London: Days 2, 3 and 4

Getting internet has been a bit more difficult than I previously thought...Anyways, our second day in London we ventured to Hampton Court, most famously associated with Henry VIII. In honor of his 500th anniversary, Hampton Court had an entire special exhibition of him, including a reinactment of the day he married his last wife, Katherine Parr, and an exhibition of his six wives. Rarely viewed artifacts and portraits were displayed for our viewing pleasure in his apartments. We also watched a fencing and falconry demonstration where young children were invited to participate. It's too bad I or another member of our group wasn't younger because it would have made this a day to remember. One of the most interesting things we explored was the kitchens where servants prepared two meals for 800 people daily!! Not to mention a courtier of his court ate 4,500-5,000 calories a day!! I guess he may not have been the only one to turn out fat....

After our adventure at Hampton Court, by my special request we went to the world famous Harrods. Unfortunately, we only had 30 minutes to look at pretty things we couldn't afford, but we did buy a cute bracelet. Small, but at least we can say we bought something from Harrods! And accross the street, was my second favorite store in the universe, Zara! I first discovered Zara in Portugal a few years ago and have been enchanted since. Even though it originates in Mexico, there are few in California and the one that I have been to wasn't my favorite. But the ones in Europe are to die for! Walking out, I found a shirt with a, wait for it...diamond!!! Now, this may not be a big deal to you, but its a big deal to me since the ADPi symbol is a diamond and shirts are hard to come by. Oh, and yes, I bought it.

Yesterday, we went to Cambridge with London Walks on their explore day. London Walks is a fabulous way to get to know any part of London with detailed tours lasting around two hours. But once a week, they have an explore day and it's a great deal! Our first stop in Cambridge was the American Cemetery. Since it was Memorial Day in the U.S., the cemetery had a ceremony playing the national anthem upon our arrival. Ironically, I've never celebrated Memorial Day more appropriately, and who to think in England! Our next stop was the walk itself where we learned all about the university and the individual colleges. Quick fact: 80 Nobel Prize winners are associated with Cambridge and around 40 went to Trinity College. Trinity College was founded by our man of the hour, Henry VIII. I guess he wanted to leave a better name for himself. The highlight of the day was going punting down the Cam. It was a beautifully relaxing trip, even amusing when a punter was close to falling in the water occasionally!! We ended the night exhausted in our new hotel, Jury's Inn in Chelsea. A bigger hotel than we normally stay, but quite nice indeed.

Today, we started our day a bit later than normal waking up a quarter til 9. Who would guess sleeping in would be considered past 6 a.m., considering at home I don't get up until 10 at the earliest! As soon as we could we were at Leister Square buying tickets to Hairspray! On past trips, we went to multiple plays, but on this trip, Hairspray would be our first and last. Between buying the tickets and the show, my mom thought it would be a great idea to go to Winston Churchill's War Rooms during WWII. This was perhaps one of the most interesting museums I've been to because for me, it was history coming to life. We walked through the halls that Churchill himself commanded fighting the Germans. With about an hour to get to our play, we left the museum and Churchill. Neither myself nor my mother or grandma had seen the play. My initial thought was whether the actors would have British accents or try to master Baltimore accents...and they tried! I thoroughly enjoyed Hairspray, although I did have some problems with a few of the actors. I felt Tracy was played too old and Amber played too unsophisticated. On the other hand, Wilbur and Edna were absolutely hysterical!! Clearly the highlight of the performance!!

After the show, we met up with one of my sorority sisters, Marissa, who is finishing her study abroad program here. During dinner, my mom played a thousand questions because I will be participating in the same studying abroad program that she is completing. It was a nice break to see someone else! Well that was my trip to London and boy did it go by fast!! Next stop: Barcelona!!

Greetings from London!!

Friday at 3:20 p.m. my mom, grandma, and I anxiously boarded our British Airways flight direct from Los Angeles to Heathrow London. Our day had already started out rough, forgetting and misplacing important items and documents, how were we ever going to make it three weeks!! My mom and grandma had made a great choice in flights since we didn't have a lay-over in Chicago or Atlanta like we normally do. These lay-overs can extend travel times by days (well, it certainly feels like that). Not having a lay-over was definitely one of the better decisions to begin a trip and certainly easier to keep track of everything...and everyone!

I've always thought international plane companies to be sooo much nicer than American ones, and this certainly stands for British Airways. Their service, food, and aircraft were all up to par. Although I was envious of the first class passengers, I had enough room to sleep for an hour or two. On long flights, I would wholeheartedly recommend some sort of sweat or pajama pant, just to make curling up on a chair a little easier. I'd never tried that before and it did the trick.

Upon arriving in Heathrow around 9 a.m. this morning, we went through the airport with little trouble and little waiting. The public transportation in Europe is millions of lightyears ahead of our public transportation system (or lack of) in Los Angeles. There are two ways to get from Heathrow to London: the London Express and the London Connect. Can you guess which one is more expensive? The London Connect is about half the price as the London Express, although it is a bit longer. And that's in pounds...in dollars its probably 3 times more expensive. So you can guess which one my money-pinching mom choose, which ended up timing our arrival at our hotel perfectly.

Our hotel is not too far from Paddington Station, which makes pulling the luggage around a lot easier since we don't have to endure the busy Tube with three suitcases and three back packs. After getting settled, the beautiful day was impossible to resist. We dined at the Victoria, the pub down the street. To Americans, a pub might be a peculiar place to grab lunch or dinner, but to the British and the Irish, its an every day custom. Grandma and I ate fish and chips, while my mom, hoping to not upset her already queezy tummy, ate a delicious roast beef sandwich. We then walked off our pub grub at Kensington Park. Another custom foreign to Americans is the use of parks. Now, we have small playgrounds and grassy knolls where we may have an occasional picnic or football game with not too many people around. But Europeans, especially the British and the French from my experience, go to the park daily, if the weather allows. And on a beautiful day like this, naturally families, friends, and football teams (American and soccer) gathered for a nice day outside. Our mission impossible was finding the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. The receptionist at the hotel gave us the impression that it was on one side of the park, but of course it was no where close. After giving up four times, we found it! Now, this wasn't your typical fountain with a statue and spouting water; this was a circle, kind of like a river, where families and children could come splash and put their feet in it. In hindsight, this fountain embodied what the Princess of the People would have wanted to be remembered as.

Mom and Grandma were getting to the point of near exhaustion and wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel and sleep for an hour or two. I knew that if I got even the smallest taste of sleep, I wouldn't wake up. And that was exactly what I did when they failed to drag me out of bed. While they went to a London walk, I stayed in the hotel and slept. I woke up ten minutes prior to their arrival. Aparently, for the first time my mom failed to find a London Walk and they took a bus through the city instead. London Walks are great for an afternoon or night activity and you can find one to fit any interest. My personal favorite is their famous Jack the Ripper Walk departing from the Tower Hill tube station every night. While studying for his role as Jack the Ripper, Johnny Depp took the walk with the famous tour guide. If that doesn't tell you how good this walk is, then I don't know what does.

Well, that's it for the night. Even though I slept for most of the afternoon, I'm still exhausted and wouldn't mind more sleep. I'm sorry to say that I won't be watching the Laker game that is on in a few hours...

Freshman Year: Check!

            At 2:00 pm on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, I walked into my last final of freshman year.  All I wanted was to get this stupid final over with because it was at the very last time slot on the very last day.  Not to mention the class wasn’t my favorite.  I knew I would return to a practically empty suite still having to pack the remainder of my stuff.  And I knew it would be almost as sad as graduating from high school.  The thing about high school summers is everyone lives close, with the exception of the annual family vacation.  But in this case, I had friends returning to all parts of the country.  And then there’s housing.  I won’t be living with any of the people on my hall because I’ll be living in my sorority house.  Since high school graduation, it’s just been a whirlwind of changes, and each one has its fun, new experiences.

            For the last month and a half of freshman year, I declared two minors, attended many sorority events, wrote a lot of papers, and completed my first internship.  After years of addiction to Law and Order, I declared a forensics and criminality minor.  And who wouldn’t minor in Spanish, one of the world’s leading languages?  I think these are the minors I will stick with, after debating over marketing, health communication, and communication in the entertainment industry. 

            Completing my first internship was probably one of my proudest moments of the year.  I had a busier schedule and harder classes than last semester.  I was even involved in all of the same extracurriculars, Trojan Vision and ATVN.  And then, adding an internship on top of that…I never thought I’d make it out of freshman year alive (or at least with a good GPA)!  I accomplished all that I wanted to in the end, and all of the craziness and extra work was definitely worth it.

            Our last ADPi invite was Diamond Ball. It may not have been the best due to personal problems, but it was certainly the nicest venue, the best food, and the most dazzling to see.  Everyone looked absolutely stunning, and the class of 2009 will definitely be missed.  Before the invite, we ate at Zip Fusion, a Japanese restaurant near downtown.  I devoured some of the best sushi and teriyaki beef I’ve ever had.  All in all, it ended up being a great night.

            Currently, I’m unpacking my stuff from my dorm and packing my suite case for my upcoming European adventure. You can follow my everyday excursions on this blog. I’ll hopefully have updates, however long, everyday depending on internet availability.  GO LAKERSSSSSSS!!!

            

Hopes and Tragedies

            Three weeks ago, the USC community experienced the worst tragedy of the school year.  Two FRESHMEN were walking back to campus from Greek Row. Neither has returned to school, but one will never. For most students I talked to, this was their first time experiencing the death of a friend. Unfortunately, this is my second since graduation. I did not personally know her, but I had multiple connections to her, including that we both worked at the bookstore on the ground floor. I have multiple emails from her asking me to cover her shifts. However, I do know Marcus, the boy that was hit and is still currently in the hospital.

            When death occurs, communities are formed and relationships are strengthened. The Greek community carried the weight of this tragedy together. On Monday, March 30, a candle light vigil was held in honor of Adri and in hopes that Marcus would make a speedy recovery. Every house was represented in great numbers. We cried together and lent a shoulder to lean on. Without knowing the support of the Greek community, none of us would have been able to overcome this tragedy. It’s almost sad that the strength of a community has to be tested with such a horrific event.

            I equated this incident with Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones.  My favorite quote from the book is Susie’s statement “These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence; the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone”.  As she watched her family from heaven overcome her disappearance, Susie realizes something beautiful forms around it. All we can ever hope for in death is a positive outcome, some purpose that gives it meaning.

            Personally, the hardest concept for me to get over was anyone could have been hit. Me, my best friends, anyone of my sisters. It’s almost odd that death is mostly associated with older people, when in reality, it can happen at any moment, whenever God decides that it is time to go. This experience has left me not taking anything for granted and cherishing every day and every smile.

            Unfortunately, people don’t value life. And even worse, those who do have to carry that burden. Keep your heads up, USC. God bless.

Where To Begin...

Hello everyone!!!

          Time has certainly gotten away from me this semester!! It’s taken me a while to get a concrete weekly schedule and now that it is complete, I can share it with you.  My goal for this semester was to get my first internship, just to get the “first” over with.  I was lucky enough to land an internship at The Gotham Group.  The Gotham Group is a management and production company that has produced a number of films including The Spiderwick Chronicles, Starsky and Hutch, Chicken Little, and Papa Hemmingway (in production now!).  Apart from the basic office duties such as filing, copying, stapling, binding, and all that fun stuff, I read scripts and write coverage.  I can also read other scripts for fun!!  So far, so good.  But I’ve never known filing to be so brutal!!  I walk out of there with three or four paper cuts on various fingers.  It’s ok, you can laugh.

            I was really excited for my classes this semester because all of them sparked some interest in me.  I’m currently taking modern philosophy and the meaning of life, the history of the news, improvisation and theater games, neuroscience, and plays and the question of performance.  I expected philosophy to be a lot like theory of knowledge, but I was entirely wrong. We are studying different philosophers (some that are not so modern) and that pretty much covers that course.  At the moment, we have not found the meaning of life. But once I do, I will let you know immediately! The history of the news is interesting because I’ve noticed that a lot hasn’t really changed from the beginning of time except for content; people have always had a crave for learning about other people or events (which could be one reason why you’re reading this now haha). My improv class has been sworn to be a life-changing class. After every class, I walk out with extreme amounts of energy, sometimes a little too much energy. Not allowing other people to govern your thoughts about the world is really a life-enhancing experience, although, these flashes of confidence last only for the night. You may be wondering why I decided to take a neuroscience class. I figured well, I don’t want to be the dumb girlfriend, since as many of you may know, Jonathan is a neuroscience major. Let’s just say your brain may be safer in his hands…Last but certainly not least is my arts and letters. It’s nice that I’ve already read 3 of the plays and been in one!! And this one was the favorite, Noises Off! We haven’t gotten to that section of the course but its soon to come…oh the memories!

            Now that you are enlightened on my classes, you may want to know what else I’ve been up to this semester. Like last semester, I’m volunteering at ATVN and TrojanVision. At ATVN, I still hold the same position, assignment desk. I didn’t have enough time in my schedule to be a writer/shooter/editor, but my time will come. However, at “CU@USC”, I moved up a notch to be a senior producer! The difference is that I get to run the show! I decided, along with my partner, which aspects we want the interview to cover. I’ve had a lot of fun so far so hopefully our luck continues!

            Back in January, I turned 19! I had my birthday party at the Geisha House, a restaurant in Hollywood. It was the most successful party I’ve ever thrown and I had the time of my life! That night, my two worlds mixed for the first time! Friends from Walnut came over and met all of my new friends at USC.

 

           This week is my sorority’s charity for the Ronald McDonald House. We call it Row Cup. It’s a soccer tournament among the fraternities. So this week I will be far busier than normal. I hope the beginning of the year has treated you well and I promise I’ll keep you updated more often!

End of the Semester, End of the Year

            Sorry I was a little late updating this past month.  The weeks of school during December were either leading up to finals or finals themselves.  Finals didn’t bring too much happiness to any of our lives. We all felt the anxiety on our shoulders, but still wanted to make the best of our last days together before heading home for the holidays.  All of my finals were within the first week, which had its perks and unbelievable stress.  I only had the weekend and the study days to study for all four finals.  In the end, if everything went my way, I shouldn’t have done too much damage for the first semester of my college career.  After finals, I stayed in my dorm because I figured I might as well take advantage of the freedom of relaxation.  My friends and I went to Thoroughbred Street to see the houses decked out for Christmas.  And then that Tuesday, we went to Disneyland and saw Main Street snow!...well, foam haha.

            Earlier in December, Jon gave me his Christmas present…He took me to the Grammy Nominations Concert!  To my complete and utter surprise, we watched from row J as the Foo Fighters, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Celine Dion, and my absolute favorite, Christina Aguilera!  It was probably the best concert I had ever been too because after the cameras stopped rolling, John Mayer performed an hour concert after the television program.  He was more than amazing live.  But the night didn’t end there when we were supposed to attend the after party…but there was confusion over the tickets and we went to ESPN Zone instead.  The evening altogether was one of the best all year.

 

           Later that week, all Trojans looked forward to the USC vs. UCLA football game.  The Thursday before the game is called Conquest.  In McCarthy Quad, we burn the Bruin, have performances by the marching band and Gym Class Heroes.  What I want to know is what other university has fireworks and a Ferris wheel before the big rival game? I think this can only be a USC luxury…For the big game, we went to ESPN Zone, yes, for the second time that week.  And we weren’t the only Trojans who had the same idea.

            Before Thanksgiving, I took life into my own hands and got a job at the USC Bookstore.  I still currently work at the bookstore even though the students are on break.  So if you happen to want to buy USC gear, you should note that the bookstore does not close over break.  And come to visit me, because it gets lonely down there after a while…

            I’m only looking forward to what next semester has in store.  I have an awesome schedule that should be flexible enough to carry over all of the activities from last semester.Hopefully I will get a chance to see everyone over the break! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Trojan domination of my life

The work never seems to end! It’s like a bottomless abyss that will forever bury me in essays and reading.  My crazy academic, extra-curricular, and social schedules have not left me very much time to breath, much less update my blog.  Probably the biggest highlight this month was the events leading up to the elections. For election night, I worked in the newsroom making thumbnails for slideshows and video that were to be posted ATVN’s election central.  We spent two Fridays in a row preparing for the live coverage of the invigorating 2008 elections.  And with that preparation, we had a successful night!  We were able to get live coverage from the Obama and McCain parties stationed around Los Angeles as well as coverage from the newsroom and local polls.  We used Skype to air the stories live, which was a pretty clever idea if I do say so myself.  In my four hours in the newsroom on November 4, I uploaded a grand total of 2 thumbnails. Although I wasn’t super busy, it was electrifying to be in one of the most informed rooms on campus with a television dedicated to each major news station including CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, KTLA, and I know I’m forgetting at least three.  I cannot even begin to explain the excitement and chaos that ignited on campus after Barack Obama was announced as the President Elect.

A few minutes after Obama was announced as the next President of the United States, I called my mom who was in London at the time to inform her of this historical moment in American history.  Little did I know that it wouldn’t be too much longer until she could have found out on her own. Later the next day, she described the European excitement of the American presidential race.  She explained that not only was it the talk on the streets, but many people woke up at 4 in the morning to find out who our next president will be.  Personally, I found this shocking because I had no idea of the impact the U.S. had on the world.  As broadcasted, I knew that people in Kenya celebrated, but little did I know so did the rest of the world.

Other highlights from the month include going home a total of three times to see everyone, Halloween excitement, and football games.  I went home to go to the Homecoming football game, which Walnut lost, to see dinner theater (which was amazing =D) and for Mama Tina’s 81^st birthday.  In my opinion, Halloween wasn’t much different than any other week full of social events.  When each event is themed, dressing up does not become especially exciting or exclusive any more.  So after 3 costumes for four different events, Halloween didn’t seem very distinctive. I miss trick-or-treating around the streets of Walnut, which brings me the complete satisfaction of Halloween.  I mean, I would try trick-or-treating around USC, but I doubt I’d be very successful.  And then there is football season!  This past Saturday was the last home football game that most students will attend, since the official last game is after Thanksgiving when most students will still be home.  The end of football season brings me a bitter-sweet feeling: football games, no matter what time they start, seem to take up the entire day, but it is still a fun day!

I’m glad I finally had some time to update you on my life at USC.  I’ve got some more homework to get done before this weekend’s adventures.  Have a nice one!