a few things i forgot!

more things i'll miss about england:
- boys wearing tight trousers...rawr!
- businessmen wearing lots of pink and pastels
- bagging your own groceries, instead of feeling like a tool while the clerk does it for you
- people laughing at the phrases i use
- their dumb pronunciations of words (haha)
- amazing indian/pakistani/bangladeshi food
- how, every time you eat, part of the packaging reminds you to have your "five a day"
- witnessing drunken football fools on the tube
- tube escalators, where everyone checks each other out
- an overall more liberal attitude
- ending everything with "x"
- pretty, rainy, ugly weather
- the automated lady's voice in the lift

more things i'm looking forward to in los angeles:
- having the first floor actually be first floor, not the second!
- not having to push a button before opening a door
- VEGGIE. PATTIES.
- getting free bread and butter at restaurants
- not being confused about who to tip, or how much
- low fat ice cream
- mooching wireless internet
- people asking "how are you," instead of "you alright?" or "you okay?"
- people responding "you're welcome" or "no problem" instead of "s'alright" after you thank them
- rarely waiting in line for ATMS
- seeing lots of familiar faces when i'm out and about
- less tourists getting in the way!


well, that's all i can think of at the moment. i won't be able to blog again until i get home, so that won't be for a few days. tomorrow, alex and i are off to visit chris in kettering, and then i'm flying home on friday!

so, this is my last authentic, actual post from jolly old england. i've said it so many times, but really--i love this country, and this city, and have had a glorious time these past five months. they've flown by incredibly fast, and i wish i had more time to enjoy it here, but home is beckoning and i am ready to be reacquainted with the land of the free, and the home of the brave! farewell, dear readers--next time we see each other, i'll be back on your side of the pond!

much english love from this london lassie,
lilly

"going to california, with an aching in my heart" -led!

with leaving on my mind, of course i've been thinking extensively about how i'll deal with the transition back to amurica. i've always loved lists, so i've made two to help organize my feelings about what i'll miss about england, and what i'm looking forward to in good old los angeles.

things i'm looking forward to:

- first and foremost, family and friends
- the ocean
- food (including, but not limited to: burritos, good vegan food, voluptas, summer fruits, cpk, REAL cookies, trader joe's, avocados, infusion teas, good hummus, homemade cakes [funfetti], bbq, in n out)
- french press coffee
- the village
- PV cliffs
- being a redhead, and not a ginger
- sunshine and warmth all year round
- piano, singing, and violin
- american showers
- toilet seat covers in every bathroom you go into
- calling the bathroom the bathroom, not the "toilet"
- driving on the right side of the road
- eating outside
- long walks
- church with good music
- supermarkets with everything i need and more
- not paying ungodly amounts for laundry
- dishwashers
- wearing dresses and sandals daily
- not feeling like an outsider
- being 21!
- jeopardy, comedy central
- the pillsbury dough boy
- KROQ and indie 103.1
- being somewhat fashionable
- my bike
- american plugs
- bonfires
- late night drives with great music and the windows down
- my record player and LPs
- fabulous shopping, cheap stores!
- less expensive fun
- home cooked meals
- working
- sunsets every night

what i'm going to miss terribly:

- people, obviously (flat 10 and company)
- pubs
- strongbow
- food (digestives, cadbury, ritter, twisters, squash, frozen pizza, crunchy nut, sticky toffee pudding, fish and chips, calippos, walkers, meat pies)
- teatime
- online grocery shopping
- the convenient tube and buses
- being a ginger, and not a redhead
- free museums
- so much to see and do
- trains connecting everything
- british television and music
- topshop and other shopping/british fashion
- walks to victoria park
- greenery everywhere
- proximity to europe
- diversity of people and accents
- BRITISH SLANG
- prime minister's questions
- lovely little towns
- quaint old people
- how british people curse like nobody's business
- the confidence that you won't be shot
- everything being new, different, and exciting
- randomly cheap food (bread that costs 50p)
- meeting new people and being a novelty
- outdoor markets
- british accents

i think that's all for the moment...such mixed feelings about my departure, which i knew would happen. i love london, and having it be my second home, but i'm ready to see the loves i haven't seen for 5 months! and on that note, i'm off to finish shopping for their gifts!

bittersweetly,
lilly

MEIN PLATZ! MEIN PLATZ! --The Munich Adventures

at long last, the final installment of my (entirely too long) documentation of the frogs and germs. but before launching into the circus that was munich, i'll just finish up telling you what helen and i did our last day in berlin.

though it wasnt the most cheerful tourist thing to do, we decided we wanted to see a concentration camp whilst in germany, so our third day we took the bahn to sachsenhousen, the "model" concentration camp just outside of berlin. the weather was really miserable that day, rainy and freezing, and after splitting up and walking around the camp for a few hours, we were ready to go. i didn't take any pictures, sorry about that..didn't feel quite right at the time.

anyways, we were happy to get back on the warm train, and headed back into berlin to check out the famous bit of the wall that's covered in artists' graffiti. but first...WURST! we needed some food, and i was sick of sausage by this point, so i got a greek sandwich and helen opted for german fare yet again! after lunching, we spotted a dunkin donuts next door--they're everywhere in germany! i wanted to see how their donuts measured up, so we each got one. i must say, it was pretty dry, and not amazing.

a few hours later, when my stomach began to churn in pain, i (somewhat involuntarily) cried out, "dunkin, you've betrayed me!" much to helen's amusement.

we made it to the wall, and walked along the remaining length of it...the artwork was very cool

frolicking

that afternoon, we decided to have a look at the berlin holocaust memorial museum, which was very well put together. i dont feel much like describing it on here, but suffice it to say we spent the afternoon here, then came back to the hostel to rest.

by this point, my insides were twisted into such junk-food-induced knots that i decided it would be wise to skip dinner, and take it easy for the night. helen and i chatted with some of our hostelmates--they included:

a 40-year-old chinese/british man who snored like nothing i've ever heard. "chainsaw" is a gross understatement. he had a full-blown construction crew lodged in his sinuses

sarah was a sweet kiwi gal in her mid-20s, traveling the world by herself for 6 months

macgregor from new york was "freelance," making helen snarkily whisper to me, "I BET HE'S JUST UNEMPLOYED!" hahaha. macgregor decided to regale us with tales of tiny passageways in pyramids that had tiny doors at the ends of them. i couldn't even look at helen while he was talking, because i knew we'd both start laughing uncontrollably

the next morning, we went downstairs to check out, and saw macgregor and sarah woozy after an all-night chat in the lounge. we hugged them goodbye, then hopped on over to the train station. i wanted a fruit parfait from mcdonald's (haha, i know), and while grabbing a spoon, i noticed the small packs of nutella that were up for grabs...so i grabbed. then, while i started eating it right out of the tiny jar, i noticed all the germans looking at me in disgust, and i shame-facedly put it away.

after boarding the train, for the first hour or so of the ride, helen and i could only be classified as vagrants. we hadn't noticed that our tickets had assigned seats, and didn't realize that the seats we'd found were reserved for someone else.

so, imagine my surprise when--literally--one of the most obese men i've ever seen came wheezing up the aisle towards us. he had to squeeze himself through the aisle, huffing and puffing, till he was standing over us. he said something in german which helen couldn't make out, and with scared looks on our faces, we timidly asked, "english?"

he was really angry by this point, and with spit flying out of his enormous purple face, began to scream over and over, "MEIN PLATZ! MEIN PLATZ! MEIN PLATZ!" which we immediately understood! like the scolded kids we were, we skulked around and found some other empty seats. a few stops later, more germans kicked us out of them (though kindly).

not knowing what to do, we found an empty private carriage with sliding doors. i felt certain we'd get kicked out of there, too, but helen goaded me into trying it. luckily, third time's the charm! we stayed in for the next 6 hours or so, finally arriving in munich in the afternoon.

digging into my stolen nutella

at last in BAVARIA, helen and i high-tailed it to our hostel. right away, we noticed the packs of sketchy men that were very reminiscent of italian and french homies we'd encountered on earlier journeys...perhaps because of all the BIER?

we walked around and took in the sights until it was time for HOFBRAUHAUS--the BEER HALL! it's actually very famous...hitler gave a speech there back in the day! the inside was lined with wooden tables and benches, and filled with wonderfully wasted germans.

helen and i, after taking a look around, plopped down at a table next to some middle aged and older germans, who were delighted that we ordered the GIGANTIC tankards of beer. finally, one of the elderly men came over to us, holding a sketch pad that he showed us...he had DRAWN US. at first we thought he was going to ask us to pay for it, and we were going to refuse, but turns out he was just having fun. he happily informed us that his entire table was "tipsy," and throughout our dinner he kept taking photos of us and waving. his table seemed to think it was pretty funny, as well, and they kept turning around to make sure we were eating all our food (meatloaf, kraut, and pretzels).

when they eventually left, another man from the group came up to us, totally red-faced and sloshed, and declared, "you'd make good nude models!" hahaha

we were soon joined by some other germans, closer to our age. we chatted a little bit with one of them, and he was really friendly and nice. he was impressed that our first stop in munich was HOFBRAUHAUS.

after dinner, i won't lie--we were feeling the BIER! we gigglingly decided that gelato would be nice, so we stopped at a stand and ordered. the guy knew we were tipsy, because he laughed in my face as i pointed at the "cookies" flavor and asked, "..uh...EIN COOKIES?"

EIN COOKIES IN MUNICH!

the next day, we embarked on yet another free walking tour, since we'd had such a good experience in berlin. well...our tour guide was a bit eccentric, and although it was informative, it wasn't as well done as the berlin tour. also, he kept randomly cursing, and lectured us for 20 minutes about a pamphlet he'd found with misinformation in it. yikes.

marianplatz--main munich square, where these older folks were protesting in front of city hall

glockenspiel (spelling?) clock, voted the #2 most overrated tourist attraction in europe

inside of a church where pope benedict gave a mass! his hometown is close to munich

market where i bought a peach for freaking 1.70 euro. and it was hard!

after the tour, we wanted to go to englischer gartens--it was beautiful outside, and perfect for BIER! so we picked some up at a convenience store, and drank them on our walk over (no laws forbidding open containers in germany...sweet!).

englischer gartens are famous for nudity--on warm days, germans strip down and sunbake. we saw a few nudies! the gartens were gorgeous, and we meandered around them until we could find...the BIER GARTEN inside!

we got to the BIER GARTEN--and i got bratwurst, SAUERKRAUT, and MUTARD. it was so good!

after lunch, it was time for some relaxing. helen plopped down in the sun, next to all the naked germans (jokes, there were only a few), and i found a bench in the shade. i took a nice little nap, and an hour later we found ourselves walking back towards marianplatz, to look in the shops and make our way towards the AUGUSTINER BIER HALL!

augustiner beer hall (acutally i took this photo the next morning...cheater!)

we both got the lemonade/beer combo drink, which was very nice and refreshing--until a fly flew into mine and died. we chatted over our pretzels and drinks until going back to the hostel for showers and sleep.

unfortunately, once we stepped into our room, a cloud of stink met us with a vengeance. we couldn't figure out who was to blame, but accepted it as a consequence of staying in a 15 euro/night, 12 person room hostel.

we awoke early the next morning, and said goodbye as helen headed for the train station (to austria!) and i scouted for the bookstore in marianplatz. i bought "me talk pretty one day," and pulled a jk rowling similar to the one i did in rome, reading and writing in my journal while nursing a coffee for three hours. at least, it was time to go to the airport, so i took the s-bahned it and planed it and arrived in london at 5:30 that night.

it was funny, as i got off the plane in london, and took the various trains home (gatwick express to london victoria, victoria to mile end) and walked down mile end road, i kept excitedly thinking, "i'm home, i'm home, i'm home!" i had really missed london, and the london cronies, while i was gone, and i can only imagine what it'll be like once i'm back in the states.

speaking of which, i need to go get giftoids for the american homefries this afternoon, which i'm not looking forward to. oh dear!

but i hope that you enjoyed my euroblobs. from now on, its england till the day i leave (which...is in 4 and a half days!). in my next postings: london museum trips, brighton, and oxford! hooray!

glad to be done with writing about europe, practically a month later,
lilly