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.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, March 11, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, February 25, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, February 18, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, February 4, 2013
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:
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.
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.
Monday, November 26, 2012
black friday
one thing i miss the most about living in england is the gluttony that comes with thanksgiving and the madness that comes with black friday (note: black friday is my fave holiday ever). this year, while most americans gorged themselves on turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and PIE, i went to lab just like any other day, got lunch (bread with melted cheese and tomato), and cracked open a diet coke. while i was and still am disappointed that i missed all of the in-store black friday action, at the very least most stores offer some sort of online deals. for example - spend $65 at victoria's secret and get a free tote filled with lotions and crap plus free shipping over $50. (the number of VS totes i have is, by the way, ridiculous.)
so far this holiday season, i have purchased 2 items for other people and 22 things for myself. my niece is getting a coach wristlet and my bf is getting... a gift that i don't want to mention here in case he happens to read this. what can i say, there were great "me" deals! VS of course; old navy had kickass athletic clothes sales; a new pair of "wide calf" riding boots for my obese calves; a new coach keychain (shameless); new jewelry from lia sophia. fml i am so poor. thank jesus for student loans!
updates on life in general:
- flatmates suck and have left the hob on again with nothing on it twice this week.
- cheerleading is kickass except i hurt my back last friday and uh, yeah it's actually really bad and i should probably rest for like 2 weeks but am going to exercise anyways.
- course is good, started growing some mammalian cells woot! i'm a real scientist!
i really want to move furniture around in my room, which of course i decided while my back is at its worst and i cannot physically move said furniture. le sigh.
brb.
so far this holiday season, i have purchased 2 items for other people and 22 things for myself. my niece is getting a coach wristlet and my bf is getting... a gift that i don't want to mention here in case he happens to read this. what can i say, there were great "me" deals! VS of course; old navy had kickass athletic clothes sales; a new pair of "wide calf" riding boots for my obese calves; a new coach keychain (shameless); new jewelry from lia sophia. fml i am so poor. thank jesus for student loans!
updates on life in general:
- flatmates suck and have left the hob on again with nothing on it twice this week.
- cheerleading is kickass except i hurt my back last friday and uh, yeah it's actually really bad and i should probably rest for like 2 weeks but am going to exercise anyways.
- course is good, started growing some mammalian cells woot! i'm a real scientist!
i really want to move furniture around in my room, which of course i decided while my back is at its worst and i cannot physically move said furniture. le sigh.
brb.
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