this song,

I have never

been carded so hardcore as I was last night. The bartender even turned on the black light so he could check my ID. Then, after I already had two drinks, the dyke bouncer came up to me, "Have you got an ID on you?" Ugh, then checked it again along with my school ID.

Laaaame.

I'll further update later.

I miss you, yeah you.

-kb2.

EDIT: then, last night (30 Jan), I went around Old School and wasn't carded ONCE! they were carding people left and right. make up your mind london...

tehe

http://native.bandcamp.com

(First thing's first. go here.)

Dear you,

It's come to my attention that I'm just as lazy here in London, as I am in the states.

Yes, I'm in another country. But I also now LIVE in another country. So I guess this is home to me now, and as accustomed, I've had another 3 hour mid-day nap.

woot.

LAZY is right hahaha.

The goal today was supposed to be to do homework. More specifically, I was supposed to catch up on reading. Since I have to read a whole novel by Thursday, I calculated 40 pages a day since I got the assignment last Thursday. Unfortunately, or I guess Naturally, I haven't started. I've read a page or two here and there if I happen to glance at the book so cleverly put across the room far away from me. Instead, I did what any college student would do: I read wikipedia and Sparknotes. Holla! The tutors here know that the exchange students don't "graduate" in the subjects they're taking, so it wouldn't surprise them that I, a psychology student, doesn't fancy post-modern English literature. Especially a 300-page book in 7 days. From my point of view, can one even appreciate such a "work" in that amount of time?? :D tehe, I suck.

I guess I'll just have to see how long the other books are. Apparently the rest are shorter.

The update here, friends, is that Kiersten is the same! haha I seriously need some good marks though, because this is the semester that, in theory, should raise my whole gpa. So party hard, but study harder?? vice versa? nah, I'm here because I'm paying to be. See, I still have the right frame of mind, but my study habits are still in a poor state.

At least I'm well-rested :) I eat breakfast daily and dinner at a decent hour. Much healthier than when I was in the States.

Still miss all of you dearly,

-kb2.

kitty!

mall. huge mall.

kingston.

River Thames at night.

It's true, you can never have too much tea here.

Ello!

I know, I've been MIA way too much for me to be so far away.

..and it's not like I don't have the time to update either. It's 2:30am, and what am I doing?? I mean honestly. So, smack me for my negligence because I suck. :P

haha anyways, what have I been up to?!

I guess, simply put, I've become a professional pub critic. aka I've been in all the pubs. ah yes, the true inner alcoholic in me has finally found its niche in Luhnduhnn. lol

But I'm sad to say that it's kinda the truth. I can't say I've been a tourist. Tower of London? Nope. Stonehenge? Nope.

See? Let's not forget though, that I've had school this week. Granted I only have school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays.... butttt, I promise you, stuff's not cheap, man!

Hmm... lately I've been having these crazy, crazy dreams. There was one where I decided to fly home for the weekend because I felt like it. EVERYONE was there! I also had a dream where my cousin Mary visited with all of her kids, but I guess she had more than her 5?.. she had like 8. and they all ran to me to give me a hug and I said, "wow there really are 8 of you." crazy.

and today, when I napped, I had a dream about me following clues to figure what had happened or something. Then a magician was having a show and I was trying to crawl out of the theater when he frisbee-ed a picture into the air, and I covered my head with my hands and the picture landed into my hand. Confusing, I know. But it was nuts!

So, I'm wondering how long these dreams will last for. I'm gonna have to start writing them down.

Let's talk school:

Monday, I sat in on a Civil Wars class in hopes to not actually like it :) I need a general history class back at USF and want to fulfill the requirement here. My options were this class and another. Thank goodness I didn't like this one. First, because it's a 200 level class. Here, first years take all 100 level classes, second years 200, etc. Also, in London, no one takes general ed. This means that the people in my history class are majoring, err, graduating (apparently 'majoring' doesn't exist here because I was already correct once before) in history. So, everyone in my class knows history which meant that that class was hard. And by hard, I mean that class covers every civil war from 1500-2000. Yikes. aaaanddd, the professor was too feminine for my liking... especially for a dude.

Tuesday, I was planning on taking 'London as a Tourist Destination' in which we'd learn about why people come to London. Sweet deal, except for the fact that I slept through it and didn't even make it. oops. But, I emailed the 'tutor' aka professor/teacher/deal and he was okay with me coming next week. lol. Then I had the history class I am now registered for: 20th Century Britain. Yay, a 100 level course where we learn about what Bristish culture is aka the Spice Girls. I kid you not, we spend a whole week on them :) Yay Posh Spice. aha

Wednesday, I took Moral Philosophy. This tutor is whack. This class has that one student whom you want to kill every day. Yenno that student?? Yeah. Wednesday are not my favorite other than the fact that I get out at noon those days.

Thursday - 20th Century Literature. If there is one class that will be the death of me, it's this one. We read an ENTIRE book a week. Okay yeah yeah, whatever, that's not a lot. But, hi, I'm Kiersten and I don't read :) It's hard enough having to keep up with Alex's blog at the rate he updates that thing tehe :P But yeah, at this point, I was really considering saving literature for USF, but does USF class only meet once a week? Nope. Does USF end their semester one week after Spring Break like St. Mary's does? Nope. SOO, I kinda concluded that I have it realllllyyyy well here :) WELL. YES. PROPER ENGLISH.

and Friday, yesterday, I reached a new alcoholic limit: a pint and a half of Magner's, a pint of Strongbow (my favorite thus far), a vodka cranberry, a shot of American Flag, a shot of Irish Flag, and a shot of Slippery Nipple. wow, that sounds a lot worse than it was. This was all consumed starting like 8pm-11pm, at 3 different pubs in the city. and the night ended with me passing out. per usual. I safe though, so no worries :)

Today I watched the movie Brothers. How depressing. Weird acting from Toby. Jake's cuter. Natalie Portman looks weird with blonde hair. The plot and scenes were as choppy and random as those last sentences. An hour and half in to the movie, I had already thought that this was the longest movie I had ever seen. I also cried a lot because it was sad. But as far as depicting war-life, I'd still stick to The Hurtlocker.

Alright then, almost 3am and the English kids in the dorms are still drunk and loud as usual. We had our weekly fire alarm... apparently it's funny to pull it???

Other than that, I play Super Mario on my DSi and get really frustrated when I die a bunch. I'm at the second world now :) yay.

Kay, picture time!

we met these 18 year olds who ordered one of every specialty shot on the menu. many of them were gay, and many of them were deerunk.

the American Flag. apparently they were out of the "white" for the flag so they made it French? lol I can't believe I drank that. It was warm too.

the Slipper Nipple. Baileys on top of what tasted like licorice.

the Irish Flag. It had Baileys on top of green, mint flavored liquor. tasted like a thin mint :)

Slippery Nipples all around. and that was it for the night aha.

a dessert the US is totally missing out on. nomm I get to eat it everyday! (I know I know, nacho cheese?!?! but it's NOT! it's custard. warm and melted and deelicious! totally missing out)

TEENY theater. They have you pick your seats when you buy tickets. Almost every movie gets sold out.

and goodnight,

If you're reading this then I probably miss you tons!!

-kb2.

Across the Pond.

Greetings for Twickenham, London!! (Twih-kin-ehm)

Sorry for the late update, but hey I've only been here for two days and the uni's got me a lame orientation schedule. wah wah

haha I can already tell you'll notice that I've picked up all of the slang/jargon words for lots of stuff here, so it should be fun to reread this one once back in the states.

anyways, let's start from the top:

My family dropped me off at SFO and waited for me until i absolutely had to pass security. Apparently there was a deal on flight from SFO to Vegas and there was a disco-ish theme. I say ish because people were dressed in banana suits, roller skates, everything that would make an airport security hate their lives haha. But literally everyone on that flight was decked out. I bet they had an interesting couple of days...

Alex too!

So, after I parted with my family, I was all sad waiting at the terminal, slowly realizing I was all by my lonesome.

Fortunately, once settled into the air, I had these to open and look forward to.

!!!

The meal on the plane was actually really good. It was a ground beef kinda thing with mashed potatoes and veggies. They called it "Cottage Pie." There was also a pasta salad with peas in it, which I thought was a little different than I was used to. Look at my wine :) It tasted eh though. lol pink silverware, that was actually really sturdy and the knife cut through the bread.

gahh, this cake was soo good and soo small! the top was a chocolate mouse and the bottom was so light and moist. nomm.

I'd say you could probably do without trying this water.

I guess my first real cup of tea :) plastic cup.

milk. yeah it was exactly as weird as you're thinking.

Breakfast :) either I was super hungry, or that Jimmy Dean egg & cheese bagel was good! haha

Soo... the flight itself? Yeah I was sitting next to an English family. I was in the center group of seat on the aisle and next to me was this 8 or 10 year old girl with scraggly hair and a bunny. Apparently she had gotten a new ring that was soooo pretty that when the airplane went dark for people to sleep she was the ONLY person to have their light still on so she could admire it. I kid you not, friends. The entire 10 hours in the air, I had the bright reading light shining down on me. :(

In addition to the fact that my plane was already delayed, I was on a time limit to make the shuttle provided by my school back to campus. I arrived in London Heathrow at 12:30pm and the shuttle was scheduled to leave at 1pm. To my luck, once I ran out of the plane to immigrations (which was seriously a mile away.. Heathrow is HUGE), I was welcomed with a fatty line :( And, once I got to the counter, the guy talked to me for everrr asking about EVERY plan I had in London and that I had no intention of staying. Ugh, and I though having a legit Visa would be proof enough that I was supposed to be there. Guess not.

Upon arriving at baggage claim, I was greeted with the announcement that there was a problem getting the luggage off of the plane and that they didn't know when they would be about to get it.

So, I ran out to the exit to try and catch the rep from my school to tell them my situation. After looking through a sea of taxi signs, I finally found my school rep. She wasn't very optimistic in the idea that I would be able to make the shuttle, but since there was only ONE other student present, she agreed to wait. THEN, what I had to do was go ALL THE WAY BACK THROUGH SECURITY. shoes off, laptop out, the whole bit, all the while I was wearing a big jacket since it was snowing. Man, I was sweating!

Of course, once I made it all the back to baggage claim, huzzah! Luggage! I met up with my the other student and the rep and waited outside in the cold for 45mins for the shuttle to get there.

London definitely wasn't welcoming me nicely :(

But, once I make it to my room, I was able to breathe and the day unfolded less-stressed. Here's my room:

Kinda like a dorm/hotel? It's fine I guess. Definitely a good size.

It's 3:30am, and I usually go to sleep now. So, I'll finish up later with stories and more pictures.

So goodnight until next time,

I miss you.

Cheers!!

-kb2.

PS. I'm the only Asian (so far) on campus.

The Beginning of the End.

What up.

Just finished eating some bomb home-made spaghetti and meatballs from Alex. nomm. Man, I've eaten really well today. This morning Alex and I ate at Giant Chef. UHmazing everything there. Definitely recommend the corn beef hash and hashbrowns. Oh goodness, I'm droooling. I ruv food. Then I had the funnel cake from Burger King. nomm again gah. Then during my lunch from work I ate yakisoba cup of noodles style from 99 ranch. And mannn, if that stuff wasn't bomb right there too. Such a good food-eating day.

Come to think of it, today was a great day. I woke up mad early to get our car fixed at the dealership which meant I got to see Alex bright (or not even bright yet) and early. Then we got to eat his favorite meal of the day while I actually got a morning cup of coffee. Perfect. Work was the way work should be everyday. I worked with people I actually like and love. It was a party. Probably the only downside of today, rather depressing actually, is that today was the last day, ever, that I'll work with Liz Godinez. ohp, I'm getting all snotty and red-nosed already. :( Love that girl, and I'm bummed so not have been able to work with her long enough. A friendship that'll last forever ;) ahaha. But the close at work was a breeze and we had fun. Lately it's been hard to even think that we could actually have fun at that hell hole. But we left the store sparkling as always, only to come back tomorrow night and do it all over again.

At the moment I'm listening to some pretty rad music too: Fang Island. They got some good beats going. So I'm feeling pretty good right now. Fed and relaxed always makes a happy Kiersten, I promise you. :)

Oh hey, I leave in a week.

I also just found this blog, it's John Gourley's (Portugal. The Man):



Goodnight, farewell, to you my friends. It's been great to play and sing together, in the box, now it's time to say goodbye.

-kb2.

PS. $10 if you know where that came from.

Restless.

Herro,

I'm so hungry, but I'm so full.
I can't sit still even though I'm exhausted and sleepy.
I bought the last of my toiletries today for London. I guess you never really realize how much stuff you use and need in order to live. ahaha, okay fine, in order for Kiersten to live. For instance, Neosporin. What ifff, I fell between the "Gap" in London?! Then I'd have some fatty gash and would have to buy some Neosporin. Since I'm lacking in the Pounds department, it's a good thing I bought some at Wal-Mart (the money-saver!) along with a free bandaid holder. Then! You think to yourself, okay, if I need Neosporin, then I'd probably need something to cover the said gash with, aka a bandaid. So that's another thing you need. Anywho, at the end of the day, I'm still pretty set on having one suitcase dedicated to toiletries. Because hey, I'm thinking Wal-Mart is the last place I wanna be in London. no?

I researched more about my living situation in London too. One information packet says I'll be living here. If so, then I gots me my own bathroom right in my room! Sweet. Sorry sorry, it's an "ensuite shower/toilet capsule." oh goodness. Sadly, the room reminds me of a hospital room. More pictures here. Man, just looking through those pictures, I already feel lonely. :( They give you a pretty big bulletin board for any pictures and things like that, so I'll take advantage of it.

Enough of depressing stuff!

Until then, I have a lot to do still!

See you next time!

-kb2.

Happy New Year!!!

Hey,

Happy New Year!

I hope you were able to bring in the new year as special and fun as I did :) Some good old fashioned couch sitting, watching the sad, yet alive Dick Clark horribly countdown the seconds til midnight and J.Lo make a sad, sad, fool of herself for all of New York City. awesome.

For the new year/new decade, I hope to better myself. Cliche sure, but we all know how angry and rude I am, so any goals to calm myself before I start growing gray hairs are probably good. Plus, I'd like to leave for London on a upward note, yeah?

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch with Katilynn and we're watching Scooby Doo on instant Netflix. (thanks Alex for letting us use the Xbox.) She should be sleeping soon anyways. 2010 is already relaxing--I can't wait.

Well, I'll keep this one short since I should pay attention to baby sitting.

Here's to all the fabulousness ahead of us!!

-kb2.