A Post-Vacation 'Word Up'

Well, I've just arrived home after quite some time away. We went to Wales for a trip, which I'm afraid I won't be writing about for sheer lack of time. However, it was very fun. This week is our break week, and Jon, Marc, Donnamarie and I went to Paris/Barcelona to celebrate our being in Europe and having parents who still send money if we sound hungry on the phone. Here is an abbreviated version of the trip...

Things I Checked off My Life's 'To do' List Over the Vacation:

-Got two new stamps in my Passport
-Got hit on in french. (Ah, bon soir madame...)
-Stayed in one of France's more culturally 'interesting' areas.


-Watched news about Canada in Turkish on TV in a restaraunt in France.
-Saw a two famous ladies at their home in the Louvre. (The other one was two dimensional and smiling.)


-Ordered a meal in french.
-Thought about how much the cities in Canada need to reconsider their lighting schemes.
-Made my own lip gloss colour.
-Bought my own lip gloss colour.
-Walked along one of the most famous streets in the world at night.


-Ordered a bottle of wine for dinner.
-Felt uncultured whilst watching one of my male friends have to try the wine and approve of it before we could drink it. (Didn't know that actually happened in real life.)
-Took Public transportation in another country
-Visited one of the most opulent palaces in the world; laughed at the scaffolding covering some parts.
-Sat in the garden of the aforementioned palace and pretended I was having a garden party there and everyone was my guests.


-Didn't eat at McDonald's while I was in continental Europe.
-Got hit on by Paris, the voice-over personification, during a documentary-type movie.
-Had what can be best described as a quintilingual count to 10 at the dinner table one night.
-Looked like a cheesy American tourist. Took pictures accordingly.


-Actually shrieked a little bit upon first seeing the Eiffel Tower.
-Laughed along with a waiter at Marc's funny Quebecois accent.
-Imitated some sexy Renaissance models. (Left hand on breast, look indifferent.)
-Made two males in their 20's reconsider whether they really wanted to live with women in their future lives.
-Laid on a park bench under the Eiffel tower at night.


-Got lost in Paris' sex district, tried to avoid stopping in the "Sexy Centre" to ask for directions.
-Got turned away at a bar for gay men.
-Got subsequently referred to the bar for gay women down the street.
-Had a beautiful wine/cheese/grapes/baguette picnic in a park beside Versailles.


-Attended a service at the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.
-Walked around a medieval market and did not laugh at the vendor's costumes/wares.
-Later, DID laugh about the vendors costumes and wares.
-Had tea and ate pastries which, by all basic formal logic, are some of the best in France. (At Laduree)


-Bought lunch at a huge Spanish market which had a lot of questionable looking sheep body parts.


-Listened to some Spanish-speaking Jazz singers doing their best at some great English jazz standards.
-Got somewhat lost on the streets of Barcelona.
-Watched Barcelona's best street performers.
-Pretended that the people who had just ripped a plastic emergency poncho advertising a Welsh-language channel in half, and fashioned two new items, were not my friends


-Decided what I'd do if ever forced to become a street performer.
-Saw the Barcelona Football stadium.
-Took a boat ride around Spain's mediterranian coast.


-Two words: muchos sangrias.
-Cured a friend of his map fetish.
-Relied on two of my bilingual friends to do most of the talking on both trips.
-Saw about 3000 "what are they compensating for?"-type statues/monuments.
-Navigated my way out of Spain with a friend who speaks as little spanish as I do. (no habla espanol?)
-Got through customs on the way back into the UK without getting racially profiled. (Evidently this was hard the night we came back.)

Anyway, it was a nice trip and I hope that I get to go back to Europe again in my lifetime. I've been very lucky so far to go twice. I highly recommend either city as being stunningly beautiful, but my new love of life is the Eiffel tower: it's terribly romantic. If you aren't in love with someone in Paris, you probably should reconsider your relationship.

Now, back to the endless schoolwork.

Click on the picture so you can see a bigger one!

We're Too Sexy For Parliament.

Yesterday was the first of our Professor Dunn-led field trips, and let me say: I was impressed.

We started off with a little bit of this:

Yes, that is really the British parliament. So, in the interest of keeping you informed, Dunn apparently is bff with some MP for the Scottish Nationalist party. (think: PQ in kilts) So, instead of having "real" tour guides through parliament, we had some guys who worked for the MP as whips. Personally, I preferred hearing stories of how the MPs keep silly things like lightsabres and plastic swords in the ceremonial sword sheathing ribbons to hearing which pieces of furniture were donated by which colonies.

And, just for the interest of my own personal family, there is a Fleming crest displayed in the House of Commons. So...very cool. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I also wanted to stay out of jail that day, so I had to weigh the options.

Of course, as always, here is the glamour shot of me and DMK in front of Big Ben. I also wanted to show off how great everyone looked that day, which there will be more evidence of to come. Jon took this picture, by the way, which is why the quality is so darn good.


Afterwards, we headed to a museum, which was fun...but for some reason the only picture I took while I was there was of a clock. Not even a cool clock. I can't explain it, but I think it may have hypnotized me with its shinyness and moving parts. But, to make a long story short: that part of the day was relatively boring.

Then came our little tour to 10 Downing St. Which, as it turns out, we walked by twice the last time we were in London, but didn't even notice because it's a relatively innocuous looking side street. But anyway, we got searched a bit then went IN. Yes, in.

It was crazy. Here we are in the residence of one of the most powerful leaders in the world, and I was having the same thought as basically everyone else...

" Oh my god, it's the house from Love Actually...Hugh Grant danced on these very stairs."

Yes, I admit it. I'm a cultureless North American. However, I realized the deeper coolness of it after, and enjoyed some tea and a chat with a lovely Civil Servant in the dining room, along with the rest of the class.

Anyway, here is a nice picture of the girls and Rob hanging out in front of the famous front door. (Which, I must stress again, we were BEHIND at some point.)

So, thus ended the field trip portion of the day. Well done, Dunn. Well done.

Later, Marc and I took some wicked sweet Myspace pictures, Trafalgar Square-style.

Somewhere out there, there is a picture of me with that lion as well, but I'm sure it's not half as classy. Nor half as myspace-y.

After that, we went and saw Spamalot starring Tim Curry (who is pretty old now, by the way) with Marc's dad, who was visiting. It was hilarious, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Monty Python humour. Or gratuitious cleavage. I do recommend getting seats that don't infringe on British airspace though. The play loses a little something when you can see the prop people moving set pieces in and out.

Anyway, we were seated with some guys in the coolest and most ridiculous costumes ever. Marc was nice enough to take a picture of me with a couple of them.


And there you have it: another exciting, cultural, foggy day in London town.
I can't wait to visit again.