Mac Store / Library

So this week is Reading Week at school, meaning no classes. BUT, I have a paper due on Monday. It's just a practice paper, so it's not graded or anything, and it's only 1,000 words, but I'm having the hardest time even starting it because I'm lazy. I have to do it today because I'm going to Barcelona tomorrow morning. Yay!

SOOOO...I'm at the library! This is the third time I've been here since I arrived. How amazing is that? Jennifer goes to the library! The library here is really pretty outside.



In the book version of The Da Vinci Code, I think they go to this library to research the Templars. It's a really pretty building. Inside, it's a library...which are all pretty much the same, no?

So I'm writing this from the library for a reason. I took Lily to the hospital today because she's been sick for awhile. Okay, "Lily" refers to my Macbook. And the "hospital" is the Mac store. And "sick" is...technical difficulties. Yep. So you don't know how much we take it for granted that there are so many Mac stores in Cali. Shit...I went this morning at 9:45am and there's like a group of people standing outside of the store waiting for it to open at 10. My computer should be fixed in a week or so, and they're going to replace my American keyboard with a British one so I can type "£" and "€". The British keyboard is organized differently from US ones though, so it may get annoying. I'm typing on a British one right now though, and it's okay.

But yes, I feel like severe separation anxiety having turned in my computer to the Mac people. :( How attached we become to inanimate objects!

Wish me luck writing my first paper in over two years!

This Time Last Year

Here's my blog post from this time last year (www.xanga.com/jennif3rrr):

Friday, October 28, 2005
I told my dad I'm unhappy with work and that I want to quit. My dad said fine and to go where I feel happy. I told him I am happiest at Louis Vuitton.

Keep your stapler in your desk drawer. It's really a lot safer.

I went to Starbucks in Amerige Heights this morning and saw high school kids ditching school. Made me feel really nostalgic. Things were better then. Pursuing a dream is so much better than achieving it.

I think my sister may have been right. I am a bipolar lesbian.

Thank God It's Friday!


WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES! I remember I wrote this after talking to my dad on the phone from my car (Brandon), I walked into Acme Communication's OC office...LATE of course, and then rather than do any work, just wrote in my blog. I used to corporate girl who gets her coffee at Starbucks and gets stuck in traffic on the way to work. TODAY, I am...lazy postgrad student who has a paper due but is lagging and just thinking about her upcoming trip to Barcelona...

Life is awesome.

Celebrities in London

So, I read www.perezhilton.com because I'm detached from U.S. celebrity gossip and I miss it. Us magazine has always been my guilty pleasure. It's the American royalty. But anyhow, I was just reading it and realized I missed seeing Ashlee Simpson in Chicago out here. I've been meaning to catch it, but it's already over! Oops, I forgot. Really wanted to hear her "sing."

Ashlee Simpson...Roxie Hart. That really scares me.

ALSO, according to the website, he's out here in London, as is Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Aniston. I thought that was interesting.

Of course we all know that Madonna and Gwyneth are also my fellow Americans-living-in-London. I actually DID see Gwyneth Paltrow at a Soho restaurant with Chris Martin. (He's a lot cuter in person!)

I did not, however, see Apple and Moses. They must have been at home in the fridge or parting some seas or something...

British gossip isn't as fun because I can't seem to get my bloody TV to work as of date. So I mean, what do I care about British celebs? Although the whole Macca and Heather thing is pretty funny. Every newstand has like a sign that'll say something stupid like "Macca Beat Me Up!" But yeah, OK and HELLO are no replacements for my love of Us. SOO...imagine my happiness when I finally found a store that sells Us magazines out here! It's a week behind the US, but it's a piece of home and I love it!

Historical Fiction / London, Part II

I've been reading historical fiction novels by Philippa Gregory lately. Her books are mostly about the English monarchy, primarily the reign of Henry VIII, Bloody Mary, and Virgin Elizabeth. Since July, I've read, "The Other Boyeln Sister," "The Constant Princess," and "The Queen's Fool." I actually read "The Other Boleyn Sister" while in China, and the other two books since I got here...and I'm enjoying the latter two on a whole other level now that I'm living in the same London that Anne Boleyn, Katherine of Aragon, and Queen Mary walked amongst. Katherine of Aragon's residence prior to becoming the Queen of England was the Durham House, which is actually on the Strand a couple of blocks away from my school. I tried to find it on Tuesday, but ended up getting lost. It's so cool though, living in a city with so much history. I mean...Katherine of Aragon lived there in the early 1500s, yet it is still around today.

It's kind of funny because when I lived in Hollywood, I used to watch reality TV and marvel at the fact that everything on TV was physically accessible in my daily life, whereas now that I live in London, I'm amazed that I have that same access with historical sites.

Other than reading historical books, I've been really busy with school. It's currently reading week, which is a week in the middle of term that you get off from classes. At Berkeley, reading week was at the end of term, but in London, it's always in the middle of term. I'm going to Barcelona for reading week, so I have to finish my reading week assignment before I leave.

Since most of you like to look at pictures, I'll post some more from my sightseeing days in London:

This is for Shelly. The tour guide said this is the school that the real Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) goes to.

Just a picture from the bus. See the double-decker red bus that London's famous for? We ride these buses everywhere we go though, so the novelty is lost on us. It's just the way you get from Point A to B here.

London Dungeon. Lorenne and I went a couple days later during a weekday so we didn't have to deal with the queue. I really like London Dungeon. It's really cheesy, but funny. They have exhibits on the Plague, Jack the Ripper, Todd Sweeny, etc. I downloaded the episode of "The Girls Next Door," and Hugh Hefner and his Bunnies went here while in London too.

The Tower of London. It's actually not the original Tower of London, did you know that? The original building burned during the Great Fire which destroyed half of London in the 1666. SO...it had to be rebuilt. It's on the same location, however, and was reconstructed as closely to the original as they could manage. The Tower is supposedly haunted, since it is the site where so many died. Anne Boleyn for one...

There are etchings in the walls of the Tower from prisoners. This is an E with a heart around it, allegedly by one of Queen Elizabeth's lovers who was executed.

View from top of the bus on Tower Bridge. This is what London policecars look like. London policemen do not carry guns. Most Americans don't believe this, but we're the only country that has that big of a problem with gun violence.

I took a river boat cruise along the Thames River. We managed to catch the opening of Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge had to open up to let some big ships through. Imagine if you're the poor bastard stuck on one side of the bridge trying to get to the other and you're in a cab (which are really expensive here) and the meter's running. DUDE, I'd be sooo pissed.

I think this is the current London Bridge...or is it Waterloo? I dunno. There's so many bridges here! Tower Bridge is the fancy one though. The others serve mainly as connectors between North and South London.

Harrod's Department Store. It's the most famous department store in London, but I haven't actually been there yet. It's really quite posh and expensive and there isn't really anything I need in there so far. I usually just go to Selfridge's.

The London Eye. Lorenne and I managed to fit this in on one of the few clear days in London. It's really kind of boring though because it goes so slow.

That's about it! I don't usually carry a camera around with me in London. I'm not Japanese, afterall. But will try to get you some pictures of my real life in London one of these days. Also, the Barcelona trip should result in some great pictures.

I doubt I'll ever fall in love with London, but I am developing a great appreciation for it as a city and center of culture. And living here has definitely affected me and changed my perspective on things. I am homesick for LA, but then I realize that even when I return to LA, my life isn't really there waiting for me. I don't have a job, a home, or a car there anymore. London is more or less my home now.

London, Part I

So let me try to fill you guys in with what I've been up to the past couple of months. Sorry for not being consistent. Especially to those of you I met this summer. I hope you're still reading my site. Let's do this week by week.

AUGUST 27 TO SEPT. 2
I flew back from China to LA. On the morning that I left, I started feeling a bit sick...on the flight back, it turned into a full-blown cold. So I get back home to just end up spending a week in bed. Although it did give me an opportunity to catch up on my TV. (Yay for TiVo.)
Last picture of me, Cai and John (aka TingTong) in Beijing. I totally miss these guys.

SEPT. 3 TO SEPT. 9
Hmm...Actually don't remember what I did this week, but I'm sure it was a lot of preparing for London, shopping, hanging out with friends, etc. OH...and I spent like 3 days at my cousin Julie's new place in Redlands. YEP...REDLANDS. My cousin Julie got married and her husband dragged my city girl cousin to the country! Of course being Julie, she has figured out where all the best shops are and all that. We spent the days sitting by the pool and at night, we drank soju. Haha. I really miss my cousin. She's my favorite drinking buddy and one of my best friends. AND, she's my personal shopper. She's sending me things from LA right now because I don't know how to shop for myself anymore.

SEPT. 10 TO SEPT. 16
My last week in America, which also happened to coincide with the 5th anniversary of 9/11. It really made me think about the past five years and how much the world has changed and how much I have changed. I went from a naive 18-year-old to...well, I have no clue what I am anymore. But yeah, a lot has changed. ALSO this week was my Goodbye Party. Yay! We went to the Spider Club in Hollywood. Got really trashed and had a great old time. Thanks to everyone who came out.

SEPT. 17 TO SEPT. 23
TADA! I leave for London and I get here Sept. 18th morning. I hired a car service to come pick me up and they send this strange Portuguese woman wearing high heels. UHM...OK. Well, checked into the Strand Palace Hotel and then ran down the Strand to King's College London to start orientation. For 3 days, I just pretty much ran all over town going to Ikea, opening a bank account (Barclay's), TRYING to get a cellphone, etc. I'm REALLY good at settling into a new city. I amazed myself at how resourceful I am. I managed to pretty much get everything down in three days! Impressive, huh?
So this is what my new room looks like:


It's not great. I don't like the idea of living in a dorm again, especially after the nightmare of living in Deutsch Hall my freshman year! But at least I have my own room. Thinking about getting a flat in the city with my friend Magda, but don't really know since I don't know how long I plan to stay in London.
My first weekend in London, I decided to do the whole sightseeing thing. The weather was fantastic my first week in London. It hasn't been like that since, so I'm glad I got all the sightseeing out of the way. Also, I just knew if I didn't do it now, I'd get comfortable and never do it. I mean, I lived in Hollywood for 2 years without ever seeing a film at the Chinese Mann and I lived in San Francisco and never went to Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz or any of that...so figured, let's sightsee.
I rode the red double-decker bus that goes around the city. Anyone who comes to London, I really recommend it because you get to see so much of the city. It's 20 pounds, but I think it was worth it. On the bus, I met this Australian girl who happened to be traveling alone, as well. We hit it off so we spent the weekend sightseeing together. Her name's Lorenne, she's from Tasmania. She's really cool.

Me and Lorenne on the bus.

The bus tour guide.

Crossing Tower Bridge. Contrary to popular belief, this is actually not London Bridge. The original London Bridge is in Arizona and the current London Bridge isn't all that impressive.

Okay...my blog program won't upload any more pictures, so I'll put up the rest later...but just to summarize all the sightseeing I have done:
Tower of London - It's not that great, but it's just really interesting knowing that you're standing where Anne Boelyn and so many others were before they got their heads chopped off. Morbid, yes, but fascinating.
Thames River Cruise - Part of the bus ticket. Went from Tower Bridge to Westminister.
London Eye - Great views. I went on one of the few clear days in London! Someone in our capsule proposed when we got to the top. A bit tacky. Also, damn kid in our capsule wouldn't stop crying...so it wasn't all that romantic.
London Dungeon - Loved this. It was hilarious.
London Aquarium - Bleh.

Honestly, London is a GORGEOUS city. Pictures don't really do it justice. There are some cities that just look better on TV (like LA), but London, you really have to be here to see how beautiful it is. Like Big Ben looks so different in real life. You just don't get the color properly on camera. It's really magestic.

SEPT. 24 TO SEPT. 30
School started. The program isn't what I thought it would be, but whatever. I mean, it's an experience. The strangest thing about my program is that there's about 50 people, but only 6 of them are guys! Very different from business school.

OK...so that brings us up to October, but I'm getting sick of this, so I'll finish up later.

Love you guys!

Rain

WELCOME TO LONDON!

I'm sorry I've been MIA on the Internet world for the past couple of months. I've been trying to figure out how to get a new site up because the previous site which I published through iWeb wasn't working. So, I'm trying blogspot. Let's see how this goes. I am not the most computer literate person, so please bare with me.

It rains here about 75% of the time. Usually it's not like hardcore pouring rain. I call it "pissing rain" because it just kinda rains constantly, but not much. It's that kind of rain where you can't decide whether it's worth it to take out your umbrella. It's really annoying.

Life's been good to me so far. I've been in London for about a month now...and it's been going well more or less. The weather sucks. Everything's freakin' expensive. And the food is absolute crap. BUT...it's a beautiful city, full of history. It's a very international community, so it's interesting.

I'll go more into detail and post pictures soon. Stay tuned.