Sunday 22 July 2007

July 9th: Day 37- LAST DAY

Today was really sad, riding the tube for the last time, walking past Sainsbury's and Betty's for the last time. Went to grab breakfast with the flat with all the change the guys had been collecting over the past 5 weeks. Bus picked us up and we went to the airport to head back to the states.

Haiku of the Day:

Time to pack it up,
It is a bittersweet day.
Back to the US.

July 8th: Day 36

Speakers corner was awesome. But you have to go knowing that you are going to see really intense people preaching and speaking their minds with such conviction that any other opinion other than their own is simply wrong. In some respect you have to be a little close-minded to get up there and talk. Except there was this Polish boy who was probably no older than 9 or 10 and he was up on a soap box talking about environmental issues. It was kind of hard to understand him, but I was impressed that he was able to get up in front of the crowd and talk at all. There are a lot of people talking all at once there, so you can move from conversation to conversation. Went to Harrods, that place is crazy. Over 300 types of cheese and 150 different kinds of olives (to give you an idea). Went out for a flat dinner that night. And then to the After Skool Klub (or something like that).

Haiku of the Day:

Some more Tour de France,
Democracy at it's best,
Harrods is crazy.

July 7th: Day 35

The Tour de France wasn't really anything THAT cool. I mean I am glad I went, and I went just to say I was there, but you would wait like an hour to see a cycler speed by you in half of a second. But like I said, if the Tour de France is coming to London you have to go. Oh and I went back to Portabello Road today to get the rest of my gifts for people.

Haiku of the Day:

Catch up on some sleep,
Back to Portabello Rd.,
And the Tour de France.

July 5th/6th: Days 33/34

WIMBLEDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really cannot even write about this two day experience including sleeping on the street (cardboard boxes, garbage bags and all), in the freezing cold and rain, being on Norwegian television, waiting for about 24 hours, getting third row court one seats, seeing great tennis (including the most intense 5.5 hour match and 145mph serves). It was probably among the top 3 greatest experiences of the entire trip. Ask me about it in person. And you want to see pictures. Trust me.

Haiku of the Day:

Norwegian TV,
Coldest I have ever been,
Just no freakn' words.

July 4th: Day 32

The best meal I had all trip = 5 course greek meal at Lomonia. The canal ride was nice and relaxing. Touched slime so that John would clean the flat. I got a lot of compliments on my mohawk that night for our 80s/red white and blue 4th of July flat party. Maybe I should consider a change of hairstyle. Happy Independence Day!!!

Haiku of the Day:

Heights at Penrose Hil,
Fairwell Lunch at Lomonia,
And the canal trip.

July 3rd: Day 31

Today was another free day so I finally got to go and see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I have never seen so many people in one spot in my life. It was nuts. I got great pictures thanks to the zoom on my camera. I am glad I got to see it. It was weird though, when the procession of guards finally got into the Palace gates, the first song they played was the theme song to Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we went to the guards museum to learn a bit about the history. The rest of the day was pretty much the internet and more rain.

Haiku of the Day:

Changing of the guards,
Pirates of the Caribbean,
Internet-more rain.

July 2nd: Day 30

Morag was a good visit, have not heard much about exhibition design before so that was interesting. But today's winner was Nadav Kander, by far. He was just one of the coolest guys. A few semesters ago I did a presentation about him for my ad class, so it was really cool to know all a lot of information about him and then to hear him talk in person. It poured on the way home, I mean we were absolutely soaked. Watched X-men that night, and just relaxed, it was nice.

Haiku of the Day:

Morag Myerscough,
Nadav Kander thanks to Ann,
Got completely soaked.

Quotes of the day,
"Mistakes don't happen as easily on the computer." - Nadav Kander
"Finish your own book"

Monday 16 July 2007

July 1st: Day 29

Just went back to the beach for a little bit with our new Canadian friend. Then headed back to the hostel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and back to the airport to head back to London. Got in around 4:30 AM, it was such a long travel day, we had delays in the airport, then had to take all theses buses and then walk back the last leg of the trip to the flat. When I get to the flat, all I want is my bed, and there is someone in it. Turns out it was Dave's brother, so it was okay.

Haiku of the Day:

Beach, back to London,
Home at 4:30AM,
Someone's in my bed.

June 30th: Day 28

Today was a total beach day. It was great. Swam in the Med. Sea. The sand was a bit dirty in a weird dusty way. And it took us forever to find a food store to get stuff to bring to the beach. Stumbled upon a nude beach which was really quite different. Women go topless more often on regular beachs than with a top. The beach was really relaxing though. Overall, I was surprised by the food there, but I am just so glad I was able to go to Spain. The original Aquarius was better than the orange.
Meet some pretty cool people-some not so cool. I wanted to kill these guys in the hostel. But it was a great trip. Oh, and "Mesahee?!?"

Haiku of the day:

Barcelona beach,
One crazy freakin night out
Damn Austrialian boy!

June 29th: Day 27

Went to Las Ramblas today for some open-air shopping. Mostly flowers and animals (chipmunks and pigeons for sale). The street performers were ridiculous. One guy was a question mark. Others were trees, cows. This one woman was a little person. And that was it, like she wanted money for just standing there being a little person in a yellow dress. That night we went to this Cuban nightclub with this really sweet French girl named Maria that we met the day before. Her roommate is a famous Cuban singer so we went to see her perform. It was such a great time.

Haiku of the day:

Went to Las Ramblas,
The Cuban nightclub singers,
Interesting day.

June 28th: Day 26

Today we did all of the tourist type things. We went to La Casa Mila, La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell. They were all so amazing. I really enjoyed Parc Guell a lot. We had to practically hike up a mountain to get there, but it was so worth it. We were there for a while. We went to the beach later on in the day and we met SANDRA OH!!!!!!! If you know me at all, you know that is huge. It was sooo cool, she was sooo nice too! And she had blue nail polish and purple streaks in her hair. She was really nice and so sweet. We meet some nice Norwegians that night on Las Ramblas.

Haiku of the Day:

Gracias Hodum.
Caminar una montana,
Muy buena dia

June 27th: Day 25

Up at 2 AM to go to Luton and head to Barcelona! We got to Spain around 11. I couldn't believe I was finally in Spain, I remembered all of Hodum's advice about where to go in the city and what to see. The first day was really tiring though so we sat in a park near our hostel for awhile, it was nice. I had Paella that night, it was good, weird with the whole fish in it though. We went to the bars that night at like 12 (on London time) and it was DEAD. They dont go out in Spain until 2AM, that took some time to get used to. And dinner isn't until 10 ot 11.

Haiku of the day:

A Barcelona
No tengo energia
Los discotecas.

June 26th: Day 24

I really enjoyed the letterpress workshop today. I have to do more experimentation in Raven next semester. It was a long day with that and Tom's talk on poster design. The Stanley Kubrick archive was cool, but I think I built it up in my head to be something different from what it was. All packed for Spain and so excited. I am glad we decided to take a taxi at 3:30 AM instead of waiting all night at the airport. Should go to bed!

Haiku of the day:

Very busy day,
Girls drive off a cliff. the end.
And Stanley Kubrick.