London

Well I am finally out of the U.S and in the UK yay! I am slowly getting over the jet-lag. Yesterday took a tour of the campus, saw some ducks, geese, and swans at the lake. Today Jen and I took a bus to Wivenhoe and ate at an awesome fish and chips place called Hennley's it was very good. Tonight we had pizza for dinner and went to Colchester to the movie theater where we watched "Lesbian vampire killers" it was um, interesting to say in the least. Some parts were hilarious, other parts were very disturbing.

Tomorrow we go to London! The plan is to visit Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and have a lovely time. Well I am beginning to feel tired so I think I will go read a book!

at the airport

well i am sitting in the airport surrounded by weary travelers, including myself who are waiting patiently for any sort of sign that indicates that we can get on the plane. right now i would like nothing more than to climb on board and sit myself in my designated window seat and go to sleep. even though this may leave
me with a sore neck in the morning. i am so glad that i convinced my parents that i neede a phone with internet capabilities, otherwise i would probably be bored to death going over the pros and cons of digging out a book from the bottom of my purse. well, it looks like they have started to let the crying children on board, so theoretically, it should only be ten minutes or so. but yeah, it still feels so surreal, like im dreaming or something. oh well, all these anxious people are standing around, waiting to get in line, i don't see what the big deal is. oh well. i am way excited!!!

24 hours!

In approximately 24 hours I will be jetting off for London, yay! I just checked in online and picked a seat (I hope it's a good one)The plane didn't look too full but maybe a lot of people prefer checking in when the get to the airport...hmm.

Woo hoo! London and Jenika! I will see you in about 33 hours! yay!

3 days omg

Well I'm pretty much done with packing. I've washed all the clothes I need to bring with me, I've packed my backpack and purse, I just need to pack up my computer. I've been packing and it still doesn't really feel like I'm going. Oh well hopefully the car ride to the airport will kick my brain out of this weirdness that I've been feeling.

The Hazards of Love

I guess it's already the 17th in some places of the US and so this means that since the Decemberists moved their release date to today(!), I have thus downloaded and am listening to their new album yay! I am so excited! I got a haircut today, it's shorter, but it should be more manageable now...maybe. I'll have to see how it reacts to the humidity.

And I think I can safely say that I am done shopping for various things that I will need for my adventure. The only thing that I may need if I can't find any in the house are luggage tags. If I have time, I think I'm going to start packing tomorrow. Yay!

Seven Days! Wow!

Well, yesterday morning, I drove up to Flagstaff (I love driving up to Flagstaff it's so beautiful!) to spend some time with the people up there, unfortunately because it is the week of spring break, everyone else had left except for Regan and Geoff. (I was kind of sad that I wasn't getting ready for a trip to Laguna Beach, CA like the previous two years) We had tons of fun and all in all it was really relaxing! We wandered around downtown, went to target, watched Burn After Reading, walked around campus, ate dinner at Hiro'S (so delicious!) and then watched another movie and went to sleep. This morning we had breakfast at McDonald's and then we went our separate ways, Regan and Geoff to Vegas and I back to Gilbert. The trip to Flagstaff brought me a little bit closer to realizing how very soon I will be leaving for real to go to Europe!Yay! I'm a bit nervous but hopefully it will turn into excitement as soon as I start packing! London's forecast for Sunday is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit so it should be a nice change from Gilbert's 90 degree weather(Ick!) predicted for this week!

I finished the CD case calendars that I plan to give out as gifts today. When the CIE first said that it is customary to bring a small gift for the people you are planning on living with, I wasn't sure what to bring that would be small and lightweight as well as inexpensive because I've been trying to save as much money as I can. My brother had to make one of these for his digital photography class and I thought that it would be a neat, useful gift that would represent NAU and Arizona. I just took the photo shop template from my brother and found pictures that I took around NAU and Arizona and printed out the calendar. It fits nicely in a jewel CD case and I just stuck a magnet on the back so that it will stay on a fridge. I hope the people like them....

10...

Only ten days left! Nur zehn tagen! And I am still in denial. Oh well. I have been trying to brush up on my German skills because the during the first week of the program, we have to take an exam that will determine which group we get placed into and though it would be easier, I really don't want to get stuck in the second place group. I can't even comprehend what it's going to be like over there.

I'm still downloading free serialized podcast audiobooks for my ipod. They are so addictive and there are some really excellent stories! I would highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys listening to audiobooks. The main place I get them is from podiobooks.com on itunes, they have about 50 different podcast novels but I really enjoyed the share novels by Nathan Lowell (Quarter share, Half share, Full Share, and Double Share), right now I am listening to Morevi by Tee Morris, I also enjoyed the Heaven series by Mur Lafferty. There are also more well known audiobooks on itunes for free including Robinson Crusoe, and Pride and Prejudice.

Well so long, fare well, auf wiedersehen, goodnight!

The Final Countdown Begins!

Only TWELVE DAYS left until I depart boring, dull G-town! The temperature is climbing, and my patience has been wearing thin. But, I am done* working at Harkins!(*They could still schedule me on Friday but I really doubt that they will go to the trouble of keeping me on the schedule for one day)I still can't believe that I'm leaving and once that realization hits me, I am really going to panic...oh well.

First off, I have decided to make another online blog/journal thing where I will post all of my pictures with brief commentary in a more direct presentation that will look nice and won't contain all of my boring/mad ramblings. It can be found at http://jadeblade3.livejournal.com/ but don't go running off to look at it yet, there's nothing there. Once I start taking pictures and make sure that I can upload pictures, they will start appearing!

Second, these last remaining days are going to be really hectic so I don't know how much more of a countdown I will have the chance to record before I'm off, and I don't know what the internet will be like in Germany, I'm not sure that I'll have any internet in my room at all...yikes. There are internet cafe's and such but those cost money.... I will have email on my phone so if you really need to contact me you can email my gmail account.

Third, Speaking of hectic, I have decided to run off to Flagstaff this Saturday for one last hurrah! with Regan, Geoff, Natalie and whoever else wants to tag along for sushi and chillaxing. I am really excited to see them again and to go to Hiro's. Mmmm Sushi!

Otherwise, I haven't been doing much of anything lately, other than making lists, shopping for things that I will need during my travels,knitting a sweater I started three years ago, dreaming obscure dreams, and listening to music(The Decemberists!**)and podiobooks non-stop. If I am feeling verbose, I may even write another blog entry on podiobooks because I have been downloading dozens to put on my ipod for plane/train rides. Well I should probably go work on more packing/cleaning preparations. Auf Wiedersehen!

**The Decemberists have a new album "The Hazards of Love" released on March 24th, two days after I leave! Alas!

Another month's worth of movie reviews!

Again I really don't have much else to say since I'm am not in Deutchsland yet and so, another round of movie reviews! Again, if you are planning to see "He's Just Not That Into You", "Coraline", "Taken", or "The Reader", do not read because there are spoilers!

He's Just Not That Into You: I thought this was a very cute movie, it was a chick flick but nevertheless an enjoyable, feel good movie. The cast was full of well known actors and actresses including Drew Berrymore,Justin Long, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johanson and many more. It kind of reminded me of a summer version of Love Actually but it didn't quite measure up to Hugh Grant's awesomeness. Also it was mainly centered around the fact that even though a guy may ask for your number, if he doesn't call you right away, he is not interested. The story follows one girl's obsession with checking her phone while waiting for a blind date to call her back. She makes up excuse after excuse as to why he is not calling her but she finally meets and falls in love with Justin Long a bartender who explains the male psyche to her. I liked this movie, but I could be biased because I find Justin Long to be very charming.

Coraline 3D: A 3 dimensional kid's movie that reminded me of James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think they were directed by the same person? Oh well. Very typical kids movie about a girl who runs into trouble and has to do something to save her world. This movie however, was really very creepy at times and would be scary for young children. Coraline has had to move away from all her friends and now lives in a very dull drab place where her parents are too busy and ignore her. She discovers a door to another world in her house that leads to another dimension where her parents are fun and give her all the attention and gifts that she desires. However, there is something wrong with the other world and her other mother turns out to be evil and wants to steal her eyes. Eventually the evil being from the other dimension kidnaps her real parents and she has to go rescue them to bring order back into her own life. The moral of the story, which I guess is a good one for these times is to not go chasing surreal pleasures and fantasies because they will only get you into trouble so you should be thankful for what you're given. AKA Don't do drugs kids!

Taken: Taken was an excellent movie, It probably wasn't the best movie to see, as I am leaving very soon to partake in my own international adventure but oh well. Liam Neeson was awesome (Go Qui-Gon!)in this movie! The movie was centered around Liam, an ex CIA agent who retired to spend more time with his daughter. He and his wife are divorced and she is married to a wealthy man. His daughter begs him to let her and an older friend go to Paris for summer vacation but because he was an agent, he is very skeptical about letting his daughter go unchaperoned. He gives in and decides to let her go but gives her strict instructions to call him on a cell phone that he gives her. Of course being a stupid 17 year old, She and her friend meet a hot guy outside the airport, they share a taxi, and he invites them to a party later, asking where exactly they are staying. They get kidnapped but Liam's daughter sees her friend being taken and calls him before she herself is kidnapped and from the noise and sounds that he records off her phone call he finds out that she has been taken by a group that specifically kidnaps young female travelers and sells them into slavery and prostitution. He goes to Paris and miraculously tracks her down. The very last scene of the movie was dumb but otherwise, it was a pretty good movie.

The Reader: I saw the reader today, it was a very interesting movie. It is rated R for about a half hour of nudity and "sensuality" but once the awkward parts of the movie were past it was a very intriguing movie. It was centered around the life of Michael Berg, a German boy living in post WWII Germany from when he was a young boy to when he was an older man. The older man was played by Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort!!!) the main actress was Kate Winslet, who won an oscar for her role as Hannah Schmitz. The story is about Michael(age 16-17), who comes home from boarding school but is sick and delirious with scarlet fever, Hannah(much older 30-40) finds him and helps him get back home. He returns to thank her and they end up having a summer affair. During the affair she always asks him to read to her. She disappears one day and he goes to law school. While in law school he attends a hearing of 6 female SS guards who are accused of killing 300 people because they did not let them out of a locked church that had begun to burn after an air raid. Spoiler! It turns out that Hannah was one of the six guards and she tells the truth and in the end gets charged of being the leader of the six guards and for writing a false report that said they had no idea that the church was burning and that the deaths were not the guards faults. She is sentenced to life in prison. However, Michael realizes that she is illiterate and was not at fault, and was ashamed at telling this truth. Some Twenty years later Michael is a cold distant man, has a daughter, but is divorced. While moving out he finds his old books and sends Hannah tape recordings of him reading some of her favorite stories. Using these tapes she teaches herself how to read and write in prison. He has never told anyone about his affair but in the end he finds to courage to tell his daughter to try and connect with her. A very emotional dramatic film but also pretty good.