Movin' and Rollin'

Last month, with copious amounts of help from two of the best friends a girl could ask for, I packed up my flat in London and headed back to the States. There may also have been a horrific amount of Starbucks' DoubleShots drinks consumed...but I'm not going to go into the details. After ten days at my Dad's, my Mom flew in and we drove out to Michigan to get the ball rolling on that whole 'life' and 'going back to school thing. Oh what a drive...

There is a phrase that there are only two seasons in Michigan: winter and construction. Here's a little protip for you - this is actually true for the majority of the Midwest. Particularly Western Pennsylvania, which is also known more commonly as one of the inner circles of Hell. Picture twenty MILES of single lane construction. Hello Barrel Season.


Oh yeah....there was also a gigantic truck with half of my Dad's apartment and the entirety of his storage locker packed in there....


My Father is what one might kindly refer to as a pack rat. Okay no, that's an exaggeration, he'll hang on to *anything* if he thinks there might just possibly be a use for it at a later date.

This includes the coffee filters to a coffee maker that he owned (and got rid of) in 1975.

Before my parents met.

I am not even exaggerating.

Other gems included a 3 foot tall, mirrored plinth (circa 1980, it was apparently very stylish back then), two 12 x 16 bright purple, shag carpets, and a file cabinet that I think belonged to my grandfather before he married my grandmother (and doesn't open). Somehow, despite my vigilance, all of these things ended up on that truck.

....I love my family. But sometimes, they're nuts.

Girasol does Greece

I cannot express how much I love Stephen for sending me this Girasol....it has become my travel companion. It's a blanket, it's a pillow, it's pretty much everything (okay, it doesn't do dishes, but that's about it). I've had a great time taking photos of it in different places and sending them back to him, it's like a Flat Stanley that can give cuddles.

Last week, I took the Girasol to Greece and showed it the sights. We caught some sun by the pool in Rhodes....



As well as by the Mediterranean....



Then took in the beauty of the Parthenon and the Acropolis in Athens.....


And then went to feel the vibes at the Temple of Dephi...



I may or may not have been there too....more of my photos to come...(oh, and the Elephants, can't forget those)

Greece!

I'm in Greece....it's awesome. Back home tomorrow. In the meantime...ooooh shiny

April Excursions and Decisions

In consequence of the weather moving in the direction of NOT freezing/raining/miserable, I've started to come out of my hibernation and go on various excursions about London. This, in combination with spending most of April out of the country means LOTS of photos, and lots of insanity. Of the thirty days in April, I only spent about twelve of those days in England. First - the remnants of getting caught up in the BA strike and my March trip to New Jersey and Atlanta, then four nights in Portugal and then thirty six hours back in London, and THEN off for what was supposed to be a 3 night trip to Michigan to look at U of M.Except then...the Volcano happened.
Can I just say how thoroughly surreal it was to have to call into work, saying I would be out because of a VOLCANO?? Probably the best excuse *ever*. Nuts. It did, however, wreak absolute havoc with my life. After it became really apparent that I wasn't going to be making it back for at least a week, I flew back to New Jersey for about 20 hours, and then out to Denver to visit my siblings. Honestly, my main memories of April look something like this:
Oh....and this. Waaaaaaaaaaaay too many 6 AM flights this time around, alleluja for Jet Lag finally working out in my favor.

On the whole, however, it was a really good month. In all my travels I managed to hit most of the weather and the blossoms just right. Peach Blossoms in Atlanta, Magnolia in Michigan and ...okay I don't know what they were in Denver, but they were pretty too

At this point, I'm quite set on moving back to Michigan for grad school next year. Specifically, an MPH in Epidemiology and International Health. Moving back to Michigan is never something I saw happening for myself, but I'm surprisingly pleased that it's happening. In some ways, I thought of Michigan as a place to never go back, and a deaden, the economic situation there is absolutely horrible at the moment. The University of Michigan was dead last on my list of school choices, but when I went to visit the U of M campus I couldn't imagine spending the next two years anywhere else. I love London, but I think I'm ready to leave. I am not a Big City person at heart. Now I'm looking forward to new opportunities, and seeing the magnolia bloom next spring....

Peach Blossoms in Atlanta

Belatedly posting this one (again) because this month has been absolutely NUTS with travel. So here are some photos from the last few days of my trip to the States, all from Atlanta. I quite like the area, but in the end I decided Atlanta and Emory were not the places for me. Beautiful scenery though. I think the aerial view is one of my favorite pictures ever...at least of photos that I have taken.

Letters from Across the Pond: Part 2

Dear Yas and IQ,

I'm heading for Atlanta tomorrow, so I'll close out my New York portion of this trip. The week has been pretty quiet so far, in large part to everyone else having....you know....a job. So I've been on my own a bit, which I don't mind at all. One of the big reasons I like coming to visit my Dad is that I can catch up on sleep and spend a couple of days just being comfortable and letting my brain catch up with me. I've not been a complete slugabed however, and have gone on a few forays into The City to catch up with friends (or rather just one, the other canceled on me. Twice ;p) and see some awesome art.
First there was dinner with Jen on Sunday night -
Complete with a very nice view of the City on the ferry ride back. I used to take the Ferry in every day when I did a summer internship in the Financial District. It's always pretty to look at, some days more than others. Particularly when it isn't raining (Ferry when it's raining = le crap).

On Monday I went into city to a little gallery in Chelsea to see...well...Legos. But not just *any* Legos. Legos by this guy; Nathan Sawaya. I know I've already raved to you guys in just about every imaginable electronic medium available about this exhibit...but, clearly I have to get this one as well. OH MY GOD, THAT WAS SO COOL! Seriously...beautiful stuff, and I wish I could have some of his art in my house. I never thought of LEGO bricks as being able to communicate emotion (other than frustration when you're missing that last piece in the 3,000 piece LEGO Star Destroyer kit...that was a dark day) but apparently I was wrong....have you ever wanted to hug a LEGO sculpture because it looks sad? Don't answer that...(YARR PHOTO BLIZZARD AHEAD!!!) ( See Flickr for better versions of these photos, it's not nice to kill the blog/people's internet connections by putting these full res, but a lot of them came out really well) .

















Of all the works, I think this one is probably my favorite....not to say the others weren't amazing...but I kept coming back to this one for some reason...If i ever get a spare 10,000 dollars (Lotto anyone) I could stare at this all day...


After that? Well....obviously I had to swing by Times Square. Not much has changed, but it's still nice to take a look at. If only to remind myself why I DON'T want to live here full time.



Tomorrow I'm heading for Atlanta to take a look at Emory....woohah.

Letters from Across the Pond

Dear Yas and IQ,

Because of the time change, I'm figuring this is as good a way to write to you kids and let you know what I've been up to on my trip home. The trip started out with my flight back - which was mostly okay, complete with a vociferously-swearing, dual-blackberry-wielding American Businessman with a cold and a couple of screaming babies. On the whole though, it wasn't too bad, and the sunset we landed in was gorgeous, i just wish i'd be able to capture all the colors. This is the best one I got, mostly reds and blooms, the greens just simply wouldn't cooperate. After getting home from the airport....I promptly passed out. There may have been a brief foray into laundry before that happened, but I don't quite recall. I blame the jet lag.
The next day Mom came in, and we had some amaaaaaazing sushi for lunch, followed by general hanging out and enjoyment of life. There was also a serious amount of cleaning out my closest and room. I know that wherever I end up next year, the reckoning is nigh and I'm going to have to deal with all my crap that is scattered across the 4 corners of the earth. My hope is that I can minimize enough of the other stuff, that when my family figures out just how much yarn I own they won't have me committed. Or drowned.
The day after Mom left, sadly the weather was not nearly as fun. It's so weird waking up inside of a cloud.
Thankfully, the fog burned off (though it didn't on Monday or today) and Dad and I took a trip down the park underneath the GW Bridge. You'd never know it was there if a local didn't show you. Lucky me, I had an in!










































Last but not least....I'm sure I've mentioned "The Dog" .....there are no words, other than "Soda can added for scale"


So that's part 1 of "What I've Been Up To", what about you folks? Anything interesting on your end? In my next letter: Dinner and night shots of the city, and the aweeeesome Lego exhibit.

A weekend in Lewknor/Tetsworth, Oxfordshire

The morning after breaking my toe, I went out to the 'wilds' of Oxfordshire to meet up with my grandmother for a workshop. We spent the weekend doing Cortical Field Re-education stuff, which was awesome...I have totally grown an inch. Or rather, I have regained an inch, perhaps by improving my posture. Fun stuff! We stayed at a B&B called Long Acre in Tetsworth, aka a village seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which was absolutely adorable.The Breakfast room, complete with epic amounts of harness buckle...things. Not entirely sure what they're called, but the lady had some very cool ones. She also made some of the BEST English Breakfast food I've had. Ever. View from outside. I couldn't get a shot from the front, sadly, but trust me, it was a pretty building! It also, as previously mentioned, was in the middle of nowhere, which meant I got an absolutely awesome view of the stars while I was out there. Complete with Milky Way. View of the back garden from our room. :D

Places I Won't Be Going.....

So, I was going to write this blog post about how excited I was to be going to Shanghai and to see my Dad. Except, I won't be going. So instead I'm going to have a bit of a whinge about it.

About four weeks ago, my Dad calls me up and says he's finalizing plans to go to China at the end of February, and would I perhaps be interested in coming? Well...obviously the answer to that one was a big Yes, but there was a slight catch. See, to go to China, you need a specific visa, which takes roughly 3-4 working days to get. Additionally, I still had to send off for my Tier One UK Visa (aka the Post Study Visa) which I'd had the forms filled out and ready for several weeks, but hadn't sent it off yet, as I was waiting until the last possible moment to do so.

Cue the drama. Obviously I sprinted to the post office and sent my visa application (passport included) off, but would there be enough time? In order to make it to China, I had to not only get my passport back in time to board the plane, but in time to go and get a visa from the Chinese. It was all very close.

Or not. Technically, I should have been packing for China today, but I am not. Sadly, my passport didn't show up, and the UK Home Office are still twiddling their thumbs and working on applications submitted a week before I sent mine in. In a last ditch attempt to make it happen, I spent last Friday at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square getting an emergency/temporary passport, in the hopes that I could then go to the Chinese Embassy on Monday and get the visa. It all went off rather swimmingly, despite it being Half-term, and "Bring your Baby to the Embassy" day... babies and small children EVERYWHERE

The folks at the Embassy were great however, minus the part where the (also very nice) security guys took all my electronics...aka, 90% of my planned entertainment while I waited. But, two hours, a panicky trip out to a local pharmacy when their photo machine broke, several chapters of "Underground London" by Stephen Smith, and a couple of Sudoku's later, I had a temporary passport. Awesome. Step One of "Go To China" completed.

Sadly, Step Two was not remotely successful. On Monday morning, after a very soggy slog down High Holborn to the Chinese Visa building, I was informed (again by very fast, polite and efficient staff) that I had to have my original passport, with my UK visa in it, because the embassy would need proof that I was allowed back in to the UK. Even if I were to re-reroute my flight through the States they still couldn't do it.

Side note - Did I mention that when I first tried to book the flight, all the US airlines had me routed through the US? I.e. Fly to Shanghai via ATLANTA?? Turning a 10-11 hour trip into a 46 hour trip. Oy vey.... but I digress.

So, at the end of the day, there will be no trip to China. I briefly held hopes that my passport might show up in time for me to sprint to Manchester and do the one- day visa processing there, but no dice. Sigh.

But, I'll be switching my China ticket to a US ticket for some time in May/June for a visit home, and Dad is making plans to come and visit in March. So, it's not all that bad, because that was the important part, seeing family, going to China was just a bonus.