2/8 - 2/19 2010

2/8/2010 London

~6:45 pm
bargle- flight got delayed from 5:05 to 6:30- and our check in time is pry going to be before we get to the hostel...lol there is a baby in the seat behind me and he grabbed my sleeve from between the seats...I looked back and he was smiling at me. We had a good little laugh. Man my back hurts though, I threw all of my books and stuff in my carry on and had to put my purse inside that bag as well due to EZJet being uncool so my bag is super heavy- ick and I had all of my heavy stuff in that bag cause I wanted to make sure my checked baggage was under the 20 k weight limit- it was 18...wish I had known earlier I would have thrown some books in it. Planes taking off- sitting here talking to Nate, and eating a dark chocolate orange I picked up at the airport- so good

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2/9/2010
9;00am (Amsterdam)



Hostel report- shoddy but fun, were at the top of 4 flights of a spiral staircase-



sucked for baggage actually- but everyone's stuff got in- 6 people in my room: Nate, Rashad, David, Kyle, Rob and me....



I know Brad, Brady, TO, Ally, Philip, and I think two other people whose names I can't recall are in the third floor room- off to eat our free breakfast- no food/trash in the rooms though- as it attracts mice

9:34
breakfast was alright...make your own processed ham and cheese melt- which was good and some toast with strawberry jam, although I accidentally put coffee creamer in my cereal...way nasty....I am no good at this reading foreign language business.

2:40
boys are all giddy over the beer shop with 940 flavors...lol



3:00
at the Anne Frank Haus-



there was supposed to be a student discount but they said it was a misprint- the adult ticket was 8 eurro but I told them I was 17 and got mine of 4 ;) - pays to be short and look young- it's nice to be someplace warm though

3:45
sitting around drinking tea ...I got Lapsang Souchong and added milk sugar and honey to it – it tastes good and smells woodsy, my exact phraseology was “ it tastes like I'm drinking the forest!” lol

4:35
just saw a sigh...”sorry we're open”
bought my Amsterdam patch and a coin purse- too many eurro cents

5:15
at the vodka museum and they have a shot glass chess set- lol- heard it's an easy chess game to loose...I wonder why...lol

(for some reason I forgot to mention that we went to the sex museum as well that day)


11:41 pm
man we are in a sketchy hotel- just saw a mouse in the lobby/dining area lol- and 2 out of our three keys don't work so well

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2/10/2010

1:15
at the Van Gogh museum- so cool- huh-Van Gogh's sunflowers were painted for Gauguin's bedroom- in order to brighten it up- only 5 remain and I've seen two XD

1:45- oooo Toulouse Latrec painting- Man I wish I felt better- I think I'm dehydrated, a Gauguin- Gauguin's portrait of Vincent painting sunflowers- I remember looking this one up for my paper...you really can see a lot of the canvas, a few Monets and an Edouard Manet, a Picasso- ooo this one by Jan Slvijters is interesting- two Women Embracing- quite a few- Emile Bernard's a gorgeous mirror done by him though ooo and Odilion Redon's The Buddha is quite nice as well, hmmm is James Abbott Mac Neill Whistler the same Whistler I know?....ooooo-Seurat

4:25
sitting in the station waiting to validate our Eurail passes-



walked though the Red Light district to get here and found out the other group's hostel isn't just near the Red Light District...it's in the middle of it lol- had to pay my first 50 cents for the Loo today though...doing pretty good about finding free bathrooms though...stupid railway stations trying to takes my moneys X)

5:25
at Sarah's Pancake House awaiting my bacon and pineapple pancake- sounded yummy- and they have this like raisin sauce here that's thicker then molasses but soooooo very tasty


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2/11/2010

6:40am
pancake was delicious- went down to the Red Light District last night with the boys- it certainly was an experience- and then we chilled around at the girls hotel while they smoked...air was pretty clean though so I think I'm good...lol- sitting on the train after walking 25 minutes to the station...my shoulders are killing me...bargle- I'm kinda starting to feel like I have too much stuff- ah well I can carry it all up 5 flights of spiral staircase (73 steps to be exact) so I should be fine anywhere else we go....we'll see...ah I should tell you the major stories of the weekend- I think I forgot to mention them earlier-

day one- Rob leaves his computer bag on the tram- after checking in and he has tried calling them he goes out to chase down the tram...from what we were told he got on one and explained his predicament and this tram sped along and dropped him off at the stop that should be just ahead of the tram we all were on- Rob got on our tram just as the ticket taker was looking through his bag- later that night a couple of the guys went to walk around the block- came back in saying they just ran from a drug dealer trying to sell them cocaine...

Day 2- Rashad got in a small altercation after the pub crawl- apparently (I was asleep for this) he came in around 1 or so and was telling Nate he beat this guy up- in the morning I and the rest of the room were told he was lost and asked this guy for directions and the guy punched him in the jaw...they exchanged a couple of blows and Rashad walked away

(at least they didn't forget about me while they were all out on the pub crawl :D )


7:26
accident up the line- they'll be a delay, good thing we got on the early train- at least we're warm

8:02
finally got moving...hope the other guys caught their train

9:22
looking out the window at the country side....it really does look a lot similar to Wisconsin here...I get why the Germans settled there now...lol

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2/12/2010

8:37 am (Berlin)


sitting eating breakfast and making a pack lunch- this hostel rocks- dinner was real food too. XD super snowy out though and apparently we're going to watch part of a movie they are showing on the Brandenburg gate- like literally on it...a screen outdoors and everything.



The kick off for the film festival- wonder what movie we're watching- all I know is that it's silent- fun fun

9:15
oh man's we're going to see Metropolis with the original score played by an orchestra

2:30
wow- I am standing on top of where Hitlers bunker is and where he committed suicide...

2/13/2010

8:20am
saw metropolis last night- David and I were the only ones from our group that stayed till the bitter end-



Nate made it half way though and I was trying to translate what was going on- seeing as it was in German- ah well. David really liked it and I enjoyed the experience...it was great- just freezing. Mein gut- will it ever stop snowing out?- bargle. Nate didn't come down for breakfast- he doesn't have film so that's pry why- I think I might pack him a lunch if he doesn't show

3:45
standing in line to try and get tickets for the film festival- shutter Island is sold out but I want to try and get tickets for The Illusionist (same peeps as The triplets of Belvile) and Summer Wars (same peeps as The Girl Who Lept Through Time) I'd also like to see Uchu Show E Yokoso (same peeps as Tekenkinkreet) but it's playing on the day we leave so depending on my travel plans I might catch it...although fun story we might take a day trip up to Denmark on Wednesday for kicks and giggles...lol

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2/14/2010
9:25 am
last night was fun...hung out with Nate after Dinner- and he got all antsy and I got to watch him go through some martial arts forms- very cool- lol- he was complaining about there not being enough room to do some of his favorite stuff lol. We met a guy from southern German though...i think his name was Phillip. Then we found out there was a party going on in like every other room- so we hung out in Nate's room- watching peeps drink- then they watched Lost while I sketched- I got some mad sketching compulsion though- I had to draw but I had fun- did this crazy collage thing of stuff that was in front of me.
Happy Valentines Day world :)

11:20
just realized that Nate sounds exactly like Jon Gelleta- Laughs the same and everything- love it- lol

2:20
sitting in the cinemax going to see Wasteland....no idea what it's about- Greg informed me- Documentary- and there is an artist making stuff out of a waste heap...sounds fun

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2/15/2010
12:23 pm
Movie was awesome- internet is still down though XP drew a bunch on the tour yesterday- I think Nate's ear turned out the best...lol especially cause most of the shading was done on a train lol. Had our first rehearsal this morning- that was fun. Then I did my laundry and like a good geek got Laundry Day stuck in my head- lol just chillin- being board and waiting for peeps to do something

2:35- look up Cristo and Jeanne- Claude

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2/18/2010
10ish
well it certainly has been awhile since I wrote...hmmm what's gone on. You know, not too much....just been chilling around with people- and went to the Film Hous on a tour- the first room was filled with mirrors it was so insanely cool

11ish
the rest of the museum was cool as well but I could have spent all day in that mirror room. Tuesday night was really fun though, sat around in Nate's room with the other “outcasts”....the art people and such...they were all drinking good German beer- which is nasty- Nate claimed is as his goal for the trip to fix this problem of me not liking beer but I highly doubt he'll be very successful-lol. But we all had a real heart to heart, philosophical and epically awesome conversation- few favorite moments from the night were: Nate and I were chillin' while the boys were out on a beer run (btw our group has practically bought out the corner markets beer supply XP) and Nate said something about it being really peaceful right then and I said it was just the calm before the storm when all the boys would come traipsing back with their beer- 4 seconds later the boys came filling in through the door ROFL.

The other fun moment came from Josh, who was in bed starring at the ceiling when he blurts out “the ceiling doesn't have any bumps on it- how are we supposed to tell it isn't a wall?” lol which resulted in an entertaining conversation about it being a wall and we were flying/floating- super fun. Oh while I was in the TV lounge this morning some German boys were watching dubbed Malcolm in the Middle....it's so weird to hear actors I recognize with a different voice and in a different language.

Currently watching CNN waiting for theatre class to get done- plan is to get tickets today- and maybe hit up the Dali museum also tonight is Thursday so museum island has 4 out of their 5 museums at free admission tonight- w00t. Been watching the Olympics like every night...the snow boarders certainly were having a rough night last night- lol just ate “Fruit of the Forest” flavored yogurt mmmmm...getting better at my fast sketching abilities...so happy- still lifes are fun and all but I'm enjoying being able to draw people- the one detailed piece I've got is of sleeping people but I don't expect anyone here to sit still long enough for me to do more then scribble sketch them-lol

12:48
mar got this crazy hurting pain in my lower rib

(while getting lost trying to get to museum island we found all of these snowmen)


8:50
mans- in the old museum they had a “Greek” exhibit and a plaque with all of the different types of stones and marbles label as to what and where they were- way cool-
Museum notes----
Louis Corinth-1918-parties of armor in the studio
Adolph Menzel-the Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes) 1875
oh craps I was obviously standing too close to the art- I think I just set off an alarm- o.O
William Hanilton-1976-From Shakespeare's the Tempest
Arnold Bockiln (with o umlot) -self portrait with death playing the fiddle
Renoir-Cezanne-Manet-Rodin-Gauguin-Monet-DeGas
Arnold Brocklin- Landscape with castle ruins
Christopher Rohlfs- summer and Landscape near Weimar
Curt Herrmann- Belvedere Palace near Weimar

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2/19/2010
2:45-



at the concentration camp tour and there is just something extremely unnerving about seeing a toppled over snowman in the center court of the camp...
at Sachsenhausen

2/4-2/7-2010

2/4/2010

~ ??:??am
mmmmm bought butter rolls and a hunk of cheddar-





very good and should cover my lunch the rest of the week till Amsterdam. Also know for sure I'm in Rob's room at the hostel it's like 13 euro a night w00t! Just need to book my train then to the airport. Going down Piccadilly to hopefully see the Van Gouh exhibit but it might be 12 pounds so we'll see- hanging out down their until Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, only heard good things, excited and wish it was warmer so I could dress nicer. Apparently.- it's 20 degrees cooler in Berlin, sad day hmmmm I forgot I needed a hand written journal for INTS, maybe I can pick one up today- just a small one though, only need to do 3 entries a week with 14 weeks or so 29 entries or so. :P gah it's hot on the tube. Might see a movie tom maybe. Nowhere boy, the beginnings of John Lennon

~5:30pm
decided to chill out at this cute mall instead, out side the history studio's old time portraits place eating Turkish delight, which is really quite good



~6:00
fell into a bit of a marketing ploy, though I think it's worth it- XD see I've been accepting anything anyone hands me, it's been fun but I got this picture thing and the photo was free and all sooo- lol

mmmm strawberry Turkish Delight- I got a mish mash of stuff-few flavors of Delight and some dried fruit- this was fun-hmmm- sun dried banana is kinda gross- lets try something else...mmm dried kiwi is good....lol I think they are having some technical difficulties good thing I still have a half hour before I should leave, poor woman's on the phone with someone. I feel bad although maybe I'll get a discount lol- wow dried papaya is very tart. Oh the dried strawberry is very good. Mango's good as always. Oh side note the public toilets in this mall cost a pound, they're also the baby changing station, sad day for parents but I got a pic for urine town goodness lol



...holy crap there's a whole 'nother floor I haven't been to....oh mans- that clothing shop-like a hot topic style kinda- was selling top hats and bowlers at 50 pounds a piece- so cool!!!



~6:20
wow these escalators are really shoty. This is like a huge arcade, I enjoy that all of the “quarter” machines are 2 pence and 5 pence lol...shoots and ladders is adders and ladders...with snakes tee hee

~6:30
this place is intense: arcade, bowling, bumper cars, cinema...---ooo Claire's is going to have an Alice in wonderland product chain- oh and they have a sweet internet cafe here, it's all cyber techie.



Oh that's a cool idea-they're rhinestone necklaces that look like neck ties but shorter-got a pic – way cool, might be able to bead something like it :D



~8:25
intermission for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It's really good so far, just gorgeous and the set is so cool. The scrim in the back is all ivy dripped trees, so pretty – oh and some guys from our group are here too, and the seats by them were still open so I moved up like 10 rows and found people who I know...win XD...guy behind me, who was in a t-shirt and recently said “dude they sell ice cream here!” just offered me some chips...aka crisps. These people are awesome- the ones behind us are talking about making beer floats ROFL oh and the rose Turkish Delight is quite good

~9:50
I really like the attention to detail with the lighting. The moon is on stage right with this beam streaming into the room and you can see the shadows of the clouds drifting by on the light on the bed sheet

~10:35
Waiting at the stage door X)





(fun fact: this was pretty much the first time Nate and I ever spoke to each other)


2/5/2010

~7:27pm
waiting in the theatre for Les Misirables,



set looks so cool so far- it's weird to see grimy France creeping into this gilded angel filled theatre


(sorry it's so blurry...was trying to be discrete)

~9:00
intermission, before the show I went over to Trocadero Mall and picked up my stuff- it's so cool


(It's me!...made of bubbles!...in a key-chain!...although unfortunately it was lost in the mail...poor me floating around somewhere in a mail room.)

and went over to TokyoToys and was tempted to get pocky lol- Nate got a Bleach key chain and we admired the wooden swords lol...finished one essay and have another one tonight after the show- only 3 pages though and it's a critique so not so bad although I'm tired now- le sigh- oh and sooo much fog here- I think I've inhaled at least a gallon. Oh and this is the 25th year Les Mis has been playing on the west end- last show in London maybe- got some Hoagen-Dazs...very good X)...mmmmm


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2/6/2010

~10:55 am
finally got my paper written and I found out I write about 2 pages long hand for every 1 page typed and double spaced- lol I might write my Germany paper by hand seeing as it'd only be like 7 typed pages instead of 15 lol

~1:25
holy crap nearly got blown down a set of tube stairs because of a wind tunnel draft- crazy scary, jeeze...7 stops glad I brought my book lol and got a seat- man my legs are sore though mainly just my right thigh

~2:00
I love British fashion, just saw a guy wearing red chucks, skinny dark blue jeans, a white 70's tux shirt and a maroon velvet bow tie...and short spiky black hair

~2:15
oooo and a men's gray wool trench with a couple of great vintage costume jewelry pins

~4:00
at the market, and everything in London is steampunk...XD told myself I can't buy anything over 10 pounds lol...oh mans they have a stereoscope here....ah! So cool...eeee they have a Victorian photo album...sham it's 55 pounds and fragile- oh they know my weakness- skeleton keys- there are soooo many vintage clothing stores......
….my god this clothing store is lined with singer sewing machines, the old black ones like mom has at home...:'( wont let me take pics though sads...the shelves are bobbin winders I think...got a pic of the outside at least :D...



...oh and this is the Portabello Market Although I did pick up a cheep pocket watch today...7 pounds, the ones for 5 were lame and had monuments on them...but same watches elsewhere were 10 pounds, so I got a good deal :D



....hmmm Qype- what is it?

~5:55
holy craps I saw a bat in the tube- swanky, and cause Berlin is 20 degrees cooler then here and I've been cold here I got the coolest sweatshirt known to man- pics soon- it has kimono like sleeves and a ginormous hood sooo cool...


(trying it on...documenting the crazyness of it before I had decided to buy it)


(Action Shot!)

oh and I got a stereoscope slide for 3 pounds...it's of Niagara Falls very pretty-



oh and had a delicious sandwich for a pound- ham and cheese melt on ficata bread, so good- ooo I get to eat dinner in the hostel today fun fun- I have like 4 tokens right now- lol- can't wait for the funny look I'll get with my sweatshirt though XD- although an interesting fashion here are pants with like a 2 inch inseam, so they're like bags with ankle holes they're so weird- sigh I hope the tube comes soon

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2/7/2010

~ 9:24 am
on the tube going to Westminster...right next to the clock tower- going on a boat tour over to Greenwich and get to see the prime meridian.


(just got off the tube)


(Chillin on the boat)

Last night was fun, sept for me panicking like mad when I came in at 1:00 am and my comp wouldn't turn on...turns out the outlets are shot but I think it's the whole hallway, cause we weren't the only room

~1:00
just took pics on the prime meridian...

(not just any pics...Jumping Pics!)


Note: look up Harrison's time keepers, as well as Riefler's precision clock and Shortt's free pendulum clock

~9:45 pm
went beach combing while waiting for the boat. So much fun. Like 5 seconds after walking down Nate and I found a femur followed by a giant rib it was crazy. We think they might be like cow or horse or something like that, although we found a jaw bone that looked kinda like a deer/small horse like animal of some sort. I did pick up a few teeth though. A very large molar- like horse/ox type, a smaller molar, a front tooth that is from some herbivore, and a rodent tooth- similar to beaver but darker brown. I also found a couple very small poetry shards and a rock full of holes. Then as we were looking around we started finding clay pipe shards. I have like a kagillion of them. I'm thinking jewelry-maybe a couple of pieces for Etsy XD anywho-trying to pack blarg

(all the cool stuff I found!)

feb 2nd and 3rd

2/2/2010

9:50am
had bar trivia last night was super fun. At the end of round two we had a break and at that point we didn't know two questions- what is the capital of wales? And who was the lady of the lamp? And the guy who was doing it said something like lets have a change of pace, you ask me questions...and jokingly I asked him what the capital of wales is. And he was all like oh that's an easy one and then told me the answer then stopped and caught himself in the mistake ...it was hilarious during the break I ran upstairs and looked up the lady of the lamp question- Florence Nightingale- and ya know after reading it I did know that. Oh and the questions were general knowledge for 6-11 year olds it was like “are you smarter then a 5th grader” but without all the math and spelling...lol . Well we were 'team America-Fuck yeah!' it was good fun. We weren't sure which war the Somme battle was fought in...we knew it was french though...i think we said WWI- but we did get Gettysburg...lol. In the end we tied for first with the Australian team...so we each picked representatives for a tie breaker . I got volunteered and the announcer told us that he was going to read a question if I knew the answer I had to raise my hand and yell fuck yeah! If she knew it to yell Vegemite! He told us to put our hands on our buzzers which turned out to be his knees lol and Kelly was video taping all of this and the question was “what is used to transform sound waves into electrical current?” we both paused for a beat- completely lost and I shot up my hand, screamed fuck yeah and said “what is a microphone?” (damn geek jeopardy XP ) and I was right and there was screaming and hugging and high 5's everywhere. Everyone on our team got two buy one get one free drink token slips … I gave mine to the table cause I wasn't going to use them then us girls went over and danced with some of the Spanish (?) girls



mmm om nom I am going to miss black current jam after this ...I wonder if the Pig has it... I'll have to ask Michael. Worried I might be getting sick though my throat felt horrible last night...le sigh. Going to the globe today and to see War Horse, hopefully book tickets today. Oh and I just found out you can post vid and pics straight to blogger so once I get better internet I can put stuff up...fun fun



~6:20 pm
at the Hercules Pillars Bar getting dinner



...went to the globe and then over to the Tate Modern Museum saw some Picasso, Duchamp, Warhol and this really interesting exhibit based on the Anime “Ghost in the Shell” it was both really interesting and depressing.


(for some reason I took like no pictures in the Tate)

Speaking of Anime though they had a Manga section of Shakespearean plays, way cool.



(War Horse!)





~8:30 pm intermission of War Horse. People next to me don't get it...le sigh...not enough “realism” I guess- this is a very stylized show and all I've heard form peeps are complaints. Cause some of the puppet horses, the back ground ones are only like the front half of the horse. Oh and the backdrop is like a torn piece of paper across and they have been playing projections like sketch work on it the whole show to help show the scene changes. I think the show is just beautiful, bad seats or no bad seats- cause we're way on stage left in a balcony and the railing is in front of all the action of stage left and a lot of stuff is going on over there right at the beginning- but it seems to be getting better...my shoes and socks are sopping wet....my feet feel so nasty. I can't wait to get back.

~10:10
war horse was amazing. Made me cry though and I was the first one on my feet in our group for the standing ovation that was scattered through out the crowd...I really think they deserved it.. So good planing on seeing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at 3 tom and then Lion King at 7:30 XD

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2/3/2010

~12:00pm
walking through Kensington park- good weather.



Just finished up at the natural history museum, it was actually quite fun and only took us an hour and 20 where as people kept saying it took them 2-23 hrs.



off to Drury Lane to look for a TKS booth-

huh just saw a bird that kinda looks like a parrot...speaking of birds it is like a cacophony of bird calls here and in the midst of this I just heard someones ring tone which was the shower scene from psycho – felt surrounded by Hitchcock

~12:15
just saw a swan scratch it's head with it's foot... lol



~12:20
the trees are so cool here knobbly and twisty and old



~1:40
had a “lost in London” adventure, but I found batteries and a free ATM so all is good. Went from Kensington over to the south wharf



finally found Paddinton station and am now working my way over to Holburn to find Drury lane aka theatre land :D hopefully pick up some tickets for either today or Friday or Saturday actually. Should have brought my homework with...lol...ah well it would have been too heavy anyways. Stupid book, had a really tasty Belgium Muffin though :) mmmmm and past my first lingerie place and a place selling bongs lol- well my station is up soon hopefully I find tickets



~4:10
god it's good to sit down- well lion king was sold out but I got a decent ticket for Cat tom night. I think I might look up some cinema times tonight. I have film critiques to write :) but holy crap I've walked every freakin where today and my feet are so upset with the world- spend almost all day by myself, it was actually quite nice- found this adorable retro shop that ken was telling me about- snuck some pics and bought a vest for 10 pounds. It's way cute and I can use it for steampunk I think





- well time to book my flight...oh so cool- the guy next to me is in a full suit and tie with tennies on

~6:30
ticket purchased now I need to find away to print my boarding pass to make life easier- mrrrr I think my ankles are swollen not cool – well homework time

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I know I'm behind please forgive...I have 15 more journal pages to type before I'll be up to date so here's a snipet