I Love December Because:

1. Well it's the last month of the year. And usually by this time I'm am overly ready for it to be over. I'm ready to take the good, the bad and the ugly memories with me into the New Year.
"Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened"
-Dr. Seuss (he always gets it right)

2. I get to listen to Christmas Music 24/7 and no one will look at me weird. (Well not as weird as when I listen to it in April...) I love everything that comes along with the holiday- lights, music, the gingerbread latte I can only get during this season at starbucks. Oddly enough, the actual Xmas day doesn't hold any sentimental value because we're never home, a tradition I'd like to keep.

3. Giving Christmas gifts. I looove loove love giving cute little gifts. Man I am such a girl. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I've met some pretty spectacular people in London also, so I have mucho xmas shopping to do.

4. Myy Birthdayy :] Dec.23. My sister's bday (Dec 17) and My neices bday (dec. 31) Anyone that knows me, knows I make birthdays kinda a big deal esp. for my friends & fam. I can never understand why people hate their birthdays, and never celebrate..but to each it's own I guess.
I've befriened a few December babies here too. So for the first time I'm doing a joint birthday party "Adele,Nur & Ashley's Threesome Birthday Celebration." The theme is naughty and nice (Adele's idea-I don't know how I got dragged into this) at Cafe de Paris. Should be interestingg. Anyways thats this Friday. Then the week after the break starts && I get a new (color?) hurr do. Because I'm sure you wanted to know.

So because it's December and I'm especially happy all month long maybe I'll update moree.
But for sure after the birthday shindig.

Turkey Dayy

Thanksgiving was chilll, and a lot different from any other Thanksgiving (although they always are) My pre-meditated plan to cook didn't really work out bc I woke up too late. My mom started at 6am, not to mention the pre-cooking she did the night before. Bless her. (<--soo british to say!)

But here I am decorating cheesecake at the dessert table!

We had four of Rodney's co-workers and their family's come and celebrate with us which was nice to meet everyone and enjoy the holiday. Rodney for some (only God knows why) reason came home w. a wii the day before. So everyone played after eating (when I could barely move..which might explain why I lost to Rodney in bowling.) And of course my mom brought up the idea of Karaoke (which she tends to do at almost EVERY social gathering, in true filipino/asian fashion) But the guests sure enjoyed it, and I always get my ab workout by laughing at the madre for trying to sing. So now I'm back at school and waiting for the month of my birthday to come along already!
Food never looks as good in pictures as it does in real life..but it was delish.

You've just missed the Queen!

Greetings!
As I have almost run out of things to do to procrastinate, I thought I'd let you look at my weekend. My friend visited, so Fi and I took her to see some of the things London is known for.

piiiictaas
(Double click to enlarge in case you haven't figure that one out yet :)

And I don't know why that last one won't rotate. Actually, I just don't know how to rotate it.
OH and we literally did just miss the Queen haha
Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!!
<3>

Let me enlighten you.

Heyy Guys!

Just wanted to give you a quick update on my life, or lack there of. School is finally picking up and I'm realizing now just how much work there is to do. Even though I only have one assignment per class, its the pain in the arse kind. Lots of researching, interviewing, observing, library-ing and the always interesting math. Just when I thought I was done after econ & stats my finance class just might be the death of me. Outside of school, I think I have finally become somewhat comfortable with my life here and the friends I've become close with. I've got a new routine now that doesn't invlove Patriot's Village or "studying" in the JC! (miss you kids)

So far, the most interesting part of November was being overseas while the U.S election came to a close. It was complete mania. It was no secret that the UK was all for Obama. His picture was advertised everywhere; parks, tube stations, you couldn't take too many steps without seeing him. On the night of the election, BBC coverage had clearly chosen a side. Somehow they had found a way to give up 5 minutes of air time to talk about McCain and the rest of the night was an Obama frenzy. The "Obama projected to win" statement at the bottom of the screen was there all day, so they obviously had no doubts. Surprisingly, the brits were greatly engaged in the whole process & there were parties held all over London to celebrate. It was great that everyone was so excited about it but it also made me a little homesick. Especially with all the D.C snapshots and the news spent a few minutes talking about VA (virginia beach!!) and had live broadcasting from Culpeper (of all places..)

I'm really excited for this month to be over for December to start :) My absolute favvorite. November should fly by though (To Do List):

• My friend I've known since middle school is coming up for the weekend (Nov.20)
  

• This is my Arts month- I'm checkin out the Museum of London, National Portrait Gallery & Wimbledon Museum (YES! which reminds me I still need to do the application process for tickets, so if you want some tell me!) . I don't know if Buckingham Palace counts, but that and the Changing of the Guards to see if I can make them laugh.

• I'll realize I have a crapload of work to do after severe amounts of procrastination.

• Celebrate thanksgiving w. other Americans (finalllyy) & the U.S Ambassador here in London. (I totally want his job but for the Philippines)

• Then going home to help cook (yiikes) and potentially burn the house down.

I hope everyone had a good Halloween! Oh and btw my birthday is coming uppp :) More details on that laterr.

**Just a few days ago, this earth lost an amazing person who will always be remembered in the most positive light. I think I can talk for the whole class of '06 when I say he will be greatly missed and forever loved. I can't wait to see you again and we're so doing a tennis re-match in Heaven.

A Little Ventilation

I'm back and feeling soo much better! It was so good to have a break from everyone and see my mom. Its not the same as home but will have to do. Everyones been asking about the place they got.. Its in a villiage called Stanwick which is country country. We do have neighbors that are (surprisingly) less than 5 miles in distance though. Theres even some American's around! ..who brought over really really good c.c cookies <3 I didn't get any pictures of the house itself but I somehow managed to overload my camera with these gorgeous mammals. So this is the backyard, the english countryside. eh

In other news, I'm def trying to make my way to V.A (birthdayy!) if a much more intriguing place isn't suggested. It's no schock that I'm pretty homesick and seeing some familiar faces could do wonders. If I have to hear ONE MORE person lecture me about my country.......!

It's Raining Today! (for the 1st time) God must love me.

Today I'll be going "home" for the first time since uni started. Yep, the 'rents finally found a place they like. I'm curious to see just how much i'll hate/love it, seeing as the only thing my mom has mentioned is that the horses are really nice in the backyard. haha..but really. I'm mostly going home to see a doctor about my ridiculously random phases of sickness my body has decided to go through...But also to help pick out furniture, organize things and such, as they have literally JUST moved in..It will be really nice to have a break from the city (words I never thought I would utter) and have some home cooked meals! (yayy!) So Sunday, I'll be back, hopefully with some kind of peace of mind.

Happy Birthday to the two most beautiful girls in the world <3

First Day of Schoool

..and I feel like a kid again.

Ohh college, the four year interruption.
First off, I suppose I shouldn't call it college, but University. Kids here go from high school--> A-Levels-->college, then to University. As opposed to our straight from high school to University thing.

So I just finished my first week at University, and by week I mean classes on Mondays and Wednesdays (: Lets discuss the major differences...

Classes

I'm taking 4 "modules" this semester. 2 on Monday, 2 on Wednesday. Each class comes with a Lecture and a Seminar that are both 1 hour each. In the lecture as you can imagine, its a lot of talking and note-taking. For the seminar, they cut the class in half; each half goes to their assigned time slot and this is where you have discussions, ask all the questions, presentations, etc. It's a fairly good idea, but I'd rather get it all over with in one class.

First Day
The first day student introductions (ex- My name is ____, I'm from _____, I like to _____) are non existent here. It makes sense, they're so time consuming, and no one actually cares or will remember that you like to rockclimb or juggle. In my experience, the first day of classes is a bunch of bs where nothing important actually gets done. Here, they get right down to it. My notebook is already half full.

Grades

Its becoming apparent that Universitys here don't care about what your doing along the way, as long as the final output is what they want. All of the classes are comprised of 1 or 2 grades. (!!!) You either have one big project/paper that is meant to be worked on all semster and is due during the final week, OR you just have one final exam. (or both) and the entire module grade depends soley on what your able to produce from your brain at the end of the 12th week. No homework, no classwork, no quizzes, no midterms. (ugh!) I've had the rare 1 or 2 classes like this before at good ole GMU, and needless to say, they wern't on my top 10 list.

The majority of my classes are in the Tower Building. (brown) Which in actuality is like 5 buildings connected by those bridge/tunnel things. You can't see it in the picture, but once you go inside, there is a courtyard in the back and thats where all of the confusion starts. I spent the majority of my first day being so lost (which really isn't different from any other day) and I still couldn't tell you where my classes are at this moment. Next week should be fun!

This is completely random, but needs to be noted. Politics, a topic I stay away from in the presence of other people. Not the English. Oh no. This happens 3 out of the 5 times I meet someone new. As soon as someone hears my American accent, I get bombarded with questions. I've gotten "Why do Americans hate Bush?" 3 times so far, and couting. After that, comes the rants about McCain, Obama, our economy, Hurricane Katrina...This is responded with my smile and a nod as to avoid any disagreements.

"Fresher's Flu"
...I have it. It's not exactly the flu, its just the name they've given to the cold that goes around at the beginning of the year. I usually only get sick once or twice a year, but considering that this weather is usually what my winter is like, i don't know how I'm going to survive their winter. Thank God I have the besties visiting.

peace