EEEEE! my friends are coming!

yay! tomorrow my friends jenn and irene are coming to london! i'm pretty excited. hopefully i will go and meet them at their hotel and get lunch and then just general hanging out until i take one of the last trains back. i had originally planned on staying in ldn with them but due to science taking over my life, it's not proving possible. sigh.

luckily, tomorrow's weather is looking up. for the past few weeks it has practically been a monsoon over here. the whole south of england is epically flooded - like legit homes underwater and some towns having to be abandoned. my school, as well as most of the town, sits up on a couple of hills but down in the valley aka town centre with all of the shopping and pubs etc. the river has flooded well over its banks, up over a foot/bike path and up the seat part of some benches. the sun is out now but it the weather was bipolar for all of the morning switching from darks skies and violent downpours to beautiful blue minimally cloudy skies. ridiculous.

typical england.

i love going into london and i can't wait to see my friends! i think they may even come out to see my school! must clean my disaster of a room...

brb.

first cheer comp!

on the top of my usual agenda is cheerleading.  on saturday my team had our first competition of the year and it went so well!  first place :) very proud.  i must have watched the video 100 times already! we have a few things to work on for our next comp, which will be much bigger and against a lot more teams, but we can definitely nail it.  i think our coach may add a few more difficulty items to get our points higher, too, but overall our scoresheet was impressive!  can't wait for the next one!

Sarah, Bianca, Anna, and me!

24 out of 30 of our team members + our first place trophy!

Coach Dan, me, and le trophy

time to go win some more!

brb.

wanderlust

decisions, decisions.

i'm trying to decide where to go this spring break.  i'm already booked on a cheerleading trip the first week to salou, spain (yay!) but have two weeks afterwards to galavant around europe, much like i did last year (if you recall, luxembourg, belgium, and the netherlands).  here are my options:

option 1: i have always wanted to go to germany so it is on the top of my list.  also, a friend of a friend is doing study abroad outside munich so i could potentially have a guide one day or at least some helpful tips.  i could do similar things to my benelux trip last year where i just get a eurail pass and go to various german cities.  negatives about this trip include only seeing one country and not speaking the language.  positives include cost, ability to do what i want when i want to do it, and making myself get back in to learning german.

option 2a: a friend i met in amsterdam last year recommended contiki tours - they do tours for 18-35's. he said it was great as there are lots of solo travelers but even those who are coupled up or small groups are still really friendly and open and that they all have loads of fun.  he had been on a few, too, so had lots of advice and what i felt were valid opinions and suggestions. i found a tour called "berlin to budapest" that looks really awesome - 11 days, 10 nights traveling from berlin through prague, vienna, bratislava, and ending in budapest.  i would love to see hungary as my grandmother's family - the one who just passed away - came from hungary.  negatives about this trip are cost (almost $2k) and timing; it starts in berlin on april 12th and i get back to london on the 11th from spain so i would have to do laundry, get minimal rest, and book it to the airport early the next morning.  positives are the amount of cities and countries i would get to see and that i would have a guided tour in places where i didn't understand the language.

option 2b: another contiki tour option - greek islands and turkey.  while i do want to see greece and turkey, i kind of had my heart set on germany.  this trip, though, had lots of positives that i can't ignore.  negatives are not getting to see germany (yet) and some of the reviews made it sound like you didn't get to spend too much time in each place and that a lot of the time is spent on a cruise ship that also has non-contiki guests, i.e. families and elderly folk.  positives are price (much less, i think only about $700), timing/duration, and again the benefit of a guided tour in places where i don't understand the language.

of course there are a million other options, but these are kind of the ones i've settled on at the moment.  i'm not sure what my reader base is like, but can anyone who stumbles upon this post happen to offer any thoughts on my choices?

brb.

harry, my little monster

harry is my little special christmas savior.  coming home to an empty house was devastating (well, there are my cats and of course parents but it wasn't the same without my baby jordan).  still more was my grandmother's house, but we will save that for another post and i will try to keep this one upbeat.

while still in england, i began browsing petfinder.com, which i think i mentioned in a previous post (but it's been so long since i last wrote, who knows!) and found this adorable dog leah.  well, lo and behold leah got adopted (yay!) but i was still hooked out this shelter.  it was very near to my parents' house and it appeared they train and treat the dogs well as it was also a training centre so i kept browsing their pets.

i want to take a side bar here and say that apparently, this shelter had some issues a few years ago - the old owner wasn't properly feeding or giving attention to the dogs.  this has completely changed and the new owner is wonderful, as are the staff/volunteers.  the dogs are so happy, have plenty of toys and treats, a lot of which are donated by people who got their dogs from this kennel.  it was such a nice place!

i came across two black lab puppies but really thought a puppy was too much work and would be too hyper; these things proved true but i don't want to jump ahead.  they were both male "older" puppies, around 6 months.  they also had a cute 5 y/o female black lab who i decided was the one... until my mom called the shelter and was told she wasn't available, but they did have a 2 y/o female yellow lab (yet the 5 y/o is still listed on their site and harry has been taken off so i'm confused as to why she is still listed... anyways...).

my dad was not pleased with my mother and i as he did not want to get another dog this soon (yet he is an animal person so whatever) but through my deep depression, we decided to get one.  we went on sunday december 22nd and met the 2 y/o female.  she.  was.  in.  sane.  super jumpy (she kept over the play area fence!) and once we ran out of treats, wanted nothing to do with us but look out windows.  my mom had also spotted another dog sitting quietly in his room when we walked by, not acting like a nut like the rest of them.  we decided to meet him, too.

i had seen him online - "hercules" - one of the male black puppies (he was 8 months by this point).  online he didn't seem very cute, a little awkward-shaped but in person he was the cutest thing.  we met him, too, and played with him and he interacted with us and i liked us more than the female did.

he was it.

we couldn't take him home that day because my dad had to meet him.  which meant we had to convince him to come to the shelter.  i think i made him feel bad because he met us the next day after work and we took home my new baby!  we renamed him harry - i chose it because of the similar sounds, not because of harry styles, prince harry, or even harry potter (though if it were any, it would be the last).

harry came, originally, from a shelter in arkansas called "last chance arkansas."  i think they saved dogs from kill shelters and "distribute" them to other shelters like the one we got harry from; i think they actually had several dogs from arkansas there.  i really hope the yellow lab gets a home soon - it was hard to "choose" a dog and it did break my heart to have to leave her there, but it just wasn't meant to be; we bonded better and "fit" better with little harry.

some personality bits we have learned so far: harry does not like the cats.  they won't play with him and are jerks, but to be fair, harry is also a jerk getting all up in their shit (sometimes literally).  they will be friends one day, i'm sure.  charlie (fat beastly cat) used to like to go outside with jordan but after jordan passed away, was too afraid to be alone out there.  come spring time i'm sure charlie will appreciate harry more when they play outside.

be prepared for more posts like this one and some remembering jordan.  i love them both.  dogs are the best things ever - jordan was always there for me during rough times and harry has already supported me with the loss of both jordan and my grandmother even if he doesn't know it yet.  i'm so happy we were able to rescue him!

"so i'm sitting.  where the hell is my treat?"

christmas 2013

<3

brb.

i'm back!

ok, so this may have taken the cake as longest absence from this blog but i really need to be fair on myself and hope to be given some sort of break by my avid readers.  the last few months have been very difficult since coming back to england for my final year.  first, i was in and out of the hospital (love the health system here, by the way!).  then i lost my jordan.  then i lost my grandma.  and i couldn't get home for the funeral.  to say life has been trying would be an understatement.  it was all this grief and stress and on top of it i was trying to run a cheerleading squad and do adequate lab work.

i've just had my last exam yesterday.  it went super awesomely (i think?) but i also had an exam last week which did not go so super awesomely.  i told myself i wouldn't write a blog post until the revision was done so here i am.  i still have to make a research poster (literally need to be done with draft one tonight) but i'm giving myself a little slack.

we have our first cheerleading competition this weekend!  so excited and nervous.  i threw out my back last wednesday and subsequently couldn't practice the rest of wednesday or friday at all. even yesterday i only half-assed stuff due to le injury.  one of our flyers busted her knee and can't lock it out (FML) so we may have some awkward routine missing a person.  sigh.

unrelated to my general dramas of life, but in my distracted mind this past week i was thinking about blogging and how i hadn't been on here in eons.  i was thinking, maybe i should just start a new one, start fresh?  maybe make more of a general one to get some click traffic?  my thoughts today are similar but less destructive of this blog than last week.  i think i will keep this one as my personal blog buy maybe will start a more general one.  i've already thought up some great topics i can word vomit about that both interest me and are more general about life:
- stuff i like (make-up products, foods, etc)
- books and reviews (i read so many books, how the hell am i not reviewing any?)
- cheerleading!
- science (obv)
- travel
have any other suggestions?  i want to keep it in the scope of shit that interests me and i can have a valid opinion on.  for example, i would not write about this year's winter olympics luge teams because i have no idea about it, who they are, or even how to luge but i would write about cheerleading because i run this show.  heh.

well it's breakfast time.  i was all set to watch my US shows online only to discover that none of them aired new episodes last night!  (i'm talking to you, CSI and criminal minds!  jerks.)  so sad.  netflix just isn't doing it for me over here - the selection is incredibly slimmer not to mention they cut half of the (children's) programmes i liked watching (hey! arnold, por ejemplo).  i will hopefully see you clowns soon... especially because i need to talk about my christmas/birthday present, harry!

brb.

i miss my baby

i know, i still have a lot of updating to do, but the last three weeks have been hard.  in addition to losing my best friend, i've also been quite ill and had to deal with school and cheerleading.  (on a bright note, LOVE the health care in this country!)

i allowed myself to browse petfinder.com today.  it was painful.  i couldn't stop crying from a combination of things: first of all, it made me miss jordan all the more.  i love him and will never stop loving him.  second, i felt like i was cheating on him - only three weeks gone and i'm already looking for another dog!  what kind of heartless bitch must i be?  but third, and the main reason i was looking, is because of all these dogs and other pets that don't have homes.

i don't want to - and could never - replace jordan.  i got him as a tiny little munchkin, had him his whole life, and he was always there for me when i was happy or sad through some tough years.  he was just like me in every way - stubborn, did what he wanted when he wanted, and had this was to make you feel guilty when he didn't get his way.  i think he would want us to get another dog - another dog to keep my dad occupied, to bring smiles, to greet you when you come home (because let's be real, cats: the difference between dogs and cats), and to carry on his legacy.

i found a black lab straight away that i fell in love with and i can't explain.  i tried hard to not get attached - and am still trying - because maybe she is already adopted or maybe we would not be a good fit for her or maybe my parents won't let me get her.  my mother is printing off her picture to guilt my father.  perfect heather/jordan method to get what we want.  we shall see.

i described her as an early christmas present.

jordan, doing what he wanted and not caring that my parents did not want him in the bushes.

brb.

to the best dog in the world

forget writing about my spain trip, i need to talk about something else and writing about this will help me, i think... i hope.

i lost my best friend yesterday; my parents told me this evening.  my baby, who i raised, who felt like my actual human son.  he was there for me when i was sad, when i was happy, and when i was cooking spongebob mac and cheese as my afternoon snack.  he dealt with my rubbing the tips of his ears between two fingers to feel how soft he was, he dealt with the mauling kisses and hugs i gave him, and he dealt with the pictures i obsessively took of him and posted to instagram and facebook.

the hard part about being in england is that i wasn't with him at the end, but my parents were - thank god.  it actually may have been worse were i still in the US - i probably would have left my job, driven home, and had to be sedated once we lost him.  being across the ocean has protected me from being a crazy person and, while i am still upset and sobbing my eyes out, i can only think that the ocean has protected me from harm.

i don't honestly care what most of you think; to me, jordan was everything - and using "was" is one of the most painful parts of that sentence and future conversations.  he was my doggie; he was my bff; he was my shoulder to cry on; he was my entertainment; he was my snugglebutt, my lovemonkey, my bamboozle.  i called him a slew of nicknames and he never cared; he still loved me back.  he let me snuggle the shit out of him, rub his belly, his his head.

i wish i could do all these things again.  i already dread that i can't.

i love this dog more than anything.  he was - and will always be - a member of my family.  please enjoy these pictures of jordan, my soulmate.

jordan hates his santa outfit. (it also reverses to be an elf outfit!)

::LOVELOVELOVE::

jordan and his little bro charlie who followed jordan around the yard and always needed him as a babysitter

our last picture together, me and my little lovemuffin

jordan and his ball, his favorite toy <3

i bought him two things in boston: a lobster tough toy and a shitton of pig ear treats from this specialty store on newbury street.  when i brought these home, he seemed disinterested in the lobster and did not want to eat the ears which had previously been his favorite thing ever.  i did get him to eat half an ear, but it's like he knew...

my dad buried our family member with all his toys - especially his favorite, that damned pink ball.  he loved nothing more than that walmart speciall that, despite our best efforts, we were never able to find another.  he is near his brothers, ziggy and little bob (cats) and gally (guinea pig) and his sisters pierre (cat) and nelly (guinea pig).  i hope they are playing with him in heaven, showing him around, getting him the best doggie toys.  he brothered them all and was there when we lost them; he was there for me when we lost them.

he lost his neighbor dog friend, lucky, a few years ago to a car accident.  she was a black lab, too.  i hope she is playing with him, too.  no, not hope - i know she is.  she loved breaking off her leash and coming over to our house to entertain jordan, who siblings were guinea pigs and cats.  lots of cats.

as for that lobster toy: he never touched it.  my dad said he didn't actually bury that with my baby, partly because it was brand new but mainly because it was never really jordan's toy.  they were going to put it on his gravestone with his boston university collar but i told my mom not to; i said, that is jordan's gift to the next dog i get, whether it be in the next year or the next 10.  that was his gift.

when jordan was a baby, my mom slept with him on the kitchen floor because he would not stop crying; she did this again the past few days outside on the lawn when he suddenly couldn't walk.  i am so glad that he was a part of our family and that he was so loved.  i see things on facebook all the time about animals abused or abandoned and i weep.  no innocent creature deserves that.  i am grateful that we got to give jordan an amazing life.

we were trying to house train jordan, keeping him baby-gated in the kitchen to avoid pee on the new carpets, but he was not pleased.  he refused to go outside and instead would use the newspaper in the kitchen.  he also was growing and could knock down that baby gate in one lean.  well, one day, my mom got SO fed up she went on one of her crazy tyraids.  she said something to the order of "fine, you want out of the kitchen?  well, you're going go to go to the bathroom outside!"  and ripped the baby gate down and tossed it outside.

he never went in the house again.  it was like he just wanted that gate down and to be a part of the family.  he ate so much wallpaper and cabinet wood but really just wanted to lie in front of the tv with my feet rubbing him; he always wanted to be touched.

i know it's a little soon, but i really needed to write this; i needed to share his amazing life with you all.  i'm sorry for the typos and sentences that might not quite make sense; i wrote this with extreme emotions, but that's what jordan gave me all the time - extreme emotions.  i love him with al my heart and soul.  i don't know how i'll go back home without him there, but i know my parents and kitties charlie and kelse will help.

i love you jordan, i love you so much! <3

amsterdam=amsterawesome

last but not least (definitely not least!) of my benelux excursion: amsterdam, the netherlands.  what is there to say about amsterdam?  EVERYTHING.  EVERYTHING IS TO SAY ABOUT AMTERDAM.

i loveloveLOVED amsterdam!  now, i did make friends straight away so maybe that makes me biased as they were quite spectacular and i really want to go visit some in scotland, but it was beautiful! the weather was just as bad here (except the last day - sun!) as all the others with rain and not quite warmth, but i loved this city.  the canals and the buildings - adorbs!

hostel: i stayed at the st. christopher's at the winston (a hostel).  this place was amazing!  it included towels, the rooms and ensuite bathroom were impeccably clean, and the attached restaurant gave us spectacular food and bev discounts and 2-for-1 deals.  if you are going to amsterdam, definitely stay here!  the atmosphere is lovely and great fun!

transport: i walked everywhere - again, there are trams, but unless you're going a fair distance, you can really walk anywhere.  walking also give you a better opportunity to take in the buildings and canals and awesomeness that is amsterdam!

food: i had most of my meals at our hostel - which were excellent - though we did hit up a chinese restaurant in china town (tasty) and a bagel shop for hangover cures one morning.

communication: more english speaking.  everyone.  all over.  englishenglishenglish.

sights: i did a canal tour - there are a bajillion different options with the same prices etc. - but i went with the "see amsterdam" company located next to the anne frank house.  i ended up being the only person on my cruise which made it more awesome as my driver turned off the automated voice that describes everything to give me better details about the city.  other than that, i walked around.  i wanted to go in the anne frank house but the line was legit over an hour wait.  ain't nobody got time for that!  after the cruise is when i befriended a canadian guy at my hostel who then introduced me to his 4 new scottish friends.  we went to a museum and got to see some cool van gogh paintings (like that yellow flower pot one and that smoking skeleton one).  mainly though, we just walked around - in and out of street markets, in and out of the red light district (which, btw, is a must see!), etc. etc.  such a beautiful city!!!

nightlife: spectacular!  my friends and i wandered to different places, but had an excellent time!  lots of dancing and drinking (obv).  i was there on a thursday and a friday, but i feel like amsterdam probably has a great scene other nights, too.  one night was more chill and we even got to chat with some locals who were really nice and friendly!  

pictures: 

cool houses + house boat

my new friends!

also my new friends!

beautiful!

street market

me!

SO MANY PEOPLE

brb.

rotterdam and its crazy buildings

next stop: rotterdam, the netherlands.

i know, i am beasting out these entires.  how?  how does she do it? how does she write these so promptly when usually she keeps us guessing for weeks, months even, at a time?  i'll tell you how.  magical elves, that's how.  and glitter. 

hostel: i stayed at the ROOMhostel.  it had recieved excellent reviews online but i was a little nervous when i got there and people were, as at the rest of my hostels, not very social.  the first night, i didn't care and i passed out - i was exhausted from antwerp shenanigans and didn't even hear people coming or going in that room.  this hostel was a nice than brussels but maybe a little ghettoer.  this gave to its charm; i ended up befriending two americans in a band (it was just the two of them though) who invited me to their show where i also got to interact a lot with the hostel employees, all super nice.  also, this place had a DOG.  spectacular!  one negative: the ladies' room ran out of TP nonstop and it took way too long to get it replaced.

transport: while there is a tram system running all over, i just walked everywhere. it was easier (and cheaper) that way.

food: i went to a few places that were recommended somewhere on the internet or by the hostel.  little/larger cafes - all excellent!  one thing, however, annoyed me - although i think this is a "problem" all over europe.  a "large coffee" was more like the size of an espresso, except it wasn't espresso - it was coffee.  i like my coffee venti sized, pls.

communication: again, english everywhere.

sights: i did a river cruise as well as a self-guided (free) architecture walking tour.  the cruise probs would have been better if the weather weren't shit, but i got to learn about the city and see a bajllion shipping crates (no, seriously - a bajillion).  the architecture is cray there and definitely worth seeing!  i didn't go inside any place, but there were some tours available. 

nightlife: i was there on tuesday and wednesday nights - there was bar stuff going on, but not much.  my band friends attracted quite a crowd to a very tiny bar, but i think most people said those aren't really happenin' nights.

pictures:

cube houses

the red apple

this one

CRATES!

brb.

i love antwerp! i even bought the [obnoxious touristy] bag to prove it!

ok, my next city was antwerp, belgium.  not gonna lie - i was really excited to get out of brussels.  it didn't hurt that the weather was beautiful!  i got to antwerp and when i got off the tram was all smiles.  for real.  lots of creepy smiles.

here are things about my stay:

hostel: i stayed at the antwerp city hostel (a member of hosteling international).  it was super clean but also the equivalent of sterile.  SO much concrete.  SO MUCH!  here, however, i made some bffs.  second day i met a girl from brazil staying with me and we ended up having a drink together that evening which turned into us befriending two other solo travelers, two guys from italy and [french] canada.  all of the other guests were strangely doing work on their computers and in meetings - we were like, F that.  other than these, the hostel was in an excellent location and very easy to get to and from and nearby everything!

transport: i took the train and then the tram to my hostel, but i really could have walked from the train station to the hostel.  the tram runs all about but was pretty unnecessary.  antwerp was very walkable.

food: less exciting, though my food was good.  i had some pizza, ice cream from a truck, waffle from same truck, and the usual - BEER.

communication: everyone spoke english.  every menu was available in english.  easy.

sights:  i pretty much saw it all, but mostly from the outside - the schelde river, the 't steen castley thing, the grote markt, and the cathedral of our lady (which i paid to go in - student price FTW!).  i appreciated the architecture here more than in brussels even though i'm not sure of any striking differences; i think perhaps i just liked the city and the atmosphere here more and therefore liked the sites more.  antwerp is a small city however; you can do the whole thing in a day.

nightlife: i was there on sunday and monday nights so not too much going on, but my new friends and i made it out to a karaoke bar on monday which was quite hilarious as they offered songs in nearly every language!  one rando was particularly awesome having an incredible voice and singing songs in 5 different languages!

pictures: 

the schelde

't steen

cathedral of our lady

brb.

brussels, belgium

ok, so i guess i should get on with the other cities of my benelux excursion before i need to blog about my spain trip so that's my new goal - write these and publish them before i leave on 26 july!

let's get going.  my next stop, after a 3 hour train ride from luxembourg city, was brussels, belgium.

hostel: i stayed at the brussels hello hostel.  it happened to be under construction on the ground floor while i was there, but this didn't impede my stay in any way as my room/showers/toilets were all on the first floor.  i didn't have great roommates - two girls from canada who seemed to be having a great time but were only interested in each other, one chinese girl who didn't speak, and a spanish girl who was constantly whistling like a bird to call to her male friend staying in another room.  whistling girl was the most obnoxious of them all.  the bartender and her friend were really nice though and i spent both evenings chatting to them.  annoying, though - my room was directly above the bar and the music was SO LOUD.  sleep?  i guess i'll try that some time.

transport: i had no issues using the metro - very easy to use and very easy to access the whole city.  i did a lot of walking too which maybe was not the best idea - some areas were what i would consider sketch and as i was travelling alone, i felt quite uncomfortable at times; it's hard to tell where to go and where not to go on a map.

food: dear god, BELGIAN WAFFLES.  i nommed the crap out of these guys - only 1 euro + extra for toppings everywhereeee!  also, fries.  FRIES.  MORE FRIES.  really tasty and cheap and thus easy access.  restaurants were another situation - most places only had one veg option, veg lasagne, and no chicken option.  also, one place i went in wasn't serving food... even though it was "dinner time" and they had their menu out on the side walk.  i felt like the most awkward of turtles so i just had a beer and got fries afterwards from a truck.

communication: everyone spoke english, but a lot of menus weren't available in english so i did occasionally have to ask what stuff was.

sights: lots of walking.  my favorite place, as touristy as it was, was the grand place/grote markt.  i felt comfortable there amongst my fellow selfie-snappers and waffle stand queuers.  it was also beautiful!  there weather was shite - i had to buy an extra hoodie because i thought i was going to die - which may have contributed to this being my least favorite city.  the architecture was cool, but nothing that caught my eye.  i also went to a gueuze brewery - the cantillon brewery.  while it was in a less than ideal neighborhood, it was pretty cool to learn about their special beer making magic that involves letting every spider live and never clearing cobwebs.  i even bought myself a tshirt and my bf a pint glass!

nightlife: didn't do anything here, but the canadian girls seemed to be enjoying themselves.

pictures: 

grand place

WAFFLESWAFFLESWAFFLES

obligatory peeing boy statue pic "manneken pis"

enjoying beer.  i look creepily happy.

brb.

¡solamente nueve días a españa!

yo sé, yo sé - necesito escribir como las otras ciudades que vi en europa - pero ahora, ¡solamente puedo creer de mi viaje a españa!  este viaje es diez años en el haciendo.  así, voy a decir vos.  (y mis apologías si mi español no es perfecto.  no he tenido un clase de español en ocho años pero he estudiado en el internet con "livemocha," mi sitio favorito para aprender lenguas.  es como paseando un bicicleta, ¿no? jajaja.)

la saga: en mi escuela secundario, en mi clase de español, se suponía que íbamos a viajar a españa en 2003.  hemos pagado y dos o tres meses antes del viaje, la escuela nos dijo que no podemos ir.  porque hemos pagado, decidimos que viajaríamos el próximo año.

en el próximo año, 2004, más estudiantes decidieron ir a españa con nuestra profesora.  entonces, la escuela - ¡la escuela! - nos dijo otra vez que no podemos ir.  una amiga de yo luchó la escuela y podía tener su moneda del viaje.  yo y los otros decidimos ir a españa con tres padres de los estudiantes.  ¡todo estuve bueno!  o nosotros pensamos que sí.  en madrid, fue bombardeos en los trenes una semana antes de nuestro viaje.  todos nuestros padres no estaban feliz.  también, la compañía de viajes no quería ir a españa durante ese tiempo.

decidimos ir a perú.  fue un viaje magnífico pero ahora, diez años en el futuro, todavía no he ido a españa.

ahora, mi amiga jenn está estudiando en alicante, españa.  en nueve días, iré a barcelona y en trece días, ¡iré a alicante!  ¡va a ser muy muy MUY bueno!  también, vamos a ir a granada, málaga, tangier (¡en morocco!), y madrid.  ¡estoy muy excitada!  el sol, las playas, las ciudades, y in viaje con una amiga - ¡excelente!

vale - necesito hacer trabajo del laboratorio.  ¡solamente siete días de ciencias más!

bueno.

brb.

grand duchy of luxembourg

so i've been promising to write about my not-so-recent-anymore trip to benelux.  now that i've got plenty of free time, i should probably get on with that since i also want to tell you all about my upcoming adventures as well as all the shit i've been doing since i last updated.

let's start with luxembourg.

hostel: i stayed at the youth hostel luxembourg city (a member of hosteling international).  it was super clean but the walls were comparable to paper (there was a large group of very young german students staying there and i could hear every word that i didn't understand).  my roommates were a 40-something mother and her 13 year old daughter the first night and then one girl whom i didn't really speak with and one whom i definitely didn't speak with (since she stayed out all night) the second.

transport: i flew to lux from london and had no issues.  i also took the bus to my hostel and then later from my hostel to the train station.  very easy to use.  for daily travel, i just walked everywhere.  the old city is very small and easy to navigate but if you wanted to go further, bus.

food: om nom nom.  i am very picky with food so lots of "traditional" foods easily slip by me, but what i did eat was tasty.  very expensive, though, and i had a hard time deciding where to eat.

communication: everyone spoke english.  nbd.  moving on.

sights: i went into the petrusse casemates on a tour - super cool - and also did the bock casemates (self-guided).  lots of stairs but really interesting to see all of the old stuff deep under the city!  in general though, i just did a lot of walking around and looking at stuff, like the grand ducal palace and the golden lady.

nightlife: didn't do anything here so not sure.  also, i was definitely not there during peak season - i felt like i hardly saw anyone plus the weather that week was awful - cold and rainy :(

pictures: 

like a boss.

grand ducal palace

brb.

cue cliché american cheer captain obnoxiousness

if you didn't think my blog was cheerleading-filled enough, just wait for next year.  last night, at our club's elections, i ran for and was elected as cheer captain 2013-2014!  i am SO excited to start planning the year and getting to work on this (in between, you know, trying to get a master's degree and does science and stuff).

ok, i know, i still owe all my avid readers some details of my european travels, but i really wanted to talk announce the awesomeness that has occurred as well as forewarn of all the future cheer-related posts.

brb.

boston strong

i really want to write all about my epic benelux adventure - and i will - but first i really need to address last week.  as i'm sure anyone who doesn't live under a rock heard, the week began with the boston marathon bombings leaving 3 dead and over 200 injured, as recent stats have given, and ended with a police officer dead, a suspect dead, and the other suspect in custody after the city locked down for an entire day.  this hits me close to home because it is my home - if you didn't know, while i just moved to england, i moved from boston, a city where i had been living the past 8 years of my life.  it holds my former university, my friends, and memories upon memories.

when i heard what happened (via facebook, one of the most reliable of news sources), i immediately went on twitter (another excellent source of news) to try to figure out what was happening.  boston.com refused to load. CNN merely had a "breaking news" banner on their homepage and nothing more.  one of my bff's, caroline, finally gchatted me.  she had been on the T [subway in boston] with her brother  underneath the bombings when they happened.  she told me the train stopped, which don't get me wrong is a normal occurrence as it is potentially one of the worst public transportation systems of all time, but that she knew something was wrong - a gut feeling.  when the train finally pulled into the station and she found out what happened, she went to her school and stayed inside where she was chatting me from.

i tried reaching out to my boyfriend, not thinking he would have been there, but still wanting to know he was safe.  more importantly, i knew another of my bff's, vanessa, was running the marathon as i had donated money to her for the MSPCA.  i began emailing her and fb messaging her boyfriend and her, checking her fb page, and even getting messages from mutual friends asking if i had heard anything.  about an hour or so later the MSPCA posted that she was safe so i shared the news immediately and was so happy.  social networking really worked at its finest last week.  i knew others running it as well and if it weren't for facebook, i wouldn't have known they were safe.  if it weren't for twitter, i wouldn't have been able to know what was going on.  i shared and retweeted the crap out of last week.  see, boston is MY city.  i will always call it home.  as you all saw and continue to see, boston is strong.  we don't take crap from anyone.

i can't wait to go back and kiss those streets [figuratively, let's not get any infectious diseases please] - and i will do so on june 6th!  one of my bff's and former college roomie, erica, is getting married on the 8th.

i cried a lot last week.  i may not have known any of the killed or injured personally, but it really felt like i did.  i know they have the same feelings in the heart for boston that i do, but luckily i also know that they have the same strength and power to move forward.

i will conclude this more solemn of my entries with a giant internet hug to everyone in boston.  for all of my regular readers (lolz, i think it's only vanessa), i will post subsequent entries for each city i visited on my benelux trip later so you can read about my awesome holiday that i had before all this sadness happened.

brb.

what i've been up to, or, heather's list of complaints

where have i been, you ask?  oh, the usual slacking off and not writing anything - but more importantly, italy!  i just got back from a cheerleading trip to rimini, italy.  to start off, the weather was horrific - freezing cold and rain every day.  also, sitting on a coach for 25 hours was unpleasant to say the least (that's right - we drove there from england).

brief summary: their was an evil biznatch nicknamed "quagmire" - think family guy - in charge of the cheerleading bits of our trip who didn't like doing her job/was lazy and so told us not to bother showing up to day 2.  we did show up however and even though it was brief, we did get to try some new things.   our group leaders (aka our social secs from the team) did an awesome job so the party times were lots of fun.

what's up next: i'm leaving for luxembourg tomorrow!  i will be visiting luxembourg, brussels, antwerp, rotterdam, and amsterdam.  i've got crazy touristy maps and my camera in hand ready to go and as always, a way over packed suitcase.

to keep you up to date: i still live with idiots.  this one girl has now walked out of the kitchen twice in front of me and left the hob on.  she is also the one i hate the most - she barely says hi to me, never smiles, and in addition to creating a fire hazard also left a sloppy nasty mess all over the stove - and to think i was blaming the boys!  rage.

right now i'm sitting in my flat alone while one of the idiots' alarms or something has been going off for the past 3 hours (they shut off the electric for some maintenance and when it came back on, this beeping began).  also, we haven't had overhead lighting in my flat (all rooms/bathrooms and corridor) since sunday night - just my flat.  i can see the others have their lights on.  it just randomly went off and has refused to come back on.  of course after submitting a report online sunday and nothing being done about it, i finally went to the security office (because normal offices are closed) and was like wtf, mate? bets on this not getting fixed before i leave tomorrow.

wow - my blog has really just turned into a "heather's list of complaints."  i will try to juice it up, hopefully with some great stories from my benelux excursion.  here: enjoy this pic of my friends and i as cave girls in italy.

brb.

new and/or exciting

i was about to start this entry about how nothing new or exciting has happened but then i realised a lot of new and exciting things have happened!  ok, maybe not so many, but some.  a few.  a couple?

in 2.5 weeks i will be heading to italy with my cheerleading team for some beaching, boozing, and of course cheerleading.  we are road tripping there (18 hours+ on a coach bus) and then eventually flying back after our week of being awesome.

eurotrip part II then takes over - my family was supposed to come visit me for me second two weeks of spring break, but were unable to due to my grandma being ill so i booked myself a little excursion.  tickets to the US were disgustingly expensive so even though i wanted to see my bf, grandma, and pets (and of course other family and friends), i decided to make the most of my time living abroad.  i will be flying to luxembourg then spending two nights there, two in brussels, two in antwerp, two in rotterdam, and two in amsterdam.  i am SO excited!  i'm staying in hostels with the off-chance hope of meeting fellow travellers who need a buddy but even if not, it's still way cheaper than a hotel.

can any of my avid readers offer any advice or suggestions about any of these cities?  like i've said, i already have places to stay.

of course a side story on this is that my credit card company is very diligent: they saw all of my europe bookings and when i went to make the final payment for my eurail benelux pass (woot!) they rejected it and flagged my account.  this is why i put my mother's name on the account as well - she was able to call from the US and explain that these were not fraudulent charges and i was in fact buying a whole bunch of crap.  i mean, i could have called collect from here but 1) i hate making phone calls and 2) i haven't the slightest idea of how to get an operator on the phone.  is it 0 like in the US?  i tried googling but i don't think any people ever need to do that anymore so that was a fail.  good job L$ [my mom] was around.

so, what else?  well, one of my 2.5 non-cheerleading friends (i say 2.5 because i have only just met the 0.5 and we are not besties or anything yet, lol) is moving back home to trinidad on wednesday.  it is very sad but i think it is best for her.  after some not-so-great things happened in her life, she has kind of been being a little of out control.  of course i will have 1 less friend here.  le sigh.

i have also been epically slacking on my lab work.  maybe i should get to essay writing.  stresssss.

brb.

life goes on

5th place, bitches!

yesterday, my cheerleading team placed 5th out of 12 teams competing in our division.  needless to say, we were super excited.  we were out only one person due to injuries this time and despite throwing my back out on friday, i was able to make it through the competition (ibuprofen + deep heat, FTW).  granted now my back is completely shot and i'm hoping to get to a doctor this week so i can get some stronger drogas.

what else is going on?  nothing really.  i am siting in on our board of studies meeting as a programme rep along with my friend in the course.  i am still lazily getting stuff done in the lab.  i am considering doing laundry if my back can manage carrying all this crap.

oh!   - we had our team photo taken today, which came out kickass (except for the fact that we were missing 5 people, womp womp).

besides cheer comp yesterday, life is boring as of now until probably late march when we will have more cheerleading and then i and my teammates will be going on tour to ITALIA!!!  can NOT wait!

brb.

nothing to report.

life is continuing to drag onward.  i really have nothing much new to say since my last post, which was about 2 weeks ago.  today is a holiday in america (omgee presidents what up?!) but alas, i live in the UK now.  no presidents.  no holiday.  - although let's be realistic, if i were still in the US i bet i would have to turn up to my job.  today is just a normal day.

we had a really good social between the cheerleaders and american football players two weekends ago - lots of games and unlike some others i have been to, actually quite social.  i am proud to say i interacted with new people and thus made some new friends!  lol.  score.  we have another social tonight with the AF-ers which i will attend but lay off the booze - it's a monday, people.  a monday.

we have our next cheerleading competition this weekend in which we will hopefully do much much better.  we have been working our asses off; additionally, some stuff has been changed so it looks more clean/awesome.  granted people are getting broken left and right (a knee here, a finger there, and a back  or two), i think we will be awesome this weekend.  awesome.

ok, like i said, not much going on, but i figured i should at least update this thing once in a while.

oh, and i still hate my flatmates.  they are awful and rude and terrible human beings.

brb.

oops.

so remember that time i haven't written in this thing in forever?!?!  my bad.  my new semester starts this week (classes start wednesday) so perhaps i will use that as a starting point to remember to keep up with this.  i know i have bajillions of readers (lolz), so i will begin with an update of the last 2+ months.

let's begin with the fist half of december:
i was rushing around with my friend and assigned group partner on an oral presentation as well as a poster presentation which kept me busy and a little stressed - the stress mainly coming from the fact that we technically had a 3rd group member who contributed absolutely nothing.  i was also getting in the lab more and got to play with chemicals (with supervision from an actual chemist, haha) for my research project.  there was also the packing and cleaning and preparing for my trip home to the US for christmas.

once i got back to the US in mid-december:
can i just say i love virgin atlantic?  i have been upgraded more than once (free) to those extra legroom seats but on my journey back to the US they upgraded me to premium economy (basically, business class or one step below first class) which meant i got a GIANT seat with foot rest (ooooooh!  aaaaaaah!) and was served champagne upon boarding.  the food was even classy, with adorable salt and pepper shakers and of course, more booze.  [see instagram pic below]

when i got to america, i spent a week at my boyfriend's in boston being epically jet-lagged for most of the trip but still managing a night of raging with my old coworkers.  i then went to my parents' house in new york where i got to see my cousins, sister and her family, grandma, and this cuddly face:

^ that's jordan, i <3 him!

then it was back out to boston for a little over a week comprising of NYE and the triple birthday - me, my bestie caroline, and the bf ALL have the same bday!  caroline and i are the same day/same year while the bf is only same day (two years older which means he'll be 30 before me, heh).

january 9th to present:
i flew back to the UK, slept all day, and then did some cheerleading.  then began crunch time: i had a paper due and an exam on the 15th so i spent the next week cramming and writing.  once that was done, i spent minimal time in lab and lots of time working on our cheerleading routine.  we had our first competition this past saturday that all i can say, did not go as planned in terms of placing.  the routine was fine (with a few noted mistakes with me/my second stunt group), but we were missing a key tumbler and a key flyer who were away and injured, respectively, so that really knocked down our points.  anyways, now we just need to work harder for the next one at the end of the month!  i think we can do it.  there're are few things we can add to increase our point value as well as both missing people will, fingers crossed, be back with no new injuries from others.

and that's that.  like i said, lecture starts on wednesday (epidemiology which i probably shouldn't even be taking, lolz) and i've got to get some stuff done in lab as well as lots of cheerleading.

we are having a cheerleading/american football social this friday that is "american" themed - should be easy for me to dress up..

brb.