would return to Paris under this declaration of victory but it wasn't finished till 30 years after they got back!

But the detailing is magnificent. That's the European Union flag.

We took a river cruise down the river. Beautiful.

Paris part deaux is yet to come.

Stay tuned!

I Miss 'Tino

2008-08-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

I miss my room back home. I decorated it back in high school, so that explains the extreme girliness of it. I wanted a princess room. Attached is a bit of audio from my old xanga page. I hope you enjoy it.

Glimpses of Life in Brighton

2008-08-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Everything since coming overseas hasn't been big, huge, and monumental. There are a lot of quiet moments of doing not much. There are small pleasures too like dinner with the girls, a new hat, Glamour magazines from different countries. There's homework assignments and microwave meals.

I don't ever sleep before the sun rises, but the sun rises around 4 a.m. Something about jetlag never switching over. But the sunrise is gorgeous. It's much more breathtaking in real life.

These are really sweet, really small, perfect little strawberries I purchased at the Union Store on campus. Delicious! You gotta love summer and strawberry season.

I also enjoy chatting with the bf after he gets off work. It's nice to unwind after a long day. He couldn't understand why I was taking pictures of his webcam picture. He called me a weirdo.

Going to my favorite restaurant here in Brighton, Bill's, with my favorite girls and then playing musical cameras and acting like complete tourists by takings pictures of absolutely everything.

That would be a duck leg with a roasted peach. 100% yummy.

This would be my dessert: a orange cheesecake with a combination of berries on chocolate sauce. Mm mm good.

Mein Hut. :)

Glamour Italiano

Glamour UK

Glamour US of A

Till the next post. Stay tuned.

Netherlands: Amsterday Day 2 and Bruges (Part Two of Two)

2008-08-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Day two of Amsterdam, we did the wholesome thing. We went to a clog workshop (wooden shoes!) and a cheese making shop. The we packed up and went to Bruges, which is a Flemish-influenced town in Belgium...and you know what that means! Waffles and chocolates!

Quintessential Dutch portrait with the painted blue skies in the background, pastoral landscape, and idyllic little windmills. Awww...

Viv and I are ready for our close up!

Did you know clogs could be so ornate? Clogs are carved from poplar wood. They have to be soaked before they are carved for easier cutting.

Or so colorful?

A real life clog making demonstration. These old machines can make a clog in five minutes!

Xochitl and I are lovin' us some clogs.

We look like we have big wooden feet.

So many clogs, so few feet.

Zaanse schans, the little Dutch community for tourists to come see real windmills, clog making, and cheese making. It's a cute place.

Rows and rows of cheese! I'm in heaven.

They made this one type of cheese called Holland Cheese that was particularly delicious!!

They had ducks just meandering around the place.

...and chickens

...and a ram. Why not?

Upon entering Bruges, we found pedicured lawns and flowerbeds.

And militant swans that wanted to bite you pant leg!

This one looks pretty and docile.

A horse head fountain. Given that Bruges has cobblestone streets, there are very few cars and a lot of horse drawn carriages, though I suspect they are only for the tourists.

A canal. Bruges is the best preserved medieval town in Europe, completely untouched during the World Wars.

The customary castle

And requisite cathedral.

The standard square. But look at the houses! Aren't they sweet?

We decided to save time by hitting up two of Belgium two most famous items at the same time: mussels and waffles! Yum. Haha, pretty gross sounding but it was delicious...somehow. And no one got sick. (The mussels were stewed in white wine, my waffles were vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, Viv's was fresh fruits and whipped cream, Serena's was strawberries and cream, and Xoch's were strawberries with chocolate sauce.)

Complete and utter destruction.

Makers of the best tasting organic chocolate mousse I have ever tasted (or ever will taste, for that matter).

Also some of the finest Belgian chocolate ever. That's right, famous stuff.

The most delicious beer I will ever have. Coconut beer! Belgium has over 100 kinds of different flavored beer. They also have apple, strawberry, peach, chocolate, cherry, pineapple, etc. If you ever get to encounter this one though, seize the chance! You won't regret it!

Well, that's it for the Netherlands. This Friday...PARIS!!

Till then, stay tuned.

Netherlands: Amsterdam Day 1 (Part One of Two)

2008-08-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

On our recent trip to Amsterdam, we not only stopped in aforementioned city but also in the Belgian town of Bruges, so there will be a post about Bruges. Anyhow, the first day when we arrived in Amsterdam, we toured the city by foot and checked out some of the highlights like the Van Gogh Museum, the flower market, and the Anne Frank House. We then went back to our hotel and cleaned up a bit to go out again to the Red Light District and some of the coffee shops.

We also got lucky and happened to go to Amsterdam during the same weekend as Europe's largest Gay Pride Parade. Whoo-hoo! It was awesome.

A phallic looking war monument.

One of the Netherlands' royal palaces.

The canals are reminiscent of Venice. It's illegal to swim in the canals, by the way. But I can't imagine why anyone would want to. It's thick with mud and probably diseases.

One of the stalls at the flower market. So pretty! There were hundreds of different kinds of tulip bulbs there. Holland is famous for tulips after all.

Start your own cannabis garden!

Like I said, hundreds of different bulbs.

Hundreds of flowers as well. Pretty, isn't it?

A cool picture I took of the church by the Anne Frank House. The sky looks unreal, like a painting or something. I just wanted to show of my photographing prowess.

The front of the Anne Frank House where she hid during the famous two years while she wrote her diary. We got to see the factory and climbed up the super narrow stairs into the apartments where eight Jews hid in a few tiny rooms during the Holocaust.

They ride their bicycles everywhere in Amsterdam because it is the mode of transportation that is most convenient. This one is particularly cute with the little baby booster seat.

We stopped for a mouthwatering breakfast that consisted of a delicious omelette and apple pancakes that were thin and crepe-like. Yum!! (Xoch and Serena got the strawberry pancakes.)

Xoch and I showing our support!

The kickoff float for the parade. There was loud Eurotrance music banging the whole time and I've never seen so many gays and lesbians in one spot. It was awesome.

The girls boozin' it up along the streets.

Another colorful float.

The guys on the spectator boat in front of us got progressively more shirtless as the parade went on.

Another cool looking float.

People came out wearing pink to show their support or if they were gay. The streets were covered in pink! Viv and I posing with a spectator who went all out.

Amsterdam is such a colorful city. This was an adorable little restaurant that had the most beautiful cakes. We didn't get to eat here but we stopped and asked for directions.

I want a peacock cake!

I amsterdam is the tourist slogan of Amsterdam and it was everywhere, in songs, on t-shirts, and on billboards.

We found it!

This was the second of the five Sunflower paintings by Van Gogh that we got to see on this trip. We also saw some of his self-portraits and the famous painting of the Irises.

The Red Light District by night. (Thanks Xoch for the photo!) The mayor of Amsterdam is in the process of "cleansing" the city and has shut down 80 windows where the famous hookers dance and lure customers. There are plans to close 40 more so hurry your butts to Amsterdam before they get rid of everything!

Serena and I enjoying ourselves at a cafe called Free Adam. Just for you guys thinking of going to Amsterdam, they're also banning mushrooms soon because of some tourist jumping out of a window under the influence.

Stay tuned!

My Parents Are World Travelers

2008-08-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Recently my parents took a trip to Egypt/Jordan/Israel and my dad only just got around to emailing photos to my brother and me. So I thought I would put some of them here, because the pictures are pretty cute.

Here they are at the pyramids of Giza. They look pretty ecstatic to be there. My dad looks like he's going to work. Except for the blue jeans. I didn't know he owned blue jeans!

In the city of Petra. My dad thinks they look like they're on the set of an Indiana Jones movie. They do look pretty cool in their shades.

Standing beside a 2000-year-old olive tree that might've been touched by Jesus.

My dad riding a horse and looking pretty pro at it. He's very proud of this picture.

My mom and dad getting prepped to climb Mt. Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. My mom looks like she's ready to go mining and my dad decided to forgo the camel because there weren't enough to go around. It was very dark and he also didn't realize how huge the mountain was.

The middle east's interpretation of fish and chips? The caption my dad sent with this one is that my mom's fish has a coin in its mouth. This means that she's lucky.

I'm just glad that my parents got to experience this. They look so happy in their photos.

I'm uploading Amsterdam pictures as we speak so stay tuned!

Scotland: Glasgow (Part Three of Three)

2008-07-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

I suppose you are a diary now considering no one every comments here. Just so my few and straggling readers know, you guys can post commentsanonymously since I had enabled that feature. Don't just read and not leave a note, give the writer some encouragement! By writer, I mean me. This is such a desperate plea for a attention. Geez. Anyhow, moving on.

Scotland, day three. We went to Glasgow and had a brief city tour. But the night before, we also spent in Glasgow enjoying the nightlife (or lack thereof).

Remember I said that Scotland was a place for monuments? Well, this is St. George's Square and it has no less than 6 monuments in one plaza.

These statues make good toilets for Britain's abnormally large mutant seagulls.

Vivian finally finishing her meal! She need a little liquid help.

The Doulton Fountain, the world's largest terracotta fountain located in front of the People's Palace, a labor class-centric museum.

The opera house. Resembles the one in Sydney.

Part of the University of Glasgow.

Another view.

A pretty building. Part of the university, I believe?

The streets of Glasgow. Green as Scotland is, it's also very cultured and urban in parts.

This street-side fountain commemorates the man who legalized cremation, Sir Charles Cameron Bart.

Okay, guys. Finally. That's it for Scotland. I'm sure you're all ready for something new. Well, I have something new coming your way! This Friday, we're leaving for Amsterdam.

Anyhow, stay tuned!

Poems in Rome

2008-07-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Caesar's Forum

These bricks have watched the pavers lay tar,
construction on steel buildings, electricians
on lamposts screwing in the bulbs.
They are nicked and weather worn, and between them
they have housed countless birds who have made nest here
to escape the centuries of rainfall.
Men who live on their knees have found refuge here.

These bricks have seen empires change hands
through nepotism or warfare, generations have come
to bed, to wed, to die. Laws were written within these walls
and once history's legends walked the hallways here.
The hands that had mixed the water
and red earth, molded the clay and fired the kiln
have all fallen to dust and lost to time.

Now what remains of this forum stands
and these bricks lay watching
the courtyard of tourists twist sweet frozen
popsicles in their mouths and roll stiff Italian rhotics
off their tongues.

Scotland: the Highlands (Part Two of Three)

2008-07-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

I'm back with the second installment of my trip to Scotland last weekend. But before I launch into my spiel, let me introduce you guys to this new artist I discovered. Her name is Adele and she is 19 year old singer/songwriter from London. She has an edgy, neo-jazz acoustic kind of sound and which I dig right now. If you like Feist, Gabriella Cilmi, and Ingrid Michelson, you should check her out.

Okay, back to Scotland.

On our second day in Scotland, we went on a tour of the Scottish Highlands (think Braveheart) and visited no less than 8 bodies of water. This was the first and it was called Loch Lomond.

Here my friends and I are enjoying the fresh air. It was beautiful there.

Some of the scenery while driving through the Highlands.

We also saw 5 castles. This was the first and it was called Inveraray Castle and was the home of the Duke of Argyll.

This one was called Kilchurn Castle. It was in a state of ruin.

This one was clearly inaccessible by coach but it's called Stalker Castle and Stalker back in the day used to mean Hunter.

This is called a drystane dike which literally translated means a dry stone wall and is built without mortar. Rather, it's just really meticulously placed rocks. Scotland is littered with these drystane dikes.

A picture really fails to capture the majesty of Glencoe. The sweeping hillside is just so vast and green, you have to witness it in person. But there's an eerie feeling to this glen and people say that the skies never clear up over this glen because of the Massacre of Glencoe that happened so long ago here.

Let me give a brief synopsis of the story:

Long ago, Scotland used to be divided up into clans. These clans were nearly autonomous but they collectively were "under the rule" of the Scottish government. They would often butt heads with the king as well as each other. The king, William of Orange, agreed to absolve the clans of their crimes against the government so long as they agreed to take an oath of allegiance to the government. He set the deadline for this oath to be taken for January 1, 1692. Despite their differences, the clansmen knew that they couldn't defy the king so one by one, the head of the different clans headed to Inverary to take the oath.

The head of the Macdonald clan who lived in Glencoe was a stubborn old man. He decided that it was would be in his family's best interest to take the oath but decided that he would wait till the very last minute to do so. So on the 31st, old Macdonald went to Interlochy to take the oath. Unfortunately, the only place where the oath could be taken was Inverary. Macdonald had misunderstood and he knew that in the dead of winter, and old man traveling on a horse would not arrive in time for the January 1st deadline. He set out anyway towards Inverary. He arrived two days late.

The sheriff responsible for the oath taking decided to make an example of the Macdonald clan. He ordered government troops to head to Glencoe, the secluded glen which could only be reached by a narrow passage through the mountains, where the Macdonalds lived. Unfortunately, 12 of the troops consisted of men from the Campbell clan, who were ironically, the Macdonald's sworn enemies. The troops made their way to the homes of the Macdonalds.

Now, in the Highlands, there is something known as Highlands Hospitality which is a code of conduct that everyone followed devoutly during that time. What it entailed was that if anyone knocked on your door and requested shelter, you had to take them in. There was no option, even if the person seeking refuge was your sworn enemy. So the government troops which consisted mostly Campbells took advantage of the Macdonalds' hospitality.

For several days and nights, they dined on the Macdonalds' food, slept in their beds, wore their shoes and clothing. Then, in the dead of one night, the soldiers rose from their beds and slaughtered the Macdonalds with whom they lived. Some were murdered in their beds, others fled into the hills. Women and children were not spared.

Though this was a government issued massacre, people came to think of it as a clan-to-clan slaughter. The government was more than happy to perpetuate this myth. To this day, the Macdonalds and the Campbells hate one another and the clouds over Glencoe never clear up.

We stopped for lunch at Tyndrum. This was lunch: lamb shank in rosemary and red wine gravy with mashed potatos and mashed turnips. Yum!

This castle was called Doune Castle. There was a wedding going on at the time we were there so we couldn't get inside. However, we did find out the it costs 6,600 pounds to book a castle for your wedding. It's not terrible. Maybe I'll get married at a castle in Scotland.

Look! A real bagpiper. Halfway during picture time, he started playing his bagpipe which was much louder than I had anticipated. He was hired for the wedding so thank you to the happy couple for this Kodak moment!

A view from on top of the hill. It's gorgeous and easy to see why this would be a prime place to put your castle.

The William Wallace monument. If you've seen "Braveheart," you would know who he is. If you haven't, he is one of Scotland's most celebrated heroes. Read his story, it's a good one.

This is a Highland bull. They're so pretty. His name is Hamish and he's really friendly. He'll eat fruits and veggies straight from your hand. He's famous too. He has a little tour stop just for him. Xochitl kept calling him Haggis on accident. Haggis is a type of Scottish sausage that consists of all the mashed up bits of animal no one wants to eat and mixed with oatmeal. Yuck.

Me with Haggis--I mean, Hamish. :)

So I was going to condense day two and three into one post but it proves to be too daunting a task so I will be splitting Scotland into three posts. Yay! Glasgow will be up tomorrow.

Okay, stay tuned.

Scotland: Edinburgh (Part One of Three)

2008-07-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I got back from Scotland not too long ago, and I must say, it was everything that I thought it would be and...more (not to sound cliche because I mean that quite literally). It had the trees, gorgeous scenery that would put our National Parks to shame, and yet it also had all the rich history of a European country and buildings that have stood for hundreds of years. After a ten hour overnight bus ride from Brighton, we arrived at Edinburgh at 8 am.

Just getting out of the coach, still bleary-eyed from sleeping.

First order of business...a hike. A really cool picture I took on said hike, if I do say so myself.

A monument to Admiral Lord Nelson who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar. This monument is in the shape of a telescope. This monument also serves as a time keeper for the former port of Edinburgh. See the tiny needle at the top? There is a ball that ascends the needle everyday and drops at 1:00 pm every day. Since this monument is located on top of a hill, it can be seen for miles around. Sometimes, there is a layer of haar (which means mist) that keeps the monument from being visible, so every day at 1:00, when the ball drops it is always accompanied by a gunshot.

Me standing over the skyline of Edinburgh (pronounced Eden-bor-ough).

Back in the day, before a battle, men who were fighting in the battle would each bring one large stone to a designated place. After the fight, the survivors would return to the site and remove their stone from the pile. Whatever stones were left were mortared and turned into a monument like this one for the men who had fallen in battle. This particular monument was rather modern and was actually built to commemorate the bringing back of Parliament to Scotland.

Scotland certainly is a place for monuments. Here's one commemorating the poet and author Sir Walter Scott who had written the classic bestseller Rob Roy, which was a historical fiction on one of Scotland's own Robin Hood figures.

In the background on the hill, you can see Edingburgh Castle. They say that Edinburgh Castle served as the inspiration for J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts and she spent much time writing her books in Edinburgh because of the inspiration.

And lo and behold, we found the place where Rowling did much of her writing. It used to be a cafe but had since been converted into a Chinese restaurant. Mm...Chinese food sounds so good right now.

Just a gorgeous rose growing in the park of Edinburgh.

Tomorrow, I'll update on the second part of the trip to the Highlands. Stay tuned.

Italy: Rome (Part Three of Three)

2008-07-24T08:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

As promised, I'm back to complete the third installment of my Italy trip. Roma was a much bigger city than Florence or Venice, so we didn't get to see all of it as we would have liked. It was also a 4 hours train ride coming from Venezia so we had to get up at 5 am to make it there on time. The discipline we showed on this trip to Italia was really something to be envied. Who would've thought that five college kids would be able to order themselves up out of bed every day before the sun even rose to dutifully tour the ancient cities? Somehow, we did it and we didn't even party at night because we'd be so exhausted from the walking. Those of us who didn't already have flat feet had their arches give out from all the touring.

Anyhow, on the day we went to Rome, it felt like it was 118 degrees, it was boiling hot. One of our first stops was to pay homage to the Fountain of Trevi. I went to the Fountain of Trevi eight years ago, threw a penny over my shoulder, and made a wish. According to legend, doing this ensures that you will return to Rome someday. And the legend came true because I CAME BACK!

But to ensure one more trip, my friends and I threw in some more pennies.

A pretty courtyard in Rome.

The outside of the Pantheon. It's still a modern marvel. The largest dome structure built from bricks. More interestingly, there is a gigantic hole in the ceiling which is called the oculus and emits the only light into the building. It also helps tell the time and seasons. Pretty cool, huh?

The interior of the Domed structure.

The backside of the Pantheon. Somehow, still pretty.

This is the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele I and considered by Romans to be called the ugliest building in Rome. It's called the "typewriter" by the locals and is really pretty ridiculous-looking. It has writing sculptured bodies every where you looked.

Rome is a city of ruins. There are pretty much every where you look. I thought walking past a medieval castle on your way to work was odd. Imagine walking past Augustus' Imperial Forums on the way to work?

More ruins.

A first glance at the Coliseum. Oooh...

A better view of one of Rome's most famous monuments.

While the Coliseum is something impressive, it's one of those things you really only need to see once so while my friends went to go check out the inside, I sat at the pretty Visitors' Center to cool off.

I ate a popsicle, wrote some postcards, did some reading. All in all, it was really relaxing.

Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed my Roma post. Going to Scotland tonight. Stay tuned!

Italy: Florence (Part Two of Three)

2008-07-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hola Peoples,

I promised that I was going to upload more photos so here I am at 2:30 am. We went to Florence on the second day via train and walked around. Some of the highlights were the Duomo and the Florence Cathedral. We also saw Ghiberti's paneled doors and Michelangelo's David.

This is a breathtaking pictures of the Florence Cathedral. It's made out of three different colored marble: green, white, and rose colored. The cathedral took over a hundred years to build and thus they had to begin restoration on it before they were even finished with the project.

Another view of the church. It's really gorgeous in person. Thanks to Xoch for the photos!!

Ghiberti's famous paneled doors. Ghiberti won a contest to be able to display his panels on these doors. The doors are 3-D and they say that it looks as if the scene pops out at you from any angle you're standing from.

A view of the Duomo from one of the towers. We climbed 414 steps!! Gangsta.

A view of Firenze from up top. Beautiful.

A Florence street.

One of the people who pretend to be statues. He was so good at what he did, Vivian really thought he was a statue. This was outside of the Uffizi Museo (museum).

Another one. This guy is cupid, as you can probably see. He was cute.

This guy was a little creepy looking.

I saved the best for last. This is Michelangelo's masterpiece "David." Thank you Vivian for the picture! We really weren't supposed to take pictures but she snuck one and boy am I glad she did. David was simply awe-inspiring, dumbfounding. Gorgeous. He was carved from one solid piece of marble and that might sound like whatever but, let me just tell you that the man is twenty feet tall. He's supposed to be the most anatomically correct man in the world and I'm not disagree. He's a beautiful, beautiful sculpture. It's love.

That's it for Florence. I'm going to Scotland tomorrow but I will update tomorrow before I leave. Stay tuned for Rome!

Italy: Venice (Part One of Three)

2008-07-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Boys and Girls,

This last weekend, my friends and I went to Italy and stayed in Venice. It was the very first of our out-of-the-country trips and the only one we organized on our own. It was also a great (expensive) success. Who would've thought that we'd be able to tour three cities in one weekend? Not I, but somehow, we did it!

I had many, many, many more pictures but I did something very stupid and accidentally deleted almost all of my pictures. Not all, because while it was purging my memory card and not letting me cancel the delete, I pulled the battery out of the camera and saved some photos. Sadly, most of my Venice pictures have been eradicated. Most tragic of all is the video I have of myself kicking a pigeon in St. Mark's Square. However, what I have salvaged, I shall upload here.

In Venice, the have this big festival every year called the Carnivale which is this big Masquerade with a ball. Thus, Venice is famous for their exquisite masks. Some of them were really so beautiful that I beautiful ones were so expensive! I spent much of my time in Venice searching for a mask to bring home with me. Sadly, I never found the perfect one for the perfect price, so I left Venice empty handed. Someday, when I return to Italy again (hopefully with more money in my pockets) I will bring home the perfect mask.

They also have really ornamental costumes. The guys dress in outfits like this while the gowns women wear are like something out of a dream (think big hoop skirt, intricate beading, and lace everywhere).

What is a trip to Italy if you don't have gelato? We had it almost every day. This charming little place is really a hidden gem though. Four scoops of gelato for three euros! I think I got Nutella, Pesca (peach), Pistachio, and Raspberry Yogurt with Jam. It was pretty amazing.

Venice is a great place for souvenirs because the tiny walkways are crammed with stores. We went to this one little place that did great embroidery. I got an apron for my mama. Here's my friend Vivian modeling the apron for me. My cousin also let the cat out of the bag and gave my mom my blog's URL so Hi Mom!

This is just an average little alleyway in Venice. There are no cars in Venice. Just boats. Pretty, isn't it?

Ok, I'll upload more photos to the Venetian entry when I steal photos from my friends.

Stay tuned for Florence!

(Update)

Thank you Xoch for the pictures!

The Rialto Bridge.

A pretty picture of Venezia. You can see the corner of a gondola. We rode one but once again, I lost the pictures.

A view from the Bridge of Sighs, which leads from the Doge's palace into the dungeon! This is the last bit of freedom a prisoner got to see.

The port of Venice. Pretty, isn't it? Sadly, there's no beach.

Avenue Q

2008-07-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Monday night was a very special night. We bused out to London to watch one of my new favorite musicals, Avenue Q! I have been wanting to watch Avenue Q desperately and when I saw that my school was planning a field trip to it, I almost died of happiness. And of course, it was awesome. "What do you do with a B.A. in English?" Hm...good question...

We also had the best seats in the house. Front row center of the second floor mezzanine section. It was fantastic! Here's the view of the stage from where we were sitting. Giant Q.

Viv and I outside of the theater in London. Excited? Oh, yes!

Look at the rave reviews!!

The theater by night. Isn't it lovely?

We're headed to Venice, Italy tomorrow! That's gonna be so fun. Stay tuned.

Writing Exerise: Emotional Themes

2008-07-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

This was a multi-stepped writing exercise that our teacher assigned to us. It started off with us writing a string of emotional words that we linked with our memories between the ages of childhood to early adolescence. After making the list, we were told to take one word and write out the memory related to that word. I chose the word 'anxious' and this was my scene:

I remember the way the light fell on their faces. The stillness in their movements and the quiet, hushed tones they used for speaking. I was maybe six years old at the time as I stood in the hallway of my house in Texas--the only hallway in that tiny house--as I watched the two men deliberate over something that would alter me and our existences. My mom would come by occasionally and shoo me from my spot--later on, she would be the one who would feel terribly remorseful about uprooting my brother and me from our blissful lives in Richardson, Texas. "Daddy is having a very important conversation. Don't stand here and bother him," she would say as she walked past me and ducked back in to the kitchen to wash the dishes from dinner. The dining room tabletop was a large sheet of glass. We sold that table when we moved to Taiwan, but at six years old, I remember having a better view o the two men talking from how they appeared from below the table, looking up. The occasional shifting of papers and hand gesture. The way my father settled back in his seat at the end of it. The deal was done.

After this initial scene, we were partnered up and our partner had to read through it and pick out what they detected as the emotional themes of our memory. My partner picked out: confusion, curiosity, fear, and tension. With these words, we were told to write another scene that was completely fictional but contained these emotional themes. This is what I wrote:

Ariadne peered through the curtain of the train as it chugged its way through the night. Rain was pelting the window as though it wanted her to remove her hand from the drape and settle back in her seat. Beside her, her step-cousin was sleeping soundly. Faint snores reverberated from her chest and her mouth lay open to reveal a row of terribly uneven teeth. It had been yesterday that her step0cousin--her uncle's step-daughter--had appeared on her grandmother's doorstep to collect Ariadne and her fortune. After her parents' death, her uncle had become her guardian and the legal proprietor of her estate. She had only met her uncle a handful of times and was apprehensive to go live with him. Her mother had never been too fond of him, but her father had been loyally devoted to his younger brother.

Ingrid--that was the step-cousin's name--had shown up at her grandmother's house with her nose turned up in disdain. She had the air of a bitter old spinster brewing about her and looked as though she wasn't far from fulfilling her destiny. When she had told Grandmother that she was only twenty, Ariadne hadn't believed her.

Canterbury Cathedral and Leeds Castle

2008-07-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

We went to Canterbury Cathedral today and Leeds Castle and took enough photos to fill a whole album. But here are some of the highlights:
The exterior of the cathedral. Beautiful, huh? You guys may know of Canterbury as the setting of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the very first book every published in England way back in the 14th Century.

The view right when you enter. Aren't the vaulted ceilings gorgeous?

Some of the carvings on the wall. It's really so intricate. My friend and I were saying that buildings are just not made like this anymore--with such care and detail. These ancient buildings will outlast all the ones we will ever build.

A candle burns in the place where St. Thomas Beckett's shrine one stood--destroyed by Henry VIII. St. Thomas was once an Archbishop of Canterbury and a dear friend of Henry II. Henry II had placed Beckett in the church in hopes of gaining greater power but not anticipating that his good friend would become a beacon of morality that would openly oppose the king. Despite their many disputes and Beckett fleeing for his life more than once, he and the king always managed to settle their differences until one time, during a flare up, the king uttered the words "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Three of the king's knights decided to do just that, so they traveled to Canterbury and slaughtered the priest inside his own church. Henry II, filled with remorse, publicly humbled himself before his friend's tomb. Three years after his death, Beckett was canonized as a saint.

One of the views of the interior of the church. There is a choir singing in Latin in here, and it was surreal the way their voices reverberated through the church.

Some of the breathtaking stained glass artwork within the church. There are hundreds and hundreds of these panels. All lined up, it's amazing.

A first peek at Leeds Castle from across the lake. Leeds Castle is said to be the loveliest castle in England.

Some of the castle ruins. Don't worry, most of the castle is still intact!

I wish my house came with its own moat.

One of Leeds Castle's most famous residents was Queen Catherine of Aragon--yup, the rejected first wife of Henry VIII. This is a recreation of what her bathroom would have looked like.

One of the rooms inside the castle. The big bay windows were installed by Henry VIII.

The very last resident of Leeds Castle was Lady Baillie, an American aristocrat who married British nobility. She dedicated her life to the preservation and beautification of this castle. This was her bedroom. During her lifetime, Leeds Castle was the playground for the rich and famous. Lady Baillie played hostess to the likes of Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, etc.

One of the sitting rooms.

The game room which is decorated with oriental art.

One of the dining rooms.

Likely to be my favorite room in the house: the library! This library houses over 3000 titles. Doesn't it have a very "Beauty and the Beast" kind of feel to it?

After walking through the castle, my friends and I sat down for some scones and tea. After all, it just wouldn't be proper to visit an English castle and not stay for tea. By the way, this tradition needs to be integrated into the American way of life immediately.

After our afternoon tea, we walked along the carefully groomed gardens surrounding the castle. It was such a beautiful day. I can see this becoming a habit.

Flower pictures added for the benefit of my friend Xochitl. It was also fun testing out the flower setting on my camera. Pretty anyhow, isn't it?

Lady Baillie loved her birds so there are literally peacocks just lounging around the grounds. They're barely afraid of people.

Such a pretty day, we felt like jumping.

Whew, that was such a long post! I hope you enjoy it, since it took me two hours. Stay tuned.

Writing Excercise: Character, Conflict, Goal

2008-07-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

My writing teacher assigned a writing assignment during our last workshop that involved three envelopes per person. These three envelopes were chosen at random from three piles. Within the first envelope contained a photocopy of a portrait--this is our character. Within the second envelope was a photocopy of anything--this was our conflict. Within the third envelope was a photocopy of anything as well--this was our character's goal. Using the three elements, we had to quickly develop a plot and write a segment of the story starting from the middle of the story.

My character:

My conflict:

My goal:

Premise of story: Edna, 74, is having a conversation with her granddaughter Una, 25, who is engaged to be married. The man in the dated photograph is Edna's husband and Una's grandfather, Calvin, d. 65

Your mother wasn't supposed to be an only child, Una. You know that? No, you don't. Look at you, swirling the spoon in your coffee cup, feigning interest. Of course, the story was only repeated a handful of times and your mother--when it happened--was only four. Much too young to know she had lost a younger brother in his eighth month. Stillborn? Yes, yes, he was. Premature birth wasn't why. Back then, there was no made-up medical names for why your child just stopped breathing. No. My son didn't live because of your grandfather.

Are you shocked, my child? You should know this, before you go and marry Thomas. Theodore or whatever. Theodore. We didn't know what it was back then, we didn't have your doctors, fancy therapists, white pills, or blue pills. All I know was your grandfather's mood could span the entire spectrum of emotions faster than your brother's new car at a green light. Your Theodore has this problem too, I've heard. Your mother has told me. What's the word? Bipolar disorder? Ha. Fancy name for something so ugly. Now, I know your grandfather didn't have the same medical attention as your Theodore--why are you scowling, Una? You told your mother not to say anything, but how could she not? She's my only daughter. I know you think I have no business in this. It's not called judging him. I don't think you understand me, Una. Don't get so worked up. I just want you to know.

My husband threw me down a flight of stairs when I was eight months pregnant with our son. Yes, do you see now? He wasn't himself then. He was sick. But, Una, my granddaughter, you are the first of your brothers and sisters to be engaged to be married. But the man you have chosen. He's a broken man and we women, we're always hurting to piece them back together. I know it's too late, Una. I don't want to stop the wedding like you think. What do I want to do then? Oh, Una, I just want to let you know how difficult it's going to be. I wish someone had told me when I was so young. Someone who knew.

Maybe your grandmother isn't so senile after all, huh? Love him greatly, my child, but with good caution.

Breakfast at Bill's

2008-07-11T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Despite and late and crazy night at the club Oceana, the girls managed to drag ourselves up at 10 am for an amazing breakfast at this little place called Bill's in town. The front of the restaurant looks like a little organic foods market. Really cute with a font display of gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Once you walk past the front, you find yourself in a really charming little restaurant that has a very open, country cottage feel. And the food there is simply amazing.

All of us ordered their pancake breakfast complete with two scoops of homemade Vanilla Bean ice cream and covered with a myriad of fresh fruits, including blueberries, cherries, pineapples, honeydew melons, figs, pears, apple slices, grapes, raspberries, oranges, and all other kinds of deliciousness. Xoch and I also split a Bill's Breakfast and it was the first time we had American style bacon since coming here. Most of their bacon looks like this:

And I also had a blackcurrant/apple/banana juice that was freshly squeezed. Man, oh, man. What a great breakfast. Go to Bill's website to read all about it. It's a great place that definitely deserves a visit if you guys are ever in town. The greatest part of all is that they're open till 10 pm which is really late for England. In fact, I've been to Bill's for dinner before too. I had the lamb steak confit and it was amazing. Their dessert spread is also extremely mouth-watering.

Serena and I enjoying ourselves. We don't care if it's early. We're happy!

The girls went to Oceana last night and we had lots of fun.

Stay tuned, guys.

Serena's 21st Birthday!

2008-07-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

To my dearest Roomie:

Happy 21st birthday, honey. I'm so glad I got the chance to celebrate it with you here in England. I'm so grateful for the friendship that we've had and despite the ups and downs, I love you! I hope you remember every moment of this trip, so I'll help out a little by posting up some pictures. Suite 203 till I die.

Love,
Your Roommate

Serena's "Stonehenge" cake. We didn't have candles so we improvised.

Birthday girl! Finally coming of drinking age in a country where drinking age is 18. Fantastic!

With the birthday cake crew. Happy birthday, honey, we love you!

There WILL be pictures added to this post of our crazy night out. So definitely, stay tuned.

(edit)

Girls.

Right after an embarrassingly off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday' at the King and Queen Pub Karaoke Night.

So legal.

Stonehenge and Bath

2008-07-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hola,

So, I imagine that this post is going to be slightly more difficult because going to Stonehenge and Bath was so amazing, I took about two hundred photos. As a result, it's going to be a pain to figure out which ones I want to actually upload here.

My first view of the Stonehenge. It was breathtaking.

Here, I look like I'm advertising coffee with the ancient monument as my backdrop. In case you're wondering, I'm not on the phone. It's the audio tour handset that I'm holding to my ear.

Another view of the stones:

An even closer look. Apparently there's over 90 types of lichen growing on these rocks. Kind of interesting I suppose.

Equally magnificent to the monument is the surrounding view. Beautiful. I was wondering how England can spare so much open space when they're on an island. But it's at times like these that I wish I were truly a photographer.

Bath Abbey in the city of Bath. The city was established during the 1st century when the Romans ruled Britain. In Bath, they created the Roman Baths which were reminiscent of their bathhouses in Italy.

Another view of the gorgeous church. In case you're wondering, those people were dancers doing ballroom or tango or something in the middle of the square.

With the dancing Morris Men of Bath. They were sweet.

The streets if the city of Bath. Everything is made out of this honey colored stone called Bath Stone. The city is extremely picturesque and looks like something out of a storybook. It's a little bizarre to see a McDonalds made out of Bath Stone.

An absolutely beautiful city.

There was this park that we didn't want to pay to enter, but we sat on the wall and took pictures into it. It looked so idyllic, like a little piece of heaven. Very pretty.

Viv and I enjoying ourselves with a fountain in Bath that spewed dirty water. Yay!

Viv and I at our first sit down meal in England. (Yes, we've been cooking dinner for ourselves every single night. Impressed, yet?)

First view upon entering the building that houses the Roman Baths. Not the original structure, but beautiful nonetheless.

A nice view of the Roman Baths (below) and Bath Abbey (above). The bath below is the real thing!

The bath was built in dedication to the Roman goddess Minerva (or Greek goddess Athena) and Celtic goddess Sulis, so the bathhouse was called Sulis Minerva. This is the head of a statue of Minerva that was found in the gutters of the bathhouse.

With Viv on the ground floor of the bathhouse.

The girls. (r to l: Hazel, Viv, Me) I didn't know that the Baths were a romantic place. Look at the couple in the bottom left corner. Awww...

An "artistic" view of the Baths. (Well, I tried.) The water is still hot today. In fact, the thermal heat from these springs heats the entire building!

Here I am with an ancient Roman lady. She was a bit snooty to us. I don't know if it's because she hates her job or because she was just playing a character.

The circular pool. This one is cold water, I think. It's also glistening because of all the coins people have thrown in. It's dark because it is housed indoors.

A street performer out in the square of Bath Abbey. He didn't have a very receptive crowd, sadly, but we did try cheering for him as loud as we could.

Sheep literally dot the countryside of Britain. So at the Stonehenge gift shop, I got this little lamb. It's name is Truffles.

Stay tuned.

Independence Day!

2008-07-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

Sorry for the the brief hiatus. Nothing really has been going on but then an explosion of events has occurred and I actually have to split my 4th of July weekend into two separate posts. Even though this first post entails only details on our night out and the 4th of July BBQ our kindly British staffers threw for us (ironic, huh?) and also some British snack food novelties and the next one is the REALLY cool one with pictures from the Stonehenge and the city of Bath, I'm going to move in chronological order and ask my readers to please bear with me.

So Thursday night was the conclusion of our school week, and after four days of hardcore peers on the parts of my peers (and two really intense ones on mine), we decided to celebrate the weekend. Thus, the girls got all dolled up to go out clubbin' and pubbin' it up.

This is a good one. How many girls from the International Summer School at Sussex does it take to open one bottle of wine?

Four, apparently.

Success! And the night can officially begin.

The next day, after being totally cracked out from the night before, our staffers threw us a BBQ! Free food, yes! We would never turn that down, so lo and behold, we were among the first 200 people to show up for our burgers and hot dogs. While in line though, we did wonder how they found the American flags that are strung up over here. We concluded they must've ordered it online. But that little bit of effort did not go unnoticed. It was actually really sweet. They were celebrating with us our independence from their country. Cool. Albeit, there were no fireworks, they did have bubbles! And the burger that I had was so delicious. Mm...

The girls:

So....here's a little bit of British trivia for you. They don't have Lays chips over here. Instead they have this brand that uses the same Lays logo (likely the same company. I don't know, haven't done the research) called Walkers.

And some of their most popular flavors for potato chips are....(wait for it)....MEAT FLAVORED!

Here are the flavors:

Roast Chicken

Steak and Onion

And Smoky Bacon

And the most bizarre thing is that they taste EXACTLY like what they claim to be. It's mind-blowing.

Here's a little teaser for what's coming. This is a music box toy from the city of Bath. It's for my niece Odie. She's a little young to appreciate it right now, I think her mommy is going to enjoy it more right now, but I believe it's something she can grow up with and she can know when she's a little older that her aunt went to England and got this present just for her. She's going to be 11 months in three days and I can hardly believe how big she's getting. Yesterday, she was just a bump! But I'm starting to understand what they mean when they say, "Kids grow up right before you eyes" and it's the first time when 'kids' does not include myself.

Odie and her mom.

With her daddy.

Babygirl's got an attitude, just like her auntie :)

Stay tuned!

Writing Exercise: Fairytales and Perspective

2008-07-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

This was a Gregory Maguire-esque writing exercise my creative writing teacher assigned to us during class. If you want to stretch your creative muscle, why don't you give it a shot? She titled it "Whose Story?"

Choose a fairytale, or a famous historical or political story/event.
Who is the main character? From whose point of view is the story normally told?
Think of a character who is involved in the story but whose point of view is not normally well represented in the story.
Then write a monologue from your character's point of view, giving their version of events.

This was originally a group exercise, and we actually picked 4 minor characters and each told the story from one of the minor characters assigned to us. My group picked Little Red Riding Hood and I picked the character of the Wolf. Here's the bit that I did in class:

I don't enjoy aged flesh. It has little muscle, almost no fat, and is loose and string in a dilapidated kind of way. But I haven't had much to work with recently with the amount of humans moving into this neck of the woods. I had lived in peace with the old lady for seven years. I would see her come out of the house to water her plants, finger her new blossoms, and make conversation with the vegetables. A chord of hunger had never been struck in my stomach before. But the rabbits and the deer have been getting more and more difficult to find. Everyday, a new cabin is erected where the fawns had once enjoyed grazing. Everyday, another woodcutter would fall a tree that had housed a rabbit's burrow in its roots. From my den, I could see my forest changing and my hunger grew.

When hunting as a pack, wolves target the weakest and the slowest. By humans with their ethics, this is considered cowardly. By wolf standards, this is considered smart. When you're reduced to hiding behind bushes, crouched on your haunches, and salivating from the mere movement of your prey, one has no time for ethics. That is how I thought of the old lady. A week without food and I realized that while she's bopping around her flower beds, she has no place to run. Despite the hollowness of my stomach, her feebleness would easily succumb to the tight-wounded muscles of my gnashing jaw.

I circled her house for two hours. I lay behind boulders while watching her house. After I had targeted my prey, I felt my senses sharpen and focus. I could hear her scuffling behind the door, picking up her pot and filling it with water. My ears tingled and I raised my hackles. When she finally emerged from her house, the anticipation became unbearable. Before I could stop myself, a low growl escaped my throat. The old lady looked up, alarmed. She clutched the front of her shawl shut and scanned the premises frantically. Good. I liked fear. It made flesh more tender if it had spent its last few seconds alive quivering. With that cue, I sprung.

Books I'm Reading

2008-06-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have written a lot about my trip in Britain thus far, and while I like my journal to be a travel journal at times, I don't want to confine it to being only such. Thus, I'm going to do a little bit of introducing to some books that are in queue on my reading list. Perhaps you can find something that intrigues you enough to make some additions to your own library:

This was a lucky find. I was perusing through the shelves at Waterstone's in Churchill Square and I came across this book. I have no idea whether being a Richard&Judy Bestseller is something of merit, but I picked it up because the book piqued my interest. I'm on about pg. 205 right now and it's been a smooth, interesting read. Davies turns a phrase well and keeps his reader interested with colorful characters and few cliches.

This is what is on the back cover:
It seems like a long time ago that Fitz and Gabby were together, with his work on extinct species about to make him world-famous. Now, it's his career that is almost extinct.
Suddenly, though, the beautiful Gabby is back in his life. She wants his help in tracing the history of The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, a creature once owned by the great 19th Century naturalist Joseph Banks.
It soon becomes clear that Fitz is getting involved in something more complicated-and, danger-than the search for a stuffed bird. And to solve the puzzle, he must uncover the identity of the extraordinary woman Banks loved-a woman who has disappeared from history as effectively as the specimen he is hunting.

The book alternates between the story from Fitz's perspective anachronistic snippets of Bank's story. I can't wait for the ending.

I have a thing for Chinese-English literature (could be my heritage, hey!) but I can be somewhat of a priss about it. I dislike Asian-English literature written by people who aren't actually Asian themselves (with the exception of Memoirs of a Geisha--I love that book. Good job, Arthur Golden.) At the same time, I'm a walking contradiction because I hate Asian authors who only write about Asian people (with the exception of Amy Tan--her stories are more about the generation gap between first generation daughters and their immigrant mothers). This is why I'm a big fan of Kazuo Ishiguro.

When I saw this book by Shan Sa, I was immediately happy to see that the author was authentically Chinese. When I began reading it, I immediately recognized that as an author of Chinese-English literature, she knew what she was talking about. The extensive knowledge Sa knows of Chinese traditions can only belong to that of a scholar. It was refreshing and at the same time, heartening. Her story about the girl who rose to be Empress of China is something I still haven't been able to put down.

Other books on the list:

No idea how this book will be. This is the synopsis:

When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the eccentric Victorian scientist, Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed. With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself swept into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death, and time travel.

Now, I had this book recommended to me by my dear friend Vivian. I've been wanting to read this anyhow, with a movie coming out on it. I'm a big sucker for reading a book before the film. I still haven't figured out what the better method is: book before film or movie before book.

I've been meaning to read this book for a long time. After all, Alice Sebold is a product of UCI's own MFA fiction program. I also loved The Lovely Bones and I have head nothing but glowing reviews of this book.

Comedy Night and Graffiti Art!

2008-06-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

I just got back from a really fun night out in Brighton. We went to this little comedy club called Komedia and saw three fantastic acts by three different stand ups. I'd never been to a comedy show before, and it was pretty hilarious, even though everything was done in thick British accents and they would reference things out of my realm of knowledge. They also did the standard poking fun at the Americans in the crowd when they found out there were students from the USA there. Here's a shot of my friend Xochitl and I enjoying ourselves. I had a plate of calamari with sweet mayonnaise and chips (fries) while I was there. It was surprisingly delicious!

We weren't allowed to take pictures during their sets, so I took a shot of the venue during the breaks between each person.

Here's a shot of the girls--we got to sit at the very front of the second row of the bus!--on the way to Komedia:

You know how I've been talking about the amazing graffiti art here? Well, guess what I have in this bag???

You guessed it! My own original piece signed by the artist himself (and owner of the gallery I might add.) In case you're wondering--which you probably are--'R' stands for "rare."

Stay tuned, folks.

London Town!

2008-06-29T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Sorry for not posting last night. My friends and I were super duper exhausted after our tour of London. But London was amazing and I can't wait to go back!

Our day started out early with a train ride from Brighton to Victoria station. It was rocky with people running late, losing their trip tickets, not getting enough sleep, paying twice for train rides, etc. All in all, it was a bumpy start but it soon got better

We went to all the major sights, such as Buckingham palace, London bridge, Tower bridge, the Queens guards (with funny hats. You know the ones.)

Here are the girls in front of the Queen's "office." She wasn't there, but lots of other people were!

We even went to the National Gallery in London, which had free admission and saw Da Vinci's Virgin on the Rocks and Van Gogh's Sunflowers. It was simply spectacular.

Outside the museum, a sidewalk chalk artist was creating a piece of artwork herself, right in the middle of Trafalgar Square. Gorgeous, isn't it?

And naturally, what is a trip to London without the quintessential photo-op with one of the unsmiling, unmoving guards with funny, furry hats?

So, my first glimpse at the Houses of Parliament was simply breathtaking. It's a common piece of trivia here to ask tourists why they cannot see the Big Ben (because Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower. Not the clock). It was named after the Commissioner of Works, Sir Benjamin Hall. Now, imagine if his name had been Richard (I can't take credit for this joke. Our river boat tour guide said it):

We also saw the TOWER bridge, which is often misconceived to be the famous London Bridge (which is actually just a flat, concrete bridge that is gray and really boring).

We also saw the London tower where the famous traitors of the past were beheaded, such as Anne Boleyn, Jane Grey, etc. Other than the castle's bloody past, it was amazing to look at. Located smack dab in the center of a metropolitan city, it was a little trippy to look at such a medieval looking castle. But the grounds were so beautiful, it was hard to believe Londoners walk past this amazing structure every day.

We then went to this awesome little shopping place called Camden town, which seemed like a citywide flea market. There was this one little street that was lined with foods from all over the world. Needless to say, I was in heaven.

It was simply, a wonderful day spent with wonderful people:

Stay tuned!

Night Out On The Town

2008-06-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today, we went out to town again to experience some shopping and sweet-tasting. There is this simply AMAZING milkshake place called Shakeaway that makes 150 different flavors of milkshakes. Literally, whatever you could possibly imagine!! I had a Nutella and Ferrero Rocher milkshake which was bomb.

Vivian also finally got the (authentic British...not really) ice cream that she has been seeking for about a week. She settled with Brazilian Nut and Strawberry. Here we are with our happy little treats:

We then went to Primark, a super duper cheap clothing store where I got two sweaters, a cardigan, and a purse for 25 pounds. It was fantastic and we all found our share of goodies (like the hats? We didn't actually purchase them):

We then had a crazy night out bar hopping in Brighton. The funny thing is the drinking age is 18 here, but on weekends, the nicer clubs are all 21+. Strange, huh? Here is Viv and I all dressed up and ready for some fun:

Weekly bus passes? Our favorite!

Stay tuned!

Pub Crawling

2008-06-26T17:06:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

So tonight was the first quiet night spent in since we've gotten to Brighton...but if anything, it is the quiet before the storm. This weekend, we have plans to go see London, which is about two hours away. In the meantime, I thought I'd upload some photos from our pub crawl last night (English-speak for bar hopping).

Vivian and I kicked off the night with a little bit of fish-facing! Hot, sexy, and fish-lipped (not kissy-lips) and ready to have a damn good time.Wait, wait, there is a point to this...

...preparing for some authentic FISH and chips!! (Ok, I'll admit guys. The first two pictures were totally not correlated. Purely coincidental. But you like how I improvised there a little?)

Here we are kissing our guns (cuz we have HUGE ones) in one of the pubs. Behind us is our new friend Amy! She's really nice....and some guy flipping off the camera (wow, I did not even notice that. It's ok, he's just jealous that we have such big arms. Much bigger than his.)

Here's a little hottie too hot to handle. Notice how she's modeling out free student wristbands ever so "poshly."

It was a really cool night and after stopping by three different bars and with (most) people getting progressively more "wankered," we ended up in Brighton's biggest nightclub, Oceana--the ONLY place I have encountered thus far that is air conditioned. Not that it mattered because it was somehow packed full on a Wednesday night anyhow and everyone was sweating buckets.

I had my creative writing class today and we had to write a scene with our own personal made-up characters being stopped by a security guard and being accused of stealing. This is what I wrote:

"I need to check your bag," a police officer with a rotund belly said as he motioned towards Otto's bag without a smile.
"Oh, sure. No problem, officer," Otto replied compliantly as he drew open his plastic bag with the inoffensive pairs of black socks within. With the back of a flashlight, the officer prodded through the guts of his bag, turning his socks in a heap. The thought of an alien object leaving bacterial traces on articles of clothing that would be pressed against his skin incensed Otto. As the officer grunted and motioned him on with a flick of the flashlight, Otto smiled but he felt as though his innards were boiling.

And that's all for tonight, folks!
Stay tuned!

Daisy Days

2008-06-25T05:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

So, a big thing for students and people here in general to do during their free time is to go to the parks and sit on the grass with their friends and just kicking back. I think this is due to the fact that the days are long (the sun sets after 9 pm!) and stores close early (around 5:30-6:00 and all stores are closed--but the pubs are open till 11:30-2). All parks are highly used with several groups of people sitting--without picnic blankets, I might add--and chilling with their dogs all running free and off leashes. It's very different than the people-less parks and short-leashed canines that populate America.

So, my friends and I were killing some time between classes and decided to risk grass stains on our jeans and try hanging out on the grass lawns of our school with some of our local peers. It was surprisingly fun, especially the fact that the side of hill we plopped down on was covered in happy little daisies. Vivian and I decided to make some hippie daisy chains and Aaron was our photographer.

Here is the daisy chain sweatshop workers hard at work. Look at the intensity of our expressions:

A little bit of adjusting with the wind blowing so hard. In the back, you can see some of US's buildings. It's a very collegiate looking place:

We are hippie powered (Viv is trying to look high...unconvincingly):

Daisy joints, anyone?

Anyhow I hope everyone is having a great summer thus far! Stay tuned.

Shops and Singing

2008-06-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Today, my friends and I decided to take the bus and venture out into the heart of Brighton on our own...that's right, without chaperones, baby.

I have fallen in love with the graffiti art here in Brighton and today, I think we found the people who are delivering such lovely pieces of art--this graffiti gallery called Rare Kind that is run by a group of artists who also sell some original pieces. When we walked up to the store, the guy was standing out by the doorway making a totally awesome piece of Darth Vader's head on a Tiffany & Co. robin egg blue colored background. It was effin' siiiick. I have my heart completely set on taking an original piece of artwork home with me.

They seem to have made an impact on the environment of Brighton, graffiti art is not just art, it's AWESOME.

Anyhow, we also went to this chocolate shop today where they made statues out of chocolate. Some of their pieces were just unbelievable and I couldn't imagine how long and painstaking the work must've been just to carve these things out of chocolate. It was an adorable store and the employees were very nice about letting us snap photos like the awkward tourist we are. So I took some eye candy for you guys:

Can you believe that kitty cat?? They also had one of a little dog in the window but I just thought the cat chocolate sculture was too beautiful and I had to post it.

We also had a very pleasant pit stop at this yogurt shop called Lick. While we were resting and enjoying our Pinkberry-like treats, we chatted with the shopkeeper who turned out to be half owner. Get this: he and his friend went to New York, saw Pinkberry and decided to open up their own version in Brighton. Britain's very first ever frozen yogurt shop or the Pinkberry variety was opened right here next to U of Sussex!! And after the owner found out I was a regular at yogurt places he asked me, being the complete and total yogurt addict that I am, how it all compares! I was his critic! I told him he needed to get his hands on some mochi balls and quick. He was super intrigued by these mysterious "mochi balls" and said of all my suggestions, he was going to look into that first. So yes, students of U of Sussex and citizens of Brighton, you may thank me when Lick introduces the world famous mochi ball to their store.

After that, we headed back to meet up with the group going to the pub to drunk karaoke the night away. Serena, Xoch, Viv, and I managed to do the most terrible rendition of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" ever heard. I'm sure someone's ears bled (maybe that's why the bar cleared out by the time we were done). But here we are, sitting on the bus on our happy way:

Love and miss you all. Stay tuned!

An Eventful Day

2008-06-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

How do I put one very full day into words?

We were woken up early this morning to attend a schoolwide orientation. It was "jolly good" fun. Haha. Then we ran a few errands, including another trip to our favorite grocery destination, the local Sainsbury's (naturally, even British supermarkets have British-sounding names. It's certainly not Ralph's). My friends and I found some products this grocery store had to offer that we all thoroughly enjoyed:

These "mansize" tissues gave us a good laugh. Extra big for their big heads! In America, dear old Kleenex might've been slapped with a good lawsuit, but in Britain, it's a general consensus that men have much more snot than women.

Viv found some orange flavored Kit Kat bars during her two-day long quest for chocolate and ended up not buying them either (she did however get dark and cappuccino flavored ones). So apparently Kit Kat is a British company so they have all sorts of crazy flavors...but the same old savory goodness:

And I found my favorite Brown Sauce...which is generic for BBQ sauce apparently. It was located next to its fellow condiments red sauce and yellow sauce and blue sauce (blue sauce?):

We then went on a walking tour of the city Brighton which reminds me greatly of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco (lots of pubs, young people, really really cool shops---which there are about one thousand of in existence--all closed at 6 pm). Here are some of the sights which includes churches, the Brighton Pavilion (a palace!), and some of my favorite shops:

Here is Viv and me in the most quintessential of British phonebooths (these in particular smelled like New York's underground subway corners).

The names of several stores were extremely suggestive, as you can see from this inappropriately titled salt water taffy candy store. (Some were quite blatant.)

This is one of many churches we saw, I forget the name but point is, it's beautiful and very old. Located in the square, this masterpiece is actually....sinking. Like Venice.

Really cute graffitied storefront. I just enjoyed it.

This is the Brighton Pavilion, the summer leisure palace built by George IV as a summer retreat by the sea. He had many illicit liaisons with his mistress at this Indian influenced palace.

We then walked to the beach (which was pebbly and windy) and went drinking in a pub. All and all, it was quite a lovely day. I'm pooped.

First day of classes tomorrow...ooh, that'll be exciting. Stay tuned.

Brighton Day 1

2008-06-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

After a long arduous journey, we have finally arrived in England! I think I speak on behalf of all my dear friends here when I say we really miss everyone back home.

The more I travel the world, the more I feel as though each place has a unique face of its own. Britain is so distinctively....British. If I were shown a photograph of a British countryside juxtaposed with a photograph of a Japanese countryside, I would be able to tell the two apart immediately.

We took the bus to the grocery store today and had to hand carry all our plastic bags back to our dorms. I hope I never take my car for granted again. And while everyone fraternized and got to know one another, my friends and I gathered in our little kitchen for a quiet meal of spaghetti and scrambled eggs (and hardboiled eggs, for variety) cooked by none other than yours truly.

I am terribly exhausted and a day of flying has really taken its toll on me. I feel incredibly anti-social holing up in my room while the rest of everyone else it out at the pub on campus getting nicely sloshed.

I will join my cohorts tomorrow. I promise. In the mean time, I'm going to attempt to tackle my jetlag after a nice long shower. Ah...the simple pleasures of life, huh?

Anyhow, I thought I'd upload some photos from the nice dinner my bf treated me to before I left, and also some dorm room pictures. I'm definitely no longer in Irvine.

Stay tuned!

Day Before Euro Trip

2008-06-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary (like that?),

Tomorrow I leave for England. I will be gone for two months and in the meantime I will be keeping this blog updated with news from across the Atlantic. Strange, huh? I live by the Pacific but it's the other ocean I'll be near (and several seas).

My boyfriend is keeping me company until I leave and tonight, we're going out for a big fancy dinner to celebrate the fact I'll be out of his hair for two months (now, I wonder if this phrase is applicable to people with crew cuts).

This is the boyfriend:

I'll update later with pictures from our dinner date. Stay tuned!

My First Blog Post

2008-06-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

So there are lots of fashion blogs out there. There are also plenty of music blogs. In addition to all that, there's DIY blogs, beauty blogs, and personal journal type blogs. Now, I love all these blogs because I'm addicted to reading blogs. I had a few minor attempts at blogging (such as Xanga-ing, and Livejournal-ing), but I've never had a Blog blog. So here I am and I plan on combining all of the aforementioned types of blogs into this one itty bitty one. After all, all things above combined is what makes me (at the risk of sounding cheesy) me.

Thus, I figured my user name is somewhat perfect.

ipseity n. selfhood.

Stay tuned.