Pictures

I rarely take pictures anymore. The days where I would take 30 meaningless pictures without even thinking twice about it (which is, incidentally, how ninjas do most things), are long gone. However, I do take pictures when I have a good reason, such as today. ELIDA IS HERE! It's so crazy, and I'm so excited - even though this is the worst possible weekend of the year for me. I'm meeting up with her and Jerome in about an hour and a half.

Consequently, I charged up my batteries and brought my camera with me to school. And guess what - I have more pictures from my trip to Madrid. I just forgot to put them on my laptop. So here are some from my last few days there.

Ahhh, the Wonderfully Minging Casa Mingo. Matt was trying to pour sidra like the Spaniards, but most of it wound up on the floor. Bless.

This was in the Gatwick Airport. I feel very strongly that there is something inherently wrong with the entire concept. This may be a clue to the origins of the stereotype of Brits having bad teeth.

Ahh, yes. My lovely stay at the exquisite Chez Gatwick. I think I was there for about 15 hours? Luckily for me, it only felt like 15 years...

Well, there you have it, folks. A few more pictures for ya. Maybe someday I'll post daily pics again, who knows. I will definitely be posting some pics of me with my old roomie in the next few days. Hooray!

Just in time!

In my last post, I said that I was hoping to post more information about my trip in the coming week. So, for anyone who has been wondering why the post hasn't appeared yet, it may be useful to note that the phrase "the coming week" has been redefined by the Board of Definitions and Redefinitions of the English Language. It now means "the next 19 days." Therefore, this post is just in time - not late, as you might have imagined.

The trip was great; I had lots of fun hanging out with Homeskillet and Strong Sad (a.k.a. Victoria and Kelly) at their place on Holy Spirit Street. Jess and I also got to go visit Jonathan in Los Hueros (which is a.t.p.e.c. - I'm giving a whopping 50 points to whoever is the first one to figure out this acronym), and he hung out in Madrid with us as well. The trip mostly consisted of hanging out with friends and visiting the places we used to frequent, for example: Casa Mingo, el Rastro, Ricci's, etc. Jess and I both spent a substantial amount of money on clothing, I made Bailey's brownies a couple of times, and we (Victoria, Kelly, Amy, Jess, and I) watched the entire collection of "The Office" - which amounts to about 8 hours of fun... or should I say, the equivalent of the average day at the office? I also got to see Troy and Heather, Ana, Shawn, and Nicole Trabes. Plus, I got to know V & K's roommate Amy, and meet some of their other friends. It was an all-around good time. Also, Matt 3 came to town the day before I left, so we met for some wonderfully minging food at Casa Mingo. Here are some pics from the trip:

Jess, Jo, Vic, and I, at La Finca de Susana, which is a culinary school where you can get amazing food for a very reasonable price. Jonny and I on the Madrid Tour bus. Jonny "working hard" at the office.This sort of reminds me of Gareth's phone holster. "Did he make 5 calls, or six? You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, punk? Well? Do you?That Uncle William sure has one big Tub O' Mayonnaise.
This place has the best mojitos in the world.

This is the most amazing chocolate in the world. Seriously.
Jonathan? Playing video games? There's a shock...

Roughing it in Brit-land

It's my last night in London; tomorrow I bid farewell to good ol' Blighty. I have had one tough week- lying on the couch, watching TV, eating lots of good food (yes, folks, there is good food in England). Seriously, though, it was a much-needed break. On the way back from Morocco, I started getting sick. Being Sick + 8-Hour Bus = No Fun. I'm sure it was a result of a month of travelling- my body was just rebelling. I only felt really ill for the first day or two, now I just have a cold. At any rate, it was high time I took a break, and besides being a Whole Lot of Fun, I think I will enjoy Dublin now a lot more than I would have otherwise.

I had hoped that Lina, Matt 2, and Matt 3 would all be able to get together with Emily and I while I was here. Although we couldn't meet up all at the same time because of their individual schedules, we were able to meet Matt 3 for tea on Thursday, Lina for a curry on Saturday night, and Matt 2 for lunch today. It was a lot of fun to see all of them, but bittersweet as I won't be seeing any of them again for a long time.

So we spent the afternoon in London today - a bit ironic. I spent Independence Day in the capital of the country from which the US declared independence. My Brit friends enjoyed that, as you might imagine. We had a good time, though. After lunch we went to the National Art Gallery, then hung out in a coffee shop for a little while. We might have done more, but we were blessed with typical London weather: It rained.

Well, I'd love to write more, but as I said, this is my last night in London. I need to go lie on the couch and watch some more TV.