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CIDER IS THE BEST DRINK EVER.
So far in England, I’ve landed two hours late, driven around in what felt like circles on roads that didn’t seem to have rules, took public transportation into London, went to an old Pub near castles that are only open in the spring, and drove to Brighton (a cute sea side town with neat shops and pretty colored buildings, also the home of Banksy). I’ve developed an affinity for Strongbow Cider, playing cards at sticky pub tables, deaf cats named Winston that come into my room each morning to smell everything, and watching American news one day later recorded on the DVR. This evening, we went to the London Museum of Transport. Justin was uncool because he did not want to participate in the stamp game. Alex and I got all 13 stamps around the museum. The reason we went to this semi-obscure museum was we saw a sign on a bus stop advertising a century of posters exhibition. That was pretty cool—they were the original artist’s submissions for various posters from the last century.
In Brighton, we had a yummy tea, explored the pier, went to the royal gardens, some museum, found the kissing coppers by Banksy, ate at a delicious sandwich place called toast, did some more window shopping, or as I like to say, took some more Shopportunities, and went home. I like Brighton; it is a cute town, with an apparently lively club scene.
We reserved a room at the Flying Pig Downtown in Amsterdam for the night before orientation begins. It is where quite a few other people on the program are staying, and hopefully Ian can meet up with us there. We are taking an overnight ferry from London to Amsterdam in order to maximize our time in Amsterdam and minimize our expenses. Hopefully I’ll be able to carry all of my luggage from train to ferry to train etc. The three of us reserved a four bed, windowless cabin. It actually looks pretty nice from what the website photos show. Plus it’s only one night. I’ll actually be glad to sleep on a regular bed instead of a blowup mattress finally.
Thanks to everyone who is reading. It's actually quite fun to write. Also, My Skype name is sara.fultonkoerbling Let me know if you want to set up a skype date.
First of all, apparently only Disney Land is the happiest place on earth, not Disney world, contrary to what I told Justin earlier this week. Walt Disney World is where your dreams come true. I am not sure which one is better. I am inclined to believe that neither is great.
I’ve been in Kissimmee for a little less than a week; I’ve spent two days hanging out by the pool, one rainy day at the animal kingdom, one cold day at epcot, and one cold day at the magic kingdom (a transplanted Disney land). The Magic kingdom was disappointing because so much stuff was closed—the tiki room, Splash Mountain, and this noodle place we were going to eat at. The animal kingdom was really fun. We got a late start, and that park closes early so all the animals can sleep and be fed, so we were only there for about four hours. It has a really fun roller coaster that goes backwards and through the dark, called Expedition Everest. The best part about the ride was that there was a special line for single riders, and it was WAY shorter. None of us minded sitting next to someone we didn’t know, so we went on again and again and again, sitting next to someone new each time. It was really nice. Whenever I’m waiting in line and I see an empty seat go by, I get annoyed. I wish everything in life had a single rider line. It was way cooler than a fastpass.
At epcot, the first park we went to, I was going on Mission to Mars, a simulator ride, with Becca. She doesn’t like most roller coasters, so there was a less intense version that she went on before and was ready to try the more intense orange version. We waited in line, went through the safety videos and strapped ourselves into the seats when we realized the compartment simulator next to ours was not loading. Some woman had vomited all over the inside, even though there were barf bags hanging in front of the seats. Apparently they weren’t able to just shut down that one little pod to clean, so we all had to leave. They gave us a free fastpass for five people good until the end of the month. We have five-day passes and there are only four parks, so we may end up going back to epcot. They have yummy food and it is fun to go around the world at the world showcase. I hope we go back to the Animal Kingdom since we were only there for a couple of hours.
The other night we went to this Brazilian Churrascaria, which is a restaurant where these muscular attractive men in gaucho pants come to your table with skewers of delicious meat that they ceremoniously carve onto your plate. The food was delicious, but it was not without sacrifice. We arrived for our seven o’clock reservations about two minutes late. This is practically early for my family, especially on this particular vacation (Today we didn’t arrive at the part until nearly 2PM). The hostess led us to this room that had two of three tables unoccupied. We let my dad choose the table, and we were all filing into the room to sit down. After I put my coat on the back of my chair I began to sit down. I hear glass shatter and I look around, I thought that I had somehow knocked down a glass with my jacket, but something hit my arm from above and glass sprayed everywhere. I looked at the seat next to me and it’s covered in glass. It turns out that a light bulb from the chandelier had basically exploded and fallen right as we were being seated. Leis, who was about to sit down, had been reading something on her iPhone, and was being slow. In the end, it was good that we had been late, and the iPhone saved leis a light bulb falling onto her head. Since it was kind of sketchy that glass exploded onto our table, we got free dessert and free corkage, which was awesome. We ended up switching tables.
So, fast forward and I am sitting at the Orlando International Airport starbucks, using free wireless, which is awesome. I just sent my dad through security at his terminal. I’ll probably wait to go through security for another hour or two because the internet isn't free on that side. Orlando was fun. It was great to see Sami, Becca, and Leis--and those other people I see more often too. I won’t be around to go to Sami’s graduation, so hopefully Leis and Becca can go in my place. Last night was my last night in America, and I had McDonald’s for dinner. It was pretty funny. I didn’t wear my sunglasses on the drive to the airport today, because I realized this was probably the last sun I’ll see for a few months. I was going to post some photos, because we took some really great ones this week, but I just realized that I checked my camera chord. In a few days, there will be pictures.
Also, I WANT an iPhone.
I'm almost ready to leave... for another week of hanging out with the family. Orlando vacation part five thousand will commence in one week. My dad used to take my sister and I on vacation to Walt Disney World every winter in high school. Once he invited our family friends, Becca and Leis. Shortly thereafter, Sami and I decided that we had simply experienced all the magic that the magical kingdom had to offer. My dad continued to go, either by himself or with Leis for a couple of years. After a long enough hiatus, we seem to be ready to return. This time, Sami is bringing her boyfriend, my dad is bringing his girlfriend, and Leis and Becca are coming. We are also not staying at Walt Disney World. I'm sure we'll be going to the theme parks, but we are staying at some Orlando resort timeshare. It's really all the same to me because I'll surely be sleeping on the foldout couch.
I have already done most of my packing/planning for this trip because when everyone else returns to the west coast, I'll be flying across the Atlantic to meet up with Alex and Justin (FINALLY!). I hadn't been home for nearly a year until this break, and I plan on doing roughly the same this coming year. I am so excited to live on my own and cook food and be a cute ex-pat. I don't think I actually qualify for that description, but so what?
Before I can begin the first steps toward my freedom, I have to finish my Richter proposal. If you don't know, I'm applying to do independent research over the summer in London. It would be amazing for someone else to pay for me to live in London for the summer, but right now that isn't enough motivation for me to work on it. I would much rather stay my room all day, only leaving to go for walks and to get coffee.
I just hope this week goes by at the right speed. I want it to be fast, but there are certain things I need to get done before I can leave in a sane fashion. We'll see how that goes.
I also think I might make a new year's resolution or two:
- I will not eat high fructose corn syrup knowingly.
- I will do more things that I enjoy--time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted! Bertrand Russell told me so.
- I won't do things just because they are "good" for me, and I won't not do things just because they are "bad" for me.
At this point, I think I'm just making resolutions that will serve as excuses somewhere down the road. I like the idea of making a resolution that will improve your life, but I don't know how easy that is.
Another day is almost over, which brings me closer to what I've been waiting for.
