europe on a shoestring

more traveling has been booked. much more.

as an international student i have 3 weeks of vacation at easter, which means the opportunities are endless. endless until i suffer bankruptcy, (at this point that seems increasingly possible). so, on the bill for the easter break are italy and spain. 2 days in venice (by far the city that i am most pumped to explore), 2 days in florence/pisa where an international friend is setting us up for the night, and 3 days in rome...when in rome (anchorman anyone?). after that it will be off to barcelona via plane. the hostel we booked in barcelona looks like the best that could be hoped for. it seems almost like a resort, directly on the beach, complete with swimming pools, bars and restraunts. but of course things might be a bit different than the website pictures and description, so we'll see what happens. during this time i will be travelling with a couple of americans from chicago, it's doubtless that people will mistake me for a yankee while im with these chicago characters, but in hopes to avoid this i've sewn (mom sewed) some canadian flags on backpacks.

the chicagonians(?) will be abandoning me in barcelona to meet families back in london, but since i have no such commitments i plan on sticking around on the mediterranian coast for just a bit longer. which will work out perfectly because shideh will be meeting up with me in barcelona, and from there...maybe france? i havent worked out that part yet.

as i said last time, liverpool was on the schedule. joe(chicago), martina(italy), and silvia(italy) and i trekked the 3 hours by bus up to liverpool. it was a bit of a long day, bus to liverpool at 3am, bus back home at 11pm. 24hours of liverpool, like some sort of endurance test. it was defiantely time well spent, we explored the city, which was not exactly THE most beautiful city, but maybe im getting spoiled with all this european atmosphere. the museums were really good, there was a really funky modern art gallery and the highlight of the trip for all of us was the beatles museum. the museum took us 3 hours to complete and spanned from the birth of john, paul, george and ringo, right up to the present day while explaining nearly everything in between. we then went to a pub to eat and drink, when we were unexpectedly joined at our table by a middle-aged local woman who befriended us. at first it was cool to talk to this woman and ask her questions about her hometown, but when she suddenly burst into tears and started to tell us about her alcohol addiction, abusive husband and shattered dreams, the situation got much much less cool. it continued to become less and less cool for the next hour and a half because we were waiting for food and the bar was packed with nowhere to switch tables and she didn't want to leave because when she asked joe for cigarettes he never refused (i beleive he counted 7 in total). anyway, interesting experience.

writing this has given me some procrastination time, but no more, its time to work.

talk to you later

down to biznaz

i'm happy to say that the good times are still going strong here on her majesty's island. i was in london again last weekend with mom and bronwyn. we stayed at a real nice hotel that overlooked Hyde Park, which was a massive greenspace full of monuments, fountains and lakes. i really enjoyed walking through it...until we realized that we got lost.

shideh and tessa were also in london on the weekend, we found a pub and bronwyn bought the beers. the next day i met up with shideh and we saw the sights, did some shopping, mastered the art of navigating the Underground, rode a double decker (upper deck of course) and then i dropped her off outside of london.

there was wicked beach party last friday, my flatmates and i were decked out in beachwear, from sandals to sunglasses. unfortunately, there were only about 4 other people at the party feeling the beach vibe at the same level as we were...oh well

i recently booked trips to liverpool, dublin for st patricks day, and amsterdam. all of which i am extremely excited for.

today joe (my american roomate) and i have a training session for our campus radio show, which we will be dropping on the airwaves very soon. prepare yourself. we are not sure when we will have our permanent time slot, but when we know i will definately spread the news because you can listen via the internet! i hope that our international audience will be substantial. i'll keep you posted.

talk to you on the airwaves soon

"Throwing Down" at Buckingham Palace

Since you last heard from me I have really settled into life here in England. I couldn't be happier with the people I live with, they're always ready to throw a party, cook a meal and make travel plans. Definately a wicked situation in comparison with last semesters living situation. School is off to a rather slow start, it seems like the British take a more relaxed approach to higher education. I say this now, but undoubtably I will be stuck in the library later on this semester, so I'm enjoying the temporary lull in intense work.

Over this past weekend a group of about 15 travelled to London. 3 days and 3 nights was definately not enough time to see it all. The size, complexity, scenery and the people I was with made for a great time. On Thursday night I stayed with Emily Keogh who was nice enough to lend me her bed for a night. Her student residence was in the most excellent location I could imagine, it is pretty much on Trafalgar Square which is in walking/viewing distance from: Parliment/Big Ben, the River Thames, the London Eye (that huge ferris wheel), countless museums, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The next 2 nights I stayed with the rest of the group at a hotel at King's Cross Tube Station, which was a pretty wild time because of the number of people. We did some London nightlife, but it was difficult to find a place to go that didn't make you pay a 20pound ($40) cover charge. The first night we also found out that the London Underground doesn't run until 1 or 2am like Toronto, which was unfortunate because we were very very far from the hotel and it was pouring rain (of course). All in all a great weekend, but now its book time. At least until next weekend when I go back to London to visit Mom, Bronwyn plus Tessa and Shideh who will also be in town, should be a great time.